3F-E Conversion Thread (1 Viewer)

[PabloCruise]

I'm running out of things to update on the 3Fe swap. I did finally find a way to mount the forward most O2 sensor to my liking. I found an unused cable clip that I had yellow zinc plated that wasn't being used anywhere. So, I bolted it to the intake manifold and routed the sensor wire through it to keep it from melting on the exhaust:

Also, I found that the unused hole on the manifold between these two runners worked perfectly for clipping the sensor connector to:

The photobucket links are down. Any chance they will be back?

I wish I could say things went as planned. After I got the engine running last fall, I pulled the tub off the frame to focus on body work. In doing so, I pushed the frame (with engine installed) outside and forgot to drain all the water out of the engine and a cold snap cracked the block and/or head.

I didn't find out until March when I reinstalled the tub and tried to get the engine running. Cylinder five had 0 compression so I had to completely source another 3FE. I found a real nice engine at the Stockton swap meet that came out of a '92 80 series. It has 152+ pounds on all cylinders and doesn't even have any apparent oil leaks. I just cleaned it all up and swapped all the ancillary parts from the old engine over to this one. I just got it bolted up and haven't actually started it up yet, so I'll keep you posted.


FYI,

Drain the water from the block before winter.

Wow... That is pretty disappointing! Sorry I missed this post. Did you ever figure out what cracked - head or block?

 

[lelandEOD]

The photobucket links are down. Any chance they will be back?



Wow... That is pretty disappointing! Sorry I missed this post. Did you ever figure out what cracked - head or block?

Photos are pretty much gone with the Great Photobucket F-U to the Internet of 2017.

The engine that froze was the first one I had for this truck... I went through 3.

The first I got from Georg and froze the block before I even got the truck on the road.

The second came from a swap meet and I ran it for 18 months before the head gasket blew.

The third I threw gobs of money at; rebuilt it from top to bottom and yanked it out with only 3k miles (sold it to @mdsims) in favor of a diesel conversion.

 

[lelandEOD]

It did look good though:

 

[PabloCruise]

Oh, I like how you routed the air cleaner on that!

 

[PabloCruise]

Darn, now you have me wondering if that intake routing will fit under my 55 hood!

 

[PabloCruise]

Photos are pretty much gone with the Great Photobucket F-U to the Internet of 2017.

The engine that froze was the first one I had for this truck... I went through 3.

The first I got from Georg and froze the block before I even got the truck on the road.

The second came from a swap meet and I ran it for 18 months before the head gasket blew.

The third I threw gobs of money at; rebuilt it from top to bottom and yanked it out with only 3k miles (sold it to @mdsims) in favor of a diesel conversion.

Any heads or blocks left from this evolution? I would love to get a builder head...

 

[Stumpalama]

Oh, I like how you routed the air cleaner on that!

Me too! I picked up a minitruck 22RE air cleaner box to modify to fit.

 

[abqcruiser]

Darn, now you have me wondering if that intake routing will fit under my 55 hood!

TJ,

I saw that pic and wanted to route mine the same way. I never could get it to fit. Maybe you'll have better luck.

 

[PabloCruise]

TJ,

I saw that pic and wanted to route mine the same way. I never could get it to fit. Maybe you'll have better luck.

I don't think it will clear up front, but I like it. I feel like my install isn't as clean as some of these other 3FEs.

I need to look at your intake, I don't remember what it looks like!

 

[abqcruiser]

I'm using a K&N cone filter. At first, I routed it on the passenger side and turned it 90 degrees to face towards the radiator. Here's a pic.

I've since then removed the 90 degree elbow, and it now is straight inline facing towards the washer fluid reservoir. I wanted to use the stock air box, but I couldn't figure out a clean way to install it .

 

[73tlcv8]

I found the rubber couplings at the P&P:



This is a Hj40 air box bottom (I was told) with modified mounting bracket, the two rubber couplings are off an infinity G something, the 90 deg plastic inlet is from a 80 series and the intake flex tube is from a land rover. I modified the 62 air box top cover to make the AFM sit flat instead of tilted.

