1FZFE Manual to Auto Conversion

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guzzla

guzzla

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Threads
26
Messages
395
Location
Skippy's Wonderland (OZ)
Hey all,

At the time I did this project I was hard pressed for time so couldn't post the buildup here as I went. In any event, for those that are interested, Here's how it all happened...

So, it's been about a year since I first spoke to Rodney at Wholesale Autos about swapping my manual gearbox for one of their U-Beaut Heavy Duty Extreme Gearboxes. My current manual box is leaking like the Titanic and changing gear is just one big grind fest. All the extra engine power I now have gets washed away as I impatiently wait for each gear to engage from one to the next. While it would have been good to do the conversion back then, at the time I was already committed to throwing money in a different direction. That, and it's taken me about year to come to terms with the price these autos cost :lol:
Anyway, the hard part has been done with the money transfer thing and has secured my a fully reconditioned Heavy Duty “Extreme” Toyota Land Cruiser 1FZ A442F overdrive automatic transmission, heavy duty Extreme Valve Body assembly & double kiln bronzed modified torque convertor. It also gets me the Compu-Shift ECU to run the whole show. Here's a link to the gearbox rebuild http://www.automatictransmission.com.au/extreme_a442f.asp
And the Compu-shift ECU: http://www.automatictransmission.com.au/release.asp?NewsId=41076
While I wait a week or two for my 'investment' to be delivered, I have much work to get on with in the meantime. Anyone who has bought stuff off WA would agree they sure know how to charge - especially for 2nd hand gear. In an effort to save wherever possible, I'll be heading to the wreckers to source the bits and pieces I need to bring this project together. That should see costs in this part of the project at least halved also. Already, Amazon came to the party and delivered 2 extra large B&M trans coolers for less than half that being asked of WA or about $200. Impressive bits of gear too. But I think I'm going to have to think outside the box when it comes to fitting them in behind the grill along with the heat exchanger for the W2AIC

Here's the B&M trans coolers. B&M have been in the auto box industry for decades so if anyone knows how to make a good trans cooler these days, they should.
 
Finally got some spare time with no rain to yank the gearbox. These sure are a heavy MoFo but with the right tools and a bit of lateral thinking, there is no heavy lifting or straining at all, and I did it on my 'pat malone' in about 4hrs.

In actual fact, getting the gearbox out is quite easy - it's all the work leading up to it that takes the time. Stuff like removing drive shafts, exhaust sections, sway bar and disconnecting those stupid clips on the wiring loom. Since I have a 30mm body lift, getting to the 2 bolts at the top of the bell housing was pretty easy.

They say, to find the easiest way to do something, ask the laziest person you know. So I asked my good mate for a loan of his special bracket he made to R&R his gearbox some time ago. It bolts to the trolley jack to make removal easier and safer. It's basically a length of C section with a strip of 10mm plate welded across the top and drilled to pick up the 2 bolts that the GB X member bolts too. The C section runs to just flush with the front of the GB. Holes are also drilled in the trolley jack jacking plate and C section so they can be bolted together, securing the GB to the trolley jack.


All I did them was put the jack into position so it picked up the jacking plate. I then packed between the C section and bell housing before using a ratchet strap to keep everything where it should be.


The gearbox is very well balanced and secure the way it;s mounted to the trolley jack like this, but to avoid any sudden or unexpected movements, I placed a 2nd trolley jack at the front of the gearbox until it was clear of the clutch.


With the remainder of the bolts removed, all I did then was give the trolley jack a big rattle and shove to begin the separation. Then it was just a matter of manipulating it along the trans tunnel (making sure the low range lever wasn't catching anywhere)


Just when I thought it was over....


I quickly realised just how huge these gearboxes in every dimension. Not to worry, with a bit more creativity with the bottle jack, I jacked up the drivers side just enough to free it.


And it's job done... WOOHOO!!!


Other than removing the clutch and flywheel, I decided to call it a day. The new auto should be delivered to work next week but I still have a few things to do in the meantime. I just hope getting the whole show back in will be just as easy... yeah, I wish...
 
Got the big push on now in the hope I can have it all sorted by the long weekend. There's a lot to do but they say if you bite off more than you can chew, chew like buggery :hhmm:

Started making inroads to mounting the two trans coolers. I've decided to mount them between the AC condensor and IC rad. They will be well protected there and have the benefit of the twin thermos mounted to the front of the IC rad to assist with any additional cooling that might be needed. I was tempted to dump the twin thermos but have decided to keep them for now as they certainly can't hurt and the AC stays crispy cold during the stinking hot summer days - not that we had any this year - or my AC was working for that matter but I digress....

So, with the fans off, I found the final remains of two Galahs I cleaned up during a Channel Country trip last year. I recall spending about 30min cleaning feathers out of the fans and IC rad at camp that arvo - I guess I missed a few!!! Also found a bit of crap starting to collect in the bottoms of the fans, trapped by the rubber seal I use to prevent any rubbing.


