Errols FJ40 Build x4

[Feistl]

Now the main exhaust system was complete, I needed to add a balance pipe at the front. Now normally you have the balance pipe in the middle of the car (after the cats but before the mufflers), but obviously with this design the exhausts run down the outside so this isn’t possible.

Instead, I decided to add the balance pipe under the sump at the very front of the engine.

Using 1.5” stainless mandrel pipe, I added the first flange port on the drivers side….

Next, made up a bend pipe to join the flange…

Had to create the matching passenger side port, as you can see it took some “interesting” angles to make it work. Luckily the end of the belt sander is roughly the same size as the diameter of the exhaust pipe, so was able to shape the pipe to roughly the right shape.

Didn’t grab a pic of lining it up, but here is welded into place.

Needed to “cut” out the existing pipe… On the first one I used drill bits and milling bits which was bloody hard work. Decided on the passenger side to cheat a little and use my ability to blow holes with the welder…


Cranked the welder up from ~60amp to 200amp and blew the metal out in about 6 seconds vs the 20 minutes it took on the drivers side lol.

 

[Feistl]

Fitted back up to the engine…

Now tacked the second matching pipe up

Fully welded and bolted up

Now I know the pipes don’t line up exactly at the moment, but the alignment will move when I properly bolt up the headers/gaskets etc. So I plan to install the exhaust system fully (gaskets, hangers etc) and the very final step will be to join the pipes. Now rather than using exhaust pipe, I am going to use a flexi joint piece. This should have enough “give” for any expansion etc during heat cycling of the engine.

So here is the finished system (minus the flexi joiner).

 

[Feistl]

Radiator: Next step was the radiator system. Now I am pretty much doing the exact same radiator mounting design as the Green FJ40, so it was just a matter of copying the design. I had one of the radiators welded up (Changed the direction of the filler and added some extra welds across the top)

Started by cutting out the materials for the frame…

Welded the end pieces to the top frame section.

Added the extra bracing

Welded up the bottom section and the side pieces

Was now ready to trial fit the radiator in the frame (you can see the welds on the radiator)

Ready to test fit the thermofans (They are Falcon AU Thermofans with some small modifications). You can see why I needed the right angle material… Ensures the thermofans are sealed on both ends for maximum cooling.

Once confirmed the frame was correct, added some triangle bracing on the corners for extra strength.

Got 2 bolts ready to be welded on the bottom (The bolts are actually used on the front suspension strut of VT-VZ commodores).

 

[Feistl]

Now for rubber mounts I decided to reuse the rubber mounts from a VT-VZ radiator. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a pipe to fit perfectly around the outside, so instead decided to trim down the rubber to fit some pipe I had.


To do this I bolted the rubber mounts onto a bolt/nut so I could spin it using a drill and ratchet spanner. While the rubber was spinning around I then used a grinding wheel to shave down the rubber till it was a nice tight fit.

Here is an example of how the 2 rubber mounts will be used to clamp to the support bracket.

Roughly positioned the bolts on the bottom of the frame

Now needed to make the frame support (which will be welded to the chassis). In hindsight I could have just welded some steel at a 90 degree angle, but I got this from the scrap pile so only cost its weight (4kg for $4).

Started shaping the material to the right size

Cut out a bit of pipe to be welded

Took a bunch of measurements so I knew exactly where to cut/weld the pipe.

 

[Feistl]

Fully welded the pipe then cut the border out

Now just needed to drill a hole in the middle using a 25mm drill bit

You can see the clearance between the bolt and steel. Essentially this keeps the metal frame fully isolated from the chassis.

Now I was going to weld another ring on the bottom side, but once you tighten the nut up its bloody solid as. So decided to leave it as is.

 

[Feistl]

Before welding the bolts onto the bottom of the frame I decided to create the mounting system for the thermofan. Essentially just welded some allthread onto the frame, although to make life easier I welded a nut on as well.

Once I was happy with the location I fully welded the nuts/all thread into place

Now annoyingly there is a gap at each end of the thermofan, so welded a small blocking plate into place. Had to use 90 degree angle stuff and shape the top for the extra overlap.

