My '74 40 Build Thread

I bought a 40 a couple months ago so I've got some catch up to do on the build posts.

I've owned and wrenched on my share of Toyotas including a 1st generation Pickup, a 3rd gen Pickup, a 3rd gen 4Runner, 4th gen 4Runner, 2nd gen Tundra and 100 Series Cruiser but this is my first 40. After doing some research, I decided that I wanted a pre-smog (1975 in Cali) rig running the original F or 2F. I was hoping to avoid spring over and I have almost no experience with bodywork so I was looking to find one that was pretty much rust free.

I found the truck below in the San Francisco Bay Area; a 1974 factory soft top with shackle correction, what I think is a 4" Rancho lift, original F motor, 35" BFG MTs, a SOR header, Holley Carb, Warn winch and Saginaw Steering. It actually runs really well but I plan to go through it to make it more trail and road worthy. Here it goes...

Mike looks sharp looking forward to seeing what you do with her. Sorry not a fan of kc lights mounted like that but love the green

New Seats & Seat Belts

I debated on where to start with the build and decided I wanted to get the seats and seat belts squared away.

It seemed a little out of order to put new seats in a 40 year old truck that could use some other attention but a wise man told me that it's a right of passage to get both on and off road miles under my belt with the F motor and its 4 speed. He pointed out that you don't want to dive into big mechanical swaps or upgrades without a baseline for how the truck operates. If I was going to get some back road, highway and trail miles with the truck, I wanted a shoulder belt up front for me an my wife and a new seat in the back for my daughter. I know the purists are going to cringe but I went with Cool Cruisers of Texas seats including their rear fold up bench. I realize that I'm dangerously close to being mistaken for a Jeep with that seat and the PO's homemade rear tire carrier that moves the spare to the center but jump seats are just not going to work for this build.

I was pretty impressed with the quality of the seats when they arrived as well as the brackets, sliders, seats belts and other hardware provided. All factory seat risers are maintained and existing bolt holes utilized, except for the back spring lock on the rear seat. I drilled a hole in the B pillar of the roll cage for the shoulder bolt as a temporary solution since I plan to order a new family cage. The instructions provided by CCOT are decent but one tip I would add is to bolt the slider to the seat, then the adapter brackets to the sliders then the whole seat onto the existing risers. If you do it out of order you work yourself out of room to tighten the nuts. After getting everything in place I felt like I should have paid the extra money for the reclining front seats which make climbing into the back easier.

I also installed the CCOT locking center console. It's sturdy, bolts right to the existing holes and has a place to install a radio. I do have a couple complaints about it though. It's's a little to too big; it's really tall and you actually have to have to change the way you hold the shifter so you don't smash your fingers in 2nd and 4th. It also doesn't have cup holders like the Tuffy box does.

A few more CCOT seat pics

Wheels and Tires

The PO cut the fenders but apparently his trimming was not quite enough so when the rear axle traveled the tires came in contact with the trimmed sheet metal, cutting into about a third of the outside lugs. He extended the bump stops to deal with it but I'll have to sort that out later to see how limited the travel is.

I tried pretty hard to find 2 old school BFG MTs but I struck out so I picked up 4 fresh KM2s. The wheels on the trucks were 10" so just a little too wide for the 12.50s. The new 15x8 black steel wheels look decent and at $49 each the price was right.

Went to my local quick lube in Folsom for a full fluid change a couple weekends ago. When I pulled up one of the kids walked out of the garage and said pretty much what I would expect, "Nice Jeep." A few seconds later this little guy climbed out of the pit and said, "That's no Jeep, that's a Land Cruiser." He informed that he was from Fiji, had extensive knowledge of Cruisers and would do the engine, tranny, transfer and 3rd member oil changes himself. I hung around to keep an eye on things. The oil that came out of the motor was thin, really black and had little clumps of dirt and grime in it. My new friend from Fiji brought me several finger fulls to inspect. It was really dirty but there was no evidence of metal in it. We saw pretty much the same thing with the gear oil. As he buttoned things up, he noticed that both the oil pan and transfer case drain plugs were leaking. He pulled them out, wiped off the washers and put them back in a few times, covering himself in oil. Once he was satisfied that they were holding oil he asked one of the kids to fire up the motor so he could double check everything. Click and nothing. Hmm, that hadn't happened to me before. We cleaned and reconnected the battery leads, double checked the starter connections and tried it several times without any luck. Then my friend from Fiji stepped on the hub, the fender and hopped into the engine bay. He asked one of the kids to hand him a screwdriver. He jumped the starter and after a few sparks flew it fired right up. I remembered seeing guys do that but it had been a very long time since I had a finicky starter. I spent a few days parking on hills and got pretty good at pop starting the truck, something else I hadn't done in a while. After researching rebuild kits, gear reduction starters, and other options, I bought a new starter from Specter which has worked perfectly.

