Project Space Shuttle - 5.0 powered '84 FJ60 on Coilovers (1 Viewer)

[FordFascist]

Project Name:
I was trying to think of a good title for my 5.0-powered FJ60 with 14 inches of travel. Since it's white, from the 80s and I intend on testing its suspension at the San Jose International Airport arrivals terminal speed bumps, the name fit.

The FJ's background:
I herd autistic adults for start up companies. For the non-involved that means I work to make software engineers put their ideas into cogent plans of action that actually have a solid business case behind them. Every now and then my company merges or goes belly-up so I'm rolling Nomad for a while. During my periods of nomad I want a rig I can drive to differing places in the US and be able to sleep in. The FJ60 was a natural choice for such a vehicle. Plus the only thing I have with 4 doors and the capability to seat 5 adults is an F-350 which is like piloting a cruise ship.

My parents had an interior decorator who had a very nice FJ that couldn't pass smog that I looked at and really liked, but she wanted way too much for it given the 300K it had on the odometer. Every other cruiser I was seeing was well over $5000, and still needed a ton of work. Just by chance I saw this FJ60 on Craigslist for $1000. The guy said it needed a clutch and had some minor rust. The inside was trashed, it had rust along the drip rail and the hood was destroyed because the guy used to stand on it to load his kayak. He also used to stand on the roof to trim trees. I don't know why the hell he did that. We haggled down to $800 and the FJ was away to its new home.

My Plan
I live in the Bay Area. I drive a lot and I speed. This means I need a vehicle that can reliably do 80 mph, has ice cold air conditioning, is quiet, rides awesome and still passes CA enhanced emissions. That means that boat anchor POS 2F had to go. Since I am a Ford guy this meant I needed a Ford V8, and an overdrive. I also am over leaf springs for the front axle, so I opted to go for 14" coil overs. For the rear, I already decided to use a Ford ZF S5-42 transmission coupled to a Dana 300 (for both noise reduction of the old split case and reliability) which meant I needed a centered rear axle and I decided to do spring-over with 63" Chevy 4x4 springs and used Bilstein 14" shocks on the modified stock shock crossmember.

All of my tools had to be displaced for a few months while the garage was under construction.

Giant destructive tractor

 

[FordFascist]

I began working on it, but concurrently I decided to build a bigger garage at the same time. Hence the giant tractor staged.

Now that garage was mostly framed (which was a much bigger project), I moved my cruiser off the street since people kept trying to buy it where it was parked. I look thoroughly redneck pushing a busted FJ60 down the street with a tractor in the middle of the city of Campbell.

My Cruiser was the first vehicle to officially Christen my new garage!

I next had to remove 30 years of dirt and grime. There was seriously a layer of sludge about an inch thick on the frame rails. It took me at least 5 separate pressure washings to get down to the visible frame.

Next it was time to pull that heavy pig 2F out and make some room for some new hardware.

Half the weight, twice the power!

 

[FordFascist]

Phase 3: Disassembly
1991 5.0 HO waiting for its new home

Engine compartment slowly being cleaned of stock Toyota emissions and you can actually see the trans

ZF S5-42 > H55... plus that thing is heavy

Laid out on the floor

All in!

 

[FordFascist]

The start of the body-cancer removal

hoisting the ZF into place

Where it fits compared to the H42

Front clip removed

Engine mount tower in progress:

 

[FordFascist]

I never understood the fascination with OME springs, I much prefer the 63" Chevy springs, so out came the grinder and rivet chisel

I toiled over how to use the stock rear axle and transfercase, but realized I lack creativity and like to be able to swap parts between multiple vehicles, so I opted to run a Dana 300 transfercase. This created a problem that I needed a centered rear axle. Fortunately GRMHick had an axle centering jig and an FZJ 80 housing with a bad spindle and a bent IFS rear housing to form my 9" Ford tribute axle.



I used the IFS housing ends turned down to fit inside the 3.25 x .250 wall DOM, then used a 2.75 x 2.50 DOM tube to sleeve the stock inner tube (which is about 2.62"). I lined everything up and slowly welded it making sure not to put too much heat in any particular area.

 

[FordFascist]

Now the rear axle is in the truck

I enlisted my dad and his friend to be ballast so I can set the pinion angle. I pay in Coors light.

More rust removal

All the bad rust is fixed

Logo and side marker light removal. I don't like logos, antennas or marker lights.

 

[FordFascist]

I put the front fenders (the new ones) to get my axle placement at ride height close to where it will be at ride height.

I added ballast (read everything heavy I could find around my property) to get the ride height as close to accurate as possible.

I used the doors as my way to get the suspension level for all my calculations for the 3 Link.

