Builds 69 FJ40 - The Wrong Call (3 Viewers)

[TreadingLight]

That all makes sense to me. I've driven some Saginawed 40s on 35s but never compared them to one with a Yota box. This is some good food for thought. If I can figure out the parts needed and talk my buddy into it this is the route I'd go.

I'm still not sold on the 60 axles. The benefits make sense. It sounds like the effort isn't a big difference - out boarding the springs / notching the housing is not that much more complex. But I'd like to keep the rig "compact". Still considering.

This is not a very popular configuration these days but what do y'all think about a low SOA on 33s with narrow axles?

I'd have the body clearance and articulation of the SOA, a bit less height so more stable on narrow axles, and the differences with axle clearance between 33s and 35s isn't much.

 

[cruisermatt]

for you goals I would say a 35" would probably be the best all around. Big enough you won't be getting hung up all the time but not too big to put a ton of stress on Cruiser parts, also big enough you can get away without an Overdrive trans

 

[TreadingLight]

Axles

All of this debate and discussion on the finer points of axle configurations has been interesting and educational, but it turns out it was not for me to choose the axle parts, but rather for the axle parts to choose me.

The 70 axles i was after didnt work out, and I was about to start looking for 60 axles but instead I stumbled into a good deal on a nicely built set of 40 axles.

They are already set up to be sprung over using 40 springs, with an arb locker in one axle, some diff armor, high steer, and 4 wheel disc conversion. I'd have preferred rear drums w/ebrake but this'll jump start the project a fair bit and they've got some good parts on them. So I am stoked to have this part of the project sorted.

Going with those axles was probably the right call, and we can't make a habit of that so I had to turn around and make what could turn out to be a spectacularly wrong call.

Engine

I have long wanted a 40. And all of my cruisers have been diesel so far. And I'd like for it to be turbo'd so it's not so asthmatic at altitude. So I got this:

Soon to power my HZT40

What better match for my derelict pile of "most of a 1969 FJ40" than this derelict "most of a 1HZ" that has bad compression on two cylinders and is an IDI motor never designed to be turbocharged?

Step 1) figure out what is missing. At first glance: Bell housing, Alternator, AC compressor, harmonic balancer, fan clutch, fan, intake pipe, exhaust manifold, motor mounts, glow/starter relays, starter

Step 2) figure out what's broken. I pulled everything off down to the head bolts. I'll get a second pair of hands to help me pull the head off soon.

I'm expecting to send it to a machine shop for work. Just not sure what work yet. Maybe it's all in the head? Part of me almost hopes there are some piston issues so I have an excuse for 1hdt style con rods and some turbo pistons. Maybe bored over.

Arguably it would have been better to find a good 1hz and stay n/a or a 1hdt but I want to see if this rumbly old thing can be brought to life and taught to whistle.

 

[TreadingLight]

I was thinking the other day about ways I could, completely bevolently and without regard for personal benefit, give back to the Land Cruiser community. I mean, other than reminding people that the 250 is a 4Runner.

And I thought ya know, why not offer up my 40 as a learning opportunity for rust and body repair? So I turned to the local club and offered up my 40 like a cadaver to a medical school. This resulted in a Tech Day.

I have some rust in the rear corners and rear will, and was expecting that we'd weld in new sides and a rear floor.

The plan for the day

But before cutting the sides off, @hairy_apple decided to investigate and see how bad the sides really were.

Chiseling the bondo away

To our surprise, the left rear corner was covered over by up to 1/2" of bondo over a crumpled corner, but almost no rust.

This corner has a story

I kinda like the corner as is so we removed all the bondo and will just patch the rusty spots.

Moving on, we tacked in a few braces before cutting the rear floorpan out.

Maybe I should leave these in place for extra body stiffening.

 

[cruisermatt]

I know you seem to hate advice, but I have actually driven a 1HZ 40 and the power was pretty good N/A obviously the turbo would be nice but I wouldn't say it's 100% necessery.
Also, just a FYI 1HZ does pigeon hole you into a H55. Highly recommend a new one from me or whoever else as any used one will be from a beat mine truck.
Also, since you're doing the body work you should flip the rear springs. Especially with a SOA and 5-speed.

 

[TreadingLight]

Before any work could proceed, we had to take a tritip break.

Santa Maria style barbeque is the best barbeque on the planet

Back at it, our luck didn't hold out when I looked at the floor under the tank and the driver seat.

It appears my fuel tank was structural.

Ventilation holes

So we went to town chopping out a lot of rusty floor.

In the end we patched one rust spot but removed a lot more metal than we added.

Collecting metal to graft in

 

[TreadingLight]

I know you seem to hate advice

It's all in the thread title .

In a lot of ways though this build is being driven by parts I found locally.

Originally I was going to keep the F and 3 speed. The concept has changed a lot since then.

I have actually driven a 1HZ 40 and the power was pretty good N/A obviously the turbo would be nice but I wouldn't say it's 100% necessery.

I've driven and worked on a few. My favorite 40 ever was a 1hz w/a turbo. 40s are def light enough to not need the power but a turbo is nice when running up to high elevation.

Basically if I find a turbo 1hz donor I like it'll be a turbo. If not it will be n/a.

Also, just a FYI 1HZ does pigeon hole you into a H55.

Yep, planning for H55, split case w/4:1 gears, custom drive shafts made locally. New axles have 4.88s so I'll run 37s.

Highly recommend a new one from me or whoever else as any used one will be from a beat mine truck.

That would be smart but I have a couple options for donors that I plan to repair/complete. I'll most likely get a new transmission and I'll get the transfer case from Georg.

