Sorry, didn’t know this was 80 only.
3FE Owners Check-In (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter alkaline747trio
- Start date
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I got a pin striped, clearcloat faded, oil soaked, loose difs, leaky rear quarter panel (its my emergency water storage device), bad wired, f’up bumpers and vacuum lines FJ80 91 for $2,200 six years ago and wouldnt sell her for 9k today.
Edit: because I probably spent that much on repairs.
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Still better than buying an overpriced 1FZ for $20k, same clearcoat faded, oil soaked, leaky undercarriage, birds nest lookin front leather seats, and a leaky head gasket only to find out it is not as easy as a standard PM as MUD advertised.....
Yep....that pretty much sums it up! Me too!
Just completed a 500 miles round trip on Memorial Day weekend to central California up the National Forest, 6000 ft elevation gain. Rig fully loaded with 3 ppl, 4 days of camping and it performed wonderfully. 75mph on highway and 55-60 mph up steep grade with AC on full blast, i have only seen temp as high as 198F and quickly drops back to normal upon descent and around 190F avg. The 3rd gear lockup works wonder from the Nomad VB upgrade and seems to keep the engine running cooler. This engine continues to impress me. It has taken me to the Rubicon a couple times and back without issues, as well as Moab, and all throughout SoCal. It has seen a fair bit of rock crawling throughout my 6 yrs of ownership and I would not change a thing. It keeps up with my brother's JKU on 37s on all of our trips and it has never let me down. I love this truck. Take care of the cooling issues, the basic maintenance, and the 3FE IMO is just as good as the 1FZ w/o ever have to worry about blowing HGs...The desmog, timing advanced, valve body upgrade, regearing etc, etc. Helps every every bit of it nonetheless. I have to admit, it is running much better now with all the upgrades and 37s, with all the heavy armors, than it was bone stock when I first got it... Things I noticed, the 2 core- alum. radiator is key to keep the engine cool as this engine produces more heat than power.... The brass/copper unit like the CSF might work well on stockish rigs, but it did nothing but overheating on mine. Add a cheap aftermarket temp gauge to monitor your cooling system, this is a MUST for any serious offroaders....Timing advance to 10-12 degree and seems to work well with 89 octane on LOAD.. Adjusting your brake bias proportioning valve if you are lifted over 2", i am on 4" lift, north of 6500 lbs with some decent aftermarket pads up front and it has zero problem stopping and i can lock up my 4 tires if i wanted to...If you are in hot desert climate, the 2 aftermarket SPAL fans in front of the condensor and tranny cooler is a MUST and it keeps my AC ice cold and also drops my coolant temp down to manageable number sub ~200 F. I use Rotella 20W-50 Diesel oil and have improved my oil leaks almost to none and with almost zero to no oil consumption w/ 250k miles on the clock. Adjust your valves per FSM every 20-25k miles, and also run thicker fan clutch oil in my OEM Aisin green clutch...That's all folks...happy wheeling.
Marco, Your 3FE continues to be an inspiration. I continue to say that the 3fe had never left me dying for more power. The thing just works. You have an awesome build. Keep up the posts!
Thank you. Lots of work, time and money poured into this rig (sure most ppl on MUD can relate). These are high maintenance vehicles, and demands quality parts and constant upkeep. I am not talking about mall crawler or daily grocery getters. My 80s is my weekend camping/ trail rig and sees as much dirt/rocks as it sees pavement. Anyways, I can see how a 3FE with tired cooling system and non functioning emission controls and vacuum leaks, etc. etc. can drastically affect its performance, although it can have no ill effect on drivability and it will still get from A to B. This is coming from first hand experience with mine and seeing how it performed back when mine was bone stock on 33s to how it sits now. It was literally night and day. I would see my temp gauge north of 3/4 upon any duration of climbs and had to pulled over to the right lane barely keeping speed limit with 18 wheelers passing on the left. My brothers Jeep would always needed to pull over at to wait for me. Now, 6 yrs later, both on 37s, i would be inching on him on the same long steep climbs with his 3.6L on the verge of overheating while i have my AC on full blast chucking along @ 4k in 2nd gear w. my temp south of 200F. For what its worth, at least this is my own personal experience with the 3FE and it is truly a work horse...
On the other end of the investment spectrum- all I have done is timing, valves, new dizzy, plugs and wires, transmission cable adjustment, %10 underdrive gears and 33’s
and mine drives way better than when I got it. Especially the underdrive and the 33’s seems to put the shift points in a better place. I can get it to downshift and accelerate without pushing it to the floor and then some or manually shifting
lt1fire
SILVER Star
Are you still running the Liland radiator?
i'm looking for a new rad for mine for my upcoming build.
Nomad VB, 2fe stroker controlled by a megasquirt.