I have since changed to the 2F aluminum valve cover.

Which required modification to the side cover to add the pcv valve down there

 

[PabloCruise]

The real trick is going to be to figure out how to get the crank case breather and the ISC valve plumbed into the intake between the MAF and TB. Anyone ever weld on aluminum pipe before???

Also, I was never really happy with the way I had mounted the main ignition relay and new "switched ECU relay" to the FJ62 fuse panel. It was a good idea, poorly executed. Also, I was not happy with my choice of the firewall/engine bay to mount my two non-weatherproof headlight hi/lo beam relays. That was just a bad idea.

So, I picked up a 4 position relay panel off Amazon and am going to mount it to the underside of the dash on the driver's kick panel. I made up a simple bracket out of some sheet metal and some riv-nuts:





It's a bit bulky but should fit just fine in the space provided:



So, I tore into the fuse panel again... "snippety snip..." Cut all the wires needed to power the two ignition relays:



Here's the new panel ready to go in, complete with properly color coded pig tails (I knew I kept all that spare wire for a reason!):




I'm going to wait until I have the pedal cluster out of the way before I graft it in. There's just no room to maneuver in there right now.


More to come...

Wish these pictures were still around...

 

[Stumpalama]

Wish these pictures were still around...

I will have to check my stash... I often save these kind of pics for just this reason.

 

[75 Cruiser Guy]

I will have to check my stash... I often save these kind of pics for just this reason.

Hey Guys new to this forum and i know these posts are old but i must say i have enjoyed all the info because i am in the process of mounting a 3FE in my 75 fj40 but one question that you never discussed was the brake booster in the way. I have read threads that say they had to move it 3 inches to have room. Thanks

 

[Engineer8000]

I am using a minitruck booster with room to spare. I did have interference with the ebrake cable at the firewall with the intake manifold.

 

[Curtice]

2 options for smaller boosters where you don’t have to make any adjustments to placement with the 3FE

Mini truck booster:

City Racer booster:

 

[Alex Waddell]

Different years have less room for the booster. My 68' has less clearance to the engine. So initially I plan to use a non-boosted dual piston that I got from Wilwood (for disks in front & drums in back). But I did find a complete firewall and pedal bucket from a 76' that I may use to get more clearance to the engine. But the Wilwood rep said that I shouldn't have an issue stopping non-boosted since I have disks up front.

 

[75 Cruiser Guy]

Different years have less room for the booster. My 68' has less clearance to the engine. So initially I plan to use a non-boosted dual piston that I got from Wilwood (for disks in front & drums in back). But I did find a complete firewall and pedal bucket from a 76' that I may use to get more clearance to the engine. But the Wilwood rep said that I shouldn't have an issue stopping non-boosted since I have disks up front.

Thanks with a bit of measuring I don’t believe I will have a problem. I’ve receive several replies back that had no issues. Still waiting on my motor guy to finish and I can start to assemble. Another question if you don’t mind me asking is what did you use for a fuel pump. I know I need a minimum of 45 psi and the ego has its own regulator so do I need to worry about it as long it’s over 45 psi?

 

[Alex Waddell]

Thanks with a bit of measuring I don’t believe I will have a problem. I’ve receive several replies back that had no issues. Still waiting on my motor guy to finish and I can start to assemble. Another question if you don’t mind me asking is what did you use for a fuel pump. I know I need a minimum of 45 psi and the ego has its own regulator so do I need to worry about it as long it’s over 45 psi?

I bought my pump from a company called "Tanks". It also stuck up too high to fit under my stock passenger seat so I cut my tank and tig welded in an insert that I also bought at tanks. But it needs to be carefully laid out to avoid the baffles and the gas level gauge in the tank. The pump also sits in a little tray in the tank. I needed to cut the tray down as well to avoid the baffles.

 

[Alex Waddell]