fj40 rebuild

long-term update

2011-04-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

i havent posted anything on here for a couple of years since i finished the rebuild of my FJ40. once the rebuilding process was over, there wasnt much left to document or share, and although i really enjoyed the process, i was honestly glad to finally wrap it up and have a working vehicle again.

now that a couple of years have passed and i have not had the landcruiser to tinker on, i have started to miss the hours spent in the garage figuring out how the whole thing went back together. i was looking back over the previous posts and thought i should do a follow up now that some time has passed.

surprisingly, i havent had hardly any issues with the landcruiser since i finished the rebuild. i thought for sure there would be lots of little things that needed re-addressing or that i would discover i just hadnt done quite right. actually though, the list has been quite small and very minor: the horn button some times shorts when the weather is rainy, causing the horn to go off on its own; one of the headlight relays developed a short so the light would stay on all of the time; the motor in the after-market windshield washer pump quit working - pretty trivial stuff in the grand scheme of things.

i dont drive the landcruiser a whole lot - i dont even drive my 'normal' vehicle very much either - and it can be pretty rainy here for a good portion of the year, so with the top off, that is not fun. but when the weather is nice, i look forward to taking it out and enjoying the drive. it drives surprisingly well and other than being pretty loud, it is quite enjoyable. i mainly make short trips to the store or whatnot, but i did take a long trip down to my dad's and back not long after everything was complete. if you have ever set out on a long trip in a vehicle that you essentially built yourself, then you know the anxiety it can cause. all kinds of thoughts of wheels falling off or catastrophic engine failure crossed my mind, but the landcruiser did great and the trip went off without a hitch.

so all in all, i am very happy with how everything turned out. i learned a lot in the process, and have been mainly happy with all of the decisions made during the rebuild. if i had it all to do again, i cant say there is much i would change.

putting the top on

2007-10-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

with the weather turning grey and rainy and probably the last bit of warms days until spring, i finally decided to put the top on the landcruiser. since the garage ceiling is so low (and drywalled), there was no way to use the rafters to hoist the top (not to mention that the landcruiser cant fit through the garage door with the top on, so even if i got it on in the garage, i couldnt get it out again). so i decided to rig up a hoist system to do the trick. this is actually the second generation of the project - the first contraption that i built included pivots and wheels and all kinds of moving parts, but in the end, i didnt trust it to do its job. so i tore it apart and rebuilt this simply set up. with the engine hoist doing most of the work and supporting most of the weight, the front beam just serves to keep the whole thing level. by using a short extension and running the chain up over the hoist (bypassing the hook), i was able to lift the top just about an inch or two higher than it needed to be to clear the landcruiser as i backed it under. then, it was just a matter of slowly lowering into place. i got the corner round window reinstalled, but i didnt get the rear lift-up gate back in yet since the struts that hold it up are bad. i have some replacements coming (gas-charged - fancy), but they wont be here for a few days. until then, the top is on, if a little backless for the time being.

exhaust & first road trip

2007-08-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

took the landcruiser to get the exhaust done the other day. it was about a 10 mile drive each way, so it was the first time the landcruiser had really been out on the road (although michaleen and i had driven it less than a mile to the chevron and back to get gas a week or so ago). ran good and drove good - i thought it would be all over the road, but it steered straight. no major issues at all - the only thing that looks like a problem is that the odometer is only counting the tenths of a mile, and the fuel gauge doesnt look like it is working - pretty minor overall. i had to tighten up a few bolts now that the suspension had had a chance to work a bit, but otherwise i think it is road ready.

here are a couple of pictures of the completed exhaust - turned out exactly like i had imagined.

houston, we have lift off

2007-07-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

dateline: July 25th, 2007 - 6:23 PM PST
i turn the key and the engine fires up. i press on the brake pedals and feel the resistance. i pull the shifter lever back until the 'D' indicator glows red and i feel a slight lurch - the first sign that something is different this time. i release the brake and cautiously press the gas pedal and slowly start to creep forward - the beast is moving under its own power. after a maiden voyage of about 20 feet, i press the brakes and come to a stop. the test is complete - the landcruiser is alive.

here was the second (and longest to date) trip

ok, it wasnt the most amazing sight ever, and there were actually a few hiccups leading up to it, but the landcruiser finally runs and drives and steers and stops all on its own. after we got the rear brakes sorted out, i told ryan we were going to try to drive it. i started it up the first time and put it in gear and...vroom, nothing happened. the engine revved but i didnt move. tried again, going through all of the gears and still nothing. scratched my head a few times and crawled underneath to make sure the transmission lever was working properly. everything checked out fine. for fun, i pulled the transfer case lever down into 4HI and then pushed it back up into 2HI and there was a distinctive engagement feeling. was i in neutral the first time? fired it up again and put it in gear - this time i felt the transmission engage. i shut it off and went inside to gather everyone up. i am sure they were not impressed by the sight of a car driving 1 mph across the carport, but i had been waiting for this day for 3 years, so i wanted them all to see it. eden even rode in the passenger seat for the madien voyage. there are still a few small things to do, and i am sure after a real test drive i will discover a whole new set of issues, but for today, it is official - the landcruiser is alive.

steering and brakes

2007-07-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

my dad showed up monday evening and was ready to get to work on the welding, so we dived in. first thing was to weld the steering column to the firewall dash support.

next up was welding the actual steering shaft to the u-joint. this was the critical weld, and i think my dad was impressed with the way it turned out.

we did a few other miscellaneous things, and finally decided to call it a night at midnight. the next morning, i got all of the welded parts primed and painted while my dad started welding the steering box plates to the frame. there was quite a bit to weld, and some upside-down crazy angles, but in the end, it turned out good and most importantly, strong.

once everything was welded up and painted, we installed the brake pedal and then slid the steering column into place. we had to spend a little time getting the steering wheel adjusted just right so that it was not too compressed against the column, but we finally got it perfect.

