I got my first truck when I was 18, it was a hand me down '88 GMC Sierra Step side. It had everything a high school senior would want 6" lift, 35's, a loud stereo and an equally obnoxious exhaust. It was the perfect truck.
Driving home from senior prom the rear end grenaded. Shortly after that the front steering had to be overhauled. But now it was ready to get me through college. One day on the Oceano Dunes I took a dune a little to fast and put the 2" body lift mount through the body. Fixed that with some help of some resourceful M.E.'s on a Saturday night over some beers. Then a front hub started squealing. Went ahead and fixed that. All in all, many repairs over the years but that truck got me through nearly 8 years of driving. One thing I didn't have to touch, the trusty 350 TBI.
Nearly 20 years after parting ways with the trusty GMC I found myself looking for an FJ40 to add to the fleet. I got an 80 series in 2019 and basically built it to where I wanted it to be. Yeah, there are odds and ends to finish but I can confidently hop in it after it sits in the garage for a month, drive two hours, wheel a trail and drive home with no issues. I needed a new project.
Being disheartened by what I was seeing on Marketplace, primarily by the price and condition of the FJ40's I could find. My good friend @GRM suggested I start watching the BaT auctions to see if anything of interest came up. Finally some hope, the prices were within range, there was incredible detail in the listings, and great commentary by enthusiasts to read through. So I set my alerts and waited.
I wasn't in a rush. I somewhat knew what I wanted, but I definitely had my price point. Living in CA I was only looking at model years '75 and older. I knew whatever I got I would probably want to repower at some point and '75 is the cutoff for emissions in the state. So, when 350-Powered 1977 Toyota Landcruiser popped up I didn't even click on it. Thankfully @GRM sent me the link and I looked a little closer. The vehicle was only a couple hours from my place and it has a BAR certified 350 TBI engine swap so it's emissions legal. I started to think about it, this was the engine that got me through my senior year of high school, 5 years of college and my first couple years of life in the working world. But it was placed in a chassis I have been dreaming of owning. My interest was piqued.
350-Powered 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser
The seller wasn't the most responsive, the pictures were good but left a lot to be desired, and the big downside was he had maybe put on 3000 miles in the last 23 years. I sat reading the comments and in BaT fashion saw the FUD brewing and, with a less than responsive seller, this can tank an auction. But I looked at the facts, the build took place in or around 2000, at that point the 40 received a rebuilt TBI 350, 700-R4, Smog Certification, lift kit, front air locker, rear auburn differential, and the list goes on. Everything on this 40 had been gone through, albeit 25 years ago. Adding up replace Autometer Odometer with the current Odometer, the build had roughly 25k miles in total on it. The current owner made some cosmetic additions and eventually had it re-certified for CA smog under his ownership, but mostly it sat in a garage. The fact that it wasn't driven much was a dice role, I expected that there would be some maintenance due to age related deterioration.
The final day of the auction came and I was ready to bid, up to the price point I had set of course. It went up slowly, I got in with an early low bid and waited as it crept up. Things got tense as I neared my limit, not knowing if this one would get away. I had come to truly appreciate the power plant paired with the 40, while many would and do scorn such sacrilege, for me it was a link to my past coming forward with me into the present. Then the time came, my last bid. At this point with the BaT fee I was 200 over my allocation for the 40, but this was the one. Those were a tense 2 minutes to watch and if another bid came in it would have gotten away, but the timer ran out and I was the winning bidder. I came to find out when picking it up that the reserve was actually not met, but BaT covered the difference through their buyer fee. I won the 40 that was meant for me, the one that was powered by that engine of my youth, following me into the present.
I scheduled to pick it up that weekend and got things in order to do so. I still had my doubts primarily due to the age and lack of miles since the current owner's purchase. Then as I drove away, accelerating onto the road, hearing a sound I hadn't heard since I parted ways with that '88 GMC 16 years earlier, I knew I made the right choice. Would there be maintenance? Sure, but nothing I was unfamiliar with. It made the trip from that lonesome garage in Carmel Valley to San Jose and then to its new home in Fresno without skipping a beat.
So what are my plans from here? Well, the salty Carmel air combined with the lack of use did present some immediate maintenance issues, most of which have been addressed. 5 new tires were put on immediately which drastically improved the ride quality and highway noise. New power steering pump and alternator were put in. The best maintenance done so far were the new cap and rotor and spark plugs which gave it the 350 power I remember from my youth. I have some projects planned to make it more functional for use out in the central valley, namely installing AC and cleaning up the dash with a dakota digital gauge cluster. Also going to revert the front end back to proper Toyota setup. I'm sure I will find more things to tinker with and change to my liking over time and I will document those here along with the other projects. For now, I'm just trying to drive it as much as possible, stretching its legs and shaking it down and helping give it new life. One where it will be on the road and on the trails much more frequently.
