Thirteen Years Later

[Awl_TEQ]

After the museum we hit the road again towards Texas.

We went through the Zion Mt. Carmel tunnel. I actually have a clip of the drive through the tunnel but it’s a bit boring. Excuse the shaky camera work and the VERY dirty windshield.



And headed to the Grand Canyon. I think it’s bigger than when I was here in 1988.

And camped just a couple of km from the entrance

Next day we hit Monument Valley

Please excuse the shaky camera work. The coolest part of this clip to me is the zoom in to the snow capped mountains on the horizon. You could just make them out with the naked eye. The sheer sense of open space was incredible.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

After Monument Valley we were headed to the Valley of the Gods but when we got to the turnoff we were considering the amount of daylight remaining and chose to head up on top of Moki Dugway.

Now, I maybe haven’t camped in as many varied geographical areas as some but I’ve seen my share for sure. Moki Dugway is hands down the coolest spot I have ever slipped into a sleeping bag. Just incredible. Maybe it was the perfect weather and great company but I am pretty sure I would have been awed by myself on a cloudy day.

So before dawn the next morning I set up my phone in the hopes of catching the sunrise and got this cool clip. I let it run until the other guys were starting engines to roll out. I was to trying to get the sun to go out of frame. It starts slow but just let it develop…

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Almost done with the trip down memory lane.

Four Corners

Sunrise next morning

Same sunrise with the 42

We passed through Roswell. I want to believe.

And finally arrived at Lake Whitney State Park NW of Waco.

And what we came for, or at least the excuse to go…

A diamond ring

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Jackson had to work yesterday and since I insisted he do all the wrenching we got some work done today on the Mazda.

The new oil pump is on in this pic and we later got the splash guard/ oil pan, new water pump, new timing belt, idler and tensioner. The rad is back in and we stopped for dinner after that.

We intend to get this repair buttoned up tomorrow (Monday) and then I can start work on the 42

 

[RevISK]

Amazing

 

[Chamba]

Humbling. Well lived Kevin. Can't wait to see the next chapter.

 

[Chamba]

Friggin Poser. Notice I'm covering the rust with my hand - LOL

View attachment 4017558

Rust on Cruisers is like wrinkles on faces: Jimmy Buffett said wrinkles only go where the smiles have been; seems to me rust only goes where the miles have been.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Finally got the Mazda out of the garage and rolled in the 42.

A before picture.

I started by removing the hood and stripping it of parts. I believe these are the originals making them 44 years old. I thought about bead blasting them at work and maybe powder coating or re-plating them. But decided to stash them away for future consideration and order new ones. I placed an order with Cruiser Outfitters and got OEM replacements for the hood latches and windshield hold downs. Also added some new hood rubber bumper thingies, windshield seal and other small bits. The item I am most looking forward to is new front signals - always cool to unpack those. I have a new set of OEM fenders so she will look pretty sharp when done.

As most viewers will no doubt already know, getting the windshield frame out is a bit of work. I removed the hardtop-to-tub bolts in order to prop up the top and swing the windscreen down. The fasteners are looking a bit rough - snapped two off, so that's cool.

Where are we sourcing yellow chromate JIS hardware these days? I will be needing a fair amount of it with door hinge, hood hinge, side steps and a couple dozen other places. Is there still that vendor selling full truck kits? Anyone able to save me searching with a ready made link?

And this is where I left it after a couple of hours over a couple nights. Not much progress but I wasn't rushing. I just need to pull out the wiring for my overhead console that runs through the base of the windscreen - then I can get it full off the truck.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to remove the winch, to get to the bumper, to get to the bib and fenders. When I installed the winch I was worried about someone stealing it, quite silly in retrospect. The two bottom bolts through the fairlead are flat head socket cap screws and with the smallish 1/4" allen drive they don't want to move. Next session I'm going to hit it with a little heat and see if they will budge. If not I'll drill the heads off.

 

[RevISK]

Full Kit | Yellow Zinc Plated | FJ40

Keep Your Cruiser Correct-Custom Toyota Land Cruiser Bolts, Nuts & Screws, Stainless Available, We Only Sell Cruiser Hardware-FREE Shipping

www.overlandmetric.com

 

[RevISK]

Full Kit | Yellow Zinc Plated | FJ40

Keep Your Cruiser Correct-Custom Toyota Land Cruiser Bolts, Nuts & Screws, Stainless Available, We Only Sell Cruiser Hardware-FREE Shipping

www.overlandmetric.com

While spendy, this kit has been invaluable to have around.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

April 2024 saw another total eclipse come to North America. Always one for a road trip @Behemoth60 instigated a repeat of the last eclipse trip only this time we had to drive a bit further to get to totality.

The morning we hit the road. Yeah, that's a road there in the fog.

View attachment 4017563

A morning shadow profile shot

View attachment 4017564

Night one - some dunes somewhere north of Salt Lake - like hours north

View attachment 4017565

My setup from the inside. Comfy.

View attachment 4017569

Next Morning - Brrr

View attachment 4017566

First stop. There is no shortage of praise or accolades on this site about a certain Outfitters owner. The guy is a legend in every sense of the word. This was Easter Sunday, he had just arrived back in town from a business trip and he had the family dinner in a couple of hours. He was more than happy to come down to the shop and open up for us. Peter had worn out brushes in his alternator and @cruiseroutfit would not let us go without providing the parts and tools and time to fix it. Epic. Seriously.
View attachment 4017557

I picked up a reseal kit for my t-case while I was there but the highlight for me was Kurt literally told me I had to take the MegaCruiser around the block. Speechless.

View attachment 4017567

Next morning we hit the museum to drop off a tool box... finally, after six years.

