I decided to have someone else install the cage. There were a few reasons for this:
1. I've welded a lot on this rig, but mostly on non-safety things. I'm not a great welder.
2. From assembling those Metal Tech tube fenders and my own sliders, I know that I don't have a lot of patience for fitting tubing (notches, gaps).
3. My wife didn't want me in the garage weekend after weekend working on this.
So I took it to a local bumper fabricator. He also does custom stuff (like a rear 3rd gen 4runner bumper that he's working on now). He does very good work and I'm really please with the job he did assembling this kit. He would've built the cage from scratch, but we decided to order the kit in the end.
I dropped off the cruiser at his shop last Friday and he was done by this Friday! Over the years and all my project vehicles, I've taken work to a shop probably 10-15 times. Usually, it sits around and becomes last priority for the shop. This was literally the best experience I've had--and he is super busy. He's 8 weeks out on all orders (I had to wait 10-11 weeks to get this work scheduled).
I realized that my son's car seat wouldn't be covered with my current roll bar, so I ordered a family roll cage from Redline Cruisers. It wasn't the smoothest process getting the cage. It took a couple months. Half of it got lost in the mail and had to be re-sent. The main pieces were delivered just as you see in the picture (tape barely holding them together, torn FedEx label). The shorter pieces came in a nice box.
I found a deal on some Mastercraft Rubicon suspension seats on their website. A certain color combination that matched my rig was about $80-90 off per seat. I wasn't real happy with the comfort of the Miata seats that were installed, so I ordered them. I also ordered some seat sliders, but didn't use them. Time will tell if these are comfortable--I think they will be. Oh, did I mention that I ordered them with seat heaters installed?
Here you can see me modifying my seat frame to hold the new seats. The new seats mounting pattern is flat! So much easier than mounting Miata seats. A hole saw/drill press notches square tubing perfectly.
Ever since I've had this Land Cruiser, the transfer case has been super loud! When I had my NV4500 swapped in, I also paid to have the transfer case rebuilt. It still whined after the rebuild, but I learned from ih8mud that rebuilds don't typically cure a loud whine, unless its the idler shaft.
Well, I finally got tired of the loud whine and found me another transfer case to swap in ($50). When I pulled the "rebuilt" one, I found that it was missing a bearing! A huge bearing! If I ever find that guy that I paid to rebuild it (he's out of business now)...
I did the dual speedo seal mod at the same time to cure a light drip that I had (it worked awesome). I took it to a friend with a lathe.
But when I put the transfer case in, I forgot to line up the front drive collar, so I didn't have 4 wheel drive!
So, I had to drain the fluid again and fix it.
In the end, this transfer case wasn't much different than the previous one. I think I'm just a diva or something, but I can't stand these loud transfer cases. I grew up with a '73 FJ40, but it had a split transfer case swapped into it since I was about 7 years old. I decided to upgrade this one to the much quieter (I hope) FJ60 split transfer case.
I've been working on a bumper/tire carrier/jack holder.
Finished! I may regret not making it swing out some day but since my tailgate is a bolt on, I couldn't justify the extra time and expense right now.
I've also been working on a front bumper. I wanted something that had more clearance, held the winch more securely, looked better, and was relatively easy to make. I'm getting a little tired of metal work, mostly the mess that it leaves in the garage.
To mount it, I had to make some brackets. I cut some brackets out of an old winch plate and drilled some holes. Also, I had to cut a couple tabs off of the bumper. And, I welded a couple gussets on the backside for strength. Overall, I'm very happy with it, for no more than it cost or time it took.
Anyone recognize the tow hook loops that I mounted on top? The hole spacing was perfect, so I had to use them. They still need painted.
Also, I still need a better way of mounting my solenoid box. I just have it zip tied to the top of the winch for now...
