76 tub onto 71 frame (1 Viewer)

[Yoda]

Well, I finally came to a price on a "found in barn" FJ40. No it's not a perfect, 10 miles on the dial rig. Guy gave up on his project. Currently in frame off status.

BUT it has a very good body tub and cowl to swap onto my 71. Is this going to be a straight across swap, or is there something going to jump up and throw sand in my wheaties.

Also has full rolling frame, windshield, hard doors, rad, hood, 30K 350, sm420 (rebuilt) mated to 4 speed TC. (engine, tranny, TC all bolted together, not installed yet)

And a bunch of other stuff. Have to find/rent/borrow a trailer to get er home

 

[honk]

It would be a fairly straightforward change with a lot of detail work. The tub should bolt right on your earlier frame.
But maybe I've missed some thread? If you're buying an essentially complete cruiser that's apart why not put it together?

 

[woody]

off the top of my head....

the 76 is amby doors, the 71 isn't....

the 76 will run a big booster/wider brake/slave mounting, "should" be workable....firewall brace is different

clusters will swap in the dash, but wiring is quite a bit different....same with all the switches/dials/etc...

steering boxes "may" be different, and the column swap may be a mess.


IMO, honk is right, you may find yourself effort-ahead to finish the existing project....just be REAL sure you know what all is involved regardless....lots of time studying the differences up front will make it easier....


I did a 69 frame with 69 tub and lots of 74 parts to finish it off. You don't wanna know all the minor hack adjustments that had to be made....

 

[64fj40]

i put a fj40 1980 tub on my 64 fj40

the tranny hump was not the same so i fabericated my own turned out really nice siliconed all the seams, turned out really well, i used bed liner instead of carpet

 

[Vortec_Cruiser]

Except for the motor mounts & tubular cross brace, I know that FJ40 FRAMES are identical up to at least 1978.

 

[Coolerman]

"steering boxes "may" be different, and the column swap may be a mess."

I have a 71 and you are correct, the steering box and column are nothing like a 76. In case someone wants to know: The stock 71 uses a 'one piece' column to box with no rag joint. The 76 uses a rag joint on the box to tie the column and box together. (Sor diagram of 58- 9/72 system http://tinyurl.com/8ow63 scroll down for 9/72 to 84 system. )

The 71 column actually does not mount to the firewall at all, it just has a rubber boot around the column where it passes through. It's supported by the under dash bracket and the connection to the steering box. The 76 column does bolt to the firewall. The internals of the boxes are also different. The 76 design is a better, stronger design. Also the 76 box looks like it should easily bolt right to the 71 steering box frame mount. Not sure if the output shaft angle between the two types of brackets is the same though. If not, it's easy to cut off the 71 frame bracket and bolt on the 76 frame bracket.

Wiring: The 71 column is only wired for horn and turn signals, the 76 adds the key switch and headlight dimmer switch. If you have the 76 wiring harness then you are all set. Just swap boxes and hook her up!

See Jeff Zepps site http://www.rzeppa.org/ for a complete tear down of the 76 box and my site http://tinyurl.com/4ehfr for the 71 tear down.

I'm in the process of gathering parts for a mini truck power steering swap and when I do it I will document it on the web site. I will be using a 1978 column on my 71 body so I am looking at firewall mods...