with the steering finished, next up was the brakes. my dad donated his original brake booster that was in much better shape than mine. after some scrubbing with the brillo pad, it looked just like new. we bolted up the new master cylinder (from an fj80 with no ABS) and installed the whole unit. a few days before, i had run the remaining brake lines, so finishing the brakes was as easy as screwing in the two hard lines.

the next thing to complete was the transmission cooler lines. after a quick trip to the parts store for some vacuum hose and transmission cooler hose, we were back at it. the lower bracket that i had made where the hard lines connected to the rubber lines bolted on in a hard-to-get-to spot that took some time to work out, but we finally got it. we put the radiator back in, hooked up the transmission cooler lines and the radiator hoses and crossed that off the list.

the only thing left to do before we could test drive it was to bleed the brakes. with my dad and ryan doing most of the dirty work, we did the front two in a matter of minutes and it was on to the back. try after try, no fluid was making it to the calipers. i suspected that maybe something was clogging the lines, but we finally figured out that no fluid was even coming out of the master cylinder for the back brake circuit. we tried everything, but we couldnt get fluid out of it. we finally took a break to come in and eat some pizza and think things over. after dinner, i did some research on the internet and based on that, decided that we needed to 'bench bleed' the master cylinder. so we drained it, took it off, and used some old brake lines and some windshield washer tubing to make a make-shift bleeder kit. with the first long push of the rod, lots of air and then fluid finally came out of the back brake circuit. we finished bench bleeding the master cylinder and then installed it back into the landcruiser. we re-bled the front brakes just in case, and then did the back. they bled fine this time, but now there was a new problem - the lines were leaking at almost every connection. oops - i had installed those almost two years ago and never did tighten them. we tightened them up, but two connections were still leaking. my dad was headed out early the next morning, but i finally decided that we just needed to call it a night.

the next morning i spent some time thinking abou the issues and how to solve them. that afternoon when i finally had the chance to spend some time working on it again, i decided to take the whole back portion of the brake lines off and re-assess everything. ryan helped me by cleaning up the tee fitting and the hose ends, while i made a new bracket to position the tee in a better spot. we re-connected all of the lines to the tee and double checked that everything looked good before installing the whole unit back under the landcruiser. i pumped up the brakes and there were no leaks. we went ahead and re-bled the front brakes and then did the rear. the finally bled properly and with no leaks. at that point, i had power, steering, and brakes - all of the ingredients required to actually drive the thing for the first time.

once you start, you cant stop

2007-07-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

my dad was coming up the next day to weld the steering components and help finish up a few other things, so i was trying to wrap up everything else. the last thing i wanted to get done was to finish flushing the cooling system. i had flushed it a few times already and this was going to be the final time. i started up the engine and let it run for about 10 minutes. then i turned the key off to shut off the engine and...nothing happened. the motor just kept running as usual. i turned the key back to ON and then OFF again - nothing. i turned it over to the accessory position - nothing. i finally grabbed the coil wire and pulled it off the distributor and the motor died.

after doing quite a bit of research, i discovered that an internally-regulated distributor will actually feed power back up the exciter wire and keep the coil powered, even when the ignition is off. the fix is to either wire the exciter wire through a dashboard light, or install a diode in the wire - in either case, it only allows the power to flow one-way and solves the problem. so, i made a quick trip to radio shack and picked up a diode and a fuse holder. as i was checking out, the radio shack clerk said 'lemme guess, motor starts but wont turn off when you turn off the key?'. guess i was not the first person to run into this issue =)

here is the diode i used

i bent the diode wires into a spiral to form the rough shape of a fuse

once bent up, the diode fit in the fuse holder perfectly

i plugged the fuse holder/diode into the exciter wire, started the engine, switched the key back to OFF, and the motor died - problem solved.

radiator redux

2007-07-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

after seeing all of the rust and gunk that was in my radiator and heater hoses, i finally decided to do what i had known i was going to have to do all along: get a whole new radiator. i had already spent time adapting the taurus fan to work with the stock radiator and moving the radiator mounts to clear the water pump, but the old stock radiator was just too crusty to try to make work. i just spent a lot of money on rebuilding the landcruiser, and i didnt want to ruin the engine with inadequate cooling. although a new radiator was going to be more money and more work, when i finally removed the old radiator, i could heard the chunks of rust sloshing around inside, and i knew i had made the right decision.

after tons of research and comparing the pros and cons of various radiator replacements, i decided to go with an oversized aluminum radiator (made by Ron Davis Radiators and sold by Man-a-Fre). i considered a stock replacement copper radiator, but i had heard a lot of people say that they were marginal at best when cooling a V8. i also looked at several other aluminum radiators, including a few drop-in replacements (Man-a-Fre, Be-Cool, and others), but i was looking for something a) a little bigger, b) cross-flow, and c) with a built-in transmission cooler. The Ron Davis/MAF radiator seemed to be just what i was after.

new aluminum radiator with aluminum transmission cooler fittings installed

since i had moved my stock radiator forward a couple of inches, and this new radiator was quite a bit bigger, i was worried about it fitting, but it fit like a glove. i the mounting system that the radiator came with is pretty slick, so installation was really easy. the upper radiator mount also came with some support arms that extend out to the firewall. in order to provide a solid mounting point at the correct angles, i decided to use some heim joints and make some custom brackets.

here are the brackets i cut out of some 1" square tubing and the spacers i used to center the heim joint

here are the heim joints i used. they are 3/8" with 3/8" female threads (from McMaster-Carr)

here are the heim joints attached to some threaded rod and to the radiator support arms. by using the threaded rod, the support arms are adjustable in length

here is a test fitting of the setup. since the heim joint is centered, it is free to move side to side 180° and up and down a total of 24°

here are the brackets after a quick coat of paint

here is the assembled unit, ready to install

here is the finished product installed. you cant tell from this picture, but the arms angle out enough to clear the master cylinder just perfectly

the rest of the finished installation

since the new radiator has the transmission cooler built-in, i decided to modify my existing transmission cooler lines for a cleaner install. i re-bent the lines from the transmission up and around the starter. from there, they follow the same upward curves as the oil pan. i made a bracket that bolts near the mechanical fuel pump that the other end of the hard lines connect to. at that point, they terminate into hose barbs, and then i run rubber flexible hoses from there up to the radiator fittings. this set up keeps the hard lines up and out of the way, and allows some flex/movement of the engine, frame, and radiator.

now that the new radiator is in, the next project is the brake lines. after that, just finish up the welding on the steering and it *could* possibly be drivable =)

not quite done yet, but...

