Why no talk of this 85 FJ60 V8 conversion?

[dieselcruiserhead]

It is true that most (80%) of conversions are shoddy. This one looks pretty clean but I would never purchase a vehicle like this site unseen and driven. If it was clean, salvage title or not, it might be worth it...

 

[kcowyo]

If it was clean, salvage title or not, it might be worth it...

I dunno if it varies from state to state but in Wyoming, a salvage title may be issued if the vehicle has ever been stolen, even if there was no damage done to the vehicle.

A salvage title is certainly not an 'add-on' in the Blue book, but in some cases it may be worth investigating, especially because it scares away most buyers. Might be a good way to get a good buy on something.

 

[calamaridog]

Rule #1. Never buy another man's conversion.

:REOutArchery02:

 

[ntsqd]

Rule #1. Never buy another man's conversion.

A good RoT, but temper it with your own knowledge & ability to do such a conversion. If both are great enough you can weed out those not worth buying and possibly buy below what the stack of parts would cost.

 

[cruiser guy]

A good RoT, but temper it with your own knowledge & ability to do such a conversion. If both are great enough you can weed out those not worth buying and possibly buy below what the stack of parts would cost.

That assumes that you are planning to do the modifications that exist on the subject vehicle. If not those mods are not worth much.

 

[ntsqd]

True, but why else would I be buying it if I didn't want those mods? In any used vehicle there will be minor things you want to change, so I'm not referring to those, only to the major stuff.

 

[MB309basket]

85 V8 conversion

I'm always wary when someone spends some serious $$$ for a new engine, only to sell it immediately. The inference is that something did not work to the owner's satisfaction and they're finally cutting their losses...

Yes, that is precisely how I would handle a franken-project that I could not iron all the bugs out of.

I also take to heart the observation about buying another man's conversion.

Good luck to the seller, and thanks to all who participated in the discussion.

 

[dlbrunner]

Having done a v8 conversion on an FJ40 I would somewhat agree about not buying another person's conversion, with a caveat:

If you have gone through a conversion yourself, you will have a good idea what to look for if you are buying another. I would not buy a converted vehicle unless I had previously built/owned the same vehicle.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

being someone who builds and messes with other converted vehicles frequently, again IMO it really depends on who did the conversion and the quality of the work etc etc. I have walked up to conversions and been able to figure things out right away, in some cases easier than if it were the stock motor. But both sides of the coin, I have seen some amazingly poor quality swaps too.

Again it really depends on the vehicle and your mechanical ability or it you have money to spend it you are paying a mechanic. If you have little/no mechanical experience then you all are correct and I might shy away. For example near any swap by Proffitt's Cruisers I would trust and purchase and work on any day of the week. Even if it were a complex EFI system. Even though even they get some little things wrong here and there, they are still high quality, easy to follow, and easy to repair. But again I have seen nightmares too. Also much of it depends on the complexity of the engine and other components as well. For what its worth...

Again in the case of this vehicle, the price and original mileage of the truck dictate that it is more on the homebrew side of things. But if I were able to inspect it personally and see how things were done, I might not hesitate to purchase it at all.

 

[ntsqd]

FWIW this vehicle is not too terribly far from my location.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

if you check it out take pictures heavily including the engine compartment. If you can vouch it seems to run/turn/stop/steer/start fine with no difficulty or smell from the exhaust we can probably tell from the pics about the cleanliness of the conversion, for the most part....

 

[MB309basket]

Dudes,

I note that the reserve price has been lowered to $12K. How does that play out vis a vis the things we've been discussing?

 

[ginericLC]

Having been there and done that, V8 TBI into a 60 series, I can say that I will never do another conversion unless it is going to a diesel. It is a lot of work. Would I buy one that was done? It really depends on who did it and how much time did they put into it. Are the wires all crimped together or did they solder and flexloom every single wire. When I did mine I had something like 220 feet of flexloom in it. I had an insane amount of hours in it and it pains me to think about that the folks who bought it might think I did some shoddy workmanship. I mean really there could be a mistake in it somewhere that I didn't catch. I'm not an engineer for Toyota or GM so I don't have all the tools or people looking over my shoulder checking for mistakes. My biggest fear in selling any vehicle is that I will have done something that doesn't suit the next owner. I don't want to be known as the pesky PO.