1976 FJ55 - Snow Pig Project

[snowpig]

May 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55 3 days old to me... 1976 FJ55 mostly stock with 118,000 miles. Fixin' to do an overhaul on the engine and add power steering, disc breaks and rear heater.

Model : FJ55 LG-KA
L - Left hand drive
G - Luxury model/wagon
K - 4 Speed
A - North America

LG-KA 2F 1/75-2/76 NA 4F
LG-KA 2F 2/76-7/80 USA 4F

Frame No : FJ55 62373

Color / Trim : 265 EA12
265 - Red / White (originally)

Trans / Axel : H42 K082

MODEL ENGINE DATES SPD 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH R TFR LW TFR

H42 F,B 73-75 4 3.555 2.292 1.410 1.000 4.271 1.992 16
H42 F,B 75-80 4 3.555 2.292 1.410 1.000 4.271 1.959 16
H42 F,B 81-89 4 3.555 2.292 1.410 1.000 4.271 2.276 19

Axel
K 08 2
^ ^^ ^-2 spider gears
| ++---4.11 ring/pinion ratio
+------9.5" ring gear

Plant : A11
All Land Cruiser bodies (Except the Bundera and the 45 Wagon) are made by Araco (Formerly Arakawa), a division of Toyota. Araco also manufactures the interiors for Land Cruisers, Lexuses, and other Toyota cars and trucks. Toyota manufactures the Bundera/LandCruiser II, and Gifu Body manufactured the 45 Wagon. The remainder of the vehicle (except in some cases the engines) is manufactured at Toyota's Honsya plant (Factory code A11)

Engine No : 2F 092067

* http://rustybrain.com/cruisers/faq.txt

 

[snowpig]

Gaskets...

After shopping around a bit I decided to order the FJ55 gasket set from cruisercorps.com which has an assortment of gaskets. It came today and I could not wait to get to work rehabbing my new TLC.

First things first... tearing down and cleaning. After removing the air box and valve cover I began to see my 55 in a new light.

Despite having low miles, the rocker arm & valve cover was so covered with sludge that it took nearly an hour to clean just the valve cover.

After some deliberation, I decided to let the rocker arm soak in some degreaser solution over night. I don't think the PO changed the oil very often...

I went ahead and pulled the rocker arm assembly and took a look see at the rods. To say the least they were a little pitted.

After seeing all this I am realizing that a full rebuild is in my near future. Any tips on 2f/350 Vortec conversions would be much welcomed. I live in California at 6,500' and will be driving this pig up and down 7000 foot passes from sea level. The HP and stability at varying altitudes are the only reasons I am looking to switch. I have read a little about adding TBI to a 2f and am curious how that would perform driving up from the valley or the coast. Let me know your thoughts, I know there are a bunch of Cali Pigs on here!

 

[fj40pants]

Nice find!

 

[apeterson]

haha... that is nasty!!!

 

[Pighead]

It's hard to paint an engine blue when it's in the car, has that engine been rebuilt before?

 

[Traveling62]

Nice pig, congrats! Let the fun begin....

You've still got snow on the ground!?!?

 

[snowpig]

It's hard to paint an engine blue when it's in the car, has that engine been rebuilt before?

I think the smurfy blue is original, I could be wrong, but have seen a few the same color.

 

[Pighead]

I think the smurfy blue is original,

I'm thinking no.

 

[snowpig]

Update

Started prep work to pull the motor yesterday. Still am looking around for a complete 350 or a sack of money to land in my lap... but in the meantime I decided to rebuild the 2F now that the snow has melted. Such a beautiful day to be working on a pig!
http://tahoedesigner.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/fj55-overhaul/img_1805.jpg

Not having a garage kinda sucks... but it's a nice place to work all the same.
http://tahoedesigner.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/fj55-overhaul/img_1773.jpg

Removed the manifold, header, alternator and started draining the fluids before removing the radiator. While I was waiting, I decided to take a look at the odometer which has not ever worked.

Tip: Lower the steering column before you try and remove the cluster!
http://tahoedesigner.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/fj55-overhaul/img_1796.jpg
http://tahoedesigner.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/fj55-overhaul/img_1795.jpg

All cleaned up and set back to zero since I have no idea what the actual mileage is and it will have a brand spanking new motor soon... well sort of.
http://tahoedesigner.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/fj55-overhaul/img_1794.jpg

and back where it belongs...
http://tahoedesigner.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/fj55-overhaul/img_1797.jpg

I removed the hood and the radiator along with the brace and went ahead and loosened all the motor mount bolts while the oil was draining.



That left only unscrewing the shifter boots from inside and unbolting the axle which I did when I replaced the oil plug. All and all that went pretty fast. Now I just need to go get the hoist and a with a little love that baby should slip right out.

 

[snowpig]

I knew things were going a bit too smoothly. Can someone confirm that the knob on the 4 speed manual gear shift screws off just like the transfer case shifter knob? I am having a really hard time getting it off. It turns but does not unscrew.

 

[apeterson]

yes it does

 

[snowpig]

It turns but does not unscrew.

So after wrestling with the shifter knob from hell, and taking a time out to clean/paint my wheels, I decided to attack my problem with an alternate plan and just removed the whole gear shift all together. Thanks guys for this thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/124589-gear-shift-removal-help.html

Worked like a charm! I'd still be wrestling with it with out the IH8MUD community!

Cleaning the rust off my wheels was easier than I thought!

After I got them all cleaned up and repainted I replaced the missing lug nuts with some new black chrome lug nuts... pretty schweet!

Not too shabby...

 

[bigsal]

You outta toss this thread into the pig stye.... I've been staring at your pig since you got it whenever I drive up Ward Valley. I'm over in Tahoma and have an engine hoist. I guess I'm going to have to drive over given that your's is on blocks... ha!

 

[custyota]

nice

suscribed! nice find!

 

[UnstableOS]

Subscribed.

 

[mcmain0121]

Great Pig find! Let us see more more more!

 

[snowpig]

I'm over in Tahoma and have an engine hoist. I guess I'm going to have to drive over given that your's is on blocks... ha!

Um... If you are serious, I will totally take you up on using your engine hoist!

I was wrestling with whether to rent one or buy one and had pretty much decided to go down to Reno to buy one over the weekend. Just saw your PM, I'll give you a ring a little later.

 

[69fj4069]

Tbi 2f does great in elevation. I leve the valley and drive to 8000+ regulary and it runs just as good. I do notice some power loss but it runs really well.

I'm curious. Where do you live? The lake sort of reminds me of mono but I am not sure.

 

[custyota]

I was thinking mono too. Damn i miss the eastern sierra!

 

[snowpig]

Tbi 2f does great in elevation. I leve the valley and drive to 8000+ regulary and it runs just as good. I do notice some power loss but it runs really well.

I'm curious. Where do you live? The lake sort of reminds me of mono but I am not sure.

Lake Tahoe... and, Do you do 40mph going uphill or does it actually pull well? I'm thinking hauling weight too. What is your top speed on the interstate?