2007-07-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

got a few more little things wrapped up, including the accelerator pedal, gas tank, and new electric fan mount.

here is the gas pedal installed. after this picture was taken i also put a little rubber bumper between the mount and the pedal arm so there wont be any metal-to-metal contact

to clean out the gas tank, i put some gravel pieces in it with a small amount of gas and shook it around until my arms were tired. a trick i learned was to count out the number of pieces of gravel you put in so that you know how many you have to fish back out. once the inside was cleaned out, i cleaned up the outside and gave it a new coat of black spray paint.

after seeing all of the crud that was in my heater core and hoses, i knew my cooling system was really rusty inside. each time i have ran the engine, it has gotten pretty hot and started spewing out antifreeze, so i finally decided to break down and just get a new radiator. i got an oversized aluminum model (pictures of that to come) that came with a pretty slick mounting system. however, i had to figure out how to mount the taurus electric fan to the new system.
i created an aluminum frame out of some aluminum flat stock and angle stock. since the fan is actually molded at a bit of an angle, i was able to offset one side enough so that the whole fan fit flush next to the radiator.

i was also able to mount my high and low speed fan relays to the frame

when the aluminum frame was complete and the fan was mounted to it, i used some small u-bolts to mount the frame to the round bar used in the radiator support. since the round bar slides over the threaded rods that are the actual support arms, i can easily slide the whole fan/mount system on and off without removing the radiator (and i can also remove the radiator without removing the fan).

since i had originally moved my old radiator forward about two inches for clearance, i mounted the new radiator in the same modified position. in position, with the new fan mount, i actually ended up with a tiny bit more clearance between the fan and the water pump as well.

next up will be installing the radiator (including upper support arms, new hoses, and the transmission cooler lines).

a little more progress...

2007-06-29T12:57:00.001-07:00

havent gotten quite as much done lately, but did get a few little things done, including the transmission hump, heater, mirrors, and cleaning up some of the wiring

transmission hump

heater, including defrost ducts

mirrors

loomed all of the wiring to clean it up a bit

more progress

2007-06-15T09:03:00.001-07:00

spent some more time wiring last weekend and have everything just about done now. every knob and control on the dash is in and working (minus the windshield washer, but only because i dont have a washer to hook up). the hardest part was definitely the hazard switch/turn signal switch/brake switch. i tried to wire it up according to the service manual, but it didnt work. i searched on the internet and found only one other suggested way of wiring it, which got me closer, but still didnt work right. i tried all kinds of combinations of wires - some didnt work at all, some gave me dim or intermittent blinkers, some gave me blinkers but only when the brakes were off, brakes lights that were on constantly, or setups that only worked when the key was off. i finally started from scratch, bypassed the harness, and took one wire at a time. i even got michaleen out there to help test wires with the multimeter. we worked through it until we had a set up that worked, then i started integrating the harness back in. when i was done, i had it set up to use the provided harness wires, the stock hazard switch, turn signal switch, and brake switch, and no additional parts (such as extra relays).

in the meantime, i needed to finish up wiring the headlights. i decided to put each light and each high/low beam on a seperate relay. all i needed to do was find a good place to mount the relays. after being inspired by my dad's slick overflow tank bracket, i made up some brackets out of sheet metal that i could mount using the bolts that hold the front bib in place.

with the relays mounted on the brackets

whole thing mounted to the cruiser. i think they turned out pretty nice.

now that all of the under dash wiring was complete, the next thing to do was to turn to the steering. i need to weld the steering column to the lower firewall support, so i needed to mock it all up to get the right position for the steering wheel. here is the steering wheel in place, ready to measure. i am going hiking this weekend, but hopefully i can get the steering wrapped up next week. after that, i just need to run the brake lines and bolt a bunch of stuff back on and she will be ready to go (well, at least ready to gingerly back out of the garage under her own power).

