fj55 advice (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 13, 2011
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Location
knoxville, tn
Looking to restore my 1971 fj55. Engine was rebuilt back in '97 and placed into storage, less than 500 miles on the rebuild. Replaced exhaust manifold with headers due to my manifold being split in 2. Truck is used as a weekend vehicle for hunting and limited off road use. So here are my questions.

Carburetor is shot and needs to be rebuilt or replaced. - Weber or rebuild the stock one?

Transmission is the stock 3 speed and I always had terrible gas mileage with it, 9 miles to the gallon, considering replacing the 3 speed with a 4 speed out of a newer fj55/fj40. Will this help with gas mileage much? Is the swap difficult/ parts hard to find? Is it worthwhile?


Link to pics of my rig: http://img412.imageshack.us/g/dscn0649b.jpg/
 
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Both the 3 speed and the 4 speed have a 1:1 top gear- no mileage increase. You would have to fit an overdrive transmission but you would have to drive alot of miles to cover the cost to gain a couple miles to the gallon. You should be getting better mileage than that, start with the basics, tune up, set timing etc.
 
what about swapping the tranny from a earlier toyota pickup. Would that make much of a difference and how much fabrication would it it involve getting it to fit.
 
I am thinking of swapping out my stock three speed also, mostly just to have a better 1st gear and a little better low ratio. To my knowledge, you will need a 4 speed bell housing, a different input gear inside the three speed transfer case and will have to modify the transfer case shifter linkage. You may have issue with the placement of the shifter at the tranny hump from three to four speed. You can buy the conversion kit for the 4 speed to 3 speed / tranny to transfer case from JT outfitters at least, perhaps other sources too.

Anyone else? What do others do with the TC shift linkage when making that switch?

Good Luck!
 
My 74 four speed came stock with the 3 speed transfer case linkages.

Driveshafts are also different because the four speed is longer.
 
Rebuild carb and tune up. Run the factory carb. Several really sharp people here can rebuild your carb for you if you cannot. Both 3 and 4 speed transmissions have the same final drive ratio, as stated above, and will not net much if any usable mileage. Check to make sure the wheels are not binding up from brake or bearing trouble, tune up engine and you should get better than 9 HTH
 

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