NEW to FJ40 and Toyota! Please answer a few Newb questions! (1 Viewer)

[1911]

what are the websites of the guys above!?

City Racer LLC

OEM Quality Parts & Accessories

Cruiser Outfitters

 

[Rainman]

Installing heat on a SA truck isn't a bolt in. Notice the solid firewall on the passenger side. Not a huge deal but you would have to cut a rectangular hole for the blower motor.

I'll vote:
Yep. Keep the soft top. It'll keep you out of the salt in the winter (bonus 1) since it would be too cold, and a lot cheeper in the long run (bonus 2). Buying a top and getting it to match your truck would cost quite a bit.

 

[Jdc1]

An aftermarket heater or switching to an AC system that has heat included would be the simplest.

Flex-a-Lite Automotive Mojave Heaters

The Mojave heater from Flex-a-lite is designed to simplify the task of providing heat and comfort in your hot rod, off-road vehicle or utility vehicle. Producing 12,000 BTU of heat, its compact size, ease of installation and operation make it the ideal replacement unit.

www.flex-a-lite.com

 

[reddingcruiser]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'm trying to convince my wife to move to Rapid City. Lived there when I was younger and love the area.

 

[Redgrrr]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'm trying to convince my wife to move to Rapid City. Lived there when I was younger and love the area.

Bring that badass 40 we got room for ya!

 

[jim land]

Nice 40 with stock wheels , it look very clean, note that your front doors are 74 or older and you should install a thermostat , post more pics , and please dont make it look like a j€€p , welcome on mud

 

[jim land]

Can you post a pic of your rear differential , maybe its the camera angle but it look like a dana 44

 

[ttwo]

still a few questions if someone has answers!:


1) Is there anyplace that has scanned/downloaded service manuals for an '83 FJ40. I don't even have an owners manual to tell me how many quarts of oil / antifreeze etc to put in. I don't need the aesthetics of having an original owners/service manual, I just need the info.

2) I THINK I GOT THIS ONE FIGURED OUT...This FJ is from south america so has no heater! Gads. It does have added aftermarket air conditioning. So there are no defrost knobs, heater knobs nor a heater core. Any vintage air guys here that know how big of a deal to add a heater? There are no hoses from the water pump. Do I need a new water pump etc as well? Or do I just make this a summer truck?

3) I own a Wrangler as well but notice this truck rides like a half loaded grain truck. Super stiff and rough and curiously turning right needs a bit more muscle than turning left. (I am replacing most of the tie rod boots since all cracked). I totally understand that it is an off road truck but the steering makes me question if one of the components is needing replacement (like the center arm module) or if hard turning right is a normal quirk of the FJ40.

4) i GUESS NOT MANY OPTIONS HERE: I've looked for carpet on the inside of the '83 FJ40 but have only found one option at SOR nearing $500 with shipping. Seems a bit high compared to any other car I've owned. Any other options out there for reasonable good carpet?

5)I GOT SOME ANSWERS HERE: I've pondered a hard top but adding it seems would run nearly $6-9K just for the parts and then need painting. WOW. Am I being misled? Or, is this something where, "if you wanted a hard top you should have bought a hard top to begin with" ?

 

[MoCoNative]

Most of your questions can be answered with a little research on this site and the WWW but here's what I know.

1. For Sale - 40, 50, 60, and 80 series FSM for a hell of a price. The manuals for around 1980 will probably be the most specific to your truck, although your truck seems to be a mix of many parts from different years. Oil and antifreeze amounts are actually in the owners manual, not the service manuals for some odd reason, Toyota did that on everything. Specter Off Road used to carry re-prints of most manuals. Oil is 8 quarts, give or take, that is what I have always put in. Antifreeze, use a 50/50 mix, takes about 4 gallons as I recall. The cooling system is full when the radiator is full to with about half the tube full of fluid when you take off the radiator cap.

