Builds V8 (SBC) to V8 (Gen III Vortec) swap in my FJ60... (1 Viewer)

[orion]

Overdue update:

Finished up the rear spring work back in March, and all is well there.

Fuel filter still looks clean and clear - Think I caught all the trash in the first one (pictured above).

Took the truck up to GSMTR last month, and had a great time. Motor swap performed exceptionally well...the whole truck did, really.

Only issue I encountered was my fan relay burned up (!). About an hour into Thursday's "intermediate trail ride", I noticed the temp was at 220F, and there was no fan noise (SPAL fans are not known for being quiet).

I popped the hood and found this:

Totally my fault - When I wired the truck, I used all new relays, EXCEPT for this one. It was older, but a $$$ 40A Italian relay from some past project (figured it was up to the task).

Luckily, I had one extra (brand new) relay in my tool bag. Swapped it in, and I was good-to-go for the rest of the trip.

We spent a total of 27 hours off road (including a 3hr night ride Thurs night)...and as I said, the truck did not skip a beat!

Here's a couple pics (we didn't take too many):

Me and @ufg8r -->

Lunch spot on Friday -->

That's all for now.

Air conditioning work will begin SOON...it's getting warm here! Found a local place that should be up to the task. I'll report back on that hopefully later this month.

- Brian

 

[orion]

OK...so the local auto A/C place seemed a little too "sure, we'll git-r-done...probably!?!!??" for my tastes. They do more repairs on newer cars (rebuilding OEM line and such), rather than custom installs.

I figure if someone's going to fumble through it, might as well be me!

To that end, I bought a universal (parallel flow) condenser (16x26 size is perfect for an FJ60):

Then went to the local supplier and bought hose and fittings:

And then ordered an adapter block for the compressor, drier, o-rings, and PAG oil from ColdHose.com:

The adapter block makes the suction and discharge on the compressor into #10 and #8 o-ring fittings:

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Now comes the fun of building lines, and having them crimped.

Continued in the next post, I'll spell out my thoughts on the best way to get A/C in your Vortec swapped Landcruiser... ----->

 

[orion]

So, in my opinion, there's 2 ways to get the A/C working after a swap.

1) Use the OEM compressor, build a new bracket, and keep it all Toyota. This is probably easiest on swaps without a serpentine belt, given the OEM compressor pulley...and it's easier to move things around (alternators and such) on those motors.

2) Use all new/ aftermarket parts (standard size o-ring fitting and lines), rather than try to make it work half and half.

Option 2 is what I'm doing.

The fittings on the firewall are all that I'm using from the Toyota end of things (not including the components under the dash, of course).

On the firewall you have:

The top fitting is an o-ring fitting, but Toyota specific. Smaller than a standard #6 fitting. I'm using part of a Toyota hose for this (from the old OEM condenser) - I cut the rubber portion, and it will be crimped onto one side of my high pressure service port (you can see it laying *mocked up* in the box of fittings, in the picture above).

The lower fitting on the firewall is a standard #10 o-ring.

So, other than a 6" long piece of Toyota line coming off that top fitting...I'm just making standard lines to connect it all.

The compressor fitting are adapted to #10 and #8...and the new condenser has a #8 inlet (top) and a #6 outlet (bottom),

The basic layout is: (four A/C lines are needed)

1) #10 off the firewall, with a low pressure service port in the middle of it, going to the #10 fitting on the compressor.

2) Toyota fitting on the firewall to the high pressure service port...then #6 line out the other side of the service port, headed to a #6 fitting where it attaches to the drier.

3) #6 from the drier to the lower fitting on the condenser (also a #6)

4) #8 from the top of the condenser to the outlet of the compressor (which is a #8)

So by going all aftermarket, it's very straightforward and the lines and fittings are almost 100% standard.

Hope that makes sense typed out - I'll be sure to add pics once the lines are made/crimped.

Working on mocking things up this week, and will hopefully have the lines crimped soon!

- Brian

 

[Elbert]

spal makes (or use to make) I've not looked in a while, a nice relay setup for electric fans with wiring harness, not cheap but everthing is there and high quality in my view.

 

[orion]

^^^ I think I have the fan relay issue solved (the wiring is good, but the old relay wasn't up to the task).

...

I got all the lines made last night...it was actually really simple.

Mount the fittings, then just route the rubber line where you want it to go...and cut to length. Slide it into the ends of the fittings...and VOILA! - Ready to be crimped on.

I'll pull it all off tonight, after marking the orientation of the ends, and take it to be crimped tomorrow at lunch, or first thing Saturday morning.

Progress!

- Brian

 

[orion]

Found time at lunch today to run up to the supplier and get the ends all crimped.

They were really reasonable, and did them for $5/line (since I bought all the fittings and such there).

