ADVICE, DO AND DONTS!! 5.3 SWAP IN 1981 FJ60

[IDAHOLANDCRUSHER]

so i'm getting ready to tear into my swap and getting the last little bits of parts and pieces rounded up... looking for any tips and tricks from guys who have been down this road before me, i'm trying to have as many of my parts in front of me as possible. i'm swapping to a 5.3 ls with a 4l60e to a advance adapters kit.
1. trying to decide on fuel lines... spend the big bucks and go crazy with the 6AN stuff or keep it simple
2. dual exhaust or y pipe to a single flow master ( im building the exhaust my self )
3. any unforeseen hurdles that i should know about that you encountered
4. radiator hose... from stock FJ60 radiator to gm water pump JTR makes a adapter for the air bleeder and steam tube, what size ( searched and found several conflicting answers) radiator hose is the cruiser upper hose?
5.any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[MANUCHAO]

before you tear into you rig..
not only get all parts but put them all together (assamble engine to tranny to adpaters to TC) get your shifter (whatever you go with).
Rebuild TC as well, but that means tearing into your rig..
work and finish your harness (if you are doing it your self) or order it ahead of time... let them know what you want deleted....
If you dont have emission go crazy on exhaust, but I would suggest keep it stock... less to go wrong.
Dont go with AA motor mounts use the stock engine mounts and fab up what's needed for the frame...
I used 6AN and its going strong on 7 years... I dont think that's fancy.
Hard fuel lines would be fancy to me and more work..but damn they look clean..
with the rad I would try to match the inlets in the rad to those in engine.... a good rad shop should have no issues doing this.
I hooked the steam tube to the heater hose and it runs just fine....
Personally I dont like the adapters that I see for JTR, but they do work !!


unforeseen hurdles....!!!!
yeah you'll have a few of those.... that's what makes it fun !!!

GL

 

[FJ60Cam]

...unforeseen hurdles....!!!!
yeah you'll have a few of those.... that's what makes it fun !!!

Truth!

 

[Dynosoar]

Get a kegerator with a barrel of Moose Drool to make the frustration less intense.

Dyno

 

[FJ60Cam]

1. trying to decide on fuel lines... spend the big bucks and go crazy with the 6AN stuff or keep it simple

6AN & pushlock hose is about as simple as you can get IMO, and wasn't terribly expensive.

2. dual exhaust or y pipe to a single flow master ( im building the exhaust my self )

I'm going dual pipes into a single muffler. No y's beforehand. I'm going to try and build it myself too (next step in my swap). No idea if this is right or wrong. It just looks like the best route, and only leaves one tailpipe to fix after getting mangled on the trail.

3. any unforeseen hurdles that i should know about that you encountered

See above! Lots of unforeseen hurdles.

4. radiator hose... from stock FJ60 radiator to gm water pump JTR makes a adapter for the air bleeder and steam tube, what size ( searched and found several conflicting answers) radiator hose is the cruiser upper hose?

The cruiser upper hose is 1-1/2", GM upper is 1-1/4". Both lowers are 1-1/2".

I used the stock 60/62 radiator and had the fill neck and upper inlet swapped up top. The upper was also changed to 1-1/4". On the bottom, I had the lower neck and drain valve swapped to move the neck away from the fan some. It was hard for me to find a shop that actually worked on radiators and not just sell new ones, but they only charged me $85.

The JTR adapter will help with the hose because you don't have to find a single perfect hose, just two perfect ends.

5.any advice is greatly appreciated[/QUOTE]

Read all the swap threads you can find. Make mental notes of your favorite solutions from each.

Take your time and don't rush it. It's easy enough to make mistakes already.