Build Wyoming 1979 FJ40

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Repainting the tub.

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Pulled the transmission and transfer case.

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40 years of grease and grime didn't come off easy. But I found some oven cleaner product and a steam cleaner worked pretty well. It was very messy.

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Had a local transmission shop replace all the seals on both. Hoping for no leaks when this all goes back together.

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I am curious did you reroute the exhaust or did you buy it that way. My 79 had the muffler/tailpipe replaced by the PO, the rest is still stock. I actually prefer it outside the frame versus under the skid plate or above which adds heat to the transmission, transfer case and the floor. Not to mention the fuel tank which stock exhaust had heat shield were in came back in the frame at the back corner of the fuel tank. Obvious you do not have emissions check otherwise the CAT would still to be there. Got my 79 past emissions but now in kept in a non emissions area.
 
@Living in the Past Mine already had a modified exhaust when I bought it. It was too close to the floorboard and there was no heat sheild so it was melting my shoes. So I had it rerouted to what you see in the previous photos. I am putting my rebuilt motor back in with headers and will redo the exhaust then. I've been wondering how to do it though since I do not have heat shields from the firewall back, except in the back where the muffler is.
 
Here is stock exhaust for 1/79-7/80 FJ40 in the US. Comes off the manifold and splits into two pipes. Goes under the frame just in front the firewall.
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Then up to the CAT with a single pipe.
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Runs outside the frame with a heat shield where by the tire.
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Runs under the frame with another heat shield where it's close to the fuel tank.
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Takes a 90° turn to the muffler.
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Like the factory routing except going out under the frame at the front. Other markets without a CAT it was routed like this.
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Believe the reason Toyota ran under the frame was keeping it away from footboard. 8/80 Toyota adding a heat shield by the floorboard and routed over the frame. Needs to be straightened but here is one of those heat shields.
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If you lived in Japan you could purchase the three pieces of exhaust that routes it over the frame and middle section is longer to bypass the CAT. With a 22 1/2 fuel tank do not feel the need for a second tank. Muffler in that location doesn't bother me.
 
Like the factory routing except going out under the frame at the front. Other markets without a CAT it was routed like this.
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Believe the reason Toyota ran under the frame was keeping it away from footboard. 8/80 Toyota adding a heat shield by the floorboard and routed over the frame. Needs to be straightened but here is one of those heat shields.
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If you lived in Japan you could purchase the three pieces of exhaust that routes it over the frame and middle section is longer to bypass the CAT. With a 22 1/2 fuel tank do not feel the need for a second tank. Muffler in that location doesn't bother me.
Yeah I agree with you. I was hoping to not have to route it under the frame but I was under there the other day and I'm not sure I see a way around doing it that way. I have man-a-fre two piece headers going back in. They collect just to the side of the oil pan. From there I think it will have to jump over or under the frame. Over will put it really close to the floor board. That is actually holding me up from getting it on the road again right now. I need to figure that out. I like that heat shield around the tire and tank. I wonder if any salvage yards have one of those available.
 
Finally got my rebuilt motor back. They had my motor for about 8 months and 7 of those months were waiting for parts. Man a Fre ceramic coated headers going on. Sniper EFI to come. The Y pipe on these headers is a mess and will have to be refabbed. Kinda wish I would have gone another route.

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Pulled everything off the firewall to refinish while coating the under side of the tub. Then put the motor back in. You end up doing a lot of removing, installing, test fitting, removing, installing over and over throughout a project like this.

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I'm already in this deep... decided to just replace my front fenders with some new old stock. I had to move some bracketry over from my old fenders So I could mount the coil, charcoal canister and washer fluid brackets.

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Test fitting the fender so I can take it back off. New hoses, rebuilt alternator, new water pump, sniper EFI part of the way installed. Took my radiator to get a good cleaning and found out it was toast. So new OEM radiator and refurbed shroud went back in.

I'd read a popular mod is a 60 series distributor and rod cover plate with recess for the larger distributor. So, while I'm in here....

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Looking really good. Keep at it!

What do you do for work out there? You could be building cruisers. 😉
Ha ha, thank you. I do Ecommerce. Been at it for more than 20 years now. My cruiser time has been a wonderful break from my desk job. I have a far from professional skill set, but thanks for the vote of confidence. I have really enjoyed learning as I go. Unfortunately that has often meant doing things two or three times before getting it right.
 
One of my big regrets was that when I bought this 40 years ago I immediately took out the old stock am/fm radio and put in a CD player. Some of you older guys will remember what a CD player was. Doing so required cutting the dash. It never looked right. So I welded the dash back up and installed a retro sound bluetooth enabled deck. I put one of these in my FJ55 I restored and it worked great. Fits in the space nicely with a little reveal between the stereo and pads and looks more period correct.

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