Battery Maddness

I finally got a battery and i am wicked stoked. I can finally start to really figure out what is making this truck not run. The following series of videos should give you a glimpse into the glory that is my auto-mechanical prowess.














So it didn't start, but at least thats a start...I guess.

Mood: 8
Optimism: 6
Number of times shocked: 0 (whew)

Shearin' off the bolts

Farley dropped off a piece of aluminum for me to rebuild the bed of the FJ40 with. It's a pretty nice chunk of metal. It should connect the bed of the truck to the rear cross member and hide a lot of rust. To put this piece on I need to take everything off the back end of the truck like the bumpers, trailer hitch, bottom door latches etc. So I got out the wrench and selected the appropriate socket, a proceeded to shear off almost every bolt on the back of the truck. For those of you who don't know what the pleasure of a sheared bolt is, you should really find the most important bolt in your life and knock the head clean off. The mental exercise that follows is a real character builder. How do I get them out? Beats me, I will probably end up either drilling them out or finding some sweet tool that will solve my problem.

In the picture to the right the silver dots are the shafts of the bolts that held on the bumpers on........just without the heads. Oh well onwards and upwards this will be a long journey and I can't get discouraged now.


Mood: 6
Optimism: 7
Bolt mutilation: 10

Duct tape Nature Panorama

Today was a laid back but productive day. I got up kinda early and went to the auto parts store for that broken fuel filter. While i was there i picked up some gojo hand wash, some shop towels, and a roll of duct tape. The installation of the fuel filter proved to be a breeze. Will stay in the hose while the engine is running? Who knows. With the filter installed I moved on to the seats, they have been bugging me. They are pretty ripped up and unsightly. My plan is to duct tape the rips together and buy some nice seat covers until I can afford new seats. So thats what I did. Then I thought it looked like crap so I decided to try a duct tape flame job on my driver's seat. Making duct tape all curvy and flame-like is wicked hard so I decided to go with badass duct tape lightning bolts. Yet again, this proved to be easier said than done and I settled or freeform abstract duct tape art. It ended up looking like a bunch of trees, and also like crap but I am going to keep it.



Mood: 10
Optimism: 10
Duct tape skillz: 6
Investment so far: $20

Hardcore FJ40 pics

Here are the pics from today for those of you who are really interested in this project and not just in it for the lame videos of my dog.

9.24.2007

Farley is an awesome dude

Around 2:30 or 3:00 my girlfriend's father dropped by and gave me some tools for the FJ40. When I say some tools I mean like two socket wrenches, about 30 sockets, various pliers and wrenches, electrical tape, and he said he would bend up a part for the back of the rig. What an awesome dude, he is the most apt fellow I know. To take the time out of his day and the money out of his pocket to drop off the ridiculous amount of tools means a great deal to me. He really helped my morale and gave me some great technical advice.

My buddy Stevie also dropped by today to check on my progress and he qualifies as the guest mechanic of the day. He advised me to fill the radiator and change the oil as soon as i can. Here is my wrap for the day.


Mood: 10
Optimism: 8
Drunk?: 5

The afternoon wares on (Engine anatomy part 2)

As the afternoon wore on and i got more frustrated an decided to delve a bit more into the anatomy of an FJ40. Please enjoy the video, and try to ignore the obvious anguish in my voice.


Mood: 6
Optimism: 5
Accuracy of info: 3?
Drunk?: 4

Advice from the dog

I like to bounce ideas off of my dog, he seems to have a sage-like wisdom when it comes to cars. One day i will hope to reach his level of calmness and technical aptitude.


Mood: 8
Optimism: 7
Drunk?: 5

Super sweet morning

I spent this morning trying to figure out the electrical system, a process that a feel i will repeat many times until the car runs or until i reach the end of my technical abilities. I feel this process can best be explained with a video. i think i will be making a lot of video posts in the future, they are so easy.

Mood: 10
Optimism: 11
Accuracy of info: 5
Drunk?: 3

FJ40 anatomy part 1

I thinks it's time to take a tour of the FJ40 and there is no better place to start than under the hood. First of all the hood itself took me about five minutes to figure out how to open, but after realizing the simplicity of the latching mechanism I gained a but of respect for the machine's designer. I hope everything on this rusted hulk will be as straight forward in execution at the hood latch. I doubt it though.

Mood: 10
Optimism: 10
Accuracy of info: 5
Drunk?: 1

mummy cat

I got up early this morning and set to work mucking out the cruiser. It took most of the day and i got to find some pretty awesome stuff, this vehicle has been in the garage for about six years. So, in the interior is about six winters worth of mouse crap, about two and a half bags of garbage, and a mummified cat( i would have snapped a shot for you but it was far too nasty for my feeble camera ).

After I Showered and cried and held myself for a while I noticed that the back left door wasn't opening right. I went and selected the most efficient tool i could find and nimbly picked the lock( needle nose pliers and a hammer). With both back doors now open I could continue to rake out the back of the truck saving the malfunctioning latch mechanism for later. Now that the back of the FJ(yeah, lets call it FJ for a while for the sake of brevity, or until I think of something more witty) was clear of debris I got out the old shop vac and vacuumed some prety sizable holes in the floor.
At this point I started think back to shop class, how much pot i smoked while skipping that class, and how little welding I had done in my life, and the growing number of life skills i would be learning over the course of this project. So far on my Checklist of crap I know nothing about:

• Auto Repair(sigh)
• Wiring
• Welding
• What exactly is wrong with this car

I was compelled at this point to go and sit in the drivers seat for a while and see how sweet it would be to drive the thing. The seat, looking very much like a document containing proof of insider trading at a major public corporation, proved to be much to low for my liking( I like seeing out the window ), so i tacked that onto the growing list of "mods" i would have to do to improve the FJ. I began to think about my plan of attack and this is what i came up with:

1. Get the engine to turn over. This seems like a good place to start, and evolves becoming an electrician, a skill i have always been a bit wary of learning.
2. Remove the after market parts that are probably shorting out the questionable wiring.
3. Knock out the rust that riddles the body and either patch or bondo the undoubtedly sizable holes that will unquestionably ruin this automobile.
4. Start making it look sweet.
5. Drive it around and be fresh

Hopefully we will all learn a lot during this project, and a i hope you stick through it with me. At the end of each post i will document my mood and outlook on this project on a scale of one to ten. I hope it gives you insight into my progress.

Mood: 10
Optimism: 10
Difficulty of todays project: 3
Number of times I hit my head: 1


p.s. hopefully I will be learning to write and spell as well

The Journey Begins

Here we go. I was just given a 1975 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser. I'm not going to lie to you it is in pretty rough shape. Severe rust damamage, fullscale electrical failure, it's full of garbage, I have my work cut out for me. I have never worked on a car before and this blog is going to document the journey of a rusty piece of crap with a mummified cat in it, to what I am hoping to be a wicked sweet ride.