A Study In the Parts of the Car That Connect the Wheel Thingies to the Dooliejab

A note to those who have followed this blog:  As you may have gleaned from this post's title, the following is highly technical.

So stuff doesn't fit right.  I'm not horribly surprised really.  Toyota changed the FJ40 fairly substantially between 1972 and 1973.  They also had a transitional period between 1973 and 1975 where they combined new parts and old parts together before it was all new in 1976.  Weird, hey?  Combining a '72 and a '76 figured to have some bumps but it's kind of interesting to see what unexpected hiccup pops up.  I believe I've sorted through the nonsense and have even come up with a few different avenues for those who are trying to combine an early and a late model Land Cruiser. 

My original plan was to use the entire driveline from the '76.  The motivation was that the '76 has a good 4 speed transmission that can take me on the highway while the '72 has a 3 speed that will get me run over.  The '76 axles are a little stouter and the differentials have a 4.11 gear ratio while the earlier ones had a 3.70.  With bigger tires, I would prefer the 4.11.  Plans change, however, as facts begin to present themselves.

As the wrecked '76 was being pulled around from the back of the shop, I noticed an interesting phenomenon.  One rear wheel was rotating in the opposite direction as the other.  I don't claim to be an automotive genius, but I did get an engineering degree - the labors of which have given me the education and background to assess the vehicle as being crapped up.  My diagnosis was affirmed as I overheard one of the mechanics make the comment to his pal,  "whoa, that things crapped up."
Upon closer inspection, the drive shaft had been jammed into the differential and had snapped off such that half of the pinion gear was inside the differential precisely 90 degrees off of its designed orientation.  "Yup, that's crapped up," I thought.  Just in case, we took off the differential housing and cover for look-see. 

For those of you who may not be familiar with some of the technical jargon I've used thus far, I've included photos of what a "crapped up" differential looks like. 

As a rule, it is undesirable to see shiny metal chunks and massive gouges in gears with relatively tight tolerances.  This is a good thing to keep in mind regardless of the application...

The decision was made to use the rear axle out of the '72 and everything else from the '76.  This required a little creativity.  I got 4.56 gears for both differentials and master install kits.  I got a locker for the rear differential and I picked up cool flanges from cruiser outfitters in Sandy, UT that fit on the fine spline aftermarket pinion.  I was pretty cranked because they have the bolt pattern for both early and late model drive shafts.  They make the flanges for the transfercase side too so I'll be able to run my newly ordered drive shafts full time with the ones from the '72 as a freely interchangeable standby. 
In a word, bitchin'. 
For you Land Cruiser buffs, I found a cool kit at JT Outfitters that allow you to mate the early model transfercase to the 4-speed transmission.  It's about $135 and allows you to run the 2.3 low end ratio of the early model instead of the 1.9 of the later ones.  I found this kit too late though and, alas, I now have two or three transfercases that I'll be able to squirrel away.

In a nutshell, I'll be using the late model front axle with disc brakes, the late model transmission, transfercase, and drive shafts, and an early model rear axle with the stock drums.  All the gearing will be perfect for the large tires and will still allow the truck to be comfortable on the street.  I'll have a locker in the rear for taking it off road and, when everything is put together with new seals and gaskets, it will be far less crapped up and, hopefully, all the wheels will roll in the same direction.

A Few Observations

So Blogspot.com tracks how many people view your blog and which country they're in and some other stuff that I can't imagine anybody cares about but it turns out there's a handful of people from France who have taken an interest in an old Toyota muscle truck build.  Pretty cool, hey?  Bonjour to you my Frenchy friends. 

Another interesting side note: I discovered this blog shows up on my facebook page accompanied by the photo in the post.  My last post had a picture of Laya Bella and, as it would turn out, I had the single biggest spike in page views since I started this buildup!  Haha!  I guess cars are cool but girls are better!  This time I might try another unrelated photo so as to rope in the target demographic:

Anyway, the engines have been pulled from both Cruisers and I feel like I've definitely made the right choice in terms of which engine to keep. Both trucks are pretty much gutted and we're ready to start doing the upgrades to the 400 small block. 

                                         Chevy 400 small block before upgrades

          '76 Land Cruiser underside with the guts out.  Yup that's the ceiling you see.

                        '72 Land Cruiser being used for nothing but storage - for now.




I sold the 350 for $500 which is a screamin' deal but now I don't have to worry about it.  I've also been able to sell the top and doors from the wrecked truck for a fair price too.  That helps me out with:
1. Buying more parts, and
2. Rationalizing my buying more parts
The roll cage from Metal Tech 4x4 got delivered today too.  Jeff at L&D is a bad dude fabricator and is going to weld it all up with frame tie-ins, front hoop, and stinger. 