2. That looks like a Vintage Air variant of an AC unit, the above suggestion of a Mohave Unit heater was good. You may be able to add the heat coil to that unit. Water pump does not change on engine, hot water is taken from the rear top of the head by the brake master via a nipple, will probably have to source one. There would be a cable actuated heat control valve on the firewall, I think City Racer has repros, and then the line enters the firewall more center of your current AC lines on a stock settup. Goes through heater and then comes out right next to the inlet line and travels to a nipple installed in a metal "Tee" fitting basically in the lower radiator hose. You probably have a one piece hose. Look up lower radiator hoses for an FJ40 and you will there are two parts with a metal piece in-between. This part can also be sourced pretty easily. You mentioned prior there was no thermostat, did you pull the top off the thermostat housing to find this? Use only a Toyota thermostat, they are the best, and get the gaskets that go with it. There is a paper gasket for the housing, and two rubber gaskets that the thermostat sits on and one goes on top. Without them and the proper clamping of the thermostat by the housing with the paper gasket the thermostat will bypass and not function properly.

3. They ride rough, period. You have lifted springs, probably makes it rougher, no idea if the shackles and bushings are swinging freely. Coil springs on newer jeeps ride softer, hence reason Toyota went to coil springs on the land cruiser after 1990. I would look into the steering box for issues, also look at the front axle knuckle bearings, center arm could be an issue too. Too much that could be wrong to diagnose easily.

4. Carpet kits for these have always been expensive due the cost to produce and the overall low quantity of actual trucks to put them in and consumer of said product. Carpet holds moisture and rusts the floors usually. They only ever had rubber matting after 75. If the truck is loud, carpet will only help a little. Factory used heavy tar sheeting on the floors under the rubber mats after 75. Anything less does not do much for sound, I have tried. Some of the new materials like DynaMat and such will help, the prior mentioned repro rubber mat is probably the best option. I seem to recall an Australian carpet years ago that was molded for the floor, expensive also.

5. Hardtops are nice. As others have pointed out, they add up in cost unless you can find a decent one used for a good price. They do come up from time to time for sale. Your truck was a soft-top from the factory. As others mentioned prior, the rear doors have some differences through the 25 year run of the 40 series. Specter had some good references on their website for the different doors. The late hardtop may be the logical choice, however, the pre 75, barndoor/liftgate top may be the best fit with your lower rear doors. The hinge bolt on spots are different on the rear tub if you use the ambulance doors. I don't know if the tops of your barn doors will fit with the upper liftgate. It looks like the proper doors could be fitted if the hinge locations are the same, they look to be. In some markets the upper liftgate continued while the full height ambulance doors were all that was offered in the USA after 1975. There are also two different bolt hole patterns on the hardtops for the top of the windshield frame, 2 vs 4 bolts this can be fixed, but is something to look at. Your windshield frame should have two threaded holes on the front face. The early windshield frames have 4, but the wipers are on the top. Early vs lat tops will differ the same. The front overhang of the fiberglass cap also changes slightly with the change in the wiper arrangement. The tops are multiple pieces though, and parts can be mixed and matched to work. It is unknown if you have all the threaded holes in the top of the tub to make one work too.

The soft top works very well actually, I'm running one now, for 3 seasons of the year they are fine. Not quite as tightly sealed as a new Jeep, but they work. I added some heat bubble wrap and jute to a custom sewn "pillow cover" if you will that sits on the bows under the top overhead. This helps block some sun heat, hold in cab heat and absorb ambient noise in the cab and reduce wind noise.

I would strongly advise you fit a rollbar and move the shoulder belts to it. There is no protection with that top arrangement. To keep the long rear seats you have now will require some mods to them, primarily moving them inboard, adding fold down legs to them is needed then to keep them from bending in use. Probably need to be a custom rollbar, although the later stock bars can be added, but they are not very strong. There used to be one from Confer, don't know if anybody still has any old stock of those bars. Specter has some choices too. I opted for a full cage from Redline, came out nice, I had to weld up the kit myself.

Nice looking truck, but definitely post more pictures to help further answer some of your questions.

 

[ttwo]

Most of your questions can be answered with a little research on this site and the WWW but here's what I know.

1. For Sale - 40, 50, 60, and 80 series FSM for a hell of a price. The manuals for around 1980 will probably be the most specific to your truck, although your truck seems to be a mix of many parts from different years. Oil and antifreeze amounts are actually in the owners manual, not the service manuals for some odd reason, Toyota did that on everything. Specter Off Road used to carry re-prints of most manuals. Oil is 8 quarts, give or take, that is what I have always put in. Antifreeze, use a 50/50 mix, takes about 4 gallons as I recall. The cooling system is full when the radiator is full to with about half the tube full of fluid when you take off the radiator cap.

