Upgrading a 1974 F1.5 to 2F (1 Viewer)

[cstav86]

I have been the steward of this 11/1974 40 for about 5 years now. To my knowledge it has the original F1.5 motor, which is pretty tired at this point. I've always thought a 2F would be a nice upgrade, so when this add came up I was eager to make a deal with @Vulcan . Like most folks in the cruiser community, he was great to deal with. And finding a motor built by Jim Chenoweth that is readily available is like winning the cruiser classified lottery.
Couple things I was concerned about from reading other posts was the clearance between the 2F manifold and the brake booster/master. I wanted to run the 2F manifolds as it looks a little larger and has more bolts to secure than the F1.5. I have a City Racer booster with a late model FJ80 master and there are no clearance issues. I also have a factory power steering box and that looks to be pretty tight clearance where the exhaust down pipe does, but wont know until I get the 2F down pipe from Danny at Hill Country Cruisers.
I wanted to try and do this without taking out the seats, gas tank and trans tunnel. You can do it, but it requires a little more finesse when putting the motor back in. Had trouble with the top of the trans shifter bumping into the tunnel.
Lots of tear down to get the old motor out, but it came out without alot of fuss.

This is definitely some unconventional rigging, but my motor didnt have any hooks to hoist from, so I moved the front hook from the new motor and used a strap around the back of the motor to support the rear.

Spent a bit of time cleaning in the engine bay. Not a whole lot of opportunities to get into these areas, so I took the time and cleaned and painted where it needed. Photo is after cleaning. I painted the rusty frame areas with POR 15 and top coated with some rattle can.

 

[cstav86]

I enlisted the help of my friend Wilson to help me stab the motor back in. I wanted to trim it with as many things as made sense prior to installing. It's amazing how easy it is to work on a motor sitting on a pallet. I installed my sniper, power steering bracket, alternator, sniper temp sensor and transmission combo prior to installing it into the motor. That all worked out pretty good.
So I lined everything up to get ready for the lift and once our kids were down we went to work.
This was a couple more banana job than I expected. I told Wilson when he go to my house that this will either take 45 minutes or 3 hours. It took 3 hours. Our biggest lesson leaned was we would have left off the rear motor mounts and installed them once the motor and trans were roughly in place. They are pretty large, stick out and make it hard to get the motor in place.

Also these harbor freight load spreader bars are not as easy to crank into the right position while under load.

We also ran into the issue where we couldnt get the motor in far enough because the load spreader was running into the firewall.

 

[cstav86]

Couple other notes from doing this for the first time. Using these cherry picker type engine hoists are pretty challenging. Dont get me wrong, we got the job done, but a forklift would have made this quite a bit easier to manuever. The engine came on a pallet and I picked it up on my trailer since it is quite a bit lower than my Tundra's bed. Since I have a divider in the middle of my garage I couldnt get the trailer in far enough to get it with the engine hoist so we had to do a little manuevering and roll it in from the driveway on the engine hoist. Also a palletized engine interferes with the support legs of the engine hoist, which makes it difficult to set down. I had to set the pallet down on blocks to get the hoist legs out from under it, then use a floor jack to get the blocks out. As you can see in the picture above, when I was ready to install the engine I trimmed the pallet quite a bit to fit it between the legs of the hoist.
Those little furniture dolleys were handy with the trans combo to set it down onto and be able to move it around.

 

[cstav86]

Here's where it stands now. Waiting for parts from Toyota and need a shroud and down pipe to continue on.

 

[cstav86]

Curious to find out how much I will need to move the radiator forward, if any. I hear it needs to move forward about 3/4".

Here's a better picture of the engine bay cleaned up.

 

[cstav86]

If anyone has any engine break in secrets, feel free to post them.
I bought 30wt green break in oil from Driven for the first two changes, then their 15w-40 for the next 1000 miles.

Here's my plan for initial startup/break in unless you all say otherwise:
Remove the dizzy and prime the oil pump.
Re-install dizzy.
Fire motor and warm it up.
Once up to temp, run it for about 20 minutes at 2,000 rpm to seat the rings.
Shut it down and change the oil/filter.
Run it around town for the next 200 or so miles to break in the engine and clutch at varried speeds. Avoid engine breaking.
Change the oil/filter and enjoy it!

 

[Casey E]

No need to remove dizzy, just un plug coil wire and it won’t start and you’ll accomplish the same thing.

When I break in new motors, I use break in oil on initial start up, I let motor come up to temp then I drain oil and change filter to a new one. I then put all new break in oil and run it for 250 or so miles and watch for any oil burn or odd behavior, after this I go to regular oil and enjoy the ride.

Make 100% sure you get all the air bubbles out of water system and you don’t overheat motor on first run.

