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FJ4overland

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
So some background. My 1st 4x4 was a 1971 FJ 40 with a Ford 302 in it. It almost killed me more times than I can count... but I loved it. Enough that over the years I owned 6 more. Recently, I was simply perusing Seattle Craigslist and I found this







to any Land Cruiser guy, they'd look at this thing and think "wow" they normally rust out at the rail under the rear doors... this one is solid.


with that said... it will require some assembly and I think the PO liked red.


note the cool tuck n roll roof?



straight 6



Honestly, I don't really have a build plan for it. Part of me wants to screw together one of my countless 350 chevy motors, slap some vortec heads on it, efi and call it a day. On the other hand, I think a 12v cummins diesel would be pretty trick in this thing or a 4bt or a Isuzu diesel.... I have a 5 speed aisin transmission from a Colorado, so I might use that behind this - that would limit power and torque to 200/300 respectively.
For suspension. either I'll do a spring over, spring reversal and power steering addition, or I'll do a 3 bar front 3 bar rear with disconnectable sway bars and coil over springs....


So there that is, either stupid simple or stupid expensive simple.
Exterior... winch, 38" tires some protection like sliders... but nothing to detract from the simple lines of the FJ
Interior - suspended seats, some dynamat and indoor outdoor carpet and a full cage.


But as I only have the raw material - I am listening to what others think... might ignore you, but oth, you might come up with the most awesome idea ever. Lots of my builds wouldn't have happened without crowd suggestions...
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
We know how you will be spending your spare time for awhile.
uhhhh

you beside the other projects that include, but are not limited to the: Land Rover, Jetta, Fiat, Buick Sedanet and Hummer... not to mention the JK Jeep and the 83 diesel truck (which thankfully doesn't need anything at the moment).
 

kilroy

Well-Known Member
Messages
110
Location
Owosso MI
That thing would be sik with the rlrphant motor in it but a built up inline six would be light and torquey enough.....unless you want to climb sheer vertical walls with it.Lol
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
I had a 59 where I did all the tricks to it... I wasn't terribly happy with it. Offroad it did awesome, but honestly, I didn't think it did any better than before I did the mods (holley carb, header, Jacobs ignition) and climbing Mt. Rose, it was terrible - you were either wrapped out in 2nd, or chugging until it died in 3rd.

The 500, if it fits, would be awesome. I have another set of heads for it that will raise the compression from 7.9:1 to 10.5:1 - which should make it roughly 500 hp/550 lb torque. As they say in the Bentley world - it's sufficient.... best part is they get reasonable mpg... and if I hate it, it's just a bellhousing swap away from a diesel or a sbc (I also have a 406 in the rafters). Still, the qualification "if it fits" could be its waterloo, the caddy motor is really, really wide and the FJ frame/engine compartment is really really narrow.. and I'm not going to lose the inner fenders, so we'll see on Monday when it gets here.
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
Keep the straight 6 thing going. 12v all the way. 5.9 is a beast.

This will depend upon if I can find a reasonably priced one, and would also require finding a NV4500 - also, they are a long beast and I'm not modifying anything but motor mounts.... so I dunno. I could do a 4bt, but right now, I can get a 12V cheaper than a 4bt.
The 500 is the crowd favorite - and it has more torque than the cummins, but I think it's too wide
I also got, from the FJ40 crowd, the suggestion of a 6.5 diesel/5 speed... I have a 6.5 diesel, but honestly I think it'd cost more in parts than the cummins - and while I like detroit diesels, there's just no comparison to the cummins.
and I have a 400 and a late model 350... I also have a SM465, but I honestly don't see the need of adding a granny gear to a vehicle that already has 4.88 gearing.
decisions, decisions, decisions.
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
and it comes home
Regis, watching carefully


warn winch... overheated...


note the brake lights are on? that's Buick sleeping on the brake pedals... both lights work, this is good


sad former owner


on the trailer, ready to go


 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
so the 500 is going to a new home tonight to power a Suburban.... so either a 400 or a 6.5td.... I love diesels in trucks, I really do, but I'm not so sure about diesels in open top vehicles - yes, it'd get great mpg - but a 400 with vortec heads, some kind of edelbrock carb, TBI, or propane wouldn't be bad enough mpg to warrant the stink, not to mention the double, triple or even higher initial buy-in cost.... decisions, decisions... thoughts?

likely, I'll punt - put a NV4500 behind the 400, and someday come up with a diesel solution... I have some big suspension plans for this, and derailing the project with a diesel swap could relegate this to a spot next to the Fiat (which got stopped on wiring, that I've 1/2 solved, but now have no time to finish).
 

zackcrum

Well-Known Member
Messages
543
Location
Corinth MS
The 400 for sure. Why focus all your money and time and patience for a project then run out of gas to finish the rest. The 400 will be plenty to power the fj(as you know lol) and in the end you are gonna have a cool fun toy anyway! Plus I'm biased to gas engines. I simply hate how loud diesels are.
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
Some decisions to make - input is welcome.

