Engine choice for '72 project? - help me decide

[SteveH]

Very quick backstory: I have a restored '78 FJ40 that I have owned for 36 years and know FJ40s pretty dang well. I love stock (or close to it) for many reasons, but added TBI EFI and power steering to my '78 and it's a fun driver. I also have an '89 FJ62 (3F-E) I have owned for years. Love the EFI.

I now have a '72/'75 project FJ40 that needs an engine. I practically have two choices: install a rebuilt '81 2F (carb'd/stock) in my garage, or use an '89 3F-E and hacked-up wiring harness and computer/air filter (MAF). I won't do an LS engine.

I'm retired and have the time, but I'm dreading trying to install the 3F-E, due to the lack of complete 'how to do it' info on the web, and having to dope out the harnesses and relays and cut down the excess harness. I'm also missing all the fuses and relays in the 3F-E harness fuse block. Grrrr.

I'm *this close* to just selling the 3F-E and plopping the '81 carb'd engine in there, to shave a lot of time/agony off the project. I can always add AFI TBI to the 2F later, if our modern gas makes it undriveable.

Am I nuts? Should I buckle down and figure out the 3FE method, or just get 'er done with the 2F and move on? This truck won't be an all-original high-dollar job - it will be a driver with an FST, and that's pretty cool right there. This FJ40 has been a project since 1988 and is comprised of many trucks and parts. I have a lot of other un-fungling to do, to get it right and Toyota-like, so the whole job is not just an engine swap.

Thanks for your unfiltered advice!

Steve

 

[JohnnyC]

Imho Desmog the 2F and install with the usual F look

The 3FE is nice but not worth the extra hassle if it were me … I always try and find the path of least resistance… the 2F is that path lol

You should make the thread a poll

 

[3_puppies]

combine them and make a 2FE

 

[Living in the Past]

combine them and make a 2FE

Might be easier to fuel inject the 2F. The wiring nightmare wouldn't change using the 2F block with 3F head. Probably a stronger engine but doesn't change the wiring headache.

 

[Pighead]

I just love the simplicity of the F/2F engine, adding a complicated system to it just goes against the grain. A bare-naked de-smogged 2F is a thing of beauty when stripped of all the government mandated and "convenience" nanny stuff that gets in the way. Elbow room under the hood, the ability to get a wrench on a certain nut is priceless. It saves much time and agony. I got rid of all the VSVs that probably didn't work anyway and all their vacuum lines. My 10/'73 carb came with a "throttle positioner". I'm sorry, my right foot is the only throttle positioner that I need so I removed the factory gizmo and it's vacuum line. I'm down to 2 vacuum lines off the manifold, 3 if you count the vacuum gauge.
There's a fairly wide variety of carbs, manifolds and dizzys that you can fit. I run the earlier, big, F starter motor because I like the sound better. I like the the big cap 60 series dizzy so i run that. I don't think I need an oil cooler and it gets in the way, so I don't run one. I don't trust vacuum secondaries so I run an earlier carb.
Run that rebuilt 2F as is, modify it as you go along. Simplify.

 

[65swb45]

I am consistently under-impressed with the 3FE…and…I am consistently impressed with the desmogged 2F in the earlier 40s. So much so that I will eventually put carbureted 2Fs in Ruftoys and the blue 45.

 

[sogncab]

If I were to do it again, with gas, I really like the 1FZ.

Diesel, OM606

 

[Engineer8000]

The 3fe wiring is not that bad.

 

[Pighead]

If I were to do it again, with gas, I really like the 1FZ.

Who doesn't really like the 1FZ? Probably the best straight six Toyota ever made. Not a bolt-in install though, probably more complicated than just EFI.
I might do a Cadillac 500, or a Mercruiser, or a 454, or a big block Pontiac, or a Jag V12 (all been done). But I'd keep the 2F(ish) Pig, just in case.
Only the two choices here.

 

[sogncab]

probably more complicated than just EFI.

Having not done it, I'm taking out my rear, but ditching the toyota engine management wouldn't be any different than an LS swap.
I'd do the same with a 3FE.

Why run the outdated Toyota garbage when there's far more precise options.

 

[greenbeasty]

I personally love the simplicity of a carburated 2F, go see Jim Chennowith ( SP?) and have your problems solved.
My .02 worth

 

[brian]

The simplicity and reliability of a carbed, unsmoggerd 2F is hard to argue.