Here's the mocked up lines, with the ends marked for the orientation (clocking):

(white tape and a sharpie to make marks for clocking the fittings)

Then crimped:

...

So, overall cost so far (shipping included in some of these prices):

Compressor: Included with the drop-out motor

Condenser: $80 (16x26, universal, parallel flow)

Lines and fittings: $120

Compressor adapter block: $50

PAG oil, drier, o-rings: $40

Crimping: $20

So I'm a little over $300 in hard parts. Need a couple pounds of R134, and a (free) vacuum pump rental. I have a manifold/gauge set to use.

I also need to wire a relay to kick on the compressor (and the RPM circuit will be disabled in the A/C control module, per another post on here).

Hopefully it's back to blowing cold air early next week (time permitting!)...!!!

- Brian

 

[orion]

Success!!!

I was a little delayed after hooking up the lines to the compressor, as they were less than 1/2" from the exhaust manifold (the adapter block is the culprit here). So I fabbed up / tacked together a stainless steel heat shield.

I first wrapped the lines with a heat shield 'blanket' material (meant for turbos / downpipes), then zip-tied my heat shield on:

I got the rest of the lines hooked up and pulled a vacuum on the system Wed night, and let it sit (ran out of time).

Here's the routing of the hoses, and the service ports:

Yesterday evening I was able to fill with R134 and finish the compressor wiring.

I hooked up the vacuum pump (again) for an hour while I wired up the relay, and modified the A/C amplifier (cut off the resistor so it's doesn't need an RPM signal).

My workspace:

Pulled it outside, got the compressor going, and added roughly 1.5lbs of R134. Seemed like not enough refridgerant, but the pressures were close to "right" for the temp/humidity...and it's hard to say how much I need (by volume), with all custom lines and a new condenser.

Anyway, took it for a drive and I was seeing low-40's air coming out of the vents.

I don't yet have a condenser fan, so the temps rise a little when it's sitting still...but here's a shot of it after pulling back in the driveway:

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Wish I would have done all this back in April when I meant to start on it!!!!

Anyway, I plan to drive it a lot this weekend to make up for the missed seat time.

Thanks for following along.

- Brian

 

[orion]

As I mentioned a couple pages back...I cobbled together an upper radiator hose, and had to fix it shortly after getting the truck on the road b/c it hit the alt. pulley. The "fix" was to cut a couple inches out of it on the drivers side, then splice it back together with a 1.5" aluminum pipe.

Not happy with it, but it hasn't been a priority (as it functions "just fine")...plus the inline adapter which has the steam port nipple is not the best long term solution, IMO.

Recently, I decided to redo it with a hard pipe, so I can use an off-the-shelf rad hose from a Silverado in the future. Well, the first 10-12" of the hose (from the engine side)...and I welded in a 1/8 NPT bung for the steam port.

Bought some mandrel bent 1.5" OD tubing and a 1.5" / 90-degree silicone bend.

Cut the pipe to make it fit past my intake tube:

Then welded it together, and used a smaller piece to make it 1.25" on the other end (with a bead on the end)...and added the steam port bung. Here's how it will sit in the engine bay:

Pressure tested it and found 5-6 pin hole leaks that I had to weld closed:

...and last night I hit it with some primer and paint (only had off white and red on the shelf...so it's white).

I'm going to redo the lower hose while I'm at at. The one I had was *perfect* until I put the A/C compressor on...and it hit the pulley. So I'm changing the lower fitting on the motor to a straight fitting (rather than the stock one, which comes out at a 45 towards the pass side frame rail). That should allow me to run a simple "S" shaped radiator hose (actually, it's one I saw mentioned in @mr jits FJ40 thread...thanks!).

I'll post pics and such once I get it all installed.

- Brian

 

[orion]

Got sidelined with Hurricane Irma coming through, and all the clean-up (no major damage, luckily)...but I got the new pipe installed yesterday.

Looks good, works well:

For the lower hose, I installed the straight fitting for the water pump + new thermostat (it was a 1-piece deal prior)...and tried out the lower hose I bought / mentioned above (Gates #21851). Turns out, my motor is set too high for that hose to work. I set out yesterday to Autozone to find a similar hose (1.5" in/out, S-shaped), but just a little longer overall. I found and bought Dayco #71526...check out the 2 below:

The #71526 was perfect for my application.

Here's a shot of it installed:

BUT...the new straight fitting leaks! The thermostat gasket seemed a little "short", for lack of a better way to describe it...but it held water, so I assumed I was good to go. Of course, as soon as pressure built in the cooling system, it started weeping onto the A/C belt and spraying everywhere.

Dammit.

So I drained the coolant AGAIN last night, and RTV'd it. Hopefully I'll refill tonight and run it around the block without issue.

Aside from the leak, I'm super happy with this setup.

- Brian

 

[orion]

Update time! New gears, new wheels/tires --->

...

