Hello All!
Picked up this FJ well over a year ago - bought new at a dealer in the San Diego area + kept in the family until I luckily acquired it. I was stoked this FJ was equipped with the 4spd + discs up front and hadn't been extensively modified and was seemingly complete. It's been awhile (almost 20 years) since I've last owned a '40.
Made the journey (trailered, albeit) back the 2hrs to our little mountain town. Big fan of the state of the exterior in particular as it's been well loved and worn-in over the decades. I'm partial to character and patina development as a reflection of the journey these rigs have been on (hooray for Seth's patina appreciation thread!!). 92k original miles, to boot.
I set out to have all the systems / steering / braking / suspension / rubber / fuel / interior / etc. all freshened up back to stock spec with the help of a splendid local shop. These guys have done some incredible builds since I've been paying attention - including one meticulous top to bottom restoration of a '79 one-owner FJ40 here in my local town, so I knew I'd be in good hands. Quite astonishingly, the CA smog equipment was all there - so with some incredible attention to detail replacing all the rubber, sourcing the correct stock carburetor, etc. etc. - we passed CA smog convincingly. Unreal, hah!
So, here we are - finished up the quite comprehensive 'stage one' of the process and will shortly be tackling weatherstripping / window channels. Here's a peek!
Picked up this FJ well over a year ago - bought new at a dealer in the San Diego area + kept in the family until I luckily acquired it. I was stoked this FJ was equipped with the 4spd + discs up front and hadn't been extensively modified and was seemingly complete. It's been awhile (almost 20 years) since I've last owned a '40.
Made the journey (trailered, albeit) back the 2hrs to our little mountain town. Big fan of the state of the exterior in particular as it's been well loved and worn-in over the decades. I'm partial to character and patina development as a reflection of the journey these rigs have been on (hooray for Seth's patina appreciation thread!!). 92k original miles, to boot.
I set out to have all the systems / steering / braking / suspension / rubber / fuel / interior / etc. all freshened up back to stock spec with the help of a splendid local shop. These guys have done some incredible builds since I've been paying attention - including one meticulous top to bottom restoration of a '79 one-owner FJ40 here in my local town, so I knew I'd be in good hands. Quite astonishingly, the CA smog equipment was all there - so with some incredible attention to detail replacing all the rubber, sourcing the correct stock carburetor, etc. etc. - we passed CA smog convincingly. Unreal, hah!
So, here we are - finished up the quite comprehensive 'stage one' of the process and will shortly be tackling weatherstripping / window channels. Here's a peek!
