[bad_religion_au]

August 1975 FJ40

I bought it in April of 2000. It was underivable and in pretty rough shape. My first vehicle was an 75/07 FJ40 and I always had a soft spot in my heart for them. Lotta good memories. The short story on this one was that previous owner had disassembled the drive train to being a rebuild and past away. After sitting for a long time his widow gathered some friends and basically put it back in one piece in order to sell it. I read the classifieds every day on pretty much everything. I saw it and the price was attractive. I looked at it and couldn't believe how clean and straight the body was. I grew up in the rust belt and road salt is hard on Cruisers. With the exception of some light surface rust on horizontal surfaces it was perfect, abeit needing some serious TLC. Well, with a little money in my pocket from selling a boat my wife and I couldn't use with a newborn, I made a budget and jumped in with both feet.

Within some sanity of a budget, my objective was to make a truck like I wanted to be able to go in and buy new 30 years ago. I didn't want a rock buggy. I have dirt bikes for that stuff.

With the exception of the paint, Rino lining and the engine machine work, I am proud to say I built everything myself.

Some of the details include:
300 HP pre-86 carb'd 350SBC
Advance Adapter V8 conversion
stock 4 speed, TC, axles
Ramshorn exhaust manifolds with custom dual exhausts
4WDB, 79 mini front, Monte calipers rear
CCoT 4-core radiator with Flex-Lite fan and custom shroud
33X12.50X15 BFG MTR's on 15X10 MT Classic II wheels
front and rear FJ60 double cardan driveshafts
MAF spring reversal
2.5" BTB front springs, 4" BTB rear
Cut and turn front axle with +5 caster
greasable shackles
front cage
Olympic Super Seats
CCoT one-piece floor mat
custom bumpers
Warn 8000# winch
Autometer gauges
Sun Super Tach
Grant steering wheel
Custom roll cage cover

I drive it on sunny days and get a lot of positive comments. With now two young boys it is a great way to get out in the wind and share my love of Cruisers with them. When I step over that running board in my mind I am 17 again . From building it , working on it, driving it or planning my next upgrade, it really is a form of therapy. Sounds corny, I know.

Dave Gangle
Birmingham, AL

pics to come

[nuclearlemon]

Originally Posted by bad_religion_au

pics to come

wow....how could you hold out on us like that?

[PabloCruise]

So far all I saw was "words, words, words and Pics to come"

[2badfjs]

Originally Posted by PabloCruise

So far all I saw was "words, words, words and Pics to come"

NICE

[camcruiser13]

worthless without pics

[nat]

How can it be the ROTW without anything to look at?

[REZARF]

Pictures, we want pictures! Sounds like a great rig! I cant wait to see it.

Rezarf <><

[74fj40]

hurry up with those pictures!!!

[bad_religion_au]

sheesh... i got them emailed to me and didn't have broadband last night

[bad_religion_au]

more...

[bad_religion_au]

sorry for the quality, had to resize them

[74fj40]

what kind of seats are those?

[PabloCruise]

Ooh! Thats purty!

Now I can go back and read all those words!

[Romer]

So this is Dave's vehicle in Al. How come your posting them up Bad?

Nice looking rig BTW

[HawkDriver]

Yeah, I'm all confused. Who's rig is it? Is he here?


Anyway, That's a pretty nice lookin cruiser. Interesting place for the gauges, what gauges are they? Interior looks pretty sweet. Under the hood is REAL purrrdy.

Nice !!

[nuclearlemon]

under the hood is wayyyyy to clean...how the he%$ do you keep it that nice?

[bad_religion_au]

Originally Posted by Romer

So this is Dave's vehicle in Al. How come your posting them up Bad?

Nice looking rig BTW

it's Dave's vehicle (aka dgangle) he asked me to post it for him and emailed me the pics (because i think he's low on pic space).

[stumpy]

Originally Posted by PabloCruise

Ooh! Thats purty!

hahaha... i was going to write the very same words.... purty, even for a chevota! ;-)



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[stumpy]

how do you like the floor mat, by the way? i have an old set of SOR carpet floor mats that are wearing mighty thin... i have e 5 speed tranny, so my hump has a modified box bolted to the top, so i am looking for something clean that will follow lines nicely, and will allow me to cut holes the right way. would the mat allow for a 2 inch hump on top of the tranny?


e

[REZARF]

Looks great! Is the color that pale in real life? Or is it just the scanning and image transfer stuff. It looks like the viper yellow a bit.

Is that a floor mat or did you rhino line the tub?

Looks great!

