Family haulin'

[boots4]

Gracias Sr. Tapage

[boots4]

I stumbled onto this and found it a little too ironic so I had to share.



Nickjr website:

Dora's best friend Boots is a furry, fuzzy, five and-a-half-year old monkey who speaks english. He is sweet and caring and loves to hold Dora's hand, following her while they explore. He also loves to make Dora laugh by surprising her. Whenever Boots is feeling down he manages to bounce back with his special triple flips.

Sounds like I need to start working on my "special triple flips!" That's just cements my cruiser's name. Weird huh?

[CreeperSleeper]

Aw, that's cute Boots... But how do you hold Dora's hand?

[boots4]

Originally Posted by CreeperSleeper

Aw, that's cute Boots... But how do you hold Dora's hand?

Steering wheel?

[boots4]

My master cylinder came in so I got things ready to install. The stepvan is a 1 5/16" bore and on the left, the new one is a 1 1/4" bore and on the right. You can also see the stepvan is a deep bore while the new one is a shallow bore.



My hydroboost unit had a long pin for the deep bore. It's held in there by the spring and a retainer.



I measured what distance I needed from the difference on the two MCs and cut the pin.



I after rounding off the tip I put it back in.



Depth shot.



I knew how I wanted the hydroboost unit orientated to the mounting plate so I tighten up the bolt and put a spot weld on it so it wouldn't loosen up. It ended up loosening before this and the whole unit could be spun by hand and was vibrating a tad at idle under load so I wanted to make sure it stayed on tight this time. If I have to take it off I can just cut the tack. I did notice that the hydroboost unit has started to leak so I'll be pulling it again to reseal it in the near future.



I had made adapters to interface with my metric toyota brake lines so all I did was get a pre-made metric line, cut it in half and bent it to go into the reservoirs. This is for bench bleeding the MC.



With fluid.



I just clamped it in the vice and used the handles of some pliers to press in the cylinder. It was pretty easy and didn't take very long to get all the bubbles out.



Put the hydroboost back on and hooked up the lines. It's nice and tight now.



I got the MC back on, bled all the brakes and got some dirty fluid out of the lines. I took it for a drive and while it brakes better and the pedal isn't as hard I'll be picking up a 1 1/8" bore MC and giving that a try. I know the brakes can be even better so I just got to pull out a little more green. I already found a bunch of 1 1/8" bore sized MCs so it will be easier and cheaper than this one. I have plenty of pedal travel to accomodate for less volume more pressure of a smaller bore. I'll probably get a seal kit for the hydroboost and do them both at the same time.

I mocked up a heat shield for the air filter.



I took the idea and cut it out of some aluminum I kept from the stepvan.





Here it is installed. I braced it and have it mounted in 4 spots so it's pretty solid.





I still need to close off the bottom so it pulls mostly cooler air from the fender well. I had to do this first because this is where I wanted to mount my dual batt controller.



I wasn't sure if I'd actually hook it up but I went ahead and did it. I bought #1 welding cable from a welding supply store and got some lugs and solder plugs from the hardware store, cut my cables to length, put on the lugs and hooked it all up.





Yes I still need to make real tie downs for the batteries. The aux battery negative post can touch the hood so I grabbed a leaf spring pad and covered it since I figured those pads are used to being rubbed against by two pieces of metal. This system hooks them up in parallel and the controller monitors voltage. After 5 mins on initial start up the contoller will connect the two batteries via the solenoid and charge both. It worked fine the first time but the next day I noticed my gauge reading only 12v so I checked the main battery with the engine running and it only read 12.44v across the terminals so my alternator might have given up the ghost. It might not have enough juice to support the demand with everything going on and if that's the case I'll definitely upgrade to something that will pump out more amps. This one only squeezes out 63 amps I think so it's pretty weak anyways.

Even with the heat shield not closed on the bottom I notice it cools down a little faster when I idle it after driving to cool off the turbo. Still can't get below 300F (assuming my gauge is accurate, which I question) but it gets there a little faster. Once I get the alternater sorted out I can finally run some auxillary stuff off the second battery and get my second radiator fan hooked up and wire in some relays for more headlight power. Still feels like a lot to do but now it's mostly just tuning and little stuff. The last major projects will be the bumper and slider builds.

[esh]

Nice to see it up close last night.

You might want to get some military style top posts for a lower profile and a more secure connection. Wrangler NW Power has nice ones.

like this- Grote Industries: Military Top Post Lugs (Product #84-9580)

I have copper lugs and a big crimper if you need to redo any of that stuff.

[boots4]

Thanks for the tip. Those posts would be nice and low. I still need to set up my welding leads and that crimper sounds cheaper than the solder plugs I found so we'll have to hook up once I get those parts ready.

[CruisinGA]

Napa carries the mil-spec battery terminals, the copper lugs and the necessary solder pellets. I don't crimp, just use solder. I buy my cable from GenuineDealz.com - Marine Electrical, Boat Wire & Cable, Custom Battery Cables Let me know if you want the Napa part No's.

[boots4]

Cruisin why don't you go ahead and post those part numbers so that way I can refer back to this when I need them, thanks.



This will be a quick update as I have no pics to accompany the work. Wife took the camera and was out of town longer than expected due to some family matters and didn't get back until yesterday.

The alternator bit the dust and I'm getting no charge. Since all the engine needs from the battery is the initial start and a small 12v feed to the fuel shutoff solenoid I drove around for a week without a problem. I still had 12v even at the posts but threw on the charger to top it off. I dusted off some earlier alternator research and hunted for an 12si and cs144 from the JY. I also picked up another hydroboost unit including a 1 1/8" bore master cylinder from a chevy astro van since mine is leaking (the booster that is). The price ended up being just a little more than a reseal kit shipped to my place, plus I got another master cylinder to try out. The unit looked to be in good shape but I'll have to cut off the eye on the brake pedal rod and thread it for my clevis. I'm curious to see if the mounting plate that came on it will fit into my pre-existing holes. I went up to the register and the guy only charged my for one alternator. I asked if he wanted to run my card again and then he looked at me and said, have a nice day so I thanked him grabbed bought and free parts and left. I got outside and had two older gentleman looking up Dora's skirt and I walked up behind them and asked them what they wanted to know. That attracted a few others and it took me a 1/2 hour to get out of the parking lot, but I really didn't mind.

On to tech. The cs144 (the alternator I really wanted to use) fits great on the engine but the problem is that the 8 groove pulley off the old 10si doesn't fit. I knew the 4bt's 10si have a larger shaft but it is also longer so even with a sleave or spacing bushing to make up for diameter difference it covers the cs144 shaft so that I cannot get a nut on. I called around to see if anyone carried just the pulley but kept getting referred to the JY so I'll have to find out on what vehicles there was a 8 groove pulley cs144 and go hunt for one.

I sound deadened all the doors and there is an audible difference in the thud the doors make when they are shut. I don't know if it makes a difference on the road yet because I pulled the alternator after that to swap pulleys which didn't work so Dora is sitting.

I also mounted and wired the rear speakers in their new location and like the "space" it gives to the music compared to having the rear speakers mounted in the rear 1/4 panels. Now all I need is the sub. I'll be putting it somewhere else so I'll have to make a new box for it. I still want lots of usable space for the rear so the sub design I wanted to use probably won't happen since it takes up too much space (a 38 spare tire takes up a lot of room).

Finally got around to topping off the fluids in the diffs, tcase, and doubler. I added a gallon between all of them. We've got a trip to utah planned next weekend and had thought about taking the cruiser since it has more room but if I can't get the alternator squared away she'll have to stay home for the trip.

[GLTHFJ60]

What did you end up mounting the rear ceiling speaker boxes to? Did you make them wide enough to span between two of the main beams in the roof?

