Jason's FJ6.0 Vortec Overland Build

[Shebamacalla]

Decided to start a build thread for my newest FJ60. It was just delivered last night.

Truck came to me with a fresh 6.0 Vortec Swap, hence the name FJ6.0

Also has a 4l80e 4speed auto, ARB Air Lockers F&R

SOA Lift with front shackle Reversal

315/75/16 KM2s on 16" Toyota steelies with spacers.

Body is exceptionally clean and was 1 of 2 main reasons for purchasing a new rig, I love my other 60, but it is starting to rust at the rear wheel wells and I don't have the ability to properly fix it and don't want to spend the money to pay someone else to do it. The other main factor was the engine swap. I have owned 3 2f motors now and while they are great off road, they have been tough to live with elsewhere, the utter lack of power combined with the 10-14mpg is just not doing it for me.

My main goal for the truck is to build a reliable "comfortable" and capable truck for overlanding in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and hopefully much further as my schedule allows.

My plans for the truck:

I am very seriously thinking about converting the truck back to SUA, I just have to find out how complicated it is. I just feel like the truck is way too high and I think it is overkill for what I will be doing. Would probably use a OME suspension kit and 4+ ubolt flip kits since I don't have the regular mounting plates anymore.
Issues I am concerned about are the cut and turn that was done to the front axle. Will it need to be reversed? Also the Steering setup looks a bit different than on my other 60 (no steering stabilizer). The tires may still fit, or I can swap over my 33" KM2s from my other FJ60. I think I would end up with something like the 4" lift that MAF used to sell with a shackle reversal, so I think the 35s would fit.

I am a long time manual transmission lover, so I am interested to see how I like the Auto Tranny. If I hate it I might swap to a 5speed nv4500 or something similar that works. My other concern with the Auto is the 1st gear is only 2.48, which combined with 4.88 gears and 2.26 transfer is still kind of a pathetic low range. Will have to see how it performs.

New front seats, they don't look bad but they feel like a church pew, I think they must have been restuffed with cardboard or something. (DONE replaced seat foam)

Touch up paint, or a full paint job. The original paint is presentable but has many large scratches that were poorly touched up. I either need to get the correct red touch up paint or do a full repaint. If I repaint I will paint it Blue, because it is my favorite cruiser color, like my other 60.

I will probably be selling ^ one to fuel the funding of ^^ one. Gonna be hard to let her go though.

Other goals are to install a RPM gauge as the stock one doesn't work with the new engine, figure out other gauges that don't work correctly, finish the storage/sleeping platform I already started, find a spare tire/wheel, and figure out where to mount it, the spare tire carrier crossmember appears to be absent or made out of invisible steel. Maybe a swingout by 4+ is in order, but I am afraid having to constantly swing it out to access the tailgate will get tiresome.

Sliders and a warn M8000s are also on the short list

First big trip will be the Moose on the Loose Overland event in the North Maine Woods this June, so hopefully I will be ready by then.

 

[The Phoenician]

I like the red, but I'm also partial .

 

[NolanFJ60]

Nice rig! Any ideas on the current mpg's you're getting? Just curious because mine is SOA and I'd like to do a vortec swap. I've heard of people getting 14-16 with vortecs. One advantage of the auto tranny is the torque converter. It sort of acts like a gear reduction and theoretically should give you a "lower 1st gear" than the 5.61 1st you get with the NV4500, or close to it. And to go back to SUA you might as well purchase some used axles with all the steering components and sell your current axles to someone looking for an easy SOA conversion. And 4.88's are probably too low for 33's. You could get yours to drop a couple inches. To get the front down, do a shackle reversal with the spring hanger as close as possible to the frame rail, and sleeve your frame for the shackles. (Attached are some pictures I stole from this build thread https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/60-build-for-moab.379330/ ) And to get the rear down, redo your spring perches so that they sit completely flush with the axle housing. You could also mess with spring and shackle mounts. Also if your shackles are longer than stock you could go back to stock length. Good luck and I can't wait to see how this all goes.

 

[klinetime574]

Both of those are nice FJ60's.