 

[Feistl]

Cut the standard mounts off the chassis so I could trial fit the support pieces and get an exact measurement.

Once I had the measurements I could weld the bolts onto the frame

Now trial fitted the support pieces, noticed there wasn’t as much clearance as I wanted in a few areas, so marked it to be cut out.

Took a quick measurement to check everything lined up…

 

[Feistl]

It looked good, so now made the changes to the mounts

To help distribute the load over the rubber mounts I used some spare big washers.

Lots of clearance now…

Fully assembled


http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee369/feistl/Frame%2071_zpswtb28w92.jpg /IMG]


Now ready to mount the lower brackets to the chassis


[IMG]http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee369/feistl/Frame%2072_zpsxpaj2wgl.jpg

 

[Feistl]

Trial fitted the frame

Then mounted the radiator and thermofans properly for a final trial fit

Was happy with the alignment/clearances, so welded up the mounts properly and gave them a coat of paint.

Fitted in the rubber donuts (nice tight fit)

 

[Feistl]

Water Pump:

Now one of the unexpected issues we faced was the standard Chev water pumps all exit on the drivers side, whereas the holden pumps exit on the passenger side. The radiator we had purchased exited on the passenger side and I didn’t pick up on this till I had already finished the radiator design…


Now I could have got the radiator modified, although aluminum welding seems to be very expensive. So instead we decided to fit an Aerospace Components electric water pump which has the inlet on the passenger side. We had actually planned to fit an extra inline electric pump to assist anyway, so running a full electric pump instead wasn’t a big issue (Other than added cost)


We will also configure the water pump to be on anytime the engine is running OR the engine temperature is above 75 degrees. So basically after driving around normally and stopping the engine the thermofans and water pump will continue to run until the temp drops below 75 degrees. This is also an advantage if the engine starts to get too hot… Turn it off and it’ll cool much faster than a normal setup.

Clearance was tight, but the electric pump is the same length as the mechanical one were going to use so the clearance is the same.

Although tight, we should be able to work out a radiator hose for the bottom to suit the new pump.

To top pipe should be easy enough

Will work out the hoses later…

 

[Feistl]

Alternator:

Now fitting an electric water pump creates another issue of not having a pulley for the drive belt, meaning a standard alternator bracket won’t work. Now we had planned on fitting a VT 120amp alternator anyway, so it meant creating another custom bracket. Easiest way was to start with the standard VT Alternator bracket and modify it to mount to the chev V8.


Now unfortunately the Chev heads on the drivers side only has a single bolt hole, meaning I couldn’t use the standard method of mounting (Eg a bracket bolted to the head). Instead, I had to be creative and decided to mount the VT alternator bracket onto the Marks4WD engine mount arm.


So started by bolting the standard VT alternator to the VT Bracket and holding it in roughly the right area (no pics of this). Once I was happy with placement I cut a small grove so it would “sit” on the engine mount bracket in the right place and tack welded it

It should work, although there isn’t much clearance/room for tensioning between the belt.

The clearance to the water pump was also tight, but I could remove some material shortly

Now to give extra strength I made up a bracket to bolt to the head

Then added a support brace for the bottom mounting point

Then added lots more bracing

 

[Feistl]

Once everything was tacked into place, measured the approx. belt length and went and purchased a bunch of belts in roughly the right length to trial fit. Ended up 11A1130 was a bloody tight fit (took two of us to get it on) but did mean I had maximum clearance between the belt on the feed/return path.

As you can see alignment is good

Unfortunately to weld up the bracket I had to remove it from the car, which meant supporting the engine during this time.

Bracket removed

Then welded it all up and gave it a coat of paint

 

[Feistl]

Fitted and lock tited it back into the car

Now ready to install the alternator and belt

You can see the extra clearance to the water pump (which importantly means the pump can be installed/removed with the bracket in place)

Now ready to reinstall the radiator

 

[Feistl]

Radiator Hoses: Now the bottom hose is proving more challenging. As the engine bracket is so close there is very little room to actually run a hose, and using that custom fitment hose didn’t work as it was still hard pressed against the engine mount bracket.


