Fix or Sell: '67 FJ40

[fireflyr]

Back on the first page Cal is the pup with Koko, the older female. We lost her a couple years ago and Cal is pushing 10 but still fast enough to catch a rabbit. I’ll get his bed set up in the back tonight. Nice to have all the stars aligned again and the planet spinning in the right direction.

 

[rlong]

Plenty of clearance on the 4L60e oil pan with the AA flange and Tom Woods driveshaft. Also running a 5 qt oil pan on the engine.

This is a great picture, thanks. Hopefully doing a similar re-conversion (Vortec/4l60) in the next six months! Is the drivetrain on the centerline or biased slightly to one side or the other?
Bob

 

[fireflyr]

This is a great picture, thanks. Hopefully doing a similar re-conversion (Vortec/4l60) in the next six months! Is the drivetrain on the centerline or biased slightly to one side or the other?
Bob

Hey Bob, it’s offset to the driver’s side 1”. Any further over and the Hooker headers would rub the steering shaft.

 

[fireflyr]

Got a good drive in and ran up to Tehachapi on highway 58. At 64 mph on the phone app (haven’t calibrated the speedo yet) it’s indicating about 2030 rpm. That’s running in overdrive. I still have the stock 4.10 gears.

Seems to be a nice combination and very relaxed on the highway. With the 4 speed and F.5 engine I always felt worn out after going anywhere on the highway.

The transmission just stays in gear and doesn’t feel the need to shift down going up steep grades. Wish I could say the same thing for my Tacoma. Maybe that thing needs an LS.

PS the Dakota Digital is really nice stuff. Only thing that has me stumped is that it shows I’m in high beam when it’s in low.

Got a wire crossed somewhere. Other than that no issues. No leaks. Nothing rubbing or burning. Really happy with the swap.

 

[fireflyr]

Got the interior back in as well as the carpet I got from @Fj80oregon. With the carpet, the exhaust insulation and some adhesive heat shield from Summit the floor stays nice and cool. Also have a set of floor mats that came in our FJCruiser. I had planned on doing something with the seats but for now they are ok.
Side steps went back on today. I sprayed them with black bedliner to freshen them up as well as the rear crossmember/ bumper.
The horn has been an issue. It grounds immediately so I bypassed it and put a momentary switch on the dash so I have something. Will have to figure that out as well as the high beam indicator.
I removed the plastic gear indicator on the top of the steering column. The DD dash displays the gear full time or just as you shift depending on how you set it up.

Eventually I will have to order a replacement soft top.

I put about 100 miles on it this weekend without any issues. Drives really nice and got it up to 70 on the freeway at 2150 rpm.
60 to 65 still feels like the sweet spot but that’s more a function of the suspension than anything else.

Great to see you decided to keep! V8 will be a party.

Was reading back through the posts. I appreciate all the advice along the way and the encouragement to keep it and get it back on the road. It will go to my son eventually and he can build some great memories with it (if he ever forgives me for putting an automatic in it

And yes, the V8 is a party.

 

[thatcabledude]

What a great thread. Just found it today. When you started posting old pics and talking about it’s history with the fam I wanted to kick you in the nuts for considering selling. This turned out great!

 

[RevISK]

What a great thread. Just found it today. When you started posting old pics and talking about it’s history with the fam I wanted to kick you in the nuts for considering selling. This turned out great!

Following in realtime was a roller coaster.
It’s funny how invested we can get in rigs we’ve never seen owned by people we’ve never met.

 

[Broski]

Great build and thread !

 

[fireflyr]

Well, I guess I’m not done just yet. The Landcruiser is running great, no leaks and I figured out the headlight hi-beam thing. It has thrown a knock sensor check engine light a couple times on a hard deceleration but it clears easy enough. Chevy problems . Must be that sewer pipe the exhaust guy put on there making too much noise. I should have known a hot rod exhaust guy would put a hot rod exhaust on there. I told him ‘quiet’. His definition of quiet must differ from mine.
Was going to order a soft top but for the time being I will use the hard top. I pulled it off a good 15 years ago and stored it at work and it’s a mess. No rust but still had the cheap respray metal flake dark green paint I stripped off the 40 seventeen years ago.

Was thinking of sanding off the dark green and just running it with the Spring Green but there wasn’t enough paint to make that work. I love all the original patina cruisers on here but it’s impossible to fake that.

Stripped it to bare metal and ordered some Dune Beige 416.

