FJ43 Build from Far Far Away. (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Dec 15, 2007
Threads
202
Messages
2,713
Location
North Bend, OR
As some of you from the ONSC crowd know I was lucky enough to aquire a FJ43 while I was down in Colombia. After a long time, a lot of money, and a huge debocle in paperwork my FJ43 arrived in Oregon.

Sadly I do not live in Oregon. I am in the military and constantly on the move. After just finishing a FJ40 rebuild I now have a good idea of what it is going to take to rebuild this FJ43 and I learned a lot of lessons along the way. That FJ40 is gone to another member on here now who is taking better care of it than I could have. This FJ43 on the other hand is going to be a family heirloom.

I would have to say I'm a very lucky Son/Brother. My Dad and younger brother are rebuilding it for me while I'm here. My dad does Phenominal work and I know he will get things done right.

Sadly no pictures tonight but I did a couple of "Face Time" with my Iphone with him and it came apart quick. It sure looks good with the top off and hopefully I can get a soft top for it after the next deployment.

I will post pics soon. I am still comming up with a name for it, but I'm sure it will come to me eventually. Luckily "money pit" is already taken by my VW Touareg that is getting it's engine rebuilt so we will see what funds are left to throw at this thing.

EDIT: Here are a few photos of it before the teardown. It had been sitting outside but he finally made room in his garage and put it in the back. All of the white is just a primer he slapped on to keep the rust from getting worse while it sat outside on the Oregon Coast. My dad has a few projects of his own. A pristine 1956 F-100 that he just finished a resto on this month (tore it down right before I was born and took him 28 years to get back together), Same for the Convertable 66 Ford Mustang, Immaculate Jag, and out back his new project is a Brickland SV-1 (ugly as sin) so you might see those all in the background of a lot of the shots.

Ohh and here is a video of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CvS_67HEc
IMG951843.jpg
IMG957331.jpg
IMG959944.jpg
 
Last edited:
Wow you sold the 69? That was an awesome restore but I fully understand why. Being an ex Army chopper jockey as well. Take care where ever you have to go!
 
Looks like a great project
 
Here is a few more photos of the tear down. Right now trying to get it running right. It got some sort of smoking issue (could be a lot of things). It will be going to the car wash to get scrubbed down and then the drivetrain will come out.

Some hokey things had been done like pop riveting in the seats. No rust really. Just some surface here and there. Going to be an easy prep and spray job. The body is not going to be comming off. Just a frame respray with everything masked off and then a body repaint.
005.jpg
006.jpg
007.jpg
 
Ohh and I do have an OM617 Mercedes diesel that has been rebuilt that I am planning on putting in. I have the Lukes adapter but it is for the w56 transmission. I don't want to deal with all of that so now that Luke has the H41 I will be selling this adapter and getting the H41/42 adapter. Saves a lot of fabbing up and changing around. Especially with regards to the fuel tank and the rear axle. I would love to put in a NV4500 for the overdrive but the OM617 revs well, I have 3.73 gears and I plan on 33" tires so I think I will be ok.
 
Here are a few pictures of my brother driving it around today. It has a smoking problem and I am attributing it to the fact I think they have the wrong rotor and cap on and the PCV was bad and it was sucking a bit of oil in. Hopefully they can get if figured out.

They did a compression check on all cylinders. 120PSI all around. That was a dry reading. My impression is that is good for a dry reading? Everything I read says 149 PSI was stock from the factory. Thoughts?
1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg
 
Hopefully you can help me figure out which year this engine is as well. Again it was swapped in so it is not the original from the truck.

The only numbers he got me off of the tag on the distributor was 2 T 26. Anyone identify this distributor?

I tried to use this webpage http://www.rzeppa.org/tech/jimcdist.htm but it is for USA distributors and I know they were probably different over seas. Also after all of that and the great pictures it doesn't label the distributor with the year and description from above. It looks like the one on the very far right bottom as the clamps are in the same positioin and the round curved bottom of the upper head.
4.jpg
5.jpg
6.jpg
 
Last edited:
Check the engine date code. Your valve cover is from 1979/80 not '81. I've used the TOYODIY.com website for finding part #s for my 1980 FJ43.
 
The wheelbase is 6 inches longer and the bed is 14 inches longer. Nice looking rig!

What year is it again?

K
 
Your dizzy is probably pretty close to a 1900-61010, vac advance non emissions, non usa. The part number probably updates a few times.
 
if your engine is a 1980 2F from Colombia the dizzy for 1980 FJ43 is toyota part #19100-61010, replaced by 19100-61080. It is available through Toyota. I just checked with Onur and it is $290. It was used in Canada in 1976.
 
I guess it has been awhile since I updated this. I went home for Christmas and it was the first time I had seen the cruiser since last September. It has a long ways to go to say the least. But looking at it in person helped me get better perspective on what my dad was up against and how far and in what direction I wanted to take it.

Luckily I was there to help my dad rebuild the front axle. And along the way and after purchasing some parts from "Poser" I learned some great information on how I could fit FJ62 disc brakes to my non USA large knuckle drum brake axle. I was kinda of stuck between a rock and hard spot and I didn't even know it. I will list the interesting things found.

#1: Pictures (all I took before I got greasy) are self explanatory.
#2: I had 58mm spindle nuts (required a trip back to the store to buy a socket that was to big but worked.
#3: Looked like original bearings (had old KOYO part numbers...not sure when they transitioned to the new numbers.)
#4: Partially stripped knuckle for the tie rod arm. Fixed it but all the more reason to get some FJ62 knuckles.
#5: The metal ring that holds the rubber wiper on the passenger side was half missing and warped horribly.
#6: The birf that was not leaking surprisingly had a axle seal of unknown origin made of all rubber with a spring inside of it. Whatever it was it worked well as the knuckle was sealed nicely.
#7: Hodge podged shock mount with a welded bolt to the axle housing. My dad hates grease work so he found time to fix it properly while I dove into the messy part (he did as well though...what a mess).

Anyway thought I would share my tear down of my large knuckle yet drum brake axle from Colombia. That and a pic or two of my little brother who is doing all the hard work for me this time. Have to love school to work!!
023.jpg
b.jpg
d.jpg
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom