Where to begin - Inherited my Aunt's 77 FJ40

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Ok my first success story to report. Its small but its first...I got the right turn signal tightened up. Nellie no longer has a lazy eye! Now I jist need to get it wired back up.

While I'm back at it I thought I would hook back up the rear license plate lights. The wires coming through the door both appear to be positive. Where do they get their ground? Anyone have a picture of correct wiring?

Thanks!
 
Sorry all! I didn't do my research enough before posting. Looks like the body of the light acts as the ground. Ill hook power back up and see what happens!
 
Install vent hoses on your diffs and clean them, then check for leaks - before you start replacing pinon seals. The infamous Toyota axle vent caps tend to plug with grime and cause pressure in the axles, and leaks. Pry off the caps, clean it all up, and install a section of 3/8" fuel line with a hose clamp.

If the apparent brake line leak in your photo really is a brake line leak, I would get right on that one. It looked like something above that fitting was leaking, so check that, too.
 
Although I obviously didn't know her, you had one cool aunt. Every kid needs an aunt like that.
 
I have a 10/76 FJ40 also, originally freeborn red like yours, and from Colorado too best I can tell. Funny enough my name is also Matt. I would be curious to know the VIN and engine serial number (see the thread in the Sticky section). Looks like a pretty good rig. No need to go crazy with it until you gain some understanding of how everything works.

Have you tried shifting in and out of 4Hi/Lo? If it's in 4Lo it'll be spinning near 4000 rpms at 45 mph or so.

I wouldn't worry too much about those leaks (except for the brake line one) until they start dripping on the ground. Wipe the area off and try to pinpoint the source of the leak. Stuff may be leaking just from not being driven much.

On the emissions stuff - keep it and get it in good working order, or take it off and store it away in a safe place, or sell it to someone who can use it. '77 has year-specific stuff and it's getting harder to find.
 
NellieFJ40 said:
Ok my first success story to report. Its small but its first...I got the right turn signal tightened up. Nellie no longer has a lazy eye! Now I jist need to get it wired back up.

While I'm back at it I thought I would hook back up the rear license plate lights. The wires coming through the door both appear to be positive. Where do they get their ground? Anyone have a picture of correct wiring?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

dsc_0007-jpg.868655

dsc_0009-jpg.868656


Borrowed from Colonelmustard.

Wire grounded on door, goes through the rubber grommet and then grounds to the fender. This wire breaks easily as the door is opened and closed a good bit.
 
Thanks mossman. Ill try to get to that next. Looks pretty straight forward.

Subzali thats hilarious. Our fjs must basically be twins! Ill get the vin and f2 number shortly. I am able to shift between h2 h4 and l4 so thats good. I was in h4 and now in h2 the truck does seem to be a bit peppier.

What are the emission things you're talking about? I have all her codot receipts showing the vehicle passed emissions testing. Pretty cool.
 
NellieFJ40,

So you've turned your first wrench on your new 40 !! Sometimes the simplest things turn into challenging projects ! Make sure you have good grounds on all of your electrical connections.

One thing I wanted to mention, for H4 and L4 you need to lock in the front hubs. If traveling in just H2, you should unlock your front hubs. You probably already know this, but thought I would mention it.
 
Thanks mossman. I had a general idea of how the hubs worked but it was based on my aunt telling me around 10 years ago! Good to have a better understanding of how they work.
 
White Stripe said:
I would expect to spend around 6k if you take that to a body shop to paint likely more like 8k. Any less than that and I would be a bit worried as to what kind of work they will actually do.
Click to expand...

White stripe and others I thought id get some info about this ballpark paint cost. I presume this includes taking care of the rust that can be seen in the photos? What about hinges, bumpers, wheels stuff like that? Obviously if I paint it and don't do those things it still wont look very good. How much would those things add.

Also whats the though on going to that level of effort but doing nothing to the frame. Make sense...is it ok? I just dont ever see a frame off resto in the works but would like it to be a nice looking usable vehicle. Also, im guessing that a color change really only works if you do a frame off (im not sire I would anyway as I think I want to keep it pretty much original to how my aunt bought it but would have a different color were I picking?
 
The emissions system includes the air pump, EGR system, vacuum switching valves and some other misc components. The VSVs in particular are unique to the 77 model year. They are mounted on the driver side fender and have electrical and vacuum hoses running to them.

I would encourage you seriously to try buffing the paint first. You might be amazed at how much it brings back. Also would encourage you to tackle the mechanical first as much as possible. In the mean time, Check out Awl_TEQs rolling body work project in the diesel section (i have to bring it home and pass inspection thread). It's an inspiration. Body work could cost upwards of 5-10k and take many months to complete.


...via IH8MUD app
 
Thanks Matt. I am planning to have, or do, mechanical things first and am also going to buff the paint. I'm going to do it by hand using meguires m7 mirror show car glaze preceded by claying the paint. After the m7 ill carnauba wax. I've read good things about this process. We'll see!

ill check out that thread as well.
 
In my opinion you could go through the effort of buffing the paint. But as it sits right now it has 35 years of patina. Once you buff that its gone forever. Some people like patina some people don't. It sounds like you want to paint it at some point. And it sounds like your gonna spend like 100 or so bucks polishing it. You could put that money toward a new paint job, or fixing mechanical things instead. Just an idea. I would write up a list of what you want to do and the costs so that you don't get sidetracked in whatever your goals are, and you get the most productivity out of your money and time.
 
I guess I just feel that at some point the rust needs to be addressed and thus a paint job will be necessary. If not for the rust I'm guessing I'd be fine with the original paint.

That said I'm not sure when the body work will take place so ill buff and wax it up for now. Gonna cost about 50 dollars I think so not too bad.
 
The worst of it looks to be the rear sill (typical spot), fender (typical), and below the doors at the body seam (also typical). You could do the repair in stages, and if you get the color to come back pretty decent could probably get a decent paint match without painting the whole rig.

Example of rear sill repair:
http://risingsun4x4club.org/forum2/showthread.php?t=7989&highlight=rear+sill

Could do something similar with the fender, but other options are out there like replacement fenders as well.

The seam below your door I think is a little more difficult as several body panels are sandwiched together at that location.

If you have a Cruiser shop near you they could probably do the rear sill by itself pretty reasonably.
 
Second minor success. Got the rear license plate lights back up and running. I know these things are so simple but they feel like success stories to me!



also someone had asked for a vin and engine serial number. Nellie's vin is 235201. Im not sure im looking at the right spot for the engine id. Is the photo of the right spot? If so what does that number tell us?


 
Welcome to MUD and please accept my most sincere condolences about your aunt. You have a star in heaven!!

I have only been on MUD for a few months and this place is absolutely fantastic. Every time I have asked for help or where to turn I am inundated with valuable advice on what to do or where to turn. You will love it here.

Have fun with Nellie she looks like a lovely lady!! Just like your aunt!!
 
That is the engine number. With that engine number you can find an approximate date of it's build...




NellieFJ40 said:
Im not sure im looking at the right spot for the engine id. Is the photo of the right spot? If so what does that number tell us?


Click to expand...
 
Pighead said:
That is the engine number. With that engine number you can find an approximate date of it's build...
Click to expand...
SOR has a quasi-list of engine production dates:
http://www.sor.com/catengine.sor

There is another one on MUD somewhere that is more comprehensive, but I can't find it right now-Poser maybe could help?

Just found it--search "cruiser Registry" looks like yours is somewhere in the 8/76 to 10/76 range-----https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/4x-series-registry.771909/#post-8802193
 
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