progress update

2007-06-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

no posts for a long time here since progress has been slow since we moved. but this past weekend i spent quite a bit of time working on the landcruiser and actually got quite a lot of stuff done. i had started working on the doors awhile back, but never finished because i didnt have the weatherstripping for the vent windows. i finally got it, so i decided to finish up the doors. between the new regulators, weatherstipping, and some fresh spray paint, i think they turned out really nice.
i have been ready to dive into the wiring, so the first thing i did was to get the battery mounted. i ended up using a mount from man-a-fre that mounts to the shock tower. it was pretty painless to install after making a few modifications, and it seems rock solid. you cant see it here, but i also got the positive and negative cables all wired up.
next up was the front driveline. i had been fighting with this issue for a long time. using the stock transfer case with the th350 caused the front output of the transfer case to be very close to the transmission pan. i finally got a custom driveshaft made by Tom Wood and, although it had been laying on my garage floor for a couple of months, i just gotten around to putting it in. i 'modified' my tranmission pan (in other words, beat on it with a big hammer to dent it in on one side) and used the grinder to take some of the lip off. i also had to make a special low-profile bolt to use for one of the transmission pan bolts. in the end, it was a very very tight fit, but the driveshaft just clears the transmission and seems like it will work. no pictures, but you can be sure that i am glad that is done.
i also installed the rear bumper, complete with spare tire mount and cooler carrier. it was a very straight-forward install, except that i broke three 1/2" drill bits drilling the holes in the frame. overall though, it turned out great and i think it looks really good. all i have to do is throw a cooler in and be ready for a nice long excursion (oh, and get the vehicle running, steering, stopping, and all that stuff too).
finally, it was time to dive into the wiring. i had actually been looking forward to doing the wiring the most on this project. my old harness was pretty ragged and crusty, so i was replacing all of the wiring in the vehicle with a wiring harness i got from EZ Wiring. the first order of business was to mount the fuse panel. i made up a bracket out of some sheet metal and mounted it to the original fuse block location. i ran the wires for the rear of the vehicle first and got everything back there wired up.
next up was wiring the engine compartment. i already had the battery mounted and the battery cables in place, so i wired in the starter, alternator, and distributor, as well as the temperature and oil sending units. i ran 12volts to a distribution block and ran power leads to my two fan relays as well as the thermostat module. i wired up the taurus fan so that the low speed is controlled by the thermostat a nd the high speed is controlled by a manual override. all of it is wired to a three-way switch on the dash that lets me toggle between the modes. i also wired up the front turn signals and parking lights, but didnt wire in the headlights or horn yet until i get a few more relays.
while i was running wires in the engine compartment, i also installed the heater blower. i cleaned it up and painted it black and got the vent pull all re-installed. i cleaned up and painted the actual heater core as well, but didnt not install it yet until i finish the rest of the dash wiring.
at that point, all i had left to wire was the dash. i got the ignition switch wired up first, in anticipation of actually starting the engine again soon. i had previously disassembled and cleaned up the instrument panel, although the speedometer did not work. my dad found me a working replacement, so i swapped them out and re-assembled my instrument cluster. i got it all wired in so that i could use the gauges when i got the engine running again. i also wired up the light switch and the dimmer switch while i was at it. i still have to wire up the remaining dash knobs, but it should go pretty quickly.
with the wiring started, i decided to do another project that i had been wanting to get done. i mounted the transmission indicator/shift boot and got it all wired up. it is also wired into the neutral safety switch, which i mounted on the firewall. it was exciting to be able to turn the key and have the indicator light up, as if the vehicle were actually able to do something on its own.

hopefully the momentum will continue and the next post will see me starting the engine and finishing up the wiring. then i have to run the brake lines and get the steering components all welded up, but that is pretty much it other than some final assembly.

painted and (semi-) assembled

2006-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

the painting is done and the fj40 is (mostly) back together. well, back together if you dont count the brakes, steering, wiring, dash, lights, and seats. but the important part is that the whole thing is mostly in one piece again, not scattered across my garage floor. in fact, it is resting peacefully in a new garage up here on whidbey island after a long ride on a rented uhaul trailer. hopefully the next time the landcruiser has to make a trip, it will be under its own power =)

almost...

2006-11-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

just a quick teaser picture of the painted body back on the frame. just a few more tiny details to finish up and the paint & body work portion of the project will be done.

paint!

2006-11-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

i just dropped off the frame at the body shop so the body guys could set the tub back on the frame. they have painted everything but the top and the front fenders, so i got to see the tub all finished in its new River Blue. i didnt have my camera today, but it looks awesome. i was a little nervous since i had never actually seen the color in real life (only on a little color swatch on the internet), but it looks really good. i cant wait to see it all put back together (even if only temporarily). all of the bodywork turned out great - the whole thing has never looked as good as it does now. he said he will finish up the painting this week and i can pick it up next week. i will post pictures up as soon as i get it back.

body work progress

2006-08-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Stopped by the body shop today to see the progress on the tub. They are almost done with the major body work, and I was able to snap a few pictures of the results. Here are both floors that were replaced.
Driver's floor board
Passenger floor board
I had them weld up some extra holes in the dash.
The dash support was pretty rotten underneath, but since it was never seen, I told them they could skip it. Instead, they went ahead and welded in a new piece of metal to better support it.
Driver's side rocker panel
Passenger side rocker panel
Both wheel wells had some metal that was bubbling up and rotten, so that was all replaced. Here is the passenger wheel well looking much better than before.
The rear quarter panels were the worst spot on the vehicle. The rear sill that supported them was also in bad shape. I orderd replacement panels and a new rear sill, and now they are looking much better.
Driver's rear quarter panel
Passenger rear quarter panel
After getting the floors and rear sill replaced and the wheel wells patched up, they went ahead and shot some undercoating on the underside of the tub.
Under the wheel well
The underside of the new rear sill, looking tons better than it did before.

body shop

2006-08-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

finally...after many, many months of just sitting in the garage with zero progress, the body has been dropped off at the body shop for some much-needed rust repair. assuming the body shop guys can get the work done in a timely manner, i hope to start the final re-assembly in the next couple of months.

body (before)

2006-03-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Since the mechanical work is wrapping up, it was time to start dealing with the body. The fastest and easiest way to strip the old paint and rust was to have the whole thing media-blasted. I loaded up the tub, fenders, doors, and a bunch of small parts and took them out to AZ Pro-Strip in Mesa - the same guy who sandblasted my frame several months ago and did a great job.
I dropped of all of the parts on Monday and Patrick had them ready at the end of the week.
Patrick did a great job and I am very happy with the results. Most of the tub looks pretty good, actually better than I had originally thought.



