Reverse Jerry-Rigging a 1973 FJ40 to operation

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@greenbeasty I am a member of the local LC club, ONSC (Olde North State Cruisers). Here in the triad we have a monthly meeting the first Tuesday of every month at a local restaurant in Greensboro or Winston-Salem. And the club has events every so often. This weekend is actually the Club Christmas Party at Uwharrie, check out the ONSC clubhouse and there is a lot of information about it, wed love to have you! And believe it or not I actually just passed Old Fort yesterday, my grandparents live in NW GA and we go through Asheville to get there. Ill have to stop by next time i head that way, and if your ever in the Winston area you should check out my beast.
 
For sure! Stop by anytime. Your meetings are a bit far away for me. I am trying to build the road cruiser cause I don't make time to tow the trail cruiser and 4 wheel. I want one to drive everyday.
Also want one as a business billboard for VODtac.com. Check us out. I would like to take part in some club functions if they are closer to WNC
 
I gotcha, during the summer there are some trips the club does to the hurricane Creek trail which is a little ways west of Asheville off of I-40.
 
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I got the block on the stand, now time to disassemble! I had to remove the clutch housing and then the flywheel and finally the bellhousing bolts. Someone us definetely been in there before, the washer tabs on the flywheel bolts had already been bent down flat.
 
So we are neck deep in the 1f tear down now, I will post up some pictures here shortly. Upon getting the motor apart, it is evident we are going to need a new camshaft. Does anyone know where I can find a new camshaft? Will a 2f Camshaft fit? Is it even worth doing or should we 2f swap it?
 
@Rice Did you use the AA kit to attach the NV4500 to your t-case?
@JohnVee You have a valid point, a 40 is not exactly power hungry, i'm starting to think about how can I get low gearing now without compromising drivability.
 
@greenbeasty We added a bunch of WNC-area folks in the last couple years. They were pretty excited to start having the occasional get-together without having to drive a couple hours. I'll make sure you're kept in the loop about any future AVL meets. You're also welcome to come see the CLT crew whenever we get together. I'll ping you for that.

Sorry for the hijack, Anderson. Now back to your engineless project...
 
40LandCruising said:
@Rice Did you use the AA kit to attach the NV4500 to your t-case?
@JohnVee You have a valid point, a 40 is not exactly power hungry, i'm starting to think about how can I get low gearing now without compromising drivability.
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Yes, although my setup is a tad bit mixed ... my chevy engine is bolted to the Dodge version of NV4500 which uses a heavier duty input shaft, then to TC via AA kit.

Low gearing ... in order to achieve what ultimate goal?
 
40LandCruising said:
@GLTHFJ60 I had not even considered the noise factor, that will be something I will talk to my dad about since he'll be driving it more once i'm off at college. After doing more research the Ranger seems like the simpler path, one question though, will a ranger bolt straight up to a 4BT bellhousing?
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Cummins engines use a flywheel housing that bolts to the engine. The bellhousing then bolts to that.

In order to bolt the Ranger overdrive (which uses a SBC bolt pattern) you will need the Chevy style flywheel housing to bolt to your 4BT. That will allow the Ranger to bolt to the engine. After that, a AA SBC to Toyota bellhousing.

Based on what Rice has said though, I'm changing my recommendation. If there aren't issues with leaks to the Toyota transfer case, then use the NV4500 to Toyota 4 speed transfer setup.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
Cummins engines use a flywheel housing that bolts to the engine. The bellhousing then bolts to that.

In order to bolt the Ranger overdrive (which uses a SBC bolt pattern) you will need the Chevy style flywheel housing to bolt to your 4BT. That will allow the Ranger to bolt to the engine. After that, a AA SBC to Toyota bellhousing.

Based on what Rice has said though, I'm changing my recommendation. If there aren't issues with leaks to the Toyota transfer case, then use the NV4500 to Toyota 4 speed transfer setup.
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I will say, however, that I run the expensive lube in the trans and TC .... just in case.
 
@GLTHFJ60 and @Rice i appreciate y’alls input and we’d be lost without it. My dad and I are continuing to talk about engine options. My dad is concerned about how loud a 4bt is and the vibrations, so we may end up doing a SBC, I honestly have no idea. We want to achieve low gearing because we intend to wheel our 40. It’s not gonna be a pavement princess.
 
40LandCruising said:
@GLTHFJ60 and @Rice i appreciate y’alls input and we’d be lost without it. My dad and I are continuing to talk about engine options. My dad is concerned about how loud a 4bt is and the vibrations, so we may end up doing a SBC, I honestly have no idea. We want to achieve low gearing because we intend to wheel our 40. It’s not gonna be a pavement princess.
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Happy to have you and dad over to chat about options. You and he can take my 40 for a drive and compare notes.

Rice
 
We are toying with the idea of getting a brand new 350 from Modern chevrolet for $1200-1400, putting aftermarket EFI on it and swapping a 4-speed in our 40.
 
I bought a 350 long block off of summit racing. haven't installed it yet, I'm waist deep in my 73 frame off. But it looks great! Rated at 250hp and 300 lbs of torque. Bought it for $1400.
Also, what do you think of your Mud Claws? Have you gotten any trail time on them?
 
@HalfBreed I might check out a 350 like that, and I haven’t had any trail time on the mud claws, I’ve aired them down once but overheated too bad before we even made it to the trail. I’m really happy with the tires though, they look great and seem to be quality. And you can’t beat the price. I got these 35x12.5r15 for $180 apiece balanced and mounted.
 
I picked up a 1979 Buick Skylark today as an organ donor for the 40! It has a rebuilt(supposedly) Chevy 350 in it. It definitely has a cam in it(you can hear it), and some insane exhaust. So we are on the way to moving! We also got a 4 speed from @David1947 yesterday and have plans of adapting that to our stock 3-speed t-case to have lower gearing and more drive-ability.
 
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