My First FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[Austinc]

Owning a FJ40 has been a dream of mine forever. I have a pretty good opportunity to purchase this Landcruiser, and want to know your thoughts. I am pretty excited about it from what I see, but I am also super nervous I am getting in over my head. I am pretty adept with my hands and building things, however the world of cars is totally foreign to me. I dont know much of anything about cars, but I am really eager and excited to learn. What is your advice? Where should I start working? Is it worth it etc...

Here is the listing description and photos:
2F Engine with fewer that 100k miles. Disc brake front axle with locking hubs. Six point roll bar. Weber carb is on the manifold, the original carb with linkage in is the back if someone wants to rebuild and reinstall. Needs carb work to run (I asked him about this and he said he just hasnt finished hooking up the Weber carb because he was thinking about using the original carb but didnt want to rebuild it himself). It has rust in the usual places … front fenders, rear quarter panels. The soft / hard door configuration is a rare feature. Safari style soft top has no leaks. Old parts including original carburetor and breather come with the vehicle. Has a Jacob's Ignition installed but not in use. It was matched to the original F engine but the guy who did the 2F swap didn't know what to do with it. So it's just bolted in the original place.

 

[coinoperated40]

Cost??
Has a lot to do with all the things that have been done to it.

 

[bhsdriller]

Get it driving, steering and stopping then go from there.
Weber looks new so shouldn't take much. Stock carb is the way to go though and not too bad to rebuild

First thing i'd probably do though is rip that top off

 

[Austinc]

Cost??
Has a lot to do with all the things that have been done to it.

$6000

 

[DangerNoodle]

Those back quarters look like they've been poorly patched. How is the rear sill?

 

[Austinc]

Those back quarters look like they've been poorly patched. How is the rear sill?

not sure, I havent seen it in person yet

 

[pb4ugo]

There's probably a lot of rust and bondo hidden in it.

 

[coinoperated40]

The great thing about a 40 is it is a big boys or girls erector set. Everything come apart and can be put back together.
Box not included.

 

[Skreddy]

$6000 doesn’t seem that bad, especially these days. But depends what you’d want to do with it? There’s definitely rust and bad body work hiding (kind of hiding) under that paint. Some non stock parts too but again depends on use. If you want to end up with a really nice, all original, I’d maybe keep looking. If you want a cruiser to drive around with and fix little things along the way this is probably a good one. If you’d intend to flip or make money when you sell, I don’t think this is the one. Again, as said, look it over carefully for rust. What year is it advertised as?

 

[mcjb]

For 6k not a bad price entry point, bc you will put money into it.

 

[Ming89FJ62]

Congrats. Looks like a nice 40. I agree, rebuild the original carb and dump the Weber (look for Pinhead's rebuild videos on YouTube). I also agree in get it running and stopping and enjoy it. From the staining in the radiator you may want to make sure that the cooling system is in good shape too. And yes, you will be putting your hard earned $ into it...

 

[Austinc]

$6000 doesn’t seem that bad, especially these days. But depends what you’d want to do with it? There’s definitely rust and bad body work hiding (kind of hiding) under that paint. Some non stock parts too but again depends on use. If you want to end up with a really nice, all original, I’d maybe keep looking. If you want a cruiser to drive around with and fix little things along the way this is probably a good one. If you’d intend to flip or make money when you sell, I don’t think this is the one. Again, as said, look it over carefully for rust. What year is it advertised as?

He said it is a '73 with the 76 2f engine

 

[Jackson Hanes]

There's probably a lot of rust and bondo hidden in it.

Yeah, I just bought new quarter panels because the fj40 was made of bondo. Biggest paint in the ass, I wouldn't have cared, but I can weld to bondo to patch it.

 

[4Cruisers]

It looks like it has an FJ60 coil and igniter, and the distributor boot looks like the FJ60 boot. That electronic ignition system is the best for that engine. No need for that Jacobs ignition.

 

[SteveH]

For 12K, that would be a lot less interesting, but it looks like a fair amount of truck for 6K. Would be nice to hear it run before you bought it, but that may not be possible. You can expect that it will need a rear sill and (obviously) some work on the rear quarters.

 

[YODA 88 62]

Consider doing a compression test on it before you buy it. Assuming the motor has run in a year or so. Let the experts weigh in on that. Should be able to rent a kit from a parts store.

I purchased a 40 with a motor that turned out to have a broken rod. The motor was “free” when we checked it out with a partial rotation and limited tools. More rotation revealed the broken rod after the purchase.

Maybe hire a mobile mechanic to help you check it out. Could potentially wire it up to do a test run of the engine. $200ish vs possibly thousands for many broken things.

If you buy it, get it running yourself. Many of us started with the basics of fluid changes, brake jobs and basic maintenance. We made some mistakes a learned a lot from them along the way. There are tons of resources here to help you figure it all out.

Run the body work as is for 6 months, then decide if you want it to do a major fix or just keep rolling down the road. Enjoy driving it first. It’s your call at the end of the day. Good luck.