Here's the wall of text on how I got there:

Ever since buying the truck, I've wanted more aggressive tires...so back in October, I bought a set of FJ Cruiser 17" steel wheels. Cleaned them up and painted them, but have been going back and forth on size and brand. Should I go with 33x12.50's, try and squeeze 35's under there, etc...the normal dilemma.

So I put it off, and put it off...and decided I needed to address the gearing along with new tires.

Last month, I picked up a set of 4.10 (FJ62) third members from "Cruiser Junktion", and figured I should get that done first. I considered going to 4.56 gears, but the Vortec made the stock 3.70 gears feel "just fine"...so I went for the simple/easy choice (complete 3rd's).

Got the rear done a couple weeks ago (reinstalled the Spartan locker in the new gears), and finished the front on Sunday night (along with repacking the birfs with moly grease).

In the meantime, I decided on new tires - Toyo M/T's in 285/75r17 (that's 34x11 in freedom units). I read that they run "true to size", and I've always known that BFG's are small for the stated size...but the difference is staggering.

First, here's a pic of my painted wheels and the Toyo's mounted:

And one showing the size (height) difference:

The actual measurements are:

-------------- BFG T/A KO ----------- Toyo M/T
Stated Size -- 33 x 12.50 ------------ 34 x 11

Actual Size -- 31.5 x 12 -------------- 33.25 x 11.25

Rim Size ----- 15 x 8 ----------------- 17 x 7.5

So these new tires, as mounted, are 1.75" taller and just a little narrower (mounted, but off the truck).

(continued, next post)...

 

[orion]

The new wheels required 1" spacers (which I already had)...the FJC steelies are 17x7.5 with 4.75" backspacing.

My old wheels were 15x8 with 3.75" backspacing.

Anyway, the only rubbing I've found so far is the rear of the tire hitting the leaf spring when fully turned...it hits the spring pack "U bracket" thingy. Might have to adjust the steering stops a very small amount.

Even though the tires are bigger than anticipated, the gearing is still better than before...it drives great.

Here's one more blurry pic from last night:

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I like the look, a lot...and I'll report back on what else rubs (need to find a place to stuff the front wheels).

- Brian

 

[gilamonster]

Looks good!

 

[scrapdaddy]

I really like the two tone wheels. How'd you do that?

 

[orion]

I really like the two tone wheels. How'd you do that?

"Very carefully"...haha.

I painted the whole wheel the off-white color first. Then I painted the tan (center part), trying to get as little as possible on the white lip.

Let it sit for a couple days to dry/harden, then taped off the center (pain in the ass)...and re-painted the whole lip white.

- Brian

 

[Heckraiser]

Love the look! I've been eyeballing the 285/75/17 size as well, and probably shoulda done it, but a destroyed sidewall lead me down the road to an early decision and my knee-jerk reaction was 315's

 

[orion]

^^^ Thanks.

The only drawback to the 285/75/17's is that most of the decent tires are E load rated. These tires are 70lbs each!

I actually weighed both old and new wheels/tires:

33x12.50 BFG's on steel 15's = 75lbs each

34x11 Toyo's on steel 17's = 99lbs each

- Brian

 

[orion]

Anyway, the only rubbing I've found so far is the rear of the tire hitting the leaf spring when fully turned...it hits the spring pack "U bracket" thingy...

So....it looks like what was hitting was the exposed thread on the through-bolt. There was maybe a 1/4" of thread exposed past the nut.

I simply removed the bolt, turned it around, and reinstalled. The head of the bolt looks like it will clear. We'll see.

- Brian

 

[cruisermatt]

Two tone wheels look sweet Brian. You planning on GSMTR again this year?

 

[orion]

Thanks, Matt.

Not sure on GSMTR... I'm definitely going to Mardi Krawl (easier for both my brothers)...so it might be hard to get to both events within a month or so of one another. But I'd like to get back to Windrock this year!

- Brian

 

[orion]

On to the next upgrade...rock sliders!

I decided to make them myself, because I'm a glutton for punishment (and kinda cheap).

Picked up some 2x4 tubing, and 1.5" square bar (3/16 wall), plus some 3/16" thick plate for mounting / feet.

Trimmed the 2x4 to 66.5" long, and tapered the ends:

I am working on this piece-meal, as per usual...so I needed to be able to remove them and then put them back on *exactly* where I want them mounted (to fab up the legs and mounts).

To accomplish that, I used a hole in one of the front body mounts, and drilled a hole in a rearward one. Then made some "outriggers" out of 3/16" thick flat bar. With this setup, I can pull them off...and put them right back on in the exact same place. Kind of like a jig. See below:

And how they mount / position the sliders. I'll use one jack in the middle, to set the height as I work:

And here's a dark pic of how they look, mocked up on the truck:

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I'll continue to make progress, slowly...hopefully have them done and painted in a month or so.

- Brian