Builds "Scout" the 1977 FJ40

[77CruiserDog]

Next we headed back to Bend, Oregon for the 4th of July and to hang out with my family and do a little of this...

Yep, Olive has her own tube... because, that's how she rolls!

Family reunion.... Cowboy themed....

Mountain bike ride in Crescent Lake....

 

[77CruiserDog]

Then, believe it or not, we headed back to Bend just a few weeks ago because I won a trip to Sun River so we did some hikes.

Tumalo Falls...

Green Lakes Trail...

And here we are back home at Lake Serene in Washington last weekend...

So you're probably asking yourself, what the hell does all of this have to do with the Landcruiser?? Well, nothing really, but I suppose it shows evidence of why I wasn't posting anything on this site for a few months.

In those few months I drove Scout a handful of times, drove all of the fuel out of it and filled it up with ethanol free gas. I even cleaned the windows and vacuumed out the inside of the rig really well.

After all of the driving I did on dark roads, I realized that I need to do a better job of aiming the headlights and maybe even put on some additional auxiliary lights that I can use on the road without blinding other people and without taking away from the stock looks of the rig as it sits. I'm thinking about adding some lights mounted below the front bumper and perhaps back a bit to throw some light low and wide. Ideas?

Secondly, on one of the road trips, I thought I felt the clutch slip. We were 50 miles from home, I drove it and parked it for a month and then drove it about 100 miles without an issue. I'll take the inspection cover off perhaps tomorrow and get a good look.

Is it true that the entire engine/transmission/transfer case needs to come out as a unit if I am to do a new clutch?? I'm considering sending the transmission and transfer case out to be rebuilt anyway but I'm just curious about this because it seems a bit extreme. Has anyone here done a clutch recently on your own.... how was it?

 

[1911]

Is it true that the entire engine/transmission/transfer case needs to come out as a unit if I am to do a new clutch?? ... Has anyone here done a clutch recently on your own.... how was it?

No, but the transmission and transfer case have to come off as a unit. They're heavy but it's certainly doable; I did mine by myself. It will be a lot easier with a transmission jack with an adjustable table; I bought mine at Northern Tool. The first time is the hardest, but once you've done it the next time will seem a lot easier.

 

[Tancruiser]

You’ll probably have to take the tranny hump out to.

 

[77CruiserDog]

Over the past few days I've been working on what many may think is a pointless project, but it's made a huge difference. Noise reduction, specifically rattles and squeaks.

First I lubed up the boot on the clutch master cylinder under the dash and put a drop of oil on the pin linking the master to the pedal, then same for the brake pedal. Both squeaked like an old door whenever they were pressed... now, silence.

Next I hit the spare gas can on the back and rear license plate holder, both rattled so badly when you hit a bump you would think the back doors were going to fall off.

I pulled the driver's side inner door panel off and tweaked the connection between the outside door handle and the latch so that it doesn't contact the outer door skin. That rattle was one of the most annoying. Now when I close the drivers side door it's just a heavy thump sound.

Then I finally replaced the two front most body mounts, the original ones I replaced were not a good fit and the bolts stripped out immediately. I called up Cool Cruisers of Texas and they shot me some new ones, I was just too lazy to replace them.

Yesterday I drove it about 60 miles and it's amazing how much all of that did. I know some of you will just say, turn the radio up, but it's also nice to not have to do that. This thing is considerably more fun to drive now that there isn't a perpetual squeak or rattle going on. I'm super busy at work so the little squeak and rattle fixes feel like big accomplishments. I honestly can say that this might be one of the best uses of my time in regards to making the driving of this old gal much more fun.

Then last night I addressed the dreaded transfer case shifter rattle. Here's a great link.... The Wagon Way My shifter didn't have the wavy washer so I used a rubber washer from a garden hose, temporarily, to see if this addresses it.

