1976 FJ40 BUILDUP - Chief $*itty Pants

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Well here goes a long awaited build. My grandfather and I were given this FJ40 by a good friend of my grandfathers so that he and I could spend some time together. My grandfathers friend was dieing of cancer. My grandfather let me halve my half right until two weeks before i turned sixteen. Smart man he took it to the indian reservation and there it has been for years. Unfortunately my Grandfather passed away from cancer a year ago and now I have the FJ40 home. ( I like the FJ40 but i liked my grandfather more) Now I am fired up to get it in shape so that I can spend time with my son who is one and looks like this . Over time i picked up a 350 with a blown headgasket and like an idiot i wrapped it and put it away not thinking that it may have water sitting in the cylinder :whoops:. So i have said ^%^& it and now i have a 383 Stroker sitting here. With the help of some of you I finally tracked down an Advanced adapters bell housing. Now I have been working on this for a month now and been taking pictures along the way and asking stupid questions in other posts and claiming i would be starting this build thread.

So here is the plan:
383 stroker stock 4 spd with stock transfercase
fabricated motor mounts
Shackle Reversal
SOA - Cut and turn
Fabbed Bumpers idea stolen from (RockCod) thanks
Front springs flipped
Rear springs flipped - fenders cut
Shock Hoops - With connect bar
Full Cage - MT or Home Fabbed ??
Possible MT tube fenders
Sand Blast and Por 15 all
Disc Brake Rear - with proportioning valve
Chevy steering collumn
International box ? - Hoping to keep my PTO
Lizard Skin or somthing similar for sound under tub
Cut out rusted rear sill
Some kind of Master cylinder]


Here goes.......... I am learning to post pictures so bare with me...

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Well here are some before pictures .... well after i removed the PTO and front bumper

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Well here it is going into pieces..... I am using my parents shop so i have to haul some of it to my house or they are going to break my neck..... Oh and by the way that wasnt enough of it they threw a fit this weekend and i had the engine posted on the classified however i had to haul it to the scrap yard along with a pile of brackets etc. that i had cut off. I hauled in 1060 lbs. and got about 80.00 or so for it. *&^& it was a good running engine! Anyway they are off my back for another day or two...............

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Oh and take note above at the custom fab skills used on the exhaust bracket!!!! Hey i wasnt kidding when i said it was on the Indian Reservation. That is fancy my best guess is that the orange bailing twine must have kept melting. I added a few more pictures........

Oh and the reason the build is called Chief $*itty Pants is ofcourse one the reservation but most of all it sagged in the back so bad that it looked like it crapped its pants!!

 

[bsmith123]

nice start

Nice Start,

Thanks for sharing the family connection that must make it mean all the more to you.


Nice spread you got there I wish I had a little more room to work on mine without tripping over my own feet!


Looking forward to the build---Have you named it yet? or is Chief SP the name?

by the way welcome

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I am hoping I can stick with Chief SP since that has been its name for ever..... I hope i dont get slammed for the language?... As for the family connection ya you bet!! He would kick my $%^& if he could see it right now!!!!!!!

I have finished the shackle reversal also. I know this is mixed on weither it is worth it and so on but physics say yes to me not to mention it looks a heck of a lot better! I will post some pictures i wanted to go cut some of my other questions out of other posts and combine it all

Here was the first stupid problem i ran into:

I have a stupid factory winch question

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I am trying to remove my factory fj40 PTO winch and front bumper. I removed all the bolts and rivets and thought it would pull the PTO driveline apart however i was wrong. Now i have a 1/2 hanging bumper.... Where in the heck is that driveline suppose to seperate? I know it has to be just on one or the other side of the crossmember that it runs through but which side? Also can i take it apart right at the gear box?? It looked like it may have had a couple small allen wrench headed screws??
It got dark on me so now i have to wait untill tomorrow

Thanks


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Reply:
There are 4 bolts that hold the winch to the truck and 4 bolts that hold the roller fairlead to the bumper. So, I am not sure as to the rivets you are talking about. Once you remove the 8 bolts, the winch has a shear pin that goes through the drive shaft to the wormgear. Take the pin out and she should come right off depending on if the splines are full of rust or not.
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Reply:
Mine hase a keyway instead of the sher pin so you may have a allen head screw that needs to be loosend and then slide the line off the winch shaft, if not to much rust.
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Reply:
Removing PTO winch.

1. Remove the cotter key and shear pin connecting the driveline right at the winch. In some cases this has been replaced with a nut and bolt.

2. Remove the two bolts holding the winch to the frame on each side back by the bib.

3. Remove the two bolts that are on the front of the winch at each end. They bolt thru the bumper and bracket just inside the frame.

4. Remove the two bolts by the fairhead that bolt thru the bumper.

5. Slide the winch forward a little to get the driveline connection loose then lift off.

I've never tried to remove the winch and bumper together.
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My Reply:
Thanks i finally got down to bare frame so i was able to get the bolt that held the radiator on. I finally found where it comes apart on the slip spline however it is so frozen it is not even funny. I have been soaking it with WD-40 for days and still no luck.

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Currently:

It is still sitting there with the ......about 12 section throught the crossmember the splines are stuck together

 

[bsmith123]

physics

physics is it? Makes it sound like brain science or rocket surgery!



I think Chief SP is a fine name!

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

This is a post i had in another section.

I have searched and searched and found bits and pieces however i need the meat and potatoes. CAN I KEEP THE FACTORY PTO SETUP AND INSTALL A GM POWER STEERING BOX??

