Hi,
I am a new guy here but I have had my FJ45 LWB for a few years. During those years I have had a lot of fun driving the truck on and off-road. Here is how the truck was setup when I bought it. 1965 LWB with spring over lift on 35” BFG All Terrain.
I was told it had a 327 with a 4 bolt main. When I pulled the pan to replace the gasket I verified the 4 bolt main but the motor numbers look like a 350 cubic inch not a 327. I still need to do a little more research to verify exactly what it is but I can say that it has peanut spark plugs so the heads are from a 350. It is running ram horn exhaust with a 2 barrel crab. Cooling was accomplished with a home made shroud with the stock FJ radiator. We modified that with a Ron Davis Aluminum radiator with duel electric fans.
The front end was a late model Land Cruiser with disc breaks and warn locking hubs. I had it rebuilt because it was leaking and the fluid was very dirty when I changed it. We installed new bearings, seals and an ARB air locker.
The transmission was a leaking Turbo 400 out of a Buick which someone had hacked to fit the Chevy block. I took pictures but they got erased unfortunately. This hack job included blowing holes in the case with a torch and welding tab on both sides so they had something to match up with the block. I bought a new housing and had a transmission shop rebuild the Turbo 400 with a shift kit and stronger second gear.
The transfer case also leaked from what I found out later was a 3 inch crack in the upper portion of the case. The transfer case was similar to the transmission as there were no salvageable parts left so we scraped that and had Advanced Adapter built an Orion for the rig.
The rear end still needs to be rebuilt and have an ARB locker installed but that will be done down the road because of the other problems that cost much more than expected.
The body had a fairly nice restoration done some time ago. I think that the truck was restored stock and then some hacks did the spring over and V8 conversion because the difference in the quality of work between the body and the mechanical. There is some rust peaking through that will have to be addressed during the next tear down.
We were in the process of changing out the transfer case when we realized that the transmission also needs attention. While we were under the truck we also noticed that the mounts to the transfer case as well as the motor were done buy someone that must have been either in a big hurry or just did not know what they were doing. The transfer case hung down below the bottom of the body because the drive train was mounted to far back.
So today I am removing the motor so we can relocate the drive train about 2 inches forward and one in lower to get the drive train 4 to 6 inches higher at the transfer case.
I am a back yard mechanic that likes to work on cars but this will be by far the most involved project that I have taken on. So far I have read most of the post in the FJ 45 area and lots of the other posts on this forum and it sounds like there is a lot of experience here. So your help will really help me out.
Pictures will follow. I just need to figure out how to post them and start snapping some shots of our progress. This will not be as fast of a restoration as some because I have a family and a business that require a lot of my time.
By the way we also have a late 80’s four runner, two old CJ’s and a 2005 Rubicon that my boys and I use for camping trips to the local deserts and mountains.
Cheers,
Jim
I am a new guy here but I have had my FJ45 LWB for a few years. During those years I have had a lot of fun driving the truck on and off-road. Here is how the truck was setup when I bought it. 1965 LWB with spring over lift on 35” BFG All Terrain.
I was told it had a 327 with a 4 bolt main. When I pulled the pan to replace the gasket I verified the 4 bolt main but the motor numbers look like a 350 cubic inch not a 327. I still need to do a little more research to verify exactly what it is but I can say that it has peanut spark plugs so the heads are from a 350. It is running ram horn exhaust with a 2 barrel crab. Cooling was accomplished with a home made shroud with the stock FJ radiator. We modified that with a Ron Davis Aluminum radiator with duel electric fans.
The front end was a late model Land Cruiser with disc breaks and warn locking hubs. I had it rebuilt because it was leaking and the fluid was very dirty when I changed it. We installed new bearings, seals and an ARB air locker.
The transmission was a leaking Turbo 400 out of a Buick which someone had hacked to fit the Chevy block. I took pictures but they got erased unfortunately. This hack job included blowing holes in the case with a torch and welding tab on both sides so they had something to match up with the block. I bought a new housing and had a transmission shop rebuild the Turbo 400 with a shift kit and stronger second gear.
The transfer case also leaked from what I found out later was a 3 inch crack in the upper portion of the case. The transfer case was similar to the transmission as there were no salvageable parts left so we scraped that and had Advanced Adapter built an Orion for the rig.
The rear end still needs to be rebuilt and have an ARB locker installed but that will be done down the road because of the other problems that cost much more than expected.
The body had a fairly nice restoration done some time ago. I think that the truck was restored stock and then some hacks did the spring over and V8 conversion because the difference in the quality of work between the body and the mechanical. There is some rust peaking through that will have to be addressed during the next tear down.
We were in the process of changing out the transfer case when we realized that the transmission also needs attention. While we were under the truck we also noticed that the mounts to the transfer case as well as the motor were done buy someone that must have been either in a big hurry or just did not know what they were doing. The transfer case hung down below the bottom of the body because the drive train was mounted to far back.
So today I am removing the motor so we can relocate the drive train about 2 inches forward and one in lower to get the drive train 4 to 6 inches higher at the transfer case.
I am a back yard mechanic that likes to work on cars but this will be by far the most involved project that I have taken on. So far I have read most of the post in the FJ 45 area and lots of the other posts on this forum and it sounds like there is a lot of experience here. So your help will really help me out.
Pictures will follow. I just need to figure out how to post them and start snapping some shots of our progress. This will not be as fast of a restoration as some because I have a family and a business that require a lot of my time.
By the way we also have a late 80’s four runner, two old CJ’s and a 2005 Rubicon that my boys and I use for camping trips to the local deserts and mountains.
Cheers,
Jim
Cheers, 
Looking good!