 

[fireflyr]

I pulled the windows out. The rear and two rear quarter windows are in great shape except for the PURPLE tint. Must have been a seventies thing. The side windows are another deal altogether. They look like they are out of a trailer and are in pretty bad shape.

Any ideas on replacement windows? I guess I could have a glass shop cut a one piece window but I do like being able to slide them open for ventilation.

 

[fireflyr]

Great progress

140*F seems very cool for the fan to kick on. I'd check on what temperature your engine should be running at, but 200*F seems to be a more common temperature. V8s are inclined to run warm in a 40... but trying to keep it to 140* seems too cool.

Just a little update.

You were right @bikersmurf about the temp indicator. I had tried to install the one that Dakota Digital sent with the display but the adapter fitting broke and I ended up using a sender I had. There was about a 60F difference between the two. It runs at normal temps now (just above 200F) and the fan comes on about 185F to 190F. When I was clearing the check engine light for the knock sensor I noticed the temp was at 208F with the display reading much lower. The system runs two temp sensors; one for the ECM that came with the harness, and one that came with the DD Display. They both jive now.

I ended up pulling off the intake manifold and replacing the knock sensors. I wish I had done it while the engine was on the bench but it really isn't very hard even with it installed. The front one was really corroded so I changed out both along with the harness. Put that problem to bed.

Ordered some Dune Beige 416 from TCP Global and shot the hard top. I'm not much of a painter but it came out really nice, at least nice enough that a little 2000 grit sandpaper and rubbing compound couldn't get it looking right. The color seems to have a bit more yellow but it's very close. I shot the fiberglass top with some BRIGHT white bedliner because it had black bedliner on it already. I sanded that down as much as I could but was pretty much stuck with using a textured finish. It will definitely be easy to find in a parking lot.

 

[fireflyr]

I love 'full circle' moments. Out of the blue we had all three boys up to the house 2 nights ago for a BBQ. These boys were inseparable growing up and even now that they live two states apart are as close as ever. Brothers to the core. The two big ones lost their mother to cancer a couple years ago so that bond seems to be even stronger. We love them all as sons.

I guess this is a good way to close out this thread. Thanks to the MUD community for keeping me on the path to getting this back on the road so another generation can build memories.

My son and I were laughing later when we realized they all loaded up in the same order they had almost 15 years ago.

 

[RevISK]

I love 'full circle' moments. Out of the blue we had all three boys up to the house 2 nights ago for a BBQ. These boys were inseparable growing up and even now that they live two states apart are as close as ever. Brothers to the core. The two big ones lost their mother to cancer a couple years ago so that bond seems to be even stronger. We love them all as sons.

I guess this is a good way to close out this thread. Thanks to the MUD community for keeping me on the path to getting this back on the road so another generation can build memories.
View attachment 3746367
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My son and I were laughing later when we realized they all loaded up in the same order they had almost 15 years ago.

Awe man, I got a little something in my eye.

Glad to have joined you on this adventure and I am so glad you chose to keep on keeping on with it.

Great job!

Ian

 

[MatthewMcD]

Just a little update.

You were right @bikersmurf about the temp indicator. I had tried to install the one that Dakota Digital sent with the display but the adapter fitting broke and I ended up using a sender I had. There was about a 60F difference between the two. It runs at normal temps now (just above 200F) and the fan comes on about 185F to 190F. When I was clearing the check engine light for the knock sensor I noticed the temp was at 208F with the display reading much lower. The system runs two temp sensors; one for the ECM that came with the harness, and one that came with the DD Display. They both jive now.

I ended up pulling off the intake manifold and replacing the knock sensors. I wish I had done it while the engine was on the bench but it really isn't very hard even with it installed. The front one was really corroded so I changed out both along with the harness. Put that problem to bed.
View attachment 3746357

Ordered some Dune Beige 416 from TCP Global and shot the hard top. I'm not much of a painter but it came out really nice, at least nice enough that a little 2000 grit sandpaper and rubbing compound couldn't get it looking right. The color seems to have a bit more yellow but it's very close. I shot the fiberglass top with some BRIGHT white bedliner because it had black bedliner on it already. I sanded that down as much as I could but was pretty much stuck with using a textured finish. It will definitely be easy to find in a parking lot.
View attachment 3746360
View attachment 3746354

The paint looks great. Can you expand on what your paint setup is? Gun, compressor etc?

