Page 1 – December 1999
The idea for the project started in August 1999 when my beautiful wife, for the first time in the 3 years I’ve owned the truck, said the truck is ugly. Meredith was actually the biggest proponent of buying the Land Cruiser (which was sort of a wedding present to each other). In October 1996 when we bought it, the body was in fairly nice shape, although you could see the cancer just beginning to grow. So I knew that if she complained, it’s probably in bad shape. I sadly agreed.
The previous owner had the inside of the tub replaced with diamond plate just before I bought it. It appears that whomever installed the diamond plate put it directly over the old tub. From underneath you can see the rotting tub. I’ll probably try to remove some of the old tub to see what’s supporting the new diamond plate. Because the tub is in good shape, and I don’t have the dough for a new tub, I’ll leave that alone. (The quarter panels for the tub will hopefully be replaced some time next summer (2000) just in case they aren’t Y2K compliant)
Project Scope
- Remove entire front end except cowl.
- Strip all removed parts off all paint (hood, windshield, bib, skirt, front doors, ambulance doors, and upper quarters for new hard top)
- Sand blast all rusted parts (including cowl where there are rust spots)
- Prime all parts with self etching primer
- Paint all parts (including new fiberglass fenders).
- Undercoat front of frame while exposed.
- Wire brush underside of tub and floor boards.
The truck is a 1979 FJ-40. About two years after I bought it I had to have the head rebuilt. I was essentially running on three cylinders. Ted Brown at Land Cruiser Solutions in NH took care of the job. However, during the truck’s 3-month stay in NH, it sat under pine trees. The rust basically tripled and started getting really ugly. This happened September 1998; here we are starting the project November 1999.
12/3/1990
My friend (and turned Cruiser lover) Cory Leclair generously offered up his garage for the job. Plus, he loves to tinker with trucks. We got it into the garage finally in December and began work.
We managed to get the right fender off the truck (didn’t know about those pesky spot welds between the fender and the fender support). This entailed removing the battery (and pulling the ratty old battery tray off) and removing the coil. My new fiberglass fenders don’t have any holes drilled or mounting spots so I will keep the old fender for a template. We also unbolted the front bib (mostly done to protect it while trying to “break” the spot welds with a large implement of destruction).
With this, a good look at the frame indicated that the frame is rusty, but by no means in bad shape. I’d like to replace a lot of the brake hard lines, but I have a feeling I shouldn’t disrupt what isn’t broken. I had the soft lines replaced about 1.5 years ago, so I know they are in good shape.
Parts to date:
New Battery Tray - Summit Racing (38.00)
While the front end is apart, I will definitely do some frame cleanup. I will wire brush all pieces that I can reach and coat the parts with 3M undercoating.
12/11/1999
Cory and I got together for a few hours to get more parts off the truck. This time it was removing the windshield and the hood. I was excited when I folded the windshield down because there was no rust underneath it. The windshield itself is very rusty, but should be repairable. Removing the windshield was really tough. We had to use an impact wrench (a hand wrench, used with a hammer) to loosen the bolts. On both sides of the windshield there are bolts that will have to be drilled out.
Note: Don’t use Phillips head screws on the windshield when reinstalling it. Buy hex head bolts.
To remove the windshield we had to unhook the windshield washer hose from the filter (found in the glove box) as well as remove the wires for the wiper motor. We couldn’t find an easy way to remove the wires, so we cut them in the glove box. I planned on replacing the plug the wires go to anyway because it is completely rusted. We also had to cut the wire that goes to the interior light on the hard top. I plan on running that wire along the floor if I decide to install a light again.
Under the windshield hinges was a little rusty, but still solid. I was able to hit the area hard with a mallet and hear a deep solid sound.
We also got the hood removed and started unbolting the other fender. The next day, Sunday, I began taking apart the ambulance doors I got from Greg Jarvis and my original hard doors. The ambulance doors have some rust at the bottom lip, but I see that as a drain. I’ll sand blast the hole and paint as much inside as I can to prevent future rust. The front doors will probably get the new lower door skins from TPI or Cool Cruisers. Not sure yet. By the time this project is done, I hope it will be too hot to put the hard top on.
For any questions or comments (or recommendations) please email (mailto:imwinston@hotmail.com).