ScottEichornsFJ40

One of my recent projects is a 1971 FJ40 being pretty much totally redone. The vehicle is owned by Dr. Scott Eichhorn of Searcy, Arkansas. Scott has had the truck for quite some time and has managed to have the exterior of the truck smoothed up and painted (Thank You). He is building the truck for his son so we discussed all his options and decided to go with a Vortec 350, a 4L60e, four wheel disc brakes, AGR power steering with a variable ratio steering gear, handling kit with a new lift suspension and shocks, new Sport Seats with harnesses and a full roll cage. Other things we are doing to the truck include complete disassembly to powder coating everything we can, lining everything we can, relooming and inspecting his factory wiring harness, and refurbishing all the trucks accessories during reassembly. Check out the pics below.

You can see the exterior of the truck is in excellent shape.

Keiko slacking off on my time (just kidding Keiko). Check out the excellent fab work on the roll cage feet. The nitty gritty and dirty and grimy and oily

Here is where the fun starts. Check out how we prep the frame over the next few pics. The results are worth the extra effort.

Making sure it all fits. We started with the pulley- radiator gap to fit an electric fan and went back from there as this sets the driveline position.

The driveline was so long we had to redo the factory frame support. I'll use the new support to mount the fuel pump and to redo the rear brake line

We truss both frame horns to strengthen the front end and only cut the center arm section just enough to fit the sector. We use the tub to check everything.

I was unsure if the factory manifolds were going to work. Fitting properly pays off. The manifolds work hence the EGR items will work as well.

Generally I frown on doing a V8 in an early model w/o upgrading the brakes so here Keiko is actually working again on the upgrade process.

This is one of the hardest things we do here. Take a firetrap harness, redo it for the V8 installation and redo the factory wiring. Carnage!!

Too many people forget the harness. We rewired this one with the V8 requirements installed. Very clean, very clean

Once we got the frame back the reassembly and final fittings could begin. With the tub off every thing goes together pretty quickly.

This is the part I like. Everyday the chassis reflects your efforts. You can see the progress taking place.

With the tub off and a little planning the fuel lines, pump and harness can be tucked away so that they look and function like stock.

The S&P Electronics harness is custom made for me so that I can literally plug into the cruiser harness. This allows a very clean install.

Scott's transfer case was basically destroyed. Look carefully at the teeth of the gears and shaft and check out the front nose cone bearing.

Scott had the body done somewhere else but they did not do the interior so I decided to touch up everything I could for a more finished truck when I delivered it to Scott.

I needed to finish the detail prep before I started putting the tub back on. The wiring went in great. The shifter worked fine so I moved to the firewall stuff.

The interior is starting to come together here. Making a boot for the dual shifter is going to be an interesting challenge because of its position.

The custom brake lines really help to clean up the firewall. I fab'd a heat shield for the harness and the heater hose pipes.

With the tub fitted and everything clearing the bolt up phase begins.

The steering wheel presented many interesting hours of scratching my head on how to get an early model horn button to work since the shaft is the ground. Any suggestions?

We lined the fenders and put together the engine compartment. The alternator wires, hoses, and battery box were put in next.