1974FJ Rebuild of cruiser....

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1974FJ

1974FJ

Joined
Dec 1, 2006
Threads
84
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1,086
Location
NC
Most of you know that i wrecked my cruiser back in April! Well, after fighting with the insurance company for 3 months now, we finally settled. I hope to get the cruiser back this coming week(its in Dunn at their salvage yard, i hope!haha).
I wanted to do a build up thread here for everyone interested. I know not everyone visits the hardcore section. But heres what ive accomplished so far without having the actual cruiser, haha. Enjoy!...............
 
Well fellas, things were supposed to go alot better.
I had a decent fj40 that i was driving daily that i decided to change over to diesel by running the CTD 4BT. Well did the research, finally got the engine, then CRASH!!. I rolled the cruiser over in a busy intersection, I just settled with the insurance company and i hope to get started on this ASAP! So now the build up will be of me trying to resurrect the old cruiser back to life with a diesel heart!

Heres what i had and then what happened....





you can go here for more details.. https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/216644-rolled-land-cruiser-new-excuse-rebuild.html



 
after alot of searching, i was able to get this Cummins for a great price and pretty local. If you are seriously interested in buying one please PM me and I can give you the information to the guy/company i bought mine from.
The motor is a 4BT with 118k miles on it with the larger H1C turbo. Has great oil pressure too.
When i got it, it had just been pulled from the Chevy style P30 stepvan. This meant the diesel was dirty for one, but it also meant that the engine had a power steering pump and a low-rear mounted turbo(as opposed to the ford style van that had a centered high mount which wouldn't work for my hood because these motors are tall!!!)
the VE pump on my motor is almost new too that i didn't know till i picked it up, nice surprise!

This is what i meant the engine was dirty...



 
after doing more looking around, i found out that Northern Tool and Equipment carries alot of engine paint, even Cummins beige! I thought it would be really cool to paint it the Cummins Beige, and I like it alot! I torn down most of the motor for cleaning, took apart turbo too. I also picked up some high temp header/manifold paint to paint the exhaust manifold and exhaust housing of the turbo. Next im going to install the 366 governor spring i got. the factory spring allows the motor to only turn around 2500 rpms so this new 3200 spring will help me whine the gears out a bit more and have a little more drivability out of this diesel.





 
Back at the end of may i was able to head up state and pick up a frame from Juan and Maria to use for the wrecked cruiser. Thanks to both of you for helping me out Juan and Maria!! The cruiser doesnt have a whole lot of body damage to it, but the frame took all the impact, seeing as how it bent a good 7-8 inches. So heres what i got, and now the plan is to get to working on this new frame..



 
not much of an update, but without a cruiser to work on its tough.

My cruiser is a SOA with both the front and rear springs flipped. One of the things i always wanted to fix was the rear shock mount location so it would work better with my axle farther back. So i cut the shock mounts off the cross member and turned them around and re-welded them. It looks stock but should work much better for me.



 
next, i stole this idea from some 4bt buddies. I took at manifold from a 6bt and cut the number 1 and 6 cylinder ports off and plan to nickel weld a plate in its place. Doing this will allow me to have a high center mount turbo which should work better for me in the 40.
Heres what i have so far:


6BT manifold



Marked for my cuts



Finally! i even went old school on it and used a hack-saw for the last little bit of cut that my cutoff wheel couldn't reach. oh well, got it. ready to be welded.



 
A small but exciting update.....
I was lucky enough to find a STEAL of a DEAL on a hy35w turbo today(cough cough.....$40). So i have that to play with now and try and get it where i want it. Ive got pictures below that show the chopped 6bt manifold flipped and the hy35w mounted. I know the turbo isn't sitting right, but i mounted to see what i wanted to do and what i had room to do. I'm also going to tear down this turbo and clean it up, i haven't decided if i want to rebuild it. I put some oil down in it today because it didn't spin as nice as it should(been sitting in a salvage yard bolted to a 24v for who knows how long) and now it spins pretty freely but i think i hear it rubbing the housing a little but i cant see any damage on the fins. I think with the money i saved on the turbo, i should rebuild just in case. Enjoy

I got all this too....





 
Well i got it back from my tig welding friend. He did an awesome job! I provided him with the chopped manifold and the two end caps(i got from the material i cut off) and he welded it for me. He said he tig welded it with a nickel rod, and ran 3 different beads. He said the first, small bead, helped heat up the area slowly and that by the 3rd bead it was good and hot and took the weld very nicely!. Im excited about it.



 
I cant really do much work without my cruiser. But since i dont have the cruiser back yet, i have time to do cool things to this motor like upgrading the turbo and replacing seals and making intake tubing. After tearing the hy35w apart for the rebuild, i put some 1500degree paint on the exhaust housing and manifold and put it back together, it was a piece of cake! the easiest turbo to rebuild by far! I got the alignment pins cut off tonight, so now i can freely rotate the housings however i want them. I ended up with what i think i will run if the hood of the cruiser will allow it, i think it should. It almost works out great with the wastegate ears on the intake housing, they line up pretty close to what they should(in-line with the lever on the exhaust housing). And, i think running the exhaust behind the motor will also work out great with the neck of the hy35w, i was able to rotate it to point directly behind the motor(pic3)





 
Me likey! I may have to talk to you at the next meeting on some futures for my second cruiser..... PM me...
 
Right on Martin!........this is going to be good.
 
Holy.....that turbo is out of control. Saweet!
Careful man, that much power in a shortie is bad news on the road. ;)
 
rutbeer said:
Holy.....that turbo is out of control. Saweet!
Careful man, that much power in a shortie is bad news on the road. ;)
Click to expand...

haha, thanks!
I will do everything i can to keep it safe.......well as safe as a 4bt powered cruiser can be. Any chance you can help me locate a diesel badge for the front grill? i love those and really want one for the build!
 
Disco'd.
There was a guy on mud, Exmolad, or something like that. He had a bunch of them. However, he denies that the badge is off a diesel corolla, but I have never seen another emblem mounted the way mine is. I think you could get a diesel corolla emblem and mount it to a piece of sheet metal tacked the wire mesh.....which is what I did. I always thought the factory emblem would bolt on just like the toyota center emblem does.
 
Looks like someone owes you a new hardtop.....
 
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