 

[fireflyr]

Pretty simple setup. The gun, cups etc are from Harbor Freight. The gun is good for fine finishes and I basically followed the directions that came with it. I used an HPLV gun to paint it back in ‘06 and that has held up for almost 20 years. This is an HTE gun.
Ran the gun at 32 psi. Took me a quart plus a pint of hardener to paint the exterior of the top. I remember buying a gallon when I sprayed the body way back when.

Used a run of the mill Porter Cable 25 gallon/135 psi compressor. There’s a water separator and filters inline with a small regulator at the gun.
For the bedliner just used a high volume generic gun.

This is the paint I used:

 

[MatthewMcD]

Pretty simple setup. The gun, cups etc are from Harbor Freight. The gun is good for fine finishes and I basically followed the directions that came with it. I used an HPLV gun to paint it back in ‘06 and that has held up for almost 20 years. This is an HTE gun.
Ran the gun at 32 psi. Took me a quart plus a pint of hardener to paint the exterior of the top. I remember buying a gallon when I sprayed the body way back when.
View attachment 3746464

Used a run of the mill Porter Cable 25 gallon/135 psi compressor. There’s a water separator and filters inline with a small regulator at the gun.
For the bedliner just used a high volume generic gun.

View attachment 3746466
This is the paint I used:
View attachment 3746463

Thank you!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Just a little update.

You were right @bikersmurf about the temp indicator. I had tried to install the one that Dakota Digital sent with the display but the adapter fitting broke and I ended up using a sender I had. There was about a 60F difference between the two. It runs at normal temps now (just above 200F) and the fan comes on about 185F to 190F. When I was clearing the check engine light for the knock sensor I noticed the temp was at 208F with the display reading much lower. The system runs two temp sensors; one for the ECM that came with the harness, and one that came with the DD Display. They both jive now.

I ended up pulling off the intake manifold and replacing the knock sensors. I wish I had done it while the engine was on the bench but it really isn't very hard even with it installed. The front one was really corroded so I changed out both along with the harness. Put that problem to bed.
View attachment 3746357

Ordered some Dune Beige 416 from TCP Global and shot the hard top. I'm not much of a painter but it came out really nice, at least nice enough that a little 2000 grit sandpaper and rubbing compound couldn't get it looking right. The color seems to have a bit more yellow but it's very close. I shot the fiberglass top with some BRIGHT white bedliner because it had black bedliner on it already. I sanded that down as much as I could but was pretty much stuck with using a textured finish. It will definitely be easy to find in a parking lot.
View attachment 3746360
View attachment 3746354

Hearing there is a GM TSB to add silicone under on knock sensor cover and add a “dam” bead after knock sensor cover is seated. Prevents moisture entry/ corrosion.

 

[fireflyr]

Just a little update on how the 40 is running. The biggest issue I’ve had is the knock sensors being too sensitive. Driving it in DRIVE will trip it on hard deceleration. Only because that 3” exhaust and Flowmaster muffler is pretty loud. Driving in OVERDRIVE solves that issue although that sweet LS burble is pretty much gone. I will eventually send the ECM to get reprogrammed but for now I’m having too much fun driving it.
I’ve put about 4000 miles on it since August with one trip up to Mendocino that was about 1000 miles over a long weekend.

I was having problems with the rear fuel cell filling. It would shut off constantly and burp gas back at me. Running a second vent line with a home made carbon filter solved that. Also took care of the gas smell in the garage.

I ordered some foam to rebuild the seats and got the new coral covers back at Christmas. Will update that when I get to it. The foam was replaced back when I originally rebuilt them with new SOR stuff but the driver’s seat has collapsed a bit. Hit a bump and I bottom out.

That 15” Speedway steering wheel and tilt column is really nice. It bothered me for a couple days but isn’t even a thought now.
The heater/defroster works well and keeps the windshield clear.

I got rid of the old BFGs and went with new Kenda Klever 33/9.5/15s and replaced the OME shocks with Bilsteins. The ride is 100% better.
Overall, it just drives really well. The vacuum operated Tcase works without any problems although the lack of lockers or even limited slip is still a limitation. Hopefully I’ll run into Georg in April at our Landcruiser gathering and be able to pick his brain.
There’s always something to do but for now I’m just going to drive it.

Best I’ve seen on gas mileage is 18.5mpg. Turns about 2100 rpm at 70 mph.

 

[fireflyr]

 

[fireflyr]