I measured center on all the fenders (and frame) and mocked the axle in place

Then I built a massive cross member to house the transmission and lower links for the front suspension. It's a bulk-headed, sleeved .250 wall 2x4 steel piece with 3/8s tabs

 

[FordFascist]

My first aim was to get the suspension right. I was shooting for between 45-60% anti-dive at the max, with a nearly neutral roll steer characteristics. Obviously it's pretty hard to get it to zero if you are not running a dual triangulated setup, but I think I got close enough (3* over 14") for how I'm going to use this thing.

My issue now was to get a bump-free suspension travel - which means that I had to ditch the '60 box and put on an F-350 steering box. I get the added benefit of being able to use a stock Ford power steering hose. I also can now use off-the-shelf Ruffstuff coil towers.

Drivers side got dual reinforced frame plates and integrated steering box mount.

The passenger side was much easier to build, still equally as stupidly strong.

 

[FordFascist]

Added a cross brace for the coil towers for a border-line unnecessary amount of reinforcement

Custom pitman arms (Fords have a very short pitman arm in the 80s)

Mocking in the links and steering

I also put a 2005 Dodge 2500 sway bar on here to cope with my newfound flexxy suspension - and because it was free. There was no way the stocker would ever work with all my link mounts.

Painted and ready!

 

[FordFascist]

I modified my factory cover to fit the ZF transmission's shifter.

The steering shaft was a bit of a project. I used a 3/4" round to 3/4" DD shaft coupler, then I used 1" DD tubing to provide me a slip shaft for the 3/4" DD to 3/4-36 spline Ford-specific u-joint. For reference the Toyota box is 11/16 x 36 input spline.

All painted and on its own weight

The process of painting this pig. The semi-gloss really made the engine compartment look like there was some potential here.

 

[FordFascist]

Radiator fan shroud build.

I built a new in tank pump sending unit by using A&A Manufacturing spring plates. I didn't take detailed pictures, but I used a round 5.5" spring shim combined with a similar spring shim with a 3.5" hole in the center to make the reinforcing ring. I then made a beef pump bracket and installed the thing. I will add more details in the future.

 

[FordFascist]

I also had to run the lines (fuel, fuel return, evap, brake and fuel pump power) to the outside of the frame so the passenger side exhaust didn't melt them. So I built these outriggers to secure the lines to.

My next plan was to tackle the exhaust. No shop will touch this thing in the bay area because the engine change. They'd rather not deal with it. I find myself undoing all the half ass welds these guys do anyway, so I opted to do it all myself.

There are 4 catalytic converters and air pipes to contend with on a Mustang engine. I used 1/2" steel pipe and connectors to build a removable and arguably bomb proof air-injection system for my Space Shuttle.

I also moved the rear shocks inboard about 6 inches to facilitate running 14" shocks.

Since I love the 1990s so much, I had to put the 45* cut chrome 3.5" tips running out at the corners.

 

[niffa]

Nice build mate

 

[dbleon]

Crazy build man...

 

[enfield]

Nice work man, I love the coil overs!
Not feeling the 302 though, after owning a full size Bronco with one. I'd have definitely went with a 351, if my options were limited to Ford, lol.

 

[Tomtoyota]

Awesome cruiser and build! That 2-door Falcon hard top in the back ground is pretty awesome also!! I had the same exact car years ago. My favorite Ford of all time! I love those things.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

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Why did you choose to do a hybrid centered rear axle instead of a chevy or ford factory centered rear?

 

[FordFascist]

Nice work man, I love the coil overs!
Not feeling the 302 though, after owning a full size Bronco with one. I'd have definitely went with a 351, if my options were limited to Ford, lol.

Broncos did not get the 5.0 High Output. They are two entirely different engines with significant differences in power output. They have different heads, pistons, cam shafts and entirely different induction systems. I have a 5.0 HO in my mini truck as well and it moves it right along. Please keep in mind that this has to pass smog in CA so that means only stock parts. This ain't my first rodeo.

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Why did you choose to do a hybrid centered rear axle instead of a chevy or ford factory centered rear?

Well most Ford or Chevy axles would have been full width - with the exception of an early Bronco rear axle which I didn't want. The only axles that are similar width and factory 6 lug are Isuzu Rodeo/ Honda Passport D44s, 80-89 Wagoneer D44s and Toyota 8" IFS rears. I weighed all the options and I was still ahead using a hybrid axle since I had all the parts. Although I do have a disc brake Rodeo Dana 44 sitting in my spare axle pile.

 

[SteveH]

Let no one say you didn't take this on and go full bore. Impressive. What kind of crawl ratio will you have (low, low)?

 

[Mace]

I :Heart: 60's with HO 5.0's..