I needed to test out my electric fan, so I took the kiddo to a local wooded area. I couldn't resist the urge to test my flex, clearance, and bumpstops. I think I'm getting some pretty good flex out of the front. The rear is still on stock length shocks, so I wasn't expecting much. But, the rear tire barely clears at full stuff. I was hoping to be able to step up to a 37" tire (35" currently). It appears that I'd need to cut the rear fender opening to do it. hmmm.... how to cut 3/16" thick rear quarter panels and not mess up the paint too bad...
On my FJ40, the lack of thread engagement on my lug nuts always made me a little nervous, so I searched for an improvement. These aluminum wheels are very thick compared to the stock steel wheels. I had a hard time finding M12 studs in the length I needed. After a lot of research, here's what I ended up with:
I took it for its first drive in 2 years this week and then to our annual club picnic at Disney, OK. Its not really ready to wheel yet, but I did a little anyway.
Here's my to do list currently:
1. electric fan. It didn't overheat today, but it ran a little hot for my taste.
2. rear suspension. I haven't touched the rear suspension since I've had the cruiser. The lower shock mounts are way too high. I have stock length FJ40 shocks on there right now! I'll go with bilsteins like what I have on the front. I'm thinking I'll run the 255/70 valving in the rear also. Any opinions?
3. antiwrap bar. I haven't noticed spring wrap, but don't want to find out the hard way.
4. fix a leaky valve cover
5. finish the sliders (one is now bolted up)
6. build a rear bumper with tire carrier.
7. build inner fenders for tube fenders
8. mount the kiddo's car seat to the floor behind front seat. Is this legal or does it have to be mounted to a seat?
I finally decided to mount my switches! I put the instrument cluster back in just to get an idea of what the dash will look like. I need to have two knobs made... one for the heater which is second from the far right and one for the lights which is on the top row, left of the wiper knob. I got my custom knobs/swtiches from this guy: http://www.knoobs.com/ and I highly recommend him! The wiper knob my original--all the others were made for me.
I'm realizing that I should have installed both harnesses at the same time and not tried to get the engine running. After studying the EZ wiring harness instructions I realized that I've already ran some of the same wires (to get the engine running). I'm going to have to go through the harness and replace several wires that I added to the engine harness (starter, ignition hot, etc). I want to use the wires in the EZ wiring harness because they are 1) labeled, 2) higher quality, and 3) sized and fused correctly.
This is absolutely the only place that I could mount the fuse box. There really isn't a lot of room under the dash of a FJ40.
I think I'm going to run the rear section of the harness through the same firewall hole as the front section, then down and along the frame rail.
I bought this FJ40 with a running TBI 350. It was running, but there were a few issues with the wiring:
1. The wiring harness wasn't long enough for the computer to be mounted in a good location. It was in the glove box, but it wouldn't fit with a glove box door and the wiring was stretched to get it in there.
2. It was a stock wiring harness, so there were a lot of extra wires. If I really knew what I was doing, I probably could have taken it apart and eliminated these.
3. There were a lot of splices and dangling wires that I didn't have a clue about, which makes troubleshooting really hard when the vehicle wouldn't start. "Oh, that wire? Its always been unhooked--that can't be the problem"
4. check engine light would come on due to not having a VSS wired in. The particular type of computer that I had required a VSS buffer and I never could get it working right. Another option was to have the VSS requirement pulled from the ECU via a custom chip.
So, I found what I thought was a deal on a Painless TBI harness (PN 60101). I thought I was going to get $100 rebate and it would only be around $250. Oops, the rebate was expired. That will be $350. Then when I read the instructions, I saw that it will only work with a truck computer, not my Caprice computer. So, another $60 or so later and I was in possession of a computer from a 5 speed TBI truck.
I had already removed the body harness from the vehicle, so I went ahead and pulled the complete engine harness. There were no more old wires left in this old cruiser to leave me stranded in the woods! Not only will I feel better about wheelin' alone, but I know the wiring because I did it!
