Builds Roma's 78 fj40 gets a refurb (1 Viewer)

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Location
Huntsville AL or Yuma AZ
I aquired this Fj40 in October 2010 from Pinedale Wyoming at which point I drove it home to Alabama. The truck had the typical rust but to my astonishment had rock solid doors which I knew were a rare find. Upon my return I slowly began removing a few panels at a time and powder coating them for my desired durable finish. The color was suppose to be mustard but cured to more of a "honey yellow". The truck has seen regular use since I've had it and even served as a daily driver for roughly the last year. I travel around the u.s. visiting the national parks every summer so the goal I had in mind was for me to be able to drive the 40 cross country efficiently and effectively. Sooo in march of this year I installed a low mileage 3b and h55f transmission along with a 60 series power steering conversion. The next day I took off on a 4400 mile trek to the grand canyon and southern Utah. Here is a link to the diesel conversion.
roma's 78 fj40 gets a 3b h55f

Here is how it sat when I found it.

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And here are a few pics of the trip I took in may of 2012 after the diesel conversion

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On my way home I picked up some goodies in Texas. I have been waiting to aquire all the parts for the refurb before disassembling the truck to decrease down time.

Oh I should mention I'm trying to do all this in the next couple of weeks so I can head up to glacier national park in Montana in September.
 
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I like the yellow :cheers:
 
Installed the top and doors to make sure everything fits before everything is welded. Replaced small section of floor and bottom of A pillars on both sides.

Fuel cup installed
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Now I have to drill holes for running boards, rear reflectors, rear emblems, rear heater, and trans tunnel. Captive nuts will be welded in. Then will fully disassemble again and tub will be blasted then off to get powder coated.
 
Keep up the good work!
 
I'm following this thread. I drove by that 40 twice while it was for sale and even stopped to take pictures of it. I wrote down the tele number but lost it. Next time I returned to Pinedale it was gone...I have been wondering if it would resurface. Nice to see you are fixing it up.

Where did you get your new tub? Did it line up well or did you have to make a lot of adjustments?
 
I'm following this thread. I drove by that 40 twice while it was for sale and even stopped to take pictures of it. I wrote down the tele number but lost it. Next time I returned to Pinedale it was gone...I have been wondering if it would resurface. Nice to see you are fixing it up.

Where did you get your new tub? Did it line up well or did you have to make a lot of adjustments?

That's amazing I drove past it while on vacation and purchased it three weeks later. It's a pilgrim tub that I picked up from cool cruisers. The tub lined up fairly well I just had to make a 1/8 spacer to go between the inner rocker and cowl other than that it fit great.
 
Well apparently I pulled a muscle in my back heaving the hard top on and off this thing last weekend so I haven't been very enthused on working on the truck this week after getting home from the usual days work. Finally feels a slight bit better today so I got back to it. Drilled the holes for the running boards, trans hump and rear heater (need to weld captive nuts) , and the oh so important Toyota and 4wd emblems and reflectors out back. I still need to figure out if the tub needs any modifications for the aussie 28gal tank (which I need to do before powder coating). Also contemplating on removing the metal dash support and not installing a dash pad when it goes back together. I believe the US market is the only one that got the dash pads anyway and I'm not really crazy about how the dash pads are a pain to remove and reinstall on these trucks. Any thoughts on this? Appears to just be several spot welds that need to be removed.
 
Looking good Roma :clap:
 
Spent quiet a bit of time on the tub this week and its finally ready for the blaster! Here is a quick run down of what I've been working on along with the welding expertise of friend Brett (SM RACING)

Made a plate and welded up the hole in the firewall where the original gasser accelerator pedal exited the cab.

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Installed the trans hump and welded captive nuts to bottom side of tub also welded captive nuts to tunnel cover for the 70 series shifter boots which I had previously installed with self tapping screws.


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As a preventative measure drilled two 5/8 holes in each rocker and three 3/4 inch holes in the cavity between the front and rear floors. After powder coating I will spray the entire cavity with noxudol which is a rust preventative coating to keep the cavity from rusting from the inside out.

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