I picked up this F40 locally a few days ago. Its a Jan of 71.
Outside of being local, it had a lot of what I was looking for. A Fuel-injected V8/Automatic Swap. I grew up working on these motors and feel much more comfortable troubleshooting and wrenching on this setup. My other project car is a 1986 C10 truck which has almost the exact same driveline. It also came with some great patina. I'm a fan of this look, feels like it matches the spirit of a vintage truck so much more than perfectly restored paint.
I'm hoping to document my build here. Everything related to the driveline is nice mechanically currently. I just want to optimize it a bit more for comfort.
Major Plans :
Power Steering Conversion - Looking at doing an Fj60 Box / Saginaw setup
Disk Brakes - Going with 60 series parts here also.
The plan is to go 60 series for power steering and brakes. Overall this approach seems to be quite a bit more than other options (Electric PS and GM Brakes). But I'm hoping it pays off long term with a buy once / cry once approach. I hope this will bring this up to a more modern driving standard and make me feel a bit more in control when driving.
Secondary Plans:
Truck currently has a 4" Skyjacker Lift on it. It just sits a bit too high for me. I'm trying to figure out the best course of action here. I would love to lower it 2". No idea how lower shackles would affect the ride, or maybe I can remove a leaf, even doing this I might need new shocks if I do that anyway. So I might need to just bite the bullet and install an OME suspension and new springs. This apparently goes down to a 1.5" lift from the 4" lift. This will be a 90% road truck. With the occasional camping/hiking weekend. But no plans on wheeling. Hopefully, the lower stance will help it feel a bit more planted. Plus should help the GF get in an out a bit easier.
Thanks for coming along with the journey.
Outside of being local, it had a lot of what I was looking for. A Fuel-injected V8/Automatic Swap. I grew up working on these motors and feel much more comfortable troubleshooting and wrenching on this setup. My other project car is a 1986 C10 truck which has almost the exact same driveline. It also came with some great patina. I'm a fan of this look, feels like it matches the spirit of a vintage truck so much more than perfectly restored paint.
I'm hoping to document my build here. Everything related to the driveline is nice mechanically currently. I just want to optimize it a bit more for comfort.
Major Plans :
Power Steering Conversion - Looking at doing an Fj60 Box / Saginaw setup
Disk Brakes - Going with 60 series parts here also.
The plan is to go 60 series for power steering and brakes. Overall this approach seems to be quite a bit more than other options (Electric PS and GM Brakes). But I'm hoping it pays off long term with a buy once / cry once approach. I hope this will bring this up to a more modern driving standard and make me feel a bit more in control when driving.
Secondary Plans:
Truck currently has a 4" Skyjacker Lift on it. It just sits a bit too high for me. I'm trying to figure out the best course of action here. I would love to lower it 2". No idea how lower shackles would affect the ride, or maybe I can remove a leaf, even doing this I might need new shocks if I do that anyway. So I might need to just bite the bullet and install an OME suspension and new springs. This apparently goes down to a 1.5" lift from the 4" lift. This will be a 90% road truck. With the occasional camping/hiking weekend. But no plans on wheeling. Hopefully, the lower stance will help it feel a bit more planted. Plus should help the GF get in an out a bit easier.
Thanks for coming along with the journey.
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