I will have a shackle reversal and SOA, high steer, v-8 4inches forward or so....... Will it work or do i need to look for a scout (international box) and will i rubb tires bad?? 38 x 12.5" lets say with standard 8" steel cheepo wheels.

Since then i believe i have figured it out and am going to head for the scout box.

Any thoughts??

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Well here it was during the shackle reversal. Cut me some dang slack I called Napa and asked if they had any weldable primer because I osphoed (however you spell it) everything and i wanted to prime the rear hangers before i welded them on the front and they sold me some high in zinc or something primer that i am telling you was not weldable but i thought they might know what they were talking about. Luckily I will have a chance to redeem myself


Here are some of the back hangers drilling, welding, etc. I purchased a wooden dowel from Lowes. I looked like an idiot in there i had a stack of dowels and i was rolling them all across the floor to find a perfectly straight one.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Here are some more from using the wooden dowel. (metal would have been better of course)
Just an FYI I purchased an 1 3/4 hole saw as i read in another thread however I ended up going back to Lowes and buying a 1 1/2 hole saw and that had plenty of room to still center the bushings. I was to lazy to cut all the crap off my old bushings so I went to the local metal shop and they cut me two 2 3/4 inch long I think it was 1 inch schedule 80 pipe and the stock bushings fit tight.







Ohh and i asked the question in another post on how far to space them center to center..... Stock i believe i measured 42.25 and someone was nice enough to answer my question that stated that the kit they bought told them to put theirs at 42" center to center so i went with 42 1/8" We will see? I can always go with a little longer shackes if it was to close and if its to far well.... I will be buying new leafs

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Ok now you are all pretty much up to speed on where i am at. I wanted to get some pictures put together first so i didnt put everyone to sleep quickly...... So now i am on to my first question for this build thread. I have bolted my tranny/trans to a 350 block that had the water that i gutted to use as a mock up. I am trying to position the motor so that i can fabb the motor mounts. I NEED HELP I do not want to screw this up. I am shooting for about 3.5 - 4 inches forward right?? (Advanced Adapters) Like an idiot i hacked everything off and have nothing to go by. I am using the old driveline and positioning the drivetrain forward. Here are some pictures.



Here is one of the driveline ??



Ok here is an idea: I put a level under the frame and you can see where it is positioned. I pushed the level up against the rivets on both sides of the frame. I dont remember which side of the rivet but you can surely probably tell when you get under there. The space from the front of the level to the E-brake drum is about one inch on mine right now (hanging on cherry picker) Next what angle should the motor sit at? Isnt it a ?? degrees down towards the tranny?? Mine is hanging at 4 degrees right now

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Dang.... I know its a monday but cant anyone of the 176 people that viewed this crawl under their 40 and get me some #'s?? I picked up some metal for my bumpers (there goes a hundred bucks) That got me a 5' 1" chunk and a 40" chunk of 2 x 4 x 3/16 box tubing and two feet of 1 1/2 x 3/16 strap to box the 45 degree ends. (They didnt have any used so i had to buy new) Thanks to all the lack of help I have gotten today i think i am going to say screw it and order the motor mounts for 150.00 Only so i dont have to guess and be sorry at engine height. I think due to lazyness i may even order the rear crossmember even though..... *(*&^%!!! I can fab but I kinda screwed myself when I chopped every thing up and hauled it all away.

Does anyone have or know where i can get a deal on a rear crossmember? Or Advanced Adapters Motor mounts??? I checked ebay for the mounts today and now i will start searching but i thought i would ask. I am not looking for free ones but 150.00 come on if i knew for 100% sure proper placement i have the stock motor side of the mounts, bushings out my $%%$, and the proper tubing sitting here..................

Thanks

 

[camcruiser13]

look for orangefj45

ithink he can get stuff.

crossmembers etc,,,

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Thanks


I buzzed him a PM

 

[orangefj45]

got it, thanks guys. i'll pm you back in a minute with some pricing on the items you need.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Ok lets just get the AA mounts and crossmember coming.... That will save me a lot of guess work. I would be if when i was done i had to put a body lift on to clear! I will PM you back on details in a minute

Thanks!!

I just got done fabbing my bumpers up. They are just laying there boxed in. I still need to cut out for sealed beam lights, sink a reciever into the rear, and sink tabs to hang shackles from. I took pics but my cell phone adapter decided to give up on me

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Thanks camcruiser13 for the hookup I now have the AA motor mounts coming from Orangefj45. This will save some guess work and keep me from a few of after the frame is already blasted and sprayed. I included a few pictures of my bumpers. I still have to find time to throw down on them and install sealed beams, shackle mounts, and sink reciever hitches. I keep thinking about installing rock lights in them for atleast the front but I cant make up my mind i would need to protect them with something...

Anyways I am kinda thinkn i should have pretended to be a girl that chick in two days has 44 posts and 1001 views... I cant even get some help

FRONT

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Front

 

[antFJ]

nice welding.. that looks super clean!

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Thanks Ant i am following your build also keep it up

Ok i mounted the rear bumper tonight i still need to cut out some 1/2 plate to make my shackle hangers out of and weld in the reciever which i dont have but here are some pictures. I stuck the bumper out 1/4" farther than the stock bumper is. I cant work on the front bumper untill my cherry picker is out of my way. I hope to see the motor mounts early next week then this build will start moving! Motor mounts crossmember mounts, front bumper and off to get blasted..............





You arent going to hurt my feelings tell me if you think i made a :whoops: or at least give me an I still think i screwed up that girl is kicking my Butt on posts How in the heck do i stop making my posts so wide?????????