Builds "The '71" - Finally Its Turn

[4Cruisers]

I went with washers but I think milling is the better approach. I used OEM manifold washers for appropriate diameter and consistency of thickness. Cut them in half and JB Welded the 1/2 washers to the Al intake manifold. The JB seemed to hold well but I knocked a few off while mounting, even so I don't have any leaks. Another consideration is that in using the 3FE exhaust that the 14 mm end bolts may be too short. If the 3FE manifold is milled to match the intake thickness this will not be an issue.

Thanks for the input, I'm pretty sure that's what I'll do.

 

[4Cruisers]

Some small stuff. Continued to go through the boxes of parts I brought back with the '71. Compared to the parts I had already set aside here in New Mexico. I'll be installing an '84 H41 transmission and '85 split transfer case, and will be using the shift levers I already have. I had a very nice transfer case shift lever knob in Nevada that'll replace the one that came with the '85 transfer case I bought earlier. And I had a nice, but sun faded transmission shift lever knob for a smaller diameter lever. It had a pristine shift pattern, so I carefully pried it off and glued it on the knob I had laying around that was missing the shift pattern. Here are a couple of photos:

I aslo had some new OEM weatherstripping I bought from SOR almost 20 years ago, it's still in good enough shape to use on the '71. I had also purchased a couple of pieces of weatherstripping here on MUD a little while back. I'll be inventorying these in the next couple of days and come up with a list of what I still need. City Racer should be a good source.

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Subscribed!!

 

[4Cruisers]

I've started to pull exterior parts off the '71 and investigate additional exterior and interior modifications and upgrades. It's good to discover that many of the parts are still available new from Toyota, like the reverse light assembly, windshield rest blocks, rear turn signal brackets, and rear turn signal assemblies. It's also great that supporting vendors are adding to the list of available reproduction parts, especially weatherstripping, gaskets, grommets, etc.

The parts search is helping me to decide what to leave stock and what to upgrade. Knowing that the rear turn signals and brackets are still available made that decision easy, same with the windshield rest blocks. Earlier I picked up new Toyota and 4WD emblems for the rear of the vehicle, an aftermarket powder coated receiver hitch, kick-out vent window glass/weatherstripping/latch, custom hood hinge pins, and custom front door strikers here on MUD. The door strikers will allow me to use the later doors from my '76 FJ40 on the '71 tub. And I had already had accumulated a lot of exterior parts from private parties in Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and a big Land Cruiser swap meet in Colorado Springs - later hardtop sides with kick-out vent windows already modified for the earlier lift gate, two early front bibs with lower marker lights, an extra two-piece hood with hood ornament, an extra fiberglass hardtop with bows, and an extra passenger door.

Another upgrade will be to use some later FJ40 tool bag hold-down clips I picked up somewhere down the line. They're cleaning up nicely using Evapo-Rust:

More to come. I'm expecting an FJ62 driveshaft on Monday, I'll use the yoke/flanges on the ends of the early 4-speed FJ40 driveshafts so I can mate them up to the front output flange and parking brake drum on the '85 BJ45 split transfer case. Looks like that'll be my first big project, including new U-joints. Luckily I recently replaced the U-joints on my '86 FJ60 build so I came up with a pretty easy method using my 20-ton shop press, Wilton bench vise, Craftsman puller, and various sockets:

 

[4Cruisers]

Today was driveshaft day, but I hit a minor set-back. I bought a used FJ62 driveshaft for the yoke/flanges, to mate my driveshafts to the later transfer case. It turns out the OD of the FJ62 yoke is 42mm, but the OD of the FJ40 yoke is 40mm. The splines are the same but the FJ62 yoke is beefier and won't slide into the FJ40 driveshaft. I'll be down in Albuquerque later in the week so will take the driveshaft parts down to the machine shop that rebuilt my 3FE and see if they can turn the FJ62 yoke down to 40mm OD. If that doesn't pan out I'll switch the flanges over to the FJ40 yoke, I'll be replacing the U-joints anyway. I just hope the FJ62 flange and FJ40 yoke accept the same U-joint. It looks like there won't be a problem, but we'll see.

 

[Living in the Past]

I find this interesting about the bolt pattern on the BJ45 driveshaft yolk. Quick search of Europe and shows the BJ4X ending 9/85 but it did change yolks 8/84. Think the post 84 40 series are really hard to tell what they used. Do not think they installed the dummy spacer on any 40 series and only those with the five speed had the transmission case with the transfer shift linkage boss on the reverse gear area. Since the brake drum on transfer ended with the 40 series I find it strange Toyota would change the drum for a short period of time. But it shows a different number for 8/84-4/84. Which means from 9/85-4/86 no yolk part number shown. Just another mystery about the late 4X series. Something to keep in mind if you ever have to replace the brake drum. Possibly changing back to the pre 8/84 style yolk. Have a feeling as time goes by the earlier pattern drum will still be available since markets like Australia got tons of them from 8/80-8/84. Later 40 series are not as common. Kind like the 10/81+ dome light that is NLA which the earlier style is.

