Alright now it's time for CP to break the thread and start off this new page with some cruiser porn.

Progress update: I got the jump seat frames painted, covers put on, and all put back in the 40. Something about those jump seats gives it it that 40 vibe. Today I got the exhaust downpipe and tailpipe connected, so no more straight pipe bark.



Earlier, I had this bright idea. I have one of those Tuffy box consoles that are super popular in 40s, I guess in 60s too, and they have a small pad on lid that acts as a great armrest. Of course the cover is black vinyl.

Well, one of my best friends in the world is a custom boot maker... you see where this is going right? Last week I pulled that little pad off and ran into Armando's boot shop to pilfer the leather table where I easily spotted some a pig hide that was darn near a perfect match for my seat covers. Then we found some calf hide that was a complementing coffee color set out designing my own CP90 Edition trim (not really, I settled on my family name initial because it made the most sense). A couple days later:



Check this out! Gives me the warm and fuzzies:





I couldn't be happier with it and it doubles as a testament to a lasting friendship. Example, first, he said that I needed my head examined because my 40 had burnt orange interior, then he razzed me about working on 'non boot' project, and then laughed at me when I tried to pay him - but that's the kind of friend Mando is. If you are ever in the market for some handmade boots he's your guy. If you're in line waiting for some, my apologies, the line was made an hour or two longer for an FJ40 project. A little info on a generations long family tradition of making boots in south Texas -

Where are your hand made boots with the Land Cruiser bezel inlay? Green boots with cream inlay sound nice.

I'd thought about selling it recently, but it's just too nice to part with. I've kept this 100 series longer than I've ever kept a car, almost 5 years, and it's hard to imagine selling it. At some point it will seem too old and worn I guess, like the 80 series I had prior - but it's pretty far off from feeling like that.

We're gonna get to the point soon where cars like this just arent made, and there won't be something newer to replace it with.

I hope to keep my 200 a long long time.

Got a 3 point seatbelt kit from Seatbelt Planet installed in Marge. Naturally my 1/87 truck doesn't have threaded holes in the C pillars. So I had to follow the mud method of fishing a nut up in there.







I opted for externally mounting the retractors for ease of install. This requires removing a small plastic bump out piece on both sides and some metal on the DS so the rear harness can pass through under the retractor. Then your vinyl bunches a little bit. But it's all good.





Now I can put the car seats in this thing and daily it to flush out any more problems before my CO trip.

40 sighting earlier today in CS!

Overland Vehicle Systems 270 awning.

Holy hell that was awful to put on.

Why was a 80lb awning installed at ~7' high a pain to do by myself?

Passed inspection and never have to be emissions inspected again. Next year it's 25yo.

Lots has gone on with Marge the past couple months. I finished up my manifold project, redid the ****ty desmog and installed a rebuilt Aisin carb recently. She ran like a top this weekend and I put on about 280 hot highway miles for holiday travel. We took both trucks so I could put miles on it and just in case the 60 broke down. The 200 carried the kids and dogs and the 60 carried all our crap. I am installing my 4Plus bumpers this weekend.

Welcoming committee in Terlingua

TxAg20 said:

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Added an FZJ80 to the garage. This will likely be my oldest son's first car. He's been dying to have something to work on, so we'll plan on this being a family project. My neighbor had this LC sitting in his garage and mentioned a couple of months ago he should sell it. I couldn't quit thinking about it and researched 80s for a few weeks before sending him an email to see if he was still interested in selling. He said he was and gave me a fair deal. Pricing on the 80s isn't easy to figure out. The ones with ~200K miles and no rust are asking $4K-$14K. The cheap ones are gone in less than a day and the expensive ones sit. Not many listed in the $7K-11K range that I could find.

The previous owner gave me a file with the last ~10 years of maintenance records. Just a bunch of leaks repaired and failed parts replaced. $500-$1,500 at a time.

