Builds 1974 HZJ40 Build (1 Viewer)

[The Eradicator]

Last summer dad picked up this relatively rust free cruiser off of craigslist with no title and no drivetrain. After some paper work and a few months of waiting, he received the bonded title. With the title in hand, we started the parts buying spree by sourcing a 1HZ and H55 from @joekatana. Next, I contacted Wayne @crushers about his 1HZ engine mounts and found out that he sells a kit for this conversion. I will go into more detail on the kit as it is installed. Getting the engine in is the first thing on the list, but the plan is to build a mechanically sound daily driver, while keeping the patina of the body. The major items we have lined out are:

Swap in the BJ73 axles we have sitting in the barn
FZJ80 steering box
Completely redo wiring
Powdercoat frame
2" Lift and 33" tires
Trollhole soft top

 

[The Eradicator]

Removing the injection pump was the toughest part of engine teardown. The trick was to rent a steering wheel puller from a parts store, crank it down with the impact wrench until the bolts start to stretch, and hammer on the end of the puller.

After stripping the engine down as far as we are going to go, we spent some time cleaning then coated the head and exhaust manifold with Slip Plate and painted the block.

Here are Wayne's engine mounts. They seem like quality pieces, just like the rest of the kit. I cleaned up the frame and tacked them in at the locations specified in the instructions.

 

[The Eradicator]

Today, I shipped the injection pump and injectors off to Turbo Diesel & Electric Systems in GA to be tested/rebuilt. I think that pretty much gets us up to date. I will try to post more detailed information as the engine starts going back together.

BTW, here is the sweet 40 wall art from Wayne:

 

[joekatana]

You won’t regret choosing the 1HZ for this build , to me that is truly the best engine choice for a 40 series.

Keep up the good work guys looking forward to see the result .

Joe

 

[crushers]

I will agree with Joe. The 1hz and h55 in a 40 is sweet. I recommend 3.70 diff gears with this setup ... works perfect with tire size up to 35"

 

[crushers]

....
BTW, here is the sweet 40 wall art from Wayne:
View attachment 1888910

I am glad you like it.
Enjoy
Cheers

 

[The Eradicator]

Last week we received the rebuilt pump and injectors and started putting everything back together. Just judging by the exterior of the pump, Turbo Diesel & Electric Systems seems to pay much more attention to detail than the local diesel shop.

Timing the pump:

12V fuel cutoff solenoid:

12V NGK glow plugs:

 

[The Eradicator]

With the pump back on and the new timing belt installed, we rotated the engine over and put in new Taiho BEBs from Radd Cruisers. I know that 1HZs typically don't eat bearings like 1HDTs, but for an engine with unknown history, I figured it would be worth it to throw new bearings in while it was convenient. This was probably a good investment because the bearings on cylinder 2 had a fair bit of wear on them. We also installed new front and rear main seals and put the freshly painted oil pan on with Toyota FIPG.

Alternator and fan are also installed, but I don't have any pictures yet. I am hoping to get this mated back up to the gearbox and fitted into the vehicle this weekend.

 

[The Eradicator]

We swapped the 24V starter motor out for a 12V one from a 5.9 Cummins. The starter noses are different, but the new motor fit perfectly on to the Toyota nose. The motor we used was from a Denso remanufactured unit (part# 280-0275) from Rock Auto.

 

[The Eradicator]

We installed a new Aisin clutch, hooked up the transmission, and dropped the drivetrain in for the first time.

Here is Wayne's transmission crossmember. It requires drilling four holes in the bottom of the frame and welding the gussets to the inside of the frame rails.

 

[The Eradicator]

We are waiting on parts for the engine, so we got started on other sub-projects.
Instead of a wilson switch for glow plug activation, we will be using a BJ40 lock cylinder from city racer along with an ignition switch off of ebay. The new lock cylinder has a different profile than the old one, but fit into the column perfectly. This should be much cleaner than a switch on the dash.

