Abandoned 84 FJ60 gets some love, and a 4bt! (1 Viewer)

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Roughly how much $$ do you have into the swap?
At this point about $7k or so.
$10k in the whole vehicle including purchase, lift, tires, and parts, but I haven't kept up with how many hours I've put into it. I'm sure my wife has kept track of that, lol....



I just left the muffler shop after having my exhaust put together, and now the thing is nice and quietish going down the road, smooth and tolerable. This thing just keeps getting better!

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Did the reverse light harness work out? :)
 
Drove it about 100 miles or so today on my route to drop my son off with my mother-in-law, and then on to work. It did great! Cruised 75 mph for about 40 miles on the interstate with no issues, and was happy to see my fuel gauge drop much more slowly than it did with the 2F.
This was a huge milestone in the build for me.
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Today I didn't get a whole lot done before work, but once I got to work I got a little downtime and installed my electric vacuum pump, which drastically improved the driving experience lol. The entire time I've owned this thing I haven't had reliable vacuum to the brakes, so they haven't been that great. But now with excellent vacuum, new rear shoes, hydraulics, and hardware, and 4Runner calipers in the front, this thing stops as well as my 2017 Tacoma did!
Power bakes are a great thing, lol. I've hated stopping the past few days having to Hulk-leg the damn thing.
 
Power brakes are nice. I’m going with hydroboost set up on my pig. They work well on non vacuum diesels. Your rig just keeps getting better.
 
Power brakes are nice. I’m going with hydroboost set up on my pig. They work well on non vacuum diesels. Your rig just keeps getting better.
Hydroboost will happen eventually, but this vacuum pump came with the engine and stuff, and works very well. It's a great option until I'm ready to do better.
 
…$10k in the whole vehicle including purchase, lift, tires, and parts, but I haven't kept up with how many hours I've put into it. I'm sure my wife has kept track of that, lol....
Less than a Year in and your $1K truck is now a $10K truck… You are a proper 60 series owner :p

I am joking, of course!
What you have achieved with this truck in a short time is amazing.
Yours is definitely My current favorite build thread.
 
Less than a Year in and your $1K truck is now a $10K truck… You are a proper 60 series owner :p

I am joking, of course!
What you have achieved with this truck in a short time is amazing.
Yours is definitely My current favorite build thread.
Thank you so much! I absolutely love this truck, even more so with the upgrades I've done! From here it will keep getting better and nicer. I'm very glad to be where I am mechanically with this truck. Being able to use it reliably and affordable will make every small improvement so much easier to accomplish. It has come a very long way, but has a long journey ahead still. I'm glad I didn't expect it to be quick or easy....
 
I can tell from seeing and hearing it run in person, that both engine noise and vibration are not as bad as I was led to believe from other commenters on 'Mud.

Ive been trying to fight that misconception for almost a decade now. I totally agree with you.
 
The past week or so I've been driving my 60 every chance I get, and have done a few drives more than an hour at a time without a single issue so far, other than the issue of front axle clearance.
I know SOA is the preferred way to go with a 4bt swap, but I just don't have the time and money to do it right, right now. But I have had the axle contact my extended bump stop on the passenger side more than I like, and I'm worried that it may be hitting more than just the bump stop...
I'm thinking that I like the idea of the Man A Fre Shackle reversal to get a little more height and compensating for difference in the rear with some longer shackles.
The only thing keeping me from doing this is looking at how the Man A Fre kit might affect how my bumper mounts. It looks like I'll definitely have to modify my bumper, and may not be able to use it at all, which would be a bit of an annoyance since I've already got the bumper and winch installed and working lol.
Anybody have any suggestions?
 
I was in that same pickle… I decided since I’d been working and spending so much time on the swap to just finish it with the SOA. Since then I’ve never regretted it. My wife would have a different opinion. She enjoys it now so that’s all that matters🤣
 
I was in that same pickle… I decided since I’d been working and spending so much time on the swap to just finish it with the SOA. Since then I’ve never regretted it. My wife would have a different opinion. She enjoys it now so that’s all that matters🤣
I'd certainly prefer to go SOA but for now I need to keep the downtime to a minimum until I can either replace some worn parts on my Subaru, or get something else to commute to work in.
SOA is definitely what I'd prefer to do in the long run, but it outweighed for now by time and budget constraints.
My life is a little hectic right now with a 6 year old at home, as well as a 120 mile a day commute, and working 14 hour night shifts 5-7 days a week. It's a miracle that I was able to get the engine swapped and running in less than a year lol.
SOA will happen in the future, but it will have to be later on unless something changes to give me more time and money. Lol
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I'd say verify if you're hitting anything on the engine/driveline with the axle before making a decision. Hitting the bumps top is annoying but if that's all you're hitting, then it's doing its job.
 
I'd say verify if you're hitting anything on the engine/driveline with the axle before making a decision. Hitting the bumps top is annoying but if that's all you're hitting, then it's doing its job.
I lowered the front bumps the same amount I lifted the truck, which I'm fine with, but I'm not sure how much the rubber compresses before hard parts kiss each other. I maxed out my floor jack and got the passenger front wheel 15" off the ground before the jack quit lifting, and I still wasn't touching anything. I need to do it again with a big block of wood.
 
Over the last week or so I've been taking a break from wrenching as much and just worked on trying to improve something on the truck every single day, even if it's just something small.
One day I pressure washed the tree sap/black crap off of it that was still there from sitting so long, another I replaced the driver door regulator which has been broken the whole time. Little stuff like that adds up over time to a decent ride after a while.
Over the weekend I hooked up the bigass camper trailer that I could barely pull with the 2F, and drug it into Kentucky for some lakeside glamping with my kid and dog. The Cummins is definitely and upgrade, but for torque and smooth pulling, the 2F actually wasn't as far behind as I thought it would be. With the minor upgrades that had been done on my 2F, that thing was not bad for pulling at all.
The Cummins outpulls it, sure, but not by as big a margin as I expected, even though I was able to hold speed on hills quite a bit better.


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