They are. In my case it's not worked out that way. The saga is all in my thread in the diesel section.
Build Bunny: 40th Anniversary FZJ80 / 6BT / NV4500 build
- Thread starter thegogglesdonothing
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- Thread starter
- #22
Update time: still waiting on Diesel Adapters @69rambler to deliver my modified wiring harness back to me. My builder had 3 straight weeks of radio silence and now two cascading "it'll ship in the next day or two" emails and yet... jack squat. Such a drag that a person who's clearly got a lot of mechanical aptitude and enthusiasm for what he does - in such a small and hungry community - is such a sporadic and underwhelming communicator. Seems like Small Business 101 to me to respond to one's customers, call me crazy.
My truck's been down a total of 4 months now waiting for various parts to come in - clutch pedal bracket from Australia, some parts that Dustin/Diesel Adapters did manage to ship - and both my builder and I have been treading water waiting for the whole "actions speak louder than words" scenario to play out. I don't mean to flame the guy too much, but as I've said in several (unreturned) voicemails and emails, an honest person-to-person conversation would go a long way towards placating this particular customer. Given what I've read here and elsewhere, I'm not alone in having this specific customer service experience. Alas.
Beyond that, good news!
Gobi Rack's in and installed, James Baroud tent in and installed, rebuilt Cummins 6BT and rebuilt NV4500 are mated together and await installation. I picked up an OEM manual transmission console and shift boot so I'll have a pretty clean look inside. I also picked up a cool shift knob, dorky as that may be. Now I just need the freaking harness to come in so it can all be assembled, tuned, and DRIVEN!
After a lot of reading through Mud, I've picked a few elements from other folks' trucks and when I get them in place, I'll give credit where credit's due. Shout out @Box Rocket for the incredible build, I'll be respectfully ripping off his idea to paint his wheels and fender flares black.
Due to feeling adrift, frustrated and completely at the mercy of when Diesel Adapters delivers, I stuck a 3" OME lift and Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10s on my 2001 Tacoma last weekend, just to make an improvement and get SOMETHING done. Now that thing drives like a dream, but my wife's growing impatient to go do our first Cruiser camping trip... hopefully before it snows too hard.
My truck's been down a total of 4 months now waiting for various parts to come in - clutch pedal bracket from Australia, some parts that Dustin/Diesel Adapters did manage to ship - and both my builder and I have been treading water waiting for the whole "actions speak louder than words" scenario to play out. I don't mean to flame the guy too much, but as I've said in several (unreturned) voicemails and emails, an honest person-to-person conversation would go a long way towards placating this particular customer. Given what I've read here and elsewhere, I'm not alone in having this specific customer service experience. Alas.
Beyond that, good news!
Gobi Rack's in and installed, James Baroud tent in and installed, rebuilt Cummins 6BT and rebuilt NV4500 are mated together and await installation. I picked up an OEM manual transmission console and shift boot so I'll have a pretty clean look inside. I also picked up a cool shift knob, dorky as that may be. Now I just need the freaking harness to come in so it can all be assembled, tuned, and DRIVEN!
After a lot of reading through Mud, I've picked a few elements from other folks' trucks and when I get them in place, I'll give credit where credit's due. Shout out @Box Rocket for the incredible build, I'll be respectfully ripping off his idea to paint his wheels and fender flares black.
Due to feeling adrift, frustrated and completely at the mercy of when Diesel Adapters delivers, I stuck a 3" OME lift and Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10s on my 2001 Tacoma last weekend, just to make an improvement and get SOMETHING done. Now that thing drives like a dream, but my wife's growing impatient to go do our first Cruiser camping trip... hopefully before it snows too hard.
Where did you get that shift know it's very cool!
Sucks to hear of yet another person stuck in limbo with him.
Sucks to hear of yet another person stuck in limbo with him.
- Thread starter
- #24
Got it at Hot Rod Shift Knob - I spent a good long while clicking through that site. Some pretty cool stuff in there.
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- Thread starter
- #25
Another couple weeks have gone by and still no wiring harness or so much as a call back from the vendor, so I needed to do something. So I painted my wheels, and was pleased with how they came out, especially given that I spent all of $30 on materials. I can confirm: Kevlar MTRs are freaking meaty when they're just rolling around, I hadn't appreciated just how stout they are without handling them myself. I just cleaned the wheels up with Brakleen, scuffed the surfaces with a Scotchbrite scuff pad and did 4 coats of Duplicolor gloss black wheel paint and 2 coats of clear. I even found a use for the phone book that was left on my porch the other day!
