Hello, meet Elsie.

[Boucher]

Thanks. I will post up here as I start the 2FE/H55 conversion. It will be a while before I really get started, but I'm really wanting that 5 speed before out trip in the spring... an overdrive would be very nice for a 8 hour drive. I need to make sure I can get it done if I start though.

I am looking into building something like the 4+ bumper, I will be building my own though as I have the skills to do so. I've tried very hard to do everything to my cruiser that I can. It makes it more... mine.

Also looking at adding the 28 gallon saddle tank from Man a Fre as it will give me more fuel, but I'll be able to add water to the rear where the aux tank normally goes.

I LOVE the green... it was a scary thing for me to do.. it had been orange for the whole time I owned it. But I am sooooo happy with how it came out. Only had one person like the orange better, but he likes little "tuner" cars so he's got bad taste and I normally do the exact opposite of what he thinks is cool.

Life is better with a 40.

Orange Cruisers rock .. just saying

 

[SamM]

Very nice Cruiser! Many years ago, I had a 1977 FJ-40 that was my daily driver. It had a Chevy 305 V-8 conversion and the stock 4-speed when I bought it from a friend. My Cruiser was anything but stock. I built it with a Man-A-Fre power steering kit and parts from a 3/4 ton Jeep pickup. Other parts were a front shackle reversal, rear Lock-Right locker, Warn hubs, a plastic fuel tank and a C channel front bumper. Soon after buying it the body went south and I was forced to park it. I live in the rust belt. A Cummins Diesel pickup replaced it for awhile. The FJ sat in my yard several years until I decided what to do with it.

Being a huge Toyota fan myself, I saved and sold stuff until I had enough to buy an aluminum FJ-40 body, 2.5" wider aluminum fenders and running boards from Aqualu. I completely stripped the truck to the frame, removed the drivetrain, interior and all the wiring. After installing the body, I bought a quarter elliptic rear 4-link suspension kit from Avalanche Engineering in Colorado. I didn't like the kit, once I got it and re-engineered it work better. I moved the lower 4-link bars outboard of the frame and mounted the springs under the frame. This is opposite of the kit. It took a lot of time, math, measuring and cutting. The front suspension got 2.5" Rancho leaf springs and I kept it spring under for stability. The rear axle was trussed (with parts from the kit) and I added TSM disc brakes, Cadillac rear brake calipers and a No-Slip rear locker. Best mod ever. The rear Lock-Right was installed in the front axle. The frame was reinforced on top with flat metal bar and it was completely boxed. The rear crossmember was removed and replaced with 6" steel pipe that served as an airtank. One of the front Warn manual hubs was replaced with a Warn Automatic hub. Shifting into 4WD on the fly gave me instant 4WD with the auto hub set to Automatic. Both hubs could also be dialed to the Lock position for off-road use. I live off-road in a very rural area.

This was a complete labor of love for me. It had a full cage, Bestop soft top, Bestop seats, Bestop console and safety harnesses and manual/automatic seat belt retractors from a US Army Cobra Gunship. The wheelbase was stretched 8" and it has black American Racing NASCAR style wheels and 35" BFG tires. My final parts were a Painless wiring harness, Auto Meter gauges, and new LED tail lights from tractor trailer. The engine was rebuilt and Edelbrock Performer parts were added. I had a small fortune invested in it. Future plans were a new Warn winch, a Cummins 4BT Diesel engine, a NV4500 5-speed transmission and a Hybrid Toyota full floating FJ/mini truck axle.

It was a great vehicle. The rear axle had 40" of movement at the wheels. The axle would completely drop away from the bumpstops but was kept totally under control by the 4-link bars and limiting straps. Sadly, I sold the FJ in 2006 after being forced to cut the rear suspension out from under it by the DMV. The truck was never the same and neither was I. If you could be hearbroken over a truck, I certainly was.

Sorry, for the hijack. I still haven't got the FJ bug out if my system. I'd love to have another one. Anyway, your's looks great!

SamM

 

[hairy_apple]

Ouch, that is brutal. I would be heartbroken for sure.

We are actually packing and preparing to leave for Overland Expo Tuesday, it will be about 900 miles one way for us. Longest trip by far I've taken in the 40. It should be interesting. An adventure for sure... hopefully all in a good way. Spend the last few weeks doing a lot of work. We rebuilt the transfer case this winter, but when it was reinstalled it had a pretty bad leak. So I pulled it again, and repaired the leak. Repacked wheel bearings. Dynamat and rubber mats down. We reworked a few things I'd been unhappy with. Tune up. I'll change the oil today or tomorrow and then I guess we're all ready to on a pretty epic journey in the 40. A week, 1800+ miles, 3 states, and a 50 year old cruiser. I'm really excited and slightly terrified.

 

[offthebeatenpath]

That will be an incredible memory of a trip! Have a great time, just don't be in a hurry!

 

[hairy_apple]

It's impossible to be in a hurry in an FJ40. lol. Between the fact that they are just slow to begin with, and you can't go anywhere without someone stopping you to tell you all about how they used to have one, or always wanted one, or whatever... it's best to just enjoy the drive because you're going to be on it for a while.

