Builds 1970 frame off

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SO some problems have arouse with kevin at Early years and exotics and i have moved my project to a place that is going to finish it up nicely if they can. They are going to paitn it now. kevin is having personal trouble and his gf is getting envolved with how he runs the shop on top of that his father passed away. I had to get out because things were getting rude and personal and extremily unprofessional as far as how he is letting his gf run his business, trying to deal with business the wrong way. Thankfully i had gotten my truck out of there in pieces.


plans are: 2f motor head rebuilt
tbi injection
h55f
sag steering

right now I have paited the: axles
u bolts
leaf springs

all in por -15 myself. and it looks great

I have new shackles and poly bushings
and its all assembled to a beautiful satin finished podercoated frame with p/s mods and 5 speed mods. I basically have a rolling chasis with out the drive train. SO thats where i am now.

whats left: have the drivetrain fitted in onto the frame with the unfineshed tub to mock it up
take tub off and paint it
assemble the painted tub onto the finished rolling chasis
hook everything up and do the wiring
 
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sense i am going to be kind adoing something custom with adding the fuel injection into my 1970 fj40 i know there is alot of rewiring needing to be done so I am going with Centec's custom wire harness. They have this kit where you call in and custom describe how you want it made. heres the link:

http://www.centechwire.com/catalog/universal/k2040.shtml

Mountaincruiser: i think it would be perfect for you restoration too. You are doing alot of aftermarket things in your truck to.

they have more harnesses here though; maybe one of these are right down your alley. I think centec makes better quality parts than painless.
 
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yea i hope it turns out ok. thats a good deal getting wiring for free. can't beat it!
I figure giving centec the original diagrams will work.

should be pretty self explanitory from there
 
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well, i'm gonna have to bow out of this thread as gracefully as possible. i have invested a lot of time and effort in trying to help you out and get you headed in the right direction only to be disapponted time and again. i don't really feel the need to elaborate on it.

i think that a lot of mistakes are being made here and you're not listening to what experienced people are trying to tell you. maybe that's why this build up has taken ten times longer than anticipated by you.

taking a torn down cruiser to a body shop to complete an unfinished project with lots of mods is not a great idea imho.

best of luck, i'm out.
 
okie said:
sense i am going to be kind adoing something custom with adding the fuel injected 3fe into my 1970 fj40 i know there is alot of rewiring needing to be done so I am going with Centec's custom wire harness. I am planning on faxing them wiring diagrams for all th eextras i am adding to the truck with some original diagrams for the stock stuff and showing them what is going to go where. They have this kit where you call in and custom describe how you want it made. heres the link:

http://www.centechwire.com/catalog/universal/k2040.shtml

Mountaincruiser: i think it would be perfect for you restoration too. You are doing alto of aftermarket things in your truck to.

they have more harnesses here though; maybe one of these are right down your alley. I think centec makes better quality parts than painless.
Click to expand...

3000 for the motor ouch!!!

I hope you aren't going into cc debt.

2nd about having the body shop do mechainical work.

Get it running before you paint it.

Find some guys in a local cruiser club to point you to a Toyota specific mechanic.
 
mel lowe said:
Find some guys in a local cruiser club to point you to a Toyota specific mechanic.
Click to expand...

I think she has been advised this since the start. Georg, in particular, is a Land Cruiser specific mechanic, and tried to keep her out of this mess.

At this point-I would forget the paint-the existing paint job looks better than 99% of the Land Cruisers out there. Paint it once there is a running truck. Otherwise you'll have $2500 worth of paint on a pile of Land Cruiser parts.

I would concentrate on getting the steering and brakes right, then do ONE MODIFICATION AT A TIME to get where you want to be.

One other thing-do not order the new motor until you have the ECU and engine wiring harness in hand. That's different from the chassis wiring harness.
 
I have an update of the plan for the drivetrain.

