FJ45 LWB truck project

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KT40,

Nice rigs! I always like to spend time discussing what everyone is doing with their FJ issues. That is why I hang out here and have learned so much from all of you. Your 45 looks like it has a lot of potential and a SLIDING BACK WINDOW:D. Very nice start. Are you going stock or modified with your restoration?


esh,

I did a little internet research, the 1904 is a 795 CFM and I could only find reconditioned ones ($480.00). I only looked for a few minutes so there could be new ones still available that didn't Goggle up. The carb that I was looking at was the 1825 which is 650 CFM ($330.00). It is suppose to be Edelbrock's gift to off-roading. I have seen mixed reviews on this and the Holly off road carb and the Edelbrock sounds easier to get setup. I "think" my motor is a 350 with a 4 bolt main and it has the low flow "smog" heads on it. When I pulled the pan I did not know that the crank numbers were so important so I did not write them down. Sure glad I used one of those fancy rubber oil pan gaskets that can be used over and over again because this will be the third time I have pulled the pan off. So, I need to pull the pan one more time to verify if it is a "corvette" 350 or 327. I was told it was a Corvette 327 when I bought the truck, but you know how those stories go. The casting numbers show it going either way so the crank is the only verification that I can find that will tell me for sure. The block is one of the high tin blocks so that is a good thing. I plan on putting better heads and a set of headers on it some time in the future so I want to make sure that the intake and carb will be up to it. I don't like buying car parts that I have to get rid of later because I didn’t look at the big picture. So hopefully a 650 CFM will give me enough fuel. Any thoughts? Thanks for your suggestions.

Rockcod,

I did a search for Orange Curtain, CA and had a little trouble finding it. :doh: I guess that you are just behind there? :rolleyes: I look forward to you coming by and talking Toyota's with me.

Cheers,

Jim

 
Ironmanfj45 said:
I did a search for Orange Curtain, CA and had a little trouble finding it. :doh: I guess that you are just behind there? :rolleyes: I look forward to you coming by and talking Toyota's with me.

Cheers,

Jim

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I am in Buena Park, I'll give Dom a call too, hopefully he can meet there can't get enough of 45's!! I have parts to give him as well.
 
Edelbrock Goodies

Jim:

Sound like we are going the same route.
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Ghetto Fireman

That is beautiful!! I can only hope that mine will someday look that good. Any feed back on how it performs? I am sure anything that I do will be better than that old leaking 2 barrel. I put the Ron Davis radiator in mine is that what you are running?

Rockcod,

Sounds great I look forward to your visit.

Cheers,

Jim
 
Ironman

Jim:

I have not yet fired it up. Wiring issues. My harness has also been cut, spliced and who knows what. I am thinking of re-wiring, I added a flaming river tilt column and trying to now connect to the original wiring is a royal pain. Maybe a painlees loom is the way to go?
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Jim,

I think 650 cfm will be just right. The issue getting away from the q-jet design is you lose the small primaries, and "relative" fuel economy. Typical 4 bbls tend to have same size primary/secondaries.

You might try Radke's in Portland, OR. They have been a rod shop for many decades and I got a smokin deal on my reman 1910 (850 cfm) and matching intake. I think the carb was $350, and those carbs are near impossible to find for under 5-600 (if you can even find 'em). The trick was using the reman #(9975) and not 1910. Here's a link to a google cache of reman#s and prices from one shop-

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cach...REMAN+edelbrock+9975&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

I hear you on figuring out what you actually have. I matched my block to a '70 chevelle SS 454 4-bolt and am still figuring out what the rest is. It has a lot of custom bits to it. At least the original owner built it well- and not specifically for drag racing.

I have yet to have a problem with cooling- I am running enclosed fenders and just an aluminum rad, mechanical fan and a nice-fitting shroud. Not sure if the water pump is higher flow even. It has no problems highway or in 4-low, and I've worked it at least in the snow. Ah the roar of that thing in 4 feet of snow... I think the balanced engine really helps in this regard.. the engine isn't working against itself to generate extra heat.

Onto electrical. Wrangler NW Power Products carries some great fuse blocks that you can order in a lot of different circuit/splits. I am using a terminal block for the power system, similar to what madelectrical (good reading there) has here- Catalog. Still have a ways to go but I've de-spaghetti'd some PO wiring and think it is reliable.