Also had him do the doors, front bib, bezel, ...
... fenders, side aprons, transmission hump, door frames, running boards, pedal assembly, ...
... and a whole pile of small parts. I didnt have him do the windshield frame since I didnt want to mask off the glass and rubber and the metal and paint on there is in great shape. Also didnt have him do the hood because mine is pretty banged up and I will hopefully be getting a different one.
Of course, along with the good, there is plenty of bad. The driver's side floorpan is the worst spot of all. The floor is completely rusted through with a big hole in it. The previous-previous-owner had put a thick layer of tar over the hole and covered it up with a piece of plastic that he riveted to the old rusty floor.

The rust also continues forward and backwards, creeping up the floorboard towards the firewall, and extending underneath the factory toolbox.

The passenger-side floor is starting to go as well, but luckily it is a much smaller area. The shallow pan where the gas tank sits is perfect, and the rust does not extend forward past the seam where the floor meets the bottom of the firewall.
The driver's side rocker panel had more rust than I originally noticed. Before the sandblasting, I thought that side was pretty solid. However, as you can see, the metal was thin and weak from the rust, both on the inside and outside.

The passenger-side rocker panel has a hole about the size of an orange along the rear edge. The small triangular brace that supported the rocker panel to the floor on the underside was completely rotted as well.
And finally, what FJ40 rust-review would be complete without including the rear quarter panels. Both sides are toasted, and the ends of the rear sill that support the quarterpanels is also pretty bad. Luckily, the rear sill under the bed is in fair shape.

starting the engine

2006-02-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

My dad was down in Phoenix for a week, so I put him to work helping me get the motor finished up and running. Actually, he was doing a lot more than helping me - he pretty much had all of the knowledge and know-how (not to mention a big box of parts), and I was just sort of the wrench-fetcher. My dad had aquired a Rochester Quadrajet carb off of a 1972 Blazer and it looked to be in great shape, so that was one of the first items we tackled.
The distributor was an HEI unit out of a 1977 Chevy 1/2 Ton pickup. My dad had tested it before he sent it down, and it had a good strong spark. Most of the old wires were in good shape, so we just used those for this test.
The water pump and alternator were already installed, so we put on the belt and that was done. We also installed a new mechanical fuel pump and bent up a custom metal fuel line to the carburetor.
We mounted the radiator and then had the not-very-fun task of finding the correct radiator hoses. On our first attempt, the bottom hose we got ended up being the right length and shape, but didnt fit the water pump outlet correctly. We didnt know what upper hose would work, so had to settle for a flexible hose. However, the flexible hose also didnt fit over the thermostat housing correctly. We had to make a return trip to Napa, where the parts guys let up go upstairs and just browse all of their hoses. We found two that seemed like they would work, and when we returned home to try them out, both were a perfect fit. (For reference, the upper hose is Napa part number 7884, and the lower is 7651).

I re-used the stock Toyota oil pressure sending unit and temperature sending unit. The temperature sending unit screwed right in with a small adapter, but the oil pressure sending unit took a little bit of creative use of fittings to get things to connect up properly. I also installed the electric fan control module into the head, although we didnt hook up the rest of the wiring for this test (we just wired up the fan directly to a switch).


Finally, we wired up my stock instrument cluster so we could keep an eye on oil pressure and engine temperature. We also wired in some standard house AC switches to simulate the ignition (one to fire the starter, and one to the distributor so we could kill the power). There wasnt a fuse anywhere in the whole mess. Not probably the typical way of doing things, but it ended up working out really well for this test.
After finding out that no Napa or Checker stores in all of Phoenix had an oil pump priming tool for sale or rent, I finally found one at an Autozone. However, when we went to use it, something wasnt right. The tool wouldnt catch on the oil pump and kept slipping. We took it out and compared it to the distributor and found that the tooth that engages the gear was too large to fit into the groove. Frustrated, we finally ended up disassembling the tool and grinding down the flange, then putting the tool all back together. After our modification, it worked flawlessly. As we spun up the drill, the oil pressure gauge began to rise. Once we knew we had pressure, we put the distributor back on for the final time. We roughly set the timing using top dead center and then it was the moment of truth.
We hit the switch to turn on power to the distributor. Then I hit the switch to fire the starter. It cranked and cranked, but wouldnt fire. After much deliberation, we determined that the carb wasnt getting any fuel. We checked a few fittings and fixed the problem. Time to try again. This time, we hit the switch, and the motor fired and started! I had been waiting for that moment for almost a year and a half! My dad quickly dialed in the timing and the engine was running great. It sounds incredible and we only had one small leak that simply required tightening a hose clamp. I was very excited to finally have an engine that ran. However, the joy was short-lived. After making a few adjustments, when we tried to fire it up again - nothing. The engine wouldnt fire. Argh! We determined that there was no spark. The distributor that was working so well and just had plenty of spark a few minutes earlier was no longer working. It was getting late and I was frustrated, so we called it a night and tackled it again in the morning. The next morning, we did a few tests to try to isolate the problem. We figured it was either the coil, capacitor, or electronic module in the distributor. In order to avoid driving back and forth to the parts store all day, we just bought all three parts (my dad is going to put an HEI in his landcruiser soon, so any extra parts would not go to waste). We changed them out, one-by-one, so we could see what the root of the problem was. First the coil - reassemble and...nothing. Then the capacitor and terminal...nothing. Finally, we replaced the electronics module and put it all back together. I had bad thoughts of it still not starting, but I crossed my fingers anyway. I flicked the switch and the engine fired up - what a huge relief!

front end

2006-02-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

Now that the engine was running, we decided to move on to something else. I had ordered up a set of 4x4 Labs steering arms from Luke Porter and had been planning on rebuilding the front knuckles when I installed them. Because I installed my steering box a little lower than most, I was able to use the stock flat Astro pitman arm. Only problem was that the stock pitman arm has four indexing teeth on it so that it can only be installed at 90° increments. I broke out the triangular file and filed the indexing teeth out so that I could mount the pitman arm in the correct position.
I knew that the knuckle rebuild was going to a messy job, but I also thought it was going to be complicated. In actuality, it turned out to be pretty easy. We tore down the first side really quickly, and the most time-consuming part was cleaning up the years of caked-on crud that covered everything.

