Builds dougbert's future 350 swap: How much torque is too much? (3 Viewers)

[JohninFla]

Wow that looks like a long spacer! How long are the stock when new? I think mine are an inch maybe- real old though.

You are kicking butt on that rust, the frame looks new! Good for 25 more years!

 

[norsk]

Wow that looks like a long spacer! How long are the stock when new? I think mine are an inch maybe- real old though.

You are kicking butt on that rust, the frame looks new! Good for 25 more years!

2" lift puck, plus the bushing. My old bushings were almost flat, say 1/3" - the new bushings are abt 1", so that gives about 2-2/3 gain.

Allows me to brush and paint the top of the frame after install - nice.

I hope 30 years - ja! I will be pushing 90 -

dougbert

 

[norsk]

Ran into a problem with bolt lengths on mounts #3 and #4.

The kit came with 3/8-24 x 5.5 inch grade 8 bolts, but they are too short. I found a bolt place in Orem Utah, and got 6 inchers, but guess what? THEY are too short. I have to leave out the smaller washer in order to get the nut on. I remember reading on another review of the 4crawler kit they had the same problem with bolts too short.

Tried various places and no one has a 6.5 inch bolts, unless I buy 100 pcs - darn.

Then found on ebay a box of 10 count for $15 plus $8 shipping. I bought it. I only need 4, but I can get them, where I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to get any, unless I shelled out for 100 pcs.

So, anyone else want my other bolts? LOL

dougbert

 

[JohninFla]

Hey, too late now, but maybe a piece of 3/8 threaded rod with nuts next time? post the rest of the bolts in the classifieds you never know.

In 30 years, I will be the feisty young 80 year old hitting on all the ladies in the retirement home, offering rides in my old 4X4 Cruiser, around the parking lot!!

 

[ntsqd]

For anyone searching this in the future, regular all-thread is about equal to Grade 2 in strength, i.e. not much. There is an option though, "B7" all-thread is supposedly about equal to Grade 8.

I'm not opposed to cutting off some threads so that the bolt doesn't stick out too far, but running a die down a bolt to create more threads is not a very good idea. Cut threads are nowhere near as strong as the roll-formed threads that the bolt came with.

 

[JohninFla]

Ntsqd - you are correct on all points! Do you think an all thread, loaded in tension to hold the body down, where gravity is on your side, will be over loaded here? Maybe in cornering? Are the stock bolts grade 5 or 8 ? ( JIS equivalents)
John

 

[norsk]

Ntsqd - you are correct on all points! Do you think an all thread, loaded in tension to hold the body down, where gravity is on your side, will be over loaded here? Maybe in cornering? Are the stock bolts grade 5 or 8 ? ( JIS equivalents)
John

Will need to check the head, but they are Zinc (yellow) coated.
So I think they are grade 8.
I knew the bolts are "out there" just was a matter of finding them.

The local place has a 8" bolt (way too long), and I found a 7" online as well, but again too
long. I just needed a 6.5"

So they are on their way and will fix #3 and #4 when they get here.

dougbert

 

[norsk]

Well, while the driver's side is still "loose", I went ahead and cleaned up the the top of the rails and the rear shock cross bar, along with the other cross bar in front of it.

Got the rust off, Metal Blasted it, put two coats of Rust Bullet on them and then the Rust Bullet Black on top of it. Looks much better

NOW I can finish the lift kit by installing the driver's side and tightening it all down.

Pic of the cross bars
Pic of the frame nose, painted black

 

[JohninFla]

Nice work! If you get cold and bored over the winter, come on down to Fla and do mine!

You might want to beat those engine mounts out of there before you get done cleaning up the front, they are totally in the way of that sweet engine!

Still waiting on my fan here, and going to get into exhaust this weekend.

 

[ntsqd]

I gotta say that I was disappointed with how easy it was to cut mine off. Most of the weld bead was in the ratchit category and wasn't actually melted into both base parts.

 

[norsk]

Yeah, mounts will be gone via a plasma cutter but not yet.

