Builds Salt wagon My first fj40 (build)

[Skreddy]

Interesting how some rigs have the fender junction block and how others don't. I have a US spec, 6/70 build that doesn't have one.

Mine is 10/69 and I have them. I think there was a change right in there but I can’t remember.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

I got a correct to my year wiper switch in yesterday and I installed it today. Eventually i will go in and clean up the switch a little more. It looks much better to me. Be fore I had a wiper switch that had a high/low and sprayer setting (unsure what year that would be out of). its Just little things but little things add up! Now I just need to find a factory choke and throttle knobs. THink maybe a vader switch and somthing else? maybe its a hole sombody drilled. Going to be putting it all back to as stock as I can get it.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Had a few beers last night and got an ebay message.... this morning. I bought some motor mounts for my fj40. Since I knew the motor mounts on my 40 were cut off to do the sbc swap it had been on the back of my mind. The rubber parts on these are not good looking but looks like these will work for the front mounts when ever I go to install an engine. (they went to town grinding those off the frame....) Not sure if the back engine mounts are still there on my 40. Gotta look into that. additionally I may have found an engine in my budget for right now. Anybody close to Kannapolis NC that could either store an engine for a few weeks/ take a look at it?


Here are the motor mounts

 

[Green Bean]

Had a few beers last night and got an ebay message.... this morning. I bought some motor mounts for my fj40. Since I knew the motor mounts on my 40 were cut off to do the sbc swap it had been on the back of my mind. The rubber parts on these are not good looking but looks like these will work for the front mounts when ever I go to install an engine. (they went to town grinding those off the frame....) Not sure if the back engine mounts are still there on my 40. Gotta look into that. additionally I may have found an engine in my budget for right now. Anybody close to Kannapolis NC that could either store an engine for a few weeks/ take a look at it?


Here are the motor mounts
View attachment 3408920

Beers, E-bay and late nights...are a dangerous combination.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Beers, E-bay and late nights...are a dangerous combination.

haha you know thats the truth... At least I only spend 80$ on these but I did need them.

 

[Skreddy]

Beers, E-bay and late nights...are a dangerous combination.

I made myself a rule I follow. (I try really hard anyway).
No posting after 2 drinks and no online shopping after 3.

Now that’s out of the way I can go have a beer….

 

[Roastchestnuts]

School started this week so I have not had alot of time for the 40. I did get some epic photos of it on the beach before a surf session with my rolleiflex from 1961. We have had fun waves alot recently. and some especially big waves yesterday. Its a storm swell from the hurricanes out in the Atlantic right now. I surfed every day after work. anyways here is some shots of my 40 I got recently:

 

[Roastchestnuts]

So the Hurricane idalia came through early morning yesterday. Luckily the storm did not hit Ocracoke island all that bad. Some flooding in my yard that was not unusual for a storm like this. However I am happy I moved the fj40 up on my parents garage ramp. This is not my first rodeo with having to chock a vehicle up this way to avoid storm floods. Additionally I sprayed everything down with fluid film.

My wife and I are about to start building a house on a lot. Still a ways out: maybe a year and a half. I am happy to say that one of the major features is a garage well above the flood zone. We are in the architectural design stage. I will be very happy when its done as to not stress as much about storms like this and just to be able to park the fj40 and any other vehicle I may have in a garage.

The picture below is my front yard and the road I live on. it was about a 16 inches deep in the yard. maybe a little deeper in some spots. I cant beleive tourist were driving through fast on my road. those dum dums dont realize it was all storm surge aka salt water. It will dissolve their brand new tacomas, jeeps and 4runners now.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

After all that wind and rain and salt water being kicked up I figured it was a good time to spray the salt wagon off and get some rags and fluid film. spent an hour or so rubbing fluid film on the old gal. Makes me feel better anyway. Especially being out here in the elements. I can say that I have not noticed any additional rust since I got the 40 from the top to the bottom. I am also religious with fluid film. Additionally like I said in a previous post, I am starting to look for parts for my engine swap. I purchased the front frame side engine mounts. Now I need to find the frame side bell housing mounts and possibly bell housing and clutch components. From what I read if I want to keep the three speed I need a 3 speed bell housing right? even if I go 3fe or 2f correct? Also are the fj40 motor mounts on the frame side riveted in or bolted in? I need to start thinking about this. if riveted in how should I go about using bolts? Like I said before I believe the motor mounts were cut off when the sbc swap happend.

Also here is a photo of the 40 at the beach last month. sooo fun driving like this.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Bought some soft break lines from city racer for the 40 because I never replaced the old ones when I did the cylinders and pads... figured i should just go ahead and do it. the ones on it are not dry rotted yet but do look old. But this time I bought a special service tool from city racer. The break adjusting spoon from Toyota. hopfully this works better than the screwdriver I was using. if not its still a cool tool to have.

I also bought the 4 rubber hood pads. I was told the pads currently in it were made from some sort of tire inner tube witch is kinda cool especially since it does work. However I am a little bit of a stickler when it comes to genuine parts. Ill take some pictures of that when I get a chance.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

I asked this question in the forums but I figured I would put it in my build thread too:

Hey I am sure this is already on the forums somewhere but - I am starting to buy parts for my eventual sbc swap back to a 1f or 2f engine. I want to keep the 3speed transmission so I can swap it back to column shift. I found a 2f bell housing with the clutch fork for a good price.

My question is will the 2f bell housing fit the 3speed transmission? and also would the 2f bell housing fit the 1f engine if I decide to go that way? Any issues with using the 2f clutch, flywheel and pressure plate with the 3 speed transmission?

