Builds Uglina is Back Thread ('78 Mustard FJ40) (1 Viewer)

[TEQ]

I'm sad now..............

Why sad? Life is good. It's all good!

 

[cooney]

Great looing rig. It's nice not having to deal with a lot of rust.

I couldn't find where you said what you paid for it? Do you not want to say? If not, how much was he asking for it?

 

[TEQ]

He was asking $18.5k. I got a much better deal.

 

[PabloCruise]

Here you go. Best I could do w/ out removing even more stuff.

Gracias Amigo!

Looks quite a bit different than the pic I posted...

Hopefully you are having fun with this! I know you got more work than you bargained for, but there is a very definite fellowship of handling these issues by yourself on a rig.

 

[Mikesta]

No problem! Just as long as it doesn't deteriorate like Bull's Albert 99 UZJ100 thread did...

No joke!

 

[TEQ]

Finally got some time to work on the 40 again. Two weeks ago I was stuck in offsite training...sitting in crappy hotel conference center chairs and had no energy to work in the eves. Then (because of those damn chairs) my back seized up last sunday and I was flat on my back with spasms for almost 3 days. Finally felt near 100% yesterday...

Today I fitted my air compressor to in-wall plumbing I had the contactror build into my garage when we built the house but I hadn't gotten around to hooking up yet. It's nice having the noise of the compressor on the other side of the garage...

My goal today was to make use of my new die grinder to wire wheel the rust off the 3.73 rear 3rd I bought from Yoda.

I wasn't sure how I was going to support the 3rd member while doing it, but eventually came up with a pretty creative solution (IMHO). I used at 2.5 gallon bucket (half height of a 5 gallon bucket) that I bought at Lowes (like Home Depot but better/worse) as a base for my work.

I cut the bottom out of the bucket using my Dremmel, leaving enough lip for bolt holes:

I thought I might need to bolt the 3rd in place on the bucket, but as it turned out the damn thing is heavy enough that it was really solid.

I then went to town on it with my grinder/wire wheel. However, I discovered that my air compressor just doesn't have enough capacity to continously drive the die grinder. Sigh. I should have bought a "real" compressor back when. Now this one will be going on craigslist...

 

[TEQ]

What to blast and what not to?

I have a bunch of steering, suspension, etc... parts that I want to repaint. I have to go out to the a place that does sand blasting this week to get my new wheels so I have decided to take a bunch of parts out there to get them sand blasted. I don't think I will have them powder coat them because I want to POR15/paint them.

I am not sure if it is wise to sand blast some of these parts, or if there is anything I should do special to prepare them for the best job.

- Disc brake calipers
- 3rd members (I assume my half-bucket method described in my previous post will protect the innards from dust sand. Correct?)
- Knuckle housings
- Prop shafts (with u-joints and spline ends still connected)

Any advice or thoughts?

 

[spotcruiser]

Clean them by hand and paint them. IMO, anything more is overkill.

 

[TEQ]

Clean them by hand and paint them. IMO, anything more is overkill.

Yea, I know that. But time is my critical resource. I have sooo much to do...

 

[Mr. Toad]

At some point you could send the distributor to Jim Chenoweth for a rebuild, and probably work out a swap with the '75 cab for a '78...

He doesn't have a '75 carb.* If he did, then there would be an AAP in the red circle instead of an empty housing for an AAP. The AAP appeared only on '75 carbs. The housing, however, remained until '78 production began (9/77).



*It could be a carb made in 1975 for the non-California market, since they lost the AAP at that time.

Nice truck, by the way. Mine's got fewer miles, is similarly original, but nowhere near as nice.

 

[TEQ]

Last night I got the old steering box off. Had to do the dance with the steering column (removing the 4 bolts in front of the brake pedal and the bracket that holds the column up) which I wasn't expecting, but it wasn't too hard.

I think this thing should be replaced. I think it's designed to break off in an accident? The rubber on it is pretty crusty and there is a bit of play in it (contributing to my steering play?). Should I replace it?

Turns out the rebuilt PS box I bought was the wrong model. CCOT put a mini-truck box on, and I bought one from a '79 FJ40. Oops. That'll delay getting the steering back together....

Maybe I'll just rebuild this box.... I saw anothe thread that indicated it was not too hard. Anyone know what gasket kit to get (given this is a mini-truck box)?

The good news is I got my new plates!

 

[got rocks]

i the like bucket. i am going to try that me self thanks

 

[AATLAS1X]

I second the bucket.............Thats thinking outside the "bucket"

 

[AATLAS1X]

Replace the mini with the 40 box, Just replace the pedastal IMO.

