This old 45 has a new home in PA! (1 Viewer)

[shmukster]

Starting to look into the electrical system, no juice anywhere. Attached is a photo of the original fuse block with all the green corrosion. All the connectors that I see under the dash have this green growth, looks like I'll be pulling them all apart to clean the contact areas in hopes of getting current to flow through them! Pulled the headlight switch yesterday and all those connections are crummy. Plan is to undo all the connections on the wiper and headlight switch and clean all the mounting lugs, trim the wires a slight bit shorter and re-connect. The ignition switch is an aftermarket generic switch and I am just going to replace it with a good Standard switch. Likewise will replace the dimmer switch with a Standard item.

That's an old Kelsey hayes brake controller hanging under the dash by the clutch pedal- it's now disconnected and removed. Luckily I had another fuse block here and put it in to replace the original. I now have current flow to the fuse block and through the fuses. Stay tuned to see what's next!

 

[shmukster]

Pulled the hardtop off yesterday, want to get the rust through holes in it repaired before putting the truck out on the road. Taking it and the rear of the cab to my paint guy to let him work his magic on it. Was pleasantly surprised to see that Spectre had reasonably priced gaskets for the three windows in the back of the cab, the originals are pretty much not re-usable. The seal between the hardtop and cab was in surprisingly good shape- came off in two piecs rather than one big U-shaped piece but the seal on my 40 is the same way. No big deal will re-use it. Question- my truck appears to have been all white in color- I assume the top is the same color as the body- is that correct?

While shopping at Spectre I ordered their complete clutch hydraulic upgrade kit. It was the easiest way I see to get a functional clutch pedal. Still on the fence about the brake system repair/upgrade dilemma- spend the money and replace/repair the brake master and all eight wheel cylinders (and still have non power drum brakes) or make the big leap to a power brake booster, modern master, and disc brakes. I have a disc brake axle from a 76 FJ40 here that would make modernizing the front brakes simple. Not sure what decision I'll make at this point in time.

 

[Tancruiser]

I,m going with disc on mine ,dual circut but non boosted with a 80 series master.

 

[Wayneraintree]

If you're going to keep it a while and drive it in your mountainous area I'd upgrade to disc and save the original parts I can see you toting donuts in that sweet old 45!

 

[65swb45]

Gary

Just got another SD40 big window carb in for rebuild. Here's a pic showing the warpage I was referring to.

 

[shmukster]

Have an update. Got the old girl to run with putting gas directly into the carb, the engine sounds great no bad smoke no bad noises. Very happy about that. A friend sent me a working carb to see if I can get her running on her own, carb should be here today and I'll get it bolted on to the intake pronto. Did get a new (old FJ55 actually) choke cable installed in the dash so I'm ready for the new carb when it gets here.
Installed a complete Spectre clutch hydraulics kit yesterday. Except for the hard line they sent being too long everything fit perfectly. I made up a new hard line and gravity bled it and the clutch works great.
My body guy picked up the top and the rear of the cab Monday. While I am not planning to paint the truck or do any real bodywork, I wanted to get the two small rust through holes in the front corners of the top fixed so it can be out in the weather. Should have them back by the end of July. In my Spectre delivery yesterday was a set of weatherstripping for the windows in the cab rear so I'm set there. Was thrilled to see that the top-to-cab rear gasket is usable, and the rear cab to tub gasket has two usable sections of the three. Not bad.
Electrically we're getting there too. replaced the two terminal strips in each front fender with new ones that I had, did some cleaning under the dash and now have working headlights (hi and lo beam with the original dimmer switch!), running lights, tail lights, and turn signals. The wipers are working now, too. I do need a passenger side tail light lens- hope it isn't completely unobtainable. Will post up a wanted blurb in th classifieds for this. The horn relay works, surprisingly, but I get no ground from the horn button on the steering wheel. Have to look into that yet.
Pretty much have made the decision to go with disc brakes. I have a brand new BTB Products 30-3182 booster/master cylinder assembly here and am planning to use that. Gonna go with discs all the way around. It won't be original but it will stop well. Gonna use the rear disc setup from Steve Cramer his stuff is excellent and his hoses have the perfect bend at the banjo end. Front parts are coming from a donor FJ62 axle I have in the garage. Gonna put them on a later model FJ40 axle housing.
Question- any reason i can't use a 40 headliner in the 45? I have a new headliner here, leftover from some project, and would rather cut it down and use it rather than buy a new 45 headliner. Thoughts on this?
Just had another project finish up so have more time to address the 45 and get her running and back on the road. Stay tuned!

 

[65swb45]

Are your taillight lenses red-amber, red-red, or red white?

 

[Michael B]

Gary,
SOR has the exact fit headliner for $115.00 plus shipping. Just a heads up.

Michael <><

 

[shmukster]

Are your taillight lenses red-amber, red-red, or red white?

Mark- the tail light lenses are red-amber. I actually have what looks like a good red/red that came with the truck would be willing of course to trade.

 

[cppilot]

Hi Gary, I just put a headliner in my FJ45 from SOR. It still needs to be trimmed to fit properly so I would use what you have as long as it's big enough in all directions. Use that money for something else you'll need.

Just my thought.
Mark...

 

[65swb45]

On the taillight, I have a decent pair on my lwb that I've been toying with upgrading with some NOS from my stash, so maybe.

I'm beginning to get the feeling we'll be making a detour from Rausch at some point during CMCC.

 

[shmukster]

Been working on the 45 as I get time. The top and rearof the cab are at a dustless blaster being cleaned and readied for my paint guy to fix some small rust holes and get them painted. I have new weatherstrips for the three windows and the original weatherstrips between the cab and tub and top and cab are usable (thankfully!!!). Not looking topaint the rest of the truck just those pieces that ened some attention to keep rain and weather out of the cab.
Started to do the rear disc install and while in the rear axle housing found that the carrier bearings are bad! Thought about just replacing those bearings but Koyos aren't cheap ($110 for the two cups and cones) so I pulled the third out of the front axle and popped it into the rear housing. Some cleanup and new gaskets and all is well with the rear axle. With the spider gears assembled and axle shafts in place i was able to finish the rear disc rotor and caliper install. looks good and will stop in a modern fashion. I used the kit from Steve (Poser) on Mud, have used his stuff before and it works great.

 

[shmukster]

So here's what she looks like now

 

[shmukster]

I sourced a really nice 73 front axle from a fellow club member this week and stripped it in preparation for disc conversion. I had previouslty stripped a 62 front axle and cleaned all the componets for this upgrade so I have all that stuff ready. Pulled the original front axle out yesterday, was shocked that the nuts on all four U-bolts came off readily without a fight. Slipped the 73 axle in place today and have it loosely secured with the U-bolts only needing to be final tightened. Looks good and hopefully by the end of day tomorrow i'll have the front axle all buttoned up.

Bought a spacer and a narrow (73 FJ40) rebuilt booster from Mark Algazy and have that in place. I made up a neat extension for the brake pedal pushrod and all that is installed. Going with an FJ60 master cylinder. had to remove the original oil filter housing to make room for the booster, replaced it with an aluminum remote bracket mounted on the inside back of the driver fender. Looks good. Also pulled the manifolds off- the exhaust pipe when I got the truck was secured to the manifold with one nut and a pair of vise grips! Had been that way when the previous owner bought the truck in 2005. I drilled out the studs and am now using bolts and nuts. Used the Specter three piece manifold gasket (looks like a rem-flex to me) and could have used four hands getting everything aligned and started! But it is all in place now and I am grateful that Specter sells that gasket as the one from Toyota is NLA.

Hoping the rebuilt carb is on its way and maybe even in my mailbox as i write this. Looking forward to driving the truck with no fuel leaks and functional brakes!

 

[Pacer]

Great update Gary!

 

[shmukster]

Spent the morning in the garage and got the front discs completely installed. With having all the FJ62 donor parts cleaned already and using new calipers, rotors, and pads it went well. New Timken wheel bearings and new Koyo knuckle bearings. All that remains is to bend up and flare all the new tubing to connect everything and bleed the system.

 

[daniel.watters]

Nice Gary!

 

[76FJ40]

Looks good Bubba. I hope you enjoy putting the curved windows in as much as I did.

 

[shmukster]

Been making some headway. Got the old girl running fairly well even though the compression is not good. Runs OK in all three gears, four wheel drive shifters work for both the 2WD/4WD and lo/neutral/hi functions. Brakes work well. Pulled the seats and gas tank out and wire brushed the floor prior to spray bombing it- looks a lot better now than before paitning. Drilled out all the broken seat mounting bolts and re-tapped them. Bolted in the new driver seat and have a little massaging to do to get the wider passenger seat secured. replaced the driver side hood hinge (pivot pin was broken). Still looking for a good tail light lens it's the only thing I see that might keep me from passing state inspection here in PA. Top and cab rear still at painter's shop looks like another two weeks or so till I get them back. Didn't have set of original hubcaps so popped on a set of later model hubcaps for now. Some photos from today attached.

 

[65swb45]

You will have your taillight lens soon enough.