Next up, knocking some interior stuff off my list: re-wrapping the worn-out steering wheel, install cup holder and start mapping out the interior electrical system. I'm weighing whether to do a full inverter setup so I can run 110 juice, but regardless will be sticking USB and 12v socket ports throughout the truck. I'm also weighing whether to do new leather upholstery on my old-ass seats now, but what little common sense I have is telling me to chill out and see what the thing's like in the real world before going bananas modifying it.
Next up, knocking some interior stuff off my list: re-wrapping the worn-out steering wheel, install cup holder and start mapping out the interior electrical system. I'm weighing whether to do a full inverter setup so I can run 110 juice, but regardless will be sticking USB and 12v socket ports throughout the truck. I'm also weighing whether to do new leather upholstery on my old-ass seats now, but what little common sense I have is telling me to chill out and see what the thing's like in the real world before going bananas modifying it.
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- Thread starter
- #26
Update!
At long last, and not without many trials and tribulations, I took delivery of my truck today. I'm pretty pumped. I will be spending the next several days just driving around, breaking in the rebuilt motor and transmission, and I'll post up more photos of the engine bay, undercarriage and interior as I take them.
I need to re-gear in short order - the 4.88s the PO installed were great with the stock petrol motor, but they totally neuter the 6BT. 3.54s it is. I need more sound deadening around the newly reshaped floor and around the transmission - plenty of metal got moved to accommodate the NV4500. And one IMMEDIATE thing I will be doing is upgrading to OME 2850Js - since I added ~600# in motor to the front end, I've got a serious stinkbug effect happening now, and rub in the wheel wells way too easily.
I've spent far too much time since August reading Mud and reading folks' build threads page by page, but I'm super grateful for the resource, and the spirit of the people here. I have learned so much, and had so many ideas... now I get to put the greatest hits among them into practice!
I did a quick walkaround of the truck while it idled today to add to the resource library for people wondering just how loud a 6BT is.
At long last, and not without many trials and tribulations, I took delivery of my truck today. I'm pretty pumped. I will be spending the next several days just driving around, breaking in the rebuilt motor and transmission, and I'll post up more photos of the engine bay, undercarriage and interior as I take them.
I need to re-gear in short order - the 4.88s the PO installed were great with the stock petrol motor, but they totally neuter the 6BT. 3.54s it is. I need more sound deadening around the newly reshaped floor and around the transmission - plenty of metal got moved to accommodate the NV4500. And one IMMEDIATE thing I will be doing is upgrading to OME 2850Js - since I added ~600# in motor to the front end, I've got a serious stinkbug effect happening now, and rub in the wheel wells way too easily.
I've spent far too much time since August reading Mud and reading folks' build threads page by page, but I'm super grateful for the resource, and the spirit of the people here. I have learned so much, and had so many ideas... now I get to put the greatest hits among them into practice!
I did a quick walkaround of the truck while it idled today to add to the resource library for people wondering just how loud a 6BT is.
Great looking truck and it sounds like a monster! 
Sounds great. Are you getting the gear whine coming through the shifter console?
That looks and sounds great!
- Thread starter
- #31
Yeah, a little. Plenty of engine noise for now though. The floor had to be cut differently to accommodate the NV4500, so it's going to need a healthy dose of Dynamat to quiet things down. I give the truck back to my builder this coming week after I put 500 or so miles on it - it'll get all its fluids swapped and there's a laundry list of other fine tuning stuff to do, including that insulation. I'm already starting to plot out when to tear out the whole interior and dynamat the whole thing. It's surprising how comfortable the 40th Anniversary interior is, and I figure if I can get it as quiet as possible inside the truck with all the power from the 6BT, I'll be in hog heaven. For now, I'm enjoying the noise!
- Thread starter
- #32
I spent the day yesterday happily coming to terms with the truck and cleaning the everloving s*** out of the interior. I only drove it 3 days before it went and sat in the shop for 5 months collecting dust and shop grime, so I was very happy to do a deep clean and get real familiar with the truck overall. Now I get to get it dirty with MY dirt, which is somehow different I guess. I'm really thrilled with how clean the previous owners kept the interior - 208k miles and it feels pretty fresh.
