Going to medical school is a lot of work, but when you're done you can find a good job fixing folks, and usually come home with a paycheck that can afford you a nice set of wheels. Unfortunately we've noticed (living in Los Angeles) that many folks with money to spend waste it on some boring Lexus, BMW, or Mercedes sedan when they could get a really cool 4x4 built like no-one else has. Luckily kidney specialist Dr. Scott Morey didn't fall into that trap, but rather spent his hard-earned greenbacks building this stretched '76 FJ-40 Land Cruiser.
Scott had the FJ since it was stock, but after a few trips with the slow old straight-six and crowded back seats full of kids and dogs he decided it was time for a change. With a little help from his friends and some investment of his salary he is now over half way to a family hauler that hauls butt and turns way more heads then some leather-lined Euro-tourer. What's even cooler is that rather than being sentenced to some suburban garage for weekend-only trips, this thing gets driven daily to various hospitals where Scott visits patients, and when we say driven we mean driven hard with tires squeelin' at every chance.
One of the reason's Scott stretched his Cruiser was so his dog Scooby could stretch out in the back and there would still be room for camping gear and kids. We think the interior of an FJ-40 is one of the most classic styles around and Scott smartly left well enough alone. He does have a hidden stereo receiver to keep him humming over the growl of the Flowmaster exhaust on long drives to hospitals, and a home-brew CO2 tank for airing up tires after airing the cruiser out at the dunes. Plus there is a front truck cage and a soon-to-be rear cage of 2-inch 0.120 wall tubing so that the only trips to the hospital are for work. The tube fenders not only protect against rock rash, but also deflect rainy-day tire spray from the Remington Mud Brutes on American Racing rims. Looking forward to more rainy days, Scott has a metal Land Cruiser hard top getting stretched and painted to match the body.
Engine: GM Performance RamJet 350
Transmission: GM NV4500
Transfer Case: Orion 4:1
Front Axle: Stock, 4.11 gears, turned knuckles, Warn hubs, diff guard
Rear Axle: Stock, 4.11 gears, custom antiwrap bar
Tires & Wheels: Remington Mud Brutes on American Racing rims
Suspension: Stock, Toyota leaves, spring-over
Underneath you can hardly...
Underneath you can hardly see how Hank's Welding added 20 inches to the frame and body. Of course the new paint is yet to be sprayed, but important stuff like a rear anti-wrap bar runs alongside the offset rear driveline, and strong rock sliders built by Scott's mate Chris Bishop run up into the front tube fenders to protect the eventual coats of classic Toyota mustard yellow. Within the cab the original Toyota seats were retained, but the updated shifters control a GM NV4500 five-speed manual transmission and an Advance Adapters Orion transfer case with 4:1 low range. Other amenities include a column-mounted tach, switches for the Hella auxiliary lights, and a lockable center console from Tuffy Products.
Scott must have been painfully...
Scott must have been painfully tortured by his old Land Cruiser straight-six because he drives this new 'Cruiser at better than half throttle constantly, and that's with a RamJet 350 from GM Performance Parts under the hood. The RamJet makes for an easy swap candidate, and with 350 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque all in a simple fuel-injected package, why would you go any other way? Scott uses a yellow-top Optima battery and will eventually have his A/C pump plumbed as an onboard air system for filling tires.
The stock axles were kept...
The stock axles were kept while waiting for a set of 1-ton Danas to be sourced, and they are still stuffed with open carriers spinning 4.11 gears. The front axle had the caster fixed by cutting and turning the knuckles, and then crossover steering was added with the tie rod on the back side of the axle, clear from trail dangers. A Saginaw power-steering conversion was done with a custom flat pitman arm, while the stock leaf springs where strapped to the top of the axles for better ground clearance.