Now if I can get the SM465/broken205 swapped for a 700r4/3spd case, rear Dana60/Toyota FF hybrid swapped for an LC, rear frame re-extended, flat bed removed/bed installed, some protection built for the bed, and a new 50gal gas tank built I may be able to show up at a 45 run one of these years. :) It sits in the queue behind my 62's diesel conversion and a dying SM420 in the FJ40.
 
Ghetto Fireman,
Wiring can be a real pain but what has helped me was to take the stock wiring harness diagram from the repair manual scan it into my computer, enlarged it and plotted it out on a 24”X36” sheet of paper. Now it is easier to read and write what is supposed to be there, what is actually there and my additions. Then I started to draw the wires and colors from each pin connector on the plot. Then I went to the switches and traced those and on and on. I found that when I striped back the electrical tape the original wiring was in great shape. The spider’s nest under the hood and an area of the rear harness that got too close to something very hot we my areas of concern. I thought about the painless system but a friend had to add wires to the painless harness to meet their needs. They did speak highly of the harness though. I have added wiring for backup lights and for the neutral safety switch that were not there. Making the morphed harness gave me the flexibility I wanted. Actually after I got into it I had a lot of fun and would not hesitate rewiring the whole truck. If you would like copy of the early model wiring harness on the big sheet let me know your address and I will send you one.

Did the new steering wheel column give you any more belly room? I seem to be growing a little bit in the belly area and it looks like that mod gave you a little more room. I have been thinking about doing something similar.

Esh,

Fuel economy excites me. Before I started the restoration I was getting a solid 7mpg with the two barrel. I have been told that the primaries on a 4 barrel are smaller than the two barrel so I thought that as long as I can keep my foot out of it I would get better mpg. I will do some more looking for the 9975 as I save my nickels.

Wow big block power, gotta love the low end of a big block. That baby should scoot.

I looked at the two spots you recommended and they have stuff on my want list. I am going with two batteries, one in the front to keep all the big wire short so we get the most amps possible for starting and one in the back for the back up plan. You would think that in these old trucks there would not be too many wires that were really important so this all should be easy. Right?

I have a 38 gallon gas tank sitting in the shop. I had it built but I don’t trust the welding that they did. I am no welder but my beads look better than these. It almost looks like he forgot to turn on the gas mix. I will take pictures and post them one day when I dig it out. I designed it to fit under the front portion of the truck bed. Are you putting the tank in the back of the truck bed? Oh to have 50 gallons on board would make a guy that gets 7 mpg feel more comfortable on those desert trips. I too look forward to one day going to Pismo and the FJ45 get together.

I like the expanded metal storage compartments good idea and simple to build. I am going to take out the stock gas tank, clean it coat it with one of those three step epoxy coatings and turn it into a hot water tank for camping showers so I only have the drivers side under the seat for storage for now. Is that a CB or a Ham radio in your truck?

Thanks for the comments and pictures that have been added to this thread it has helped to get me motivated again. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas with your families.

Cheers,

Jim
 
I am having a friend who welds better than me build an L shaped tank for the bed, and do some beefy plate underneath to keep it secure. Then put a toolbox above it for more storage, and finally two more hoops (I have a nice integrated sliders/hoop where the headache rack would be) to mount the rooftop tent. The combo bed tank/toolboxes for sale for full size pickups are configured that way. I just wanted all that tank a little more stealth.

The current tank is all the way rear of the rear wheels and was even shrunk when the PO bobbed the frame and built the flat bed. I am not sure the wisdom of shrinking a fuel tank for a 454.. anyways, the bed is the only location I could figure it work and still not have to cut it up (the bed is a 9.5/10) for a filler. The exhaust is already routed down the middle underneath the bed and since it worked well there I was going to leave it alone, but that was the other location (under, just aft of the cab) I was trying to work out. Keep coming back to bed mounted.

This likely won't happen until spring, but it wouldn't be a huge chore to have my friend make up two tanks if my design works for you. Fully baffled out of steel.

The CB is a Cobra. It is kind of a rare one in that it fits a DIN opening and has a forward-facing speaker. They aren't very pricey (I've seen them for 20-30 on ebay and craigslist) and the speaker works great. I'm getting some more for my hilux, fj62, and one of the 40s. No 2m in there yet, I use my handheld for now. Have to work out a decent sound system if I get it into road trip shape.