After my oil change, a few oil spots appeared on the garage floor so I replaced all the drain plugs but that didn't do the trick. I finally tracked it down to the rear seal on the transfer case which was probably the cause of my sketchy parking brake as well.

I purchased the parking brake rebuild kit with rear seal from Specter and spent the afternoon pulling the drum, prying off old springs and putting things back together. I did the front transfer case seal while I was was at it. I had taken the driveshafts off of my first Toyota pickup countless times, before they had invented ratcheting box ends, and knew the bolt sizes and that I could catch the driveshaft with one hand when I pulled out the last bolt. Everything was a size or 2 bigger in the 40 and things were definitely going to be beefier and heavier.

What I also learned from this was that I am way out of wrenching shape. It felt pretty lame to have my fingers get tired, hands get sore and my neck get tired from holding my head off the garage floor. In my 20s I could put in several days in a row under my truck or bent over the fender without an issue. I decided that I was not going to chalk it up to being old, just out of shape so I committed to myself to stringing together enough projects to work the soft out.

Projects coming up: Man-A-Fre distributor, knuckle rebuild and family roll cage

mricker33 said:

....What I also learned from this was that I am way out of wrenching shape. It felt pretty lame to have my fingers get tired, hands get sore and my neck get tired from holding my head off the garage floor. In my 20s I could put in several days in a row under my truck or bent over the fender without an issue. I decided that I was not going to chalk it up to being old, just out of shape so I committed to myself to stringing together enough projects to work the soft out.....

Click to expand...

I like the way you think

add to the list for me numbness ... hate stopping and having to wiggle my fingers and hand... and also back... not so fun at times... but... push thru it

bad part is that i'm only in my 40's ... dont want to know how its going to be when i'm 90 .... thinking about it i'd probably be happy just to make it that far

nice looking cruiser.... Q: what size are the rear shackles?

JohnnyC said:

Q: what size are the rear shackles?

Click to expand...

The shackles are 5 1/2" overall. I think that's 2 1/2" of lift.

Shackles look stright up and down are the springs fairly new?

cruiserjunkie said:

Shackles look stright up and down are the springs fairly new?

Click to expand...

No, the springs are pretty old but the shackles should be pointed back, huh. Maybe because there's no top on it to flex the springs a little.

Bestop 2 Piece Half Doors

My 40 came with the factory soft top doors. The trouble with those is that they don't latch without the soft top B pillar in place so the previous owner ran soft half doors that were about 20 years old and were way past their prime. The door handle on one actually fell off while I was driving.

Any searching at all about aftermarket half doors will show that many people have struggled with the hinges. Cruisers with factory softops have an open loops on the top of both hinges so you can easily remove the doors from the truck. If you order the doors from SOR you'll notice that there is a note stating that you'll have to order hard top hinges to replace the top hinges on each side. You actually don't have to do that. If you just pull the hinge from each side and swap them then the closed loop you need ends up on the top of the other side.

Now that sounds easy but these hinges are pretty hard to remove and re-install. I snapped a few pics. The best way to tackle the swap is to grab your 12mm ratcheting box end. Some people call them gear wrenches. I recommend starting with the passenger side which is easier due to the fact that there are no pedals, fuse blocks, springs, etc. in the way. If you face the towards the front of the truck and slide your left hand up under the dash, you can guide the box end wrench onto the bolt. Start with the bottom inside, then bottom outside, then top inside and lastly top outside. I had to use a cheater pipe on a few to break them free.

Once you have the passenger side removed and your confidence is high, the driver side will make you question if you really need these doors. First, remove the two 10mm bolts in the fuse block and push it out of the way. I took the opportunity to chase down the previous owner's add on wiring that was plugged into the fuse contacts. You probably want to remove the spring on your clutch too. I followed the same order as the passenger side, working my way up into maybe the tightest corner on the whole truck. Once you've got that hinge out, I recommend putting the passenger side back in first to give your hands, neck and patience a rest.

