Taking control

It's the day after Christmas and I wanted to work on assembling my truck. The bulk of the work to put this back together will be completed by me, something that I am looking forward to. Thankfully, they guys will still help when I need advice or an extra set of hands.

It being the day after Christmas, no one was here but Jim and I, which was fun. We got to talk and work side by side as he did some work on his pickup while I started to put this back together.



After so many years of imagining my truck repainted and looking new, it was so good to see this corner of it come together. I have stared at this photo many times today.



After getting the front clip assembled as much as I could until I get the windshield latches painted, I turned my attention to the back where I installed the rear reflectors, the spare tire gate hinges, the license plate frame and light and the bumperettes.

I still can't seem to find four 6mm machine screws with a pan head that are long enough and have the correct yellow zinc plating to match the rest, so I am stuck with the black oxide ones for now.

I worked for most of the day and am really tired. I think Jim wanted to go home a little earlier than he ended up being able to, but he could tell I was having fun and I appreciate that.

The bezel

The headlight bezel, the trademark part of the FJ40 for its 24 years of production, was so fun to see painted back to Cygnus White and ready to install. The rear hatch, upon which it is sitting, turned out very well too.



The rest of the Cygnus White that they mixed up went to the hard top cap and it looks amazing. The floatable seam sealer was a good idea and made the drip rail look and function great.



All of the parts that were painted pewter look great. The jump seats look even better. I am so glad that I took them to be sand blasted.

The windshield hooks didn't get painted with the other parts, probably because they had been painted beige at some point and the guys were unsure if they were supposed to be pewter or beige. They'll paint them as they put a second coat on the jump seats.

Hints of what is to come

Hector filled and gel coated the cap after filling the gutter of the rain rail with floatable seam sealer. Here, Anthony fills in some scratches before sanding some more and then priming before it gets painted tomorrow.

I wish that they had saved the rivet heads that hold the piece of metal that sits along the top edge of the windshield frame. They were sanded off and filled in around so they are no longer visible. All the rivets, spot welds and screws that show on this make up a part of this particular vehicle's charm. But, I didn't tell them to save them and they are used to making everything look as good as they can, and that means make everything smooth and shiny.



Next are all the parts like the spare tire rack, rear heater, seat backs, jump seats, side-view mirror arms, console, ash tray, glove box door, hood and windshield latches, and the rear bumperettes. These parts, along with the front bumper, which I received already painted the correct color from Toyota, are painted a greenish pewter color.



I placed the hard top side panels loosely where they go just to get them out of the way and to keep them from being scratched, but it's nice to see the truck appear a bit more assembled.

Reaching the end

Anthony mixed up a final batch of beige paint and we painted the header from which the rear hatch is hung, and the new set of door hinges that I picked up after the welting that is vulcanized to them was removed accidentally.



We also shot the hard top sides, the headers for over the door ways, and the spare tire gate.

Glue

And speaking of Hector, he's been working to replace the brow on the drip rail. They decided to glue it into place instead of using the row of rivets. I had my doubts, but I expect that they know what they are talking about. You can see it clamped as the glue is setting up.

The piece comes from Cool Cruisers of Texas, and it fit beautifully.



The only rust we found in the top, apart from the drip rail, was a bit of surface rust at the rear corner of one of the side panels. Once we rough this up a bit, it will be ready to prime and paint.

On to the dreaded top

Trevor took out the myriad dents that were in the rear hatch after years of slamming it with something in the bed and is getting it ready to prime.


Probably the most difficult part of this project is working with the fiberglass cap on the hard top. It's riveted to a drip rail that goes around the cap and is in turn bolted to the sides of the hard top. It is dry and in need of some gel coating, and the steel drip rail is badly rusted. The brow must be replaced and refastened to the cap.

I'm glad Hector is doing this.

Coming together

Trevor ran into a problem with the rear doors. The OEM machine screws that hold the hinges to the body are too short to get through the quarter panel with the little bit of body filler that we had to use. I'll have to get my dad to help me find some longer ones. There is a set of black oxide screws in there now.


This is the second replacement gas tank that I have bought in the past month. Toyota still makes the original tank, but installed a return gas line in it, though the 1973 model year didn't have a return line from the carburetor. I decided to weld the return line shut on the tank to eliminate the danger of fumes in the cab.

Only we welded the wrong one. And it couldn't be repaired.

So I had to buy another one.


It looks good, doesn't it?

Assembly begins

Trevor has made great headway in assembling the front clip of my truck during the week. Both fenders, the aprons and the bib are all installed and it looks great.



Before I left, he was test-fitting the rear half doors. You can see the bed filled with painted parts awaiting installation.



Anthony is the man who is doing all of the paint work for my truck. He's done a great job, though I think he wanted to do this in two-stage paint. Single-stage paint is apparently tricky, especially after years of two-stage work.

Done painting for now

For now, we are done painting things beige, at least until we start on the hard top, and we can start assembling the truck. The bib, hinges, cowl vent and spare tire rack turned out really nicely.