View attachment 4017568

Friggin Poser. Notice I'm covering the rust with my hand - LOL

View attachment 4017558

That was a fun Sunday

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Thanks RevISK, I have been going through his website. Looks like mostly stainless in stock at the moment. I am a bit of a hardware snob and just loath using bolts with 13 and 15mm heads. I once liberated a pail of hardware from the local auto wreckers and had them all re-plated so I had nice bolts to use. That pail is getting low these days.

It's been slow going the last couple of weeks. Always seems to be something else needs doing. Last Saturday was our anniversary so naturally I drove a solo 7 hour round trip to pick up the first part of my next build. Had to make up for that with the wife unit on Sunday so the weekend was a bust for Cruiser work. I picked up a t-case from @Farmer Thomas - thanks again Thomas!

I had to drill two of the bolts to get the winch off - heat did nothing, too many dissimilar metals there. But on the bright side a have a new MAP torch

I managed to remove the 1,452 bolts holding the bumper on. The powder lasted about 10 of the last 13 years, I guess that's ok given the gravel roads and tailgating snow ploughs in the winter. We now have in-house powder coating at work and I had to take a powder application class at a local college as part of the my job helping with QC. I will be blasting the bumper and then coating with a powder primer before a flat black top coat.

Got the rest of the front clip off. Snapped more bolts.

Got a care package from Salt Lake. I went with OEM wherever possible, just can't beat the quality. Decent shipping time cross border actually.

Just LOOK at the shine on these lights!

 

[RevISK]

using bolts with 13 and 15mm heads

None of the hardware in the kit I got were off size.
Is some of their stuff listed as such?

I got the complete fj40 kit in gold plated zinc blah blah…
It was a couple years ago so I am scared to look at what they cost now. Do need to re-up some stuff and I’m sure it can be found piecemeal somewhere else.

Anyway, I’ve been happy to have a selection of new hardware to reach for when needed even though I save every JIS piece of hardware I can.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

No, no, their stuff is all good. I was just commenting on bolts in general. That pail of bolt I had lasted through many a side project

 

[Chamba]

There are few things sexier in automobilia than new, factory Cruiser parts. I just love well-made machinery and fittings. It was like Christmas, opening my new Red Rider BB gun when I opened my car package from City Racer.

I was going to order that FJ40 bolt kit but they've only got the stainless. Has anyone used that? I'd prefer zinc, but do the stainless really look like factory?

Powder coater at work now Kevin? I see great things in your future...... can, say, a Cruiser frame fit in there?

 

[charliemeyer007]

Nice job of drilling the heads. I just got a set of automatic center punches from Amoron $15 (they are ok). I couldn't find my core from a 50 BMG AP bullet until I finished drilling out 2 of the 3 bolts holding my broken spare tire latch onto the carrier. Made a new latch handle from a scrap piece of bar stock. Drilled out the rivets, installed the handle with a rivet I made on the little Unimat SL1000 lathe. Used a ball bearing and BFH to expand the rivet. Put a stainless steel allen bolt with a nyloc nut in the other pivot. Tapped the holes in the carrier for mount for the same ss allen bolts (1/4-20) and screwed them in with a dab of anti seize compound.

I like SS bolts and nuts. Almost everything gets anti seize or loctite.

Accurate center punching really helps. The second trick is a small carbide drill (#43 in this case) used in the center punch on the angle to correct the off center punch. When it was close to right I then used a #7 (tap size for the 1/4-20) to drill out the bolts.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Did you make the brush/bib guard or is it old school Con-Ferr?

 

[RevISK]

Did you make the brush/bib guard or is it old school Con-Ferr?

View attachment 4030935

ooh, I like that. Thanks for pointing it out as I didn't notice it before.
There is something very pleasing about soft curves in square tubing.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

There are few things sexier in automobilia than new, factory Cruiser parts. I just love well-made machinery and fittings. It was like Christmas, opening my new Red Rider BB gun when I opened my car package from City Racer.

I was going to order that FJ40 bolt kit but they've only got the stainless. Has anyone used that? I'd prefer zinc, but do the stainless really look like factory?

Powder coater at work now Kevin? I see great things in your future...... can, say, a Cruiser frame fit in there?

Nice job of drilling the heads. I just got a set of automatic center punches from Amoron $15 (they are ok). I couldn't find my core from a 50 BMG AP bullet until I finished drilling out 2 of the 3 bolts holding my broken spare tire latch onto the carrier. Made a new latch handle from a scrap piece of bar stock. Drilled out the rivets, installed the handle with a rivet I made on the little Unimat SL1000 lathe. Used a ball bearing and BFH to expand the rivet. Put a stainless steel allen bolt with a nyloc nut in the other pivot. Tapped the holes in the carrier for mount for the same ss allen bolts (1/4-20) and screwed them in with a dab of anti seize compound.

I like SS bolts and nuts. Almost everything gets anti seize or loctite.

Accurate center punching really helps. The second trick is a small carbide drill (#43 in this case) used in the center punch on the angle to correct the off center punch. When it was close to right I then used a #7 (tap size for the 1/4-20) to drill out the bolts.

After removing the rear doors yesterday I am thinking harder about the stainless hardware. My ambulance door hinges were quite easy to remove whereas the stock hardware either snapped or was in such a state not to be reused given my intention to paint the tub.

Did you make the brush/bib guard or is it old school Con-Ferr?

I made that a few years ago. I liked the look of it and bought a tool to bend the tight radius in 1" square tube. I made mine aluminum so it was easier to bend and I like fabricating in aluminum - it's more like sculpting than working with steel IMO.

 

[RevISK]

bought a tool to bend the tight radius in 1" square tube

Would be curious about this.