Putting the swapped hinge back into the driver's side is the toughest part. The nuts that hold the hinges in place are not welded to the little channel that holds them, instead they are on a little bar or track so that the hinge is adjustable to ensure a tight fit on the factory doors. This makes getting the bolt back in pretty tough. On the passenger side, you can apply good pressure, spinning and wiggling the bolt until you catch the threads on the nut which is moving around on you. On the driver's side there is so little room that it is much harder. Someone told me that they removed their clutch master cylinders to re-install through the firewall with a ratchet, u joint and extensions. I decided I would give it a go without going that route. I struggled for 20 or 30 minutes and didn't have a single bolt in. I remembered that just the other day I re-installed the skid plate under the motor and that those bolts came to a point, unlike most on the truck. I pulled one out, also 12mm, and was able to screw it right in. I backed it back out and the hinge bolt went right in. I repeated this trick for the other three bolts then, put the door and latch on, checked for alignment and tightened all the bolts.

Bestop 2 Piece Half Doors

The hinge issue. The bottom one is fine.

Bestop 2 Piece Half Doors

Overall I'm happy with the doors. They latch firmly, have good weatherstripping and provide decent protection from wind. The top halves are held to the bottom with three post which slide into three tubes. The nylon overlaps and Velcros together. NOTE: be careful when you pull the Velcro apart. You'll want to pull it a few inches at a time. I slid my hand in one end and tried to slide it across like you open a letter. The edge of the Velcro strip cut my hand pretty badly.

Here are some shots of the doors on the truck. On my Cruiser there is an odd gap between the top of the doors and the bikini top. I'm hoping that this is because the roll cage tube which connects my A and B pillars is set in from the edge of the tub. My Metal Tech cage is at the powder coater and the SOR family Summer Top arrived so we'll see how they all work out together latter this week.

Man-A-Fre HEI Distributor

This is an upgrade that I had read a lot about and two of my Cruiser buddies recommended. I decided to upgrade the ignition system for several reasons: maintaining the points/condenser system was not something I was looking forward to, my 40 had a pretty bad miss under load at low RPMs I was hoping to cure and it really cleans up the right side of the engine bay by eliminating the coil and associated wiring. I read a lot about the ease of starting but fortunately I don't have a problem starting. The truck fires up on the first crank after a couple revolutions each time. In fact, you never even hear the starter when you turn the key.

The kit I purchased from Man-A-Fre came with a self contained distributor, and plug wires. I picked up NGK plugs from Specter.

http://man-a-fre.com/pa4/lightningstrikeHEIignitionsystem.htm

http://www.sor.com/catproducts.sor?from=024&part.number=024-02&tabpage=TAB1

Man-A-Fre HEI Distributor

There are a couple things that you'll notice when you order an HEI distributor. One is you have to select whether or not your existing dizzy is vacuum advance or not, mine was. In some trucks there is a steel heater line that runs along the edge of the motor which routes coolant from the water pump back to the under dash heater. This pipe is in the way with the new, larger distributor so you have to reroute it. I picked up a 6' length of heater hose and ran the new line around the distributor.

The instructions that are shipped from Man-A-Fre are actually quite good. They walk you through each step and contain decent pictures.

Below is a picture of the heater tube along side my original distributor. Also attached is a picture of the vacuum advanced inlet.

Most upgrades or repairs that involve timing should start with getting the motor to Top Dead Center on the compression stroke of the No 1 cylinder. I have tried every method to get there in the past. No matter which one you're using, you always need to remove all the spark plugs first. I have found that using a flashlight and watching for the piston to come up is a waste of time. Half the time you're on the exhaust stroke and most folks who end up trying to figure out why their timing is off have done this. Even if you are on the compression stroke, pointing a flash light down the spark plug hole and trying to tell if the piston is still coming up, is at the top or just started going down is tough. Wooden dowels slid into the hole works perfectly on motorcycles but you don't need it on your truck.

I pull the distributor cap off, with the plugs already removed, and crank the motor for a split second. Most distributor caps are marked with the firing order so you rarely have to take note of that before you pull the wires. You are safe on the timing and can still put everything back together until you spin or completely pull out the whole distributor.

