Goldbug
SILVER Star
Awesome thread and awesome truck. I love the color and Ocracoke is one of my favorite places. Very envious.
I bought my 40 about 3 years ago and have changed my priorities quite a bit on what to do. It has a supposedly rebuilt F.5 engine in it, but came with the original 1978 2F. I was all about putting that back in, but realized the current one runs great, and I care more about steering, suspension and maximizing time on the road. I drive the hell out of it in the summer, and the top stays off all summer.
Like you, I live near the beach, and the salt air is no joke. Do whatever you can to protect it, but I agree with others that your patina is awesome.
On the weatherstrip, I ordered door weatherstripping from city racer, but it has very little give. I actually spoke to him about it and he is passionate about it and says it will last longer, which may be true, but the OEM stuff is much squishier and doesn't make my doors bulge the way the City Racer stuff did. He's a great vendor though, and I just placed my most recent order with him yesterday.
New spare tire looks awesome. If that's a new Toyota steelie rim though, they come just primed, so you may want to hit that with some rattle can to protect it from rusting.
Lastly, I replaced my Rough Country shocks with Bilstein, but might have gone with Dobinsons in hindsight. Replacing the Rough Countries with anything will be a huge improvement though, and it's a very easy job.
Keep up the great work and great photos!
I bought my 40 about 3 years ago and have changed my priorities quite a bit on what to do. It has a supposedly rebuilt F.5 engine in it, but came with the original 1978 2F. I was all about putting that back in, but realized the current one runs great, and I care more about steering, suspension and maximizing time on the road. I drive the hell out of it in the summer, and the top stays off all summer.
Like you, I live near the beach, and the salt air is no joke. Do whatever you can to protect it, but I agree with others that your patina is awesome.
On the weatherstrip, I ordered door weatherstripping from city racer, but it has very little give. I actually spoke to him about it and he is passionate about it and says it will last longer, which may be true, but the OEM stuff is much squishier and doesn't make my doors bulge the way the City Racer stuff did. He's a great vendor though, and I just placed my most recent order with him yesterday.
New spare tire looks awesome. If that's a new Toyota steelie rim though, they come just primed, so you may want to hit that with some rattle can to protect it from rusting.
Lastly, I replaced my Rough Country shocks with Bilstein, but might have gone with Dobinsons in hindsight. Replacing the Rough Countries with anything will be a huge improvement though, and it's a very easy job.
Keep up the great work and great photos!