Builds 4bt cummins 96 FZJ (1 Viewer)

[RockJock82]

Haha gotcha.. Haven't had my coffee yet .. I think increasing line pressure and adding some extra clutches to the direct drum would help out tremendously but the down fall is the torque converter. Dustin says he gets them rebuilt with a billet half casing and adds a lower stall speed but idk.. I'd really like to see someone turn up the motor and find out the limits of that trans. I was sold on using a built 442 but it's hard for me to swallow 5k for the kit and have the trans limit me. Who knows I may want to add twins . The kit looks nice and surely worth every penny.

 

[cjmoon]

The converter doesn't act much different from mine. Grabs hard around 2200-2300 rpm I had a shop in TN open mine up and do what they could to lower it by tweaking the internal fins. They claimed they didn't know of any aftermarket upgrades. But upgrades have to be out there I didn't search to hard.

The supra guys run these things hard on the track/strip. But with higher stalls on what I believe is very similar internals. We'll see how it goes and get into the details when we need to.

 

[RockJock82]

Trans star offers a vb kit for the 343 if that's any help

 

[cjmoon]

Yep that's the TransGO 340-hd2 kit. I used it my trans I like it a lot. I believe he has it in order we'll see how quick it comes in. If not we may drill the VB for additional flow and change the stock pressure setting to the max 3rd position.

 

[floridan surfer]

Did you mention a fuel sock in the tank? I specifically remember watching a Jonesy's video on how to remove the fuel sock and replace it with tubing.

 

[cjmoon]

Well remove the fuel pump which has the sock on it. In this case they put the sock on the end of the tube. Which should make it pick up more fuel before having issues in low level conditions. minus all the crude causing a second set of issues.

 

[turbophil]

I'm the one that picked up the Lexus with the 6BT. We've determined that Jonesy/Dusier weren't the best mechanics or technicians (I'm being nice there).

Few issues:

• The trans programming on the cumpushift was just awful. Surprisingly so. They didn't have a good understanding of slushboxes and had it making a shift with the TC locked up. Terrible for the trans. It's not really fair just to point out that issue, as every setting for TC engagement was wrong-- way wrong. We reprogrammed the whole bit and now it quite literally drives like a factory diesel would. It was embarrassing before. It's no wonder the PO was so willing to sell it.
• The throttle wasn't adjusted well, which limited the RPM to 2500 when it was happy to rev to 2800 on the stock gov spring. May not seem like a big deal, but it's a huge deal for drivability with the 2200ish stall of the OE converter.
• The flywheel/flexplate bolts were loose (Yes, you read that right).
• The front wheel bearing nuts needed 4, yes 4 complete turns before they were at 0 lash (let alone any preload). It wandered a lot on the highway. I thought it was worn ball-joints. Nope, they're all tight. Just REALLY loose wheel bearings. (they had clearly been apart before).
• Some of the fuel fittings were loose and they stacked NPT fittings with bushings rather than use using one correct part. Would have been nice to see AN fittings, FWIW. They introduced air over a period of time- hence it not making it home on day 1.
• Bell housing bolts were loose
• They installed a heavy duty 2-3" spring lift. It brought the front to maybe 1" above OE ride height and the rear a good 3 " above. The net is the rear of the truck a full 2" higher than the front. There were no castor plates or castor compensating bushes. Combine that with a really high ass, and you have a truck with negative castor We're going to put stock spring back in the rear and maybe a spacer for now. That will probably fix the handling at highway speed.
• And now the big one. It has developed a thunking sound that is RPM dependent-- not speed dependent. It not in the motor for sure. It's in the trans, but you know how sounds travel in a driveline. It's a loud thunking. My guess is that the flywheel/flexplate is loose. It shifts and drives out perfectly now. We've breathed on the motor a bit, and it has power for days. However, the thunking is a bit baffling at the moment. It's very loud in the cab, but hard to hear outside with the diesel clatter. It's prominent enough in the cab that you can feel it thunking when placing a hand on the trans tunnel... I fear the trans is going to need to be dropped in short order.

All that said, the interior is perfect. Short of having that hideous gold Lexus thing going for it, the body is perfect as well. Paid 15K for the truck. Up until this tranny knocking issue, felt like a steel, as we had turned what seemed to be a POS conversion into a d@mn nice driving truck with a boatload of power for basically no money. We just applied some attention to detail that Duiser doesn't seem to have. Good news is that I have a well equipped shop with lift, trans jack, mill, lathe, etc... Should be able to sort out whatever isn't right... I'm not against getting the "Extreme" trans from the Aussies. Don't want to, but will if we don't find what's broken in this one. It may just be a bad pump, convertor, or loose bolts (been plenty of those so far).