a picture of the transfer case


if you'll notice, the cover is missing and what they did was "convert" it to 2wd. The rear housing is gone, internal gears are gone, brake, .... it's just a housing someone pressed a bearing into. I always thought this one was odd because the rear differential was in the middle (they're offset right) on all FJ40s. Someone put a toyota pickup axle in this... and emptied the front housing. I know it seems like I got screwed, but there's a huge contingent out there that thinks FJ40s should be restored - now I have carte blanche to ignore that.... so what to do? despite my love/hate relationship with birfields, there are good quality ones out there - so I'm seriously considering just refilling the front with good bits... cheap to do too, so that's not a huge deal.
Rear axle... if I put the FJ one back in, it's offset and it limits me to the FJ transfer case - there's good and bad to that (all gear, pto availability, generally bulletproof - against - I have to adapt a transmission to it, so that's $600). An Atlas II transfer case is a bit spendy, but once you subtract the street price of a transfer case ($1000), and the $600 for the adapter kit - I can buy a brand-new one for $2200... and it'll last longer than me, they are the best there is - however, none of them are right/right outputs.... so what do I do for a rear? I have a Ford 9" that would work, and parts, lockers, everything would be cheap.... or do I get a full floater like a dana 60 or corp 14 bolt?

the rest of the suspension goes like this: 3 link front, 4 link rear, coil overs front, coil springs and shocks rear. The motor will be the 400, my brain says put a 4L80e in it, my heart says NV4500... we'll see which wins.

Thoughts?

In other news, my Scout 2 steering box arrived, it's gonna work slick!
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
As is the good story of my life, friends ask me to weld stuff for them - in this case, a C3 Corvette frame that's getting a full restoration with some modern updates


so I started digging in my piles of parts
This rear end I was going to cut down for the "slicks" build portion of my 50 Buick Sedanet. As I'm still waiting for the motor, I'll use it and fabricate a 9" when I get to that point...


just going to replace the ends with large bearing ends, put a top truss on it and a back truss... should be more than strong enough for what I'm going to do


400 sbc....
as with anything, there's a back-story to it. I used to own a 70 Buick Skylark.

originally powered by this

then the 400 you see

, and finally a 455 that I built (over built) headers for

wayyyy too much header for the motor, but I had big, NA plans for it....
My brother sold me this car

and I kept it all the way through college and law school in hopes of building it.... it was so rusty the roof was literally held on by the vinyl top that had caused the roof to disintegrate, so I bought another car and used its parts.
The day this happened

this happened.

he didn't survive. Don't text and drive.

Anyway, back to FJ40s, my first FJ40 was what got me into 4 wheeling and it got my brother into 4 wheeling as well. Our dad is a former drag racer from the 60s - he used to run at Lions, near LA. So us getting fast cars when we were kids was met with insurmountable obstacles, namely his concerned we'd be just like him (good thing I'm not, eh?)



So, don't mind me reminiscing - there's a lot of history that will come up as I do this build.
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
decision time. I've priced the cost of rebuilding the 400.... $450 for a kit with pistons, $400 in machine work (press on the new pistons, cam bearings, bore for the new pistons, and clean the block). Add another $200 for a cam and I'm at $1050 - there will be no misc. parts because I have scads of SBC parts (like 3 engines worth of arp stuff)... if I put EFI on it, it'd cost at least $1200.

or buy a LS 6.0 truck motor. That would cost $1750 for the motor, $400 for a pump, and $300 for a program and wire harness.... and it'd be EFI.... the motor has ~150k miles (there are several available)

What I'd have is the same hp, the 400 would have about 50 lbs more torque

​thoughts?
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
no thoughts... fine, I'm going to use either a 350 or a 400... I might use the 350 because I'm seriously considering using my AX 15 and transfer case from the colorado pickup
So I got some more bits tonight
a truss

prevailing wisdom is use a dana 60 or 14 bolt - which they are tough rear ends, but I'm not rock bouncing nor am I putting 1000 hp through the axles... so a reinforced 9" should be more than adequate

of course, for a 3 and 4 link suspension, you do need tough heim joints


and while I was looking for engine parts, I came across this

my 1st FJ40 needed wheel cylinders, but I made one work so I ended up with an extra. I sold it in 1991.... yep, it's been traveling with me that long - and I still won't use it because it's going to be 4 wheel disk brakes all around
 

RamRod

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,914
Location
AB, Canada
Keep at it, I have no comments that would help you but I am enjoying the thread none the least


Sent from handheld smoke signal device
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
decisionmaking again

The 350 I have is a 93 Chevy truck 350, I thought it was a 4 bolt main... nope, so now I'm questioning again (and don't start with me about 4 bolt vs. 2 bolt) - do I build this as a cheap-build... simply service the Vortec heads, re-ring, rebearing, flat tappet cam; do I buy another motor; or do I hold out for a 6.0 liter? The rear axle and suspension is where I'm going to spend some dollars, and if I get any kind of windfall, it's going to be to purchase a Atlas 2 transfer case. I think that skimping on the motor and trans would be the best place because those are so easy to change when a deal pops up... so a 350/350 combination will become a 6.0l, 4L60e when the right deal comes along...

thoughts?





the motor really isn't in that bad of shape and I do have several turbo 350s, include a dual bolt pattern 4x4 transmission

Yesterday I was gifted these


​small yes, but the price was right :)
 
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