New life for an old pig...

Lucy_FJ55 · 09-16-06, 11:08 AM

Some of you may remember the saga behind my DD Pig which started almost a year ago, but for the rest of you I have attached an old link to explain a few things...

http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...=seized+engine

I basically scored a nicely 'cosmetically restorified' Pig a couple years back and seized my engine last winter. Since then, I have been slowly disassembling my cruiser to accept a donor engine and have had time to fantasize about other mods while the rig is stuck in the garage. I plan on swapping the engines and doing most of the work mself (with a little help from my friends, of course). I now hope to upgrade to power steering, upgrade the brakes, new suspension, carb rebuild and maybe some headers. Wish me luck! Anway I thought if I shared my experiences I would be able to tap into the infinite wisdom and knowledge provided by the knights here on Mud.

Here are a couple porgress pics of pulling the donor engine from a rolled '81 FJ40. Plan is to pull the entire 2F engine, 4 spd tranny, and transfer case as one unit and then replace into my cruiser.

Lucy_FJ55 · 09-16-06, 11:12 AM

Here are a couple more pics...the entire behemouth out of the donor rig and on the ground, and then transporting the engine back to my garage.

Lucy_FJ55 · 09-16-06, 11:25 AM

A couple pics of my cruiser sitting in the garage awaiting/during surgery. I have removed the skidplates, driveshafts, gas lines, battery/tray, vacuum lines and some other stuff. Plan is to remove the radiator and coolant this weekend and everthing else in order to be prepared for the removal. I plan on yanking the old engine while attached to the transmission and transfer case again. I have a a couple stubborn bolts to deal with also. Not many questions for the masses yet but I anticipate some head-scratching soon.

PabloCruise · 09-16-06, 01:56 PM

Cool - I cannot wait to see more!

usmcruiser · 09-16-06, 09:39 PM

That's one nice looking pig. I hope the heart transplant goes well.

clemson55 · 09-17-06, 08:13 AM

Post up and hopefully we can help if you need it. I have done one engine swap in my 55 and about 3 on another guys 40.

Lucy_FJ55 · 10-05-06, 08:51 PM

Progress has been slow... but I had a chance to squeeze in some cruisin' a couple weekends ago. Headed up to the hills to catch the first snow of the season.

Lucy_FJ55 · 10-05-06, 09:09 PM

And last weekend I was able to beat a couple stubborn bolts, drained the coolant, removed the radiator and some smog stuff. I have decided to de-smog and my donor engine came that way so my job should be a little easier. No pics, not much to see.

RHINO · 10-08-06, 04:34 PM

good to see the worker pig is having fun while the queen is down.

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-11-06, 11:28 AM

A couple weeks ago I unburied the stock rims for this cruiser from the dark corner of the garage and had the tires removed. Plan on mediablasting these rims, spraying some new gray paint on 'em, and then getting new tires. I would like to run the stock steelies and caps again.

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-11-06, 11:41 AM

More progress...

FINALLY yanked the old, tired engine out of the rig last night. What a great feeling. Now I can get started on prepping and installing the donor. Shouldn't be too bad. I have an email out to Jim C. for some advice and I may get my carb rebuilt by him. Still trying to figure out which power steering set-up to go with and I have a few other details to figure out. Last pic is of both engines side by side and waiting for me to swap parts. I think I will clean the engine bay and drivetrain a bit before installing.

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-11-06, 11:49 AM

And a 'happy' pic.

warrior_1515 · 11-13-06, 10:00 PM

Very Cool Carlos!!!!

Keep up the good work

Dave

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-13-06, 11:11 PM

Dave, you're way to modest.

Thanks for all your help yanking the engine out last week. Oh. did I forget to mention I have had some help with all this...

Wayneraintree · 11-14-06, 05:43 PM

What tires you planning to run on the steelies?

I have a set sitting here waiting to go under my 60 : ) been weighing the options of type and height/width...

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-15-06, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayneraintree

What tires you planning to run on the steelies?

I have a set sitting here waiting to go under my 60 : ) been weighing the options of type and height/width...

That's a great question. I have been bouncing back and forth on this one for a while now. It depends on how much lift I end up going with. I will probably settle on about 3" and plan on running 33x9.5's on up to maybe a 34x 10.5...

I like the idea of a 10.5 wide tire for this rig along with a mild spring lift. Still saving cash and trying to decide. What are your plans for tires?

