I decided to make a build thread so I could keep track of my progress with this vehicle. The reason I have held off posting much up to this point is really to avoid the negative comments and you'll see why. Below is the main photo from the craigslist ad:
I've always been a Toyota fan. I strongly believe they are the best engineered vehicles on the road. I've owned 3 4Runners, 2 Tacomas, and a few Lexus. I was actually searching for a first generation 4Runner when I found this FJ40 about 4 hours away from me. I live in Charlotte, NC and I found the FJ in Greenville, TN. From the pictures and the description it sounded like a heck of a deal. The owner was asking $13,500. He was extremely nice on the phone and seemed like a stand up guy. I knew I wasn't going to give him close to his asking price but he told me to come up anyway and we could talk. So I did. I brought my wife's V8 4Runner and a U-Haul car hauler up to Greenville, TN and I must say... it was the most beautiful drive of my life cruising along the French Broad River through the mountains.
When I was about an hour away from this guys house I could've sworn I saw a little bit of smoke when I looked in the side view mirror and I thought... "what the heck is that?" so I pulled over and did a shakedown of the car and trailer. I saw nothing wrong so I continued to chug along. As I got closer I got extremely nervous. I was by myself driving through this single lane mountain road without a gas station in sight and no cell reception... I also had the "smoke thing" in the back of my mind. The only thing that calmed me down was the beautiful weather and driving along the river so I rolled the windows down and tried to relax.
I finally arrived at this guys house and saw the FJ sitting at the top of his driveway and I remember thinking to myself “man that thing looks awesome. I think I made the right decision”. I then meet this guy and begin looking over the truck and start to get concerned. The body looked good from 10 feet away but as I got closer I started to notice that this thing was pretty hacked up however, he was including a bunch of parts, it had a newer 4” lift and brand new wheels and tires. The 2F motor that was transplanted it ran and sounded great. It had 4 wheel discs brakes and a bunch more goodies. I was getting nervous because I was on the fence about the whole thing and I wanted to get back on the road before dark. Driving those windy mountain roads with no cell reception at night had me a bit freaked out. I knew I had to make a decision quickly. I figured hell, I’ll offer him a little less than $10k and see if he bites. He seemed disappointed but he agreed. So we loaded up the FJ and I hit the road.
To make a long story short, as soon as I hit the "mountainous roads", smoke started pouring out of my rear driver brake area. I assumed the caliper boot got torn and was leaking brake fluid. I stopped at a gas station and loaded up on brake fluid and made it home. Shortly after I got home I realized that it was actually an axle seal leaking gear oil onto my hot rotor. I replaced the seal and the 4Runner has been fine ever since.
I had two major concerns after looking the car over.
1. The wiring was an absolute mess. I'm not talking messy wiring... it was a miracle that it hadn't burned to the ground. It was hands down the worst wiring I've ever seen. I knew I would need to address this SOON.
2. They body is a throwaway. Most of the floor pan has been replaced with pieced together sheet metal. Some has been welded horribly and some has even been just cut and screwed in with self tapping screws. I was really bummed that the sheet metal around the gauge cluster had been hacked up. I knew I wouldn't be able to use a factory gauge cluster. The fuel gauge was the only thing that worked on it anyways.
I know what you're thinking. "Why did you even buy it?". It was an impulse buy, however, I still enjoy it... a lot. I think it still gets just as much attention on the road as the "nice" ones do. It's still fun to drive. The frame isn't rusted out or anything so I am going to invest all of my time and money into the drivetrain and suspension. Eventually I'd like to find a cheap donor vehicle and swap all of my nice parts over. I might even luck out and find a nice tub to throw on it. For now I just need something to tinker on and enjoy.
The first thing to go was the junky Smittybilt XRC winch. I was rewinding it so that the cable was neatly wound and when I released the reel button IT KEPT GOING. I essentially had to let go and let it self destruct. I didn't want to put myself in harms way by trying to pull the battery terminal. I think being out in the elements had just gotten to it. It was in bad shape. I'm thinking about replacing it with the Harbor Freight Badland Winch. If anyone has input on that one please chime in!
I was getting puffs of smoke after the engine idled for extended periods of time so I ended up replacing the valve stem seals. Noticed that a couple of the springs had popped off when I pulled the valve springs. Not too bad of a job on such a simple motor.
Of course the windshield bolts did not have spacers in them... It caused the windshield to bounce around when the bikini top was off. This had to be fixed. The threads were stripped out so I grabbed some more brackets from another member on here. I had my buddy machine the spacers so that the windshield was secure.