Driving home from senior prom the rear end grenaded. Shortly after that the front steering had to be overhauled. But now it was ready to get me through college. One day on the Oceano Dunes I took a dune a little to fast and put the 2" body lift mount through the body. Fixed that with some help of some resourceful M.E.'s on a Saturday night over some beers. Then a front hub started squealing. Went ahead and fixed that. All in all, many repairs over the years but that truck got me through nearly 8 years of driving. One thing I didn't have to touch, the trusty 350 TBI.
Nearly 20 years after parting ways with the trusty GMC I found myself looking for an FJ40 to add to the fleet. I got an 80 series in 2019 and basically built it to where I wanted it to be. Yeah, there are odds and ends to finish but I can confidently hop in it after it sits in the garage for a month, drive two hours, wheel a trail and drive home with no issues. I needed a new project.
Being disheartened by what I was seeing on Marketplace, primarily by the price and condition of the FJ40's I could find. My good friend @GRM suggested I start watching the BaT auctions to see if anything of interest came up. Finally some hope, the prices were within range, there was incredible detail in the listings, and great commentary by enthusiasts to read through. So I set my alerts and waited.
I wasn't in a rush. I somewhat knew what I wanted, but I definitely had my price point. Living in CA I was only looking at model years '75 and older. I knew whatever I got I would probably want to repower at some point and '75 is the cutoff for emissions in the state. So, when 350-Powered 1977 Toyota Landcruiser popped up I didn't even click on it. Thankfully @GRM sent me the link and I looked a little closer. The vehicle was only a couple hours from my place and it has a BAR certified 350 TBI engine swap so it's emissions legal. I started to think about it, this was the engine that got me through my senior year of high school, 5 years of college and my first couple years of life in the working world. But it was placed in a chassis I have been dreaming of owning. My interest was piqued.
350-Powered 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser
The seller wasn't the most responsive, the pictures were good but left a lot to be desired, and the big downside was he had maybe put on 3000 miles in the last 23 years. I sat reading the comments and in BaT fashion saw the FUD brewing and, with a less than responsive seller, this can tank an auction. But I looked at the facts, the build took place in or around 2000, at that point the 40 received a rebuilt TBI 350, 700-R4, Smog Certification, lift kit, front air locker, rear auburn differential, and the list goes on. Everything on this 40 had been gone through, albeit 25 years ago. Adding up replace Autometer Odometer with the current Odometer, the build had roughly 25k miles in total on it. The current owner made some cosmetic additions and eventually had it re-certified for CA smog under his ownership, but mostly it sat in a garage. The fact that it wasn't driven much was a dice role, I expected that there would be some maintenance due to age related deterioration.
The final day of the auction came and I was ready to bid, up to the price point I had set of course. It went up slowly, I got in with an early low bid and waited as it crept up. Things got tense as I neared my limit, not knowing if this one would get away. I had come to truly appreciate the power plant paired with the 40, while many would and do scorn such sacrilege, for me it was a link to my past coming forward with me into the present. Then the time came, my last bid. At this point with the BaT fee I was 200 over my allocation for the 40, but this was the one. Those were a tense 2 minutes to watch and if another bid came in it would have gotten away, but the timer ran out and I was the winning bidder. I came to find out when picking it up that the reserve was actually not met, but BaT covered the difference through their buyer fee. I won the 40 that was meant for me, the one that was powered by that engine of my youth, following me into the present.
I scheduled to pick it up that weekend and got things in order to do so. I still had my doubts primarily due to the age and lack of miles since the current owner's purchase. Then as I drove away, accelerating onto the road, hearing a sound I hadn't heard since I parted ways with that '88 GMC 16 years earlier, I knew I made the right choice. Would there be maintenance? Sure, but nothing I was unfamiliar with. It made the trip from that lonesome garage in Carmel Valley to San Jose and then to its new home in Fresno without skipping a beat.
So what are my plans from here? Well, the salty Carmel air combined with the lack of use did present some immediate maintenance issues, most of which have been addressed. 5 new tires were put on immediately which drastically improved the ride quality and highway noise. New power steering pump and alternator were put in. The best maintenance done so far were the new cap and rotor and spark plugs which gave it the 350 power I remember from my youth. I have some projects planned to make it more functional for use out in the central valley, namely installing AC and cleaning up the dash with a dakota digital gauge cluster. Also going to revert the front end back to proper Toyota setup. I'm sure I will find more things to tinker with and change to my liking over time and I will document those here along with the other projects. For now, I'm just trying to drive it as much as possible, stretching its legs and shaking it down and helping give it new life. One where it will be on the road and on the trails much more frequently.