 

[bsilva132]

When I swapped in a 78 2F into my 74 FJ40 the biggest issue was that the 2F manifold put the carb and therefore the throttle linkage further to the diver's side making the linkage between the firewall and the carb not align properly. It will work ok at an angle but is not ideal. Someday I will fab something up to better align it. For the radiator I just egged out the mounting holes on the frame tabs to move it as far forward as possible.

 

[Green Bean]

Congrats on snagging what looks to be a really great engine. Good job on the installation. I’m jealous.

 

[45Kevin]

You could probably cut off about 3/8" of the fan blades to get it to fit your existing shroud.
I don't think it would adversely affect the fan's performance.

 

[cims1970fj40]

When I swapped in a 78 2F into my 74 FJ40 the biggest issue was that the 2F manifold put the carb and therefore the throttle linkage further to the diver's side making the linkage between the firewall and the carb not align properly. It will work ok at an angle but is not ideal. Someday I will fab something up to better align it. For the radiator I just egged out the mounting holes on the frame tabs to move it as far forward as possible.

I had the same problem with the linkage not lining up as well in my 74 with the 2f block and manifold. At first I was freaking out because I was thinking that the 75 and up 40’s with a 2f had the linkage mounted on the firewall in a different location than the 74. And then I remembered reading that the 2f manifold sat a little further from the engine vs a 1f. Ended up getting a different bracket from a 75 and up.

 

[cims1970fj40]

When I swapped in a 78 2F into my 74 FJ40 the biggest issue was that the 2F manifold put the carb and therefore the throttle linkage further to the diver's side making the linkage between the firewall and the carb not align properly. It will work ok at an angle but is not ideal. Someday I will fab something up to better align it. For the radiator I just egged out the mounting holes on the frame tabs to move it as far forward as possible.

Not sure of the name of the part I’m referring too but can send some pictures. It will save you time on having to make one.

 

[mrboatman]

Running a Sniper I would imagine he’s using a cable setup

 

[igotta40]

Sounds like you have the same break in process I used. I had no problems at all. I used Joe Gibbs Racing break in oil, recommended by the engine builder. In one of your photos I see a round F motor mount. You will want to upgrade to the later square type. The pucks for the rear should be available at the Toyota dealership.

 

[igotta40]

Hey I will gladly drive out to you and buy your old exhaust manifold (if it isn’t cracked) please let me know, thanks!

 

[cstav86]

Yes, my sniper has the cable setup, but was aware of that issue since the 2F manifold is wider than the F1.5. Appreciate all the insight here.

@igotta40 I am likely keeping the original motor and trimmings in storage.

Sounds like you have the same break in process I used. I had no problems at all. I used Joe Gibbs Racing break in oil, recommended by the engine builder. In one of your photos I see a round F motor mount. You will want to upgrade to the later square type. The pucks for the rear should be available at the Toyota dealership.

What is the issue with the round motor mounts? They are about a year old from City Racer. The drivers side is through bolted with a lock washer, lock nut and lock tite. Way overkill but if you really suck down the nut it crushes the mount. Tried to get it just the right tightness and didn't want the nut to walk. The passenger side is normal as it is under compression.

 

[cstav86]

Toyota parts is moving slow. Usually they are a couple days out. Going on a week for some parts. I was warned the radiator would take a minute. May be at a stand still if they don't get these parts in.

 

[igotta40]

Yes, my sniper has the cable setup, but was aware of that issue since the 2F manifold is wider than the F1.5. Appreciate all the insight here.

@igotta40 I am likely keeping the original motor and trimmings in storage.

What is the issue with the round motor mounts? They are about a year old from City Racer. The drivers side is through bolted with a lock washer, lock nut and lock tite. Way overkill but if you really suck down the nut it crushes the mount. Tried to get it just the right tightness and didn't want the nut to walk. The passenger side is normal as it is under compression.

Either mount will fit. I just assumed the later mounts were for the later engines and it seems like a better design.

 

[cstav86]

Not a whole lot to report here. Coolerman is sending me some terminals to wire up my coil properly. Got the manual oil gauge installed and battery assembly mostly back together.
Still waiting on Toyota for the radiator and hoses.
Once those parts come in it should finish up quickly and be ready to fire.

 

[cstav86]

Radiator came in. Expecting my fan shroud on Monday. Still waiting on hoses from Toyota. Their parts are crazy slow recently.

Filled the motor up with break in oil last Thursday and came out to a small puddle on the garage floor Saturday morning. I talked to the builder and he said the motor came to him with a dented oil pan but otherwise was the updated version and in good shape so he ran it. The oil is leaking from between the pan and the integral skid plate so it looks like that oil pan has a cracked spot weld that is weeping oil. Bummer. Going to get a new pan and gaskets on order first thing Monday to try and keep this project moving.