Today I plan on getting the tires re-balanced. On my more recent road trips, I've noticed some shaking that I originally attributed to the driveshaft mounted parking brake, but I also noticed there were no wheel weights on the outside lips of my wheels, just the inside. I suspect that if I get these things properly balanced, life will be smoother. I suppose I'll know later today.

 

[middlecalf]

And this dude.....

An FJ pickup.... we were going much faster than he was and this was the best picture we could take.

Wonder if that’s one of Mark’s @cppilot 45s?

 

[cppilot]

Nope, not mine but very nice...

 

[77CruiserDog]

Yes, it was pretty dang nice to be honest. I think I even smelled a little whiff of diesel and due to the fact that it looked topped out around 50mph and there was a little black smoke coming out of it's tail pipe might be an indicator. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but by the time I saw it we were nearly past it.... as you can see by the picture. HA!

 

[77CruiserDog]

So I ponied up the $26 to get all of my tires balanced (including the spare) and while I've only driven it once, and only up to about 40mph. The difference is remarkable, I can't wait to take this for a proper test drive.

The tire guy at Costco said the balancing was WAY off, which doesn't surprise me considering the other things I've found that were "completed" by the restoration shop. They were static balanced with weights put on just the inside lip.

I'm surprised at how much weight the tires needed but after my short test drive, I'm glad it was done! So smooth!! If you haven't gotten your tires balanced in a while or you're trying to remedy a shimmy or you just have $26 to burn... go get your tires balanced. The rubber to wheel ratio we have lends itself to needing balancing more often than other cars with larger wheels/less sidewall.

I worked for Goodyear as my first real job. After 5,000 miles, some tires magically come out of balance a little bit to a lot. After 10,000 they're not balanced. A lot depends on the tire and the wear they've seen but for the money it's a good thing to do.

I'll report back more once I get some miles on it.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[77CruiserDog]

Post tire balance report -

We took Scout a good portion up Snoqualmie Pass to do a hike this weekend. The drive there was on the freeway (70mph) and the drive home was on back roads (45mph).

The vibration is down considerably! I'm surprised I didn't think of the tire balancing before. I honestly thought the vibration was from the drive line mounted parking brake, and assumed that since the tires were literally JUST installed a few months ago and less than 2,000 miles, that they were properly balanced.... nope! Yet again, I've learned to do things right myself.

The side mirrors are no longer completely unusable and the ride is far nicer. Overall we did about 100 miles and it was a much more comfortable.

$26 well spent.

Next I plan on bringing my rig to a well known exhaust shop in Kirkland to have them put new exhaust on it from front to back. It's dented, caked in 30 year old crusted on mud, rusted, leaking and here's the odd thing.... The size necks down from about 3" to start with from the exhaust manifold to a bungled on piece that is so small it looks like it belongs on a moped. The sized down portion looks to be where the catalytic converter would go on newer FJ40s.

My thoughts on this are two fold.

1) Perhaps one of the prior owners crushed a portion of the exhaust and replaced it with the wrong size piece.
2) I wonder if I'll see any performance improvement from the exhaust being less restricted??

More on this later.

Happy Cruisering!

 

[77CruiserDog]

The appointment to get my exhaust done is for Monday. Looking forward to it. I'm going to ask that a relatively quiet muffler be installed as the last thing I want is a loud drone while on the freeway since we take this thing on some pretty long road trips.

I also installed some fog lights. On my most recent trip to Bend, it was rainy and dark. My headlights were not adequate.

I did some research because I knew I was throwing enough Lux, but perhaps it just wasn't in the right place. I checked the aim of my headlights. I realized the drivers bulb was installed 180 degrees off. (remember I'm running those LED bulbs which are amazing) so I flipped it and tweaked the passenger headlight aim to the right a bit and then aimed them both up a tiny bit. MUCH better.

Then I picked up a pair of these and wired them in with my low beams:

Amazon product ASIN B078PMCXXH
They are the first real DOT legal LED fog projector lights I've seen. The review I read was pretty convincing.

