1977 FJ40 Colonel Mustard

wesintl · Feb 8, 2026

Maiden voyage to the gas station

Out of the garage for the first time

Good oil pressure and temp gauge working.

MDH33 · Feb 9, 2026

Thats amazing, and youre fast! Whats next?

rover67 · Feb 9, 2026

Freakin fantastic!!!!!!!

wesintl · Feb 9, 2026

Troubleshooting the 2F

Mouse house eviction from the OEM Muffler!

wesintl · Feb 9, 2026

Well, Wyatt thinks I like working on them more than driving them. I really did like this project because I was using a later 83 2f but making it look period correct and grafting them together. The plan was to use 1977 ignitor and distributor but I could not deny how much nicer the big cap dist is and it's better matched and more efficient to the later flat top piston engine. I'm happy I kept that slight change.

I still need to tidy a few things up in the engine bay. I need a short side rad support rod, fan shroud, mesh to put the TOYOTA emblem on. Fix the turn signal wiring on one side. I should replace all the vacuum hoses.

I have door and ambi door weather stripping to install. That's mostly next.

After that:
Seat belt webbing needs to be replaced. The sun killed the stretch of webbing
Seats recovered
New suspension
Door cards
Door runs
Knuckle Job
TRE's
Fix/adjust parking brake
I may have to replace rear wheel cyls. They were crunchy when bleeding but they seem to work ok now. I'll keep them on the radar.
I'm on the fence about painting the instrument cluster needles. It's a balance of patina and cleaning things up.
Probably back to OEM front Bumper

Hulk · Feb 9, 2026

Bumper that's set up for an 8274 winch.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

Jacket · Feb 10, 2026

Impressive Wes. That body is super clean.

wesintl · Feb 10, 2026

He’s legal.

Got lucky, this engine runs really well and I set it at 7*tdc for emissions test. It was a little advanced before hand. The vacuum guage reads 16 steady which is a good indication of health as well.

I can confirm they didn’t lift the hood for any visual and they only verified the presence of a gas cap before the 2 speed idle test.

I think I need to clean the heater core. It’s a wonderful mouse

piss smell

. I guess the 2 speed sniffer doesn't test for hantavirus...

Capriblue45 · Feb 10, 2026

I'm surprised they didn't run it on the rollers. The tech in Longmont tried to keep my 45 on pace with the undulating line twice before they had someone who knew how to speed shift an old 4 speed took over.

wesintl · Feb 10, 2026

81 and older is just the 2 speed idle so no rollers, 81+ rollers. I made sure i got that confirmation when i got out but the look the guy gave me made me think i was speaking in pig latin.

nakman · Feb 12, 2026

Wes next time tell her not to paint the hard top & wheels…. The rest looks great!

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUnzQcxk1nl/?igsh=NXpmOWM1b3JvZHdq

wesintl · Feb 12, 2026

I'm going to grab my dustpan brush and get on the restoration right away. It's amazing it went from a square bezel 40 to a round bezel . :lmao:

wesintl · Feb 13, 2026

The needles bothered me too much being faded out. Testors upgrade complete.

Corbet · Feb 13, 2026

wesintl said:
I'm going to grab my dustpan brush and get on the restoration right away. It's amazing it went from a square bezel 40 to a round bezel .

Wes squarely focused on those headlights.

wesintl · Feb 24, 2026

It only took a week for the slave to go out. I tried to clean it out but it kept leaking. The clutch master started to weep just slightly as well so I replaced the master, slave and hose with aisin.

wesintl · Feb 24, 2026

The warn hubs were missing nuts and a few Allen bolts on the cap. The cap came off on the road and I went back and picked it up but it got run over and squashed a few springs. It was a good time to upgrade to some city racer long body repro asco’s

wesintl · Feb 24, 2026

I have some OEM fog’s with an OEM bumper to see how it all looked. We had an extra bezel that was black from the green roller. I tried some rust oleum shell ivory on it. Seems a little creamier than oem and the cygnus would probably match the top and flares better. Long term I'd like to get rid of the flares and weld some metal to get back to stock fender openings but that is further down the road.

Crash · Feb 24, 2026

Looking great, @wesintl. Do you have one of City Racer’s TOYOTA badges for the radiator screen?

wesintl · Feb 25, 2026

The Radiator screen has been messed with and cut. The bar that holds the TOYOTA badge was cut out and overall length shortened. I'm missing 2 pieces to finish this build, a radiator fan shroud and the proper screen. I found them and paid but it's been a month. I'll get them though it's just taking a bit.

I have a knuckle rebuild kit and TRE's. I'll clear the TRE's this time. Its really down to a suspension and recovering the seats.

I'd love to hear feedback on suspension. I've had OME, and Wyatt's 40 has procomp springs and i'm used to SOA. Seems Nolen and a few others like the TT Parabolic springs now and before that Dobinsons IMS. It's always a trade off to have it drive nice around town but then if loaded up for the desert it needs to hold some weight. When we took wyatts truck hunting the poor procomps literally flattened the shackle. Rides great with no weight. I have rear OME heavy springs cs002r's but i'm not married to them enough to force me to buy the rest of the kit just yet.

wesintl · Feb 25, 2026

A shot of the gauges in the cruiser

1977 FJ40 Colonel Mustard

Moderator

Hard Core 4+

Rising Sun Member

Moderator

Moderator

RS Webmaster

Moderator

Moderator

Attachments

Rising Sun Member

Moderator

Rising Sun Member

Moderator

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Attachments

Rising Sun Member

Moderator

Moderator

Attachments