Builds The LF40 Wheeler Build - Twin Turbo & 8 Speed Auto FJ40 (3 Viewers)

[DangerNoodle]

Quick update:

Picked up the cruiser. Its rough, but the rust isn't too bad, which is nice.

There is a lot of body work that needs to be done. The quarter panels are pretty wavy and I think that it is going to be easier to just replace them. What are good options for that?

The worst of the rust is in the bottom of the hard top sides where it sat in the dirt for a long while.

The Georgia weather is a nice change of pace compared to Colorado. Its weird seeing no snow.

We are currently eating at Williamson Bros BBQ in Canton Ga. @GA Architect recommended it and it is delicious. Anyways, that's all for now.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Another quick update:

Met with Rick (@GA Architect) and saw his beautiful cruiser. It was great being able to talk to someone else about Land Cruisers without looking like a total nerd.

Here is the new cruiser hoping to one day look 1/2 as nice as its older brother.

We also found some lovely traffic getting out of GA.

And some pretty scenery

Anyways, I'm going to catch some sleep while my dad drives.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Update:
I'm dead. Been up for about 48 hours and about 3 hours of sleep. Just got to the hotel in St. Louis. There is susposed to be a winter storm coming through, and we need to figure out what to do in the morning.

 

[White Stripe]

So what are you doi g with this new one? Your not building the plow truck?

 

[DangerNoodle]

Hey guys, guess what? We survived.
We are sitting in Colorado Springs right now grabbing lunch, and have about another 45 minutes till we get home. The reason we are getting home today is that CDot was kind enough to close i70 from Goodland Kansas to Denver Colorado.

It was windy today. Like the truck was having problems staying at 60 windy. It was not the most pleasant drive from Kansas to Colorado.

Here are some pictures.

Here is the first view of Pikes Peak that we've seen in about 3 days. It was nice to know we were close to home.

So what are you doi g with this new one? Your not building the plow truck?

This is becoming the new build. Once this is done, we are going to do a frameoff on the other 78 and try to restore it, but that will be a long ways off.

 

[dad4x4]

Wish I saw this thread earlier when you were having problems with the seat mounts. SCAT says they don't have mounts for the '75+ years but the one that is on their site is the one you need. GArchitect actually posted this info in his thread. Thought i'd post this for anyone else wanting to do this. I have a '77 and according to their site, the mounts they offer won't fit but they work perfectly.
Good luck on the build by the way, I'll be following along.

 

[DangerNoodle]

I'm sure you guys are thinking "Did he die? It's been soooo long since he last posted." Well, I didn't die, and things have been happening.

It was fun getting a 2 wheel drive large truck up the roads to our house. It was so fun that I had to pull out the backhoe and go scrape roads. Thank god for heated cabs.

I pulled out the cruiser to follow the truck back and found that the brake lights don't work. Nice! Just another thing to add to the list to fix. I'm hoping that it's just bulbs, but who knows.

We decided that it was safer to pull the trailer with our truck and drive the trucks separately and that seemed to work fine.

One of the rear tires decided to helpfully go flat before we got it off the trailer, luckily the bead stayed on so we could fill it up.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Hey look! It's going somewhere.

This funny looking thing came out from the engine bay to get a valve adjustment, get painted, and get the rest of the important innards put on. This 350 is getting a Holley Sniper EFI injection system, Holley distributor, and Holley ignition.

How do you guys like my lift method? It works, just sayin.

*Angry transmission noises*

!PSA!

DO NOT POWER WASH THINGS IN THE COLD.

I REPEAT: DO NOT POWERWASH THINGS IN THE COLD.

I'm wet and cold now and I don't like it.

Anyhow, I got the front axle cleaned up enough so I can get the newly rebuilt, locked 3rd members in.

Anyways, I'm picking up a second parts cruiser in Utah, so anyone want to go on a spontaneous road trip?

Happy New Year folks.

 

[cruisermatt]

Have you already bought all that Holley stuff yet? If not it may be worth considering a cheap junkyard LS + Holley Terminator, probably would come out to similar cost

 

[DangerNoodle]

Have you already bought all that Holley stuff yet? If not it may be worth considering a cheap junkyard LS + Holley Terminator, probably would come out to similar cost

Haven't bought it yet, but i already have a rebuilt small block. Why do you think an ls would be better?

 

[cruisermatt]

Ls vs SBC

Just google this and start reading, plus consider you have the potential sale of the rebuilt Sbc as well

 

[DangerNoodle]

Just google this and start reading

So the big one with this is that the 350 that I have is already set up really well. Its a 97 from an Express 2500. It has vortec heads, new cam, and is set up for a lot more lower end torque. I know this one has been rebuilt well from a reputable shop, so I'm not worried about it. I'm not concerned about horsepower, but rather torque for this build. I would love to do an ls swap, but I think that there will be so much more to do on an ls to get it running reliably that I would rather stick with the 350.

