[yotawheeler]

Originally Posted by Project FJ80

Out of all the Cummins engine years, I found the 1996 year to be what I wanted. That year for the manual version of the truck had the most hp/tq, a little bit larger stock turbo over the auto, and had intercooling. Sometime during the late 96 year, the went from 12 valve to 24valve. Also for the fuel pump, it responds well to tweeking, and you can run wvo (waste veggy oil) or refined veggy oil through the pump with little to no worrys.
I chose the 12 valve. If you prefer, you can strip the engine of the wiring harness, then add only what you want.. the only problem you will run into is if you use an engine from a manual tranny, and hook that up with the auto tranny. you gain the 15-30 hp/tq with the manual.. but you loose the little device that reads your throttle positioner when using it with the auto. . Im told its easy to make one up. Anyways.. you only need a power wire to the starter and to the fuel injection pump. everything else is optional. oil, water, batt, charge indicators, tach, etc.
After that you have to decide on weather or not you want to go with the hydraulic tranny which uses no electronics, (47RH) ... or go with the other two options which are electronic, the 47RE and the 48RE. If you want to run the electronic trannys, for the extra gearing, and options they allow, you have to get yourself a seperate computer controlled valve body and a stand alone tranny computer. whcih you can program to do just about what ever you want. for an additional 1200 or so on top of the rebuild of the tranny which will be needed.
If you do the swap right the first time.. its not a cheep swap.. but I belive its worth the extra up front, than down the road when somethings gives out.
Id say.. about 2500-3000 for a rebuilt tranny with its stand alone computer, and a better tq converter. and up to 10K for all Billit parts. if your gonna be running over 400-500hp
.. Then you have to decide if you need to upgrade the rest of your drive train... Ohh and dont for get about the Killer Dowel Pin mod... Youll have to look it up for the excact details .. but if it lets go (the dowel pin) so does your engine.

ok so is the hydrolic tranny a standard or..? was there a standard transmission offered for these engines. also you mention better gearing in the electronic trannies, whats the gearing like compared to the standard tranny?

[Discyota]

Originally Posted by scottryana

Where are these axles? Contact, Photos, Price? I might be interested.

Ryan.

$11-12K for a pair.

PM me if youre still interested.

[Project FJ80]

Originally Posted by Discyota

Do you know there are 17 pairs of volvo 303 axles with 4340 shafts and CVs, custom machined portal boxes, custom R&Ps and willwood 4 piston disc brakes, sitting in a box in south phoenix ready to sell?

....No... I didnt know that... How custom do the R&P get? Ill beable to get about a 2.1 or 2.3 R&P for the portal-teks, which will keep me at about 4.5:1 final drive. Id like to get the final to 4.10, With the Ft.Lbs the diesel puts out, Ill be fine with that ratio, and will beable to drive on the streets at 75mph. @ 2600-3000rpm.


As for the 47rh, H for Hydraulic, its a beefed up 727 3-speed transmission used for the cummins, I have a 727 tranny in my charger, but its different from the one they use for the Cummins.
It relies on hydraulic pressure to shift the gears rather than a computer. no computer, no headachs eh... but the 47/48re give you over drive.. which out off all the car manufactures that I looked up, has the lowest numerical drive gear at .69 overdrive. allowing for the cummins to cruise at 75 and still get good fuel milage.

Dodge also offers the Manual tranny, Much stronger than the auto, and you need no electronics. you shift and it goes. I chose the auto because I did not want to have to shift while on a hill, or in traffic, and I didnt want to modify the firewall or trans tunnel for the additional foot petal, hyd. resivore, and mounts.

With the Auto and the stand alone computer, Ill beable to by pass the engine magment, get my correct speed with out a seperate box, have 2 sets of custom shift points, the ability to start out in any gear, it can also be hooked up to a computer for on the fly changes if needed. so no need for a preformance chip, when you can change it anytime yourself.

[scottryana]

Too rich for my blood. He would probably sell all 17 pairs if he dropped the price to $7K-$9K.

Ryan.

Originally Posted by Discyota

$11-12K for a pair.

PM me if youre still interested.

