Build Project Old Blue Eyes

[jesus888]

More Bling going in… since we flipped the rear springs for added wheelbase, we also had to move the shocks to the rear of the existing crossmember from the front…

A pair of these CNC machined shock mounts are getting welded to the back of the crossmember.

These are definitely some of the unsung heroes of getting work done at a specialty shop like Cruiser Matt’s Off-road, along with the charcoal canister mount, the reworking of the AC harness (and other electrical), and all the other little things… the details… so stoked!

 

[jesus888]

One of my gripes was that the shifting seemed kinda sloppy with h55 in the truck, keep in mind I was coming from a brand new h55 in my FJ62 that Cruiser Matt’s Off-road installed a year and a half ago which IYKYK is very precise and almost notchy in the first 5-10K miles…

@cruisermatt said it was most likely just that there was an FJ40 shifter cane being used in an FJ60 top plate…

To test the theory, he swapped in an FJ60 shifter cane and things seemed to be much cleaned up in that respect…

Final move may be to just use a new h55 shifter cane made for an FJ60, but looks like we’re almost where we need to be on this one…

 

[jesus888]

Charcoal Canister bracket

 

[jesus888]

New Wheel cylinders and replacing the drums in the rear

 

[Toast]

Evap canister is in the place of the stock cabin blower motor so where is the current blower fan located?

 

[jesus888]

Evap canister is in the place of the stock cabin blower motor so where is the current blower fan located?

Vintage Air unit inside...

 

[Toast]

Got it. Sorry, I've been out of the 40 scene for over a decade. Thanks! Awesome build

 

[jesus888]

Got it. Sorry, I've been out of the 40 scene for over a decade. Thanks! Awesome build

I appreciate the sentiment... I will say that it's the brain-child and product of hard work by @SipLife to bring this one back from the dead and @cruisermatt helping me clean up some things and make other things the way I want them... I'm just a smooth-brain pointing at pictures and grunting. I'm very excited for it to be at my beck and call when I need to go to banana store for more bananas.

 

[clrussell]

More Bling going in… since we flipped the rear springs for added wheelbase, we also had to move the shocks to the rear of the existing crossmember from the front…

A pair of these CNC machined shock mounts are getting welded to the back of the crossmember.

These are definitely some of the unsung heroes of getting work done at a specialty shop like Cruiser Matt’s Off-road, along with the charcoal canister mount, the reworking of the AC harness (and other electrical), and all the other little things… the details… so stoked!

View attachment 4002993

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Those are nice !

 

[jesus888]

So I had bought a late model factory (grey) roll bar, really for the ease of 3-point seat belts with the new seats but the rig they came out of was rusted to and there also some sort of adhesive holding it to the body.

Needless to say the feet were in terrible shape…

The boys down at @cruisermatt ‘s Designed and manufactured new mounting plates and the new feet fit just like (probably better actually) they did from the factory

 

[jesus888]

Also I bought this monstrosity Sunday… 250K miles, 2013, 2-owner, no accidents, a binder of EVERY service done since new… and they were all done at the Toyota Dealership so they were done with OEM parts.

This girl may be in the mix to go pick up the 40 once it’s done

 

[jesus888]

So I had bought a late model factory (grey) roll bar, really for the ease of 3-point seat belts with the new seats but the rig they came out of was rusted to and there also some sort of adhesive holding it to the body.

Needless to say the feet were in terrible shape…

The boys down at @cruisermatt ‘s Designed and manufactured new mounting plates and the new feet fit just like (probably better actually) they did from the factory

View attachment 4023658

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View attachment 4023660

Updated with some new pictures of the feet… I will also say that it's probably a better idea to spend a little more up front for a good/better condition stock bar!!

 

[jesus888]

So part of the work we were doing was a new exhaust setup, front to back, including the preferred set of headers that I had already purchased along with front to back new exhaust…

After getting the different headers on, it became apparent that they were fouling with the slave cylinder… and instead of just doing it enough to work, @cruisermatt ’s Off-road made an elegant solution for the right slave cylinder, and a spacer that will probably show up on their website soon…

Pretty stinkin cool to be able to go from thought to drawing to prototype to usable part so quickly!!

Note: picture of the spacer mounted is using a prototype…

 

[cruisermatt]

Anyone who has put an LS into a 40 knows how close the collector gets to the clutch slave cylinder unless you use a center dump manifold, which there aren’t really nice options that aren’t crazy expensive

This simple adapter bracket is inexpensive, commonly available slave cylinder, gets 2” of space compared to the original cylinder and nets much safer hose routing.

Keep in mind these parts are still in testing phase.

 

[peesalot]

Amen to that Matt. I run a GM bellhouse on the LS with a stock driver side manifold that dumps just in front of where hose goes into slave. There is a little adapter/mount on the slave for the GM bell. I use fire sleeve & an aluminum heat shield I made, so far so good but would like one of these.
I'll take one, please PM me info, I want to take before & after pics. This is on a 2001 6.0 , stock 1970 FJ40 slave & MC, GM bellhouse with mid mounts ( yes the clutch fork is close ) & an sm420.

 

[jesus888]

It’s too bad something so shiny and pretty is gonna be buried under the rig properly spacing out the slave cylinder

 

[peesalot]

Apparently thats only for the AA bell housing & must be used with specific slave cylinder, not sure what year/application.

 

[jesus888]

Apparently thats only for the AA bell housing & must be used with specific slave cylinder, not sure what year/application.

You'd have to talk to @cruisermatt about that, but I'm sure it is for a specific application, but from what he said, it's a pretty common situation for folks dropping an LS into a 40...

 

[peesalot]

I think it is for an LS in front of a Toyota trans using an AA bellhouse, I am sure it will work on the GM bell house as well. Matt indicated that the slave the spacer is designed for has offset mount tabs. I am going to fit it to my set up and see what happens. The slave intended for the spacer has a slightly less volume than my oem 70' slave and may not release the clutch.

 

[cruisermatt]

that is all correct, that is why we are testing it before going straight to market