Tortuga2 2 Indy/Caballo Build Thread (2 Viewers)

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Cool. I've never been. I moved here about two years ago from NC. Not big on hitting the rocks after getting the body work done! Would love to cruise some trails, old forest roads, etc. We'll have to have a 40 ride or meet up soon.

That sounds good...unfortunately I don't have the nerve to get mine out while the salt is on the road, it's pretty rust/rot free being a southern rig, but I can tell even one good winter would kick things into high gear. There is probably as much bare steel as there is coated frame-wise!

We'll have to figure something out sometime though, it was pretty fun wandering the Brown County area for something resembling a fire road...and there are certainly trails at the badlands that aren't body-damage intensive. That said, I'm not too familiar with the trails and their map system is non-existent.

Do you know if our TLCA chapter is at all active? Been meaning to re-join, but am not really one for the whole structured meeting thing if there's not a lot going on.

Chase,I might not even need that back cage for my cluster bezel..But that guy was nice and was ready to ship it to me-he don't need it most likely..So problem solved!!! I wish to know some people with cruisers around here it would be great..I have seen one time cruiser meet in Outer Banks,NC by the coast-there was a lot of FJ40s ..It was sweet...

Good to hear that Mike...I'm excited to hear how you like the Dakota cluster, keep us posted.

ha sempre um portugues em todo o lado

Must admit I'm not up on my Portuguese...that's well over my head!

 

[Weber Sarge]

I spent a lot of time in the Badlands and Brown county as well when I had my Samurai - still have a lot of friends in IN. and we keep in touch , truly a fun place to live . The outer perimeter trails of the Badlands aren't too bad for body damage and still plenty of fun for a day's run...
Sarge

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Just picked up my heater from powdercoating...pretty pleased with the turnaround, can't wait to get it together now:

 

[Snowdogyyz]

No worries and I don't blame you! I took mine out in the snow quite a few times last year and had to address some areas where my undercoat wasn't applied as well. I'm not getting mine out either this year. I already need to replace wheel wells and patch a spot on the rear floor. Don't need to add more to pay for!
We'll find a time when there's no salt/snow and meet up. Heater looks great!

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Got to work on a tire carrier I got in the classifieds...after getting the heater back I was inspired to get the parts out to have it blasted/coated. I'll rebuild it with new bushings from mcmaster and post the pn's, I've not been able to track any down searching here. Should be a pretty easy process, excited to get it back together and see how smooth it is!

 

[tlc762]

I think BostonFJ40 sells bronze bushings for both tire carriers and door/hood hinges. Might check that out.

HTH,
Will

EDIT: OOPs-try SouthBostonfj40.

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Finally got the blower motor and heater put back together, fairly pleased with the overall results. Was actually pretty surprised and disappointed at the metric TLC kits, it was almost as if I had the wrong kit so many of the mentioned items in the description were missing. I didn't try to get it sorted out with Shane so I can't complain too much, but it was missing the springs and obscure hardware that were of particular interest to me (and were mentioned in the kit instructions). Next time I'll take the time to put together a kit myself.

Also got the tire carrier parts back from powdercoat and have started putting that back together. Really pleased with the turnaround on the finish of it, it should be better than new by the time I get bushings in it and mount it:

Otherwise not too much going on...I'm about to start busy work season and will be lucky to even get these parts mounted before next fall!

 

[upperblack]

that's looks nice

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Finally got a day of work in and managed to finish a few things. Reinstalled the rebuilt heater, new blower duct (was originally missing), and rebuilt blower motor:

While doing this I flushed the cooling system, was pleasantly surprised to find fresh looking green antifreeze come out. Thankfully, upon refill, the heater blows hot air!

Next up was mounting the rebuilt tire carrier...it went on pretty easily and I'm pretty pleased with the hinges, feels like I've got room to grow on tire size if needed. I used oil impregnated bushings from mcmaster...it ended up taking a little work to get it all together, but I think the result is better than using the factory bushings. Instead of welding the pins back in (I think they were originally pressed in, my hinges had too much slop to allow this), I ended up using epoxy. I figured it was easier, and that I'd rather just have to heat everything up to rebuild vs. cutting in the future. If anyone is interested in the mcmaster part numbers let me know and I'll find what I used.

As can be seen, I also finally mounted my new Smokey Bear sticker!

Any thoughts on no hubcaps vs. on?

I'll probably leave them on, but thought it looked pretty cool with them off.

One last pic from the afternoon...need to get the apron emblems Brittany got me for xmas mounted, they're the early style (I much prefer them for some reason) so I need to locate and drill some holes:

Next up is refurbing the doors enough to mount them and hopefully getting it out on the road before too terribly long.

 

[SMG]

Chase,

Looking Good! Where about in Indy are you getting all of your powder coat done? I'm having to drive all the way to Mooresville and I need to find a place that's a little closer/convenient.

I am interested in a local TLCA as well.

Thanks
Steve

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

I've been going to Indy Powder Coating off of 10th street because it's just down the street from work. They have been really good...week or less turn around and I've thought pretty reasonable. I think the heater was $25 and the tire carrier $100 including some serious blasting on the tire carrier.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Looking good! I like the hubcaps on better. BTW- I met another 40 owner who lives around Whitestown. Plus my neighbor has a 79 we got running again. Maybe we need to start a 40 club in the spring!

