The Tom Fjuckery Project

[Skidmarkroyalty]

In the distant past, I used to rebuild wheel cylinders and master cylinders; I probably still have the hones and etc. When I realized how relatively inexpensive new wheel cylinders were, I gave up on the rebuilding - just wasn't worth my time versus the cost of new. YMMV.

Usually in would just buy new but in this case rebuilding is gonna save me 180 bucks on the front cylinders, plus I have never rebuilt wheel cylinders, and while it looks super easy, I like doing new things. It also impresses my wife more when I tell her a rebuilt something, rather than replaced it. Going on 8 years of marriage, I have to keep impressing her in little ways so she stays blind to my larger mediocrity.

 

[dmaddox]

....and what better way to impress a gal these days, than to rebuild Land Cruisers wheel cylinders?

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

....and what better way to impress a gal these days, than to rebuild Land Cruisers wheel cylinders?

It's her favorite kind of pillow talk

 

[Efjayforty]

I am in Dalton, GA and I have some front frame parts that you could have to make yours right if you wanted them. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

I am in Dalton, GA and I have some front frame parts that you could have to make yours right if you wanted them. Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks but I won't be dealing with all that for quite a while. My timeline is being measured in years now! Haha. That's fine but disappointing. plan on it being on the road by fall. Got the front cylinders ready for rebuild kits. Soaked them in motor oil for a few days which helped unseize a couple of the adjuster barrels. None of the bleeder valves broke! The cylinder walls weren't that bad at all. I do t have a hone so I improvise with the appropriate size socket wrapped in sand paper on the end of my drill, which seems to have worked out pretty well!

Budget update: I am a little more broke than last week.

 

[Lucille]

Do you have Life Alert around your neck? You may need it after those cinder blocks and harbor freight furniture dollies fold.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

Do you have Life Alert around your neck? You may need it after those cinder blocks and harbor freight furniture dollies fold.

Just trying to get that FMLA bro. Seriously though I am still super alive.

So I have made a bit of progress! Well, 2 steps forward 1 step back, anyways. One or two of the front cylinders is sticking (the ones I rebuilt of course). Not sticking HARD, but I'm gonna go ahead and order 4 new cylinders for the front (I know there are some "told you so"s out there). I hooked up a 10 gallon boat gas tank to get it moving! Took it on another test drive to the end of road and back to get me excited, it worked. I changed plugs and wires and it's running alot smoother now. Gonna do oil change next while waiting on new front wheel cylinders.

Budget update: officially over the hump of our 30 year mortgage. We shaved 15 years off the mortgage in just 1.5 years. WE. ARE. KILING IT.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

Boat gas tank for this old boat.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

Changed my mind. I'm not gonna get new front cylinders. I just ordered a brake cylinder hone. Gonna do these suckers the right way, the second time. Dont wanna dump too much money into the front drums because I am gonna do a disc swap in the not so distant future, obviously. Anyways, gotta do yard work and house renovations tomorrow so i gotta stop playing with Tom for a while! #thestruggleisreal

 

[rmckay1021]

Changed my mind. I'm not gonna get new front cylinders. I just ordered a brake cylinder hone. Gonna do these suckers the right way, the second time. Dont wanna dump too much money into the front drums because I am gonna do a disc swap in the not so distant future, obviously. Anyways, gotta do yard work and house renovations tomorrow so i gotta stop playing with Tom for a while! #thestruggleisreal

Skidmarkroyalty, I have a 64 with a SBC conversion and live in Chattanooga. Some differences in your year build vs mine, but still a lot of similarities. If you need any pics of specifics I will be glad to help. Just yell.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

I'm bored, figured I would update. I have disembarked the yota train. After watching all the episodes of project wrong way I decided I 100% want to safely drive my fj40 sometime in the next decade. So I made a list of everything that needed to be done:
-Power brakes with dual line MC
-disc brake swap
-major rust repair
-major engine tune up
-some sort of guage set up
-Power steering conversion
-some sort of roll bar set up
-some sort of gas tank set up
-continuous tooling here and there after getting it on the road

That's a long list and a lot of money. I'm still trying to pay off my house in less than 5 years while maintaining a good blance of work and vacation and toys and so I made an alternative list one day and it had 1 thing on it:

-Swap the body onto the half parted out wrecked 2004 jeep wrangler sitting in the driveway.

