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- #521
I'll be there till the 31st. You have my #?
Build Roma's 78 fj40 gets a refurb
- Thread starter roma042987
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Cool. Will you be getting to Phoenix at all? During the week I am in Phoenix for work then on weekends I am up in Prescott area where I have my 40’s. I am also a Mtn biker as well. Would be great to meet up, I would love to pick your brain about my ‘76 that I inherited from my brother Bill. I will send you. PM with my number. Tom
mattressking
10 digits to freedom
Nah shoot it to me in pm
- Thread starter
- #524
Probably jumping the gun posting these since it's still in Japan and will probably be another 6 months to a year before it's in the truck but the ole 40 is getting a repower in the form of a 4.1 liter 16 valve direct injected factory turbo 15bft from Toyota's version of a Humvee. I was planning on installing my rebuilt 12ht in it but decided I didn't want to swap the frame or try to move the mounts and crossmember to accommodate the 12ht being that the frame is galvanized. This seemed like a better route being a direct replacement for the 3b. Plans are to rebuild my tcase since I didn't do that when I installed it 8 years ago. I still need to get a flywheel for it and going to do some preventative maintenance items as well of course. I have to give @SteveJackson a plug for helping with shipping this thing and @bottombracket for pushing me along to take this plunge. This engine is from a Megacruiser and has the correct oil pan/sump to accommodate a front driveshaft unlike most 15bft's that were in buses and Dyna trucks. The seller was also able to provide me with an a.c. bracket and compressor so I should be able to install a.c. in the 40 at the same time.
I'm not super versed on this engine yet but I'm pretty confident the extra bump in power should be sufficient in pushing the 40 along more comfortably up grades at modern hwy speeds which is what this truck has always lacked.
I'm not super versed on this engine yet but I'm pretty confident the extra bump in power should be sufficient in pushing the 40 along more comfortably up grades at modern hwy speeds which is what this truck has always lacked.
Awww yeah. I see a lot of vapor honing in both of our futures.
- Thread starter
- #526
Don't you send me down that rabbit hole Galen! Perfectly good engine no disassembly required.
Neat swap you have coming there Roma! Any plans to be in Arizona anytime soon?
- Thread starter
- #528
Thanks. I just got home last week after a 5 week stint so hopefully not for a bit.
- Thread starter
- #529
Time for a two year update. The 15bft I bought in October of 2020 is still in Japan to my knowledge. It was delivered to the shipper after I purchased it and unfortunately, I haven't heard much about it since. I am still hopeful I will receive it one day but the purchase of that engine set my heart and expectations on repowering the 40 once again.
A few weeks back someone on MUD posted For Sale - 2000 Toyota Dyna 4x4 15BF for parts - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/2000-toyota-dyna-4x4-15bf-for-parts.1298988/ this link to a Dyna for sale in Hope, B.C. The price was right but the biggest problem was that I'm in Alabama and the engine or truck technically was across the continent in another country. I also had a work trip coming up to Arizona in a little over a week. The wheels started turning in my head how I could get my grubby hands on this engine. First, I needed to get in touch with the seller. I called him up after some struggles trying to get a number for him. I don't have an active Facebook account and initially tried googling his name only to come up with a Canadian actor and a small engine repair guy. It appeared the small engine repair guy was the one. I eventually found a good phone number for him and was able to have a brief but spotty conversation with him. Apparently, cell phone service in his area is spotty at best. He told me that the truck was involved in a crash on Hwy 1 over the summer and he was part of the crew that helped clean the wreckage off the hwy. He needed it gone sooner than later and due to the amount of interested parties was now firm on the price. I asked him if he had a means to pull the engine and load it in a pickup if I committed to buy it and pick it up personally and as possible. He agreed and we had a very rough plan in place.
As soon as I got off the phone with him, I started looking at flights from Arizona to British Columbia. I had the following weekend off work and after some research formalized a plan. Leave Yuma after work on Friday, drive to Phoenix (3hrs) fly to Seattle (3hrs), rent a pickup, drive to Bellingham (1.5 hrs), stay the night, Saturday morning cross the border into Canada and drive up to Hope (1.5hrs), load the engine, drive back to the states and crate it up for shipment (3hrs), fly back to Phoenix and drive back to Yuma on Sunday. Easy right? I still had some logistics to work out in terms of how I was going to crate it and ship it. Ivan, (the seller) also advised me that the road going into and out of Hope could get bad this time of year. I really couldn't have pulled all of this off without @NookShneer 's and @torfab 's help. Not knowing many or technically (any) people in the Seattle area I reached out to my mud friends. I called up Dave and he graciously offered up his place to help me crate the engine and use Tor's shop to ship it from. The week off my trip north some weather hit Hope and closed down the Hwy into town, Ivan kept me updated with constant weather alerts and told me that the crews were usually pretty good about cleaning the roadways after a snowfall. I asked him how bad the road could actually get and he asked me whether I've seen the show Highway Thru Hell? "no" I replied. He told me that the show was actually produced in Hope. Recipe sounds right for an adventure I thought. Friday came and another weather front was moving into the area, after changing my flight 3 times and finalizing my freight shipment at lunch time I was able to slip out of work a bit early and head toward Phoenix around 3 p.m.
