[Lil'John]

Semi return hijack As far as I know, for the last 150k-200k miles, oil changes were done about 17k or so My dad owned the car before donating it to the GF I almost considered it but knew I'd lose my license in a month or two of owning it

Back to cruiser content.

I left one thing down at AA: the clutch fork ball They will be shipping one up to Georg. Have I mentioned how top notch AA is?

I also dropped a boat load of stuff off to Don and Georg. They seemed to be chomping at the bit to see the pig after the clean parts preview And I'm chomping at the bit to see what they can do

[Lil'John]

Two small posts. First, here are the pictures of the firewall before I paint it. All solid just a bit dirty

In the second picture, you can see the ripped hole I am going to have fixed. It is to the left of the brake booster mounting area.

[Lil'John]

Of course, the bigger news is 325 horses in the back of my truck I got to pick up my 6.0L Vortec today

The vehicle info: It is a 2004 from a Chevy 2500hd. Only had 30k miles. Seems the owner thought he was a hardcore radio guy... caught the dash on fire Bad for him, good deal for me

The good news: It is complete and came with more stuff than I know what to do with. I got crossover pipes with all but one rear 02 sensor(no issue since I'm not running cats and only running front 02) I got ALL the engine bay AC stuff(condensor, accumulator, and lines uncut) I got the air box and adapters. I got the drive by wire pedal. I even got the complete fuse box I got a 6 month warranty. I also got the offer of if anything is missing, I can come back for any parts I might need

The bad news: The AC condensor is WAY too wide for the 55 One of the oil cooler lines is cut. The EGR valve mounting tab is broken. I have no idea where the EGR routes too in the back.

The other slight bad issue: It came with hydroboost PS pump. No idea how I'll handle that

Here are some quick pictures:
First picture shows a frontish view. You can see the PCM and fuse box. Radiator hoses have been pitched. You an also see part of the drive by wire MAF

Second picture shows driver side view. You can see the PCM again. You can also see the stock battery cable. I'm going to keep that on the driverside but cut the part going to the battery. I'll use this junction for the alternator as well as a "huge" cluster of relays on the driverside fender

Third picture shows passenger side view.

Of course, the common theme of all pictures is: wires, wires, and MORE wires

[Lil'John]

Forgot one more picture... the porcupine style fan Pain in the ass to remove and it is beginning to look like it also took the radiator out

[Lil'John]

Just a "fun" update for the most part.

Start with the "bad" news. Shop time got put off a week. Don has a pile of work so a short delay. Kind of good news/bad news. At least I'm not in a huge rush on this

But, on the good side, if a car, blow, and hooker are the life, I've got the Hooker and I'm working on the car so I'm also to "the life"

Well, okay, it is Hooker headers. Decided to make exhaust routing a little better. The hookers seem to be well made. Two bad things with them though. First, they only include plain bolts instead of flanges or lockwashers Second, they interfere with the stock motor mounts. Good thing I'm swapping.

Onto the pictures:
First one is just another of the engine but with headers on it Worth noting is the fuse panel the wrecker included with the engine. They did not cut a single wire in the removal of this engine In crawling around the engine, I found that the PO cut a wire I'm assuming it is for an alarm to go with the radio that fried the truck

Second picture is the factory injector feed and the flare I made using the Mastercool flaring tool(71475) that Brett recommended. I REALLY love that tool. The tube was one of those thick type you buy from Napa or Kragen. It put the bubble there with NO problem. That was my first shot WELL worth the money. Thank you for the heads up Brett

[Lil'John]

I found a killer link that will take the scare out of wiring a vortec:
2000 Vortec 4.8/5.3/6.0 Harness Info

It gives pin outs AND pictures of what the driverside wiring harness looks like when it is pulled without cutting.

With that diagram, I will be able to cut the fuse box out and know where all the wires are supposed to go I should be able to cut it down to like 5 fused wires and about 6 misc wires in a couple of hours.

[Lil'John]

Five hours later and I'm looking for some rope

Already having trouble with Durabak. I really liked the quick reply and sample shipping. But after one coat, I'd have to say their product sucks(smooth finish white)

I am getting the dreaded "freckle" finish... aka spots where the "paint" bubbled away from. Normally, I'd attribute this to poor prep. But short of taking the firewall to bare metal, I couldn't have done any better.