2. That looks like a Vintage Air variant of an AC unit, the above suggestion of a Mohave Unit heater was good. You may be able to add the heat coil to that unit. Water pump does not change on engine, hot water is taken from the rear top of the head by the brake master via a nipple, will probably have to source one. There would be a cable actuated heat control valve on the firewall, I think City Racer has repros, and then the line enters the firewall more center of your current AC lines on a stock settup. Goes through heater and then comes out right next to the inlet line and travels to a nipple installed in a metal "Tee" fitting basically in the lower radiator hose. You probably have a one piece hose. Look up lower radiator hoses for an FJ40 and you will there are two parts with a metal piece in-between. This part can also be sourced pretty easily. You mentioned prior there was no thermostat, did you pull the top off the thermostat housing to find this? Use only a Toyota thermostat, they are the best, and get the gaskets that go with it. There is a paper gasket for the housing, and two rubber gaskets that the thermostat sits on and one goes on top. Without them and the proper clamping of the thermostat by the housing with the paper gasket the thermostat will bypass and not function properly.

3. They ride rough, period. You have lifted springs, probably makes it rougher, no idea if the shackles and bushings are swinging freely. Coil springs on newer jeeps ride softer, hence reason Toyota went to coil springs on the land cruiser after 1990. I would look into the steering box for issues, also look at the front axle knuckle bearings, center arm could be an issue too. Too much that could be wrong to diagnose easily.

4. Carpet kits for these have always been expensive due the cost to produce and the overall low quantity of actual trucks to put them in and consumer of said product. Carpet holds moisture and rusts the floors usually. They only ever had rubber matting after 75. If the truck is loud, carpet will only help a little. Factory used heavy tar sheeting on the floors under the rubber mats after 75. Anything less does not do much for sound, I have tried. Some of the new materials like DynaMat and such will help, the prior mentioned repro rubber mat is probably the best option. I seem to recall an Australian carpet years ago that was molded for the floor, expensive also.

5. Hardtops are nice. As others have pointed out, they add up in cost unless you can find a decent one used for a good price. They do come up from time to time for sale. Your truck was a soft-top from the factory. As others mentioned prior, the rear doors have some differences through the 25 year run of the 40 series. Specter had some good references on their website for the different doors. The late hardtop may be the logical choice, however, the pre 75, barndoor/liftgate top may be the best fit with your lower rear doors. The hinge bolt on spots are different on the rear tub if you use the ambulance doors. I don't know if the tops of your barn doors will fit with the upper liftgate. It looks like the proper doors could be fitted if the hinge locations are the same, they look to be. In some markets the upper liftgate continued while the full height ambulance doors were all that was offered in the USA after 1975. There are also two different bolt hole patterns on the hardtops for the top of the windshield frame, 2 vs 4 bolts this can be fixed, but is something to look at. Your windshield frame should have two threaded holes on the front face. The early windshield frames have 4, but the wipers are on the top. Early vs lat tops will differ the same. The front overhang of the fiberglass cap also changes slightly with the change in the wiper arrangement. The tops are multiple pieces though, and parts can be mixed and matched to work. It is unknown if you have all the threaded holes in the top of the tub to make one work too.

The soft top works very well actually, I'm running one now, for 3 seasons of the year they are fine. Not quite as tightly sealed as a new Jeep, but they work. I added some heat bubble wrap and jute to a custom sewn "pillow cover" if you will that sits on the bows under the top overhead. This helps block some sun heat, hold in cab heat and absorb ambient noise in the cab and reduce wind noise.

I would strongly advise you fit a rollbar and move the shoulder belts to it. There is no protection with that top arrangement. To keep the long rear seats you have now will require some mods to them, primarily moving them inboard, adding fold down legs to them is needed then to keep them from bending in use. Probably need to be a custom rollbar, although the later stock bars can be added, but they are not very strong. There used to be one from Confer, don't know if anybody still has any old stock of those bars. Specter has some choices too. I opted for a full cage from Redline, came out nice, I had to weld up the kit myself.