Leaving 75 degree Phoenix I flew into 36 degree Seattle. My four-wheel drive full size pickup rental turned into a two-wheel drive Tacoma. As soon as I left SeaTac headed north the temperature dropped and snow started to fall. Halfway to Bellingham the flurries turned into near white out and the hwy was covered with white stuff. It was nearly 11 pm and I hadn't eaten since lunch time, so I decided to get off the hwy and get a quick bite to eat. Taking the next exit, I found myself with no food options and nearly stuck in a parking lot. I decided to drive through before the weather got worse, after all, I'd rather be hungry in my hotel than stuffed with food and stuck in the snow overnight. It was at this point that I began to question my "adventure", the weather was terrible and I've barely left the airport. I expected to perhaps have problems in the mountains of Canada but certainly not in the Seattle area. Around midnight I reached my hotel in Bellingham and loaded up on some terrible gas station food.
I got up early Saturday morning and headed for the border. The snow had cleared out and aside from a wicked wind and biting cold the driving conditions were excellent. I crossed the border and reached Hope by 10 am with no issues at all. I spent a couple of hours messing with the engine draining the block of coolant and removing the alternator and some bracketry to allow me to lay it over on its side for safer transport. The temperature was hovering around 22 degrees, but the sun was out, and it was actually quite pleasant. The crossing back into the U.S. was uneventful aside from a two hour wait for the customs official to search my belongings. She had a really hard time understanding why I had come this far for an engine and why I had two rental vehicles at one time. (The rental pickup I was driving and the keys to my rental in Arizona that she had discovered in my luggage.) I had researched what I may run into in terms of importing an engine and concluded that after 22 years all engines fall into an "ancient" category and don't require any additional documentation. While in Hope I took some photos of the wrecked Dyna's frame VIN and with a ToyotDiy search concluded that the 2000 Dyna was actually manufactured in Jan of 1998. She eventually let me through and I was pleasantly surprised she had no interest in the engine or what it came out of. I also surprisingly didn't have to pay any kind of import duties.
A few weeks back someone on MUD posted For Sale - 2000 Toyota Dyna 4x4 15BF for parts - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/2000-toyota-dyna-4x4-15bf-for-parts.1298988/ this link to a Dyna for sale in Hope, B.C. The price was right but the biggest problem was that I'm in Alabama and the engine or truck technically was across the continent in another country. I also had a work trip coming up to Arizona in a little over a week. The wheels started turning in my head how I could get my grubby hands on this engine. First, I needed to get in touch with the seller. I called him up after some struggles trying to get a number for him. I don't have an active Facebook account and initially tried googling his name only to come up with a Canadian actor and a small engine repair guy. It appeared the small engine repair guy was the one. I eventually found a good phone number for him and was able to have a brief but spotty conversation with him. Apparently, cell phone service in his area is spotty at best. He told me that the truck was involved in a crash on Hwy 1 over the summer and he was part of the crew that helped clean the wreckage off the hwy. He needed it gone sooner than later and due to the amount of interested parties was now firm on the price. I asked him if he had a means to pull the engine and load it in a pickup if I committed to buy it and pick it up personally and as possible. He agreed and we had a very rough plan in place.
As soon as I got off the phone with him, I started looking at flights from Arizona to British Columbia. I had the following weekend off work and after some research formalized a plan. Leave Yuma after work on Friday, drive to Phoenix (3hrs) fly to Seattle (3hrs), rent a pickup, drive to Bellingham (1.5 hrs), stay the night, Saturday morning cross the border into Canada and drive up to Hope (1.5hrs), load the engine, drive back to the states and crate it up for shipment (3hrs), fly back to Phoenix and drive back to Yuma on Sunday. Easy right? I still had some logistics to work out in terms of how I was going to crate it and ship it. Ivan, (the seller) also advised me that the road going into and out of Hope could get bad this time of year. I really couldn't have pulled all of this off without @NookShneer 's and @torfab 's help. Not knowing many or technically (any) people in the Seattle area I reached out to my mud friends. I called up Dave and he graciously offered up his place to help me crate the engine and use Tor's shop to ship it from. The week off my trip north some weather hit Hope and closed down the Hwy into town, Ivan kept me updated with constant weather alerts and told me that the crews were usually pretty good about cleaning the roadways after a snowfall. I asked him how bad the road could actually get and he asked me whether I've seen the show Highway Thru Hell? "no" I replied. He told me that the show was actually produced in Hope. Recipe sounds right for an adventure I thought. Friday came and another weather front was moving into the area, after changing my flight 3 times and finalizing my freight shipment at lunch time I was able to slip out of work a bit early and head toward Phoenix around 3 p.m.
