Trigger Pulled

[MDH33]

For grins, and I know I'll probably hear some fairly low numbers, but what might be a fair price for a truck like this?

That might have been a better question to ask before you bought it. What did you pay?


Nice looking 40 project.

Careful taking the air horn off the carb. There's usually some teeny tiny springs or weights in there with the ball bearings that tend to fall out and immediately disappear. The keyster carb kits always seem to come with jets, but not usually the ones you'll want. Good luck! I have some spares if you need anything too.

 

[spectre6000]

By my calculus, I think I got a pretty swingin' deal. The PO was a total luddite, and thus I think he took a shot in the dark on pricing. I looked at every 40 for sale within a reasonable day's drive of Denver (save the ski resort millionaire variety or the obviously crap), and of all of them this was the cleanest, most complete, and most original at the second lowest price. The lowest priced one had a fender and the entire DS rear made out of what appeared to be paper mache, and despite seller claims to the contrary was NOT drivable. If I say what I actually paid for it, it will taint the "what it's probably worth" responses.

 

[wesintl]

nice

 

[spectre6000]

Is there any gasket sealant (i.e. Indian Head) recommended when rebuilding these carbs?

 

[Corbet]

By my calculus, I think I got a pretty swingin' deal. The PO was a total luddite, and thus I think he took a shot in the dark on pricing. I looked at every 40 for sale within a reasonable day's drive of Denver (save the ski resort millionaire variety or the obviously crap), and of all of them this was the cleanest, most complete, and most original at the second lowest price. The lowest priced one had a fender and the entire DS rear made out of what appeared to be paper mache, and despite seller claims to the contrary was NOT drivable. If I say what I actually paid for it, it will taint the "what it's probably worth" responses.

What's important is you feel you got a good deal therefore you'll enjoy the truck. And it looks to be a very nice starting point for what ever you decide to do with it. My 40 was not that nice when I bought it in the 90's

 

[MDH33]

Is there any gasket sealant (i.e. Indian Head) recommended when rebuilding these carbs?

I've never used anything.

 

[RicardoJM]

Is there any gasket sealant (i.e. Indian Head) recommended when rebuilding these carbs?

I've not ever used any. Check the mating surfaces with a straight edge to insure they are flat. I've heard of them getting bent but have not personally encountered that. Jim C. has used a flat file to even them out.

There is a phenolic spacer that sits between the intake manifold and the carb. This spacer has a build in gasket - do not try to remove it.

 

[Fishy]

For grins, and I know I'll probably hear some fairly low numbers, but what might be a fair price for a truck like this?

It's worth whatever you were willing to pay for it. Looks like a fun project. By the time it's all done it'll probably be worth less to someone else than it is to you. I say enjoy it!

 

[spectre6000]

It's worth whatever you were willing to pay for it.

That's my general attitude. I have something on the order of $10K in my '58 Beetle, and I'm just getting started. To me it's worth every penny, but I know if I ever decided to sell it I'd take a bath. I think I practically stole this truck, and I want to see how truly well I did. Like I said, the guy was a total Luddite and I think he was thinking in terms of a nearly 40 year old truck rather than a cult classic...

 

[subzali]

Well, for comparison, I bought my '77 FJ40 in 2005 for $3500. On the plus side compared with yours, it has a 2F, 4spd, and front discs. On the minus side, it's not quite as original as yours, was missing a lot of small items, has cut/trimmed sheet metal and replacement sheet metal that's not 100% OE replacement, and needed some general maintenance/cleanup.

Other dated items include the head and I think the intake manifold. The engine block I think only has a casting number and an engine serial number, but I think the transmission has a date code, if you ever dig into it that far.

 

[LXBRADY]

It looks a lot like my 40

 

[spectre6000]

Other dated items include the head and I think the intake manifold. The engine block I think only has a casting number and an engine serial number, but I think the transmission has a date code, if you ever dig into it that far.

Where are the date codes, and what is the format? Is there a VIN/serial number database somewhere that documents production dates? I'm told there is a book that details some of the more trivial year to year changes; anyone know what that book is called?

 

[subzali]

Same format as your carb, AFAIK. I think the one on the head is stamped on the top driver's side, near the front of the head. Just look around a bit and you should see it.

SOR has an engine block number database (sorta) here:
http://www.sor.com/sor/fengine.tam?pagenumber.ptx=1&page.ctx=fengine.tam

There are cruiser faqs floating the net that talk about different model year changes, like this one:
http://www.cruiserfaq.com/15-01.php

 

[spectre6000]

I've seen a number of those sorts of charts, but that seems to be the most extensive! Thanks!

I got the carb little bits and the air horn in the carb cleaner (the bowl and base will have to wait until tomorrow). I tore up the two screws that hold the sight window in, but they don't look terribly special so I have a trip to McGuckins in my immediate future. That carb was absolutely disgusting! I have honestly never seen one that bad... I've never even seen one HALF that bad... Old gas sucks. New fuel filter already installed as well.

 

[MDH33]

I've seen a number of those sorts of charts, but that seems to be the most extensive! Thanks!

I got the carb little bits and the air horn in the carb cleaner (the bowl and base will have to wait until tomorrow). I tore up the two screws that hold the sight window in, but they don't look terribly special so I have a trip to McGuckins in my immediate future. That carb was absolutely disgusting! I have honestly never seen one that bad... I've never even seen one HALF that bad... Old gas sucks. New fuel filter already installed as well.

Might not hurt to pull the fuel tank and get it boiled out too. Was this rig running or had it been sitting?

 

[spectre6000]

It was sitting... I have a pack of fuel filter elements on standby just in case...

As of today, the dash is reassembled save a light bulb and five screws. Defroster vents hooked back up (I noticed the tubing had been disconnected somehow). Side mirrors are back on. I got a number of pieces identified, sorted out, located, and found a few pieces missing: one side of the rear bumper and the windshield hold downs/brackets. The top of the tail gate is tweaked and makes opening and closing the tailgate difficult; I adjusted the majority of the difficulty out, but I think I'm going to have to turn my attention to the door itself... The hardware (nuts and bolts) seems to be all over the place, missing, and not in any way labelled... Luckily there's not a whole lot to these trucks, so there's not a lot of hardware to sort or locate. Two screws are sheared in the grille, so I'll have to find my extractor set before the bezel can go back on. With the carb needing to be cleaned in phases, I'm hoping to get everything on the body assembled and functional in the interim. Before Monday (snow in the forecast) would be excellent. Tomorrow is a hardware run, removing and blowing out the carb bits presently in the cleaner, getting the next round going, and hopefully the majority of the remaining assembly...

 

[subzali]

Make sure to get JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) hardware where possible, to match what's on the rest of the truck. Generally speaking, the thread pitches are finer and the head sizes are smaller than DIN or ISO metric hardware.

 

[spectre6000]

Really? I was going to McGuckins today to pick up a ton of metric hardware... Where does one get JIS hardware?

 

[Uncle Ben]

Fastenal has quite a few and can get most anything you need. Best source for on the shelf is AAA metric in Denver.

 

[Jacket]

McGuckins won't have any JIS, although the standard metric stuff will work in a pinch. If you are stocking up - drive an extra few miles and hit AAA like Kevin mentioned. It sucks when you grab the 12mm socket wrench to remove a part and then realize that one of the bolts has a 13mm head.