Springtail MPAC 1977 FJ40 Build (1 Viewer)

[hindsight]

Sorry no pictures today....

Frame is stripped down to nothing....off to the media blasters on wed and then to powder coating on Friday.

The misc body pieces are coming along, the fiberglass cap is being prepped for primer. according to the body gut...."lots of little chips".

We have made a change in the plans for color...the vehicle will now be painted Fern green. It is a non metallic color that we can easily match to the same code in a powder coat color for the roll bars and any upcoming exterior projects.

I am still gathering components for the rebuild. CDan was extraordinary in my search for weatherstripping for the hardtop (there will be a huge write up on that in the future)...other harder to find parts are slowly being collected from various different sources. Overall, it is going quite well.

The edelbrock FI was chenged over to a Holly unit that should be better suited to the task.

Doc

 

[hindsight]

After a short visit to Keldermans for the fabrication of some rusty frame members, the frame is now off to the blaster and then over to get powdercoated Black.

I had hoped to reuse the transmission cover....but alas it is a piece of crap. It looks like fiberglass will be the option since we will have to reposition the shifter anyways.

Doc

 

[hindsight]

New parts beginning to pile up

Trail Defense Bumper that we will adapt to the FJ40....very limited run, I think that it 1 of 10 units built. I love their attention to detail, I think that it will look great on the FJ40.

Doc

 

[Bennett]

subscribed

 

[hindsight]

Big news today! The Tub is in the country and soon will be on its way.

Happy Easter Andrew...

Shipping wasn't that bad this time. Usually it takes two or three weeks until the police checked the merchandise twice and that can happen sometimes in between weeks. But well the merchandise is here and ready to be assemble and hopefully heading your way on Friday.

Please let me know the address that it needs to be ship. Also, I will be sending the pair of front fenders with it.

Alexandra
PACOL, LLC
Duluth, GA

I am excited!!


Doc

 

[hindsight]

Talk about Bling!

I just got my yellow zinc hardware and it was so beautiful that I had all of the original hardware done in the same color...I can't wait to start assembly!

A special thanks to Davework for offering this awesome product!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/sale-parts/278076-new-bolts-yellow-zinc-jis.html

Doc

 

[GooRoo]

WOW, those sure look purty

 

[hindsight]

Frame is back from powder coat and it sure is nice lookin'

Just hanging around

Doc

 

[hindsight]

Starting to come together...

OME 3 inch lift installed

New frame members that we fabricated.

Doc

 

[myquestoyota]

nice

Looking good Doc. Wow, I put my springs and shocks on while the body was still on. It would have been so much easier if I had just taken all that stuff off. Look at how accessable the spring hangers are and stuff if you just take a couple of minutes and unbolt the body. What was I thinking? Maybe next time......

 

[hindsight]

Update: The body is reportedly shipping next week, I say "reportedly" because this is at least the 4th time that I have heard that.

This time it may actually be true.

Doc

 

[hindsight]

WoooHOOO!

The tub and front fenders are actually shipping today...I hope that they make it OK. I will breath a big sigh of relief when it arrives unscathed at the body shop.

Doc

 

[hindsight]

More progress as the engine gets mounted in the frame

Doc

 

[hindsight]

The tub finally showed up today and was delivered directly to our local Linex shop. In spite of less than optimal crating...the tub arrived in pretty good condition. The was a small amount of damage by the transmission hump area (nothing big) and a few welds that are not up to my standards....all should be easy enough to fix or correct.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the purchase...the tub will get the bottom Linexed next week and then is off to the paint shop for the rest of the work to be done.

Doc

 

[Hoz FJ40 CO]

Funny how a little chunk of metal can get a guy all giddy...very NICE!!!

 

[myquestoyota]

Sweet! I love the smell of fresh metal in the morning........

 

[PixelWrangler]

Just curious Doc, will you be checking fitment on the rolling chassis before purdying up the tub?

 

[hindsight]

Just curious Doc, will you be checking fitment on the rolling chassis before purdying up the tub?

In an ideal situation, that would have already happened...for us, the quality services are all 40-60 miles apart. Soooo...I am taking a calculated risk by doing the linex before actually fitting the tub.

From what I have experienced so far in this build is that (as far as the body goes) the factory left the tolerances very lax knowing that the vehicle needed to be very easy to work on. Which is probably why there are so many still in service today so it is probably worth the risk...that and I have assurances from Pacol that there should be no reason not to proceed this way.

Linex should be done with the tub mid-next week, at that point the tub and frame will meet and we will see how well it fits

Doc

 

[PixelWrangler]

In an ideal situation, that would have already happened...for us, the quality services are all 40-60 miles apart. Soooo...I am taking a calculated risk by doing the linex before actually fitting the tub.

From what I have experienced so far in this build is that (as far as the body goes) the factory left the tolerances very lax knowing that the vehicle needed to be very easy to work on. Which is probably why there are so many still in service today so it is probably worth the risk...that and I have assurances from Pacol that there should be no reason not to proceed this way.

Linex should be done with the tub mid-next week, at that point the tub and frame will meet and we will see how well it fits

Doc

May the holes be with you!

 

[hindsight]

May the holes be with you!

It is not the body mounts that worry me as much as the predrilled hardtop holes

I am sure that there is nothing that a drill, a welder, a dremel and more money can't fix.

Doc