Once everything was cleaned up, it was time to re-assemble everything. One the first side, the bearing pre-load was too high with the original shims and the new steering arm, so we had to pop it off and add a shim. Oops, now it was too loose, so we popped it off one more time and used the thinnest shim I had. We put it back together and the bearing preload was just perfect. The second side was a breeze after doing it once already.

The 4x4 Labs steering arm on the passenger side was just barely hitting the shock when turned to full lock. I could have adjusted out the steering stops a little more, but just to be safe, I removed a little bit of metal so that the arm would clear without problems.

When it was all said and done, I was very pleased with the outcome. My draglink is almost perfectly paralell to the ground vertically, and almost paralell to the tie rod horizontally.
With the front end all finished, I decided to install the new front bumper. Looks pretty good if you ask me.

shifter & linkage

2006-01-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

My dad was coming down to help get the engine started in a week or so, so I decided to do some small stuff in the meantime. Figured I would mount up the Lokar shifter since it seemed pretty straight forward. All of the shiny new parts arrived and I dove in.
The install was really straight-forward and easy. The only small issue at all was the fact that the main mounting plate is usually secured to the transmission tailhousing, but with the transfer case and adapter, this was not possible. The Lokar website says not to worry about it because the front tensioning bolt makes it secure, but I might try to fabricate a mount for the rear just the same.

I had heard that getting the linkage all adjusted just right was quite a chore, but it couldnt have been easier. The shifter seems to work smoothly and goes through all of the gears just like it should with no binding.
The control module is used in conjunctin with the lighted indicator display that is built into the boot ring, so you know what gear you are in.
Once the transmission shifter was in, I finished up the transfer case shifter mount by bolting it to the transfer case adapter in the rear, and the transmission mount plate in the front.

power steering (astro van conversion)

2006-01-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

The power steering conversion was going to be the last major fabrication project that I tackled, so I was anxious to get going on it. There are several different power steering swaps that are popular for Landcruisers, including Saginaw, Scout, Mini-Truck, and even using the setup out of an FJ60. For what I wanted to accomplish, the Saginaw set up was my favorite. But upon further research, I found an even better solution. Using the steering box out of an Astro Van allowed the steering box to be mounted behind the front crossmember instead of out front near the bumper. This meant that I would not have to cut a large hole in my front crossmember, and the steering box would be protected in the engine compartment. So, it was off to the junkyard to find an Astro steering box.
The Astro swap is not very common, so I was only able to find a couple of good technical write-ups about it. In every instance, the folks doing the swap fabbed up their own mounting system for the steering box. However, after finding a box in the local junkyard, I realized that it had the same external casting as the normal Saginaw boxes. The only difference was that the internal working were changed around so that the pitman arm could operate in reverse rotation. Based on this discovery, I decided to try and use some common Saginaw mounting plates usually used in that conversion. For added strength, I decided to use a second plate on the outside of the frame to spread the load, and some 1/2" black gas pipe to sleeve the bolts and prevent the frame from squeezing together (three used, only two shown). The bolts and washers were the grade 8 hardware straight out of the Astro van.
To get the box to mount where I wanted it, it was necessary to cut the radiused corners off of the back of the front crossmember to make a 90° corner. I also cut the long legs off of the bottom of the driver's side radiator mount to clear the box. The frame begins to angle upward near here, so the box was angled up naturally, which put it at the correct mounting angle.
On the outside of the frame, I trimmed the second mounting plate to clear the shock tower and sit flush against the frame. In this configuration, the top mounting hole goes through the frame, and the lower two holes are both below the bottom of the frame.
With the box mounted in this position, it sits relatively low in the engine compartment. This is good in that the box is fully protected by the front crossmember and the flat pitman arm that I have will probably work good. However, this position makes the steering shaft have a greater vertical angle to it. It was necessary to notch the motor mount in order to get the shaft to fit correctly. By mounting the box higher, I could have minimized the notching, but then the box would possibly start running into the bottom of the power steering pump. (In this picture, the shaft seems to be rubbing the motor mount, but the shaft is not in its final position).

After getting everything lined up how I wanted it, I drilled a hole through the frame for the top mounting bolt. Some primer and paint for good measure, and i bolted the mounts into place to make sure everything was still lining up properly.

Here you can see the standard mounting plate used on the inside of the frame rail. On the Astro box, only three mounting bolts are used. I also cut the top-most corner off of the plate so that it followed the lines of the frame.
I cut three short pieces of black gas pipe to serve as sleeves for the bolts. The top sleeve was cut slightly shorter so that it could fit between the inner frame rails. This should help prevent the frame from collapsing from the torque on the bolts as well as provide a rigid support for the stress from the box.
On the other end, I had to deal with the steering column. I cut the column so that it was three inches shorter than the steering shaft. Normally on the early (pre-72) columns, a bronze bushing is used to center and support the shaft in the column. Later years can use a pillow block bearing for this purpose. Although I have the early column, I plan to use a bearing for the support. The trick here is that the hole in the firewall for early models is very narrow, so I had to come up with a trick mounting system that would allow the use of the pillow block and allow the column to be removed from the vehicle. More pics of that set up will follow.
The steering shaft has just enough clearance around the exhaust manifold. This is not the best picture, but there is at least 3/8" of clearance.
Just showing how much I had to notch the motor mount for proper clearance. The u-joint at the steering box is a slip joint, so the shaft can move freely inside of it. This provides a level of saftey in an accident (so that the steering wheel doesnt impale the driver) and allows for some frame flex in off-road situations that would otherwise put stress on the steering box input shaft.
With the box in place, here is the completed set up. Still need to permanently weld the mounting plates in place and finish up the steering column modifications, but otherwise this swap is finally done.