On the newest one with SOA... You could always swap axle housings with someone that wants SOA. That way you don't have to do any modifying. Only re-installing. You would have to pull the third members, unless you wanted 4.10's. You could swap with an FJ62 owner wanting to jump to 35's and SOA.

I wanna see some motor pics!

 

[Shebamacalla]

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I was also thinking about the possibility of swapping axles housings but wasn't sure how hard that would be. I would obviously want to keep my thirds with the lockers and 4.88s. I think I should be able to keep the 35s with the 3-4 SUA lift, but I doubt dropping to 33's would make that huge of a difference in highway RPMS. Nolan, thats great info on the Auto, I didn't realize the torque converter did that much, honestly I don't know much of anything about Autos, so thats going to be a learning curve but the set up is pretty sweet, has a lokar shifter that still looks very similar to the original manual shifter.

I guess I might have to see if there is anyone near boston looking to go from SUA to SOA. I don't think even with making a lot of mods to the SOA I could do much more than drop it 1-2 inches as the springs are stock and almost flat as is.

Kline, here is the Motor!

Computer and ARB compressor on the driver side. Do most people put the computer in the engine compartment? Slightly worried about it getting wet in water crossings. K&N airfliter, Hooker Manifolds and Dual Magnaflow exhaust. Not sure on MPGs yet, I've only put 2 miles on her since I got it last night. Thinking about getting the computer set up for maximum MPG as this thing has way more power than I will ever need. Just got it registered today, off to get it inspected tomorrow.

 

[Str8Razor]

I know your stoked, just my .02 so it's worth what you paid for it but I think putting it back to sprung under would be difficult, not saying that you couldn't do it but there's is a good bit of work involved, something to think about as well is your oilpan to front differential clearance, mine is tight with a a camaro pan....I will get some better pics of the clearance of mine if you wish...congrats!!!.....Edit, The pcm, ecm computer etc whatever you wanna call it is good to go mounted under the hood.....it's all sealed up!!
I copied this from the BD engines website:
ECM Mounting
The ECM (engine control module / computer) is mounted under the hood in the factory truck or suv. It is completely waterproof and is easiest to mount there. Although you can locate it in the cab it is not necessary and a large hole in the firewall would be required to pass the connecting plugs through. M & M Offroad and others make brackets that can be helpful as well.

 

[SNLC]

I personally think there are better ways to lower it than going back to SuA. I am sure you paid some for the SoA conversion in the purchase price. Why toss that money away?

Yes you may very well have to cut & turn it again to set the castor when you go back to SuA. What is the castor at now? Easy to find out, just put a digital level ($10 at the hardware store) on top of the knuckle.

Before you do anything, i would drive it. How does it drive, nice!? Track straight and true, no d/l vibes in 4wd at speeds? If so, I would really recommend keeping it SoA and just lowering it with flat leaves. In fact I am sure you could make some money on that. Sell the lifted springs, they look lifted anyways, and buy some old used stock flat leaves. I know you say they are stock height but they sure don't look like it in the pics. That will drop it 2-3" at least if not more, looks like about a 2" lifted spring in there

I agree it looks a bit tall with SoA and 35's. With lifted springs and SoA you will have 5-7" of lift. My personal preference for that kind of lift is 37" rubber.

Here is my old 60 with 35's and the same SuA suspension you are talking about.

There is a whole bunch of issue with keeping it SuA and running 35's, in particular with a v8. On my 60 the front diff would hit the exhaust crossover pipe before I did the suspension work. 35's would rub on rear inner fender well, you need the right b/s'ed wheel to not have this rub issue as well as for clearing tres. Could not stuff a 35" tire before doing the work too without rub, in the front mostly.