So far my biggest concern has been the drivetrain for the new truck.  The '76 has better components but some stuff was wrecked in the accident.  What a pain.  The next post will go into the details of bypassing the compatibility issues between the two models.  Most people probably won't care but a few Cruiser buffs might be interested to know what I found out.  Au revoir mes amis.

p.s. In my verifying the French phrase above, I typed it into google and the following forum post popped up:

"Hi, I'm doing the radio show again tomorrow and this week I've got to do a "can't speak French" item on the zoo!

I think the following phrase is correct but I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry! After all, I'm far from brilliant at French!

"Au revoir mes amis morts"
(I'm looking to say "goodbye my dead friends" - as in literally dead [they were eaten by leopards])

Thanks,
Dillins"

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

An Apology and a Small List of References, Resources, and Supplies

Well, it's been a while and, as with most automotive projects, this one is panning out to be a bit of a pain in my arse.  I'm sure it will be worth it though.  I've been able to look at close to every piece and part of both trucks to figure out which one will be used and which one goes in stand by.  I've settled on the following:

- '76 4sp transmission, transfercase driveshafts, axles, steering box, shocks, and uhhh, driver's side seat bracket
- '72 frame, body, steering components, leaf springs, and passenger's side seat bracket
- Chevy 400 small block engine
- Comp magnum cam, lifters and springs
- March pulley set (solely for looks, thank you very much)
- Rochester Quadrajet carburetor
- Full roll cage from Metal Tech 4x4
- 4.56 Sierra Gears for front and rear differentials
- Aussie locker for the rear differential
- Corbeau front and rear seats with 5-point harnesses in front, 4-point in the rear
- Wiring harness from EZ Wiring
- Body mount and bushing set from Energy Suspension
- Winch mount bumper from JT Outfitters
- Optima yellow top battery (why the hell not?)
- Warn m8000 winch
- 35x1250xr15 ProComp mud terrain tires
- 15x10 ProComp steel wheels

For those of you who don't care much about car stuff, this list is fairly mundane and boring.  For car folks though, this is a pretty fun lineup of stuff to have on one vehicle.  I will concede, it is all probably more interesting when it is all put together and, of course, that is the final destination of this project and blog.

I have received nearly all the parts listed above with the exception of a couple of items and whatever else I get a bug to pick up (hopefully not too much as my budget is dwindling).  I have fortunately been able to get a bunch of recommendations from the folks at L & D in addition to some good technical data from Land Cruiser buffs around the country and a few of my references.  I've consulted only the most reputable publications for my build.  These include Haynes manuals, Summit and Jegs catalogs, Off-Road Adventures, Hot Rod magazine (the girlie issue), and a couple Archie comics that have proven invaluable. 

- A quick note on the Hot Rod magazine, Laya Bella is pretty darned attractive and has been banned from the house so as to not distort my daughters' conception of the female form thus damaging their self image.  Haha!
 
All apologies to those readers who might be youthful and impressionable.


Anyway, I digress.  While tearing apart the '76, I've found a lot of issues that have popped up with the wrecked Land Cruiser that I didn't anticipate.  Both driveshafts have snapped along with the gears in the rear differential.  In all likelihood, the transfer case has gone south as well but I'm checking to see if it's salvageable.  In the mean time, I've purchased new driveshafts from www.cruiserparts.net as well as a transfer case off ebay.  It might work out where I have a ready spare.  This deluge of parts also means that I've got a ton of stuff that I won't be able to bring with us when we move.  I've been throwing a lot of stuff on craigslist.  If you know anybody that would like an entire driveline from a 1972 Toyota, you might refer them to this blog and perhaps they will owe you a drink or something.

The Engine Plan.

We're starting with the engine build and swap.  The FJ I rolled had a Chevy 400 small block engine with an Edelbrock intake manifold, Holley carb, and custom fenderwell headers dropping to dual exhaust.  The new FJ has a Chevy 350 with Edelbrock everything but block hugger headers that are a little rough.  Most hugger headers don't breathe much better than the stock exhaust manifold so the 350 has some upward potential by bolting up my headers to it.  I decided I liked the 400 engine a little better in the truck so we're going with that as the primary engine and boxing up the 350. 

Larry over at L&D thought that replacing all the seals, polishing up the valve covers and intake manifold and repainting the block would make it look like a brand new engine.  I agreed but thought a Comp magnum cam and new lifters, springs, and timing assembly would help too.  I get the feeling this thing is going to be scary fast when it's done...
We'll clean up the welds on the motor mounts in the good Land Cruiser, repaint the engine compartment, and swap the built and polished 400 into it.  Here's the spot this monster power plant is going in:

When the dust settles, this Toyota will be pushing around 400 hp.  That should be just barely adequate to make it to and from the grocery store! 

A Note on Silver Linings...

