Where should I start? (1 Viewer)

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I recently became the proud owner of an '84 FJ60. I picked it up about 3 weeks ago from my father-in-law. He bought it about 3 years ago in Vegas after my mother-in-law rolled their FZJ80 in a snow storm. I told him if he ever wanted to sell it to give me a call first and a few weeks ago I got the call. It was hard for him to let go, but now I'm the 4th and plan to be the final owner.

It's a pretty straight truck with only a few rust spots on it. It's completely stock, but still runs alright with about 140k miles on it. In about 10 months I'll have it paid off and then can start saving a couple hundred bucks a month for upgrades.

I'm pretty excited to start on it. I've seen a few nice 60s around here. The other day I saw a big blue one from Alaska that was quite the beast. I used to see it around all the time but hadn't seen it for a year or so until the other day. I think I know who he is on the forum here. I think it had a 383 in it from the sounds of it and it had an SOA with 35s I think. Also a friend from college just picked up a blue '85 FJ60 too. We used to talk about them all the time while we were trying to do our engineering homework about 5 years or so ago. Now the dream has begun.

I'm not sure where I should begin now though. I had been working on an '89 Burban before this that seemed much more straight forward to build. I already had the 350TBI SM465 and then I put the corporate 14 bolt 1 ton FF with 4.10s (should've have done 4.56) on the rear and was about to pick up a Dana60 with 4.10s on the front, then get a lift kit, lockers, and slap some 38s on it. Pretty straight forward, so with the Cruiser I'm a bit lost as to what order I should do things in. I'm thinking since the suspension is in rough shape I might want to start there. Should I get an OME lift before I do a SOA if I want to run 35s? I think I want to do a Vortec eventually when the 2F gives up the ghost, but maybe I should get a 383? Should I run an H55? Can I run an H55 with a Vortec? Do some people run SM465s in Cruisers? (Whatever I end up doing it has to be a manual tranny as I don't drive anything that's not.) I'd like to get a better top speed than 62 MPH, but don't want to sacrifice crawl ratio. I also want to do things in an order that keeps it functional in between upgrades. I'll need to do things slowly over time as I get money saved up.

What do you guys think?

here's a pic of how it currently stands:
PICT0003.JPG
 
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Should I get an OME lift before I do a SOA if I want to run 35s? I think I want to do a Vortec eventually when the 2F gives up the ghost, but maybe I should get a 383? Should I run an H55? Can I run an H55 with a Vortec? Do some people run SM465s in Cruisers? (Whatever I end up doing it has to be a manual tranny as I don't drive anything that's not.) I'd like to get a better top speed than 62 MPH, but don't want to sacrifice crawl ratio. I also want to do things in an order that keeps it functional in between upgrades. I'll need to do things slowly over time as I get money saved up.

What do you guys think?
1) If you are going SOA, you do not want lift springs, OME or otherwise. Actually, you want flat, tired springs, otherwise you'll end up with WAY too much lift and a dangerous (and impractical) truck.

2) While the 2F is a dog, it is a long-lived dog. Unless it is causing you much frustrastion, at 130K, it is literally just getting broken in. That motor is valuable, despite it being underpowered.

3) Personally, I'd go for lift springs or the SOA first, get some meats under there for better highway legs. Then the H55F, which can be used with many non-Toyota engines, you'll just need the right adaptor (Mark's is a good place to look). You'll LOVE the H55F, but in an '83, you will need to do some mods for it to work. Do a search, it has been covered quite well in numerous threads.

Welcome to the addiction...

By the way, join the registry if you have not done so already and post up some pics!!!
 
Hey .... did you check out my truck in my driveway last night? I hope this is you and you found MUD.
Welcome to mud!!!!!:flipoff2:(official mud welcome)
Tom
 
Hey .... did you check out my truck in my driveway last night? I hope this is you and you found MUD.
Welcome to mud!!!!!:flipoff2:(official mud welcome)
Tom

I was thinking it was your Cruiser I saw the other day from your description, but I actually saw it on Saturday morning on Canyon Rd. in the Cedar Hills/PG/Lindon area. So, maybe that was you? If so, nice looking rig.
Thanks for the welcome... :flipoff2:(official mud thanks??)
 