 

[hairy_apple]

We had an amazing trip to Arizona, and the expo was really fun. The cruiser had very few issues, most of with was we broke a ujoint in Sedona and it took a few days to find a replacement... I had spares, but they ended up being the wrong ones! Oops.

http://overlandadventureco.radapplehost.com/2016/05/day-one/

 

[hairy_apple]

This last weekend we were on our way up for a day trip, and cruising down highway 20, when the motor started making some awful sounds. Rattling like crazy. Then it just shut off.. and I heard a distinct sound of fire crackling. Awesome... OK. Pulled over, got the dog out. Opened the hood and got the fire out. It was mostly contained to the carburetor, and damaged the distributor and some wiring. So the engine is pretty shot at this point. I think it must have dropped a valve on the intake side causing combustion to go the wrong way. Really bummed this happened right at the start of summer. All the work we put into it getting it ready for the Arizona trip was also getting it all cleaned up and ready for summer... and now it's dead for at least a few months. Maybe more. I'm way too broke right now to even think about replacing an engine. I have a lot of the parts I needed for the 2FE, but I know I don't have the cash flow right now for a big project and all the nickle and dime stuff that comes with it. And.. even if I did, it would still be a few months before the cruiser was fixed and we'd still miss out of summer wheeling season in the sierras. I'm just.. sad. :/ No other way to put it.

 

[Pntyrmvr]

Well road apples.


"Talk is cheap. Whiskey costs money."

 

[redthies]

That really sucks! But you have to look at the bright side that you and your dog are fine, and the 40 didn't burn up. Not getting to use it for the summer is a big fat drag, but not ever getting to use it again would be far worse!

 

[eurosonic]

what a wonderful tale of a man and his truck. Love norcals sierras, maybe Ill run into you on the trails sometime.

 

[justcuz]

Sorry to hear about your engine.
Maybe some one who has done a recent conversion has a complete engine you may be able to purchase.
Wiring harness is probably going to require you rebuild it yourself.

Love the mint green color!

 

[hairy_apple]

Well, great news, is the engine is OK. I suspect the rattling sounds.. were the fact the distributor was on fire with the carb, and it may have been misfiring like crazy right before it shut off. The carb is ruined, and the distributor is also ruined... but the engine has compression across all 8 cylinders. So I'm still annoyed it happened, but the brown truck is bringing me a new distributor today, and I have a new carb I picked up last week.. so hopefully by this weekend the cruiser will be running and exploring again.

Kentucky fried carburetor.

 

[mongoose2231]

That's the spirit, glad the truck if gonna be on the road again

 

[Scrapdaddy]

Good to hear! Yeah it hurts, but could of been really bad.

 

[hairy_apple]

Well, I guess I haven't updated this in over 2 years.. wow. So, the V8 survived. I am not sure what caused it, but the motor had great compression and we just repaired it. Distributor, carb and some wiring. I haven't driven it much since then though. Not big trips, nothing great. Gone camping a few times, but the 40 really took a back seat due to the fact I don't trust the engine that much, and we got an LX450. However.. I've been missing the 40 a lot. A friend got a 79 FJ40 and it's amazing to me. He put Vintage air in it, and has the stock 2F that runs strong. His cruiser is what I want mine to be. It's quieter, comfortable, and drives great. I was inspired to start my rebuild and engine swap finally.

So two weeks ago, I went and picked up my 2F block from my parent's house where it had been stored. It was a disaster. As I was loading it into my truck, the tractor jerked and the strap shifted, causing it to fall. I can now say I've seen an engine do a backflip. It fell out of the truck, landing on the engine stand, and the stand then sprung in into a backflip, and it landed flat on the front of the motor, smashing the pully on the harmonic balancer. I swore a lot. However, after we got it home, I pulled the harmonic balancer off and checked the crankshaft, and it was fine. So all in all, I was out $50 for a harmonic balancer.





Started working on getting the accessories sorted out. I have Saganaw power steering, so I really wanted to run a GM PS pump to match the box. I also had a CS144 alternator in my cruiser, which I really liked. The extra power output is impressive. The lights are brighter, the battery charges quick, it's a great upgrade. I wanted to run that too. I also didn't want to give up my York compressor. Also, I wanted to be able to run AC at some point. And, I had to decide if I wanted to run the 2F brackets, or the 3FE brackets. I wanted to run the 3FE stuff, as I figured it was more modern, but in the end, it was so complicated it was annoying, and I ran the 2F accessories brackets, modified some to take the new parts, and made one bracket totally from scratch for the York. It all fits, and is on there now.








Then I got to work pulling the v8 out. I sold it while it was still in the cruiser. Guy came, checked it out, drove the cruiser and wanted it, so I pulled it out and he came back to get it. Now I have some extra money to put into the project, and the engine bay is clear to start cutting out the V8 motor mounts, and put my original ones back in... for some reason, I kept them for 13 years after the V8 swap. No idea why I did that, but I'm glad I did.