Builds Project Beach Cruiser | The 1971 FJ40 Patina RestoMod (2 Viewers)

[GRM]

Its a perfect sunny Saturday morning to drive downtown and grab coffee for my Wife. 40 is running great, making me ready for summer.

 

[GRM]

One thing I love about Toyotas is how interchangeable the parts are. Yesterday I decided to finally tackle the non-functional speedometer. When I swapped in the FJ60 drivetrain, the speedometer cable was too short to fit.

To resolve this I ordered a speedometer extension, intended for a Toyota Mini truck running dual transfer cases.

Wouldn’t you know: the original 1971 speedometer cable, the trail gear extension, and the FJ60 transfer case all fit together like it was made that way.

Even better: compared to GPS the speedometer is near perfect, reading 40mph when I’m going ~42.

Bummer is that 2 miles into the test drive the speedometer needle started bouncing all over the place. Guess its time to tear it all apart, clean, grease, and try again.

 

[GRM]

Project Beach Cruiser is off for rust repair, modifications to the transmission hump, raptorliner, and a new roll cage. The interior should feel like new in 3 weeks!!

 

[GRM]

I have a couple teaser photos of the rust repair and raptorliner.

 

[GRM]

I have a before and after of the interior. The raptorliner changed the truck. It feels clean for once. I should have done this long ago.

 

[GRM]

I made alot of progress today on the 40. The first order of business was getting the oil leak taken care of.
I thought it was either the front crank seal or the oil cooler. When I pulled the oil cooler; the o rings and sealing washers were in perfect shape. I replaced them anyway, then moved onto the front main seal.
Upon pulling the balancer, I found it to be trashed. I remember it was worn when I installed it, but don’t remember it this bad. I thought a speedie sleeve would fix it, but not when its this bad!

 

[GRM]

Second project was getting the headlights working again.
I bought the Toyota H4 conversion kit And hacked the harness apart to make it work in my ‘71.
During my wedding, my friends did some sketchy wiring to get the trucks lights working. This meant I had to go back and undo their work, plus figure out why the lights didn’t work in the first place.
Other than a few bad grounds, went together well.
Now just to decide if I like the Hella or the Kioto lights more.

 

[airon23]

Second project was getting the headlights working again.
I bought the Toyota H4 conversion kit And hacked the harness apart to make it work in my ‘71.
During my wedding, my friends did some sketchy wiring to get the trucks lights working. This meant I had to go back and undo their work, plus figure out why the lights didn’t work in the first place.
Other than a few bad grounds, went together well.
Now just to decide if I like the Hella or the Kioto lights more.

View attachment 2369858View attachment 2369860
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Right.

 

[Downey]

I'm absolutely amazed your Ford calipers don't hit the frame. By now I am into serious old age and deep into retirement, but as I recall there was no way we could use the parking brake Ford calipers on FJ40 rear disc brake conversions- - -what changed ???

 

[GRM]

I'm absolutely amazed your Ford calipers don't hit the frame. By now I am into serious old age and deep into retirement, but as I recall there was no way we could use the parking brake Ford calipers on FJ40 rear disc brake conversions- - -what changed ???

With the 4runner rotor, it fits fine. The caliper is a unit off a 2005-2014 Mustang GT, with pads for a 2011-2014 Mustang GT. For whatever reason, it fits.

 

[GRM]

I installed a valve as recommended in a build thread by @wngrog to block gas tank vapor from bogging the engine at idle.
No idea of I connected it to the right vacuum port. Hope someone reading this can chime in to help.

 

[wngrog]

I installed a valve as recommended in a build thread by @wngrog to block gas tank vapor from bogging the engine at idle.
No idea of I connected it to the right vacuum port. Hope someone reading this can chime in to help.
View attachment 2370691

I’m not familiar with the 3FE but you need a port that does not draw at idle but at advance. The purpose of this is to not draw Raw fumes into your throttle body at idle to mess up the computations

 

[GRM]

Project Beach Cruiser is coming back together!
One item that was missed during the build was a coolant overflow tank. When I pulled the radiator out I noticed it was low; so I went on the hunt. After a ton of searching I found this cool ND unit that is a made in Japan overflow bottle off a Kubota tractor. It looks right under the hood too (almost factory), but didn’t break the bank.

 

[GRM]

Fuel filler neck from an early 2000’s Chevy 1500 stepside installed, with a filler neck supply bucket. It fit really well, and has a vented cap like a FJ62.
I’ll see long term if this fixes my filler neck leak issues.

Here are before and after photos

 

[GRM]

Changed the oil for the 3rd time on the 2fe. Rather than Delo 15/40, I decided to try Valvoline VR1 20/50 plus Rislone zddp additive. I have to say the lifters sound noisier with this oil; but it may also be time to adjust them.

 

[GRM]

The 40 made it on the annual family vacation. While it still doesn’t run quite as good as it should, it works perfect for me. No more major oil leaks, The filler neck seals, the driveshaft is bolted in correctly and there is an coolant overflow tank. Such an improvement.

 

[GRM]

I shot a quick video of the 40 driving down the highway. You can hear the 2fe scream through the spintech muffler. Its not everyone’s cup of tea but I love how it sounds.

Appologies for the wonky video. Its an iphone on a ram mount looking through the vibrating windshield of the 40.

 

[GRM]

The 40 did its longest dirt road drive today since I bought it 10 years ago. Man is this thing is fun!!
I’m ready for a day in the future for a full weekend of wandering through the mountains. Few more things to repair and this truck will be ready for a true road trip.

 

[GRM]

After my trip, there was one easy problem I wanted to solve: The tail lights are very dim compared to the other running lights.

To solve that, I purchased a set of Lumenex 1157 LED lights. I first learned of Lumenex LED bulbs from an instagram ad from DieselLeds.com for their (921) LUMENEX LED REVERSE LIGHT KIT for my Ram pickup. I was incredibly impressed with the reverse lights in my Ram, so I wanted to try their 1157 bulbs.

Since DieselLed doesn't sell 1157 bulbs, I was able to find them on Amazon: LUMENEX 1157 LED Bulbs Brake Lights 36SMD 7020 Extremely Bright

Before installing the bulbs, I wanted to see how much brighter they were on the bench. I am happy to report they are at least twice as bright, yet used significantly less amps.

After install, I'm happy with the results. For comparison, the tail light on the drivers side is the new LED light, and the tail light on the passenger side is an incandescent 1157 bulb.

 

[GRM]

After the last oil change I sent the oil off to blackstone for analysis. I’ve read the results three times and don’t know what to make of a few things, or how concerned I should be.

• I noticed the oil was watery when it came out of the engine. This is reported as low viscosity. I’ve never seen this with Delo oil before
• When I rebuilt the engine, I saw that the block had recently been rebuilt, with no noticeable wear. The only bearings I replaced were the cam bearings because I swapped a 3fe cam into the 2f block.
• Because of the condition of the truck during this oil change period, for most drives, the engine did not get warm (under 2 miles at a time).

What are your thoughts on these results?

Does anyone have a blackstone analysis on a 2F I could compare to (my only point of reference is my Blackstone results for a cummins engine on Delo).