J.yota

Hello, thought I'd share my FJ45 build up. Back story is I always liked/wanted an FJ40, but wanted the "truck" version as its way more useable and practical than the standard FJ. The FJ45 was never imported to my knowledge. I found someone in Australia willing to sell theirs, and import for me. Now I'm the proud owner, and have plans to restore it along with some minor modifications to give It better drivability.

Here's pics the seller sent me as it sat in Australia:






Here's the day I brought it home, officially in the U.S. now.





It runs and drives decent, but needs a lot of work. First job was rebuilding the brake system.





The tires were a little wide for my taste, so went with some new BFG 33X10.50's and a set of new OEM Toyota wheel and caps.




Did a bunch of other work while doing the brakes, like new U-Joints, rebuilt a lot of the steering linkage, fixed some crazy wiring etc.. Now its pretty road worthy. So its time for cosmetics. I'm having the truck striped and panel painted one piece at a time for a nice clean color change. Just starting that process:





I'm going with a Military Flat Desert Tan, this is done with a PPG base coat followed by DuPont Hot Rod Flat Finish Clear. Well see how the first few panels turn out in the next couple days.


While paint and body are dragging on, I decided to see if I could make the old 2F run a little better. Bought an HEI distributor conversion, and Weber 38/38 carb. Nice to ditch all the emissions stuff while I'm at it.




Well that's as far as I've made it. I'll post more pics daily as it progresses. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

That is a nice looking truck you got and having it imported from Australia, it should be a rust free truck. Just curios, was getting it thru customs very difficult? Looking forward to your build.

J.yota

I had a third party "shipping broker" handle the import issues. I will say import and shipping fee's exceeded the cost of the actual truck.

J.yota

Haven't had much time with School lately to work on her. However I did manage to complete the de-smog.


Nasty original carb and ignition system removed. The 2F still ran really well with this stuff tho.




I will say the Man-a-Fre Weber/Ignition combo was expensive, but it was a night & day difference. The motor starts and idles like it has fuel injection (don't even pump the pedal to start). Drove up the road behind my house, and feels much more responsive, and very noticeable power increase.


I was able to strip the body some more as well. I dropped the fenders, grill, and side panels off at the sand blaster today. Hate working with old paint/bondo. You may also notice I ditched the huge bumper it came with in favor of an OEM FJ front bumper too.





I'll be addressing some wiring issues next (needs a new Fuse block), I'll update that process soon.


If anyone's following, what do you think about the gray I chose for the wheels? I was thinking about painting the roof and front headlight surround to match wheels instead of the typical white roof/grill.

Nervo19

Subscribed. I like the gray. I love your truck.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

What color you going with the body? I am not color coordinated so dont know if the color of the wheels would match the color on the body now. I like the gray myself.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

Sweet truck!
What year is this?

J.yota

The color will be a flat desert tan, with gray headlight surround and roof. The tan is pretty similar to how military vehicles are finished. I'm thinking the gray could look good against it a flat tan.

J.yota

Thanks, I appreciate it. The truck is an 83'.

kawazx636

iTrader: (3)

I'm going to have to watch this one too!

old87yota

Wow! Very Cool! That looks like a fun project. Keep posting your progress!



- Jake

rustED

iTrader: (2)

Nice! Ive always wanted one of those! I like the grey as well, cant wait to see some more!

J.yota

Little update here, got the front clip back from sand blasting.


A few minor surprises showed up on the front fenders, but no rust. Everything else came out great, nice and clean.





One fender must have been cracked at one point. Will require some hammer work.





Front panels just got Epoxy primed.





Got all my paints $300+ later...





Flat desert tan, and dark gray for trim to match wheels.





Picked up a ton of tune-up related junk. Who knows when the last time all the fluids were done!





Have lots more to post soon.

J.yota

Latest update has been the steering linkage rebuild. Everything was pretty crusty and lose, so I bought all new.





Here's all the old linkage removed.





This is the center link that had about a half inch of play in it. I think it was the main cause of the "wonder" the FJ had.





Center Link all rebuilt.





Update on the weber conversion, here it is installed. Runs great right out of the box. Man-a-fre claims they're pre jetted for the 2F, seems to be the case so far.





And a pic. of the new header.





That's it for now. Hopefully I have more time this weekend to get the steering linkages installed on the FJ.

Janos01

Very nice truck sir. Looks like a fun off road vehicle.

jakey poo

I'm 100% jealous of your rig

J.yota

Been awhile since my last update, but I have got a few things finished. I was able to install all the new steering linkage, and made a huge difference. Drives very tight now, but not a fun job to do.



However, my steering woes continued when I found my power steering box leaking from a few areas. Never rebuilt one before, but it turned out ok.



All finished:



My latest issue has been with the electrical. Some genius decided to splice and cut into the fuse box for various “accessories”. His work wasn’t very good and was causing lots of glitches in the electrical system.



I found an updated (blade) style box on ebay. It just happened to bolt right to the factory location.



All wired in, no more electrical issues.



Still working on paint, got the front grill assembly finished. Also got a new emblem for it.



That’s it for now, hopefully have the front clip painted and reinstalled soon (next project anyways).

J.yota

Been a little tardy on the updates, but I’ve still been working on it every chance I get.


Latest update is the front clip being finished/painted.



Also got the bed off for paint. Got to make use of my “new to me” tractor.



Spent a bunch of time sanding the frame down for paint, and rebuilding the rear suspension.






Bed painted to match and ready for mounting





And here’s how she sits today.






My next project will be rebuilding/ painting the doors. I also need to send the differentials out for rebuild and re-gearing. The truck turns a lot of RPMS at 60 Mph, so I’m going to re-gear with 3:70’s over the 4:56’s it has now. I’ll probably have an Aussie locker installed in the rear while Im at it. I’ll post with those updates soon.

old87yota

Wow! That looks very nice! I love the paint scheme with the wheels and the black frame.

J.yota

Thank you, I wasn't sure how the "flat clear" paint system would turn out, but I'm liking it the more I use it.