 

[Romer]

On your Holley Fuel Injector, if you bring it down to a place like Denver Metro ever to live and have to get emissions it wont pass because it isnt "approved" They will tell you to remove and replace with an approved system or carb even though it was likely cleaner. Might check your model because I could be wrong. I know the model I have isnt on the approved list, but because I have a 73 it isnt an issue since emissions are not required 75 and older. Good thing to know if you in the future sell it to someone in the big city as I am guessing Divide is a lot easier than the metro area.

 

[DangerNoodle]

On your Holley Fuel Injector, if you bring it down to a place like Denver Metro ever to live and have to get emissions it wont pass because it isnt "approved" They will tell you to remove and replace with an approved system or carb even though it was likely cleaner. Might check your model because I could be wrong. I know the model I have isnt on the approved list, but because I have a 73 it isnt an issue since emissions are not required 75 and older. Good thing to know if you in the future sell it to someone in the big city as I am guessing Divide is a lot easier than the metro area.

Thats the great thing about woodland park/divide, there are no emissions.

 

[cbmontgo]

Awesome. Subscribed.

 

[DangerNoodle]

I would take a factory injection engine for a swap over any aftermarket EFI every day. An auto manufacturer spends 100x as much as aftermarket companies on research... so I will trust the reliability of factory way more than aftermarket. Nevermind the fact that all the parts are easily available.

For the price of the aftermarket EFI, you can easily get a low mileage 4.8L or 5.3L LS engine that is complete with harness, ECU, etc. Spend a minor weekend pairing down the harness, drop $100 to get VATs removed, and you can fire it up.

Plumbing, exhaust, adapters, and mounting will all be the same exact time, money, and effort to do between an LS and SBC.

It would be great to find an ls, but I already have the engine that I know is good. If I could pull a tpi injection system for this I would, but I really would like less computers, and the size of the sniper is really nice. It is more money, but I have hear a lot of good things about it. I'm also really new to all of this and pulling apart harnesses seems like a pretty big task to take, even though it is simple in concept. My dads 40 also has 350 small block so parts are exchangable with it too. There are pros and cons of each, I just need to try and figure out what to do.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Looking at the stock injection that came on this 1997 5.7 vortec, I would still be changing it out. It used a CFSI spider injection system that would clog and fail very easily. People convert to a MPFI system, but that would mean that I would have to get all of the stock fuel system. The Holley kit that I am looking at has everything. Ignition, fuel pump, filter, distributor, injection system, etc.

 

[archie73]

Looking at the stock injection that came on this 1997 5.7 vortec, I would still be changing it out. It used a CFSI spider injection system that would clog and fail very easily. People convert to a MPFI system, but that would mean that I would have to get all of the stock fuel system. The Holley kit that I am looking at has everything. Ignition, fuel pump, filter, distributor, injection system, etc.

If you want simple, get a carb. I have a quadrajet and HEI on my 350 and it’s just the ticket for a SBC. People say it’s hard to work on, but I rebuilt it with little hassle and it’s the only carb I’ve ever touched. There’s a ton of info out there and parts are everywhere.
@Lil John sums up the the reason for factory injection.

 

[DangerNoodle]

If you want simple, get a carb. I have a quadrajet and HEI on my 350 and it’s just the ticket for a SBC. People say it’s hard to work on, but I rebuilt it with little hassle and it’s the only carb I’ve ever touched. There’s a ton of info out there and parts are everywhere.
@Lil John sums up the the reason for factory injection.

A carb would be a good solution if this 40 wouldn't be living at ~9000 feet and being more geared to rock crawling. I know carbs do ok at altitude, and I have run several dirt bikes up here, but this is going to (hopefully) be an adventure vehicle that is constantly going to be changing altitude. Changing the carb and tuning it every time I drop more than a couple thousand feet does not seem like too much fun for me. It is also going to be in a lot of steep/off camber situations, and dealing with a flooded carb then does not seem like fun to me.

 

[archie73]

A carb would be a good solution if this 40 wouldn't be living at ~9000 feet and being more geared to rock crawling. I know carbs do ok at altitude, and I have run several dirt bikes up here, but this is going to (hopefully) be an adventure vehicle that is constantly going to be changing altitude. Changing the carb and tuning it every time I drop more than a couple thousand feet does not seem like too much fun for me. It is also going to be in a lot of steep/off camber situations, and dealing with a flooded carb then does not seem like fun to me.

These are good points. I’d only point out that I live at 6000’ feet and wheel up to 8000’. I take it down to Moab and get out on the rocks. If it stalls, it’s generally my fault. The HEI is probably another pat of the equation, it just plain works. The real advantage, though, is that parts are everywhere and their dirt cheap.
The quadrajet is a great carb, but it’s no FI. My point is you said you want simple, carbs are infinitely simpler than any FI. That’s just my opinion, your experience may vary. In full disclosure, I’m switching to an ls- once I spend the coin on all the bits and pieces. I mean everything I said about the quadrajet/HEI combo and that’s the only thing slowing me down from the swap. But the siren call is in my ear...