 

[4Cruisers]

Thanks for the insight. It's been interesting so far to say the least.

I'm lucky in a few ways on this build regarding the driveshafts. I have the original driveshafts from my '76 FJ40 with only ~66,000 miles, so I'll be using those. I've checked and double-checked the differences in dimensions between 1) the rear face of the bellhousing and the face of the transfer case front output flange and 2) the rear face of the bellhousing and the driveshaft mating surface on the parking brake drum. Those measurements show that the front and rear driveshaft lengths are virtually identical to those for the early H41/one-piece transfer case combination. Close enough (~1/16") to be explained by transmission/transfer case gasket and shim thicknesses. I wonder if Toyota did this by design given the various markets and the need to standardize as much as possible.

The pinion flange on the '71's rear differential had already been swapped over to a course spline with the early 11mm bolt pattern when I installed the '78 FJ55 H42/one-piece transfer case, so no need to change that. I'll just replace the pinion seal and install a new staked nut. And I'll be building another disc brake front axle identical to the one currently on the '71 (except it'll have a course spline pinion flange with the early 11mm bolt pattern).

And I was also able to confirm that the FJ62 U-joints are the same as those for the early 4-speed FJ40 yokes, so it'll be easy to swap the FJ62 flanges over to the FJ40 yokes. That way the yoke ends of the driveshafts will mate up to the front output flange and parking brake drum of the BJ45 split transfer case.

I have an FJ40 yoke on its way, plus a couple of new U-joints. They should be here in time to finish assembling the driveshafts this weekend.

 

[4Cruisers]

I spent some time recently on the early bib and bezel. I picked a few up at a Land Cruiser swap meet in Colorado Springs more than 15 years ago. I've got one almost ready for blasting and painting and this morning I started tearing down the second one. Here's what I found in the way of wiring:

I'm planning on using the early FJ40 front bib clearance lights and the '71 FJ40 headlights, turn signals, and side marker lights. I'm missing one of the terminal strips and the other has definitely seen better days. Amazingly enough, these are still available new from Toyota. I added a couple to my parts-to-order list.

 

[Living in the Past]

I spent some time recently on the early bib and bezel. I picked a few up at a Land Cruiser swap meet in Colorado Springs more than 15 years ago. I've got one almost ready for blasting and painting and this morning I started tearing down the second one. Here's what I found in the way of wiring:

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I'm planning on using the early FJ40 front bib clearance lights and the '71 FJ40 headlights, turn signals, and side marker lights. I'm missing one of the terminal strips and the other has definitely seen better days. Amazingly enough, these are still available new from Toyota. I added a couple to my parts-to-order list.

So it's the terminal strip your talking about that is the problem? Have a least one maybe two early FJ40 bibs that have the third wire for the second element in the lamp. FJ25 used the bib light for both parking light and turn signal. Have a early 61 bib and the third wire is still there even though the second element was no longer used.

 

[4Cruisers]

So it's the terminal strip your talking about that is the problem? Have a least one maybe two early FJ40 bibs that have the third wire for the second element in the lamp. FJ25 used the bib light for both parking light and turn signal. Have a early 61 bib and the third wire is still there even though the second element was no longer used.

I was reading a post by @Coolerman on an older thread about an easy way to have the bib lights act as turn indicators by using relays. I might give that a shot.

 

[Living in the Past]

I was reading a post by @Coolerman on an older thread about an easy way to have the bib lights act as turn indicators by using relays. I might give that a shot.

Early cruisers until some time in 63 used these lights with red lenses as tail lights. For this purpose have soldered in the third wire on new bib lights then added reproduced red lenses to use as tail lights. The sockets on the new lights are still made for dual element lamps. Found it interesting they never changed that after this long. Wonder if some other Toyota used these with dual lamp in some other market. End of the 69 model was the last time they were used on the Land Cruiser yet still available cheap.

 

[4Cruisers]

The build's been slowed down a bit by other projects - 86 feet of new fence, foundation for a Tuff Shed, and timing belt/water pump/AFM replacement on my '93 4-Runner. I started up again by working on cleaning up the split transfer case with drum parking brake (from an '85 BJ45) that'll go behind the '76 2F and H41 (from an '84 HJ47). Before I reassemble the transfer case on the H41 I need to decide whether or not to install a 3:1 gear set from Cruiser Outfitters.

The axles currently have the original coarse spline pinion 4.11 differentials. For the first few years I'll be running my new BFG 30X9.50R15 ATs on FJ60 wheels, but I'll eventually upgrade to BFG 235/85R16 ATs on 70-Series Land Cruiser wheels. I want to have a very low crawl ratio, but nothing extreme. And I want to be able to drive at least 65 mph for long stretches of open road. I have a pair of FJ60 fine spline pinion 3.70 differentials with the proper driveshaft bolt pattern, and they're in very good shape. Looking at engine rpms for the two gearing options it looks like my best bet would be to install the 3.70 differentials and 3:1 gear set. I'd still have a very low crawl ratio but manageable engine rpms on the highway. I'd appreciate any feedback on whether or not this makes sense, or if there are other options I might want to consider.