[CruisinGA]

Why not a 12si? I know the cs144 is supposed to be "better," but if your pulley would fit on it...
I run a 100amp 12si on my 40, got it off Ebay reman relatively inexpensively. (core charge at parts store made it more expensive there)

I'll get the Napa part no's fo you next time I go home. (I live at school).

[1974FJ]

Hey! if you end up making the trip in the cruiser, please post up the results of your MPGs and boost numbers through the hills and EGTs!

FYI, thats some scary hose work under that hood! haha j/k

[boots4]

Originally Posted by GLTHFJ60

What did you end up mounting the rear ceiling speaker boxes to? Did you make them wide enough to span between two of the main beams in the roof?

I screwed them to the rear lip. Pics will helps so I'll get some to explain.

Originally Posted by CruisinGA

Why not a 12si? I know the cs144 is supposed to be "better," but if your pulley would fit on it...
I run a 100amp 12si on my 40, got it off Ebay reman relatively inexpensively. (core charge at parts store made it more expensive there)

I'll get the Napa part no's fo you next time I go home. (I live at school).

The 12si has the same shaft as the cs144 so the same problems carry over to that one. I figured since I have the cs144 and it physically fits in the same place that I'd get that one worked out since it puts out more amps and is supposed to produce more at lower rpms than the si series. The pulleys on normal shafted GM alternators are suppose to be interchangeable from the si series to the cs series but since the 10si that came on my 4bt didn't have a normal shaft and is longer than I anticipated (I thought I could just get a sleave or bushings at an alternator shop to adapt it) I will need to look for a different 8 groove pulley with a deeper pocket for the nut. Had I known this in the first place I would have looked for a cs with an 8 groove pulley in the JY, but my lesson is your knowledge. I still need to search but initially it sounds like any 8 groove pulley that fits the normal shaft si and cs series will work, just need to translate that into a make and model to find it.

[boots4]

I had been getting it ready for a trip out to Utah and had it packed when I decided to look under the hood one more time after I got home from work. I found the old 6-groove belt I had on it was starting to separate from the backing. I reused the old belt because I found a new 8-groove pulley and it was a little bigger so with the old belt being stretched it was a little bigger than the new 8-groove belt I was using. I knew it wouldn't last the trip so I tried getting the new 8-groove belt to fit again. After several tries I did get it on by removing the tensioner, slipping on the belt and reinstalling the tensioner by threading the bolt and turning the tensioner until the catch pin dropped in the alignment hole on the mounting bracket. I started it and found the belt jumping off the other pulleys and rubbing on the engine cover.

You can see in this pic where it would jump and rub.



Bummer... still wanting to leave that night I packed the car and we took off. I did get some great mileage in the car so the money I saved from fuel cost can go to fixing the problem. I got home and the next day I put my head under the hood to take a look. I thought the tensioner might be going bad but the spring still has good resistance and I had just replaced the bearings in it's roller last week right before the trip. There were two of them, sealed, and easy to knock out and pound in. The old bearings were a little rough and the new ones are smooth to spin. The only other factor is the new 8-groove pulley on the alternator. Only way to find out was to pull the alternator and have a look. I got the new pulley off (required a vice, allen head wrench, a 15/16" socket and vice grips) and got the old pulley from the original alternator and compaired.



The old one has a build in spacer that pulls it out from the fan face. The new one was flush so I needed to space it. This is the new pulley flush against the fan face.



When I pulled the new pulley I saw they (I had the alternator shop where I bought the pulley test my junkyard cs-144 to make sure it was good and they put the pulley on to do that) had put the smaller washers under the pulley to get it flush with the fan since the fan has a recess. I found a thick washer laying around that happened to fit and that happened to be similar in heigth to the build-in spacer on the old pulley.



Here's the pulley spaced off the fan face so that it aligns with the other pulleys on the engine.



