'74 FJ40 in pieces

[ijonesinsp]

For a trail rig i would have went with the 60 axles. and a orion t-case.

If I had the money and the time to add one more alteration to the list of things to do, then I may have considered it more seriously. I thought long and hard about outboarding the springs and using the whole axle, but I chose what I chose. Long term, I am thinking I will do a spring over so I will have the wider housings if I go that way in a few years. Goal for the time being is a reliable rig.

 

[ijonesinsp]

Rear disc brake swap using brackets from @Poser.

Had to get my little girl in on the fun with "her stool". She talks to the Land Cruiser and I have to be "it's voice". Oh to be 4 years old again...

Swap completed:

Clutch installation:

Rebuilding the Saginaw box for the steering conversion:

Fabricated an "oldie but goodie" transfer case saver:

More to come....

 

[ijonesinsp]

AA twin stick kit from @orangefj45.

I had to tweak it a bit to make it my own with the transmission adapter plate I am using from EBI. The transfer case is clocked down a bit from the original location and I ended up swapping the sticks from what most people do and welding on an extension to the 2-4 arm to reach the shift shaft. Still works pretty good, but the throw on the shifter is a bit short.

Made a plate mount for the Saginaw box out of 3/8" plate and some 1/2" s/160 pipe for the spacers:

Here is the initial position of the box on the frame rail. I need to play with the angle a bit so I avoid hitting my shackle up front. Still need to cut a reinforcing plate to go around the hole I cut in the cross member. I also plan on adding the same pipe I used for the spacers on the plate to the inside of the frame rail to keep from crushing the rail on the bolts that go through.

That pretty well brings everyone up to speed of where it currently sits. Plan is to finalize the steering box mount and get the engine/trans/transfer installed this weekend.

 

[ijonesinsp]

So what are you V8 guys doing for a fan? I have several 7 blade clutch fans to choose from but they are all too big for the original fan shroud. Is there a smaller diameter fan I could look for or should I just bite the bullet and make a shroud? These fans are all from 70s Cadillac V8s and are about 17 1/2” diameter.

 

[pb4ugo]

You need a shroud with the fan located properly in it. I run a straight steel fan. Mines a 5 blade 35* pitch, i think its 18" diameter. It runs about 180 normally with a 160 tsat. I purchased the fan many yrs ago from a rad shop. I made the shroud. My second 40 runs a cheesy plastic flex fan in the stk 40's fan shroud properly spaced. The POs mechanic installed the engine and moved rad to right to help center it to fan/water pump. The fan is about 17". The plastic fan was designed to cut the blades to fit. It runs cool but don't know the temp because I run the stk gauge in the cluster. The needle goes just slighyly past the 2nd line. The 3rd line according to Toyota is 210.

 

[ijonesinsp]

Worked all day today adjusting this and that. I think I have it where I want it.

 

[ijonesinsp]

Distributor clearance is good, transmission is good against the heater, but I think I’m gonna end up dropping the radiator down about 1.5” before I build a shroud. That should get me really close to center.

 

[pb4ugo]

Can you still remove the distributor? If you eventually want to change to an HEI dist. would it fit?

 

[ijonesinsp]

Can you still remove the distributor? If you eventually want to change to an HEI dist. would it fit?

Yes I put it in after I pulled the hoist out of the way. I have an old HEI somewhere. I’ll see if it fits. I think there’s plenty of room though.

 

[ijonesinsp]

Tacked up my reinforcing plate for the hole I cut in the cross member and started to weld it and…of course…I ran out of gas. $&@!

 

[ijonesinsp]

Rear propeller mount is all welded up. I had to cut and rotate the arms to account for the transfer case being clocked down by the EBI adapter plate. Probably gonna pull the tub off next and finish welding all my mounts up for good.

 

[archie73]

Rear propeller mount is all welded up. I had to cut and rotate the arms to account for the transfer case being clocked down by the EBI adapter plate. Probably gonna pull the tub off next and finish welding all my mounts up for good.View attachment 3360637View attachment 3360638View attachment 3360639

I had a similar issue when I had the propeller mount. I ran it that way for a bit and always thought you had the answer. Then I found a way to make a mount for the SM465 and deleted the transfer case mount. Yours looks better than mine did. Good job.

 

[ijonesinsp]

I had a similar issue when I had the propeller mount. I ran it that way for a bit and always thought you had the answer. Then I found a way to make a mount for the SM465 and deleted the transfer case mount. Yours looks better than mine did. Good job.

Thanks man!

 

[ijonesinsp]

@archie73, I thought about trying to build a mount elsewhere either using the PTO cover on the transmission or somehow drilling and tapping into the bottom of the plate adapter, but what I did seemed like the best option. We'll see how it does...it's just metal and can all be changed.

 

[ijonesinsp]

Finished welding the Saginaw box mount and welded the propeller mount ears from @Downey onto some 1/4" pads to mount on the frame rails.

Getting closer to firing this thing up...

 

[ijonesinsp]

Broke in the cam successfully today. Can’t figure out how to upload a video

Glad to be over that hurdle and onto the next step.

 

[South Texas 97]

Post your video on a site (YouTube,Imgur, instagram etc), and you can link it via the video icon at the top of the window.

 

[texcwa]

So what are you V8 guys doing for a fan? I have several 7 blade clutch fans to choose from but they are all too big for the original fan shroud. Is there a smaller diameter fan I could look for or should I just bite the bullet and make a shroud? These fans are all from 70s Cadillac V8s and are about 17 1/2” diameter.

I did not have the room for a clutch fan, been using a 17" flex for 12 years but have decided to switch to a 17" solid aluminum mechanical fan. My engine (sbc 350 with some performance mods) I made my shroud so to be perfectly centered with the opening having 1/2" clearance to edge of blades and set to center of fan. You can see my pic and response in the below thread, see posts 24 & 26. Post 12 shows my motor mounted.

FJ 40 SB Chevy conversion running hot? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fj-40-sb-chevy-conversion-running-hot.1315886/#:~:text=FJ%2040%20SB%20Chevy%20conversion%20running%20hot%3F

 

[texcwa]

Broke in the cam successfully today. Can’t figure out how to upload a video

Glad to be over that hurdle and onto the next step.

I just had to break in a new cam about 6 months ago. My son was using the 40 as a daily driver (his f250 was non-op) and a lobe flatted out. Breaking it in was as much work as putting it in. It was a direct replacement for the Comp Extreme 262H that I had but since i was running dual comp springs on my roller rockers, I had to remove the inner spring on each valve, adjust valves, break in cam, again remove each valve spring to insert inner spring, and readjust valves. Just another life memory. When I make videos, I find it easer to just make and post as a YouTube video link.

 

[ijonesinsp]

I just had to break in a new cam about 6 months ago. My son was using the 40 as a daily driver (his f250 was non-op) and a lobe flatted out. Breaking it in was as much work as putting it in. It was a direct replacement for the Comp Extreme 262H that I had but since i was running dual comp springs on my roller rockers, I had to remove the inner spring on each valve, adjust valves, break in cam, again remove each valve spring to insert inner spring, and readjust valves. Just another life memory. When I make videos, I find it easer to just make and post as a YouTube video link.

Sounds like a great experience! Did you ever find out the root cause of the cam failure?