The FJ40 that time forgot..... (2 Viewers)

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Lol.....not ready for that hole yet :)

I've been building/buying a lot of restoration equipment for the shop.....vapor blast cabinet, ultrasonic cleaner and a cool copy cad plating system. Most of the vapor blast videos all seem to be doing old bike parts. It seems very attractive...small parts...simple....no rust :)

I'll stick with the fancy Italian bikes for now :) Maybe once they go away I'll replace them with a few different toys. And definitely one of these....View attachment 2841641

Ran through a few Italian machines back in the late 90's early 2000's, mostly Ducatis and a couple of MV Agustas, probably should have kept my Tamburini, it was a beautiful ride, still have my 910R Brutale I bought from Pro Italia.


Yeah vapor blasting is great, they only way I have seen that restores many parts back to original luster without harming them. Disassembled carbs ran through the vapor blasting cabinet and ultrasonic with new brass brings these old bikes back to life!

I am confident it can be equally as effective for car parts as well, have been surprised more haven't adopted the process.
 
Ran through a few Italian machines back in the late 90's early 2000's, mostly Ducatis and a couple of MV Agustas, probably should have kept my Tamburini, it was a beautiful ride, still have my 910R Brutale I bought from Pro Italia.


Yeah vapor blasting is great, they only way I have seen that restores many parts back to original luster without harming them. Disassembled carbs ran through the vapor blasting cabinet and ultrasonic with new brass brings these old bikes back to life!

I am confident it can be equally as effective for car parts as well, have been surprised more haven't adopted the process.


Ah......funny you should mention Tamburini......his most beautiful creation sits maybe 10' from the green FJ40 :) It's a 1995 Varese built bike for any 916 nerds out there :)

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Ran through a few Italian machines back in the late 90's early 2000's, mostly Ducatis and a couple of MV Agustas, probably should have kept my Tamburini, it was a beautiful ride, still have my 910R Brutale I bought from Pro Italia.


Yeah vapor blasting is great, they only way I have seen that restores many parts back to original luster without harming them. Disassembled carbs ran through the vapor blasting cabinet and ultrasonic with new brass brings these old bikes back to life!

I am confident it can be equally as effective for car parts as well, have been surprised more haven't adopted the process.
Vapor blasting is amazing. We've been using our setup for aluminum primarily and I'm fairly certain what comes out of the cabinet is better than it ever was, even when new. Hard to believe. This started life as a Harbor Freight sand blast cabinet.....a whole lot of $ and mods later and it's a vapor blast cabinet.

Vapor blasting can also be done on rubber, brass and some plastics even. Changing air pressures, media and how the nozzle is held all have different effects on the finish. We run very find glass bead in ours.....I think on some of the dirtier parts we mixed in some aluminum oxide media. Haven't yet run pure aluminum oxide. We bead blast with aluminum oxide, then they go into the vapor blast cabinet for polishing.

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Some of the parts we've done....
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43 year FJ40 old transfer case

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Ah......funny you should mention Tamburini......his most beautiful creation sits maybe 10' from the green FJ40 :) It's a 1995 Varese built bike for any 916 nerds out there :)

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Great company and taste in machinery!

Those 916/996/998 bikes are so iconic, changed motorcycle design forever, probably should have kept one, the politics of the company were interesting to read about and how he departed with all his future designs.

I toured the factory in Bologna in 2005 along about the time they were building my black 999S, (I actually liked some of the polarizing Terreblanche design directions as well) it was a really cool experience.

I also visited the NCR facility where they let me check out some really cool machines that they were designing and building. Unfortunately, my Italian isn't great and their English is about the same, the one clear thing I understood was NO pictures, but I could touch and sit on anything and they sold me some pretty cool swag and Ti parts!
 
Vapor blasting is amazing. We've been using our setup for aluminum primarily and I'm fairly certain what comes out of the cabinet is better than it ever was, even when new. Hard to believe. This started life as a Harbor Freight sand blast cabinet.....a whole lot of $ and mods later and it's a vapor blast cabinet.

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Some of the parts we've done....
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Beautiful!!

That is what I love about the process, it restores and enhances the natural beauty of the metal without them appearing over restored or fake. I don't think anyone meant for them to be art initially, but these natural AL parts have become that for us mechanical nerds!
 
Here is a 74' CB750 that I built (more accurately designed) into a period correct cafe racer, only utizing what would be available in 74'.

It has significant Vapor blasting, really happy with the results and the only way to retain and enhance the original appearance!!!
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And if you have a vapor blast cabinet.......you can run steel hardware thru it followed up with some plating.
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Crossed off a major item on my list with this truck today.

I've been on a mission to find some 15x8 wheels for it. I want to preserve this truck as it is....right down to the cool Armstrong tires so I figured I would remove the current wheels and tires and just stash them away somewhere cool and dry. I don't want to take the chance of damaging a tire by removing it so that's why I wanted new tires.

Ran a want ad on Mud....didn't have any luck. Found some new ones....that's easy. Found a few on Marketplace.....hard to buy stuff on Marketplace unless it's local. Ebay had some 15x7s but not 15x8s. And then last night, a set pops up on Marketplace that's local. I ask the guy what they were on and he says his dad's FJ40! He even had the spare. He seemed to think they were pretty old....but I don't think they are. I had my heart set on finding a set of 74-ish wheels but these will do......he even delivered them :)

I spent some time knocking down the shine on them......I want them to look as close to what the truck has on it.

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Weird thing on this truck.....both front fenders have these dents where they meet the running boards. Kind of like they're buckled from hitting something underneath.

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Kind of looks like the vehicle ran over a large item , (rock, Log etc.), and the bottom of the fenders were forced up to make contact with running board.
 
Or someone tried some really big tires and they hit at full lock in both directions?

Always like the patina trucks, the bumps make great tales of adventure!!!
 
Time to get these stickers documented.....seems that Holley must have given out the most....3 of them are on the truck.

This one seems taped on the window. I see it on the window when it was in the guy's garage...so it must have been there for a bit. Still in perfect shape.

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Lots of room under the dash for stickers.....

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Not sure what this one was....
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another classic K&N. I looked up Viking Auto Supply.....not around any longer.

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Lots of room under the dash for stickers.....

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Not sure what this one was....
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another classic K&N. I looked up Viking Auto Supply.....not around any longer.

Lots of room under the dash for stickers.....

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Not sure what this one was....
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another classic K&N. I looked up Viking Auto Supply.....not around any longer.

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Party Posse rules- if you have to ask, you don't know.
 
Now for the random stuff....

Grill badge in the glove box covers up a mysterious star :)
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Side of gas tank cover.....weird. I found one identical to this on Etsy.....1984 Olympic pin. 84 Olympics were held in Los Angeles....where this truck was in a garage. Probably still being used. Seems the mid 90s were when it got parked.
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This sticker is covering another one......never noticed that until now.

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This one is interesting.....the front is completely gone but the back of it can still be read. I'm guessing the truck made a trip to Mexico......Instant Mexico Auto Insurance......wonder how that worked out for people :)

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If anyone is thinking of trying to 'Gone in 60 Seconds' this 40......we have security.

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