I have rented out a storage unit ( the type of containers on ships) and have been plugging away at this project by myself for the past months. Its tough but things are definatly getting done. I am learning alot doing it all by myself.

anyways I have plans after paint to put everything back together

the motor is going to : have the head rebuilt and all gaskets and seals replaced and we are going to look over the majority of the rest of the engine to make sure everything is sound. the engine is a 1977 2f.

then pop the five speed in there that i already have aquired new through toyota making needed modifications as needed for the conversion.

reasembling the xfercase george had given to me in pieces and bolting everything up.

lastly we are going to finish off the sag conversion buying the rest of the pieces to put it together from downey offroad.

I am going to be using the carburetor temporarily and roughly have plans to drive it to a fuel injection shop to get the tbi kit put in.

well theres an update. when i get time, pictures will follow.

cheers!
 
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okie said:
reasembling the xfercase george had given to me in pieces and bolting everything up.
Click to expand...


hmmm, you can not assemble a split case without having a transmission to build it "onto".
maybe that's why the one you bought from georg (correct spelling) was in peices when you bought it?! at least that way you can do an inspection as long as you know what you're looking at. otherwise you'll obviously have to put your trust in the seller.
 
okie said:
p.s. if your not interested in my build then go elsewhere.. but if you here for constructive advise..then welcome!
Click to expand...

if you're referring to me, then let me clear things up a bit: i was never not interested in your build-up or in helping you out. afterall, i did spend a couple of hours going over the rig for you and doing a compression test, correct?! and i did'nt charge you for it. i've also spent ample time trying to help you find the right parts for a decent price.
just because you don't agree with what people are telling you does not mean that you should'nt take their input into consideration. especially if they base their opinion on facts and experience.


i am glad to hear that somebody who's experienced and trust worthy will be helping you with the project. i hope you will take his opinion into consideration....
 
Okie I think you are doing an awsome job, dream big and make it happen! SOR tec guy told me I could'nt put a 2F with a 4 speed in my 69 FJ40 because of the cross-member. I learned on my own that if you hoist the front of the 2F up about 6" slide that 4 speed on then drop the engine down again that the 4 speed clears the cross-member fine. You learn as you go and hey it's a cruiser! Half the fun for me is learning. You are kind of my dream girl with your love for cruisers and the fact that you are spending this much time and effort to do this. I work hard to buy cruiser parts and put them to good use. Have fun and enjoy it thats whats its about.. :cool:
 
hey rachel.
why did'nt you take the cruiser back to ron at custom cruisers in gilroy?
 
greenfox: to far away

that and he is up to the neck with projects right now.

might i add he has been a VERY helpful person involving this resto. always been there for me. great guy!
 
Hey Okie,

Seems like you're on the right track with your build. In terms of folks being untrustworthy remember your working on a Cruiser we call them money pitts for a reason; there not easy to work on and parts are difficult to find, plus fabrication is a real pain until you get someone who knows what they're doing.

The parts thing is the biggest PITA. You hear one thing from someone and then find out its another and you're a square one again.

In most cases restorers are in unfamiliar territory when restoring or customize a cruiser...There's a lot of trial and error when buiding .

In my opinion the lack of expereince is attributable to that there is only a handful of mechanics/fabricatiors who can do a true cruiser rebuild. Its the recent interest and populairty that occured with the reintroduction of the FJ40 and of course Barrett Jackson that created the turn key overnight mechanic that might know what they're doing, but will take a lot of yourtime and money to figure it out. Unfortunatly time is money and money is time. Believe me when I put in my drive train, it was a pain in the ass for the installer--he had to mock up the engine a few times before getting it right which was lots of $$$...

The parts issue is one of the reasons I decided to put a 350 and an NV4500 transmission. Later parts means better available parts in the future. I would imagine that certain parts for Crusiers are going to become difficult or impossible to find and way expensive in the near future...

If it were me, I'd strongly consider all your options when putting in a drive train old or late model. Remember when building or restoring the most important thing is drivability.

Most are used to driving later model cars and the aminities, ABS brakes, fuel injection, power steering and safty. Cruiser's can be a pain and somewhat unsafe to drive, so I suggest focusing on the safty issues first, as other have suggested.

Over-n-out.

UNO.
 
