Rob's '64 FJ40 Project

Roborado · Aug 13, 2024

I'm going to start sharing my effort on my '64 FJ40. Here is some background.
I was told that it was a factory soft top so I am keeping it that way.
It has a factory Ramsey PTO winch that I want to keep if possible.
When I bought it there was a GM engine in it. That engine needs to be replaced. 4RUNNER engine? Rebuilt GM straight 6? TBD for now.
Currently it has a 3 speed manual transmission. I have a 4 speed manual from my '74 that might be a good trade. I have to keep a manual if I want to keep the PTO winch.
I am working on stopping the rust and repairing the body. Likely to be a lot of aluminum diamond plate after the body repair.
Eventually, a new soft top and doors (half doors?).

I didn't do a good job of taking pictures before I started but I am trying to do a better job of documentation going forward.

I will add some pictures later.

Roborado · May 9, 2025

Here are a few before and after pictures of the body work I have been doing.

Roborado · May 9, 2025

These are of the rear doors

nuclearlemon · May 9, 2025

Ramsey would be dealer installed. Asian people would be factory installed

Also probably not factory soft top. With the strikers for hard doors. Pull the aftermarket soft top rail and look for holes drilled in the lip and brackets in the back corners of the fenders for the bows

subzali · May 9, 2025

nuclearlemon said:
...Asian people would be factory installed...

lol

nuclearlemon · May 9, 2025

Lol...stupid autocorrect on my phone. And my screen is broken so I only see bits and pieces of what I type

Roborado · May 9, 2025

I was told it was a factory soft top but that means nothing. The guy I bought it from wasn't totally informed.
I will take the rails off at some point and investigate.

It is definitely a Ramsey Winch, see photo. 8000 LBS. I don't even know if it works. I have been looking for a manual or something so I don't break anything when I test it.

MDH33 · May 9, 2025

Roborado said:
I'm going to start sharing my effort on my '64 FJ40. Here is some background.
I was told that it was a factory soft top so I am keeping it that way.
It has a factory Ramsey PTO winch that I want to keep if possible.
When I bought it there was a GM engine in it. That engine needs to be replaced. 4RUNNER engine? Rebuilt GM straight 6? TBD for now.
Currently it has a 3 speed manual transmission. I have a 4 speed manual from my '74 that might be a good trade. I have to keep a manual if I want to keep the PTO winch.

My vote would be find another F or 2F, keep it simple and Toyota. :zilla:

Looking Forward to your progress. I ❤ 40's

Roborado · May 9, 2025

I want to keep it simple and Toyota but I want fuel injection. In my experience carburetors don't deal with a lot of altitude change very well.

nuclearlemon · May 11, 2025

2fe conversion or 3fe sounds like the most KISS engine setup. although, at that point it's a bit further from original, so why not go with something with a bit more oomph.

biggest thing about pto winches is they don't stop immediately and are powerful, so stop them long before you think you need to.

here's a good video, just don't spool your cable like he does

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx2auVs-N-Q&t=89s

Roborado · May 11, 2025

Funny thing. That is exactly what my cable looks like. Thank you for the video, I will be watching it later.

The only real reason I don't go "bigger" is that this truck is not the one that I am building for the " hard core". This is just one I want to tool around in and do some moderate trails. The other truck will likely be pretty far from original.

wesintl · May 12, 2025

The ramsey pto info is here: https://risingsun4x4club.org/uploads/wes/Ramsey_PTO.pdf

DanS · May 22, 2025

wesintl said:
The ramsey pto info is here: https://risingsun4x4club.org/uploads/wes/Ramsey_PTO.pdf

Here's the real question about a Ramsey PTO: what color should it be as installed at a dealer?

Dan

Roborado · May 28, 2025

I got the 3FE! Very excited to have this in the garage! Ready to get going.

Roborado · Sep 28, 2025

So, I finally cleared my garage enough to get going in the engine.

I got most of the "accessories" off the front of the engine. Still need to pull the oil cooler, distributor, and oil filter off one side and the injector rail, intake and exhaust manifolds off the other.

Once I get the block clear I am thinking about cleaning it up and painting it before I do all of the gaskets and then slowly put it back together.

Question of everyone; has anybody put a late model FJ40 power steering box on an older model FJ40? I know I will need to change the steering column, and the steering box mount, but is there anything that makes this idea bad?

Thanks!

wesintl · Sep 29, 2025

Depends on the end goal of tires. With an fj60 box you get rid of the center arm nonsense and knock out a few linkages for wear.

subzali · Sep 29, 2025

Plus aren’t the FJ40 ps boxes extremely hard to find? Minitruck boxes with the aftermarket mounts are more common I believe.

Roborado · Nov 16, 2025

So I got the top end of the engine taken apart and started looking at the valves. I tried to clean them up but they just weren't sealing. I took it in for a valve job and just got it back. They replaced the exhaust valves and cleaned up the surfaces. It looks great.

In the meantime I kept working on other gaskets and cleaning up the block. When I took off the timing cover I found that the cam sprocket had a couple of chips in a couple of the teeth. So, I am going to replace that before I put it all back together. Here are a couple of pictures of the progress.

Capriblue45 · Nov 17, 2025

That looks to have cleaned up nicely Rob. Can't wait to see this on the trails.

Roborado · Apr 13, 2026

Well as things move forward, I pulled the drive shafts. Then proceeded to pull the entire PTO winch. It was a bit more of a struggle than I expected. I dug out my 4speed and differential from my '74 FJ40. I am leaning towards cleaning those up and using them in the '64.

I need to find a transmission guy or get up the gumption to rebuild the transmission myself.

Rob's '64 FJ40 Project

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