And today, the lift kit is installed and DONE - It took so long because I could NOT stand to install the kit on those rusty mounts. I just HAD to clean the rusty out and get them painted for the future! I started on August 8th, so 1 month and 1 week, working an hour here and there. Compare lift with the following post: https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=8716082&postcount=106 Definitely can see the lift difference

Pics of the rear and front pucks on both sides (PS painted black, which I will also do to the DS one to reduce the stark of a white puck on black frame)

and pic of DS rear tire. (Note all tires on also on ramps to allow working under the body - it really helps keep my head from hitting things)
The point of interest is the distance between the top of tire and the top of the rear wheel well. Definitely an increase of distance.

The tires are 31x10.50x15 on 8 inch rims. They look too small now, so I gotta fix that.

Will continue to work on most of the frame (save for the power train mount points), getting it cleaned and painted. More wire brushing to go.

Decided to just cleanup and paint the rear cross members and wait on pulling the C channel supports (in pic 1 below) until we do the new rear bumper (with spare tire carrier and gas can carrier swing outs). Jake pulls the C channels at that point along with the cross members, as well as the receiver. So all that will be done in the future - ie when the money arrives - and the frame will be fairly well done.

dougbert

 

[norsk]

I already knew that my FJ60 needed some work on the rear quarter panels due to the rust (or holes) found there. I have a plan to work on that....................

but I have found that my cruiser has UPPER CRUISER CLAP!

In prepping the truck for parking this winter I am repairing the rain gutters because of pools of water in my DS and PS foot wells after rains happening here. So started cleaning the sealing compound from the gutter on the DS. Rusty in there, but cleaned up and put some Metal Blaster on it to get that rust out.

Then working back, I kept cleaning and then saw some serious rust spots on the root at pillar C, poked at it with the wood chisel I am using to get the compound out and poked a HOLE through the roof. Upon going around the whole gutter, I found 3 areas total doing this.

One above DS pillar C mentioned
One in the back above the hatch and
one area in front of PS pillar D.

Dang - a rust hunt is on.

What are my options to fix this?
I found Kevin's "Rusty" rebuild thread at
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=7317342&postcount=48
where he does some fixing on the roof by cutting out sections and using an old body for new source material.
Is that the right fix?

AND I assume (from Kevin's points) I have rust undernearth there ALL the way around.
His suggestion is to put some ATF fluid in those areas, but I see taking down the entire
headliner to really do it properly.

How does the headliner come down?
Easy to re-installed or does one get a new one?
Are there installers for that?
I know - doing some searching, I will do that.


pics below show the above areas/
Ignore the rust on the hatch in pic #2, the ENTIRE hatch is being replaced with a great one I got from a mudder in TN. It just needs painting.

 

[norsk]

Results of some searches

Roof liner suggestions:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/750486-roof-liner-suggestions.html

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=7609061&postcount=269 from SOR

I like scrapdaddy's solution with the Lizard skin and the Monstaliner and don't put the headliner back in. Some interesting possibilities. Coating it like that would reduce condensation in the future and reduce future rust. Headliner is coming out.

Reading the Mostaliner website gave some new ideads as well. Thinking of painting the upper part of the body with Mostaliner like their projects listed there.

I now see that this engine rebuild led to a body rebuild which led to a complete fixup - oh well, its fun

Been catching up on some old build's like Skinner's https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/199378-84-fj60-resto-5.html to gain
more insight into possible problems and solutions.

dougbert

 

[norsk]

got some time yesterday to:

take out the rear side windows
pull the back size of the headliner
look for the rust on the roof and edges

No rust on the window frames - good
cannot see any rust on the main roof - good
from inside, I can see light through the holes in the root - bad, yet visible.

I know now what others have said about the glue holding the insulation to the roof. Any suggestions on a solvent?
I really haven't been able to find pictures of the roof w/o the liner, so here are some.

pics 1-3 are looking to roof from each side and a pic of the rear roof line

pic 4 is out of focus b/c it is too close, but that light streak is the rust hole looking outside.
My goal is to spray Metal Blaster down into the recesses of metal, then after it dries, will squirt some ATF fluid down into those crevasses. Located on driver's side, above rear door

pic 5 is a set of parts I bought for a encased small parts blast cabinet. I started assembling last night - GREAT, we have lots of small parts that need blasting

dougbert

 

[norsk]

Been sick since sunday and it started raining and snowing yesterday, so did some searches after 'alaska60' mentioned his rebuild and a bad roof. Found his fixes at

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=4828449&postcount=26

Also got my cutting disks for the DeWalt. Waiting to get healthy, some good weather again and time to attempt a cut on the bigger rust burst of my roof.

dougbert

 

[JohninFla]

Snowing?? Get healthy, hang in there, it will be there when you are up to it!

