Builds Blender, My LX450/FZJ80 + FJ45esk + GM + Land Rover crazy concoction

[Mieser]

I would say make it removable. It's very convenient to be able to remove the tunnel and have easy access to the transmission and transfer case for major or minor service.

In some ways I like the idea, in some ways its presents enough issues to give me pause....

Good things about a removable tunnel....

-You can get at stuff

Issues I see....

-It doesn't provide as much support in the floor. A welded structure will be stronger
-The inner seat mounts on this narrowed cab will likely be on top of the transfer case. Combining the seat mounts into/onto a removeable part doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
-Removing the tunnel, once the seats, shifters, and pedals are in place will not be an easy thing to do. It would likely require sub panels on a removable tunnel to be able to take everything apart.
-Removing the entire tunnel to get at a small issue seems like a lot of work. You could add sub panels but that is a lot of extra parts.
-Typically I find that captured hardware on the underside of the vehicle doesn't last long with dirt/mud. There are sealed back rivet-nuts now that are promising.

With the flat belly the transmission ended up pretty far up into the floor along with the transfer case.....



I have a lot of stuff to cover up...

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Sounds like you've made a decision then!! Weld it in!

I would definitely cut the hole in the floor farther back than pictured so that you can remove the transmission and/or transfer without having to rotate the engine down too far. I know you are using those johnny joints as motor mounts, but with hoses and wires connected, you'll be limited in how far you can rotate the engine down without causing collateral damage.

 

[Mieser]

Sounds like you've made a decision then!! Weld it in!

I would definitely cut the hole in the floor farther back than pictured so that you can remove the transmission and/or transfer without having to rotate the engine down too far. I know you are using those johnny joints as motor mounts, but with hoses and wires connected, you'll be limited in how far you can rotate the engine down without causing collateral damage.

Nope, still on the fence. I can see bonuses both ways. The scary part is that it might end up being an 'all of the above' option. Perhaps make the tunnel a bolt in unit AND make it have removable panels for access to minor things. Ugh.

With the transmission and transfer case so high in the chassis with the flat belly, it doesn't present a really clear path forward.

Cutting back the floor behind the transfer case is on my maybe list. I think that you are right in that it would be nice to be able to slide the transfer case back enough to remove it. I will have to do some measuring however. The input on the LT230 is long male unit. I think the transfer case needs to slide back almost 4-6". Ouch. I could separate the transfer case between the two adapters and have a shorter shaft to deal with.

I appreciate the input. Thank you very much.

 

[Mieser]

I wonder what is under here....



Well that sucks. I am glad I found it really, but yuck. It looks like it was just a water trap in the stock design. The metal on top was very rusted but the oem paint was still on the bottom.

I couldn't really cut out the entire area easily because this was over the top of one of the hat channels.

A few helpful tips....



Carefully cut out as much of the bad area as you can. I use a thin cut off wheel in the a 4.5" angle grinder when I can, but I had to use a dremel tool for most of this because of the tight quarters.



Need to make a template of a patch like this? I use two opposing layers of masking tape. Then you use a narrow razor knife to cut out the template. Stick the template to the metal you want to make the patch out of. You can cut a little big and trim if needed...



Need to hold a small patch like this? Use a magnet. Magnets also work well to level the edges if they are strong enough.



Welded in place....clean it up a bit. I tried not to get carried away yet since the base metal isn't the best on the one side.



I also had to make a thin curved filler piece to weld the rear section of the floor to the B-pillar spreader. I had to use a little jack pressure on the 1" strap flange I had added to level things up into position. Once this was welded it REALLY firmed up the floor, especially on the drivers side. The floor on the passenger side is still kinda floppy. I need to add some kind of extra support if I want the tunnel to be removable.



I also cleaned up the patch under the drivers foot some more. I like how that turned out. That bump was dumb.



This is what I have to work with now. I am thinking I am going to remove the left over 'bump' where the transfer case was also. I think that just clutters up the floor. I think I can replace more of that with a flat piece or maybe a triangle of material back to the towards the transfer case.

I am still thinking about removing more material behind the transfer case to help removal perhaps. The crank centerline is above the level of the floor for sure.

Having the seat mounts tie into a removable tunnel might be interesting. I'm not sure I love that idea, but I should be able to have at least the rear part of both sides of the seats mounts tie into the B-pillar spreader. The outside forward mount for each seat can be on the floor panel. It would only be the inside forward seat mount that would need to be on the tunnel. So 1 out of 4 for each seat.

If I do make the entire tunnel removable, I think I still want to make a few access panels for little stuff. Maybe split the tunnel about where the transfer case adapters like in the example pictures I posted. I am most worried about having to pull the transfer case vs the transmission. The engine and trans are an OEM assembly with only 40K miles.

That does it for today.

 

[Mieser]

When in doubt, cut more out of the floor and drill more holes in everything!



