FJ40
I must preface the following by stating a little bit of background. I have long lusted after and coveted (yes, I am working these sins out with the Man above) old land cruisers. I had always begged Krista to get one, but we already had the 4Runner, her Subaru, and my great grandmother's 1969 Malibu and she was not interested in a fourth vehicle. Last year we were driving back from Montana when we passed a FJ40 on the interstate. Krista looked at the 40, looked at me, looked at the 40 again and said, "I can see myself driving one of those!" I exclaimed, "You are the best wife in the world!" Well, the Malibu went back to my dad and right before we headed off to the 2013 Overland Expo I made a quick trip from Casper to Cheyenne to pick up Krista's new baby. Now I still have to live my Land Cruiser dreams out vicariously through my wife...
The Good:
- Rebuilt F engine
- Dual battery system
- ConFerr aux fuel tank
- winch
- straight body
- Rear heater
- Came with nearly everything I would need to build a second F engine (including block, factory rebuilt head and carb). The only thing we need are pistons, rings, and rods.
- Typical rust under front doors and driver-side rear corner
- 3-spd transmission
- Aftermarket overdrive that leaks like a sieve
- Some 'hacker' and old wiring
- Suspension is old/worn
- 15x10 steel/chrome wheels and fat tires
We are going for the classic look with some upgraded features. This is not going to be built for crawling but we will continue the intent of the original work done.
- Replace the rust with new patch panels
- Replace the 3spd/overdrive combination with a 4spd
- Update the wiring
- Update the suspension
- Power steering
- Source a set of OEM wheels/hubcaps and talk to Treadwright (our sponsor) about a new set of tires
Now for the pictures!