Nice looking truck, but definitely post more pictures to help further answer some of your questions.

VERY comprehensive! This is very helpful. I'll maybe shoot some inside pics for more specific questions if I have them! Let me mull over this info!

 

[cartelcruiser]

I notice you said it was refurbished, but were needing to replace some things. Was this purchased from one of the South American restoration companies that ships to the states or a privately brokered deal? I ask because I also have 2 fj43s from South America.

Neither had a thermostat, and both seemingly ran ok when first imported but now have issues after adding coolant. No heaters in mine either. Looks like a solid paint job and body! Be prepared to run into some potential issues with repairs. South American cruisers are pieces together really with whatever is handy to keep them in use. At first glance things under the hood may look normal, but they may be slightly off and call for some modifications.

 

[bottombracket]

On the subject of carpet versus floor mats:

Carpet in a 40 usually equals gross. My truck had partial carpeting when I got it. All it did was suck in water, and these trucks don’t usually need any more help rusting. Factory trucks -as pointed out above by @MoCoNative - just came with rubber floor mats.

Here is a link to @Racer65 ‘s 79 to 82 floor mat:

Front Moulded Floor Mat for '79 to '84 Land Cruiser FJ40

Reproduction front moulded floor mat for '79 to '84 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40. Fits both LHD and RHD. This is a one piece, 3 dimensional floor mat made of modern PVC material. Created based on a 3D scan of the OEM mat. Surface features and textures are precisely replicated via computer aided...

www.cityracerllc.com

It’s expensive, but I guarantee you it’ll be worth it. Roger’s products equal or exceed OEM quality. He’s a remarkable asset to the Cruiser community.

South American trucks are often a hodgepodge of different years’ construction. Use a little Google-fu and find some threads with pictures on differences between pre-and post-79 frames and tubs. See if yours is a late model frame and tub; this will direct you towards which floormat you need.

Good advice on the rollbar and shoulder belts. FYI, three-point seatbelts from a military Humvee bolt right in and can usually found for about 40 bucks on eBay. It’s what I run.

 

[ttwo]

I notice you said it was refurbished, but were needing to replace some things. Was this purchased from one of the South American restoration companies that ships to the states or a privately brokered deal? I ask because I also have 2 fj43s from South America.

Neither had a thermostat, and both seemingly ran ok when first imported but now have issues after adding coolant. No heaters in mine either. Looks like a solid paint job and body! Be prepared to run into some potential issues with repairs. South American cruisers are pieces together really with whatever is handy to keep them in use. At first glance things under the hood may look normal, but they may be slightly off and call for some modifications.

It wasnt a restoration company but a younger guy and his wife trying to start a restoration business. This was his first restoration and was his personal vehicle for a short time.

What type of repairs do you mean? I agree that the body and paint look great! I have no doubt there is a lot of bondo under this paint though.

 

[subzali]

It has a 2F engine which has the same oil capacity from 75 to 87. Buy the Haynes manual it will get you close, 82-84 there were not many if any changes. Or use the electronic manuals linked above and just check the dipstick once it’s been filled. Oil is like 8 quarts and coolant is like 3-4 gallons.

For a heater you would need a couple fittings to route the heater hoses. I just met a guy with an FJ43 from SA who retrofitted heat and you can do it with OEM parts like he did, at this point they will probably be used parts but you could find them on part outs or boneyard sites.

 

[MoCoNative]

Matt,

What fitting are you talking about? The only variants on the water pumps is if the block has the oil cooler or not, that dictates the extra fitting on the water pump and thermostat housing. Heat is off rear of head (hottest water in block) to the core and back to lower radiator hose.

 

[ttwo]

do you have a quick photo I could see of where that comes off the head?

 

[Redgrrr]

Here is my non USA 2F heater hose port on the back of the head and the valve on the firewall that open the flow to the heater core.

 

[ttwo]

I'll have to look and see if i have a port there! thanks for that!

 

[subzali]

Matt,

What fitting are you talking about? The only variants on the water pumps is if the block has the oil cooler or not, that dictates the extra fitting on the water pump and thermostat housing. Heat is off rear of head (hottest water in block) to the core and back to lower radiator hose.

You’re right, edited.