I roughed up the surface. I used Xylene over every surface. I let the surface dry for about 1.5 hours. And yet I get that poor adhesion issue

I'm going to try a second coat this evening to see if it will cover those spots(I was planning three or four coats anyways)

If that fails, tomorrow I'll be spraying over it with a Rustoleum primer and then trying yet another coat of it.

Anyone local to Sac need 3/4 of a gallon of smooth white Durabak... will sell cheap (Not quite serious about this offer... yet )

I was hoping to get the firewall and fenders cleaned up before heading to Don... and I was hoping to avoid doing a Linex because he has some firewall things to cleanup/weld.

[Pighead]

Hmmm....I'm wondering how my Pig would look with zebra stripes....

Originally Posted by Lil'John

Anyone local to Sac need 3/4 of a gallon of smooth white Durabak... will sell cheap (Not quite serious about this offer... yet )

[Buckethead]

what a build.

much more than I could have handled with this pig, glad to see everything coming together

look forward to hearing about the drive with the new motor.

Good Luck
Bucket

[Lil'John]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I was hoping to be at the point of driving it right now but things didn't work out as good as I would have liked

I got 30lbs of love today in the form of the FSM for the engine/truck Not an error, that is THIRTY pounds of book from Helm. And I would have to say it is worth EVERY cent to get. I had thought the FSMs I had for my old S10 were nice... those don't hold a candle to these books. These books go into SUPER detail on diagnosis but the absolute killer selling point is the fact that they show EVERY connector AND give a pin out for it. It is making identification of misc connectors on the harness a snap.


With that FSM, I'm 30 minutes into pulling apart the Vortec harness. Mainly, I've pulled some wires out of the passenger side of the harness leaving myself with three connectors: front oxygen sensor, the MAF sensor, and the AC low pressure switch. I was able to yank out a coolant level switch, the rear oxygen sensor, and an auxiliary battery dohicky

Hopefully by the end of tomorrow I'll have the circuits I want ripped out of the harness done. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the factory fuse box. I think I came up with about 8 hot in run fused items

Here are two pictures to show how it is paring down:
Basically same picture different view

The exposed wires to the middle of the first picture and left of the second are the circuits I'm going to pull out.

The coil to the right are the saved connectors(MAF, front O2, and AC switch)

[Lil'John]

Got a third coat of Durabak on the firewall. It is turning out a little better than I expect. It even has a custom texture... runs I think another 3-4 coats and it should be better. Just 30-40 minutes a coat

I also got a solid hour and a half on the vortec harness. I pulled all the driver side extra wiring off: two vehicle speed sensors, two transmission related plugs, and the rear oxygen sensor. That leaves me only the front oxygen sensor on the driver side I'd say I've removed about 20-25 wires off the driver side harness alone.

I also pulled both drive and passenger side "junk" almost to the PCM. Tomorrow, I pull the pins out of the PCM plugs and then tackle the fuse box and one other plug.

In the process of doing this, I've only cut three wires. Yes, only three and all were "common" grounds for sensors

Overall, I'd rate this a two banana job... this is 100% easier than doing most of the mechanical stuff on a cruiser The scary part of doing this is just pulling the loom open and digging in. I've had to remove about 6 pins from plugs to help pull circuits out.

I'd say $200ish for FSM and doing it myself has been pretty satisfying. I've never played with a Vortec harness but 3-4 TBI harnesses. I'm not sure how bad it is gonna be when I get into the fuse box and last plug but I can't see spending $600+ on a new harness.

[Lil'John]

I think I've got my last coat of Durabak on the firewall. Last thing to do is pull tape, cut bad drips, and pull bolts

I'm VERY close on the engine harness now. I've pulled all the sensors and such out. I've pared down the fuse block and misc plugs.

And I have been delayed another week in getting the cruiser to FC. Gives me more time to do some more stuff on the Cruiser before he gets it. Who knows, I might get to drive it home instead of flat towing Some of the things I am going to try to get done include:

• Clean and Durabak inner fenders
• Clean and paint under carriage (50% cleaned and primered now)
• Finish up brake lines
• Pull/install more wiring harness IN the cruiser

Here are a couple of simple pictures.
First shows the new and improved firewall. You can almost see the custom texture

Second picture shows the main trunk of the modified harness. A good portion of the wires are all fused. Should be labeled well enough for Georg to hook up to the fuse box.

