Sprout - Rustic Green 1976 FJ40

[madorbit]

Today saw some progress and a solid facepalm. I cannot, for the life of me, find the little blue lens for the high beam indicator. I hope I stumble across it ugh. So mad at myself.
In other news. I went back to the paint shop, and Chip, my paint guy, was able to dump more yellow into the quart and get super close to the original color. I should be able to spray another round to check it out again. I decided I would rip off the front clip because it’s bound to happen eventually. Bagging up the bolts, the usual suspects broke but nothing that didn’t just have a regular nut.

 

[madorbit]

Since this 40 has never been disassembled as far as I can tell, I’ve been taking note of the curious methods of the paint crew on the assembly line...
It appears that they assembled the vehicle in primer then painted it. There’s very clear indications of areas that have little to no topcoat.

 

[madorbit]

it’s a little hot out today, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do ANYTHING! Let’s have a look at these knobs...

And a final wipe with some WD40...

 

[madorbit]

Few things in the process of restoring a rust bucket are as satisfying as picking things up from the sand blaster. Ahhhh. This is a powder coating profile, so it’s a little more coarse than usual, but that means my epoxy primer will really stick well and the heat from blasting stays lower. This thick sheet metal is going to benefit from the deep clean. These parts look absolutely stunning.

 

[madorbit]

Moving right along... we are way more disassembled than we were in September.
She’s been moved to the garage for the winter and major tear down has begun.

 

[madorbit]

Just taking things apart and carefully taking notes... I’m dedicated to keeping as many of the original details in tact.

a little radiator bracket fix was in order. No biggie...

it’s nice to have found an example of an FJ40 that really just needs some elbow grease to really come to life.

 

[madorbit]

Since I have this beast on stands I decided to pull the axles out and it just spiraled out of control from there...

I picked up axle bearings and seals along with a front knuckle kit from Cruiser TEQ. Great customer service from Kurt and his crew.

axle shafts and Birfield are looking great. Fresh seals, oil, and grease and we’re going to be in really good shape.

 

[madorbit]

I thought I’d be super smart and take the air injection pump apart because I can’t help myself. Turns out I should have just used tape and painted the dang thing. Everything looked ok except one of the carbon seals was broken into several pieces. I do this to myself and cannot STAND to put something back together that I know isn’t up to snuff...

I had no idea where to go from here but decided to take a chance. I found an eBay ad for a similar material that I figured I could at least work with.
So if you need to replace the unobtanium carbon wiper seals in your air pump, this is the way to go.

the carbon rods I got were the perfect width and a little too tall, so I spray-glued some sandpaper to a piece of steel plate then just sanded them down a bit. I checked the clearance a few times and stopped just in time. They were a little too long so I just trimmed them back a little. This material is so soft I didn’t even need power tools.
Hood as new.

 

[madorbit]

It has been way too long since I’ve updated this thread. So much has happened and yet we’re still in the mostly disassembled phase. This is the kind of project that keeps me going. We have a 2.5 year old and a three month old so time is precious and I wouldn’t waste my time doing anything else but tinkering on this old beast.

Let’s get to the updates…

 

[madorbit]

First things first. I finally got a proper decal put together for sprout. So fun.

 

[madorbit]

Since I’m absurd and these projects are about the journey I’ve decided to get into zinc and chromate plating. There’s a million yellow-gold shiny bolts that deserve to be preserved. This FJ40 has been a real treat to work on In the sense that most of the bolts are in good condition and only a few of the bolt/nut combination fasteners have broken.

My first foray into zinc plating was a white vinegar electrolyte with Epsom salts. It worked but I was looking at having to polish every bolt and thing I plated before getting the chromate on it.I was looking for more of a fast track option that would reflect a factory look better.

I ended up scraping the home brewed electrolyte for a Caswell plating formula. The results have been spectacular.

 

[madorbit]

I have a large plastic bin full of bolts and another one full of brackets that are waiting for reassembly.

These chemicals are nasty but no pain no gain! The chromate is spectacularly horrible for life and the utmost care is required.

Let me know if you have any questions or want any guidance. Jury is still out on wether a diy or have someone else do this is better. I’m leaning towards the latter at this point. The luster of the process has kind of worn off, pun intended. It’s just tedious at this point.

It is convenient to be able to do this at home and I’ll be the the only one losing parts, so there’s two edges to the sword for sure.

 

[madorbit]

I reached out to our good friends at Cruiser Outfitters and picked up a carburetor rebuild kit. Always a satisfying exercise.

Of course all of the plated bits were re-plated. Of course of course.

 

[madorbit]

I picked up a set of Old Man Emu Dakar springs of the heavy variety. We’ll see if that was a good or bad decision eventually.

New bushings, pins, and shackles of course. Sticking with the stock (aka cheapest) look for the hardware. Only slightly upgraded with the ability to grease these poly bushings.

Topped off with u-bolts and plates from Ruff Stuff Specialties. The original front plates were absolutely trashed. Been there. Done that. Just bought new pieces.

 

[madorbit]

I decided to take a break from the mechanicals to focus on some cosmetic efforts. The heaters were so fun to restore. They were in great, but original, shape when I started. Here is where I’ve ended up…

Since I took these photos I found replacement plastic bushings for all of the control rods. It’s ready to go back in. Stored away on a shelf for that fateful day.

 

[madorbit]

I was able to reproduce, mostly accurately, the original STEVINSON sticker. Lookin forward to that final touch.

 

[madorbit]

I got the axles fully reassembled after a few sorted “situations” that I had caused myself. It’s a journey. I put all of the steering components back together. New ends, center section rebuild, and was able to push it outside for the 1st time in 2-years.

 

[madorbit]

This is like the 3rd time I’m rinsing out the tub, honest to god. Since all of the electrical has been removed, washed, and stored, it was time to get under the back side of the dashboard. The water ran black for way longer than I’d like to remember. It’s much cleaner now and I’m glad I took the extra effort to do this step. It’ll be good to know it has been done this thoroughly. I don’t paint over grime.

 

[madorbit]

Since I have it this far disassembled I, like a drunken idiot, decide to check the body mount bolts. They all came out with the exception of the 4 on the rear sill, which is damned near rusted completely away. So no huge shock there. Kind of a relief actually. Snap and done.

Let’s take the body tub off. Because the wife will be so impressed, right? Wrong. She’s indifferent mostly. “Oh that’s nice, honey.” I’m pretty lucky actually. Jack, my oldest son, and his teddy bear were available for some pre-pressure washing inspections. We were cleared to proceed.

 

[madorbit]

Now that MOST of the nasty was blown off by 3,500psi water it was time to pull the transmission and transfer case off. It’s a lot easier to pluck out when the body is gone.

A quick inspection says new transfer case bearings and gaskets and the transmission is spotless inside. Absolutely flawless. I have to order the bearings from CruiserTEQ still but payday is tomorrow. Gonna call them and get some final transfer case pieces. I’ll be replacing all of the drain and fill plugs too. Some of these have seen a few services. All in all a very straight forward refresh on the drivetrain so far.