What order to put together front end FJ40

[Shes Mad]

I have put a lot of cars and trucks back together from frame offs, but never an FJ40. Everything has "Tricks" for order of assembly and alignment. I don't know the FJ40 "Tricks"

I have the body on the frame, all the brakes, steering, linkages hooked up, engine and trans are in. I have not bolted the body down tight yet, but all bolts are in place.

So now we come to the front end. Bib, Aprons, fenders, hood all join together in a couple dozen places. What order of assembly works best, or has worked for you all. Is there a common place where you will have to add shims?

I tried Fenders, Aprons, bib, hood. Definitely didn't work.

Should I bolt the body tight, or leave it loose. Bib and Aprons were not aligning, so I am thinking the bib and aprons should be bolted together, then put on. Align them with the hood, then put the fenders on. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. Just looking for advice from those of you who have done this, to try and save time. I know I have to take it all apart again to paint, but I have to get it to fit first.

Everything is OEM except the CCOT fenders.

HELP

 

[toomanytoyzz]

You can search on this site to get feedback on the aftermarket fenders for the FJ40's. When they come to fitment they are known to be pretty bad. Just like the jigsaw puzzle you mentioned if one section doesn't fit correctly it will trickle down to the others. How where the lines before you removed the front end/body? Obviously if they were out of whack before tearing it down they're not going to fit good now. As for tricks, I have always installed the fenders first, then the bib followed by the aprons and hood. I never used aftermarket fenders before so I can't comment. I can comment to the reason I never bought them is because of the fitment problems. Since it isn't painted you can use a little more elbow grease to get them all lined up.

 

[Shes Mad]

The cruiser wasn't fully assembled, so I don't know about the lines. I took a rusty cruiser with a good drivetrain, and rebodied it with a pretty good, but not fully assembled body

 

[Fast Eddy]

I tried Fenders, Aprons, bib, hood. Definitely didn't work.

That's the right order. You're going to have to beat on those CCOT fenders and auger out all the mounting holes. It would really help if you had another rig you could measure off of.

If you've built other things in the past and been worried about gaps, toss that out the window. fj40s do not have tight gaps.

 

[Shes Mad]

If you've built other things in the past and been worried about gaps, toss that out the window. fj40s do not have tight gaps.[/QUOTE]

LOL--I kind of figures that on the gaps. They are BIG

Thanks for the reply

 

[tmarx]

Bolt the tub down first and then go in the order as mentioned ..

2c

 

[NikP]

Bolt the tub down first and then go in the order as mentioned ..

2c

I wouldn't bolt the tub until its all lined up. I had to unbolt my tub when my hood came down with about a 1.5 inch off-set to the bib and fender aprons. I had to do a little shifting on the tub to make it square. I was amazed how far off it was with just a slight tub misplacement.

 

[Shes Mad]

I wouldn't bolt the tub until its all lined up. I had to unbolt my tub when my hood came down with about a 1.5 inch off-set to the bib and fender aprons. I had to do a little shifting on the tub to make it square. I was amazed how far off it was with just a slight tub misplacement.

Good Call NikP!!!!!

That is exactly what my first problem is. I thought I was cracked---didn't think about shifting the tub

 

[mattcamp]

Don't tighten any bolts untill you feel comfortable with placement, have it all together, tub goes first, next fenders, leave the four bolts on each side that go into the frame loose... tighten the fenders to the tub with the two bolts on the downslope of the fenders( you can tighten these if they line up nicely)...put the bib on but leave it it laying forward for now, bolts still loose, then put your aprons on loosely,... with the hood on the ground or on saw horses attach the hinges( if you try to set the hood on the rig and then put the hinges on you will want to pull your hair out) you shouldn't fully tighten them, but don't leave them sloppy. OK, next lift the bib and line up the aprons and fenders and tighten everything together but not yet to the frame.. At this point the bib, aprons,fenders and tub should be attached to each other, but nothing should be tightened to the frame, set the hood on and line it up....you can mount it to the cowl and if it lines up ok, tighten it down, lift the hood and tighten the hinges(new rubber gaskets are cheap) make sure everything is ok, lift and close hood, make adjustments as needed, then go ahead and tighten the body to the frame, if doing this changes the hood placement, loosen and adjust or you can carefully shim.....easier to adjust though............good luck hope that helps, it works for me although no fj40 will line up perfectly, they just don't..-Matt

 

[cuencanolenny]

My 1970 has been repainted, at least once. It desperately needs a good paint job, which of course means taking it all apart, stripping paint, fixing hinges, etc. I see that there is some kind of welting between the fenders and aprons, bib, etc. I would say it is about 1-1 1/2" wide and 3/16" thick. It "appears" to be very similar to the welt that is installed between rain gutter and body. Is this something a previous owner added to make up for gaps (it still has gaps)? I will presume that once the body is painted (and I lean towards individual pieces so that it is off the chassis for painting) the glass is re-installed after everything is tightened up.
With regards to the individual vs assembled I note that CCOT states they primer everything, assemble it and then paint the top coat.