I removed 4" of material behind the transfer case to help with the ability to r&r the transfer case in the vehicle. I also removed the rest of the old 'hump' in the floor....

In order to level the floor I decided to use a scrap of angle iron. I could have clamped it, but that would have only gotten in the way. I ended up adding a 2" pattern of 1/8" holes in the angle iron to give me a template to use some Cleco fasteners to hold the floor up level. That worked great! Now the floor is dead level front to back. Note: the missing Cleco's in the pattern are areas where there was an existing conflict with a hat channel.



This is the panel I made to replace the 'hump' in the floor. It has a flange on the edge to provide support to the floor. That flange is welded to the existing flange on the front section....and to the left overs of the hat channel on the other end. This should help firm up the floor a lot on this side.



Same panel from the other side, tacked in place, and the clamps removed.

I am going to try to add a flange around the rest of the perimeter next. I don't think that will be too hard. I will just make some 3/4x3/4 L-flanges in my little press brake and fit them in place. I can even use the shrinker on a piece to fit the little hump in the floor. That should be fun. Use some clamps and/or cleco's to hold them in place. Then plug weld the holes. I think that will work.....

I think I have decided to make the tunnel a removable unit. I will likely split it into a front and rear unit. Then to make as much work as possible I will add some access panels in critical areas....transmission shifter, transfer case shifter, front driveshaft, etc.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I like your plan With a removable tunnel, you're going to have no problem accessing things for maintenance!!

Did you find that the floor was that far out of level or were the angle iron stiffeners a precaution?

 

[Mieser]

I like your plan With a removable tunnel, you're going to have no problem accessing things for maintenance!!

Did you find that the floor was that far out of level or were the angle iron stiffeners a precaution?

Oh yeah, you could flop the passenger side floor around with one hand. I cut a LOT of structure out of that side with all the modifications I have done. I sliced out the fuel tank sump. Then I pie cut the floor. Then I had to cut a big hole for the new transfer case.

The floor on the passenger side needs more structure for sure. Getting a lip back in around the edge should firm things up enough, we will see. The nice thing about the cleco fastener is that I can remove and replace the auxiliary support to test things.

 

[lwb86]

this is just my thought on a removable tunnel. If there is trouble with said trans and tcase on a trail or trip after getting to a place to work on it is anyone really wanting to un pack a rig pull the seats and un bolt the tunnel. or would we just drop the trans and tcase to fix it. ensuring there is enough room to access sensors/linkage and making sure firewall clearance allows for you to drop the tcase crossmember and tilt the engine back to accesss any sensors on top

 

[lwb86]

oh yeah and super badass build will be following this closely. Ive probably read your flatty build at least three times

 

[Mieser]

this is just my thought on a removable tunnel. If there is trouble with said trans and tcase on a trail or trip after getting to a place to work on it is anyone really wanting to un pack a rig pull the seats and un bolt the tunnel. or would we just drop the trans and tcase to fix it. ensuring there is enough room to access sensors/linkage and making sure firewall clearance allows for you to drop the tcase crossmember and tilt the engine back to accesss any sensors on top

yeah, top vs bottom access is always interesting to think about....

This car will have a complete 1/4" thick aluminum belly pan. If your going to go in from the bottom that might be a factor.

As long as everything on the inside is designed right, pulling out the 'seats' might not be too bad. Heck. I want to be able to do that just for cleaning out the tub after long messy trips with the mud, sand, etc.

I'm not really worried much about the transmission ( knock on wood ). It is a 2014 GM unit with only 45K on it or so. Everything is internal on these, just one plug to the transmission and that is it....all the electronics are internal.

I am more worried about the transfer case. It is kinda an oddball unit, but known to be fairly good. If something in the drivetrain does fail I think that will be it. Being able to remove that will be nice. It would be nice to be able to remove that while keeping the transmission supported. I think I can do that from above with the tunnel out. Heck, I could use the belly pan as a work surface to some degree.

One thing that having the tunnel remove does solve....I don't have like 6 feet of weld from new to old metal!

I don't think there is a perfect answer, only compromise in one way or another.
I will mock it up to be removable and see how things look. The weld in tunnel would be much the same shape....

 

[Mieser]

Just a mini update....



I've been trying to remake a flange around the passenger side of the floor opening. It has been going slow.

I had to make a little 'bump' to go around an existing flange in the floor.....



Slice the end clamp in an offset block at the angle you need.



Hammer the flange down to create the clearance you need to get around the flange on the underside of the floor. File down the little bit of overlap at the corner to make the joint look nice.



Tig weld up the seam to make it all one part again.



Install with many plug welds. I did learn that the 1/8" holes for the cleco are not quiet big enough for the weld I would like. I might try going up to 3/16" holes for plug welds like that....or maybe try the TIG with minimum filler. It is nice that an 1/8" hole is easy to weld up however for non-plug weld use like the floor stiffer I am using. Those holes will be easy to fill. I should still probably build a copper backer magnet.....



