Wanted to start a build thread for my FJ40. 40's have always been my favorite car.
My wife and I first saw this one by an animal shelter that we volunteer at. After weeks of driving past it I finally left a note on the windshield and got my hopes way to high but heard nothing. I gave up on it, but after about a year I was convicted that I would get a Land Cruiser of some variety. So in a last ditch effort I left another note on the windshield. Persistence pays off and he finally got back to me. The owner was an interesting 80 something year old guy who told us about his drug smuggling glory days for a couple of hours in the cold December weather but refused to actually make a deal. I stayed in contact for a few weeks and we finally came to an agreement.
It's a Jan. 75 with a Chevy 350 swap and mini-truck front disc brake conversion. I had always told myself that anything other than a 2F engine was a gross bastardization of what a 40 was supposed to be. But I guess my convictions had never had to confront the reality of making childhood dreams come true. Through my time working on it now I have learned that the 350 is far from the only thing people have done to corrupt this poor thing.
Anyway, we have had it for about a year now. So far the progress has been mostly in getting it back on the road and keeping there. I'll do my best to run back through everything I have done to date, not that it is particularly exciting but more so just for posterity's sake. Now I am starting to think about committing to some bigger purchases to make her even more road worthy and closer to what I want now.
The first two pictures are where we first found it and the last one is when we finally got it home. Even though it is banal, we call her Elsie.
My wife and I first saw this one by an animal shelter that we volunteer at. After weeks of driving past it I finally left a note on the windshield and got my hopes way to high but heard nothing. I gave up on it, but after about a year I was convicted that I would get a Land Cruiser of some variety. So in a last ditch effort I left another note on the windshield. Persistence pays off and he finally got back to me. The owner was an interesting 80 something year old guy who told us about his drug smuggling glory days for a couple of hours in the cold December weather but refused to actually make a deal. I stayed in contact for a few weeks and we finally came to an agreement.
It's a Jan. 75 with a Chevy 350 swap and mini-truck front disc brake conversion. I had always told myself that anything other than a 2F engine was a gross bastardization of what a 40 was supposed to be. But I guess my convictions had never had to confront the reality of making childhood dreams come true. Through my time working on it now I have learned that the 350 is far from the only thing people have done to corrupt this poor thing.
Anyway, we have had it for about a year now. So far the progress has been mostly in getting it back on the road and keeping there. I'll do my best to run back through everything I have done to date, not that it is particularly exciting but more so just for posterity's sake. Now I am starting to think about committing to some bigger purchases to make her even more road worthy and closer to what I want now.
The first two pictures are where we first found it and the last one is when we finally got it home. Even though it is banal, we call her Elsie.