 

[PWCO70crusier]

I'm assuming you're talking about the rubber gasket between the apron and the cowl, that is stock. They are available online at several of the retailers. they do help with the gap, but also any body flex.

 

[cuencanolenny]

Thank you. I find this welting between the fenders and bib, fender and apron, fender and kick panel. CCOT advised that they do not sell such a product. I had mentioned that I think I could use the stuff they sell at the roof to body, just trim to fit. But it is expensive to ship stuff like that down here. However, the nature of my question is that I see many Cruiser paint job pictures and there is no welting and no mention of it and none shown on the parts diagrams. I agree with you that it appears to do a fine job of gap filling and keeping parts from rubbing against each other. In my case they painted over the welting which looks bad, in my opinion.

 

[TimOrmondBeach]

Don't tighten any bolts untill you feel comfortable with placement, have it all together, tub goes first, next fenders, leave the four bolts on each side that go into the frame loose... tighten the fenders to the tub with the two bolts on the downslope of the fenders( you can tighten these if they line up nicely)...put the bib on but leave it it laying forward for now, bolts still loose, then put your aprons on loosely,... with the hood on the ground or on saw horses attach the hinges( if you try to set the hood on the rig and then put the hinges on you will want to pull your hair out) you shouldn't fully tighten them, but don't leave them sloppy. OK, next lift the bib and line up the aprons and fenders and tighten everything together but not yet to the frame.. At this point the bib, aprons,fenders and tub should be attached to each other, but nothing should be tightened to the frame, set the hood on and line it up....you can mount it to the cowl and if it lines up ok, tighten it down, lift the hood and tighten the hinges(new rubber gaskets are cheap) make sure everything is ok, lift and close hood, make adjustments as needed, then go ahead and tighten the body to the frame, if doing this changes the hood placement, loosen and adjust or you can carefully shim.....easier to adjust though............good luck hope that helps, it works for me although no fj40 will line up perfectly, they just don't..-Matt

Matt - this thread was many years ago but I am currently going through the process. There is one bolt that attaches to the bottom of the fender and running board. Do you leave the running boards loose also during your recommended process or install them after everything else it tightened down? Thanks!

 

[rstoddard]

Matt - this thread was many years ago but I am currently going through the process. There is one bolt that attaches to the bottom of the fender and running board. Do you leave the running boards loose also during your recommended process or install them after everything else it tightened down? Thanks!

I’m also researching/resurrecting this old thread. I had to replace my front bib a while back, and I now realize that everything seems to be totally out of alignment. There seems to be a 1/2” height difference on the bib/fender from the passenger side to the driver side.

You know the bib only connects to the hinge on the bottom front, so it is prone to misalignment if the fenders/aprons are out of alignment. So I’m trying to figure out if there is s trick to making sure the fenders and aprons are level right to left. I guess it’s just a matter of measuring and pushing/bending them to make sure the align properly height-wise, otherwise the bib will show any misalignment.

 

[pb4ugo]

The fender frame mount holes have slots so you can adjust vertically. When I put my dog house together, I 1st made sure the aprons fit tight to the fenders. I found some of the apron holes were distorted and created slight gaps between the fender and apron. Then I assembled the dog house loosely. I think the bib adjustment is the key. The bib hinge adjusts left, right and up and down. The frame is angled where the hinge mounts. I put the hood on and adjusted it to the cowl, then adjusted the bib to the hood.

 

[zerotreedelta]

I think the main quirk is that the hood is the most "immovable" as to both the left/right gap as well as the front-to-back "pitch" where it meets the cowl.

I had to argue with my replacement reproduction fenders a bit (the apron didn't align all that well with one based on how it was stamped) - but I found you needed to install all the bits while keeping the majority of it loose and working it into place, then locking things down bit by bit.

They're not perfect either, so you do have to pick your battles somewhat. I focused on the hood line where it meets the cowl as well as the hood corners where it met the bib, as those are what draws the eye the most.