Feathers on the AC condensor - I pulled this out as my AC compressor had siezed and I wanted to give it a flush to make sure there were no foreign bodies in there to ruin my new compressor.


Oh, look, more feathers.


Visited the hose shop and got me some quality hose fittings. I was tempted to use rubber hose and clamps but felt this was even more fail-safe eliminating one more rubber hose.


A close up of the fittings used. 1/2in flow all the way through.


I'd envisaged having to make up a whole new frame to support the trans cooler and the IC radiator. With far more ass than class on my side, it turns out the trans coolers are a perfect fit. Tomorrow I'll fix them on with a bit of Sika and a few pop rivets and it'll be Bob's your uncle.


This is the stuff I use to seal all my thread joins be it water, air or oil. I have used it for many years and not had a failure at all.


Stay tuned....
 
So I won't be getting the trans delivered til early next week which really slims my chances of getting away for the long weekend, but, such is life.

Still plenty of things to do. Got the trans coolers mounted in place. Just have to reinstall the intercooler rad and water tank and plum them back up. Then just hook up the trans lines when needed.

Here's the pic of the manual trans tunnel as requested. No underside shots. Will need just a bit of trimming to fit the factory shifter assembly.
 
Finally got the two trans coolers installed. Just have to reinstall the W2AIC heat exchanger to the front along with the two thermo fans and it's good to go. Just can't do that til I've fitted the trans lines to the coolers.


I separated the transfer case from the gearbox. Its a straight forward job once you remove 1/4million KM of mud and dirt from the outside. The shaft and seals looked good as new.


(image is upside down) After giving the back of the block a quick degrease and clean, I fitted the spacer plate...


Then the flex plate...


Then the torque distribution plate followed by torquing up the bolts with a bit of Loctite 243 just to be sure. I numbered each bolt as set out in the FSM so they could be torqued up in the correct sequence.
 
I decided to install more heat protection in the trans tunnel while it was out. I've been thinking if I could be bothered about it the last few day and today decided to have another look to see what would be involved.

This is how it was since I rebuilt the engine. The same ACL heat shield I put around the firewall and over the turbo manifold have worked better than expected. However, this small piece of heat shield really was no match to the roaring heat of the manual tranny. Realistically, the auto tranny isn't going to be any cooler so upgrading the heat shielding was a good suggestion and now was the perfect time to do it.


After a quick trip to SuperCheapAuto I returned with 2 sheets of ACL heat shield.


I put one full sheet down the drivers side...


another full sheet down the passenger side...


And the piece I originally installed was placed across the top.
For now, this is the finished product.


I might put one more sheet along the underside of the tunnel, directly above the gearbox and transfer case but this stuff aint cheap at $53 per 300mmx700mm sheet. In any event, the way it stands is sure to keep it cooler than with nothing at all.

Another job I got round to doing today was reinstalling the AC line I had remade a little longer. The original was too short causing it to sit a little too close for comfort to the turbo. I had the guys at Hydra-link remake the hose for me and they did a top job - and so they ought for $180 :shock:


Anyway, just to be sure and offer the hose more protection from heat and rubbing, I installed one of those concertina alloy hose covers/ heat shields. IIRC, they are fitted to this same AC hose from the factory.


No pics of it installed since it can't really be seen amongst everything else, but you get the idea. I still have to get a new AC compressor and TX valve. I'm sure not looking forward to replacing the TX valve that's for sure!!!
 
Since this gearbox has taken forever and a day to arrive, I figured since the T-case was already off I would replace the bearings and seals in the front and rear output housings. While I was a little disheartened to find it, I'm sure glad I did:hhmm:

Somewhere along the line, most likely when I had the part time kit was installed, the original shims were damaged or lost somehow. To fix it, they simply cut new shims from brass sheeting :roll:
The 80 has probably traveled a good 100k km since then but for the last year I've been trying to fault find driveline backlash issues. I guess I might have found the cause.


The shims for the oil pump were fine and reused.


It had even started to wear a groove into the seating face. No one could explain what might have caused the inside of the casing to go brown like it has. I suspected mud and water ingress but there's no sign of rusting anywhere and it wiped off easily back to shiny metal.


With new genuine shims and bearings installed, I tidied up the small gouge marks and assembled both housings back on.


THis is a better pic of the old shims and how mangled they were. New shims are in the bags underneath.


No sooner had I done it, TNT rocked up with a package for me. Sweet as bro :bounce2:


Like a kid in a candy store, I just couldn't control myself and had to get a start. So on went the transfer case.


I then swapped over the low range shift lever from the manual box... and found my first hurdle - I wasn't expecting one so soon but I should have known better. For those that haven't seen it yet, the original shift linkage rod is about 90mm too short.


After a quick measure with the tape, I discovered the following...
Measurements on H151F gearbox... ( not a real clear pic - the red line is from front of bellhousing to centreline of low range shifter)


Measurements on A442F gearbox.