It is hard to see, but I really like Wrangler's military top posts. They make battery connections much better. You can see them on the battery with the 1/0 cables I've been making for mains and ground.

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Hi Ken,

Let me know how much he will charge for your setup and then let me check to see if I have the $$. The last guy charged me $650 for half done reminder to have the right person do the job that they are qualified to do. I really like the hoop/tent idea and have seen what TLC has done. I contacted them to see if they would make me one and once again their price was way too much for my pocket book. I like your battery terminals they look like a good secure way to add a heavy wire connection. Thanks for all the ideas.

Jim
 
jim,
almost any napa carries those battery terminals. I have been using them for years, although you do have to be patient with the counter person and ask to look in the electrical connector book. they are in there. I think they were about $7 each last time I got a pair.
 
Thanks Brett,

I will add that to "the list" of things to get. It sounds like I will be getting my hands on a little cash at the end of this month so if that happens it is back to work on the old truck. I can hardly wait.

Cheers,

Jim
 
Back at it

I figured it was time to get off my ass with this project so I made a goal to be at the FJ 45 run in August. :bounce: Lots of work, so its time to stop talkng about it and get-r-done .

Today I removed the pan to get numbers off the crank. Everything went well until I flipped the motor over to check the numbers. Much to my surprise coolant was still trapped in the block, much to my stupidity, I forgot to remove the oil filter so old oil and coolant ended up on the garage floor when I rolled over the motor to get the crank numbers. I needed to find out which sbc I had and the crank number held the answer. Well the good news is that it is a 350 4 bolt main with the high tin block. Bad news is that it is not a corvette motor as I was told. Oh well what do you want for $15K, At least I got the "start to" coolest truck that I have ever owned and as they say it's only money.

Tomorrow morning one of my cruiser buddies is coming by and we are going to prime the motor, with a very fancy tool that Dom lent me, (Thanks Dom) and drop the 350, turbo 400 as well as the Orion into the old truck. Next step is to have a new rear driveshaft made and a "few" other "minor" details.

My thanks to all the guys that brought your cruisers to the SD Cruiser get together last Sunday, you helped to get me motivated to finish on this project so I can get the old truck back on the trails. :steer:

Cheers,

Jim
 
We got the motor in and matched up to the motor mounts. But we could not get the rear transfer case mounts to align correctly. After several hours of trying to figure out how to make things work we called it a day. I just finished cleaning up and feel pretty worn out. Tomorrow I have work but hopefully I can find some time to crawl under the truck and take some measurements. Days like today are humbling but tomorrow will be a better day. Here are a couple of pictures of today’s action.

Cheers,

Jim

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My friend Gregg came by to help.

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Thanks, merbesfield

Yesterday, on the way to work my serpentine belt broke on my chevy. I was able to get home and load all my surveying gear into my Rubicon (very tight fit) and get the job done but now I have a new project to work on. I guess when it rains it pours... Hopefully I will get time over the weekend to take some measurements and a few more pictures.

Cheers,

Jim
 
Hang in there. It looks good. I went through all kinds of crap when I rebuilt my 80 series motor.
 
Hang tough! If you get it worked out, please take lots of pics and particularly of the areas you were having trouble with fitment.

(it will help a retard like me when I start in on the swap out of the SM465/NP205 for 700r4/cruiser stuff!)
 
Today I tried to figure out where I went wrong with the motor/transfer case frame mounts. I have figured out a few things I did wrong and a few ways to do things better. The worst mistake that I made was to think that I could scribe where the scab plates and mounts would go. Paint the frame and wait for 3 weeks to do the final welding. I will not go through that procedure but what I learned was the best way to make sure that everything comes out right is to bolt it all together tight and then tack the mounts in place in several spots. Before you start welding measure, measure, measure.

So today I took a friends suggestion and got out my favorite new tool :D

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With this tool I was able to pick places on the frame and drive line and transfer those points onto the concrete slap in my shop. I found that the water pump, center of the oil pan, center of the base of the turbo 400 to the main input shaft at the back of the Orion are a straight line and, I hope, the centerline of the power train.​


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I was also able to go from the rear diff to the front diff on the “driveshaft” line and compare that to the Transfer case output shafts.​
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