Builds Cruisermatt's FJ62 Build-up (11 Viewers)

[cruisermatt]

I want to know where the oil went.

A few things I'm thinking on the rod breakage (possible scenarios):

1. The rod broke due to bad rod bolts and caused the motor to consume all of it's oil in a hurry
2. The oil was consumed due to to improper ring installation or something else (missed major oil leak), which caused extreme wear in that rod cap, causing enough stress for it to break
3. The engine was somehow over-revved.
4. The rod bolts weren't properly torqued

I just pulled a 2F out of a truck that was run for ~20 miles with zero oil and the rod didn't break, so I don't think that oil starvation caused the rod cap to come off in your scenario. It had to have been something else.

Wasn't 1, the first half of 2, 3 or 4, I can tell you that for sure. The oil definitely all came out at the same time, and I found out where. Back of the side cover, not a very visible spot. It went out of there and all over the passenger side firewall, but it had to have been on the road because I didn't see the leak.

Had extensive discussion with my engine guru, it was classic oil starvation. He also said it's not possible for the engine to burn up that much oil. Also the rings and cylinder walls look fine from underneath (besides the chuck the upper rod bearing half took out).

 

[cruisermatt]

I just pulled a 2F out of a truck that was run for ~20 miles with zero oil and the rod didn't break, so I don't think that oil starvation caused the rod cap to come off in your scenario. It had to have been something else.

Brand new rebuild?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

No no, the engine I'm referring to had 260k miles on it.

This is not a "classic oil starvation problem". Remember the cash for clunkers thing? There was a video where a FJ60 was run on saltwater (instead of oil) for over 10 minutes before it seized. If 2Fs threw rods when they ran out of oil then it would be a well-known fact, and certainly would have happened in that cash-for-clunkers scenario.

If there was oil in the engine when this happened (as you stated above) and that the oil leaked out as a result of the damage, then this is not an oil starvation problem unless your oil pump failed. There was something wrong with how the bottom end was put together. My guess is either that the rod bolts were over-torqued or since they were re-used, they had stretched too far and should have been replaced.

Inspect your oil pump. That will tell you if the oil pump failed or not.

 

[cruisermatt]

No no, the engine I'm referring to had 260k miles on it.

OK, that's good!

If there was oil in the engine when this happened (as you stated above) and that the oil leaked out as a result of the damage, then this is not an oil starvation problem unless your oil pump failed.

Other way around. Damage was result of no oil. Question is where did the oil go. Most likely answer is the rear lower corner of the side cover. I haven't done a full inspection of the motor yet. Pulled it and did other stuff the rest of the weekend. Won't see it again until next.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You're missing my point. The rod should not have self-destructed under any circumstance, unless you drove for dozens of miles (without oil or oil pressure) and ignored a LOT of bad noise.

 

[cruisermatt]

You're missing my point. The rod should not have self-destructed under any circumstance, unless you drove for dozens of miles (without oil or oil pressure) and ignored a LOT of bad noise.

Right. I ignored a lot of bad noise for five miles, thinking it was the clutch coming apart. The two lessons learned here were to have a good oil pressure gauge and when you hear a noise, STOP!!! DRIVING!!!

I learned the hard way.

 

[cruisermatt]

It's been more then a month now, I think officially the longest it's been off the road? The irony is that my current "rushed" engine swap is taking longer then the last one where I really didn't NEED to swap (more on that later.).

The combination of not seeing the rig every day and doing a motor swap because I HAVE to and not because I WANT to is pretty disheartening and making me a bit of a slump. Anyways, this is what I've gotten done over the past month and change...

 

[cruisermatt]

The first three weeks of the motor being out I didn't have a replacement in hand yet, so I spent some time doing some clean-up work under the 62. This included finally deleting the LSPV PROPERLY (It was zip-tied open previously ), I'll do a full write up as a separate thread with how to do it for less then $2.

 

[cruisermatt]

I also scrubbed the crap out of the frame. Turns out it's actually really nice, all original black Toyota paint under the years of grime. The only bad spot is the usual rear inner-C's, need to do that fix with @reevesci wonderful product if I didn't have a hundred other things ahead on the list. I also installed the OEM steering shaft guard that I found on a shelf, because why not. And, I pulled every single bolt that goes into the frame out, anti-seized them, and reinstalled. Feels good.

 

[cruisermatt]

Discovered why my parking brake wasn't working that well recently

 

[cruisermatt]

Pulled off all the factory exhaust heat shields and painted the backsides, the visible sides cleaned up nicely and had good patina so they were left as-is. Reinstalled with anti-seize on all hardware.

 

[cruisermatt]

So I had a pretty good groove going then I went to pick up my motor and then everything kind of went downhill. I had the expectation I could get the original motor to my truck, slap the rebuilt head on it, paint it up real nice, and throw it in.

Not so much. This is also at the point where I stopped taking pictures because my time to work on stuff was limited. So please excuse the lack of aforementioned.

Remember this guy? That's the original 3FE. On the plus side it's still numbers matching? It's not like anything on this pile is

Upon tear-down it was deemed this bottom-end was not fit for service. Block, crank and rods were off to the machine shop for a 1mm overbore, deck, and polish and balance. I will be re-using 5/6 of the pistons from the dead motor, the unit from the destructed cylinder was rendered un-reusable.

The rebuilt head (~5K miles) was inspected and awarded a good bill of health.

 

[cruisermatt]

And some good old engine carnage.

 

[cruisermatt]

I also measured the minimum cylinder wall thickness, anyone ever though of using SBC pistons in an F-motor? Seems like it might be doable.

 

[cruisermatt]

Consulted the Hardcore section. They said the NV4500-203-Splitcase would not be too long, driveshaft wise. So I mocked it up with the junk block. Empty cases.

 

[cruisermatt]

Then I put it in. By myself lol. It looked like it fit pretty good (the FJ62 crossmember fits MINT under the NV4500 tailhousing!!!), and minimal floor cutting would occur.

 

[cruisermatt]

In the pictures you can kind of see the drivetrain is angled down, this would wreck havoc on the front driveline angles and the cylinder head would collide with the firewall. The rearmost point (the rear transfer yoke) would need to rise about 3" to level it all out with the frame.

Ok, looks like I can just make a cut where the rear heater is (mine is deleted) and fold the floor up and box it in:

Not enough. Adapter plate still collides. Transfer has been raised .5" at this point. Still has 2.5" to go. That section comes completely out. At this point realize the e-brake handle will never work there. (Hence the separate thread I started)

Next the 203 was colliding with the section just fore of that brace that the seats mount on. Tried to cut minimally ..

Not enough. Was REALLY trying to leave that brace intact, but that just said screw it. I'll reinforce it when I make the new floor. That's where the seats bolt to so it has to be strong. I also realized there would be no room for the Hi-Low linkage on the splitcase so a chunk came out from under the passenger seat. Hopefully the box won't interfere and I can leave the seat stock height.

 

[cruisermatt]

At least it is finally where I want it. Need to look at mounts. And figure out what to use, stock NV4500 mount out of a Ram might work well. Need something with about 1.5" height to it. Also, probably going to look into a carrier bearing supported two-piece front driveshaft.

 

[cruisermatt]

Also want to make it know that a 1" or 2" body lift would yield minimal floor cutting, but I'm dedicated to low COG so that ain't happening. Whatever, the carpet, seats and center console will cover all of it.

 

[crashmonk]

Wtf adapter do you have there? I don't think my AA adapter is that long.

Edit: 203 case gotcha!

Also I didn't need to cut my floor at all for an nv4500. Seems you have a lot going on here but good choice of trans! I know I like the super low 1st!