I followed the instructions, step by step. It's all plug and play. After I installed the harness, all I needed to do was run a wire from the ignition switch to the battery and another one to the starter. Fire extinguisher handy, I turned the key to on, and heard the fuel pump buzzing. I twisted it to start and heard the starter (my guesses on the starter wiring worked out!). I looked at the injectors and saw fuel, but the engine wasn't starting. So, I pulled a plug wire off, stuck a screwdriver in it and watched as it sparked to a brake line. Fuel, spark and air. What else is needed? Well, I had forgotten that I installed a new tank last year. I only had about a gallon of old gas in the tank! Anyway, it was a great feeling to go from having all the wiring out to hearing this fuel injected beast run again. And, it basically worked on the first try.
I mounted the ECU and a couple fuses under the glove box. This view is from below the dash. From the driver or passenger's seat, you won't be able to see it.
I can't explain how nice it is to have a nice crimp tool, heat shrink tubing and a heat gun. My heat gun is from Harbor Freight and it works great! I normally stay away from cheap Chinese products, but I made an exception for this. The crimp tool is from Tool Aid and very high quality.
Finally, here's a video of me starting it up (for the 2nd time):
I still have a lot of work to do routing the wires and putting them in looms, so I haven't ran the engine for more than a few seconds for fear of melting some wires. Painless sent a small sample of their Powerbraid loom and I really liked it--but not the price ($175 for a kit!!!). I ordered some of what I think is the same thing from McMaster-Carr to save a lot of money:
I started on my sliders today. The first step was having some 1-5/8" 0.120" wall tubing bent by a local custom bumper fabricator. I already had some 2"x2" 0.250" wall for the main rectangular tube. These are 43" long at the longest. If you're thinking of making some, remember that I cut the lower 2" off my rockers. Oh, and there's no need to use 0.250" wall tubing--its just what I had laying around.
I used a 1-5/8" hole saw to make the middle piece. 1-3/4" might have worked a little better--I had to open up the hole a little afterwards.
I finally got some time and motivation to paint and get this cruiser back on the road. Now comes the fun part--putting it back together!
Check out the freshly powered coated parts and the custom 5 speed shift instruction plate.
Never mind the flash on this pic--it makes the color look white.
This picture shows the color the best.
The paint job is decent, but not professional quality. I plan to touch up a few areas later, but I really want to get back on the road. Its been down too long.
Two things to remember:
1. When painting, pay very close attention to where your air hose is. I let mine get into the paint in one spot on the hood.
2. Take your time when masking and taping. I'm going to be touching up a few black areas in the interior that got some overspray.
The internets let me down. Google said I couldn't do it--this stuff (epoxy primer) wouldn't sand and would just load up the paper. Not so. Let it cure for a week and it sands fine. I've been using Omni MP170. Very pleased with it--just stir it well before mixing with the catalyst! And let it sit for 15 minutes after mixed and stirred (this is called induction time). I've put 2 coats and am now pleased with my progress. Now that I have my sand blasted parts protected from the elements, I'll move on to the tub.
While this picture may not look bad, it is. Last week, I had my hood, bib, bezel and a few other parts sandblasted. Today I primered them in epoxy and screwed up almost every way possible:
1. I didn't flush the oil out of the new gun before I filled it with paint and started painting.
2. I didn't mix the epoxy primer before I poured it into the mixing cup to add the catalyst. it was thick like peanut butter at the bottom of the epoxy can.
3. I used mineral spirits to wipe things down. epoxy doesn't like mineral spirits.
4. I continued to spray all my pieces when I knew it had the texture of bed liner thinking it would "level out".
I'm pretty sure I need to take all these parts back to the blaster. This stuff doesn't sand well from what I've read. And even if I could sand it smooth, I'm afraid it won't stick.
Filled the cowl vent and previous owners' stereo cut out. I filled the cowl vent because its just a leaf catcher and I can't ever see the need for it. Also, the mechanism under the dash takes up a lot of space, and I'd like that space for a future aftermarket heater. I'm planning on putting a Flexalite Mojave style heater under the dash.