This guy compared a ton of different fog lights and found these to be excellent. Here's the review:

The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

I've driven with them for about 30 minutes in the dark but the roads were pretty well lit. I'd like to get some more time to try them out. Next week will likely be the first chance.

Happy Cruisering!

 

[yohavos]

Just got caught up with this, sub’d for more! We do similar Walla Walla trips (wine tasting, tacos, and breakfast at Bacon and Eggs, mostly) and I can’t wait to have my 40 together enough to get us there.

 

[77CruiserDog]

Thanks man! Reading your FZJ80 Ute build now.... Awesome!!!

 

[middlecalf]

Where did you mount the fog lights and why did you connect to low beam on headlights (I could guess but was wondering about other potential reasons)?

 

[Honger]

The appointment to get my exhaust done is for Monday. Looking forward to it. I'm going to ask that a relatively quiet muffler be installed as the last thing I want is a loud drone while on the freeway since we take this thing on some pretty long road trips.

I also installed some fog lights. On my most recent trip to Bend, it was rainy and dark. My headlights were not adequate.

I did some research because I knew I was throwing enough Lux, but perhaps it just wasn't in the right place. I checked the aim of my headlights. I realized the drivers bulb was installed 180 degrees off. (remember I'm running those LED bulbs which are amazing) so I flipped it and tweaked the passenger headlight aim to the right a bit and then aimed them both up a tiny bit. MUCH better.

Then I picked up a pair of these and wired them in with my low beams:

Amazon product ASIN B078PMCXXH
They are the first real DOT legal LED fog projector lights I've seen. The review I read was pretty convincing.

This guy compared a ton of different fog lights and found these to be excellent. Here's the review:

The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

I've driven with them for about 30 minutes in the dark but the roads were pretty well lit. I'd like to get some more time to try them out. Next week will likely be the first chance.

Happy Cruisering!

That fog light thread on Tacoma World is some amazingly good tech. Thanks for sharing.

 

[reddog90]

Where did you mount the fog lights and why did you connect to low beam on headlights (I could guess but was wondering about other potential reasons)?

Yeah I'd like to see this as well.

 

[77CruiserDog]

Great questions! First, yes, that write up on those fog lights was pretty dang nice. It made it an easy decision for me to choose the proper ones for my needs. I felt I needed a bit more light down low and wide. My E Code Hella headlights work incredibly well at providing light directly in front and down the road quite a ways. The slightly brighter LED headlight bulbs also help with that. However closer to the vehicle and out wide was pretty dark. That's where fogs really do their job.

I mounted the fog lights on the top of the bumper, replacing the outer most bumper bolt to the frame. (Pics to come soon) I'm not exactly crazy about them in that location for two reasons. 1) They don't honor the original looks of the vehicle and 2) they're higher than I'd like. Ideally, I'd like to mount them below the bumper and I may experiment with that location in the future. Low and wide are the ideal location for fog lights to do their best work at cutting through the rain, fog and snow.

I wired the lights in to my low beams because I didn't want to put any additional switches on the dash and it's one less thing I need to turn on. Additionally, because they are aimed properly and have an incredible cut off (see link to review) they don't cause any issues with oncoming drivers but a side benefit of good fog lights is that the beam pattern is very wide, making them ideal for cornering lights.

I'll get some pictures of the lights on a dark road very soon. I've only driven with them for a handful of miles in the dark but I can already tell the fog lights make an incredible difference.

Currently my rig is getting new exhaust and when it's done there it'll be sent next door to get an alignment. The exhaust was a level 8 out of 10 in the "cobbled together" department. It was actually only considered "exhaust" at a very rudimentary sense in that it funneled most of the exhaust gases out the back and into a very worn out, rusted, leaking and rattling muffler. The shop said they ran all new 2.5" from the manifold to the tail pipe. I'm eager to see it and hear it, but mostly see if it reduces the exhaust smell when the rear wing windows are open.