 

[norsk]

65 degrees today and lots of sun, snow melted and I decided to do something which I have no idea how to do it OR, more importantly, if I can fix it afterward: Cut holes in my roof..........OW

pics are below. I did the PS one first and learned that spot welds are hard to separate. I used my narrow wood chisel to s-c-r-a-p-e the sealant out of the gutter, took some work, but got it out. Later I learned that the DeWalt wire brush head stripped out all that sealant like butter under a hot knife. The rest of the sealant will be quick.

On the second cut, I said to myself: Maybe the cutter wheel will trim down the spot welds enough to get them off. It did, just be careful, wear down the top part of the weld, a little push with a screwdriver and pop, they come off. On the third cut that guy just came out. cool.

I took pics of before and after I took the wire brush to on the first cut. Sprayed Rust Bullet's Metal Blaster and made the rust go away. Cuts 2 and 3, just the before cleaning them up.

I figure I will spray Metal Blaster into the roof edge seam connections a couple of times, allowing it to dry, then squirting the ATF into the entire roof seals, like Kevin did, that will slow down the rust. I hope.

Or I could figure out a way to spray the Rust Bullet down in there.....
Kevin mention drain holes in the pillars....need to figure out how, w/o cutting them open

now to come up with some new metal to put into the holes, and learn how to weld them up....more things to learn on this project

dougbert

pic 1 just open roof on PS and what it looks like
pic 2 after cleaning it up with the rotary wire brush
pic 3 rear, above the hatch opened up. And yeah, I cut through the rear window washer hose - doh
pict 4 DS side above C pillar, opened up

all three now are cleaned up and metal blaster working its magic on the rust

 

[norsk]

while the weather is good, working on various parts of the body.

yesterday was the frame again and the underbody

cleaned up a section on the PS and under the floor bump and then painted 1st coat of Rust Bullet.
Using the high speed wire brush to clean off dirt and grease

pic 1 - looking toward the back, "cleaned" on the left, still dirty on the right, where the E-brake is
and man is it DIRTY and GREASY on the right. The e-brake case is so black
pic 2 - looking up the tranny stick hole, PS on the left
pic 3 - PS inside of frame looking toward right rear wheel, yet to be cleaned up, and the under-floor cleaned up
pic 4 - PS foot well after one coat of rust bullet
pic 5 - looking forward at DS foot well yet to be done, mostly the heat shields, under the well.


I have decided to do small (doable) sections, as I have just an hour here and there, and it does not overwhelm me looking at ALL of it yet to be done. I have don't have place inside to work on it with all the big equipment (I have access to such when needed, but it is a shared resource), so I work in the field, and do a little at a time.

 

[JohninFla]

WOW!!! That looks clean!! I am flying you down here to do mine!!

Great job!

 

[norsk]

WOW!!! That looks clean!! I am flying you down here to do mine!!

Great job!

thanks.....February okay? lol


I don't know if what I am doing is "right", but to me it is progress and moving toward a better vehicle for me and my wife.

When her Pathfinder dies, this TLC will be her DD. Her 1995 Pathfinder is at 212k, 3rd transmission, rusting and getting old, less power, etc. Been a good vehicle, but dying. Then only issue is how to get her INTO and OUT of the seats. She is 5'4" tall and it was hard for her BEFORE the lift and future tires (3 inches more with 33's). Neeed to come up with movable steps, both sides. She actually LIKES the rig, as the windows are big (today's vechicles are getting smaller windows) so she can SEE and it is higher than her Pathfinder, thus allowing her to see down the road better.

I am trying to get the TLC ready by next spring, early summer - I am hoping the Pathfinder stays together that long, as I run vehicles to death. I don't buy new, and will use a vehicle for all it has. Get as much of the TLC body done while I have sun here this fall, then move back to to work on the engine when it is raining/snowing outside. I have a small man cave where I do that. Lots to do on the engine for sure. Got intaket and valve cover gaskets this past week, PCV and breather, and more rockers.

dougbert