It usually takes me 5 or 6 times to crank the motor before I get lucky and the rotor ends near the No 1 cylinder's plug wire. That tells you that you're at the top of the compression stroke and that it would be firing if the plugs and wires were still in. If you set the cap back on and the rotor is generally pointed at the No 1 mark but off a few degrees, you can put the truck in gear and roll it back or forwards slowly to get it lined up right in the middle of the plug wire connection. In a 40 this ends up pointed right at the No 4 cylinder on the truck, not on the distributor but the truck itself. I took a sticker and aligned its edge where I was going to aim the rotor when I installed the new distributor.

Man-A-Fre HEI Distributor

The next step is to remove your old distributor and coil. When you pull it, take a minute to hold it next to the new one. I have read several posts about how their HEI dizzys were slightly longer or shorter or the O ring wasn't the same distance from the tip of the shaft. The distributor has a gear that runs off the cam and the spinning tip of the shaft runs the oil pump. If everything doesn't end up in the same place, you'll kill the motor.

Getting the new distributor in is probably the toughest part of the install. Since it has a pinion style gear on it, the rotor spins about 20 degrees when you slide the distributor in place. Set it in and pull it a couple times to get a feel for how far it will spin then "clock" the rotor towards the front of the truck, back towards cylinder No 3 before you slide it in. It will spin as it is installed and should be pointed right at your mark, representing the No 1 on the rotor, when it seats. It is very important that the distributor goes all the way in. I had to pull mine a few times and use a long regular screwdriver to spin the oil pump so that the tip of the distributor shaft would slide into it.

Attached is a picture showing the gap at the bottom of the flange meaning it was not all the way in the first few times I slid it into place.

Man-A-Fre HEI Distributor

Before I wired up the new distributor, I rerouted the heater hose so I could make sure they didn't interfere with each other. Since I had the coolant system already drained, I replaced all the hoses with this kit from Specter.

http://www.sor.com/cat054.sor

My coolant was more brown than green and some of the hoses, which looked to be original, had tons of debris in them. I'll need to look into a flush in the future.

Once the heater hose was routed and the cap installed, the plug wires were next. Each wire is cut to length and some have 90 degrees connections to help guide them back to the distributor. I actually thought they were cut too close. A couple extra inches on each would have made the routing much easier.

Man-A-Fre HEI Distributor

The wiring on the distributor is very simple. You only need one wire that's hot when the ignition is on. My coil had three wires connected to it so I used a tester and found that the black/yellow was the one I was looking for. I spliced on a section of wire that came with the distributor and plugged it in. You can also install a tach at this time on the post next to the power lead on the distributor but since I wanted to replace the one that came with my truck I just pulled it.

The last step is to set the timing. The inspection port in the bell housing shown in the attached picture is very tough to see into. There is a fixed point on the bell housing and a little BB on the flywheel that comes into view when your timing light flashes. Now I know why Toyota moved this set up to the crank pulley. That is a much easier set up to use. You set the timing to 7 degrees before TDC with the vacuum advance line disconnected then tighten the bolt that clamps the distributor in place.

Man-A-Fre HEI Distributor

The truck started on the first crank and has run very well with the new set up. It idles a little smoother and the mis I had is gone. It does burn the fuel a little better so the smell of un-burned fuel is less. The motor revs up a little quicker but in my opinion the performance gain is very small. All in all, I think it''s a good upgrade, that simplifies the engine bay and creates a smoother running engine but there is not night and day difference, at least not on the F motor.

TJ Fender Flares

My truck came with trimmed fender openings and what appeared to be about 15 year old fender flares. They looked like the ones from Man-a-Fre or Specter and were pretty spent. There were a couple cracks and some of the pop rivets had worked loose. When driving down the road they would slap against the side of the truck at just the right speed or wind gust. It was time to replace them.

After doing some research, I decided that my best option was stock TJ fender flares. I picked mine up on Amazon for $29 each.

http://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Ridge-...3653947&sr=8-9&keywords=jeep+tj+fender+flares

My first impression of them when they arrived was that they're pretty stout. Don't bother with the hardware kit you'll see advertised in the "other people bought" section. It contains platic blocks and light duty screws.

I bought a half dozen SS 1/4" x 1/2" bolts, reusing some holes from the diamond plate fender protectors and drilling a few more. The flares are stiff but flexible enough that when I tightened the bolts the bent enough to sinch down around the diamond plate.

Their connection to the truck is solid and they seem like they would take quite a beating without breaking.

My only complaint is that they are just a little too wide for 12.50s. If you are running 60 series axles or anything wider than 12.50s, these are the ticket.