Yes, Liland unit IMO is just as good as my old Ron Davis. I think i have had enough seat time with the Liland to say it is just as good, larger core and fit and finish is great as well. I think the Liland cools a little faster than my Ron Davis, not by much, but once i get over a long steep climb, I can see my temp drops quickly...
How much of a performance gain with the 2FE stroker and megasquirt are you anticipating? This is gonna be an ultimate trail rig with all said and done..i am excited see it.
lt1fire
SILVER Star
If memory serves on the dyno it came out to the equivalent of 190HP and 300 ft/lbs or something like that. Once I put on my turbo kit it will be quite a bit more..... that said i'm still not 100% i'll do the turbo or not because ultimately my OM606 diesel is going in the 80. This is just a stop gap for a few years.
I’m relatively new at this but have gotten off to a good start.
Vehicle: 91 FJ80
Location: Louisville, KY
Completed projects:
Desmog
Fuel filter
D cap, plugs n wires, d cap gasket
Heater control valve
Fuel vapor canister
Have you messed with your transmission lockdown cable?
CarcaineProblems
GOLD Star
Hmmmm..tell me more about the transmission lockdown cable? BTW, the “lock “ button next to my shifter doesn’t seem to do anything? I haven’t driven a lot, and haven’t looked into it. I’ll start the google search too
That lock button is the only way I can shift out of park, so I think it only does anything if for some reason your thumb button on the shifter isn’t activating a solenoid circuit like mine.
The kick down cable and the throttle cable work together to set the timing of the transmission shifting and they can get loose over time so that the end result is the vehicle feels slow.
There are several threads about it if you search. It’s not too hard, you can trial and error it till it’s right
lt1fire
SILVER Star
I love going through the start of this thread and seeing all the OG 3fe guys I used to talk to.
I realized I may never have filled out Logan's original survey (miss ya dude)
Vehicle: 1992 FJ80
Location: Currently Federal Way WA,
When I bought the Cruiser, Canyon Country, CA
When I sold the Cruiser, Charlotte, NC
When I bought it back Seattle, WA
3FE Junk:
1) Stroker 2FE with mega squirt
2) De-smog
3) Custom Exhaust
Custom Turbo Kit (not installed)
3FE Issues: Guy I sold it to blew the head gasket, parked it and somehow froze the front 3 clylinder lifters in their bores
Other Mods:
4) Nomad VB in A440 trans
5) Slee Gen 2 6" lift with Gen 2 radius arms, and adjusteable rear upper and lower control arms and F/R adjustable panhard arms
6) Slee 1" front coil spacer
7) Custom 2 gauge battery/starter/ground lines
8) Snorkel (ebay special baby)
9) Modified front ARB bumper for more clearance
10) OEM asin winch from a JDM 80 series
11) F?R 4.88 gears
12) F/R ARB air lockers
13) Custom Sliders
14) 39" Michelin XMLS on FZJ80 Wheels
15) Rear FZJ80 FF axle and brakes
16) Front FZJ 80 brakes
17) axles and trans breather extensions
18) Ford Taurus Electric Fans
19) I'm sure there are a ton i've forgotten
20) JDM adventure package rear storage and sleeping platform
21) Dual batteries
22) LIghtforce 240 LED bar lights
Mods to Come
Rear bumper build
New roof rack build
Replace the missing custom skid plates
Bigger snorkel if I go turbo or for future diesel swap
After I finish building my mercedes OM606 turbo diesel, swap it in and decide on manual vs auto trans
Well, my trip to the Sequoias National Park last weekend wasn't exactly smooth sailing. This was the 4th time in 6 yrs, 2 times with a blown radiator, 1 time with fusible link/grounding and this time what I believe is a bad torque converter. Was pushing the rig pretty hard up 6500 ft/ 300 miles of driving, and after turning into a 4x4 trail, a whining noise from the tranny becomes more apparent and started experiencing gear slippage. I pushed on forward about a couple more miles just to get off the dirt road and campground was not far ahead. Pulled into the campground and lost all forward gear and reverse. Checked the tranny fluid, it was full and no burning smell. Started up the rig and it would grab, had forward and reverse for a while and completely slip and lost all gears again. Long story short, I have started experiencing slight shuddering and vibration for the past few months from a dead stop to about 5 mph, and long delay shift from 1st to 2nd, and not thinking too much of it- big mistake. My rig was running amazing with the WAT nomad valve body upgrade since 2020. I am taking it to a transmission shop to see what they have to say, all symptoms point me to a bad torque converter. I have a set of high/low transfer underdrive waiting to install, so it would be a good time to do it along with upgrading my Torque converter to a Billet HD unit from WAT to go along with the HD Nomad valve body already in the car. Should be a bullet proof setup with close to ~5.29 final gearing with the underdrive high transfer regear along with my 4.88 in my 3rd. Stay tune for more update folks...
Buggers- The best laid plans & all… Sounds like you have a positive outlook & good plan moving forward.
Best of luck!
CarcaineProblems
GOLD Star