The uupper door frames, rear half doors, kick vents and running boards look so good now that they are all shiny and new looking.



From what Trevor said, the driver's door was a real m ess and it had a twist in it that he was able to fix by welding a few beads across it to bend it with the heat. They look straight as an arrow now and really show nicely under that new paint.

Piece by piece

Back inside, the progress to pint all of the pieces of my truck has begun in earnest.



The fenders turned out very nicely, though you can see that the bezel, which is supposed to be an off white, was painted beige along with the other parts. Oops! I should have put that in a box somewhere out of the way.



Next is a big box of parts, including the rear half doors, the bib, hinges, the fuel door and kick vents.

Wow

The tub and cowl have been painted and are spending the next few days outside to finish curing. It looks so good that I found myself returning again and again outside to stare at it.



The seam beneath the windshield frame where the upper cowl panels meet leaked water when it rained, but now it's all closed up with new seam sealer and it looks absolutely amazing.



The hood and the windshield frame were painted as well, along with the tub. They look great.

Pieces

The fenders were roughed and made ready for primer. I probably should have saved the original ones since there was so little rust in them, since the OEM replacements are sort of catch-alls that fit every year and therefore don't truly fit any year. There is a bracket on the passenger side that won't be correct, but they will finish out really nicely so it's probably worth it. Nothing like new parts.



The bib was rust-free for the most part, though we had to repair holes that were drilled to accommodate a pair of makeshift padlocks that was installed at some point in this truck's life.



I don't think that anyone is looking forward to refinishing the fiberglass roof or taking out all of the glass in the top. It and the clip from an old Corvette are both in the "we don't wanna do it" corner of the shop.

Paint

They were able to paint the bed of the truck over the last week and it looks so good. I went with the original, single-stage paint to keep the original look. The color is Dune Beige, PPG 416. The guys thought I was silly for using single stage paint, but that's how it was painted in 1972 and I wanted to keep it as it was.



Next we are going to start painting the parts like the hood, which turned out so good.



Removing the years of weather stripping glue from around the doors took work with a torch and a speed wheel, but they are looking great.

Ready to paint

The entire tub is under primer now and it is ready for paint.



After sanding the bed, which was no easy task from what I gather given all of the scrapes and scratches over the years, it was primed as well.



The lip around the doorway turned out nicely. There is no trace of the rust that was there before.

Primed

After completing all of the work with the body filler, the guys primed all of the new metal and have it nearly ready to prime the rest of it and start painting.



The right rocker panel is all that must be completed before the whole tub is under primer. There was a bad rust spot along the top edge of the rocker panel in the lip of the doorway. This was ground down, converted and then filled, a process that slowed down the works a bit, but since that piece of metal is not available and would have had to be fashioned by hand, it was worth taking the time to save.



Trevor also welded shut a hole that once made room for the radio antenna by placing a piece of copper on the back side of the hold and welding the hole shut. The weld won't bond to the copper, so it filled in the nearly inch-wide hole.

I don't plan on having a radio in my truck, though they were offered for the first time in 1973. These trucks were delivered without radios and the dealers installed them. There was a recess in the dash to accommodate a radio and the wiring was integrated into the harness, but they came with a blanking plate made of plastic where the radio fits into the dash. The antennas had to be installed as well. Most were placed on the passenger side, but the dealer who sold mine placed it on the driver's side.

Someone along the way was dissatisfied with the factory AM radio and sawed out the hole to make room for a larger, aftermarket radio. Welding all of those saw marks would be a tricky fix, so I opted to go without the radio. I like the idea of not having a radio anyway.

Preparing to prime

Trevor has everything rust-proofed and sealed up and is working to polish the metal and to apply body filler.



The left rocker panel is already been nworked over with body filler and he is making his way around to the other side.




The ScotchBrite pad really polished up the raw steel and got it ready for the filler. Soon, it will be under primer. You can see the green etching primer in the bed already along the seams between the wheel wells and the quarter panel.

Three sides around a square

With all of the new metal in, we started to check the fit of the rear doors and drilled all of the necessary holes for the hinges.



The welds for the rocker panel still need to be gound down and then Trevor can start rust-proofing the cavity in the rocker and those beneath the tub.



The driver's door is in need of some work. Rust has settled in at the seams along the top sill so they must be welded to reinforce them. Toyota still makes the lower half of the door, but these are fairly rust-free so we want to save them.

Speaking of Trevor...

This is Trevor who will be doing all of the welding for my truck. He's very good at it; much better than I'll ever be.



He's removed the right quarter and rocker panels and is patching the wheel well and doing some rust removal before installing the new quarter and rocker.



One of the most amazing things so far is the repair job that was done on the hood. At some point, the hood flew up and struck the brow of the top, putting a nasty crease across the hood. A man who owns a paintless dent repair fixed this in a matter of hours in return for some needed space to work on a project. I thought this hood was destined for the scrap heap and am so glad to have it fixed so well. There is so little filler in this, it should be fine, even with the vibrations and heat from the engine.