O'Shell said:
Okie I think you are doing an awsome job, dream big and make it happen! SOR tec guy told me I could'nt put a 2F with a 4 speed in my 69 FJ40 because of the cross-member. I learned on my own that if you hoist the front of the 2F up about 6" slide that 4 speed on then drop the engine down again that the 4 speed clears the cross-member fine. You learn as you go and hey it's a cruiser! Half the fun for me is learning. You are kind of my dream girl with your love for cruisers and the fact that you are spending this much time and effort to do this. I work hard to buy cruiser parts and put them to good use. Have fun and enjoy it thats whats its about.. :cool:
Click to expand...


hey thank you, i agree with what you said a 100% and thanks for the words of encouragement. i will post pics up soon .;)
 
UNO_RACING said:
Hey Okie,

Seems like you're on the right track with your build. In terms of folks being untrustworthy remember your working on a Cruiser we call them money pitts for a reason; there not easy to work on and parts are difficult to find, plus fabrication is a real pain until you get someone who knows what they're doing.

The parts thing is the biggest PITA. You hear one thing from someone and then find out its another and you're a square one again.

In most cases restorers are in unfamiliar territory when restoring or customize a cruiser...There's a lot of trial and error when buiding .

In my opinion the lack of expereince is attributable to that there is only a handful of mechanics/fabricatiors who can do a true cruiser rebuild. Its the recent interest and populairty that occured with the reintroduction of the FJ40 and of course Barrett Jackson that created the turn key overnight mechanic that might know what they're doing, but will take a lot of yourtime and money to figure it out. Unfortunatly time is money and money is time. Believe me when I put in my drive train, it was a pain in the ass for the installer--he had to mock up the engine a few times before getting it right which was lots of $$$...

The parts issue is one of the reasons I decided to put a 350 and an NV4500 transmission. Later parts means better available parts in the future. I would imagine that certain parts for Crusiers are going to become difficult or impossible to find and way expensive in the near future...

If it were me, I'd strongly consider all your options when putting in a drive train old or late model. Remember when building or restoring the most important thing is drivability.

Most are used to driving later model cars and the aminities, ABS brakes, fuel injection, power steering and safty. Cruiser's can be a pain and somewhat unsafe to drive, so I suggest focusing on the safty issues first, as other have suggested.

Over-n-out.

UNO.
Click to expand...

yes safety is the number one thing and is the reason i am doing alot of these mods and think i ahve the most simple and easy plan without sacreficing modern conveniences that i wanted to add. I have only driven old cars and am very familiar with how they work. the landcruiser is a very easy machine to work on and i can find mechanical parts anywhere. If i need anything i can go down to my local monument or napa and they carry everything for my fj40 even the Asco / Aisin brands. You just have to be bold enough to ask. Up to this point as far as kevins shop in livermore, I have seen first hand the worst way to treat your customers and bail out and let his gf ( nto wife) take over and try to rip people off. Alot of the other shops around him ive talked to have already known this side of him, its me being new to and and just discovering. It seriously a messed up situation and he has alot of issues he needs to work out with himself. I will be amazed if hes in business a year from now.


parts are easy to get

these are some of the easiest cars to work on

i meant about the reliability or untrustworthy is some shops out there wont be fair or trustworthy as far as how they handle yor buisiness.thats all. may be different for others:grinpimp:

thanks for the advise on all my options although i have thuroughly thought everything through before taking on this resto so i am confident i can do them. Most importantly thanks to the people who choose to be kind and respectful instead of critizing everyting i try and plan out. Those words of encouragement mean the world to me. I am trying to stick to keeping the truck as original as possible keeping it all toyota with a side of modern qualities that will make it a good dd.

thanks man:cheers:
 
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i'm trying to understand what you're saying.

how many shops have worked on your cruiser? i thought it was only 2? one of them was ri=on and you said he's a great guy. that's what i've heard from others. the other shop was something vintage or classis. but he was'nt a cruiser shop. so who were all these "untrustworthy" shops?!
or are you talking about parts suppliers?
 
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