Birdie (1 Viewer)

[DamnyouLee]

Just picked up this beautiful lady a few months back. Dubbed her birdie. My midlife crisis is less sports car more let’s get lost car.
She’s stick as can be and 190k original miles on engine and transmission. Gorgeous ride with a 3” lift and 33” tires.
BUT I would love to take her up the mountains a little more reliably and frankly faster. Any thoughts ?
If not enjoy this gorgeous girl I know I do.

 

[RevISK]

Nice rig, what year?
Where in Texas are you?

There are some minimal yield performance upgrades lined out in the FAQ’s but don’t expect a miracle.

An LS swap or even better, throw a V8 from a tundra in to keep it in the family. That’ll make her go faster.

 

[DamnyouLee]

Nice rig, what year?
Where in Texas are you?

There are some minimal yield performance upgrades lined out in the FAQ’s but don’t expect a miracle.

An LS swap or even better, throw a V8 from a tundra in to keep it in the family. That’ll make her go faster.

She’s a 1987
I’m in Lubbock and she’s great around here I’m just wanting to take her into the mountains more. Which she struggled with coming home.
Also need a tire carrier
Rock sliders
And all new speakers ( I like to jam when I drive)
I probably won’t swap the motor tbh. It’s a solid rig
Though I’d kill for a fifth gear

 

[dbbowen]

if you are handy, you can swap a 5.3 into it pretty cost effectively and gain modern car reliability if you do it right. Since you live in texas you dont need to look at $10K motors. a humble gen3 5.3 will do everything you want for way less than what a LS3 would cost. Im pretty biased though... but I regularly drive my fj60 with a 5.3 out into remote locations in the mountains with literally zero worry about breaking down. I even drove it across the country at 80-90 mph most of the time with no engine issues and no problems in the Colorado Rockies with speed. Unfortunately the 2f is designed from the get go to be slow and have a bunch of down low torque. Thats why they last forever. Youll never be able to drive up a mountan pass above 45-50mph even with a 5th gear.

My 60 had a 2f/h55f (5speed) combo and it was great for normal driving though. Speeds up to 65/70 in the city and surrounding highways, but once you loaded it up and drove up any large grades, I was stuck with 3rd gear max and hanging out with the semi trucks in the right lane.

If you do plan on keeping the 2f, consider a throttle body injection kit like holley sniper or howell. They wont add any power whatsoever, but they will eliminate the choke, the truck will start on the first key turn, and you wont starve the carb for fuel if you are in a dicey wheeling situation where you are looking out the front windshield and all you see is the sky

 

[RevISK]

She’s a 1987
I’m in Lubbock and she’s great around here I’m just wanting to take her into the mountains more. Which she struggled with coming home.
Also need a tire carrier
Rock sliders
And all new speakers ( I like to jam when I drive)
I probably won’t swap the motor tbh. It’s a solid rig
Though I’d kill for a fifth gear

She's a perfect vintage for an H55f swap, it's all in there, just need the tranny and a rebuild kit for your t case.
I just swapped my auto out for a 4 speed and now I am chasing tire sizes.

Can you weld? WhiteKnuckle makes some cool sliders that are fairly inexpensive. There are some great tire carrier kits floating around too.

Tune it as good as you can and put the biggest tires you can fit for some rubber overdrive. At least 33's.
But in the end it's a Landcruiser, meant to cruise the land. Enjoy the drive.

 

[DamnyouLee]

if you are handy, you can swap a 5.3 into it pretty cost effectively and gain modern car reliability if you do it right. Since you live in texas you dont need to look at $10K motors. a humble gen3 5.3 will do everything you want for way less than what a LS3 would cost. Im pretty biased though... but I regularly drive my fj60 with a 5.3 out into remote locations in the mountains with literally zero worry about breaking down. I even drove it across the country at 80-90 mph most of the time with no engine issues and no problems in the Colorado Rockies with speed. Unfortunately the 2f is designed from the get go to be slow and have a bunch of down low torque. Thats why they last forever. Youll never be able to drive up a mountan pass above 45-50mph even with a 5th gear.

My 60 had a 2f/h55f (5speed) combo and it was great for normal driving though. Speeds up to 65/70 in the city and surrounding highways, but once you loaded it up and drove up any large grades, I was stuck with 3rd gear max and hanging out with the semi trucks in the right lane.

If you do plan on keeping the 2f, consider a throttle body injection kit like holley sniper or howell. They wont add any power whatsoever, but they will eliminate the choke, the truck will start on the first key turn, and you wont starve the carb for fuel if you are in a dicey wheeling situation where you are looking out the front windshield and all you see is the sky

Man this is great info thanks for the heads up

 

[dbbowen]

Man this is great info thanks for the heads up

if you do decide to go the LS route... this is a great place to start

How to LS Swap a FJ60 or FJ62. Quick and dirty guide for regular folks wanting to do an engine swap in their driveway.

This thread looks like a lot, but you can totally do this. I have total faith in you! I've been meaning to do this for a while now. I havent really seen any how to guides or anything online and this one isnt going to be absurdly thorough or anything but will get you onto the right track. If i...

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