[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Dad put carpet in the back of the 40 one year. We used the rig pretty much exclusively for Elk hunting. There was blood all over the carpet. Didn't work out very well.
As you can see from the amount of blood in the pic. Circa 1990

[wantatlc]

in my limited time with my FJ40, maybe I would say not putting in a 4 core radiator when mine blew a hole a few months after just getting the rig (I was cash poor right then).... since I am working to cool a V8.

new radiator seems to do a good job (excpet when slow hard crawling).... so maybe I should have put out that the additoinal cash when I was buying a new radi and moved to a 4 core.

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Originally Posted by wantatlc

in my limited time with my FJ40, maybe I would say not putting in a 4 core radiator when mine blew a hole a few months after just getting the rig (I was cash poor right then).... since I am working to cool a V8.

new radiator seems to do a good job (excpet when slow hard crawling).... so maybe I should have put out that the additoinal cash when I was buying a new radi and moved to a 4 core.

Are you running a supplemental electric fan?

[wantatlc]

Originally Posted by Colorado Boy-74-FJ40

Are you running a supplemental electric fan?

nope... I want to and even started this thread on auxillary/supplemental electrical fan for crawling... but limited space is the issue and it seems it can't be done without loosing the grill and emblem (which is a no go for me as I want those there).

[Gus]

Buying cheapo reproduction parts instead of putting up the $$$ for OEM Toyota parts. I've wasted hundreds on used, rusty body parts that I thaught I could easily fix, should have put up the cash for the rust free parts. I'm also not pleased with the 2F tri-Y headers, poor fit.

[vt78cruiser]

Hypershackles from JTO. Supposed to allow your axle to drop for more articulation on the trail, and it does. But when you get back to the pavement, it feels like the rear end is spring loaded and "jumps" over any bump in the road. Ride is terrible. Ran them for three months before I put the stock ones back on. Oh by the way, I have a spare set of hypershackles for sale if anyone wants them....

[Abe F.]

The worst Mod I ever made was thinking that the over the fender headers were a good idea. . Block huggers or stock manifolds are the way to go for your cruiser V8.

[Cdaniel]

Originally Posted by wanabecruisen

For me it was the LCAH shackle reverse kit - DAMN ROCK FINDERS!

Ditto on that one
SOA in the future for me

[HawkDriver]

Going SOA without the cut and turn. And all the subsequent shortcuts I took on that truck. Now that I've seen how well it all doesn't work out and I'm more equipped-I wouldn't even consider taking those shortcuts.

Building rear shock mounts that kept the new shocks at nearly the same location as the stock setup.

PO's diamond plate, that just sucked.

Pros: Electronic ignition upgrade was great, Weber 38 may not have been the most efficient carb but it was simple and reliable and brought my ol F to life.

[Morty]

Black Magic fan. Total P.O.S.

[wantatlc]

Originally Posted by brew8

Rancho 5000 shocks, hard as my head, rough ride, no fun at all.

did you ever think about flipping them over? when I talked with their tech support one day, I asked them about this and they said it can make them softer by about 10-15%

[HogDriver]

Painless's "Battery Master Minder". I don't even think they make it anymore.. Theory behind it was used for dual batt setup and you can use 1 or 2 or both and charge either as required. Found it was slowly draining my batteries...

Now circular filed!!

[D'Animal]

My worst modification to my 76 FJ was installing the front dash hoop on my roll cage. The roll cage was the best modification but I some how bauched the installation. I did not reallize the error of my ways until in the fall I put the hard top back on. The back doors work great as well as the passenger door. The driverside door would not close. I installed the cage about 3/4" to far to the left. I traded a guy for some half doors and only think about it when it rains.

[RIDDLER]

Cutting my rear fenders for flares when they were clean and rust free. I hated the way it looked with those flares and you cannot fix that mod. All this for a light trail truck that was never really wheeled hard. $$$ flushed when I sold it.

[dgangle]

Originally Posted by RIDDLER

Cutting my rear fenders for flares when they were clean and rust free. I hated the way it looked with those flares and you cannot fix that mod.

It may not be cheap or easy, but anything can be fixed.

[JohnnyC]

Rancho !!!

[MoCoNative]

Holley, need I say more. Got sold on it in the late nineties, was still a big seller then when we restored my cruiser, also went with the MAF header and Mallory ignition.

The carb sucked gas down while the vehicle was off, you could watch the guage drop , but seriously, I educated myself quite abit about carbs with the Holley and I tuned and tuned on it, even did some pretty radical stuff, changed float chambers, drilled out the metering block at the power valve and made custom jets to reduce gas flow as the damn thing was just too much for a 1F. Open air cleaner sucked, flooded out when bumping over a curb, I messed and messed with it and finally realized I was trying to engineer a Holley into a stock Asian carb. Got a 77 2F carb and aircleaner and stuck it on, been very happy, kick myself every day for pitching my orignal carb, as I hear a desmogged 73 was one of the very best carbs to run period.

Don't get started on headers, mine always sealed okay, but the collector gasket kept blowing out, routed the exhaust all wrong, hot, noisy, good power at the upper end, but lost all low end torque. Plus, the carb never could warm up and ran bad in the winter, even with liquid heat riser, kind of a joke.

Mallory I still have, but had to convert it to electronic, it was a single point design, couldn't keep points in it more than a year and they were shot, always needed adjusted.

Stick with stock, I have been far happier.

[UpsideDown]

Originally Posted by willsta2000

All that said, my worst personal mod would have to be running a shackle reversal for a yr or so. Didn't like that the front would squat during braking. Braking hard on road, it would squat 4-5 inches, and forget about braking coming down a steep hill on the trail, if gearing down wasn't cutting it (keeping speed down), I pretty much had to deal with it. Plus the driveshaft situation plainly sucked.

That's almost what I was going to say... I did an SR (years ago, before I knew better) and it was a total waste of time, effort and money. When I went SOA the stupid SR and the expensive [useless] custom driveshaft went into the recycle bin.

~John

[Ethan]

I second the man a fre header. poor fitment and had thickness issues. Cant get it to seal tight.

[LC_Hamma]

Using a hysteer arm similar to this, which puts *too much stress on those knuckle studs & aids in shearing them. I have since reworked & lowered the tierod mounting position: