My '72 FJ40-How I came back to 'Cruisers

[msapers]

I was raised in Land Cruisers. My Dad had a 75 when I was very young and a '76 that I learned to drive when I was 9. When I was 20, I traded a Willys Wagon for a 1970 FJ40. It was a pile of crap and I was happy to see it go. Fast foward 13 years, my Dad suddenly and without warning buys himself a '72 40! At the time I was driving my 2004 Jeep Rubicon that I had built into a pretty fair trail rig. Needless to say, when Dad handed me the keys to his new baby, I couldn't resist. It was loud, slow, stiff and uncomfortable. Compared to my comfortable, quiet, capable Jeep, this FJ40 was a tractor with a license plate.

I had to have one.

But first I had to sell this:

 

[msapers]

The Jeep sold quickly and with some $$ in my pocket, I sat down to decide what I wanted in a Land Cruiser. Below is the list of absolute must have criteria for my new rig.

1. Must not have a vaccuum shift! (My '70 had this and I hated it)

2. Must have a hard top and doors.

3. Must have a 4 speed

4. Must have a Toyota 6. (I planned to do a V8 conversion, but having owned a few vehicles with truly bastardized engine swaps, I wanted to do the work myself and make sure it was right.)

5. Must not be red. (I don't like red cars)

6. Must have Ambulance doors

7. Must have front disc brakes

8. Must be able to pass smog

9. Must not have Bondo

10 Must be rust free

11. $6000 MAX!!!

With the equipment I wanted, I would be looking at '76 and later 40's.

With this list firmly in hand and a committment to my self not to waiver on any of these conditions, I began to scour the computer, papers bulletin boards etc...

Having sold my Jeep, I was reduced to riding my motorcycle full time, I would need to enlist the help of my loveley wife and her Accord to begin a series of wild goose chases. She was more than pleased to join me in my quest.

 

[SHREG]

Is this where Paul Harvey does the voice over...... How bout some pics....and....The Rest of the story....

 

[spdwaver]

Below is the list of absolute must have criteria for my new rig.

1. Must not have a vaccuum shift! (My '70 had this and I hated it)

2. Must have a hard top and doors.

3. Must have a 4 speed (Mine has an SM420)

4. Must have a Toyota 6. (I planned to do a V8 conversion, but having owned a few vehicles with truly bastardized engine swaps, I wanted to do the work myself and make sure it was right.)

5. Must not be red. (I don't like red cars)

6. Must have Ambulance doors

7. Must have front disc brakes

8. Must be able to pass smog

9. Must not have Bondo

10 Must be rust free

11. $6000 MAX!!!

With the equipment I wanted, I would be looking at '76 and later 40's.
.

Good luck on the search!

I am not selling mine: I had to post, because I only meet two of the criteria you listed.

 

[msapers]

Over a period of weeks, I test drove many rigs but I didn't find what I wanted. One Saturday afternoon, I responded to an ad on Craigslist "Toyota jeep for sale $5000". When I called the number, I spoke to the owner's mother who said that her son was not in at the moment but we were welcome to come look at the "jeep thing". Rebecca (my wife) and I saddled up the Accord and set out. Upon arriving at the house, I walked around the back and found a pre-'75 'Cruiser. Not wanting a pre 75, I quickly headed back to the car and we left.

On our way home, I recieved a call back from a guy with a '76 for the right price that I had been wanting to see for a few weeks. Only problem was, it was approximately 100 miles away. We had already seen 9 'Cruisers that weekend. I said i'd be there, hung up the phone and genlty explained the situation to Rebecca.

After hearing me out, her eyes rolled into her head and she began to drool. I decided to take this to mean "You are my big strong man and whatever you think is best suits me just fine". With that vote of confidence, we were off!

 

[fireflyr]

Are you kidding me? That's it? 'Flip you bezel' is the best I got.

 

[msapers]

100 miles later we arrived at the exact center of nowhere and rang the bell. An older gentleman answered and led us around the back of his house and there it was...a baby blue 1976 Fj40...with black spray paint zebra stripes! I glanced at my wife. The redhead was NOT amused!

Upon closer inspection it became evident that there was some bondo. By "some bondo" I mean it looked as though someone had lovingly sculpted a Land Cruiser out of stucco.

(At this point, I should mention that Rebecca is endlessly patient with my revolving collection of cars, 4x4's and motorcycles. She loves 4 wheeling and riding on my bike, but I was really pushing her patience here.)

We beat a hasty retreat to the car. As we were driving off Rebecca quietly said "pull over" "Hmm?" I replied. "PULL THE *@#K OVER!!!!"

I complied and asked whatever could the problem be my love?

"Why are you so willing to drag us way in the @%## out here to look at a %^@#box like that when you walked away from that one this morning without a second thought? And that one was right by the #$%^ing house?"

All right. She makes a good point. I was discovering that the decent 76 and later 40's were a bit out of my price range.

I decided to give the older 'Cruiser from that morning a second chance. With a phone call to the owner's Mom and numerous apologies to my wife, we were off again!

 

[msapers]

I arrived to find the owner had returned and he led me over to the rig (at this point my wife was staying in the car).

What greeted me was a very dusty and slightly rusty 1972 FJ40. It was sitting on hideous aluminum wheels that were WAY too wide. On the plus side, it looked fairly straight.

Here's what it looked like when I first saw it.

 

[msapers]

The owner told me the story:

He had purchased the rig when he was 18 and drove it until the original engine let go. He then paid a mechanic to professionally install a rebuilt 350. After driving the 'Cruiser just 200 miles with the new motor, the owner became ill and was unable to drive. The 'Cruiser sat for several years during which time the owner recovered from his illness, got married and had children. He finally reached a point where he realized tha the 40 he'd been hanging on to for so long just didn't fit into his life.

I was not pleased to hear that it had been converted to a V8 as visions of coat hanger welds and stacks of washers filled my head, but upon closer inspection all the work appeared to have performed correctly (with the exception of a missing fan shroud. He had all the receipts from Man-A-Fre, SOR and advance Adapters as well as the mechanic who did all the work.

I was still leary of a few things - This rig had been sitting for a looong time and the fuel system etc... would need work.

That was when he told me (again with reciepts to back him up) that in order to get it ready to sell, he'd had the tank cleaned out, and the brake system flushed and checked. Also he'd replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders.

 

[msapers]

So, after a test drive and some negotiating, a deal was made and I came home with my new 40!

There would be some issues to address though!

 

[msapers]

First up was a timing adjustment. Followed by a carb adjustment. Then a steering adjustment.

The ride was terrible and when I looked closer, the homemade shackles were binding against the spring hangar. A set of HFS shackles cured that.

Also, the original seats had to go. I replaced them with a set of Isuzu Trooper seats that have a height adjustment ($40.00 for the pair at the wrecking yard on half-price day)

Next, the rust. Well Body and paint costs a lot of money soooo....I ground out the rust in the rockers, welded in some fresh metal, coated it with POR-15 and covered the repairs with some aluminum diamond plate. I put a thick coating of waterproof grease behind the plate to prevent moisture from accumulating back there. Also, I added diamond plate corners to match.

Now I needed wheels and tires. The wheels could be only one thing--WHITE SPOKERS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also had to add some white flares (old school)

Tires are 33X12.50 16 Pro Comp Mud's

Found a bikini top on Ebay.

Drove it for the rest of the summer like that. Here's how it looked-- Better huh? (last pic is the day I bought it for contrast.)

 

[msapers]

Now it's getting colder so we put the hard top on. Here's some pictures I took this morning.

 

[xjnation]

Is the wifey happy now??? Good find. You need to get rid of the "GEY" license plate..

 

[spdwaver]

I was going to ask you about the hard top. I really like that look for some reason.

 

[msapers]

More pics

 

[boltonski]

While I certainly won't use the language your wife apparently used, why the requirement of post-'75? I don't think a V8 conversion on a post-75 would pass smog without a referee, would it?

 

[msapers]

Even more pics

 

[msapers]

Is the wifey happy now??? Good find. You need to get rid of the "GEY" license plate..

She likes the rig. She just doesn't want to go car shopping again any time soon. But she does like driving it!

 

[msapers]

Is the wifey happy now??? Good find. You need to get rid of the "GEY" license plate..

You know, I've been waiting for someone to give me crap about that plate.....

 

[msapers]

While I certainly won't use the language your wife apparently used, why the requirement of post-'75? I don't think a V8 conversion on a post-75 would pass smog without a referee, would it?

You'd use that language if you were married to me!

Post 75 had ambulance doors, disc brakes, door panels etc...

True about smog, but I had planned to use a new GM fuel injected crate motor. It would have gotten passed by the referree.