I went OME heavies in the rear and mediums up front. After this I still couldn't clear 35's so I went with the 4+ S/R kit to gain lift without going SoA. The main reason I used this kit was to get the lift in front. Easy enough to buy the springs and S/R kit and bolt it in, which I did. Then I flex it up to figure out shock length before I buy shocks, front driveline falls apart at the slip joint. Not going to work. It also had bad Cruiser lean. So what now? Fixed Cruiser lean with the right rear leaf combo, thanks Kurt! Cut & turn the front axle to set the pinion angle up right as well as set castor to 5*, those lame little wedges just were not going to cut it in terms of the degrees I needed to make it right. Got shocks figured out so they were not the limiting factor in the suspension. Had to put in a new D/C front drive shaft. Had to modify the sway bar mounts. Custom modified Ford Shock towers and then fit Blistien 5100 shocks. Additionally a Marlin high steer kit to level out the drag link and stop bump steer. Also had to drop the bumps. Custom fit an Icon steering damper. Last bit was to extend the rear shackles to level out the truck. In the end it was perfect, handled like a dream, drove excellent, tracked straight as can be, flexed like a beast and was very well set up. Also fairly low, roughly 4" of lift, just a small hop to get in the truck. However, you can see that was a lot of work, time and money to get it right in order to be SuA, run 35's, have no rub and not have shocks being the limiting factor in the suspension. I think most people with the 4+ S/R kit and OME leaves don't report many problems because they are letting the shocks limit the suspension. That reduces flex and also puts huge amounts of stress on shocks which they are not designed for.

So what I am saying to you is if the truck is already set up SoA, it was done right and drives great and all you want is to lower it a bit. Well, I would look long and hard at all your options before just deciding to go SuA, OME & 4+. Now if the welds suck on the SoA, the castor is off, pinion angle is bad, drives like crap, ect ect perhaps a more major solution is in order. If you still feel the need to lower it, go 33's, much easier to deal with and regular old OME lift kit will do it. Doing 35's just right with SuA IMHO is a bigger can of worms than most on thisforum usually admit.

BTW, sweet v8 60! I love a nice 60 with a v8!

Cheers

 

[Spudman]

Nice looking rig, you gotta stay with the red, red is the new blue

 

[Shebamacalla]

Wow thats a lot of great info RMP&O! I'll have to put some more miles on it to really find out how it drives. I took it out for a short drive last night down along the beach road up to about 45mph and it drove nice and straight, the steering wheel is just a hair off from straight which was kind of bugging me, hopefully I can pull it and put it back on straighter. The only issues I really noticed is the front tires hit the sway bar during a tight turn. Not sure how I'm gonna fix that one if I stick with the 35s. Starting to think a standard OME SUA lift with my 33s might be the way to go, assuming I have the engine clearance.

Couple more photos of the SOA

 

[Heckraiser]

If I were in your shoes, I would just french the shackle hangers into the frame and correct the caster and pinion angle with shims if needed. Should drop you about two inches and WAY less work than converting back to factory configuration.

It also looks like the front springs have an AAL that could be pulled out.

 

[SNLC]

No worries. Glad to offer what info I can. The springs don't look as lifted in those new pictures. Still not as flat as they could be though. I understand your desire to lower it. The reason I didn't go SoA was to keep my 60 low. With a DD I didn't want to be climbing up in the truck all the time. I was determined to run 35's and have it just right though. In the end it worked out but took a lot of work and some coin. It was not a simple, bolt in some OME and the 4+ S/R kit.

I still suggest pursuing ways to lower it without going back to SuA. Mostly because it will take more work and cost you more to go back to SuA. And if the SoA was done right, it will drive, ride and handle great. I agree that frenching the hangers into the frame is a good way to lower it.

It is a sweet Cruiser. Interested to see what you do with it!

Cheers

 

[onemanarmy]

cut those U bolts down
take a leaf out or shorter shackles (can't see what you're working with from your pics)
take the sway bar off (or get some .5 " wheel spacers all around...slightly wider track for stability and push tires away from sway bar...or change wheels all together)
the steering looks like a common crossover setup....adding a stabilizer is not hard, may help with the larger tires
that oil pan looks mighty low....may just be the angle....that will be a problem with dropping it much.
If you went back SUA, all you'd need is a front axle housing...swap all the goodies over. that can be found cheap.

most of all the things above can be tackled in a weekend.