Leaving 75 degree Phoenix I flew into 36 degree Seattle. My four-wheel drive full size pickup rental turned into a two-wheel drive Tacoma. As soon as I left SeaTac headed north the temperature dropped and snow started to fall. Halfway to Bellingham the flurries turned into near white out and the hwy was covered with white stuff. It was nearly 11 pm and I hadn't eaten since lunch time, so I decided to get off the hwy and get a quick bite to eat. Taking the next exit, I found myself with no food options and nearly stuck in a parking lot. I decided to drive through before the weather got worse, after all, I'd rather be hungry in my hotel than stuffed with food and stuck in the snow overnight. It was at this point that I began to question my "adventure", the weather was terrible and I've barely left the airport. I expected to perhaps have problems in the mountains of Canada but certainly not in the Seattle area. Around midnight I reached my hotel in Bellingham and loaded up on some terrible gas station food.
I got up early Saturday morning and headed for the border. The snow had cleared out and aside from a wicked wind and biting cold the driving conditions were excellent. I crossed the border and reached Hope by 10 am with no issues at all. I spent a couple of hours messing with the engine draining the block of coolant and removing the alternator and some bracketry to allow me to lay it over on its side for safer transport. The temperature was hovering around 22 degrees, but the sun was out, and it was actually quite pleasant. The crossing back into the U.S. was uneventful aside from a two hour wait for the customs official to search my belongings. She had a really hard time understanding why I had come this far for an engine and why I had two rental vehicles at one time. (The rental pickup I was driving and the keys to my rental in Arizona that she had discovered in my luggage.) I had researched what I may run into in terms of importing an engine and concluded that after 22 years all engines fall into an "ancient" category and don't require any additional documentation. While in Hope I took some photos of the wrecked Dyna's frame VIN and with a ToyotDiy search concluded that the 2000 Dyna was actually manufactured in Jan of 1998. She eventually let me through and I was pleasantly surprised she had no interest in the engine or what it came out of. I also surprisingly didn't have to pay any kind of import duties.
- Thread starter
- #530
- Thread starter
- #531
The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful with exception of some more delays leaving Seattle on Sunday.
Driving back south toward Bellingham on some rural roads.
Once back in the Seattle area I went to Home Depot to buy some building materials for my crate and to find a pallet. I drove around the back of the store and noticed tons of pallets and this big crate. I asked one of the employees that was outside if I could have the crate and he told me take whatever I needed. I initially planned on moving the engine into this crate and then making a top for it but, after I got out the tape measure, I realized it was slightly bigger than standard 40x48. I also noticed that it was made out of a soft wood and probably wouldn't support the engine for long. So, out came the saw and it became the top for my original pallet.
Far from pretty but it was sufficient for a one way trip.
Driving back south toward Bellingham on some rural roads.
Once back in the Seattle area I went to Home Depot to buy some building materials for my crate and to find a pallet. I drove around the back of the store and noticed tons of pallets and this big crate. I asked one of the employees that was outside if I could have the crate and he told me take whatever I needed. I initially planned on moving the engine into this crate and then making a top for it but, after I got out the tape measure, I realized it was slightly bigger than standard 40x48. I also noticed that it was made out of a soft wood and probably wouldn't support the engine for long. So, out came the saw and it became the top for my original pallet.
Far from pretty but it was sufficient for a one way trip.
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- Thread starter
- #532
The engine made it to Huntsville on the 16th of this month and I got home a day later. I picked it up from work and got it home and removed my makeshift crate. I was anxious to see if the spare 3b bell housing I picked up from @OGBeno would clear this flywheel clutch combo. I know that these engines had a couple of different size flywheels and some are too big. Pleasantly surprised this one worked.
- Thread starter
- #533
I have this same bell housing in my 40 behind the 3b so nice to know it all fits including the support brackets.
Hope your MC 15bft from japan was not on that ship
- Thread starter
- #535
Heck at this point I'd take it anyway I could get it.
I am so here for this story.
Awesome, Roma.
Can’t wait to see what comes next.
And maybe we will see our 15BFTs someday!
Awesome, Roma.
Can’t wait to see what comes next.
And maybe we will see our 15BFTs someday!
What a great adventure! That sump looks a little beat up, I assume from the accident the vehicle was in? You might be able to source a mega cruiser sump (without wings) from toyota EX Japan.. I'm sure someone here in Australia was able to source one and it cost about $500AUD.. about the same I spent on a factory cast 15BFTE exhaust manifold..
Edit: Part number: 12101-58150
Edit: Part number: 12101-58150
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I lose few hours of sleep every few years revisiting this thread. Thanks for the updates. Very interesting and enjoyable to follow. Did your daughters toy fj40 work out?
- Thread starter
- #539
What a great adventure! That sump looks a little beat up, I assume from the accident the vehicle was in? You might be able to source a mega cruiser sump (without wings) from toyota EX Japan.. I'm sure someone here in Australia was able to source one and it cost about $500AUD.. about the same I spent on a factory cast 15BFTE exhaust manifold..
Edit: Part number: 12101-58150
Yep sump got smacked by the driveshaft. I tried to order the pan already but that one is discontinued so they cancelled my order. I just found another part number though and will keep my fingers crossed.
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- #540