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The SM420 conversion is by far the best bang for buck conversion out there. Mine was rebuilt by Warden's in 2002 and has been flawless since then. I still see SM420s come up, and often for $50-$75.
With that said, there do seem to be a lot more SM465's out there, but most of them are 35 spline, which is kind of hard to work with in an FJ40.
Having both an SM420 and an SM465 in my stable, I think the SM465 is a better box by a small margin, it's just that the useful 10 spline version is a lttle hard to come by. Whereas all SM420s have that key feature. Plus, the SM420s are 50 pounds lighter and almost 2 inches shorter. The biggest advantage of an SM465 in a Land Cruiser application is the lack of a reverse hump on the passenger side. It makes drive shaft choices much easier.
Anyway, I hope they keep making the adapter. It's a great, great bullet proof tranny from GM's heyday, and deserves to remain in service. I keep hearing about the NOS ones-that would be a great option.
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Andrew
1971 FJ-40 Rubicon tested, 2F powered, SM420, some mods
1976 FJ40 Rusting slowly in the back yard
1984 FJ-60 H41, Toybox, 4.11, SOA, twin sticks and more
1989 FJ-62 125k-Stock, daily driver
1997 FZJ-80 Driveway queen, with door dent
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