 

[NolanFJ60]

If you take leafs out don't take out the full length AAL leafs. If you do your spring packs will be toast after about a year. But the bottom two leaves (the shortest ones) can be removed. This will allow your springs to sit a little closer to flat enabling it to sit a little lower, plus (or technically minus) the half inch or so from removing those bottom leafs. That would also make it ride a little softer, and flex better, which you could probably get away with since the PO retained the sway bar.

 

[Shebamacalla]

Well I have been driving it around town a bit and wow I am loving it. The Vortec and Auto transmission work great and the suspension feels good and has only minimal lean in corners. Gonna have to think long and hard about what to do before I make any major decisions about the suspension. I am gonna search around the forum and see if I can find hub to fender measurements for different lifts to see where I am in comparison. Right now I am at 27 3/4 center hub to fender front and 25 rear. Most likely due to the fact the front has an add a leaf and the rear does not.

Ended up parking behind a Mint NAS Land Rover Defender 110. Took a photo for comparison sake!

 

[The Phoenician]

really love that red..

 

[Elbert]

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I was also thinking about the possibility of swapping axles housings but wasn't sure how hard that would be. I would obviously want to keep my thirds with the lockers and 4.88s. I think I should be able to keep the 35s with the 3-4 SUA lift, but I doubt dropping to 33's would make that huge of a difference in highway RPMS. Nolan, thats great info on the Auto, I didn't realize the torque converter did that much, honestly I don't know much of anything about Autos, so thats going to be a learning curve but the set up is pretty sweet, has a lokar shifter that still looks very similar to the original manual shifter.

I guess I might have to see if there is anyone near boston looking to go from SUA to SOA. I don't think even with making a lot of mods to the SOA I could do much more than drop it 1-2 inches as the springs are stock and almost flat as is.

Kline, here is the Motor!
View attachment 878726

Computer and ARB compressor on the driver side. Do most people put the computer in the engine compartment? Slightly worried about it getting wet in water crossings. K&N airfliter, Hooker Manifolds and Dual Magnaflow exhaust. Not sure on MPGs yet, I've only put 2 miles on her since I got it last night. Thinking about getting the computer set up for maximum MPG as this thing has way more power than I will ever need. Just got it registered today, off to get it inspected tomorrow.

I have a 5.7 vortec and my PCM is under the hood. I got my friend to built a shield out of aluminum to keep the mud off of it. Mine sits generally in the same area (drivers fender well). I've made a number of river / creek crossings with water up to the top of the fenders...I never stopped moving and never let off the gas...so far no problems. Mud and dirt get everywhere under the hood... I would be careful about an open air filter element like you are running if you off-road...sucking up water and mud. The PCM is made to sit under the hood.....for these engines. I would prefer the PCM to be high in the cab but I've never jumped off into that wiring project.

 

[Shebamacalla]

Hey Elbert, thanks for the tip, I was thinking a similar thing. The K&N is in about the same location as stock, and Ive been through water over the hood with the stock set up in my other 60 with out sucking up water (Luckily) but I was thinking about getting a pre-cleaner to go over it, like the Outerwear one. They are apparently made out of a hydrophobic fabric to keep the water off your main filter. Think that would work? A guard around the computer I'm sure wouldn't be a bad idea either!

Think I might pull the trigger today on a Scan Gauge 2. Anyone have experience with them? Seems like a pretty easy mod, just plug it in to the computer and mount on your dash somewhere. Would be nice because none of my gauges work properly and it might take awhile before I can work them all out. First time I've had a speedometer that actually reads too high!

 

[MANUCHAO]

I did it's a great mod for the Gen 3 vortec engines..
I get my tranny temps as well....

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That rig is beautiful man, good work.

 

[Shebamacalla]

Hey Manuchao, I think your thread about it is where I got the idea. Looks great! Excited to set it up, might pick one up at advanced auto on my way home from work today. Where did you get that tach gauge? does it work? Do your other gauges work? My volt gauge is really low, my oil pressure is off the chart high, and my engine temp barely goes up at all. Thanks!