Here's some before pictures...

I'll report back on how the new exhaust works out. The shop I am having perform the job is well known in our area as being the top exhaust shop for customs, hot rods and so forth. I asked them for "quiet" and stock looking.

Regarding the alignment, I figured it couldn't hurt and ever since the new steering box, the steering wheel has been slightly turned to the right, which is mostly just annoying.

Until then, happy Cruisering!

 

[77CruiserDog]

Oh and yes, I give my Land Cruiser the "red carpet" treatment. HA! Before anyone busts my lug nuts about the carpet, it keeps the garage SOOOO much warmer and comfortable in the Winter.

 

[Honger]

Great questions! First, yes, that write up on those fog lights was pretty dang nice. It made it an easy decision for me to choose the proper ones for my needs. I felt I needed a bit more light down low and wide. My E Code Hella headlights work incredibly well at providing light directly in front and down the road quite a ways. The slightly brighter LED headlight bulbs also help with that. However closer to the vehicle and out wide was pretty dark. That's where fogs really do their job.

I mounted the fog lights on the top of the bumper, replacing the outer most bumper bolt to the frame. (Pics to come soon) I'm not exactly crazy about them in that location for two reasons. 1) They don't honor the original looks of the vehicle and 2) they're higher than I'd like. Ideally, I'd like to mount them below the bumper and I may experiment with that location in the future. Low and wide are the ideal location for fog lights to do their best work at cutting through the rain, fog and snow.

I wired the lights in to my low beams because I didn't want to put any additional switches on the dash and it's one less thing I need to turn on. Additionally, because they are aimed properly and have an incredible cut off (see link to review) they don't cause any issues with oncoming drivers but a side benefit of good fog lights is that the beam pattern is very wide, making them ideal for cornering lights.

I'll get some pictures of the lights on a dark road very soon. I've only driven with them for a handful of miles in the dark but I can already tell the fog lights make an incredible difference.

Currently my rig is getting new exhaust and when it's done there it'll be sent next door to get an alignment. The exhaust was a level 8 out of 10 in the "cobbled together" department. It was actually only considered "exhaust" at a very rudimentary sense in that it funneled most of the exhaust gases out the back and into a very worn out, rusted, leaking and rattling muffler. The shop said they ran all new 2.5" from the manifold to the tail pipe. I'm eager to see it and hear it, but mostly see if it reduces the exhaust smell when the rear wing windows are open.

Here's some before pictures...

View attachment 2142279View attachment 2142280

I'll report back on how the new exhaust works out. The shop I am having perform the job is well known in our area as being the top exhaust shop for customs, hot rods and so forth. I asked them for "quiet" and stock looking.

Regarding the alignment, I figured it couldn't hurt and ever since the new steering box, the steering wheel has been slightly turned to the right, which is mostly just annoying.

Until then, happy Cruisering!

I’ve read all of that guy’s write-ups now... and ordered new headlights for my 4Runner... ha!

So yeah, let’s see some pictures of your rig with fog lights.

 

[77CruiserDog]

I'll get some pictures up soon but I just wanted to share what an amazing experience and completely awesome job Muffler King in Kirkland did for my rig's exhaust. They replaced everything from the manifold flange to the tail pipe with 2.5" exhaust a factory sounding muffler. It's all tucked away far better than I could have imagined. I just drove it home and then sat under it with a flash light looking it over. I'm overly happy with it!

Happy almost Thanksgiving... now I've gotta make some gravy for the big day!

EDIT - I just learned that Muffler King in Kirkland was sold. Today (9-29-21) I took my FJ60 "Falcor" to them to get a quote for exhaust. They asked some odd questions and they didn't know some pretty basic info which worried me and then they called and gave me a quote for exactly 5 times as much as the FJ40 exhaust cost. I can no longer recommend them, very sad, Muffler King was a wonderful place with amazing work and fair prices.