I put the alternator back in and visually tested the belt without the tensioner in place and it looked better than before. I also picked up the next size larger belt so I went from a 080537 to a 080545 (Napa numbers) which was about 3/4" longer.



I put it all back together and started it up. Didn't slip off and seems to work fine now. I tested for charge and got 14.15V so the alternator excites fine. To improve that voltage I could make a direct line from the Batt terminal on the alternator to the positive terminal on my main battery

CS-144 Delco-Remey alternator installed on the Cummins 4BT.



I cheated for wiring and just purchased an adapter (SI to CS) since I had already interfaced the toyota wiring with the SI stuff. Since the FJ60 has a charge light I used the adapter WITHOUT the resister in it. I read that LEDs don't provide enough resistance so I pulled the bulb and put in a regular bulb to get the right resistance so that the CS alternator would charge. The blue and green wires are the adapter. Wiring it isn't difficult but the adapter was only $13 and I had thought I was on a time crunch to get it ready for the trip so it made it very easy to hook up. If you haven't converted the toyota to an SI series alternator this adapter will do you no good and you might as well wire it up yourself. There is plenty of support on the web to figure it out.



Here's a pic of the speakers in back. Since I'm lifted and the majority of my rear window looking is downward the small amount they hang down doesn't impede my view.



When drilling I found I actually went through the back side. If I were to do it again I'd make a mounting plate that spans the the whole width with a cut out for the light and mount the speakers to that. There is a gap between the inside and outside sheetmetal and if you go high enough with shorter screws and more of them it would make a stronger mount then my set-up. I'll need to put some goop on the screws to keep the water out. These aren't normally visible. I had to move the weather stripping on the top hatch out of the way to get the pic.



I cleaned up the hydroboost unit and MC I got from the JY and got it installed. I had to cut off the eye and thread the shaft for the clevis to attach it to my brake pedal just like I did with the first HB unit. When I pulled this from the junkyard I made sure it had the same o-ring fittings on the booster so that I could reuse my o-ring to AN adapters. I knew the MC was a 1 1/8" bore and figured I could try it out. Just reiterating that I'm replacing the booster because my old one was starting to leak. Bench bled the MC and got everything else bled and adjusted. This was the difference I was looking for. The brakes are MUCH better now and slow down is great. I have more than enough pedal travel so this works well.

My official brake opinion due to my experience with this brake system: Front 4runner calipers, rear discs using front FJ60 rotors and calipers, running no proportioning valve using a hydroboost unit from a chevy astrovan with a 1 1/8" MC, stopping a lifted FJ60 riding on 38" mud tires.

1 1/8" MC bore offers great braking with good pedal feel and minimal to normal travel on the brake pedal.

For those who want more touchiness and grab could opt for a 1 1/16" MC as there is enough travel on the brake pedal to accomodated the needed throw in a system set up like mine.

I may try out a 1 1/16" bore (if it can be found) in the future if this MC gets tired but for now I am happy with the performance I am getting.





Got some cheap tube and routed my breathers to the engine bay. I ran the front and rear axle together and ran the doubler and tcase together using t-fittings. I'll get little filters for them eventually but for now they are open ended.

Rear



Front




I checked for tightness and adjustment.

• wheel spacers
• axle ubolts
• top and bottom knuckle bolts
• alignment, I still didn't have enough toe-in so I put in some more. Steering was heavy and would grab irregularities on the hwy. Steering is now lighter, easier to turn and tracks better down the road.
• wheel bearing preload was a little too tight so I readjusted those. I was getting a pull to one side.

I felt like going into auto piolet yesterday evening so I gave it a wash and started going over the paint with a claybar. Twenty plus years is a lot of build up and I found that using a claybar will remove soot stain from diesel exhaust.

[bull]

On my hot rods I use soft scrub to remove the exhaust marks left by open headers. Just an FYI



Great build!