So, my plant shut down for corona virus and I bought and Eastwood welder, 7" grinder, reciprocating saw, and started cutting! I had no experience welding but it was easy enough to learn.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

I have it pretty much done! It's got lights, blinkers, seat belts! Everything it needs! It's all welded up and sturdy AF. Still have to work on the alignment of the front panels but I'll get to that eventually. Also have to get to work trimming up the wrangler dash harness, most of it is not being used and it just hanging out onto the passenger floor. I'm super happy about it. And it was a fraction of the cost of trying to put power steering and brakes and all that jaz on it the project wrong way way. Still have alot of work to do but it is officially a driving project, that I can take to the store and drive to work on nice days, and that makes me happy.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

As it sits now, after its first alignment at Firestone.

 

[SwampFox118]

As it sits now, after its first alignment at Firestone.

View attachment 2299602

So now its 40 series skinned TJ? Will it be registered as a Toyota or a Jeep? Not judging, just curious, haha

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

So now its 40 series skinned TJ? Will it be registered as a Toyota or a Jeep? Not judging, just curious, haha

Tennessee is very lax with their titling process. It will be titled and insured as a 76 toyota, I have the ID plate from a 76 that I'll be filing a bill of ownership for. They really dont seem to care, as long as you pay the taxes on it. I know a couple other loop holes to have it registered even if it doesn't technically have a title. Currently doesnt matter cause the clerks office is closed and from what I read they are not issuing registration related citations right now.

 

[Pierps]

Holy smokes! This took quite a turn! This is really cool.

The purists here might barf all over you, but, meh!. I used to have a TJ and really liked it. It handled relatively well for a short wheel base vehicle, and you can't beat the aftermarket support. The 4.0L straight six is a rock solid powerplant.

I'm impressed with how well you got it all to fit! The wheel base is a good match- the tires look nice and centered in the openings, and they don't stick out much.

More pics please! What does your dash look like? Any major hurdles for a fellow weirdo who might consider doing this someday? The only issue i see is that you you might need a little bit of suspension lift- your front tires especially look like they will rub under compression.

 

[pjohnson]

I guess that's one way to improve a Jeep, lol.

 

[Skidmarkroyalty]

Holy smokes! This took quite a turn! This is really cool.

The purists here might barf all over you, but, meh!. I used to have a TJ and really liked it. It handled relatively well for a short wheel base vehicle, and you can't beat the aftermarket support. The 4.0L straight six is a rock solid powerplant.

I'm impressed with how well you got it all to fit! The wheel base is a good match- the tires look nice and centered in the openings, and they don't stick out much.

More pics please! What does your dash look like? Any major hurdles for a fellow weirdo who might consider doing this someday? The only issue i see is that you you might need a little bit of suspension lift- your front tires especially look like they will rub under compression.

One big plus was the amount of aftermarket and also just the lower price of basic stuff like brake calipers and what not. It all lined up extremely easily. I used the floor ban and most of the firewall from the TJ. Then filled in all the gaps with 20 guage. It looks very rat-rod-ish. Dash just looks like a ln fj40 dash with all the knobs and cluster missing. I got an ultraguage that's plugs into the obd port and I use that for gauges. I have some 2" coil spacers I'll probably throw on it with a 1.5" body lift and go up to 33" tires. I THINK.

 

[SwampFox118]

Tennessee is very lax with their titling process. It will be titled and insured as a 76 toyota, I have the ID plate from a 76 that I'll be filing a bill of ownership for. They really dont seem to care, as long as you pay the taxes on it. I know a couple other loop holes to have it registered even if it doesn't technically have a title. Currently doesnt matter cause the clerks office is closed and from what I read they are not issuing registration related citations right now.

that's a win!

 

[airon23]

Interesting to say the least. That's definitely a rat rod fj40. I will say that I am more the purist mentality, but I gotta admit, I don't hate this. It's functional and gets your project on the road which I'm always for.