I am hoping to start tearing into the motor swap project this winter.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Some updates: found clutch fork, bell housing and fly wheel and additionally found the rear motor mount and a couple of the engine side mounts. I didnt realize that one of the motor mounts attaches to the top of the frame. Looks like the mounting point may still be on the frame and not welded over like so many of the other areas where the frame side mounts would be.

addtionally I saw a 1st gen 4runner yesterday on the island. This brought back memories, I have a soft spot for these as I owned one for a little while right out of collage about 10 years ago.

Here below is a picture of mine. was an awesome vehicle 529s and a 2 inch ome lift with 33x10.50s. Id have a hard time saying no if sombody came up to me with one of these in good shape wanting to trade. Miss mine some times.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Still on my mission of collecting parts for a engine swap. I still need some basic things like the starter, clutch kit and the rubber parts of the engine mounts and whatever does not come with whatever engine I get. I purchased a 3speed bell housing, and I purchased a 2f fly wheel to use the 2f clutch and I purchased a clutch fork kit. all from @cruisermatt . I have decided to either go 2f or 3fe and keep the three speed. Honestly I love the quirkiness of the 3speed. I had a 3fe fj80 and I am familiar with its quirks and the efi system. I even still have a few parts still like the air flow meter for a 3fe. It would be more work to do a 3fe but I do like that its toyota branded efi. If I go 3fe I will keep the floor shifter because I believe the column shift wont work with the 3fe intake. I would prefer a 2f because of the simplicity of a carburetor and one of my goals is to make it a 3 on the tree again. Its all about what I find and the condition of the motor.

Not sure if my driveshafts were changed or not. But if they are I will probably just have to send them off to get lengthened or shortened and balanced.

The most difficult thing for me to wrap my head around with this swap for me is how I am going to attach the frame side motor mounts. I think the originals used really big rivits. Does anybody have suggestions on bolts I could use for the motor mounts?
Additionally its really annoying that a previous owner welded the sbc mounts over part of the front and rear mounts. So its going to require lots of grinding and cutting to get it back to where it was. this will take me some time for sure to get this all right. I can see roughly where the front ones mount. but cant see the rear mounts anymore. I sat under my 40 for some time (like an hour) just looking and thinking about it all trying to wrap my head around the plan of attack.

 

[pb4ugo]

Button head socket cap screws tend to look like rivets.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Button head socket cap screws tend to look like rivets.

Thats a good idea.

 

[120mm]

Didn't see this as I was on vacation. Sorry.

To keep the three speed, you need the bell housing, early flywheel and a three finger clutch.

At least that is what I was told. Mine works, anyway. BTW, installing the clutch fork and boot is officially Not Fun.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Didn't see this as I was on vacation. Sorry.

To keep the three speed, you need the bell housing, early flywheel and a three finger clutch.

At least that is what I was told. Mine works, anyway. BTW, installing the clutch fork and boot is officially Not Fun.

No worries! Where did you go? Hopefully what I got works haha. From what I was told the fly wheel has to match up with the pressure plate and clutch. So if you have a 2f flywheel and a 2f clutch assembly, it will work with the 3speed bell housing and transmission. Witch is what I decided to do because the later 2f clutch kits are cheeper and easier to find usually. I am going to do some more research before I buy the clutch kit.

Looked like cruiser teq had some really good deals on clutch kits and starters. I think I saw a remanufactured starter for under 100$ and of course I am still looking for an engine. I think I may have found one out close to charlotte NC. I just gotta find time to go look at it and see.

I am going to hate doing the fork too.

The good news Is I found all three frame side engine mounts. On the salt wagon they were all cut off and lost to time when somebody swapped in the SBC

 

[Roastchestnuts]

I made the mistake of arguing for the 2f engine in a land cruiser fj40 over a SBC on a facebook chain of messages on a land cruiser group. They made the argument that its easier to go to a parts store for a sbc over a Toyota engine. witch is true but a moot point for where I live - an island on the outer banks that you have to take a ferry too. also a good 3 hours from any parts store. Anyways they got kinda nasty and argumentative. I was just trying to say I would rather have a Toyota engine in my Toyota land cruiser and to each their own. Anyways rant over, I will not be going down that rabbit hole again on facebook. People get way too heated over this silly crap. cant we just be stoked for everyone!

I did get some bolts in for the hard top to the tub from overland metric yesterday and installed them. Somthing small that I did this weekend but at least the bolts are nice and shiny. Edit: As soon as I posted I got some parts in! soft breaklines break spoon tool and the hood bib pads from City Racer! excited to install these soft lines soon!

Left is before.

 

[RevISK]

I made the mistake of arguing for the 2f engine in a land cruiser fj40 over a SBC on a facebook chain of messages on a land cruiser group. They made the argument that its easier to go to a parts store for a sbc over a Toyota engine. witch is true but a moot point for where I live - an island on the outer banks that you have to take a ferry too. also a good 3 hours from any parts store. Anyways they got kinda nasty and argumentative. I was just trying to say I would rather have a Toyota engine in my Toyota land cruiser and to each their own. Anyways rant over, I will not be going down that rabbit hole again on facebook. People get way too heated over this silly crap. cant we just be stoked for everyone!

I did get some bolts in for the hard top to the tub from overland metric yesterday and installed them. Somthing small that I did this weekend but at least the bolts are nice and shiny. Edit: As soon as I posted I got some parts in! soft breaklines break spoon tool and the hood bib pads from City Racer! excited to install these soft lines soon!

View attachment 3424592

View attachment 3424666

Left is before.
View attachment 3424670 View attachment 3424671

I’m stoked for you.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

I’m stoked for you.

Thanks! we are all happy to be playing with our land cruisers!