[yotawheeler]

oh ok, i forgot that the 80 would be a auto...yea, not really worth all the trouble to convert it to a stick

[Ribz]

nice man cant wait to see more!

midnight landscaping comes to mind when talking about HOA

Mike

[Project FJ80]

Well, After many talks and disscussions and setbacks, Im going to be getting a pair of loaner portals so I can at least get the rest of the truck up and runnig, untill the final ones are compleated. Ive been waiting on the axles before I weld in the engine and drive train mounts. After that Ill get the Radiator, Fuel tanks and Intercooler installed. I figure this should take no more than 3 months after I receve the loner axles, which should put me in the month of June or July.
If I would have known it would have taken this long.. I would have waitied to pull out the Toyota engine this year. Oh well, Live and lern eh?

[jts560]

Man that sucks, what a sweet build. Can't wait to see this up and running. Hope everything else goes smoothly.

[LandCruiserPhil]

Ron its time for an update.

Did you get your portals? Are they the same as these?
http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...ghlight=Portal

[Project FJ80]

Yes, It is indeed time for an update.. It has been over a year now, about 15 Months since the last time I have driven my cruiser before I parked her on the side of the street and began disassembling her.
I thought great, it will be ready by June, no July... ok I can wait till October, November great, right before surf and turf, before Christmass you say.. no problem, its my x-mas preasent, .. Feburary, well ive waiting this long, April the magical month, new picts, new updates, an actuall set being used on the trail. should be shipping soon. Well its may now.. and this time it sounds like the temporary axles should be shipping out soon. .. soon as in this month.. If not, well, Its ok, There has been much going on inbetween then and now. Patience seems to be the key.

The extra time as also giving me time to ponder what to do with the rest of the truck. Changes here and there, upgrades downgrades, In the end it all comes down to time and $$$. I will say it has taken a lot longer than expected, but only because I have been advised to wait on the compleation of the build untill i get the axles so everything else will be in align with the drivetrain. This has cost a lot of time, but better to wait then to tare the engine out again and reweld everywhere.

Its not much af an update, cept for that the axles should be shipping to me this month, with in the next 2 weeks. But this is where I am today and how I got there, there are a few picts of the truck Portal-Tek has on thier website with the axles bolted on front and rear. It looks very professionaly done, almost stock looking.. at least I think it does.

Ill see if i can get a few picts and more info to post up with in a day or two.

-Ron



P.S. yes, they will be the same as the pictures in your link.

[clarkrw3]

Man Ron you have about 1000% more patients than I. I would have told them to shove it along time ago!! 10K and you have to wait a year or so to get axles....that sucks!!

[agent orange]

That is some serious bullshit, do they have to mine the metal they use to make them or something? Can they only be worked on under a full moon?

[volts911]

Any updates?

[Wile E Coyote]

Dude, please tell me you're still not waiting? I know I'm making a big assumption, and I'm certainly not in on your conversations w/ Portal tek, but I'm gonna call full-on BS on them ever coming through for you.
What's it now, 1 1/2 years?
I think your patience is being taken advantage of, and then some.

[cody c]

that is an incredibly horrible wait time!!!
portal tek isnt building a positive reputation by the way they are BSing you about delivery times.
I applaude your patience!

[Project FJ80]

Yes I am still Waiting.. but... I did give them some measurements for the axles. So I am hoping that something is in the works.. Though... I cant seem to get ahold of anyone as of late.. I think they might have left the country... Hmmm.... Maybe they are personally checking up on thier equipment.
Unfortuantaly, All of this waiting time has hindered alot of my built time.. I cant finish anything untill I get thies axles. So I unintentionally went out and bought a new car for a really good price... only to realise later... I could have used that money for the Truck. I keep doing that.. speding all my money elseware.
So.. I now have 2 projects just sitting at my house. 1 dodge charger thats waiting for me to win the lottery inorder to finish, and now my Landcruiser..
So.. ... .. Yes, I am still waiting .

Though I do here that coolcruiserfj40 is getting some parts sent in. Well have to wait and see.

-Ron

[Wrench]

Damn dude! How can you stand not driving it? That is a sweet ride! It's been so long!

[Cruiser_Nut]

Just found this thread and thought it was going to end with finally got the axles and everything is running great and I am getting 23 mpg . But that happy ending has yet to transpire. How can portal-tech stay in business without delivering a product in 18months? about the only bright side to this is your back on budget 10K per year. but that is hardly a consolation. dont think I would have been as patient as you.