On the list so far:
Repaint
Rebuild the 1FZ-FE (runs good right now with 173K miles, but no record of head gasket R&R, AC has slow freon leak, and PS pump is whining. Those are my excuses to yank motor, maybe add a turbo, but I haven't found a good bolt on kit with intercooler yet)
Replace all upholstery, recover steering wheel
Regear to 4.88 and add lockers (no factory lockers)
Add aux fuel tank or OEM sub tank
Aftermarket rear bumper (already has ARB front)

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Almost 2 year update:

I was better at ordering parts than getting the parts on the Cruiser, so I decided to send it to South to North Land Cruisers (SNLC) in Idaho last summer. I shipped it up in October and things have started moving quick in the last few months. I was hesitant to post on here as I don't want to challenge Streetfighter's slow build record at Brave Motorsports. Now that the Cruiser is taken all the way apart and making steps towards coming back together, I'm a little more confident.

SNLC started a build thread on Mud if anyone wants to follow along:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1995-full-resto-build.1280394/

Thanks for ruining my productivity plans this afternoon.

In what universe does that make any sense? I understand the lengths that FJco goes to rebuilding these, but if I'm not mistaken, they were the ones who did the 45 that @reddog90's friend sold because because of issues. I may be wrong. I'll let him comment on that.

Either way, that is a wad of cash for any vehicle that doesn't have wings or a Merlin engine.

Quote:

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Vintage AC kit (this took the longest)

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Vintage Air said they were 90 days out on GenIV for FJ40 when I was looking a few months ago. I decided to push that portion of the project off until after my Colorado trip and went on without it for now. It is something I intend to do and look forward to your report.

Since I'm on here and bored I'll add my latest progress - nerd alert.

TL;dr - kinda proud that I found the opportunity to use at least one hand made part on 40

As I reported earlier, I just got my 40 back together, but I had an exhaust leak. So after a few drives I took the siamese manifolds off the 2F and used the mill table to get real readings on what I was dealing with. Turns out the most offending plenum of the manifold was only 0.017" off. I was prepared to 'teach myself' to mill the manifold but a trusted friend/machinist told me to wave off and find a thicker gasket for that little difference. So I ordered a Remflex manifold gasket.



While I was waiting for parts I studied it on the table there and I noticed that the heat diverting baffle was blocking the exhaust flow. On the 2F the baffle diverts exhaust up against the ALUMINUM intake manifold when the engine is cold to help warm it up. When the engine warms up an expansion spring rotates that baffle and diverts the exhaust down and away from the intake. They are notorious for getting stuck in the 'cold' position and blasting heat up there, eventually cracking the aluminum manifold. I was lucky, my diverter was free and functioned, but since I live in a warm climate and have de-smogged, I installed a block off plate between the two manifolds. This eliminated any real purpose for the diverter.

What I missed was that by installing that plate I had inadvertently pinned the baffle in the cold position because it prevented the spring from being able to reposition. F. I had a near disaster. I was pretty proud of this manifold set and bought a frozen block parts engine to get them. Hell, this 1.5 year long project all started over installing these manifolds. What the hell had I done!?!



I called reddog because he just went though this and he told me the saga of trying to find a machine shop in the Tine to help him. His machinist ended up pulling the bronze bushings/bearings the shaft runs in and welding the holes up. I didn't feel like welding on my manifold just yet so I took a different approach. The shaft that is in there is held in place by the baffle itself, so removing the baffle lets the shaft slide in and out. I needed to find something to fill holes that could be held in place.

I put some metal in the spinny thing and then used the sharp thing and rubbed them together so that little shiny things flew everywhere making the metal smaller. The original shaft was 0.519" and the bronze bushings were about 0.526" so I did my best to shoot for just a bit less running clearance. 0.522" was my goal. I got pretty close.



One one end of the shaft I left head the same diameter as the washers that were on the original diverter. On the other end I cut a small groove put the washer in place and held it all together with an external snap ring. Boom.





Now everything is sealed up and lots of exhaust back pressure has been eliminated. I never thought I'd be happy to have an exhaust leak, but that is what it took so I would recognize what I had done. That's one step back I don't regret. Sorry for the long post, but it was rewarding to do. On to the next thing.