[Degnol]

Well, I never knew I'd end up here. Had I known it would be a ROTW I would have taken more pictures early on. My son spied the thing here in our small town (population 10K M/L) and it was owned by a guy I kinda knew. We started with a '65 titled as a '66. It had been resprayed baby-shit-brown and had been rolled....as in you could throw a cat between the hardtop and the driver's door....closed. The interior was just as cherry, sporting a Monte Carlo bench seat lag-screwed to a 2x6 which was securely fastened to the tub via sheetmetal screws shot in from underneath Oh, and the glued, burnt orange shag carpet...shoulda kept that and just acclimated to the cat-piss/moldy boat cushion smell

I had great hopes of a Father-and Son project

Rust-wise it was not too bad, the rear sill and just the bottoms of the quarters. However the front fenders were more bondo than anything, again, no rust, but most likely due to the roll over.

I kept ordering parts from SOR for a '66 motor and all of them were wrong! Because the motor was a '74 "F-and-a-half"

We had it sandblasted, on the trailer, but I had removed most of the body panels...doors, hood, top panels, etc.

Somewhere in the time frame I found MUD. Whew! What a relief Also bought schtuff from Woody, yeah, that Woody('Runner PS Box), and Paul(3Puppies) so that took care of the PS and disc brake conversion. Somehow I met up with Steve Cramer(Poser/LCR4WD) and that was another quantum leap.
Steve fixed me up with some new lift springs, then rear disc brackets and yadda, yadda, more great info and advice than I can afford. OK, I have prattled on enough, here are pics you've seen before.....yawn.

It is just about where I want it to be. Rebuilt 2F, Big Cap(Mace), 2-piece SOR header(IDave), ARB's F/R, Orion(Poser, again), Aisin Lockouts(WesIntl), stock steelies, HawkDriver bumper, Warn 8274, 33x9.50 BFG MTs, Rock Finder SR(my idea), MetalTech cage(Poser).....probably some more crap I have forgotten.

Anyway, I HAVE wheeled it and loved it. I have received a lot of great info on this board and I'm damn glad it is here. Props to the Woodman.

Any questions, just PM me.

Ed

[Degnol]

At the BHCC, where I got my feet wet....under Poser and Company's wing.

[kellyo]

Hard to believe that was rolled and was "babyshit brown" . You did a fantastic job on it. Amazing what time, money and know how can do. Now that this one is done its time to do another. Nice job.

[Degnol]

I had to redo the fiberglass cap, again, no pics but it had big old spiderweb cracks in 5-6 places and was "mushey". A lot of PortoPower tweakin on this thing. And thanks for the compliment

I know I have a print of the thing before we started, must find and scan/post!

Ed

[Moe R]

Mine looks like that when I dream. Gorgeous!! U do nice work. More pic's

[Degnol]

Couple of the rear discs and my manual 4WDB Corvette master cylinder. The last one is the cruiser on the Aker's Ferry, leaving Flat Nasty '06.

Ed

[sonnydaze]

Ed, way cool fj40

do you have pics of how you ran your rear brakelines , thinking i may need to rerun mine?

[Degnol]

My rear drop from the hardline is from a Chrysler minivan. Seems like it was made for the cruiser. It even has the "T" fitting on the axle end. I think it was about $15. The SS lines I got from Pete and Jake's for the "metric" calipers.

GL

Ed

[phocus]

That is one Fine looking FJ40!


Great job Ed.

[AKcruiserfreak]

Woo-Hoo! A new ROTW. Looks great man.

TK

[FJFOOL]

Nice job, man !! That's a great color, is it a stock color? would love to see the "before" pics. Alex

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Damn that engine is pretty!

