Tornado takes the top off 1964 SWB FJ-45 (2 Viewers)

[cult45]

Great, thanks mate!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Slowly cleaning the engine and some other parts and patiently awaiting the head to come back from the machine shop and injectors to be cleaned. Decided to pick the hottest day of the year to blast and paint the exhaust manifolds and exhaust. I used Cerakote C series air cure coating.

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They look much better than what i started with!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Re cleaned the garage, for some reason Jenn wasn't all that happy about her Lexus parking outside all the time. Decided to move to the transmission while I wait for parts. I have an H55f that has been sitting on my workbench, completely assembled for probably 2 years. I was frustrated, annoyed, angry and just disappointed that I had not gotten this thing in the truck yet. Why would I be so annoyed with myself? Short story, (which I figured out today) I had the incorrect nose cone seal. I thought the thing had a bad bearing or something, every time I put the nose cone on it bound up to the point, I could not turn the thing. I was frustrated, so it sat. I finally tore it down this weekend to figure out what is going on. Answer, the seal had an ID of 28mm, the OD of the input gear is 32mm. Size does matter!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Spoke with the Guru @orangefj45 yesterday, he said, get me a case half to machine, and while your at it, see if you have a spare. Roo watching over the split case inventory and prep work. two 38mm cases headed to Valley Hybrids today.. Well, one full case and one rear stripped case. Correct H55f nose cone seal, a 4 to 1 gearset and a splitcase rebuild kit should be headed back. Thanks for taking the time to chat Georg.. It was good catching up.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Not a significant update as it doesn't look like a lot happened.. I wet sanded the tub and did a few more coats of clear, i wasn't happy with it. The Clear needs UV to cure, so picture from the garage cam of it sitting outside, and wetsanding/buffing afterwards. Also an old friend came home from @2fpower 's house.. My Singer 111w155 machine and table. Working on my seat fabric order now.

 

[Chef]

that looks pretty good!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

This weekend I reinstalled the tub to test fit the transmission tunnel. I never fit the 4x/high/low and or PTO shifters into the transmission tunnel cover.
Bonus is this also gave me an excuse to clean the garage and reclaim some space. I don't have the room in my garage for a full vehicle lift like some of my cool friends.. BUT.. I have a set of quickjacks. They do what i need, they store out of the way on the wall when not in use. I also have a couple of broken posts in my privacy fence.. SO with that you will understand why I am using treated 4x4 posts to lift a body tub and install it. Quickjacks to the rescue as all my neighbors are all injured, one with a torn retina, one with a torn rotator cuff. Covid self isolation calls for ingeniuity. Used an old fence post to make the uprights, 2 new fence posts to make the cross bars, some ratchet straps to adjust and attach the cab and voila.. We have a hydraulic lift for a body tub.. Onto the frame, and the frame goes back to the rear of the garage to wait for parts.. Garage space reclaimed!

 

[Chef]

cool.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

I needed a change, I was tired of thin metal work, painting, bodywork etc. I had obtained an old school 8274 and an old school 8274 Fj40 bumper. I had "borrowed" a couple 1" thick weld on shackle mounts from @2fpower a week or 2 ago. Noticed them sitting on a shelf in his garage next to some other cool parts.. He was nice enough to say "take em if they'll help".



Well, help they did, I cut approx 5" off each end of the bumper, cut the bottom at a 45 degree angle, capped the ends. Ground off some old welded on fog light mounts, changed the welder to .035 wire and burned in the shackle mounts. I have a decent little bumper now made from stuff sitting in the garage. Just needs a quick blast, epoxy and will get a silver singlestage topcoat when I shoot the seat frames.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

And now to the shifters.. I am so tired of metal work, i just want it to be over! If you go in the way back time machine and look at post # 17 Tornado takes the top off 1964 SWB FJ-45 you will see the big hole in the transmission tunnel that came with the cab from Paul @3_puppies . That hole was perfect with a 3 or 4speed without a floor 2/4/high/low but with the AC and the H55f and a possible PTO at a later date it needs to be modified. Baby steps, mount the necessary shifters, clearance the tunnel to fit, figure out boots. Step 1 mount necessary shifters, Step 2 clearance the tunnel.. Maybe by the end of the week I'll have the time and energy to get the tunnel mods completed. I'm going with the Old school Fj40 Tcase boot on each side. I'll sew my own fabric top boot, i can order new lower boots from @Racer65 once i get that list together.