 

[TEQ]

Updated TODO list

Updated list of things todo in the rough order I will attack (changes in blue):

1. Tear down front hubs/knuckles (done)
2. Remove front 3rd member (done)
3. Finish removing oil pan gasket (done!!!!)
4. Remove old gasket material from diff covers (done)
5. Remove front steering components (tie rod, relay rod, etc...) (done)
6. Remove LF Fender (to access PS box) (done)
7. Remove old coolant hoses (done. Thanks Bull).
8. Clean, de-rust, and paint: 3rd members, steering components, knuckles...
9. Replace PS box (leaking badly) (box removed, sourcing gasket set)
10. Replace PS hoses (old ones off, sourcing new ones)
11. Rebuild hubs and knuckles
12. Drop tcase, fix Tranny/Tcase seal, rebuild as needed
13. Rebuild parking brake
14. install new clutch fork boot
15. Install 3.73 3rds with new gaskets & nuts.
16. Install 2.5" Lift Kit. OME Springs, Shocks, Shackles, etc…
17. Replace Tie rod and drag link ends
18. Rebuild center arm (Done!)
19. Replace stabilizer (got a new one from Bull)
20. Replace Tie Rod and Relay Rod (both bent)
21. Fix speedo cable/seal
22. New fill/drain plugs
23. Install new oil pan
24. Fix battery, frame, body ground wires.
25. Install new battery tray (requires drilling out a broken stud)
26. Install new hoses
27. Install new Fan & AC Belts
28. Install my Tuffy box
29. Fix rear heater fan
30. Clean frame rails (full of mud)
31. Put my new OEM steel (freshly poweder coated!) wheels on
32. Drive away

Stuff I've decided to defer simply because I have way too much to do and they were just "nice to haves while I'm in htere":

• Replace rear drum pads
• Replace front disc pads
• Drop Tranny/Tcase
• Replace clutch
• Replace rear main seal
• Reinstall Tranny/Tcase

 

[TEQ]

OEM Steel Wheel Porn

I popped out to Preston this morning to pick up my wheels from the powder coater. They turned out absolutely fantastic! I am sooo pleased with the quality of the finish and the color!

The wheels were purchased through cdan at American Toyota. They came to me "primered"...as it turns out the primer Toyota uses is actually powder coat. So they did not need to be blasted before I had them powder coated.

It was tough picking a grey, but I eventually settled on RAL 7040 by Tiger Drylac.

These were done by Powdervision, Inc. in Preston, WA (www.powdervision.com) who also provides sand blasting services. J.R. Still is the owner and he's great to work with and obviously does high quality stuff.

 

[PabloCruise]

I have a bunch of steering, suspension, etc... parts that I want to repaint. I have to go out to the a place that does sand blasting this week to get my new wheels so I have decided to take a bunch of parts out there to get them sand blasted. I don't think I will have them powder coat them because I want to POR15/paint them.

I am not sure if it is wise to sand blast some of these parts, or if there is anything I should do special to prepare them for the best job.

- Disc brake calipers
- 3rd members (I assume my half-bucket method described in my previous post will protect the innards from dust sand. Correct?)
- Knuckle housings
- Prop shafts (with u-joints and spline ends still connected)

Any advice or thoughts?

I am not sure I would media blast disc calipers - might be hard to get the media out afterwards, and then your calipers are junk...

 

[TEQ]

I am not sure I would media blast disc calipers - might be hard to get the media out afterwards, and then your calipers are junk...

That's what I kinda figured. I'm going to just have the rusty 3rd members blasted. Everthing else will be easy for me to clean. But I'm off to Istanbul for a week and not much will get done until I get back anyway

I wonder if there are many cruisers in Turkey? If I see any I'll take pics...

 

[TEQ]

I have been unable to work on the rig for over a month. This weekend I finally got a chance to do a bit... Not a ton of progress, but at least it's forward...

Pictures below...

• Installed new cooling hoses. Had to unbolt the radiator and move it aside to do this. I was able to get my battery tray bracket off as well...I
• Ground off a nut on my battery tray bracket that had a bolt snapped off. Now I need Bull to come by and weld on a new nut for me.
• Removed the driver's seat, fuel tank cover, and cleaned up under there the best I could. This is all in preparation for installing my tuffy box and the refubished heater Shane (aatlasx) is building for me.
• Cleaned the bolt holes for the oil pan bolts... I was going to put the new pan in today, but I broke my last dremel wheel removing that nut from the battery tray bracket...and I need to slot some studs to assist in installing the pan (per Poser). All stores closed today so no dremel parts...

Two Quesitons:

1. How do I deal with the minor surface rust on my floor without stripping and repainting the whole floor? (2nd to last picture)
2. The hole in the floor where the gas line goes...what should I plug that with? (Last picture).

 

[spotcruiser]

1. Scrape/brush off the loose rust/paint. Treat it with phosphoric acid (Jasco metal prep, available at Lowes). Touch up the paint.

2. Why plug it? Is there an extra hole there? There should be two hoses going through there.

HTH.
Todd Bull.

[*]How do I deal with the minor surface rust on my floor without stripping and repainting the whole floor? (2nd to last picture)
[*]The hole in the floor where the gas line goes...what should I plug that with? (Last picture).