Regards,

Alan

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by Degnol

Well, I never knew I'd end up here. Had I known it would be a ROTW I would have taken more pictures early on. My son spied the thing here in our small town (population 10K M/L) and it was owned by a guy I kinda knew. We started with a '65 titled as a '66. It had been resprayed baby-shit-brown and had been rolled....as in you could throw a cat between the hardtop and the driver's door....closed. The interior was just as cherry, sporting a Monte Carlo bench seat lag-screwed to a 2x6 which was securely fastened to the tub via sheetmetal screws shot in from underneath Oh, and the glued, burnt orange shag carpet...shoulda kept that and just acclimated to the cat-piss/moldy boat cushion smell

I had great hopes of a Father-and Son project

Rust-wise it was not too bad, the rear sill and just the bottoms of the quarters. However the front fenders were more bondo than anything, again, no rust, but most likely due to the roll over.

I kept ordering parts from SOR for a '66 motor and all of them were wrong! Because the motor was a '74 "F-and-a-half"

We had it sandblasted, on the trailer, but I had removed most of the body panels...doors, hood, top panels, etc.

Somewhere in the time frame I found MUD. Whew! What a relief Also bought schtuff from Woody, yeah, that Woody('Runner PS Box), and Paul(3Puppies) so that took care of the PS and disc brake conversion. Somehow I met up with Steve Cramer(Poser/LCR4WD) and that was another quantum leap.
Steve fixed me up with some new lift springs, then rear disc brackets and yadda, yadda, more great info and advice than I can afford. OK, I have prattled on enough, here are pics you've seen before.....yawn.

It is just about where I want it to be. Rebuilt 2F, Big Cap(Mace), 2-piece SOR header(IDave), ARB's F/R, Orion(Poser, again), Aisin Lockouts(WesIntl), stock steelies, HawkDriver bumper, Warn 8274, 33x9.50 BFG MTs, Rock Finder SR(my idea), MetalTech cage(Poser).....probably some more crap I have forgotten.

Anyway, I HAVE wheeled it and loved it. I have received a lot of great info on this board and I'm damn glad it is here. Props to the Woodman.

Any questions, just PM me.

Ed

[Degnol]

Originally Posted by FJFOOL

Nice job, man !! That's a great color, is it a stock color? would love to see the "before" pics. Alex

Nope, the original color was either Sea Foam Green or Nebula. I know they have a strong following, but at the time I was not aware of that and used a DuPont Nason BRG, $50/gal with reducer and hardner. It is spottable(thank God) and polishable, which I thought met my needs. Cheap, too as automotive paint goes. But it is close enough to some stock green as to be passable.


Ed

[Degnol]

Originally Posted by Josie'sLandCruiser

Hi All:

Damn that engine is pretty!

Regards,

Alan

---------------------------------------------------------------------

It spent a lot of time in the beauty parlor.....

[Cruiserdrew]

What a great FJ40. Sadly, it's too nice to wheel. Keep that one nice, and if you must wheel, buy another that isn't so fine!


Considering you started with a rolled rig, that one is absolutely amazing. Great work.

How about some details--Info on the 2F rebuild, parts used, tranny used, etc. Don't I remember a thread about your Orion install? All good stuff.

Love this Cruiser.

[DSRTRDR]

so Ed, will we see you at Cruise Moab next year ?

[camcruiser13]

beautiful rig

[osagecruiser]

nice ed!

osagecruiser

[1973Guppie]

sweet truck man, I will be bugging the shit out of you when I do my 55 engine, love the way your engine came out, looks really nice.

Noah

[D'Animal]

Nice rig!

I have a couple of questions.

Is that Poser in the bottom picture in post #2?

And

what are those gold triangle pieces on your axle vent mounts?

[matt.mcinnes]

Very nice 40 indeed

[Degnol]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

Nice rig!

I have a couple of questions.

Is that Poser in the bottom picture in post #2?

And

what are those gold triangle pieces on your axle vent mounts?

Yes, that is Poser in the bottom pic. Poser and Rokstar(Steve).
The gold triangle piece is the Chrysler minivan flex hose for the drop to the rear axle.

Ed

[Degnol]

Originally Posted by Cruiserdrew

How about some details--Info on the 2F rebuild, parts used, tranny used, etc. Don't I remember a thread about your Orion install? All good stuff.