taurus fan installation

2005-12-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

After reading a ton of information on how to best cool a V8 in an FJ40, I felt more confused than when I started. Some people said to ditch the stock radiator and get an aluminium one. Some said the aftermarket radiators were no good, the stock radiator would be fine with a good mechanical fan and proper shroud. Still others said the stock radiator was good, but it needed to be recored - some said more rows, some said fewer rows. Due to my longer drivetrain, I figued I would have some space issues up front near the radiator. As such, I decided that an electric fan would be the way to go. Most of the reviews of aftermarket electrical fans were not too good, but several people had great things to say about the fans out of the 3.8L V6 Ford Taurus (Mercury Sable, etc). Since these were cheap and easy to come by, I figured it was worth a shot.
The Taurus fan is almost a perfect fit for the stock FJ40 radiator. One side even has a convenient mounting flange that I just bolted to the radiator frame. The other side of the fan was a little more tricky, but not too bad. I had a couple of little brackets laying around that looked like they would work perfectly (they came off of the Landcruiser somewhere, and they were in the 'I dont need these anymore' pile, but I cant remember where they were originally used). By standing these up vertically, they provided a secure mounting point for the fan.
The brackets sit inside (underneath) the fan when installed, so getting a wrench on them would be impossible. To solve this problem, the nuts on the inside are tacked to the bracket.
By mounting the fan this way, it is secured directly to the radiator, and not to the radiator mounting frame. Since I knew space would be tight up front, I figured I would be pulling the radiator out whenever I needed to access the front of the engine. I wanted to make sure i could pull just the fan or just the fan and radiator with ease. Also, the stock radiator mounting frame has not been modified at all in case I ever decide to go with a different setup.
It is amazing how closely the Taurus fan fits the Landcruiser radiator. Almost looks like it was made for it.
Because of my longer-than-stock drivetrain, my engine is sitting about an inch forward of the optimal location. As such, the nose of the water pump was interfering with the Taurus fan. I had a couple of options: trim the fan shroud to reduce the depth; run a short-style water pump; move the radiator back away from the water pump (toward the front of the vehicle). I didnt want to trim the fan because it would make replacing it in the future a pain if this one ever craps out on me. I didnt want to run the short-style water pump because the accessory brackets are harder to come by. So the only option left was to move the radiator.
I determined that the radiator needed to go 'back' an inch and up about 3/4 or an inch. I fabbed up some spacers that allow the radiator to bolt into its new position and then attach to the stock radiator supports using the original holes. By using some 1" by 1/2" channel, the radiator mounting frame bolt nuts are tucked up inside. To gain the additional height, I used some 3/4" square tube cut to the correct height as a spacer.
With these new spacers in place, the radiator sits perfectly in its new position and everything is completely bolt-on so it is easy to undo in the future if the need ever arises. I could also raise the radiator or move it fore-and-aft just by changing out the spacers and drilling a new hole.
With the Taurus fan mounted to the radiator and the radiator spaced up into its new position, things look much better. I have plenty of space between the water pump now and hopefully an efficient and effective cooling system.

engine, transmission, & transfer case install

2005-04-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here is my new drivetrain pretending that it is all installed. It is a Chevy 350 v8 built by a local guy here in town. Behind that is a th350 transmission and the stock 3-speed transfer case. Although I am trying to do most of the work myself, the transfer case was rebuilt by a local transmission guy (too many small parts in there and no bearing press makes for a hard job to do in my garage)
The rear mounts are pretty close to the tubular crossmember, but with everything installed, the back of the parking brake drum has about 1/2" of clearance. The tops of the mounts sit below the frame, so that with the donuts on top, the mounting point is flush with the top of the frame. The downside to this position is that I have to drop down the whole drivetrain to remove the parking brake or transfer case.
According to the Advance Adapters conversion instructions, the best place for the front mounts is 8-12" behind the rear of the front shock tower. Mine ended up being about 10" - right in the middle. The Downey instructions suggest that the mounts be 19 1/2" from the rear of the front crossmember. Mine ended up being at about 19". These measurements are for any transmission, so with the added length of the automatic, I am very pleased with how it all worked out.
The front mounts sit slightly above the top of the frame. Since the frame is angling down at this point, the front of the mounts are about 3/8" above the frame, while the rear of the mounts is closer to 3/4". At this height, the motor sits at about a negative 4° slope (front-to-back), which about matches my rear pinion angle.
The transfer case adapter I used was the short style from Downey. It is just barely over 1" in length. I was worried that with the added length of the transmission, my drivetrain would be too long and I would have to relocate the rear crossmember and have a really short rear drive shaft. With this adapter, I was able to keep the rear crossmember in the stock location (see next picture).
With the front engine mounts positioned about where I wanted them, I was still able to clear the rear crossmember. I would say there is about 1/2" of clearance between the top/back of the parking brake drum and the crossmember, just enough to stick my fingers in between.
The downside to the short Downey adapter is that the transmission pan interferes with the front driveshaft. To rememdy this, I had to get a smaller front output flange (not shown). Even with the smaller flange, some minor pan 'modification' was still necessary.
With the rear of the drivetrain just clearing the crossmember, the front of the engine has just enough room for the water pump and fan. I figured that if space got tight, I could use the short water pump style, but I think that with the electric Taurus fan I am using, the long pump will just fit.
Following the advice of both Advance Adapters and Downey, I offset my engine slightly to toward the driver's side. Right in front of the engine, I measured the distance between the frame rails to be 24 1/2". Half way would have put the centerline at 12 1/4". I offset the engine 3/4" toward the driver's side, making the distance from the passenger side frame rail exactly 13".
Just some more shots of the whole works all installed. Notice the new ($$$) parking brake cable and speedometer cable. I hope that they are long enough with the added length of the new transmission.