I've always been a Toyota fan. I strongly believe they are the best engineered vehicles on the road. I've owned 3 4Runners, 2 Tacomas, and a few Lexus. I was actually searching for a first generation 4Runner when I found this FJ40 about 4 hours away from me. I live in Charlotte, NC and I found the FJ in Greenville, TN. From the pictures and the description it sounded like a heck of a deal. The owner was asking $13,500. He was extremely nice on the phone and seemed like a stand up guy. I knew I wasn't going to give him close to his asking price but he told me to come up anyway and we could talk. So I did. I brought my wife's V8 4Runner and a U-Haul car hauler up to Greenville, TN and I must say... it was the most beautiful drive of my life cruising along the French Broad River through the mountains.
When I was about an hour away from this guys house I could've sworn I saw a little bit of smoke when I looked in the side view mirror and I thought... "what the heck is that?" so I pulled over and did a shakedown of the car and trailer. I saw nothing wrong so I continued to chug along. As I got closer I got extremely nervous. I was by myself driving through this single lane mountain road without a gas station in sight and no cell reception... I also had the "smoke thing" in the back of my mind. The only thing that calmed me down was the beautiful weather and driving along the river so I rolled the windows down and tried to relax.
I finally arrived at this guys house and saw the FJ sitting at the top of his driveway and I remember thinking to myself “man that thing looks awesome. I think I made the right decision”. I then meet this guy and begin looking over the truck and start to get concerned. The body looked good from 10 feet away but as I got closer I started to notice that this thing was pretty hacked up however, he was including a bunch of parts, it had a newer 4” lift and brand new wheels and tires. The 2F motor that was transplanted it ran and sounded great. It had 4 wheel discs brakes and a bunch more goodies. I was getting nervous because I was on the fence about the whole thing and I wanted to get back on the road before dark. Driving those windy mountain roads with no cell reception at night had me a bit freaked out. I knew I had to make a decision quickly. I figured hell, I’ll offer him a little less than $10k and see if he bites. He seemed disappointed but he agreed. So we loaded up the FJ and I hit the road.
To make a long story short, as soon as I hit the "mountainous roads", smoke started pouring out of my rear driver brake area. I assumed the caliper boot got torn and was leaking brake fluid. I stopped at a gas station and loaded up on brake fluid and made it home. Shortly after I got home I realized that it was actually an axle seal leaking gear oil onto my hot rotor. I replaced the seal and the 4Runner has been fine ever since.
I had two major concerns after looking the car over.
1. The wiring was an absolute mess. I'm not talking messy wiring... it was a miracle that it hadn't burned to the ground. It was hands down the worst wiring I've ever seen. I knew I would need to address this SOON.
2. They body is a throwaway. Most of the floor pan has been replaced with pieced together sheet metal. Some has been welded horribly and some has even been just cut and screwed in with self tapping screws. I was really bummed that the sheet metal around the gauge cluster had been hacked up. I knew I wouldn't be able to use a factory gauge cluster. The fuel gauge was the only thing that worked on it anyways.
I know what you're thinking. "Why did you even buy it?". It was an impulse buy, however, I still enjoy it... a lot. I think it still gets just as much attention on the road as the "nice" ones do. It's still fun to drive. The frame isn't rusted out or anything so I am going to invest all of my time and money into the drivetrain and suspension. Eventually I'd like to find a cheap donor vehicle and swap all of my nice parts over. I might even luck out and find a nice tub to throw on it. For now I just need something to tinker on and enjoy.
The first thing to go was the junky Smittybilt XRC winch. I was rewinding it so that the cable was neatly wound and when I released the reel button IT KEPT GOING. I essentially had to let go and let it self destruct. I didn't want to put myself in harms way by trying to pull the battery terminal. I think being out in the elements had just gotten to it. It was in bad shape. I'm thinking about replacing it with the Harbor Freight Badland Winch. If anyone has input on that one please chime in!
I was getting puffs of smoke after the engine idled for extended periods of time so I ended up replacing the valve stem seals. Noticed that a couple of the springs had popped off when I pulled the valve springs. Not too bad of a job on such a simple motor.
Of course the windshield bolts did not have spacers in them... It caused the windshield to bounce around when the bikini top was off. This had to be fixed. The threads were stripped out so I grabbed some more brackets from another member on here. I had my buddy machine the spacers so that the windshield was secure.