My FJ40 Buildup
03-13-2006, 08:10 PM
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My FJ40 Buildup
Well, its already been about 2 years since I picked it up, and work is still going on slowly but surely. Figured I'd go back to the beginning and run you through what I've been up to, including the last couple of weeks when I've been particularly busy....
First things first- what she looked like when I bought her off another local WA yotatecher, my 1973 FJ40. At this point, I had purchased and installed a new Bestop soft top:
First things first- what she looked like when I bought her off another local WA yotatecher, my 1973 FJ40. At this point, I had purchased and installed a new Bestop soft top:
03-13-2006, 08:14 PM
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I initially began working on the body, inside and out. There was a fair amount of rust in spots, so the plan was to strip the interior down to bare metal, primer, and coat with bed liner:
03-13-2006, 08:20 PM
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Here's making progress on the back half, plus a particularly nasty spot in the passenger side footwell:
Last edited by Mad Chemist; 03-13-2006 at 08:22 PM.
03-13-2006, 08:34 PM
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Welded in new metal in that bad patch, then got everything ready for bedliner. Used Duplicolor's version of bedliner, with a 15 dollar undercoating spray gun from Harbor Freight. That way it'll be nice and easy to hose the inside out after a day of wheeling!
03-13-2006, 08:44 PM
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Once the bedliner/interior was sprayed, I moved on to repainting the outside. I've helped my dad paint cars when I was a kid, so I knew that a good paint job is mostly in the prep work. It took about 3 months spending a few hours here and there to prep the body for paint. I used original "Dune Beige" single stage paint (doesn't have a clear coat), sprayed with an HVLP paint gun I picked up from Harbor Freight. It came out okay for a trail rig- plenty of orange peal and a few runs, not surprising for my first paint job. There was no room in the garage I had at the time, and it was November, so it was hard to get the right mix of paint to spray. The upside is that single stage paint is real forgiving, so I have reworked some spots with wet sanding and buffing. Don't want it to look too pretty, or I'll be afraid to scratch it!
03-13-2006, 08:47 PM
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The stock seats are pretty short for a tall guy like myself, so I fixed that with a shiny new pair of Corbeau bucket seats, which are set up for use with a harness when I finally get this thing offroad:
Last edited by Mad Chemist; 03-13-2006 at 08:50 PM.
03-13-2006, 08:55 PM
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Installed a new beefier rear tire carrier from JT Outfitters to hold (eventually) 35" tires with style. The stock tire carrier wouldn't hold up to the heavier tire. Also picked up a new front "Hell For Stout" front bumper, with a winch plate that will hold an M8000 winch eventually.
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03-13-2006, 09:08 PM
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The basic deal is that my fj40 already had a 327 small block chevy installed, retaining the stock 3 speed transmission and transfer case. The 3 speed was junk and I wanted an automatic for wheeling. So, a quick order from Advanced Adapters and I got a shiny new adapter to mate a GM turbomatic (TH350) transmission to the 3 spd. transfer case, which has pretty good gearing relative to the fj40 transfer cases that came out in later years. A Hurst shifter with reverse lockout to finish things off. The TH350 is one of the shorter(est) automatic transmissions out there, which is critical for a swap into an fj40. As it is, I'll be relocating the rear axle further back to give myself more of a driveline. The th350 bolts up to most, if not all, small block chevy engines. The one I got was out of a '78 Monte Carlo. While it was still easy to do on the bench, installed a Stage 1+2 shift kit from B&M to improve the shifting of the transmission.
Last edited by Mad Chemist; 03-13-2006 at 09:34 PM.
03-13-2006, 09:24 PM
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By far the biggest project I've ever undertaken, but thats whats fun about it. "JRUZ," another yotatechie, graciously let me use his engine hoist, and I purchased a load balancer (Harbor Freight) to help pull the old engine out after removing the radiator, hood, front clip...
03-13-2006, 09:32 PM
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While I had the engine out, decided to tackle a couple of other projects. To my surprise, after removinge the clutch pedal and slave cylinder, and brake booster and master cylinder, I found dune beige paint underneath! Apparently, without my knowledge, I had painted the vehicle back to its original cover. Obviously with no need for a clutch, fabbed up a little cover plate to prevent any drafts in the cab, and installed a used brake booster and 1" master cylinder from a 94 4runner. This will be the first part in upgrading the brake system from drum brakes to disc brakes front and rearl
03-13-2006, 09:41 PM
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The 327 that was in there was burning a fair amount of oil, so I spent a week or so swapping out parts/accessories onto a newer 350 V8 out of an '84 Van. The 327 was real popular for fj40 swaps in the 70's because they were real abundant at the time. Not a whole lot different from the 350, the 350 has a slightly longer stroke I think. Purchased a new torque converter rated for ~1400 RPMS, the lower RPMs the less heat build up. So, got the 350, adapter, th350 and toyota transfercase together and ready to put back into the vehicle.
03-13-2006, 09:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Mad Chemist
Well, time to get some sleep, but I'll try to update everybody again in a few days when I hopefully get a few more things done on it....
this is awesome!
i really like the interior coating and the paint job, from the pics you posted it looks really good! oh, and those seats look nice and comfy too
good luck with the rest of the build, i'll be watching...
Lookin' good.....
03-14-2006, 06:31 AM
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Thanks for the encouragement guys! I've gotten discouraged at a couple of points, and it sat collecting dust for a few weeks at a time. After getting the engine running again, doing the spring over axle (SOA) lift) will be next on the list, and that will entail a few other side projects along the way. That's when it'll really start looking mean... 