10min with a grinder, welder and a can of gloss black and I'm over the first hurdle... I think. I will find out soon enough once the box goes in if there is a different low ranger gear selector mounted to the auto tranny. Easy swap if there is.
 
A bit more progress...

I realised Wholesale Autos had neglected to supply the trans filler, dipstick and rubber mount. After a quick phone call and email, it was delivered by courier the very next day. Good stuff

I finally got the gearbox in and that was a bloody mission and a half. Took about 4hrs from start to finish - just me, 2 trolley jacks and getting up and down from under the cruiser about 900 trillion billion infinity times. The trolley jacks did all the hard work so there was no lifting or any real effort required on my part, but a 2nd person helping to adjust and maneuver the show around would have made life much easier. In fairness, it took me about 45min to jack the front end up high enough to get the box back under - seemed much higher this time than it was to get the old one out. Also took me the best part of an hour getting the bolt at the top of the bell housing to pick up the cable clip for the transfer case harness (I never did it last time and it bugged me to no end so I had to persist till I succeeded. Not an easy task with a 700mm socket extension and zero visibility

I sure was glad when the last of the bolts was torqued up

Note the mounting studs in different locations.


As another member found out the hard way, the Auto and manual cruiser chassis have different mounting points for the gearbox cross member. The auto has the mounting points approx 60mm rearward to cater for the longer gearbox. Rather than chopping and changing the mounting points to both ends of the cross member, which would also require making new side step mounting points, I figured it was easier to just modify the mounting point where the gearbox mounts to and retain the factory chassis mounting points. Below is a mix of sectioned 5mm RHS and 6mm plate steel - fully welded on the outside and mostly on the inside as well :wink:



I couldn't wait... with the paint still not dry, I had to mount it in. Pretty good for 1hrs work with the grinder and welder.


If there is one thing I didn't like about the result, and it's really not a biggie for 99% of people - it's that the cross member needs to be removed to access the 2 bolts that secure the rear of the trans guard to the sump. This only needs to be done every 20,000km but it will be something I'll look at later on when I add more heavy duty auto sump and TC guards.


I also took LandCrusher's advice and got hold of an auto low range gear selector. Glad I did as they are quite different as he said. I also got the matching linkage arm so my beautiful piece of modified original goes in the bin now.
 
Got the drive shafts in 2nd time lucky after the shop didn't leave me enough slip in the plined yokes.
Got the trans cooler hoses finished off and bolted in. These suckers wont be getting damaged or failing any time soon. They are a Gates Hose (10C5E), 12mm ID. They have a safe working pressure of 1250psi and a safe working temp of 150degC. They are reinforced with 2 layers of hi-tensile braid and the outside is wrapped in an abrasion resistant sheath.


These fittings aren't cheap, but they sure beat hose clamps any day. I lost a trans many moons ago to a failed hose clamp - that was a very expensive lesson learned.


Here they are complete and ready to install (1 x 2.4m & 1 x 2.9m) That's about $400 worth - spend once, cry once :eek:


I originally wanted to route them down the passenger side but it was just too dicey trying to get them to cross over from the chassis to the gearbox with the exhaust in the way. I ended up using much the same route as the factory lines took. The main difference was they run from the trans coolers, through a factory hole in the front apron, along the top of the PS chassis rail and then cross over to the gearbox and down the other side. A much better result that I originally intended. The OEM 90deg bends coming out of the box were a bit of a mission to match the right thread size. Turns out it's a 20mm metric thread. Just to be sure, I'm going to install another heat shield just in front of the hoses to protect them from radiating heat off the exhaust.


You can see here there's a big difference between the manual TC lever, on left, and auto TC lever, on right. While it's not shown, I had to turn the pin around on the new lever so the shifting rod could be mounted on the other side, stopping it from rubbing on the new trans lines


Figuring out how to make the new auto shifter fit was a bit of a head scratcher. My main concern was it being waterproof and solid. I ended up getting some 1.6mm steel plate and cut it to suit the required openings. I then loaded it up with Sikaflex and screwed it into position. I've since removed the screws and replaced them with 6mm HT nuts and bolts - some of them were fun to get to from underneath but it's rock solid now. The grommet in front of the shifter is the main harness for the Compu-shift. The one to the left is the harness from the inhibitor swtich (grommet to come)


And, Volia... auto shifter and console in place like it was factory fitted :D


To be continued...
 
I wish they made 80's with manuals here in the states :-/ I'll take your old trans if you want :-)
 
looking forward on how that electronic controller works .. way to go with those extreme builds A442F from Rodney .. I wish I wasn't that far to do the same you're doing now .. ( back when Marilu was automatic .. )
 
Update by request... the auto is going awesome, so bloody good to drive on and off road. Silky smooth and handles the power abuse with ease.
I've been thinking of fitting paddle shift which the Compu-Shift has the provision for. I think that would be sweet!!!!
 
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