1) If you are going SOA, you do not want lift springs, OME or otherwise. Actually, you want flat, tired springs, otherwise you'll end up with WAY too much lift and a dangerous (and impractical) truck.

2) While the 2F is a dog, it is a long-lived dog. Unless it is causing you much frustrastion, at 130K, it is literally just getting broken in. That motor is valuable, despite it being underpowered.

3) Personally, I'd go for lift springs or the SOA first, get some meats under there for better highway legs. Then the H55F, which can be used with many non-Toyota engines, you'll just need the right adaptor (Mark's is a good place to look). You'll LOVE the H55F, but in an '83, you will need to do some mods for it to work. Do a search, it has been covered quite well in numerous threads.

Welcome to the addiction...

By the way, join the registry if you have not done so already and post up some pics!!!

1) Good know that I shouldn't do both. Does an SOA give me enough clearance for 35s? Also, If I have a ton of roll in the front right when making left turns should I look at replacing that spring only?

2) Yeah the 2F is still running strong, but does have a small leak. Probably just the rear main seal or something. I haven't had a chance to look yet. I probably wouldn't replace it until it was on it's last leg. Although, I'm thinking I could get better gas mileage with a Vortec. The truck I used to drive with a Vortec got about 18 MPG and the Cruiser only gets about 13 MPG.

Thanks, and I'll try to post some pics soon.
 
I was thinking it was your Cruiser I saw the other day from your description, but I actually saw it on Saturday morning on Canyon Rd. in the Cedar Hills/PG/Lindon area. So, maybe that was you? If so, nice looking rig.
Thanks for the welcome... :flipoff2:(official mud thanks??)

I sent you a personal message!
<')))><:hillbilly:
 
1) Good know that I shouldn't do both. Does an SOA give me enough clearance for 35s? Also, If I have a ton of roll in the front right when making left turns should I look at replacing that spring only?

2) Yeah the 2F is still running strong, but does have a small leak. Probably just the rear main seal or something. I haven't had a chance to look yet. I probably wouldn't replace it until it was on it's last leg. Although, I'm thinking I could get better gas mileage with a Vortec. The truck I used to drive with a Vortec got about 18 MPG and the Cruiser only gets about 13 MPG.

Thanks, and I'll try to post some pics soon.

Were you driving a tan 60 saturday morning when you saw me? I did see a tan 60 that morning. i was following it for a few miles.
 
Were you driving a tan 60 saturday morning when you saw me? I did see a tan 60 that morning. i was following it for a few miles.

Yeah that was me heading home from work. That's the way I usually drive to work. I'll definitely have to come check out your rig.
 
1) Good know that I shouldn't do both. Does an SOA give me enough clearance for 35s? Also, If I have a ton of roll in the front right when making left turns should I look at replacing that spring only?

2) Yeah the 2F is still running strong, but does have a small leak. Probably just the rear main seal or something. I haven't had a chance to look yet. I probably wouldn't replace it until it was on it's last leg. Although, I'm thinking I could get better gas mileage with a Vortec. The truck I used to drive with a Vortec got about 18 MPG and the Cruiser only gets about 13 MPG.

Thanks, and I'll try to post some pics soon.

I am certainly no expert on SOA, suspensions or anything mechanical, but LOTS of typical SOA rigs run 37s or even 38s. With a body lift, more.
 
I am certainly no expert on SOA, suspensions or anything mechanical, but LOTS of typical SOA rigs run 37s or even 38s. With a body lift, more.

Yeah, now that I've actually seen an SOA in person I can see how 37s would probably be easy to pull off and I can see you definitely want flat springs with the SOA.
 
Alaska, you got a nice truck. Thanks for all the pointers and the distributor cover.
 
Also check the FAQ on SOA conversions:IH8MUD.com SOA Technical Section

Read it over and over. It's good to have arch in your springs when you convert, because the SOA will take the arch out a lot quicker than the stock SUA config.

Sweet rig, and keep updating us!
 

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