[gifu]

damn... reposting this. a GM alt wired to the FJ60 alt wiring harness, will overload the FJ60 harness. I did this, and one night while running lots of accessories, I burnt my fusible link, killed the battery, and developed a strange short that the alt wouldn't charge if the dash Brake Light was on.

I recommend wiring your alt main post direct to your battery a la Chevy. Use a #6 wire... bigger is moh bettah.

[boots4]

It was in the plans so I'll get a wire in place. I do have a spare fusible link just in case. I've been side tracking myself with some front fender trimming.

[Falco80]

Awesome stuff! I love the attention to detail and the way you've been documenting this entire build.
It's great to see some pics of your cruiser out and about finally. Damn, it looks tough with those 38's!!

Keep up the great work mate!

[boots4]

Thanks Falco for reading along. Just seems like I'm pretty close to really going wheeling and with last weekend's work I'm that much closer.

I finally took took a bite on the front fenders. I wanted to keep the inner liner but hadn't quite figured out how to address that. I had a couple ideas and figured it'd come to me as I got into it so I started masking off and drawing my lines.

This is my projected cut out on the driver side. For the front and top I measured out 2 1/2" from the original lip and on the rear side I measured ~12" from the style line by the vent and followed that down. The pic will help explain.



One of my thoughts was to leave tabs that I could bend to attach the liner to. In the end I cut them off and went a different route.



I bent up a ~1/4" rod to the shape of the fender edge and stitch welded it on. This took some time and my trigger finger got a work-out.



You can see that I cut the liner in order to bent/hammer it into place.



Second side always goes faster. Here's the passenger side.





This is how I bent up the rod. I just used a hole in the stepvan frame I have for scrap. I got the rod from some racks that were mounted above the driver in the stepvan. I straigthen it and then shaped to my needs.



I was sitting and welding and started to feel a warmth down below and realized something wasn't right. I looked down to see that my pants were burning in a scary place for the male gender. I quickly pulled my pants down and was relieved to see the fire was only limited to my pants and nothing else was harmed. I had a inched sized hole in my crotch and knew that other welding splatter would find it's way in so I grabbed some tape, patched the hole and got back to welding. I did look down more often after that. The just shook her head when I came in for lunch and saw my patch job.



I finished up the edge, ground it smooth, and started positioning the liner. I cut off the liner edge so it could be tapped past the rod I welded to the edge and ran short beads to keep it in place. I originally thought of making tabs so that it would be removeable but figured if I ever have to separate it from the rig that it would be trashed and I'd have to redo it anyways so I just welded it. The rod on the edge gave me something to weld to and along with the attached liner gave the fender solid support. You can push on it and it won't bow. I threw some white primer on it until I can finish it up.



I also cut the bottom of the core support to clearance when turning. I'm thinking about capping the ends but I ran out of daylight and needed to have it drivable the next day so there are a couple of things left to complete the job.





I cut the bottom of the liner so it didn't stick down passed the cut core support. This side has rust due to a leaky battery from the PO. I might have to rebuild this area in the future.



This is how the liner was spot welded to the fender lip. The plan is to patch up the holes, run some seam sealer along the edge of the fender lip and undercoat the liner. The undercoating will hide the imperfections and make it look more uniform.

Driver



I'm also going to cap off the bottom to keep stuff out of the door jam.

Passenger



Had a friend getting rid of some 38s for cheap and I need a spare so he dropped these off while I was at an appointment. I came back excited to see useable tread left but was sad to find out they were for 16" rims. I might try to find some 16s of just resell them and keep looking for another spare.



I'm helping shuddle up some scouts next week for scout camp and am staying the first night. It's on the coast so maybe I can find a quick little trail to test out the fender clearance.

[brokenparts]

Looks good Mike... If I can get a hold of a cat and run my rig through DEQ this week, my buddy with a little zuke and I were going to head to TSF on Sat for a couple hours... got anything cookin?

[boots4]

Originally Posted by brokenparts