Engine options for FJ40 Cruiser

Had one some years ago with a Peter Brock 308 v8 - went well!

Hi Trevor,
There's not really much choice outside of a rebuild of the original 2F or replace it with your choice of,
Chev, 307, 327, 350, 400 big and small block, 427, 454 in the V8's or,
Holden, 253, 308 in the V8's or the Commodore 3.8 litre V6, or,
Ford, 289, 302, 351 in the V8's or,
Chrysler, 318, 360 in the V8's.
And probably a few I've left out too,

Have a look at people such as Mark's 4wd Adaptors to see what adaptors they have that will match the gearbox.

Geoff.

If you want a play toy that you will put on a trailer and tow to places and then let rip (I'm thinking fuel costs here), something like a 350 V8 is a good option. Adaptor kits are easily found and lots of places around can do the job, or at least help you with it.

If you are planing on driving it to your playground then a small 253 would be good. The 2F is a big drinker (strong but thirsty) and even the ford 250 crossflow has been put into a few of these before.

But maaaaaate, how much mukin around do you want to do. If the vehicle is in reasonable nick and all you have to do is drop in another 2F to get it going, I'd say do just that, and have fun.

Bought one new in '78. Me,dog ,toolbox & swag onboard & seen just about every road & track around Oz on a working holiday for the next 3 years. Eventually the petrol motor died & I fitted a 2H Diesel ( fairly new on the market back then) for better fuel economy & running costs (Diesel about 12-18cpl).Did a couple hundred thousand miles in it. Rough,basic,easily fixable. Got too small for a family & regretably ended up selling it, but definitely one of the best vehichles that I've owned.
Have a look at this & see what you can do with them & how respected this vehichle is world wide.

www.tlcicon.com

Hi Trevor,

My son has a 1975 FJ40 shortie and he has converted it to a 307 chev. Marks adapters are definitely the place to go for all of the gear you need.

One word of warning that my son can vouch for is the whole process starts to cost a few bucks and is definitely a lot more costly than a rebuild of the standard Toyota six cylinder.

This is now his third build up of one of these and this time he has opted for a complete fibreglass body as they can at times suffer badly from rust so you must take plenty of care in rust prevention.

As far as off road ability then even in stock form they are very capable. My son has gone a bit futher with larger tyres, lift etc and his thing goes everywhere he takes it. Internally he has gone to Recaro bucket seats etc and it looks pretty good.

Not a vehicle made for comfort and being a short wheel base you can get bounced around a bit on really rough stuff but it is also a ton of fun.

Hope this helps a bit.

Trevor

Lots of info for you to consider

If you are going to keep the 40 as a project then I would rebuild the existing engine. It is by far the most cost effective way to get the vehicle back to its original condition.

It is all very well to fit 'other' engines in but basically the 4.2 petrol was designed for that vehicle or at least the 40 was designed around the engine. Once you go away from the original you will end up spending dollars you hadn't thought of.

An original vehicle will be easier to sell again than a hybrid.

Cheers

Trevor make a decent vehicle out of it go 308(60 to 80lb.lighter than 2F for starters plus the extra horses) pick up a second hand gas conversion,cheap diff lock in the front ,mate they are un bleep believable,had mine 15 plus and cannot break it.
Regards Ronnie