Wayneraintree · 11-15-06, 11:28 AM

I had a set of 33 x 9.50's bfg AT that I thought were too skinny on the wagon. 10.5 seems like it would be the right choice... my gearing requires 33 to 35's to I was thinking 35 x 10.50 bfg at... 33 X 10.50 are 129$ per (tirerack) and they don't have 35 x 10.5 showing... so I can't seem to find a 10.5 wide 35. I guess to keep the steelies, 10.5 is max width. I do see Super Swamper Radial SSR
in 35 x 10.50 but are 220$ per and are not the type tire for my mostly on road driving of the 60. So I am not sure.

rapovt · 11-15-06, 12:18 PM

who makes a 34x 10.50 tire. TRXUS come in 34x 12.50 and they look awesome

Wayneraintree · 11-15-06, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rapovt

who makes a 34x 10.50 tire. TRXUS come in 34x 12.50 and they look awesome

Super Swamper LTB come in 34 X 10.5 at 134.99$ per... though they are bias ply and heavily lugged for max offroad...

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-15-06, 06:45 PM

I like that Super Swamper LTB but it seems unpractical for this rig. I have not been able to find any other 34" x 10.5" tires, unfortunately. If anyone knows of any 34" or 35" x 10.5" tires, post up please. I will probably squeeze some 33's under there.

Wayneraintree · 11-15-06, 08:03 PM

a search brought up two options: Superswamper Q78 which is close to a 35 x 11.50 and Kelly Springfield MSR which run 33 x 9.5. Both have been used on stock rims as reported by fellow mudders. I could not find the cost on the Kelly tires but people reported they wear well. The Q78 are reported to wear well and be "quiet" for swampers. I imagine they are compared to the 38 x 14.5 SX on my 55 : ) Looks like high mileage use, BFG AT's 33 X 9.5 are the best choice...I though they were 'squirrely'...

Guyute · 11-17-06, 05:28 PM

Good progress Carlos.

What did you decide on the desmog? JimC just finished and dropped my carb/dizzy in the mail. So I'm fully committed. I'm going to wait on the P/S (only running the 33x9.5 Swamper radials) and the old skool York bracket needs a lilttle work but, there is a ton of room in the engine bay now.

I have an extra fj60 dizzy/coil and igniter if you want to desmog and recurve @ the same time.

Later.

PabloCruise · 11-23-06, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucy_FJ55

And a 'happy' pic.

Very cool pic!

I know some have taken the stocker wheels and widened them to put 12.50's on them...

Lucy_FJ55 · 11-23-06, 02:23 PM

I know some have taken the stocker wheels and widened them to put 12.50's on them...[/QUOTE]

Yep, been contemplating that as well...

warrior_1515 · 12-01-06, 11:19 PM

Come on Carlos....Get you crap sent out to Jim C. and lets get rolling on installing the new engine. Can't wait forever

nuclearlemon · 12-02-06, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PabloCruise

Very cool pic!

I know some have taken the stocker wheels and widened them to put 12.50's on them...

widening is expensive. cheaper to have cruiser inners welded into wider aftermarket chevy outers.

Lucy_FJ55 · 12-02-06, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrior_1515

Come on Carlos....Get you crap sent out to Jim C. and lets get rolling on installing the new engine. Can't wait forever

Ha Ha. I have been trying to get a chance to call and speak with Jim but he and I are both busy men. I am going to try and reach him on Monday again. He and I have spoken by email and it looks like I will probably be sending him a bunch of carbs and other crap so he can make 'bionic' parts for the piggy. BWUUHAAHAA!!

Still buying parts for the install. I'll keep you posted...

Lucy_FJ55 · 12-02-06, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuclearlemon

widening is expensive. cheaper to have cruiser inners welded into wider aftermarket chevy outers.

Thanks for the tip!

Lucy_FJ55 · 12-09-06, 08:30 PM

Had some time this weekend to work on the pig as well as had help from a couple friends. So we hooked up the donor engine and tried to squeeze it in. It was a bit premature however, I had not had a chance to swap any parts from the old engine yet and had not figured out all the differences in these two setups. So it was a bit of trial and error. We eventually tried a few times to wedge the new setup in but I was not totally aware how many little things I needed to address first. So the donor setup sits on the floor again.

Lucy_FJ55 · 12-09-06, 08:44 PM

The rear engine mounts on the orig. '77 FJ55 engine have three mounting points per mount and side but the newer, '81 FJ40 engine only has two but also incorporated a crossmember. I wasn't planning on using the crossmember and was wondering if I should just drill, and then 'tap and die' the new holes (one on either side of the bellhousing) or if I should go through the trouble of swapping bellhousings? Seems like a pain to swap out bellhousings unless folks think I shouldn't mess with drilling the newer housing.

Also, which transmission and transfercase setup do ya'all suggest? The newer '81 or the older '77 or a mix 'n match? I also realize if I use the newer transfercase I lose the drum mounted emergency brake. Can the drum mount be swapped to the newer '81 transfercase? Or am I stuck with getting a disc brake conversion, line lock, or rear disc brake/emergency brake combo? Just trying to 'wrap' my brains around all the options in order to make a good decision. Thanks for any advice.

Oh, and I guess I will probably have to shorten my rear driveshaft also. Was hoping to get this done by Christmas as a gift to myself but I'm losing faith.

Anyone still reading all this and actually gettin' it?

Carlos