This week, I became even more comfortable about my rig & its upcoming rebuild.
Shown above would be a close representation of the backside of my own 1979 FJ40. This is not an actual picture, but an image from one that I recently extracted from the Internet (belonging to whom, I've no clue, as it was not identified), and I recreated its hue of color & what you see here through Photoshop (this '77 is a differently painted vehicle, located far elsewhere). This made image reflects what the rebuild of mine is to basically look like. Hence : *My Road Map.*
The rest of my vehicle will be heavily OEM, Toyota factory parts, many of which are original to the vehicle, and still in fantastic, useable condition. And there will be other components, already purchased, that are performance-enhancing for the vehicle (specifically a kit purchased from Man-a-Fre that incorporates ceramic coated headers, a DUI electronic distributor, and a 38D Weber carb). Most likely, I'll utilize all new fasteners throughout, many of which will be stainless steel. Others will be yellow-zinc plated that I will have further coated in black or olive drab chromate - from a coating facility here in Georgia. There will be a new wiring harness installed, perhaps via
@Coolerman. And all of the vehicle's rubber will have been completely replaced (I already have most all of it). There will be absolutely no rust on the vehicle, whatsoever. Its engine & valve head have already formally gone through a machine shop, local to me - and are in fantastic condition & supposedly in perfect working order.
The vehicle will have ARB air-lockers both front & rear. Will have a unique rear tail gate, made from steel, that I have already designed & fabricated (looks almost like a cattle gate). It will be ideal for when the roof has been removed - and will also function well with the roof on (clear, see-thru vinyl will be bordered by canvas & hung like that of a soft-top side from the topside of the vehicle's rear opening). And I will have fabricated a heavy-duty arm rest that straddles up & over the factory floor tray (located in between the two front OEM seats). The arm rest will support my three dogs & their abusive toe nails, when they stand on it or climb from front-to-back, and will be made of a thick oak, custom shaped, horizontal rest, supported by two, vertically oriented, 1.375-inch dia steel plumbing pipes (one just fore of the floor tray, and one just aft), that mount to the floor and wood of the arm rest via steel pipe flanges.
The rear wheel flares you see here will be needed. My wheel wells had been trimmed-out by the vehicle's previous owner, way back when, that white flares could be installed. These flares had become cracked over time at the location of some of the rivets, and I now have brand new white ones on hand. However, I'll be going with yet different ones, that being of black (as shown above).
My tires will be 33x10.5x15 BFG AT's on OEM steel wheels, painted dark steel gray, via an OME 2.5-in lift.
The Jerry can holder will be a 3-can basket from 4-Plus products, mounted to a mirrored, tube-type OEM spare tire carrier, that has already been modified, by me, for this specific purpose. The hinges for this mirrored tire carrier will be reinforced via a pair of steel plates on the inside rear wall of the tub. The vehicle's front bumper will sport a bush guard, and both will likely be from 4-Plus.
The logo seen on the spare tire cover is that of my own - it's my very own Skydog (a strong, loving, adventurous winged dog). This same logo will also be depicted upon the vehicle's two kick vents. As depicted in this image, each kick vent will be painted in Toyota's 'Sky Blue,' the native color of my vehicle. And on top of that, I will then hand-paint the Skydog logo (as seen on the spare tire cover), with the winged dogger facing forward on each side of the vehicle. I will further do this same, in miniature scale, for the small, circular aluminum cap that tops the Toyota factory ball of the gearshift lever.
The '40 of mine has been garaged and not driven for over two decades now. It was previously driveable, but before getting it back onto the road, I was eagerly wanting to remove any rust, which there was some. And I wanted to make sure all rubber, throughout, was okay. Well, one thing led to another, and I ended-up dissembling the entire vehicle, that I could carefully remove each speck of its cancer (not at all bad, but enough so that I wanted it gone). And I exactly did. The vehicle instantly became a full-rebuild. Every single nut & bolt, from the entire vehicle, was removed. All such fasteners and each of the vehicle's smaller parts, were placed into zip-loc bags of various sizes, etc. I've cleaned & repainted a good number of these, but have lots & lots more to go. Dissembled for a couple years now - the project has simply been that of a $$$-issue. Where as previously, it was merely a matter of zero-priority, as I was living out-of-state.
I've honestly studied all of the OEM BJ40 / FJ40 colors, literally collecting 1,000's of '40-series pics along the way. Without initially realizing, I've compiled an impressive library out of it all, all sorted by year & color, etc. There's not one of the OEM colors I dislike. Not one. I have found that each color, in its own way, looks good & attractive. Most recently, I've heavily considered 'Buffalo Brown,' with a Big Thanks to one of the more wise MUD members on this board. He gave me some solid food for thought, and I chewed on it hard.
Wanting to keep my rig for the long-haul, I could never come to terms with any one particular OEM color.
Yet, I too am keenly wanting to maintain & present to the public the *Heritage* of this fine, trusted, awesome vehicle. ... I've truly been at a loss.
The actual paint of mine will likely be a single stage from PPG's Commercial Fleet / Industrial line, and will match that of a not-too-long-ago repainted Army Cobra Attack helicopter, Cobra 826, which is currently maintained & proudly flown by the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation (AAHF). The color of this machine looks really cool to me, and I always feel at ease when near it. The color most definitely represents the 1970's, and well into the 80's, as well as way into the World's past (Germany made heavy use of it during the 30's & 40's). The color is timeless. It's hue changes in different light - from an olive greenish color (even more green than that above, which is an image of mine), to a bronzeish-tan (like that below, which is also an image of mine), to an almost copper-bronze (like that of the highlight areas pictured in the 2nd image below, which is further an image of mine). I envision my own '40 as being a reflection of this color - which is actually NOT Army Olive Drab, but one from Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings, called 'Black-Gray' or perhaps 'Gray-Black' (not sure yet which). A color seemingly very close to this, that I've found through research, is RAL 6006 'Gray-Olive.' Either way, I can't imagine the FJ40, and its heritage, not looking classy, tough, masculine, and good, via this route. And it would keenly represent *me.*
An air-to-air image of mine of 826 that sports the contrast between shadowed areas and highlights :
And the previously posted front side of what I conceive to be a vehicle to take me deep - - into the rest of my life :
~Skydog
~Skydog.