Rezarf <><

[dgangle]

Thank you all for your kind comments. Let me provide some clarity. The color is 2000 Chev Corvette Millenium Yellow. The gauges are Autometer from Summit. They angle towards the driver's seat as does the tach which adds to the cool factor. They will have to be moved if I ever do AC.

The mat is a CCoT repro. I had them leave it uncut for the shifter and extra long under the drivers seat. I cut/trimmed the appropriate holes and around brackets to make it look like it came that way. Yea, no Toy logo. It fits like everything else from them. It's molded to some extent to fit the tranny hump. I had no other options as the original was beyond wasted. I do not think there is room for a 2" hump but I suggest you ask CCoT if they can do something for you. I was pleasantly surprised by them getting me one uncut and longer.

The motor is so clean 'cause the picture was taken right after it was 'done' in '00. It is still very clean as it sees no mud, or rain for that matter!.

The bought the jack from someone online and it was painted a mustard yellow. The color quality is poor and it makes it look the same as the truck. Not intended but coincidental.

The seats are Olympic Super Seats from Quadratec on boneyard heep sliders. $250-ish each. I built the seat frame from from 1" square tubing because I didn't want to pay BTB big bucks for theirs then have to modify it to my tastes.

The quality on the pics is poor because I did not have a digital camera when they were taken. I had the 35MM developed and put on CD. Bad Religion gladly resized and posted for me as I am somewhat computer illiterate. Plus I didn't have the space.

The entire tub is Rino lined, as is the interior of the hartop and rear doors. It prolly added 150# to the weight.

Attached is a better pic most have seen before. Thanks again.

[metalonmetal]

that's a well balanced machine you're running there, what kinda projects are you considering in the future?

[dgangle]

Future projects as related to this 40:

Gotta soften the rear ride. I plan to relocate rear spring hanger forward and maybe lose another leaf in the rear spring packs.

New rear spring perches. The V8 is crushing the stock ones.

Gotta do a GM cross flow radiator. Not bad this time of year but the cooling system is surely taxed in the summer.

Family cage. Primarily to keep the sun off the kids. Maybe a Heep rear seat. I am not looking forward to having another custom roll cage cover made or drilling holes in my floor/fender wells to mount the seat. Plus the inevitable damage to the rear heater from the brats stepping on it as they crawl through to get into the back.

As far as another TLC project, I'd love to do another 40. Something not so common though. Thoughts of a right-hand drive diesel sound cool. Or maybe a late Canadian FJ45 with a custom extended cab. All it takes is time and money, two things which are now in short supply! Who says you can't dream though?

[74fj40]

wow, that truly does look great. but one question tho, if you didnt do a spring over, what was the purpose of the cut and turn?

[dgangle]

Originally Posted by 74fj40

wow, that truly does look great. but one question tho, if you didn't do a spring over, what was the purpose of the cut and turn?

Short answer: combination of several different mods that worked against each other leaving no alternative.

Long answer: I did a V8 which moved the tranny and TC forwards approx 4". I did a spring reversal ('steering correction kit' by some) which gave 1.5" lift in the front and also caused the driveshaft slip joint to expand/contract with the movement of the suspension. This causes the angle in the front U-joint to get steeper as the suspension extends. I then added a 2.5" spring lift in the front for an even 4' lift all the way around. The result was severe binding of the U-joint in the front driveshaft closest to the third member. The only way to properly fix this was to point the pinion up to eliminate the binding U-joint. This causes the caster to go from approx +1* to about -11* which results in very poor steering, tracking and flat towing characteristics. The cut and turn solved everything. I was very hesitant at first but after reading a lot and talking about it with Jeremiah Proffit, decided to go ahead and do it. The hardest part was working on my knees on the garage floor. I must of had that thing in and out 25X. I could do the next one in half that!

[HawkDriver]

That is one fine looking cruiser. I like the tinting and that front bumper is pretty sweet too. Now do you have any pics with any actual dirt on it or at least pics of it being used for it's intended purpose other than to sit and look pretty?

[dgangle]

Originally Posted by HawkDriver

That is one fine looking cruiser. I like the tinting and that front bumper is pretty sweet too. Now do you have any pics with any actual dirt on it or at least pics of it being used for it's intended purpose other than to sit and look pretty?

Nope. It does not get muddy. I hate mud.

[camcruiser13]

i used to have tinted windows, until i went wheelin at night and couldnt see out the back. too dark, but it does look bitchen.

[HawkDriver]

Originally Posted by dgangle

Nope. It does not get muddy. I hate mud.

Yes, I prolly wouldn't get a rig that pretty all muddied up either. But I would occasionally drive it off the pavement.

[rp4336]

i have a v8 conversion.