 

[2fpower]

I needed a change, I was tired of thin metal work, painting, bodywork etc. I had obtained an old school 8274 and an old school 8274 Fj40 bumper. I had "borrowed" a couple 1" thick weld on shackle mounts from @2fpower a week or 2 ago. Noticed them sitting on a shelf in his garage next to some other cool parts.. He was nice enough to say "take em if they'll help".



Well, help they did, I cut approx 5" off each end of the bumper, cut the bottom at a 45 degree angle, capped the ends. Ground off some old welded on fog light mounts, changed the welder to .035 wire and burned in the shackle mounts. I have a decent little bumper now made from stuff sitting in the garage. Just needs a quick blast, epoxy and will get a silver singlestage topcoat when I shoot the seat frames.

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bumper looks great. I got a local powdercoater that we need to get that to. Drop it by my house and I can add it to a stack next time I take some stuff to him.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Bit of progress on the transmission tunnel over the weekend. Let's start with the potential optional split case PTO that I may, or may not run. But, in order to have that choice i will need to have a proper hole in the tunnel and potential boot to cover the shifter. Cool factor +10 of a PTO winch. but, there is a vintage correct 8274 sitting on the shop floor.. Regardless. Location, fab in cardboard and tack welding new steel in place. I'll probably build a really nice cover to go over this hole for a while. I'm using a stock 4spd tcase boot upside down. i will sew my own triangular boot later.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

High/Low 2wd/4wd shifter.. I'm test fitting everything with the long h42 and split case while waiting on parts. I am using old yard sign steel rod to make the skeleton before i skin it. again using a spare 76 era FJ40 tcase boot assembly, this time right side up.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

I needed to insure that it would clear the H55f, there is a front extension on the top of the H55f shifter that was close to hitting the existing cut in the tunnel cover. Lucky surprise to me, the H55f top cover actually fits onto the H42. Now we can get to cooking with gas. A bit of digging for the actual h55 shifter cane, and some looking for my box of boots.. I test fit an FJ60 boot, it was Fugly, not period correct. I like the look of a stock FJ40 boot. Test fit in truck, some yard sign steel to make the skeleton and remove to the operating table for skinning. Sadly i ran out of political sign steel, oh wait, it is an election year! I might be able to restock on the drive home today!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Since i ran out of steel fab rod on Sunday, it's 90 something outside and i have half a day left i moved to teaching myself to sew "Sew foam". The correct color thread, welting and some other sewing materials arrived this week. Clean the garage a bit and sit down with the WWII sewing machine. I managed to get the welting foot to work, got the sew foam to come out great, , even test fit three different scrap/test pieces together to look somewhat like a seat side and top. But was foiled and am now timing the singer 111w153. It probably needed to be verified to be in time anyway.
I was doing great until the bobbin holder caught the T135 thread and spun in the case. first time using this strong of a thread..
I will never complain about timing a 2f again after this. A few more things to sync and i'll be back in business.

 

[Chef]

progress is progressy. well done

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

got my sewing machine back in time, this is sew foam and a fabric i thought would be decent, this interior color just doesn't work for me. went upstairs to the interior design color consultant for ideas of the female persuasion. Sunbrella samples are on their way, I think i have 4 color samples coming. The little postage stamp sample is hard to determine compatibility. I will probably go ahead and sew up a set of seat covers with this fabric to learn. This is "carhart brown" . Little too dark. The other is some fabric to test on.

 

[Chef]

Cool.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Fabric welding. My test cover came out much better than expected, this is probably 3/4 of the way done with the back of the passenger side bench. I did learn a couple tricks of what NOT to do..

 

[Chef]

what not to do is good intel.