Thought I would throw up a detailed post on my '78 40. I spend most of my time in the 200 section and organizing LCDC, which we are full steam ahead with year 6. We capped this year at 100 with 95 of them being 200s. Pretty cool considering how many are sold in the US. You can check it out here: www.lancruiserdc.com
In Nov 2019, I picked up a beautiful 1978 FJ40 in olive brown from @BTUMAN who owns Elite Land Cruisers. This was from his personal collection and a US model that has been basically sitting in storage for the last 10 years. I jumped at the opportunity when it became available as I’ve been wanting to get into a 40 for a very long time.
I grew up around Cruisers with my uncle having a 60 in the 80's and tailgating out of it every Saturday at University of Colorado Buffs football games. My best friends dad had a 40 when we were in high school and we would beat the heck out of it. Yep stupid high school kids... I started out with Toyota trucks, 4Runners and then gradually up to Cruisers.
It has 64k original miles and was restored about 15 years ago. Todd put about 2k miles on it over 10 years.
For the most part everything is oem and in pristine condition. Needless to say this will be used for cruising around town, hopefully some local car shows, breweries and light duty trails with the family around CO. The 200 will be my more aggressive trail cruiser.
Since it has been sitting for so long things had dried up and sat too long.
So far I’ve decided to tackle the following with some help from friends; Frank at Pedersen Toyota in Fort Collins (master tech and 40 specialist), @SGT0311 and Justin @RLMS. It always helps when your LC specialists tell you how nice your 40 is compared to others that come through the shop. One plus about COVID was Toyota was offering 15% off service which was huge for the work Frank did.
So here we go:
- Changed oil over to GP1 15-40 synthetic blend. Highly recommend by Justin.
- New tie rods from @cruiseroutfit along with some other misc parts.
- New redline 2” suspension. Existing one was a BDS 4” and it was too tall for my liking and bushings were completely shot. Called BDS and they no longer supported that suspension which was 15 years old. Absolutely love the ride now and 2" is the perfect height for my needs. Highly recommend Redline’s ultimate suspension kit. Also Justin and team were awesome.
- New water pump and fan clutch
- New AISIN clutch slave cylinder
- New AISIN master slave cylinder
- New AISIN brake pads and turn rotors
- New brake lines
- Center arm rebuild
- OEM Ignition switch
- 4 new wheel cylinders in rear
- Decided to pull out the Weber carb and walked into an oem carb rebuilt by @65swb45. Was not a fan of the Weber and thanks to all the great posts here I really wanted to go back to a oe carb. Runs much better than the Weber. Thanks Mark!
- New oe fuel pump
- New oe fog lights and oem switch with wiring kit from @Coolerman. He was a huge help with walking me through the wiring process.
- New cruiser corps headlights - non led
- Nifty cup holder that fits in oem center console from BH3D Printing
- Correctly installed oem AM radio, which was held in place with tape. Found the radio tabs bent back behind the dash which was a PIA to get back there and bend back into place.
- LED interior bulbs all around
- Old Man Emu steering stabilizer
- New headliner
- New charcoal canister
- Coolant flush
- JBL Clip 3 fits perfectly around the 4WD lever with no vibrations or intrusions for good Bluetooth sound
- Replaced oil pan, transmission gaskets and rear main seals... so MUCH labor involved in this... should fix all the leaks in the garage.
Absolutely love driving it and there hasn’t been one day where someone hasn’t waved, honked or come over when parked to chat about the 40. It puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel. Even the wife gets a kick out of driving it.
What post is any good without any pics!?!
In Nov 2019, I picked up a beautiful 1978 FJ40 in olive brown from @BTUMAN who owns Elite Land Cruisers. This was from his personal collection and a US model that has been basically sitting in storage for the last 10 years. I jumped at the opportunity when it became available as I’ve been wanting to get into a 40 for a very long time.
I grew up around Cruisers with my uncle having a 60 in the 80's and tailgating out of it every Saturday at University of Colorado Buffs football games. My best friends dad had a 40 when we were in high school and we would beat the heck out of it. Yep stupid high school kids... I started out with Toyota trucks, 4Runners and then gradually up to Cruisers.
It has 64k original miles and was restored about 15 years ago. Todd put about 2k miles on it over 10 years.
For the most part everything is oem and in pristine condition. Needless to say this will be used for cruising around town, hopefully some local car shows, breweries and light duty trails with the family around CO. The 200 will be my more aggressive trail cruiser.
Since it has been sitting for so long things had dried up and sat too long.
So far I’ve decided to tackle the following with some help from friends; Frank at Pedersen Toyota in Fort Collins (master tech and 40 specialist), @SGT0311 and Justin @RLMS. It always helps when your LC specialists tell you how nice your 40 is compared to others that come through the shop. One plus about COVID was Toyota was offering 15% off service which was huge for the work Frank did.
So here we go:
- Changed oil over to GP1 15-40 synthetic blend. Highly recommend by Justin.
- New tie rods from @cruiseroutfit along with some other misc parts.
- New redline 2” suspension. Existing one was a BDS 4” and it was too tall for my liking and bushings were completely shot. Called BDS and they no longer supported that suspension which was 15 years old. Absolutely love the ride now and 2" is the perfect height for my needs. Highly recommend Redline’s ultimate suspension kit. Also Justin and team were awesome.
- New water pump and fan clutch
- New AISIN clutch slave cylinder
- New AISIN master slave cylinder
- New AISIN brake pads and turn rotors
- New brake lines
- Center arm rebuild
- OEM Ignition switch
- 4 new wheel cylinders in rear
- Decided to pull out the Weber carb and walked into an oem carb rebuilt by @65swb45. Was not a fan of the Weber and thanks to all the great posts here I really wanted to go back to a oe carb. Runs much better than the Weber. Thanks Mark!
- New oe fuel pump
- New oe fog lights and oem switch with wiring kit from @Coolerman. He was a huge help with walking me through the wiring process.
- New cruiser corps headlights - non led
- Nifty cup holder that fits in oem center console from BH3D Printing
- Correctly installed oem AM radio, which was held in place with tape. Found the radio tabs bent back behind the dash which was a PIA to get back there and bend back into place.
- LED interior bulbs all around
- Old Man Emu steering stabilizer
- New headliner
- New charcoal canister
- Coolant flush
- JBL Clip 3 fits perfectly around the 4WD lever with no vibrations or intrusions for good Bluetooth sound
- Replaced oil pan, transmission gaskets and rear main seals... so MUCH labor involved in this... should fix all the leaks in the garage.
Absolutely love driving it and there hasn’t been one day where someone hasn’t waved, honked or come over when parked to chat about the 40. It puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel. Even the wife gets a kick out of driving it.
What post is any good without any pics!?!
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