Events/Trails 1969 FJ40 w/ Turbo Diesel + AWD... and Other Stuff (2 Viewers)

[CaptainAussum]

OK, here goes the build thread of my 1969 FJ40 restomod!

Like most people, I’ve been lurking on Mud for a while, but I’ve decided it’s about time I start contributing. By no means am I an expert in anything, just a self-taught average Joe with a welder and an angle grinder.

I honestly didn’t know a these fantastic machines even existed before I saw an episode of Top Gear, the Bolivia Special - from there I was hooked. In the winter of 2014 I had rolled my beautiful 1994 Toyota Hilux Surf and was looking for a 4x4 replacement, so what better time to start looking for a 40?!

Bought this gem in June 2014 from a guy that bought it from the original owner about a decade ago. He was selling it because it sat on his property almost that whole time, and was a reminder of a project he gave up on… Put a battery in it and sprayed a little gas in the carb and it fired right up. This thing came with all the original manuals and insurance + registrations from over the years.

 

[CaptainAussum]

Brought it home and a few months later the tear down began… Once I started this however I discovered the truck became less and less original. The engine was a 2F from a ’75 and there was some filler covering up a crunched rear quarter.

 

[CaptainAussum]

At this point it was time to decide what I wanted to do with the truck, and after my Hilux I had been tossing around the idea of a turbo-diesel 40. It just so happened I had a drivetrain, wiring harness, and all the other little bits lying around the backyard…

 

[CaptainAussum]

Once the 1KZ-TE drivetrain was out there were a couple of challenges that were pretty obvious; 1. The engine + transmission + transfer case combo is really frickin’ long! 2. The transfer case is for a centered rear diff. To solve the offset rear axle I ended up buying a transmission and transfer case out of a 1996 Land Cruiser, mostly the same A343F trans with the HF2AV AWD case. Mechanically, I had to swap the planetary gears, overdrive gear to get the shorter input shaft so the Hilux torque converter, flywheel and bell housing could be used. So now if I can pull this off I’ll have a turbo-diesel AWD FJ40! The length is still very much an issue but should be able to be solved with a custom driveshaft and some maths, we’ll see…

Fits like a glove..

 

[CaptainAussum]

Off with the body!

Built this very handy cart to keep the body mobile when I get to the bodywork and paint stage.

 

[CaptainAussum]

Blasting!

I blasted the frame and body on separate trips, but all in was about 5 hours of blasting (for a newbie learning as I go). This was a very satisfying experience, just watching 50 years of mud and rust disappearing. There was some surprise filler on the passenger’s side quarter and cowl, which kinda sucked cause I wasn’t planning on having to replace that quarter - but oh well.

 

[CaptainAussum]

Engine mounts and a hitch…

Holy hell, if anyone has ever made engine mounts from scratch and succeeded the first try I applaud you! These little buggers wasted many weekends getting them just right so the engine would sit where it needed to. I was so happy once they were done. The hitch on the other hand went very smoothly, all the cuts and welds lined up great. I took inspiration from the ICON hitch in bumper but applied to the stock 40 bumper. I liked the out-of-the-way style ‘cause I kept stubbing my toes on the boat anchor that was originally there, going in and out of the back.

 

[CaptainAussum]

This brings everyone up to present day. Bunch of miscellaneous rust/hole patches. Bought the driver side floor pan from Real Steel about a year ago, and finally did something with it. Out of curiosity, has anyone had experience with these panels before? Mine had a wicked warp along one of the sides, and one of the ribs wasn’t fully pressed. Waited too long to send it back or complain, so I just “fixed it” and welded it in.

The outer rocker panel I made myself - just traced, cut, and welded in - pretty easy.

I bought a right quarter patch from a guy in town, but it didn’t go back far enough so I had to add some metal. Unfortunately, the pieces didn’t play nice together when grinding the seams down despite taking it slow and there was some serious panel warp happening. Lesson learned, and I will order up a pair of full quarters.

 

[78fj40mg]

Nice work, I look forward to your updates.

 

[JohnnyC]

Great job on all that your doing... the truck looks like it's in great hands !!!

Good job on the motor mounts ... if it makes you feel any better I have wasted more time on stupider things that are useless compared to your essential motor mounts

 

[Tapage]

Luckily you are the average Joe with a welder and grinder ..

 

[CaptainAussum]

Thanks everyone!

This weekend was spent sorting out the seating arrangements. The goal for the 40 is to keep it looking as "factory" as possible, thus reusing stock parts. I started by disassembling the original seats to use the bases as the mounts for the new buckets. This also means I can keep the toolbox usable with the tilt back driver seat frame.

Unfortunately, the toolbox isn't centered to the steering wheel which causes some challenges. To overcome this I had to shift the slider rails on the seat over 20mm and fab some new tabs for the centre-most rail. Finishing up the driver mounts in a few days.

 

[CaptainAussum]

The passenger side was a little easier, I centered the seat with the glovebox and the slider tabs just about sit between the original bench frame. I cut/ground away some of the tubing and welded in support plate.

Lots of grinding later they allowed the slider tabs to slip past. The plan is to weld a nut to the back of the slider tabs and run the mounting bolts through the frame rail.

 

[CaptainAussum]

 

[boozewz]

Awesome. Subscribed.

 

[Vossie]

very nice! in the middle of putting my own turbo diesel into my 45, and had that same battle with engine mounts. i ended up seating the gear box first, then getting the engine to sit exactly where i wanted it, then purpose making the brackets in place, using a lot of cardboard cut outs as a template. came out really well and am very happy with the results.

great progress and keep the updates coming

 

[alberta mac]

Very impressive skills about ''a guy with a welder and a grinder'' !
Will you be galvanizing the frame ? if so you might as well do the other parts you sand blasted !
Mac

 

[CaptainAussum]

very nice! in the middle of putting my own turbo diesel into my 45, and had that same battle with engine mounts. i ended up seating the gear box first, then getting the engine to sit exactly where i wanted it, then purpose making the brackets in place, using a lot of cardboard cut outs as a template.

Yeah I'm an regular user of CAD (cardboard aided design) templates..

 

[CaptainAussum]

Very impressive skills about ''a guy with a welder and a grinder'' !
Will you be galvanizing the frame ? if so you might as well do the other parts you sand blasted !
Mac

Thx Mac. The frame will be getting hot dipped once the exhaust system gets finalized and the hangers are welded in. I have only found 1 place in Alberta that will do it for me though.

 

[CaptainAussum]

Finally had some time to finish the driver seat frame!

Originally, I had made these "tabs" that would just weld on the stock seat frame. But as I was setting them up to weld it was apparent they were going to be ugly and not up to standard. So I started brainstorming... I found an old chair in the basement that had the exact same bends as the stock seat frames. Cut off the bends and welded tubing to look somewhat "OEM". It turned out better than I thought it would and is 1000x better than the tabs.

This completes the front seats, and can finally move on to the rear...