Love this Cruiser.

Drew, Steve found me an H42 with a recent rebuild on it and he built my Orion and mated the two so I could plug 'n' play. Then he..............delivered it to my door on his way to Disney Oklahoma. That was the first time we had a face to face. Then a couple of months later I had not put it in yet and he called me, told me to bring it up to his shop and that there were some new parts that AA was supplying(remember the popping out of gear problems?) So I got to see Steve tear the thing down and install the new gear, step washers, shift collar, etc.

The engine I have talked about before, but here goes. The block/head are from a 12/76. I could have run it the way it was, but you know how things go.
New pistons .030 over bored
New stock grind cam
New lifters
Valve seats recut and valves ground
New main and rod bearings
Crank was just dressed
I did spec the oil pump and since it was within tolerances, did not replace it.

I did not have it balanced and now I am kicking myself in the butt. However the engine makes good power and idles smoothly.


Ed

[sonnydaze]

thanks for the brake pics , i used monte carlo flex lines at the calibers and then hard line across axle and a flex line off nissan 4x4 to go to hard line on frame.

[jb2073]

Good stuff. That engine is way to nice and clean. Anything else in the works? What did you do with the radiator? Stock or aftermarket? I saw that you had a fan clutch.

[splitshot]

Now I know why I'm becoming a ROTW fan. Nice job.

[Degnol]

Originally Posted by jb2073

Good stuff. That engine is way to nice and clean. Anything else in the works? What did you do with the radiator? Stock or aftermarket? I saw that you had a fan clutch.

Tha radiator is stock, just had it boiled and pressure tested. Yes, I have the fan clutch, but may go back to the 6 blade direct drive. Also installed a factory oil cooler.

Next up is sliders and a rear swing out bumper/tire/cooler carrier. I'm going to try and copy the 4-plus design pretty closely.
Bought a couple of seats out of a Chebby Lumina van and had them recovered. So i need to get those installed. Lost my jump seats when the family cage went in. Also need to install my Dashman box. Always a work in progress

Ed

[fjwagon]

ED, that's really nice engine/tranny got there and green is nice too.

[cruiserloser123]

That is a fine Cruiser you have. Thanks for sharing.

I have just a few questions for you.

Did you paint it yourself? How many years ago did you paint it? For using the "cheap" stuff it really looks good. Has the paint held up well?

Originally Posted by Degnol

The engine I have talked about before, but here goes. The block/head are from a 12/76. I could have run it the way it was, but you know how things go.
New pistons .030 over bored
New stock grind cam
New lifters
Valve seats recut and valves ground
New main and rod bearings
Crank was just dressed
I did spec the oil pump and since it was within tolerances, did not replace it.

What should doing all this run a person at a good shop? What amount of work did you have to put into it? What recommendations besides a FSM, do you have?

Originally Posted by Degnol

I did not have it balanced and now I am kicking myself in the butt. However the engine makes good power and idles smoothly.

I am definitely a newbie with engines. What did you not have balanced? Or, if I was doing a rebuild, what should I get balanced and why?




Thanks for posting! I hope my Cruiser can look as good as yours one day.

[Degnol]

Yes, I painted it all myself. Don't look too closely As to how the paint has held up, the cruiser sits in a garage 90% of the time.

I think with parts and machine work I have about $1400 in it. I supplied the labor to disassemble and reassemble. Used as many OEM parts as were available. Local Toyota dealer gives our club CDan prices....20-25% off, better than they offer their employees
I did have a bonafide mechanic friend supervise the whole thing.

Balancing? well better left to someone who knows more, but at least the rods and pistons should weigh close to the same. If you have an accurate scale and know where to safely remove metal, you can probably do that much yourself. Talk to the machine shop to see what they would charge.

FSM is your best resource. I would not undertake an engine rebuild without one.

Just keep pluggin' away at it and reading all you can on Mud and you will get where you want to be. Working on it is almost as much fun as driving it.

Good Luck to you on your project,

Ed