Also, since you're doing the body work you should flip the rear springs. Especially with a SOA and 5-speed.

Yep, that'll happen when we put the new axles in.

 

[cruisermatt]

If you have 4.88's, skip the 4:1's in the transfer case. Go with 3:1's, you’ll want the 1:1 high range (or 10% OD). 73:1 is pleeenty low for a 40 on 37’s.

 

[TreadingLight]

That's not impossible. I've got some time to decide on this unless I find a deal on a one that's already built.

This build is starting to lean crawler more than tourer and I imagine my highway cruise speed will be <65mph. With the 4:1 transfer case on 37s and 4.88 diffs I'd be doing 60mph at 2500rpm. 2200 would be better but it's not a huge compromise for the 1HZ. And with the sierras in our backyard the 4:1 might be fun. I'm leaning 4:1 but to your point I should really think through how I want to use this thing most.

Maybe I should get bigger tires. The front axle has trail gear 6-shooter knuckles and a 4x4labs high-steering kit. Ok, 40s it is. Maybe I should widen these axles a bit. This won't snowball. Hah.

 

[TreadingLight]

I am making more progress.

I have a 1hz head that is going to the machine shop next week.

I scored a set of sweet rusty hardtop sides. I just need the roof, barn doors, & hatch.

And shockingly I did find a used set of 4:1 gears. So against all better judgement, I am going to help a friend swap his 4:1 for a new set of 3:1 gears and then buy his old set for my 40 project.

 

[TreadingLight]

I guess I just can't resist the urge to keep taking it apart. Progress though!

We chopped off the haybale counterweights from the frame. The horns are a bit mangled but fixable.

What to do with these steel blocks?

Test fitting the hard top sides.

I have most of the parts for the top now, including some ugly ventilated barn doors. Now I just need the fiberglass top, brackets, the rear hatch, and the bracket the hatch mounts too. I like the color too. Rusty primer.

I also got the wiring harness out, which I'll repair and modify so it can run the 1hz engine. I'll add a fuel solenoid circuit, upgraded alternator cable, tach, AC idle up, and relocate some things as needed (oil pressure and water temp sensors). Nothing fancy but I absolutely hate spaghetti wiring so I'll make it neat and OEM-ish.

Parts (precups, valves, guides) are on the way too from Terrain Tamer to fix the head on the 1hz. It got cooked pretty good and has a crack (repairable). The only question is if I'll blow it up too. I'm keeping the turbo on it but may crank the fuel screw down a bit to help it stay cool.

 

[TreadingLight]

When I was crawling under the 40 last, I was overcome by some powerful stank. This 40 smells like ranch. And not the cool tangy kind of ranch you dip your carrots in. No, this is the kind of tangy ranch that comes from cattle. So much cattle.

So I decided to pressure wash it before going any further.

This was a horrifying experience that left me covered in decades of nasty wet manure.

That aside, I turned my attention to my new set of rear barn doors.

This isn't terrible.

Ehhh, OK maybe it is.

So I guess it's time to start learning to patch and fill these rusty holes.

 

[TreadingLight]

Next up, I took the sliders that I pulled off my Troopy to see if they could mount up to the 40.

I'll have to shorten them a bit but they'll fit.

And they should clamp right onto this awesome bumper. I'll have to move the uprights so they don't block the headlights.

I'm stoked to find a use for this ratty old armor.

And then I took a few minutes to check out the new axles.

I don't know what this is but it doesn't say Aisin so I may revert them back to Toyota hubs.

But I dig these steering arms.

 

[TreadingLight]

The rear axle has a disc brake conversion but no provision for an ebrake.

Does anyone recognize this type of brake setup? Are these GM calipers? I'm wondering if I could use Monte Carlo or El Dorado calipers with ebrakes. In that case I might need to add something like an estopp to get them to work effectively

Its also got an armored cover which I quite like.

 

[pb4ugo]

I think the front steering knuckles are called 6 shooter knuckles and frombe type steering arms. Idk, much about them. I'd recommend doing some searching on them. Someone has done big upgrades to the frt end. The rear calipers should be from a Monte Carlo. Someone has spent some big $ on that stuff. I would suspect the internals have been upgraded too.
There's a market for that stuff if you decide not to use it.

 

[svsisu]

The hubs are Trail Gear, but I don't know anything about them. Probably some kind of (perceived) upgrade

 

[pb4ugo]

The frt hubs are internally splined Dana style hubs and are very strong. You can probably adapt warn premium lockouts if you want. I would guess the axles have some sort of lockers in them and alloy axles in them, like longfields. The gear ratios may have been changed too. Folks don't use this stuff for a mall crawler.

 

[TreadingLight]

You nailed it. The upgraded axles were quite a score. The front has an ARB locker and the rear has a Detroit locker. Both have chromolly shafts. The hi-steer kit is from 4x4 labs. They have 4.88s hence I am going to run 37s.

The front hubs appear to be these: Longfield™ Studless Wheel Hubs - https://www.yotamasters.com/products/longfield%E2%84%A2-studless-wheel-hubs

Could i swap the Monte Carlo calipers for El Dorado ones to set up an ebrake?

 

[pb4ugo]

I've heard of folks doing that using eldo calipers, but I have no 1st hand knowledge of it.

 

[rockcod]

Could i swap the Monte Carlo calipers for El Dorado ones to set up an ebrake?
[/QUOTE]

Yes, they are a GM metric caliper as well. I’m in the process of doing this to my 40.

You will have to adapt the factory e brake cable to a universal parking brake cable kit that pulls both caliper parking brake assemblies.