I also got the hump removal plate seams welded up. Fun.

Hopefully tonight I can get the back section done and some little things finished up. My new template material should be here soon. My seats showed up also but I am still waiting on one slider. Transmission shifter should be here soon also. I see this phase of the build with the tunnel, seat mounts, and shifters taking a bit!

 

[2fpower]

Great work. Inspiring.

 

[Mieser]

One small step for....



....tunnel construction. I completed the new flange all the way around the edge of the floor opening. The addition of the flange, and the little gussets at the junctions, really firmed up the floor panel. It isn't rock solid, but it is pretty good. I am tempted to stick another small body mount in the middle of the floor to help support things a little more. I think that there was one in that location stock.

Making the little curved flange was fun. I used the shrinker again. It still doesn't like 16 gauge material.



Cleco's are cool. I might be addicted. I did find that with the 1/8" hole for the cleco, I get a lot better weld if I drill out the top panel to 3/16".



These showed up in the mail.

Now I just need to figure out the transmission and transfer case shifters, eliminate the safety thing on the transfer case, and make a wicked tunnel template using this new 'chipboard' stuff I got in the mail. Then turn that into metal....

 

[Mieser]

This is a big hole...

 

[Mieser]

Just little stuff that seems to big time....



I built a mount for the Gennie shifter mechanism on the top of the transmission. This position seemed to work out well for the possible seating positions. I did a little mock up with the seats to get a better feeling for the cab space. Overall I am pretty happy, but it is still a bit smaller cab. Leg room doesn't seem to be an issue with the slightly taller seating position compared to my flat fender.

The shape of the seats, especially the headrest, does waste a little space. It will work, but it would be better if the head rest had a little forward bend to it.

I did make one challenging part today...



Make a paper template. I use Solidworks, but just about any CAD program will work including a lot of the free ones. Spray the base metal in layout die. Use a few magnets to hold the paper template on top of the steel and layout die.



Center punch all the hold locations using a very sharp center point. This part is pretty small with lots of holes close together that are small in diameter. Take your time.

One the holes are center punched, use a razor knife to mark the lines you need by cutting through the paper. If you work from the inside out the magnets till keep the paper in place. You can work out in layers to the most outside feature you need.



For this part I had a six very small 1/16" holes to define the corners and radii I needed. This part also had a 'flat' area along the middle.

I was able to get close to the final slot width I needed by increasing the center drill size out to 25/64th in a few steps. You don't really want to break through to the other holes if you can help it. One or two isn't a big deal and didn't seem to have an effect on hole center.



Then I just had to break out the files and clean up the features I needed to the line in the layout die. It didn't really take that long to connect all the dots and close in on the final shape.



This is the final part....



This is what it fits on. This is the center diff lock actuator on the LT230 transfer case. This little part will form the base for the air shift mechanism I am going to build for that.

Sorry it wasn't much, but the little stuff seems to take the most time...

 

[Napster]

Just stumbled upon your build and am glad I did! learning a lot, inspired, and entertained. Great work so far and looking forward to seeing the finished product as well as all the steps to get there.

 

[cruisermatt]

Looking forward to seeing your air-shift setup...

 

[handcannon]

Looking forward to seeing your air-shift setup...

X2 on this.

Don

 

[Mieser]

Looking forward to seeing your air-shift setup...

X2 on this.

Don

Just to be clarify, the air shifting will only be for the center diff portion of transfer case. The hi-low function will still be done with a lever.

I am a little interested in how having a center diff will make things different off-road. My gut feeling is that in certain situations that being able to unlock the center diff will be an advantage. I didn't want to have to try and fumble with a lever to do this on the fly. The LT230 transfer case has a spring bias system that will lock/unlock as soon as the sliding collar is aligned and/or bind free. I should be able to hit the switch and forget.

I may also be converting the factory e-lockers over to air also. I think it would be nice to have all three of the lockers in the vehicle operate with a common system ( air ) and a common switch panel. From my research the factory toyota lockers are not the fastest to lock/unlock on the fly, especially when slightly bound up. The electric motor assemblies seem to have a decent amount of value also. I can probably sell off the motors to someone who needs replacements ( mine are in great shape on this 100K mile chassis ) and use the profits to fund the air system and air conversion for the front and rear lockers also.

Right now I am just doing little things waiting for my package from McMaster to show up with all the goodies. That should let me finish the transmission, high-low, and center diff air shift mechanism. Then it's tunnel building time!

 

[cruisermatt]

I'm pretty familiar with 230's (check the link in my signature ), I've never been a fan of the individual factory shifter.

Just put a doubler in my 62 and built a set of triple shifters, I would love to have them all be air-operated as I want ARB's in the future and could link the systems. Plus I've found it pretty hard to make shifter linkages that aren't clunky/sloppy.