Also, it's pretty incredible how much power the thing does have. The 4.88s are really overmatched by the 6BT, so I only get short RPM-limited bursts of acceleration and it V-Maxes at about 76mph... and I have to drive it like a 4-speed since 1st gear is so comprehensively useless now... but it's addicting to feel the surge of torque and the whistle of the turbo. I love it. More importantly, my wife does too. Great success!
There's some fine-tuning stuff to do in the short term, and it's scheduled to be back in the shop starting next week:
- OME J-Springs and spacers (way, way compressed on the OME "mediums" now)
- 4000rpm governor spring for the injection pump
- rebuilt turbo (the used one stuck on the truck now was meant to be temporary)
- deal with a power steering whine
After that, gears.
Also, it's pretty incredible how much power the thing does have. The 4.88s are really overmatched by the 6BT, so I only get short RPM-limited bursts of acceleration and it V-Maxes at about 76mph... and I have to drive it like a 4-speed since 1st gear is so comprehensively useless now... but it's addicting to feel the surge of torque and the whistle of the turbo. I love it. More importantly, my wife does too. Great success!
There's some fine-tuning stuff to do in the short term, and it's scheduled to be back in the shop starting next week:
- OME J-Springs and spacers (way, way compressed on the OME "mediums" now)
- 4000rpm governor spring for the injection pump
- rebuilt turbo (the used one stuck on the truck now was meant to be temporary)
- deal with a power steering whine
After that, gears.
Looks and sounds great! Did you get the revised water neck that bolts together, or are you running the original twist lock design?
I was able to get the new design a few weeks ago which is comforting given the several failures that have occured with the twist lock design.
I was able to get the new design a few weeks ago which is comforting given the several failures that have occured with the twist lock design.
I would bypass the J springs and get the 3" OME comp coils. They have a 300in/lb spring rate. Much higher than any other springs offed. With an ARB winch and the 6bt I would not go with anything else.
Agree. I have the 4" comps up front.
I plan to do the same.
I have the comps also...but plan on replacing them with new ones. Mine have sagged...not sure how old they are as I didn't install them.
- Thread starter
- #38
Thanks for the info! The rear of the truck seems well equipped and there seems to be plenty of life left in the OME nitrocharger shocks. I'll get a set of comp springs on the front as you recommend and see whether it exposes some flaw with the rears.
Im still running Slee 4" in the rear. No issues.
- Thread starter
- #40
Just a goofy detail but I particularly love the shift lever in the truck. The transmission I bought had someone else's idea of a cool custom lever and Hurst-style shifter, all sized for a full-size pickup with the transmission way down on the floor... so my builder ended up chopping almost 7" of the shift lever itself off and installed the cool vintage knob for me. I got an OEM manual transmission console from Cruiser Parts, but I guess I was a bit hasty, bought a grey one without realizing that the surrounding plastics are... brown? I'm pretty colorblind so I tell myself I've got a great excuse... but I just ran out of talent. Nothing a little rattlecan can't fix.
I did a lot of reading on a bunch of other forums about whether to do a short-shift kit on top of the NV4500, but decided that it'd be okay without it. I'm glad I didn't, because the throw and the action of the transmission is actually really good. The shift lever itself is really substantial and it doesn't vibrate laterally like some of the older, looser trucks I've driven. Or at least, not yet. I'm 6'0", and the shift knob falls easily to hand for me. Pretty good for mixing and matching Toyota, Cummins and New Venture parts!
The only issue I've got now is that the sole stock 12v plug in the truck is directly in front of 5th gear, so I can't use anything bigger than the stubby little 12v / USB cable charger in the photo. I'll solve that problem once I've mapped out what I want for the onboard electrical system.
I did a lot of reading on a bunch of other forums about whether to do a short-shift kit on top of the NV4500, but decided that it'd be okay without it. I'm glad I didn't, because the throw and the action of the transmission is actually really good. The shift lever itself is really substantial and it doesn't vibrate laterally like some of the older, looser trucks I've driven. Or at least, not yet. I'm 6'0", and the shift knob falls easily to hand for me. Pretty good for mixing and matching Toyota, Cummins and New Venture parts!
The only issue I've got now is that the sole stock 12v plug in the truck is directly in front of 5th gear, so I can't use anything bigger than the stubby little 12v / USB cable charger in the photo. I'll solve that problem once I've mapped out what I want for the onboard electrical system.
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