Third picture shows the PCM plug and how simple it is to pull wires out of the PCM.

[Lil'John]

Sort of a two part small update.

First, after six coats, my engine bay now is mostly uniform runs Good news is at least it is one color now and looks reasonable. Bad news is pretty bad runs Guess that follows the theme of good from far but far from good

Related to this, Georg has graciously offered up his trailer to haul the pig down to his shop. Good news about this is I can now pull out the steering column, box and center arm Bad news is: it sounds like the shop is tied up until Sept with work Guess that means more stuff I can screw around with on the cruiser

Here are some pictures of the engine bay now.

Anyone know what size bolts are used for the stock cruiser "emergency" light plug? I need to buy a tap

[Lil'John]

Part 2 of the update.

I dropped off the engine to Don and Georg. They liked it So did the neighbor shop So did every stop I made when I had the engine in the back of my truck "Hey man, what's that and what is it going in? *drool*"

I found out the AC condenser of a fullsize Chevy doesn't fit an FJ55 front... not by a LONG shot So much for super cheap AC

In the process of dropping off the old cats, the ac condenser, and the fuse box to the wrecking yard, I found two things:
1) My rear axle shafts have been delayed a bit. Turns out Bill over at RCD got the "I want my rig last week" type call But he seems confident I should have them before the end of Sept
2) I stopped by the local Toyota parts shop(not TAP) and they had my front seat A 60/40 split seat from a 2001 Toyota Tacoma extra cab. Even better about that is the 2001 seems to have a center console which my 99 did not Just a bunch of dirt to clean up off them. $200 into the back of my truck

Now I need to figure out how to do the shifter boot related stuff... I've been eyeballing fullsize trucks with the integrated boot/cup holder type setup

I also need to figure out how to do retro fit Tacoma seatbelts into the 55

Picture shows the seat I am using.

[Lil'John]

Little to report... I'm starting to pull the engine bay wiring back again. I've got the wires ready for Georg to meld them into the Chevy column

One thing that is VERY nice for doing wiring is cold shrink tape. It is some SUPER amazing stuff that only sticks to itself AFTER stretching it. No sticky residue. I'm LOVING it I got my stuff from Waytek.

[Lil'John]

I got the rear wiring section cleaned up. I put four new wires into the harness: fuel pump, +12 for trailer plug, brake control wire for trailer plug, and spare wire for backup lights

Now I just need "sealed" or "booted" grommets for the harness to pass out and into the cab at the driver side, passenger side, and the tailgate

I've got my fuse block well under way... but mostly just engine wires and rear window wire.

I'm scratching my head a bit on the wipers. On the one hand, I'd love to use the Chevy column wiring... but on the other hand, I've heard of issues wiring it in

*edit*
Forgot to mention, my idea for mating the stock FJ55 ebrake cable to the FJ80 ebrake cable is going to work. Both cables end up being long enough The FJ55 cable is still available from Toyota 46410-60041. I'm VERY stoked about minimal amount of custom items to get a functional WHEEL ebrake

[Lil'John]

Slight update.

I'm still screwing around with the undercarriage. Battery operated grinder doesn't last very long

I've cleaned the front floor boards and tranny tunnel up. I wish I knew what the PO used for sealer but I'd swear it was tar What a pain to remove.

I've got the clutch master mounted and I'm eye balling the brake master now. I may have to put off putting the firewall brakelines in until I get some of the holes patched

The seats are being a little bit un-cooperative. Turns out they are all over the place on the rails. Lengths are different... catch tabs are different. In general, a big pain in the butt

[OinkOinker]

Now I just need "sealed" or "booted" grommets for the harness to pass out and into the cab at the driver side, passenger side, and the tailgate


not too sure if it will fit your application but if you look for 'cable glands' at your local electrical supplier, they may assist you. im an electrician and thats what we use to pass cables into the switch boards when the cable needs to be protected from sharp edges and be water/dust proof. another plus is they are adjustable in size so if you only run 1 wire now but later need to fit 2 or 3 in then your sorted with a water tight seal everytime

[Lil'John]

Oink, thanks for the lead... not sure if those will really work or not.