I sourced a new clutch slave cylinder from the friendly neighborhood Toyota dealership. It's amazing how many 1HZ parts they can get a hold of.

Trimmed the transmission tunnel to fit the shifters. I will need to have the boots before welding up the old holes or trimming any further on the t-case. Wayne's mounts keep the drivetrain low enough that raising the top of the tunnel like others have done is not required.

And we fitted Wayne's radiator mount and fan shroud to make sure that it would not interfere with the steering box. Looks like it should be no problem.

 

[OGBeno]

Great work here guys.

 

[The Eradicator]

Here is the steering setup laid out. 80 Series steering box and intermediate shaft with BJ70 pitman arm coupled to the intermediate shaft from my wrecked, future 3RZ donor 3rd gen 4Runner. That shaft is cut and welded to the end of the 40 column, which has the flange bearing from cruiser outfitters. Conveniently, all of the shafts have a .75" OD, so I can sleeve the splices with scrap tube.

The shock tower gusset had to be notched. For box mounting, I cut four holes in the frame, sleeved them, and made a corresponding plate for the inside. This will all be welded up next time the engine is out.

Here it is all assembled. The 80 series shaft had to be shortened ~11".

 

[The Eradicator]

I've been slacking on updates because I've been working on the project alone, for the most part, and my phone takes awful pictures. I don't want to get too far behind, though, so here is what I have.

For the throttle, I copied @roma042987 and ordered a cable from Specter, drilled a hole in the firewall between the existing captive nuts, and modified the old pedal to fit.

We moved the BJ73 axles into the garage and cut off all of the old spring perches and swaybar brackets. You can see that the front axle has had a rough life; brake rotor and dust shield ground down by tireless driving, bent spring perch, pinion bearing is toast, and it's missing the outer wheel bearings.

 

[The Eradicator]

Continuing...

Installed OME springs and shackles. Then, after some trial and error setting the pinion angle and castor, I tacked Barnes spring perches in place and fitted the U-bolt flip kits from @lcwizard. The only modification it took to make the FJ40 kit fit the 73 axles was a bit of grinding on the front right plate to make it sit level on the diff hump.

I also picked up a set of driveshafts from the local shop.

 

[The Eradicator]

Last post for now... The 70 series drag link was the correct length, so it just needed a LHD rod end kit from Cruiser Outfitters to bolt up to the box. I did have to relocate the steering stabilizer bracket, as the stock location was a few inches too far inboard for the 70 stabilizer.

After measuring the suspension, I ordered 4 Bilstein 33-185606 shocks. They are listed to fit a 2" lift in the rear or a 4" lift in the front, but I found that they fit the front better than the recommended shocks, which would have had excess uptravel and limited downtravel. Since the 70 uses lower shock mounts on the U-bolt plate, I made a set of 40 style lower mounts for the front axle.

 

[andrewkimball]

This will be an awesome tutorial for me when I finally can get my '71 started. Exactly what I want to do down to the soft top.
Thanks for sharing!
Andrew

 

[The Eradicator]

This will be an awesome tutorial for me when I finally can get my '71 started. Exactly what I want to do down to the soft top.
Thanks for sharing!
Andrew

Thanks. There are some good 1HZ FJ40 threads out there. I've been stealing a lot of ideas from Tucker and Roma's 75 FJ40 Restore

The shifter boots are in place. I used an FJ62 transfer case boot and a BJ70 transmission boot. You can see that it took some tweaking to make the FJ62 ring match the contour of the tunnel.

Captive nuts welded in and old holes patched.

I also picked up a single steelie from the dealership to make sure that it fits before spending $500 on a full set. Four more and a set of hubcaps are on the way.

 

[simonliew]

are those 15" steel wheel with the hobcap pins?
and they fit on BJ73 front axle with the brake caliper on?
i tried toyota 15" steelies on my HDJ55 with 60 series front axle and the wheel hit the caliper??????

 

[ukaviator]

Great thread thanks for sharing your progress, pics and part numbers. Following ...