I have been slowly working on the FJ40 for the last year… I would like to be better in 2023 at documenting my progress. I would like to get this old truck back into the driving rotation in 2023 if possible.
Last year, I rebuilt the carburetor, fixed a bunch of vacuum leaks, and managed to put about 15 miles on it while continuing to troubleshoot the numerous issues that led to it being parking back in 2011. My core symptom, the truck would run fine until it got up to operating temperature and then it would backfire, sputter, and die under load. When coming to a stop, when you let off the gas, it would sputter and die.
I believed these to be related to a vacuum leak of some sort. and thus, I searched for vacuum leaks. The first time I plugged the vacuum gauge up, the rig was somehow running on about 2mm/hg of manifold vacuum!
I started replacing vacuum hoses, one by one, and wouldn’t you know it, I found several broken, cracked, or completely disconnected vacuum lines… fixing these got me to an idling vacuum reading of about 12mm/hg. However, these fixes did nothing to solve my running issues. Out came the carb cleaner… and I started spraying all the various places I could think would be allowing my precious vacuum to leak out. AND… I found a big time leak on the intake gaskets… which in theory explains the issues I was having with the truck running while cold and then leaking and running terrible at temp.
Armed with this information I decided to start soaking the manifold studs and bolts hoping that I will be able to remove most of them without the pain and suffering of drilling and tapping busted bolts out of the block…
So, while soaking all the studs, I moved on to another need before the truck could be made road worthy… tires that are not 12 years old! after browsing around IH8MUD a bunch, I elected to change wheels, from the early 2000’s tacoma steel wheels, to a set of 2020 Toyota 4Runner spare steel wheels. These wheels have been in production since 2008, are plentiful, and have a modern simple look. I ordered a set off of flea-bay, thinking I was getting a cheap used set of wheels… what showed up was shiny brand new in the box steel wheels! Score!
I had second thoughts about my new wheels, I had been planning to rough up and spray enamel Massey-Ferguson gray paint the wheels to give them that vintage Toyota steel wheel look… but these perfect new black wheels where sure tempting. Ultimately I pulled the trigger and painted them up. I purchased four mid-2022 produced 235/80/17 Cooper Discoverer tires off of Facebook marketplace for a little over $200, and had them mounted by a local tire shop.
I’m really pleased with how they look, and now can cruise around without worrying about all the dry rot!
Finally, for the intake leaks… I believe the path forward is to remove the exhaust manifold and replace it with a header, replace the (terrible) old exhaust system entirely. while having the new system installed, have the shop place an O2 sensor bung and plug… planing for an eventual Sniper installation.
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