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

So seeing the (seemingly decent) extended forecast I made the move to get el Caballo out of the garage...have been enjoying being back on the road with it for a little over a week. I got my second set of doors sprayed and mounted, am fairly pleased with the result, but will definitely have to replace the lower sheet metal in the future:

I tried a few weeks ago to get the rack mentioned in the thread below for the $39 steal that is detailed in it, but was only finding it for $70 locally:

Rack Idea for Stock Roll Bar (w/LEDs)

I've been trying to curtail the heavy spending of $$ on vehicles, so I opted to pass on it. However, to my astonishment, at hearing of my woes Brittany had signed up HF's email newsletter, found it in an ad, and bought it for me while I was away for work! Absolutely couldn't believe it when when I got home and she had it sitting in the living room for me, she's amazing ! So got on McMaster and ordered some spacers to delete the hitch mount on it...they worked out perfectly, pn: 92825A253...black LDPE spacers:

Finally, have been waffling over whether I wanted a Smittybilt console or to make one out of an ammo can, finally decided to do the ammo can because it will look cooler and ultimately be more secure:

It's a 40mm ammo can, roughly 19"x10"x6.5"...perfect for a late model 40. Just going to modify it to only hinge on one side and put a padlock on the front of it and call it good.

It could very well be that I'm the only one that got too excited and brought their 40 out this early, but any of the Indy guys want to try and meet for a beer or something next weekend?

 

[jim land]

hub cap on give a nice vintage look , but i prefer without cap , more business or military style

i love my ammo box - console , cheap and it give a nice military touch , i gest i like military stuff

by the way i love the color of your 40 , it give a nice , you know what

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Been really enjoying having the cruiser out, hasn't missed a beat in ~800km since getting it back out. Seems other people have had the same idea...saw a great looking 60 at Chipotle a week or so ago. Unfortunately rode with a coworker so I wasn't in mine! Took a pic, haven't seen it here before, but I don't frequent the 60 section:

Brittany also saw another 40 driving from work today:

Just got back the other night from a great couple day trip down to French Lick and Hoosier National Forest. It was the first Brittany and I both had gone down there and we were really pleasantly surprised with how nice it was. Obligatory cold morning leave shot...I swear I told Brittany to put on her headband to cover her ears!:

First spent an afternoon wandering around French Lick...definitely a different place, reminded us of a smaller scale Hot Springs. Went to the West Baden Springs Hotel, pretty cool:

Really difficult to get a picture that really captures what a big main lobby area it was. After going there continued to explore the town, but didn't really find too much. Grabbed a couple beers at '33 Brick Street', was a pretty decent pub. Ended up at our go-to though, a little mexican restaurant.

The next day we waited til it wasn't freezing (literally!) out, then hit the road toward the National Forest and particularly 'Hemlock Cliffs'. Drove across Patoka Lake and stopped to grab a shot at a little boat ramp:

After driving through a bunch of rolling farmland (and starting to wonder if we were actually going to find any trails), we finally started seeing brown 'Hemlock Cliffs' signs...before we knew it we were there!:

Couldn't believe how cool it ended up being (for Indiana :0). Really looking forward to planning a little better and bringing the tent now that we know there actually is something to do down there. Here are a few pics of our couple hours we spent in the area:

Was a great time...spent a few more hours wandering around the area, found some gravel roads for a little more driving practice:

Then pointed back north and grabbed a flight at Function Brewing in Bloomington before we made our way back up to Indy:

Can't wait for the next awesome trip with Brittany and el Caballo!

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Finally got to get the ammo can center console and rack mounted...they both took a helluva lot longer than I was hoping (wanted to get more done), but I'm pleased with the end result of both. For the ammo can I cut the rear lip off of one end to make it open more than 45*, welded that end closed, put a 1.5" U bolt in to make it lockable, and mounted it on 1x1 box on the rear to make it sit level. Here are a few pics...worked out perfectly with the shifter too:

Should work out perfectly because it's waterproof (obviously) as well.

Mounted the rack, ended up being a little more work than I anticipated, I ended up having to mount L-brackets to get the quick fists to reach nicely. Not sure if that may have been a 79+ vs. earlier thing or what, but I think it turned out nice. I used these quick fists:

http://www.polyperformance.com/Quick-Fist-Go-Between-Clamp

Many thanks to @Fast Eddy for posting about the rack originally!

Think both are going to be very useful!

Also, went outside a week or so ago and my spare had been stolen! So frustrated, if anyone is happening to be selling a spare black oem 15" let me know.

Next planned item is to build a real tailgate...Brittany and I got back from a run on a beautiful day and I was wishing we could drop the tailgate down and have a beer, think it will be very useful! If anyone has any leads or ideas on hinges/latches let me know, not looking to buy a factory tailgate because they're $$$ and won't serve the purpose any better.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Instead of the 'L' brackets, I widened the rack at the center so it spanned the whole distance. I still have some flat stock there to spread the load across the clamps.

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Okay that makes sense, I actually started to do that, but had already run to Lowe's once and didn't feel like going again for hardware after I found the original bolts wouldn't quite do it. Really like how it worked out, it's going to be very useful for longer trips.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Finally got to get the ammo can center console and rack mounted

Came soooo close to using the 40mm ammo can as well. Looks great and you have a waterproof container. Well done...

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Well, I'm happy and proud to say that a lot of priceless life experiences have occurred since I last updated this thread (shame on me for failing to do so). This '40 was in no small part a cause of Brittany and I deciding to cut the cord from the Midwest (Indycar racing was keeping us both in Indianapolis, dream jobs, not dream locale for us). After the 2016 race season (with some crazy nuance, will follow up with the background), we got the hell outta there and moved to Arizona! We've since put ~40k mi on the '40 exploring the SW, and have had a helluva good time doing it. Gonna drop a few photos from the initial transition and early days and then follow up with some adventure stories.

Dad and I unloading in Scottsdale after the cross country drive:

On that same very short trip, dad and I checking out some legends at the Penske museum:

First beautiful AZ dirt. Bulldog Canyon, just down the road from me, something that absolutely blew my mind and brought a sense of peace not often felt:

More to follow