Builds 1966 FJ45LV Capri (1 Viewer)

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Good question. I have never even been at an auto auction myself but I saw this thing and I’m local so I took it as a sign. My time with my LV was God’s way of preparing me for this project :) I expected it to go higher actually. I think towards the end it was just me and one other person Who may have been bidding from the phone but it goes so fast and it’s so stressful it’s hard to know. I figured FJ Co or someone would blow me out of the water.
 
While I was at Barrett Jackson today I took a closer look at the LV that sold yesterday and noticed I’m missing these pieces on the rear latch. Mine just has two screws on the top part and the little thumb piece that moves on the bottom part. Anybody have any of these they’d be willing to loan out for me to reproduce?


I also bought this FJ28L today... yikes!!!

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That part looks like it would be a good candidate for 3D printing.
 
Got to work early Nathan and read though this thread from the beginning. You've really done excellent work on cleaning up an already beautiful LV. Hoping when I get my body back it looks as good as yours. At the moment it's Swiss cheese. I do see how this LV prepared you for the 28. Really looking forward to seeing that build through. Talk about a Cruiser collection. You've taken all of the heat off my back with the Mrs. :D I'm kidding, she loves 'em. I'll keep you posted on the tranny delivery and I'm sending the mudflaps in a separate box with them.
 
Got to work early Nathan and read though this thread from the beginning. You've really done excellent work on cleaning up an already beautiful LV. Hoping when I get my body back it looks as good as yours. At the moment it's Swiss cheese. I do see how this LV prepared you for the 28. Really looking forward to seeing that build through. Talk about a Cruiser collection. You've taken all of the heat off my back with the Mrs. :D I'm kidding, she loves 'em. I'll keep you posted on the tranny delivery and I'm sending the mudflaps in a separate box with them.
Thank you Gene very kind of you, in hindsight this one was a drive through car wash compared to the 28! But the research needed definitely did prepare me for it. By far the best resource for these cruisers is this forum though. I can already tell your LV body is going to look better than mine, they’re doing it right - no shortcuts to good body work.
 
Well, with the weather cooling off here in Phoenix finally past few months I decided I should start driving the LV more. And the more I drove it the more I wished for POWER! The F135 isn't one of Toyota's best, after having pretty much all 2F's in my cruiser history it this F135 and the extra weight on the LV always leaves me wanting more. I decided since I'm going to keep this one forever (hopefully) I'm just going to get everything I can out of that engine. So over the next month or two I'm going to be installing the following pieces I've been slowly collecting the last few years for this inevitable day:
  • The 2BBL intake manifold I found from one of the Toyota FA trucks with the same F135 engine (photo below)
  • Holley Sniper EFI kit, made for the 2F but with the 2BBL intake it should work.
  • Man-a-fre 4:1 header for the F engine (also pictured)
  • H55F 5-speed transmission
The air cleaner part of it will be tricky I think with the Sniper kit, hoping to retain the stock air cleaner or perhaps a later model one somehow.

Main thing is I want to a) improve performance and b) do no modifications that aren't bolt-on and easily reversible if I ever wanted to take it back to stock (I'll keep all the original parts of course). Previous owner removed the 3sp and put in the current 4sp, which is leaking like mad and may need a rebuild anyway. So rather than putting more money into that non-stock 4sp, I'll just do the H55F upgrade now and optimize it as much as I can.

Don't think anybody's ever gone to this extent to add power to the F135 so it should be interesting to see how she drives after all is said and done! Also going to install some 60 series brake booster and master.

Talk about project scope creep! When you love a cruiser...
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Oh and I've also got a set of those rear hatch hardware "catches" on loan from @Tancruiser right now to reproduce so my hatch can stay shut! The machinist that's making them wanted to make several sets to make it worth his time, so I'll have some spare sets to sell if anybody needs some. Guessing I'll be sitting on those for years, can't imagine there are many other folks that need them but I sure do.

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Hopefully this gives the desired uumph you’re looking for without losing the F. Can’t wait to see this come together.
 
Check out the thread @thecrazygreek posted on mating the small bore Sniper to the stock air cleaner.
@thecrazygreek 's thread is what really inspired me on the Sniper, sounds like the way to go! The only downside about what I'm doing is it will be hard to tell how much of an improvement any one of these items gives me. Not much of a "controlled experiment". But it makes sense to do them all at once and be done with it.
 
It’s going to be an upgrade. Zero doubt. Every truck I’ve installed one on made it a new vehicle
I'm excited about the results, I just meant what % of the improvement will be due to the sniper vs the header vs the 2BBL intake vs the 5sp will be impossible to decipher for anybody else thinking about doing one of them. Not much of a “controlled experiment”. I would think the sniper will make the biggest difference of all those things though.

I debated on the 2BBL for a long time since I had that intake, but wasn't convinced it would be a big enough change to make it worth my while until I started reading about the sniper. Then I was like, eureka that's the perfect solution!
 
Whatever the outcome, the vintage 2bbl intake is a really cool vintage "hot rod" piece. :steer:
 
Just for my edification, with the early two barrels, are they one barrel primary with secondary barrel or do both barrels act as primary? Great to have the option to choose between old school cool and new school functionality.
 
Just for my edification, with the early two barrels, are they one barrel primary with secondary barrel or do both barrels act as primary? Great to have the option to choose between old school cool and new school functionality.
I’m not an expert but appears to me both are primary. The Toyota FA truck (link) used the exact same F135 engine but Toyota made this other intake to allow them to use a 2BBL carburetor for additional power on those huge work trucks. I have to imagine they were still slow as molasses but I love that bezel!

I found an FA truck brochure at one time. I’ll try to dig up some pictures but I believe it was in Japanese so might not be much help for info ;)

FWIW there is one of these 2BBL intakes on eBay right now. It’s been on there a long time because it’s pretty pricey.
 

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