OTOH, I did find something for the doors. I did a search for "power window door boots" and found some by "thepartsplaceinc". At $12 a pair, I've got a set on the way.

Not much of substance to report on the pig.

I've got the rear wire harness in the rig now. Just having a hell of a time pulling it through the tailgate.

I've got the undercarriage half-a$$ed cleaned and painted. Still a bit lumpy but at least the center is all one color

I've got the front seating of the interior cleaned and primed. Hopefully I'll get enough time to hit the rear seating area.

The above two items are mainly being done so Don at FCFab doesn't have to work with a super dirty rig

I've also got my stereo "system" lined up now. I'm using a changer controler from a 99 Tacoma and a set of Pyle PLMR51B speakers(5-1/4" waterproof speakers) The radio I scavaged from my Extra 55 project. The speakers are new off ebay for about $80 for all four plus dustboots

The speakers are a mixed bag. They have a super shallow mounting depth. They have plain black grills. The bad news is the grills appear to be permanently fixed which kind of kills my thought of doing a hidden behind the door panel setup:(

Mounting in the front doors will be easy. The cut outs are already there so I just need to drill four holes The rear look a little more tricky

Onto the pictures.
First we have the radio and speakers. I found a company that sells the pigtail for the radio... and the wires are even labeled The radio has the nice Toyota stamped on it. I may end up getting the changer for it and hiding it in the cab The speaker box shows the nice plain grill.

Second picture shows the head of my rear section of harness. As you can see, I've got the cold wrap tape about every foot. You can also see the added wires.

[Lil'John]

Hmm... mixed week.

Not a whole lot accomplished on the 55 Mostly cleaning of parts. And gathering junk for a hopeful pickup in the next few days *fingers crossed*

Found out I have a pair of mixed driveshafts Front was a four speed... rear was three speed. Glad I bought 4 four speed ujoints Ah well, spare shafts in Gilroy fix that issue

The real bad news to me is finally putting the nail in the coffin of the extra cab FJ45 Trying to work on a project almost 3 hours a way has taken its toll so I'm going to be scrapping it

But it does open a whole new avenue for the FJ55

For now though, the FJ55 will continue the build as stated. Plain ole daily driver with stock axles and 31s. Only change MAY be getting tube front fenders

In a year, the 55 may be going "hardcore" with a spring over and 35-37" tires. Could get Dana 60s and coilovers Still will be shooting for stock looking.

And now for the one picture... a blurry picture of my anti-syphon device I will also have Don weld on an elbow to the fuel inlet to route it out the body. The tube you see there is 2 1/8" from Summit. After getting it welded, I will have it anodized black. Now I just need to figure out the gas door

[Lil'John]

Abandon a project and get some free bling from SeaBass(aka 12voltguy.com) on Pirate. Well, okay, I won his giveaway

And fairly timely because my driveside dash is pretty hacked up.

So the theory is I'm going to get panels for driver and passenger sides that match. Passenger side will be blank and bolted on.

The driverside will get holes for two stock FJ lightswitches. It will also get winch controls and ARB switches.

Pictures of the dash. Lots of holes that I'm going to have Don fill in before I use the new panels

[Cruiserdrew]

So what's the target for driving this truck? It is looking great and I can't wait to see it live and in motion. Keep up the good work.

[Lil'John]

Originally Posted by Cruiserdrew

So what's the target for driving this truck? It is looking great and I can't wait to see it live and in motion. Keep up the good work.

If this project follows the last, I'd say on the road around 2020

I'm a bit at the mercy of Don and Georg on when it gets to move.

Don has been crunched with work so I've had my shop time pushed back about a month now. No big deal since I've got a reliable daily driver for now

What I'm hoping for is probably 6 weeks after they get it. But that still leaves me a lot of interior work(recovering seats, headliner, door panels, etc)

[Lil'John]

And now the 55 graces the FC Fab/Valley Hyrids shop.

They got a heck of a list to play with: Engine, PS, column, sheet metal, and bumpers. A little wiring and brake work.

As mentioned, the build is still basically the same for Don.

The "largest" change will be having him do some hoop shock mounts instead of using the Ford ones. This is in anticipation of doing either a coil over or spring over in the front

The other change will be in the rear bumper. I'm having it made wide enough so that I can add in a tire carrier later.