-Phil

 

[maxamillion2345]

Man, why am I not surprised? Glad someone competent could do a little vetting. Should be a sweet ride when done too! Look forward to more updates. Thanks!

 

[cjmoon]

you didn't add that the previous owner mentioned the starter had already gone out on him. I questioned the quality of the started when received mine. I suggested that you allow the buyer of the adapter to buy the starter on there own. there's no point to ship it separate with the "premium" Chinese/Mexico plain box packaging. Things like that always reminds me of Tommy Boy "Butchers Ass":


I wish someone would start Craptastic Parts with an ouch of quality control would probably have better parts than most non OEM. It's sad that term like quality, premium, gold, even warranty... just don't mean anything in today's consumer world. I'll be getting a Ford factory starter when mine goes.

And the draw on the battery of some sort that drew the battery down on him. i would assume he had seen the fueling issue. hard to believe that our 15 mile drive happened to be the first occurrence getting it home when it happened to you twice? about every 30-40 miles.

 

[turbophil]

Ha! Nice!

Well, we'll probably pull the trans tomorrow late in the day after we're all done adding about 100hp to cjmoon's rig

Anyone put money on the issue? Cracked flex plate? Ballooned torque converter? Loose flywheel?

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Loose flywheel bolts or cracked flexplate.

 

[turbophil]

Seems the TC must have something broke inside. No significant metal shavings. Trans looks very clean. Trans oil was clean. Inspected the pump and clutches.

Flywheel is tight and flex plate looks sound.

So the question: Who's making a good TC for this trans behind a diesel?

Some pics...

-Phil

Clean Trans

• turbophil
• Nov 28, 2014

Flex Plate

• turbophil
• Nov 28, 2014

Moving along

• turbophil
• Nov 28, 2014

just dropped

• turbophil
• Nov 28, 2014

Clean interior

• turbophil
• Nov 28, 2014

Engine Bay

• turbophil
• Nov 28, 2014

 

[scottryana]

Haven't really heard of too many TC's breaking. I am running mine with 600ft/lbs and don't have any issues. Might just need a rebuild, but I wouldn't pull it and look for something else.

 

[turbophil]

Thanks.

We did check the engine thrust with a dial indicator, as that occurred to me as well. It's dead on at .010, which is middle of the spec from what I've seen...

The noise is independent of load and trans engagement, speed, etc. So the noise should be possible to be coming from the trans. Since the FW and Flexplate check out, we're only left with the TC... I agree though; When I've seen them die from power, it's usually a ballooning scenario... ?????

-Phil

 

[RockJock82]

See if transstar can rebuild it and do a lower stall. Maybe even a billet upgrade

 

[scottryana]

Ahh you meant TC = Torque Converter, I meant TC = Transfer Case. Yeah I am not sure what you could do for your Torque Converter but I do know a couple guys have gotten beefed up versions. There was a guy on here Brett that did one, but I am not sure where it came from.

 

[turbophil]

Rock - enlighten me please

Been a long time since I've had to play with auto slush boxes. I'm rusty as hell with them.

Thanks!

 

[cjmoon]

i had to do a lot of refreshing and reading of my own build thread to remember the details. but i sent my TC off to DACCO in TN i talked to close to 10 Trany shops across the US. started local in KC no one touched TC other than selling new. 3-4 actual rebuild fix/fab shops told me no real (standard aftermarket) parts are available but the could tweak the fins in side to help it grab quicker. i really don't know that it does. it will grab low and hold 1400rpm cruise but under load and acceleration it really doesn't mechanically lock till 2100 or so.

even the shop that diesel adapters uses, Portland Transmission (if I remember correctly) couldn't do anything more than that from the conversation i had with them. there was an operation in Pheonix that i recall having more ambition to try some things they just couldn't guarantee the outcome. i wasn't quite ready for that. really wish i remembered the details. i've googled it and it looks like it could be a few different shops down there do custom work.

 

[cjmoon]

i really new to paint my front flares. I really don't notice in my garage or walking out of work but when I look back at pictures from the day it looks terrible

friend don't let friends.... Never mind that's about to go south

 

[Dubbinchris]

In this video Duiser claims to have re-stalled the converter....