I Think you should post up portal tech's number so everyone that reads this thread can call them and ask when they are delivering.

best of luck on finishing before 2008

[Project FJ80]

Well, The good news is that I got ahold of someone. Dont know where Russ is.. I think hes super buzy.. But I did get ahold of Rob. So I was able to get in the rest of my measurments in... I should here something monday..
Since I have changed the entire drivetrain from toyota to dodge and ford, I think i have a Toyordge. Well, inorder to get everything to work around the dodge transmission., I need to move the front pumpkin over 3 more inches to the right. But im only moving the alxes out 2" on each side, so well see if this can happen with out causing too much problems with the suspension. So they are going to use Russes 80 for the mock up. I need the 2-3" over so the front axle doesent chew up my tranny pan, and I wont have to cut so far into the custom tranny pan I just bought.

I also just got a copy of Australian 4wd monthly in a few days ago... Marks adapters also has portal axles out.. looks like they are starting at around 16,000 aud.

[UTE BACK 100]

Who all has these axles, is due these axles (has deposit in ), or waiting on parts??

mail me off list at alanpodvin@comcast.net just keeping tabs so we can group together if needed


BTW russ and Rob I know you are reading this maybe a call back would be good

[MoGas]

wow

[TiredIronGRB]

Volvo makes great Portal Axles

[kirkagosto]

Is there a reason you just didnt go with modified shortened Rockwells. With all of the lift you have and the engine tranny combo this would be a very bulletproof drivetrain and you wouldnt have to worry about the yokes getting in the way on top of the axles with all of the lift. It would also give you a very good driveshaft angle for less complications with all that power going to the tires. I saw a guy in the place where all of me and my buddies off road at with an 80 with the rockwell setup. He didnt have the motor tranny and other stuff you have but it had the Chevy 350 and nv4500 and ran the Mich. 53" tires and it was wicked as far as what it could do and it didnt look tipsy either with a lift very similar to what you have. He drove this rig to and from the park and he said it was like 45 minutes one way. I know personally you can get these axles custom done with disc brakes and shortened much cheaper than the portals and they are damn near impossible to break no matter what tire you run or terrain to wheel in. But i done have to say the portals to add the extra bit of a wow factor due to it being a very cool mod and a lot of people are running rockwells on their rigs now days.

[Project FJ80]

Volvo or rockwells would probably have been cheeper also. One of the main reasons I am holding out for the Portal-Tek axles is the ability to use a 2.25 gear ratio. which give me a final ratio of about 4.5 or so. This will keep the rpms down, since the diesel will only rev to 4Krpm and I want to cruise at 2200rpm at around 75mph. I dont really need to go any faster than that after everything is done. 2 1/2ton rock wells would go along with my overkill plan... I just dont plan on trailering my rig. I built it to be driven.
I hope to beable to post some pictures up sometime this year, Of the axles. ... under my cruiser

Untill then I wait.

[Portal Tek]

Just wanted to give an update on ronnie's set of Portal-Teks. I am in california right now doing a personal install on the set before him for cool cruiser fj40 and will be heading back to the shop as soon as i am finished to finish ronnies set. No i am not in mexico although it sounds like a good pit stop before going back to the same 20 hour a day welding and machining that i have been doing for the last 6 months. I am going to go home and crash hard for a few days since i havent slept in a few weeks and then we will arrange to do the same factory install in ronnies truck along with a few more surprises for everybody.

Now back to the shop.

Rob Hardy
Director of engineering
Portal-Tek axles
www.portal-tek.com

[LandCruiserPhil]

All right Ron great news and with installation. Look forward to a lot of pictures of the install.

[Project FJ80]

Hello All. Yes good news indeed. Sorry it took so long to respond. Unfortuantally last week Someone ran a Red light and I lost my 03 Tacoma. So between dealing with the insurance, work and everything else in between, Including looking for a replacement truck, its been crazy buzy.
But I do look forward to having my ruck worked on next.

Depending on where it goes, will determin the picture progress that I will beable to post. If i ship it over to portal-tek, they will finish putting her back togeather again from the ground up. Either way. it will be one hell of a build.
Ill keep you all posted.

[CruisinFJ60]

i wanna see the finished product.

depresing i rember first finding this thread a year ago and reading every post.

[projektdotnet]

sad to hear that it took this long to get it out but if it takes that long to make perfection then so be it, although I know I would not have been as patient. Glad to hear these are going to finally see daylight. can't wait!

[GLTHFJ60]

Originally Posted by CruisinFJ60

i wanna see the finished product.

depresing i rember first finding this thread a year ago and reading every post.

I am in the same boat. It's too bad that this is taking so long, but it will be sick when it's done!!