OK, so by now everyone knows about the accident that prompted this whole rebuild.  As it would turn out, car wrecks completely suck but I wanted to write about some really cool things that have come out of it.  The day it happened, my 6-year-old daughter, Nora was pretty upset.  She didn't see me before she went to school and she started crying once she got there.  That night, she brought home about 10 drawings that kids in her class had colored for me to help me feel better.  Pretty neat, huh?  About 20 guys at work offered to help with the rebuild and my buddy Andy offered to keep my wrecked up Land Cruiser in his driveway while I worked on it.  Complete strangers I talked to because they had been selling Toyota parts on Craigslist were emailing me to make sure I was alright and checking to see if they could help.  I even had someone make me a cake which fell victim to their cat prior to delivery but, hey, it really is the thought that counts!  Of course, Larry at L&D Transmission has been unbelievable with his generosity and his willingness to help.  He has offered to do work to the truck that I would have never even considered.  Of course, both Land Cruisers are being stored at his shop and all he has asked for is parts and some referrals.  Done and done.  I can't really express how appreciative I am for all the support I've received.  I suppose I can start by just saying 'thank you'.  The next post will cover our specific plans for the rebuild.  They're pretty bad ass, actually.

The Starting Point

So as I said earlier, I got in a pretty decent rollover accident when my steering went out in a turn.  I hit a curb at a weird angle and over I went.  This was the rather unfortunate result:

Yikes!  The truck has a ton of good parts on it and the frame might be pretty good still.  I had big plans to buy it back after the insurance company totaled it out.  The engine is still good and I've got shiny new fenderwell headers in there too.  The payout was good and the salvage price was fair so I took what I had and bought a 1972 FJ40 from Chad in Florida.  I really wanted to put the two together to make the best running Land Cruiser possible.  Chad had a similar vision for his '72 I think.  He put a nice Chevy 350 in it and painted it rattle can black with rat rod red trim.  It looks pretty sweet actually.

This is the part where I talk technical mumbo jumbo so if you don't care about that stuff,
  1.  I'm surprised you're reading this blog at all and,
  2. You can probably just skip this whole section

The black Cruiser has a real good body and a solid frame.  Overall it's a real nice FJ40.  The only problem with it is that, prior to 1974, Toyota Land Cruisers had a 3 speed transmission and a differential gear ratio of 3.70:1.  1974 and later models (like my crumpled up '76) had a nice 4 speed tranny and a 4.11:1 gear ratio which is better for bigger tires.  1974 was, in fact a big year of change across the board for these trucks.  Other big differences include:
The older transfer case has a low range of 2.313:1 while the newer ones have a 1.992:1
The flanges for the driveshafts are different
The driveshafts themselves are different diameters by .01" (wow!)
The rear tailgate in the '72 has half doors while the '76 had full ambulance doors
The engine in the '76 is a 2F Toyota that has a little more oomph than the F engine in the '72.
The hard top is different as a result of the different rear doors
There's a bunch of other little differences that I've been grappling with too and they all play in to which chassis I'll be using as my starting point.  Fortunately I had some expert help to help me figure it out!

Here's where I get to give my shameless endorsement of a local repair shop that I stumbled onto when my clutch went out a while back.  L & D Transmission in Kingsland, Georgia is a good shop that sticks to their price quotes and won't fill you full of hot air.  I appreciated that so I got a few repairs done there.  My wife went to the shop to pick up a copy of an exhaust receipt for the insurance claim and the owner, Larry, told her that if I brought both Land Cruisers to the shop, he would do the body swap for free.  For free??  I thought there was a breakdown in communication somewhere but he was absolutely serious.  It turns out he wants to help out a guy in the military who had a cool project.  He and I have gotten along pretty well but I can't believe somebody would be willing to do so much for a random customer.  I suspect he's pretty amped up about the truck too.  He hasn't let on too much though...

The Vision...

OK.  One thing I've learned at my limited experience at car shows is that nobody votes for a Toyota.  British cars might have a remote chance but a Japanese truck hasn't got a prayer.  I get a lot of good comments on the Chevy small block and kids go nuts for big trucks but if it's not domestic, it's probably not going to win. C'est la vie, it turns out trophies aren't the coolest part of having a special car.  The truth is, the greatest thing about having a nice car is when kids and their dads will point at it in a parking lot and start talking together about it.  Some people might get it and some people might not, but cars are a part of American culture that have brought parents and kids together and turned strangers into friends for generations. 

That being said, when building a car from scratch, you need to have a pretty specific vision as to what it should it should be before you start or else you'll end up driving yourself nuts every time you decide to go down a different path with it.  I love going off road (not mudding, but rock crawling and trails) and I'm completely nuts about the rat rod culture.  I really like the idea of a wicked engine and driveline dropped in a vehicle you don't mind scratching up when you drive it through guard rails or plate glass windows.  This rollover experience of mine has also reminded me of the importance of safety measures.  It'd be cool to take the kids in the truck too so we can take it to the beach or camping when we wanted.  I've been able to identify three vehicles from which I can glean some inspiration for the build of my Land Cruiser: 
A classic rat rod,

a family station wagon,

and the Grave Digger monster truck.

I think this seems reasonable. 

Next I'll show you the starting point with the silver one I rolled, the black one that will be my saving grace, and the field in which the magic will happen.