FJ40 Rebuild

Thursday, April 21, 2011

 

long-term update

i havent posted anything on here for a couple of years since i finished the rebuild of my FJ40. once the rebuilding process was over, there wasnt much left to document or share, and although i really enjoyed the process, i was honestly glad to finally wrap it up and have a working vehicle again.

now that a couple of years have passed and i have not had the landcruiser to tinker on, i have started to miss the hours spent in the garage figuring out how the whole thing went back together. i was looking back over the previous posts and thought i should do a follow up now that some time has passed.

FJ40 in the wild

surprisingly, i havent had hardly any issues with the landcruiser since i finished the rebuild. i thought for sure there would be lots of little things that needed re-addressing or that i would discover i just hadnt done quite right. actually though, the list has been quite small and very minor: the horn button some times shorts when the weather is rainy, causing the horn to go off on its own; one of the headlight relays developed a short so the light would stay on all of the time; the motor in the after-market windshield washer pump quit working - pretty trivial stuff in the grand scheme of things.

i dont drive the landcruiser a whole lot - i dont even drive my 'normal' vehicle very much either - and it can be pretty rainy here for a good portion of the year, so with the top off, that is not fun. but when the weather is nice, i look forward to taking it out and enjoying the drive. it drives surprisingly well and other than being pretty loud, it is quite enjoyable. i mainly make short trips to the store or whatnot, but i did take a long trip down to my dad's and back not long after everything was complete. if you have ever set out on a long trip in a vehicle that you essentially built yourself, then you know the anxiety it can cause. all kinds of thoughts of wheels falling off or catastrophic engine failure crossed my mind, but the landcruiser did great and the trip went off without a hitch.

so all in all, i am very happy with how everything turned out. i learned a lot in the process, and have been mainly happy with all of the decisions made during the rebuild. if i had it all to do again, i cant say there is much i would change.

Labels: ,


Comments:
Awesome cruiser! Mine won't be that nice mostly because I can't stand the thought of it being out of commission that long! I know what you mean about the rebuilding process and glad to have it running again. I can't wait.
 
your cruiser looks great! how;s the steering upgrade working out? i was thinking of doing the same conversion and was wondering if you had any problems once it hit the road. i appreciate any input you might have, thanks.
 
I love old school Land Cruisers. They are certainly timeless vehicles. With a little modification, these rugged all-terrain machines would be good to go in the modern world.
 
Beautiful FJ....restoring a 1970 right now and just started bolting things back to the frame after a complete tear down and sandblast. Mine came from Arizona....rust free...love it especially since I live in New England. I have owned several through the years. First ever was a 1978 I had when I was 16. I'm 46 now....never going to let go of this one. They have been an obsession of mine since I saw my first one ever at age 15. Thank you of the great blog......David.
 
copper brass radiator Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info.

 
Post a Comment



<< Home