1969 FJ55 Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[J Mack]

I had my 4bt with p-pump delivered Friday. Found a guy who sells tested and running 4bt's on ebay with or without adapters.

I also bought a tested running 4BT on EBay and after reading on 4BT swaps about the guys testing these engines without water and cracking the cylinder heads I decided to pull mine and have it tested.
The machine shop stopped checking after 18 cracks in the first half of the head, you might want to have yours checked out if you have time.

 

[TuffMudder]

I also bought a tested running 4BT on EBay and after reading on 4BT swaps about the guys testing these engines without water and cracking the cylinder heads I decided to pull mine and have it tested.
The machine shop stopped checking after 18 cracks in the first half of the head, you might want to have yours checked out if you have time.

Wow, thanks JMack. Do you remember who you bought yours from?

 

[TuffMudder]

What doors need need work and how extensive?

I went over and looked at in the dark last night and as I was taking pics wasn't really paying attention to which doors had what. 1 will need a little work where the lower door hinge attaches. 2 will need to the window frame attachments fixed. 1 has a good deal of bondo on the front, but it appears to be just filler where the metal was dented up or damaged. I'm going to have Jessi take it out and do whatever needs to be done, b ut looking at the back side, it doesn't appear to be rot.

The doors mostly appear to need minor TLC.

 

[J Mack]

Wow, thanks JMack. Do you remember who you bought yours from?

I have tons of info on putting a 4BT in a pig. I don't know if any of it is good info but I do have tons. Let me know if I can help.

I'll PM you the name of the company I bought my 4BT from, I cant say anything good and don't want to be that guy that bashes companies publicly of every forum.

 

[Delancy]

The doors mostly appear to need minor TLC.

I have a surplus, if it comes down to it.

 

[TuffMudder]

I have tons of info on putting a 4BT in a pig. I don't know if any of it is good info but I do have tons. Let me know if I can help.

I'll PM you the name of the company I bought my 4BT from, I cant say anything good and don't want to be that guy that bashes companies publicly of every forum.

Thanks, I'll hit you up if we run into any snags, though I'm still a couple weeks from the first engine mock up and at least a few weeks more from final install. Thanks for the infor in your pm as well. I just sent you another reply

I have a surplus, if it comes down to it.

Thanks Delancy. There's only one door that is even in question and I suspect it's going to be ok, but if not, I may have to make a trip your way!

 

[TuffMudder]

Well its been a while since I posted a progress update so i thought i'd do so today.

Most of the sheet metal work is done. The drivers rear quarter ended up have only one small area of rot and the rest was just dented in and responded nicely to heat and cold to straighten it back out. It will still need a little bondo to make the surface smooth, but shouldn't be to bad.

All four door jams ended up needing cut out to one degree or another with the passenger rear being the most extensive



But Jessi did a nice job of patching it all up













He still has a little work to finish out the sheet metal







He should finish of the sheet metal this week and will put some primer on the bare metal before my pig tries to rekindle her long standing love affair with rust

 

[TuffMudder]

Well, its been a rough couple of months. Not personally mind you, but certainly on the pig restoration. Delay after delay has resulted in the project moving forward at less than a snails pace. Finally made a little progress the past couple of weeks.

Had the transmission rebuilt. Why you ask?

Not sure how well, those gears will show up, but somebody did a real number on them

The NV4500 and adapter are finished and ready to go. The transmission shifts nicely now, even sitting on the bench

 

[TuffMudder]

The body is slowly progressing forward as well

This weekend I need to order front bucket seats. I think I'm going with Corbeau, so if anyone has experience with them, I'd appreciate any comments on what you thought. Picks look nice enough. Looks like i'll be odering them from IPOR.

Also have to pick out an AC this weekend, order a new clutch and either find a auxillary tank or pull the trigger on a custom fabricated one. Also need to poke my head over in Ron's Slow 71 to see what other inspiration I can pick up from him

 

[scrapdaddy]

Rodney,

Looking good man! I bought the Corbeau sport seats, right from them. http://www.corbeau.com/products/reclining_seats/sportseat/. I used their seat frame also, the problem with that is the rear heater didn't fit under it. I had to raise the frame legs up a little. Hindsight, maybe should have modified the frame, so it fit down around the heater. I like the seat height for the leg room, but it might too high for eye sight out the windshield.

 

[TuffMudder]

I'm looking at getting seats and frames from here: http://www.ironpigoffroad.com//inde...oducts_id=94:41c9b0c19ab00ed813ebc08c7ab2ed36

Right now its between those and the corbeau sports seat and frame which is about $400 cheaper. Unfortunately, unless I can find someone on here who's used the IPOR seats, I have no way of comparing the two, so in the end it will just be a crap shoot

I'm leaning toward the IPOR seats, but I'm not sure why that is. I think part of me is thinking, they're way more expensive they MUST be better. I'm going to make a post to see if anyone has used them before in case i get lucky.

I'll be ordering an AC soon. I read something in one of your posts about sending the vapir back because you didn't like a cover? What was it that you actually sent back and what did they replace it with? Did you end up being happy with the replacement and anything I need to be worried about going that route? (I'm getting 4 square vents, the micro stealth knobs and a condensor with it).

 

[scrapdaddy]

Rodney,

They riveted a alum. plate on the front of the evaporator/ blower, that was of modern design and red. It didn't fit in with my cruiser. They said it was for helping in the mounting options. I didn't need it and didn't want to start drilling it off, so sent it back and paid shipping to have another one made without it. At the time I ordered, their website didn't show that piece on it. If I remember right, it was @ $60 to ship back. Have them send you a picture before you order.

Other than that, it's a high quality product. ( Thanks JMack ) for enlightening me.

Here's a picture of the piece.

That is the front of the unit.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Triple post, deleted

 

[TuffMudder]

Is that the upper and lower over drive gears on the NV4500?

Did your rebuilder address the issue with the OD nut backing off?

Last item for you with OD... double check the OD shift shaft that the OD shift fork is attached. The end in the case can wear oddly and will jam the transmission into OD.

Good looking project... want to do bodywork on mine?

Yes Lil' John, what's left of them anyway. I bought a rebuild kit that was updated to correct the 5th gear nut problem. I'll check the shift fork. I'd never heard of that issue.

As for the bodywork, you don't want me anywhere near your pig with a welder. I have a friend who does all the body work

 

[PabloCruise]

Wow, sounds like a lot of $ spent on the NV4500...

 

[TuffMudder]

Wow, sounds like a lot of $ spent on the NV4500...

It wasn't cheap. I bought core from a wrecked truck, a rebuild kit and had it rebuilt. A lot cheaper than buying one new and I have pretty close to a brand new nv4500. Hopefully it won't give me any trouble

 

[TuffMudder]

Seats came in today!!!

 

[scrapdaddy]

Nice! How do they mount to the floor?

 

[TuffMudder]

Seat to sliders, sliders to mounting bracket, mounting bracket to ???. I don't have the stock bench bracket so I'll have something similar put together out of square tube

 

[onemanarmy]

you will still use the factory seat risers/mounts?