starting to look like a vehicle again

2005-03-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

Just because I am impatient, I set the body back on the frame to get an idea of what the final product will look like. It sits quite a bit higher than I had planned, but I think it will be fine once the drivetrain is in and the springs break in a bit.
Too bad the body isnt going on for real for a long, long time...

chassis - frame, suspension, axles, & brakes

2005-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

After the disassembly went so quickly, I began to falsely believe this was going to be a fast project. Funny though, it seems to take much longer to but things back together again once you have them apart. Add to that taking a few months off from working on the Landcruiser at all, and not much progress gets made. However, I am happy to report that the Landcruiser is back to being a (mostly) rolling chassis again, which i think makes it officially a vehicle again instead of just a pile of parts.
Once the frame was entirely stripped of all other parts, I had it sandblasted at a local shop. It was amazing how the frame looked when it came back. Just two days before, the frame rails had literally been filled completely solid with decades of hardened mud. After priming and several coats of high-temperature engine enamel paint, the frame looked like it was brand new. I hope the rest of the vehicle turns out as nice as the frame did.
I apologize for the crappy picture, but underneath that dusty plastic is my new Chevy small block 350 engine (painted Chevy Orange, of course). Only about a million more things to do before I can start to get it installed.
My chassis went from 4-wheel drum brakes to 4-wheel disc brakes. The rear disk brake conversion was super duper easy (the hardest part was removing the old drum backing plates). Once the old drums were off, the new disc brakes were installed in probably an hour. I completed the conversion with some nice stainless steel braided brake lines. The front conversion was only slightly harder, mostly just because there were more parts to disassemble. Again, the hardest part was the removal of the old drums. The conversion kit was a straight-forward kit, using the same calipers and rotors as the rear conversion. Before the rebuild, the drum brakes I had were almost completely incapable of stopping the vehicle. Now with my new disc brakes all the way around, I shouldn't have any trouble stopping at all. (The bad news is that when installing the front disc brakes, it became abundantly clear that I am in desperate need of a complete knuckle rebuild. To get the Landcruiser back into a rolling chassis form, I am putting that job off for now, but I will have to tackle it sooner or later.)
It isn't quite as obvious in this picture, but the ride height of the vehicle is quite a bit higher than before. The new leaf springs add 4" of lift, while the extended shackles probably add about 1.5" more. The 35" BFG Mud T/A tires add effectively 2" of height as well over the 31" tires that were on there before. Installing the new springs was pretty easy with a little help from Michaleen, and in the process I replaced all of the bushings, u-bolts, and spring pins as well. Without weight from the motor, drivetrain, or body, the suspension is incredibly stiff right now. Hopefully it will be a little smoother once everything is finished.

disassembly

2004-06-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well, what is the first thing you need to do to do a complete rebuild? Take everything apart, of course. Armed with a few metric sockets, tearing down an FJ40 goes much faster than I had thought. Soon, the parts are scattered througout my garage.
Using the hardtop as a make-shift workbench, I soon had about a 100 little ziplock bags filled with all kinds of nuts and bolts and miscellaneous parts. Hopefully when it comes time to put everything back together, I can remember where all of this stuff goes.
Once most of the small stuff was removed and the front end was disassembled, all that remained was the tub. I had never removed the body off of any vehicle before, but since the rest of the cruiser disassembly was going so smooth, I decided to tackle it. Using a poor combination of a floor jack, 4x4 lumber, two motorcycle tie-downs, and the rollbar out of the cruiser, i was able to get the body practically all the way off by myself (however, I do not recommend this approach to anyone else).
Jason came by to help me finish lifting the body off of the frame. Next up was to pull the engine, transmission, and transfer case. Since the tub was off, pulling the whole setup at once proved to be pretty easy. Once again leveraging the versatility of the motorcycle tie-downs, Jason, James, and I were able to pull everything out in about 15 minutes.
One more shot of the cruiser before she loses her motor.
And one more...
Fifteen minutes later...the whole setup is out. This old F engine still ran pretty good with good compression in 5 of the cylinders. However, a few burnt exhaust valves made passing the strict Phoenix emissions test an impossibility. Instead of rebuilding the motor, I decided to drop in a small block Chevy engine. But that project is for another day.

the day i drove it home

2004-01-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

From the time I learned to drive in a cruiser on the dirt roads in eastern Washington, I always knew that I wanted one of my own. I searched off and on for many years, looking for a cruiser that was perfect for me. Finally, in the fall of 2003, I took the plunge. I found this 1972 cruiser for sale by a guy in Avondale, AZ. He said he had bought it hoping to rebuild it as well, but just didnt have the time to even start the project.
The cruiser was in in what I would call 'OK' shape. It had the typical rust in the rear quarter panels, but amazingly, none in the rear sill. It had some rust under both doors, and the rear swing-out doors were completely rusted out on the inside.
The driver's side floorpan was rusted completely through, with a hole about 4" completely missing. The previous owner had covered up the hole and rust with a fiberglass panel riveted in place.
The front fenders had numerous small dents and dings, and there were a few small dents and deep scratches over pretty much the whole rear of the tub. The lower portion of the cowl was also dented up on the driver's side. Several of the exterior lights and reflectors were broken or missing, and there were no mirrors.
The good news was that the cruiser started right up and ran well. The dash was not butchered up, and the rear wheel wells were not cutout either. The stock motor had seen a lot of miles, but seemed like it still had life left in it. The four-wheel drive worked perfectly. The steering was typical cruiser - wandering all over the place. The brakes were almost non-existent. The cruiser had not been registered in many years and only had a salvage title.
After several hours of trying to find a notary on a sunday, I was finally the proud owner of the light blue beast. Originally, I only planned on tuning up the motor and rebuilding the brakes so that I could drive the cruiser to work everyday. Little did I know that in a few months, the landcruiser would be nothing more than a frame and a million parts scattered in my garage.