I'm still up in the air on the fenders but I've got a little time to decide. I still hate the thought of cutting the bottom of those fenders though

Pictures should be coming. Don will be either posting them on Pirate or emailing them to me. I will cross post or post them here

[Lil'John]

Slight update.

A lot of firewall holes have been filled in: throttle pedal hole/nuts, hi/low shifter hole, AC holes, heater hole, and the misc ripped hole to the left of the brake booster. I'll get to durabak those when I get the piggy back

By the end of the week, the drivetrain should be in the piggy

After pulling apart my extra cab 45 project, I found that my Dana 60 front already has SOA perches welded on it from the 40. So that may be the route I will go with the front(lazy SOB )

If I did an SOA rear, I could be done in a long weekend

I'm also looking at having my FJ40 VSS "kit" progressing this week. I need to get the center of my reluctor ring bored out for the cruiser shaft and have a piece of tubing bored out for the VSS sensor. Then it is a matter of cutting and welding

[Lil'John]

Looks like Don is super busy and only got to the holes in the firewall and cleaning the frame up.

Here is a sample of his firewall heater hole fill.

First picture shows all the holes I want filled in: Throttle pedal hole/nuts, the ripped hole to the left of the brake master, the heater hole, the hi/low hole and nuts, and what I think are the AC holes over to the far left.

Second picture you can see how precise of a plug he made for the heater hole

Last picture you can see the grinded/"finished" product. Slap a coat of durabak on it and one less hole to allow transfer of heat and noise to the cab

Now I need to find some good solid mount heater hose bulkhead fittings

[Lil'John]

Sandpaper project bites again

Got to talk with Don and turns out I've got drivetrain issues If I keep the stock height, I've got 2" of intake poking out the hood And it sounds like a lot of oilpan hanging out the bottom

Now I'm looking at all my options for fixing this.

For the top end, I think I'm looking at swapping on a ls1 or ls6 intake. That is supposed to take 2-3 inches out. I think I can also do the later model hood to gain some more room.

For the bottom end, I'll have to see what the pictures show me but I MAY get away with just some bump stops.

But my other option is going with one of the many LS oilpans out there... from stock Camaro or Corvette to the many aftermarket.

And the last option which I really don't want to do yet is go straight to spring over with Dana 60s and all that fun stuff

[LC_Hamma]

And the last option which I really don't want to do yet is go straight to spring over with Dana 60s and all that fun stuff

What happened to the PLAN w/ the DD status? Shoulda done this at the beginning, but go for coils & no crappy leafs. Time to sell those junk LC axles & go BIG. Oh yeah, what about them 31's J/K man, you change yer mind as much as I do on my build. Lookin great so far....

[Lil'John]

Originally Posted by LC_Hamma

What happened to the PLAN w/ the DD status? Shoulda done this at the beginning, but go for coils & no crappy leafs. Time to sell those junk LC axles & go BIG. Oh yeah, what about them 31's J/K man, you change yer mind as much as I do on my build. Lookin great so far....

Still getting daily driver status... at least for six to eight months.

The reason for the D60s is the availability of them from my abandoned extra FJ45 project

Don't remind me of those 31s... zero miles and may end up junked

Haven't changed my mind too much on this project since I got it Just need to upgrade it so I can do harder trails since I don't have a dedicated hardcore rig

[Lil'John]

*whew*
I cruised by the shop to see the problems and I might have dodged a little bit of a bullet... no SOA and D60s for now

The oilpan is around 2-3" from the diff and should be 1-2" from the driveshaft at the sump of the pan. So the plan is still to keep it stock suspension and more than likely adjust the bumpstops a little bit It didn't look like an oilpan swap was going to gain me much except for a lighter wallet

On the top end, it looks like the LS1 or LS6 intake will fix all my woes there. Now I just need to figure out that part.

But now that we got the hood issues figured out, Don can start busting out some more perfection

The frame rails are cleaned up and getting reinforced right now. Looks beautiful.

All the holes I mentioned are cleaned up in the engine bay. Inside will need to be hit but minor detail. Makes a huge difference in cleanliness for the engine bay

Hopefully most of the major work will be done by the swap meet so Don can show off all the great work he's done.

But more bad news. Looks like the rear axle shafts were delayed again. Hopefully I'll get them back before Don gives me my cruiser back