The other issue with the electric pump is it has no return for the heater/lpg converter. So decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and make a custom fitting to get around the space constraints and to provide a heater hose return.


Started by fitting a couple of 90 degree radiators hoses

Went and got some 38mm / 1.5” steel tube and custom cut/weld it to make an “S” type pipe. Now I know these sorts of cuts/bends aren’t great for flow, but the mandrel bend radius in that size is too big, so this was the only real option.

Once I was happy with the alignment, I welded it up

Was now able to weld in a 5/8” heater hose bung for a return for the heater/lpg converter

Still not 100% decided on a top hose yet, but changing to a spare thermostat housing from a VT 304 means I can run a universal type hose.

 

[Feistl]

So this is where we are up to as of 18/03/2016.

(EDIT - All pictures should now be showing correctly)

I hope you have enjoyed the build thread so far and am happy to answer any questions and welcome feedback/suggestions.

Cheers, Errol.

(Also, they must nearly be the record for most posts in a row by a single user...?

 

[thebigredrocker]

WoW x4
Unreal x4
So cool to read and see your story!

 

[Weber Sarge]

Congrats - that has to be the longest single post dump , ever .
The stuff you guys are cutting up and scrapping would be gold over here , not to mention the floater axles and H55's . If we could just combine the two countries - that would be ultimate .
Nice build thread ..

Sarge

 

[Ol'40]

Errol, This thread is just bloody amazing, I've spent nearly all day reading your post and the Aust Ls1 forum post.. I have a mate doing a total frame up resto and v8 re build, and I'm getting mine ready for club rego as well, I'll make sure he reads this too.. We are not far from you so we'll be in contact...

Cheers, Gaz...

 

[Feistl]

So cool to read and see your story!

Cheers man.

The stuff you guys are cutting up and scrapping would be gold over here , not to mention the floater axles and H55's . If we could just combine the two countries - that would be ultimate .
Nice build thread ..

Sarge

Cheers dude. Yeah, thats the biggest thing I've noticed is that the quality and quantity of parts available over here is much better. As mentioned, i collected 8x H55F gearboxes at an average price of about $150-200ea and just about every axle is full float.

Also, it appears diesels are far more common over here (all the mining trucks here are diesel). We did contemplate using 12HT turbo diesels, but i prefer the sound of the V8.

As mentioned in the thread, LPG is also a common modification over here. In Melbourne especially, LPG is very cheap (Usually 30-50% of petrol) and some of the modern LPG injection systems are only 10-20% less efficient than petrol.

Errol, This thread is just bloody amazing, I've spent nearly all day reading your post and the Aust Ls1 forum post.. I have a mate doing a total frame up resto and v8 re build, and I'm getting mine ready for club rego as well, I'll make sure he reads this too.. We are not far from you so we'll be in contact...

Cheers, Gaz...

Hey mate,

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I am just up the road (Rowville) so feel free to hit me up for help/parts.
What car club are you going with?

Final thing i should mention is the White and Green FJs are sort of "prototype" builds, the next 2 we are building will be significantly better builds. The first two have been good experience and to learn what does/doesn't work.

Cheers

 

[Feistl]

Thermofans:


Spent a bit of time playing around with the thermofans. It appears between the AU and BA falcon ford made some minor changes to the thermofan blades and electric motor. The AU ran a Valeo with a pair of 8 blade fans whereas the BA ran a Kamco electric motor with a pair of 6 blade fans.

Now I couldn’t swap the fan blades over due to being slightly different sizes (and not fitting the shroud), but with very minor modifications the motors can be swapped. The newer Kamco motor seems to be more powerful.

At this point I decided to strip down the motors to give them a clean and change the bearings.

Removed the motor from the housing

Took the rear cover off

Remove the circuit board

You can see the core

Pressed the core out

Gave it a clean with the air compressor

Removed the casing holding the bearing in

Removed the old bearing from the casing, gave the casing a clean with the wire brush and installed the new bearing