That looks so good, Mike... I hope to see it at the Cascade Cruiser Christmas Party!
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- Thread starter
- #282
Thanks again Tapage, I actually wanted to see how the rear pack did without the overloads but since I put them back on I am confident it will carry whatever weight I put back there.
When I was deciding on shackle length I used this thinking. A leaf spring is at it's longest point when it is flat. When the spring has arch in it whether postive or negative it will shrink in size. A shackle allows the eye to swing in an arc motion. I decided on a length for the shackle (considering mounting points) that allows the spring to get flat and not contact the frame. If I were to over load the springs and cause negative arch then the shackle would actually push the eye away from the frame because the spring would shrink.
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- Thread starter
- #284
:whoops: O.k. looks like I need a simple correction. My name is actually Mike, not Matt. No worries.
There have been 4bt's with front, rear, and the marine version which is flatter overall. The pan on my 4bt is a rear sump. There is clearance for the pinion and driveshaft. That was the best angle I could get to try and demonstrate that. Looks like it didn't work.
There have been 4bt's with front, rear, and the marine version which is flatter overall. The pan on my 4bt is a rear sump. There is clearance for the pinion and driveshaft. That was the best angle I could get to try and demonstrate that. Looks like it didn't work.
:whoops:
In the home stretch. Looking excellent 
- Thread starter
- #288
Nope, it was on my engine. It came from a stepvan that had the chevy adapter and the turbo400.
- Thread starter
- #289
weekly update
It's getting cold again but I'm loving the jumpsuit my wife found at an estate sale a couple months ago. I put that thing on and stay warm. In fact it was in the 50's on one day and I had to take it off because it was too hot! I definitely recommend a lined jumpsuit if you have to build your project outside like me.
A local 4bt FJ60 came by last week and gave me a hand. We mostly chatted but talked through the wiring and the heater hose configuration. So I didn't get much physically done that day but I know where to hook everything up now. As a reward I asked for a ride and that kept my motivation high. From the passenger seat it felt like it's got plenty of power to get out of it's own way and I can tell that the torque is going to be addictive. He has a T400 tranny with no overdrive but the first three ratios are the same as my 4L80 so it should be similar in acceleration.
I got some key systems hooked up this weekend. After hitting a few places and having each one tell me to try out a different place I finally arrived at a place called Oil Filter Service that had what I was looking for. Here is the stuff I came home with. Top to bottom: hose for tranny cooler lines, power steering hose, old hose for reference (toyota line on top, then stepvan hose), and a handful of adapters to make it work.
I ported the steering box but will mount my ram later, probably when I have time to trim the fenders for the 38s. These are some 6 AN caps.
These are the o-ring adapters to 6 AN. I needed three of these for the pump and the HB unit: 1-18mm x 1.5 to 6AN, 2-16mm x 1.5 to 6AN.
I should have taken a pic of the other end because this shows the 6AN side but this is the one that fits in the steering box. It's for an inverted flare. This was 16mm x 1.5 to 6AN.
These are for the tranny. The guy behind the counter said the original threads are not quite 1/4 NPT for the line adapters. My tranny research said they were but he has seen these before (I brought mine in for reference). He did say that a tranny shop around the corner goops these and cranks them in. They will go in once, but not twice so if you need to take these out again you'll have to tap new threads to whatever you want. They are 1/4 NPT to 6AN.
I needed 6AN adapters on my tranny heat exchanger to match the ones on my tranny so there they are put in. They seal by o-ring so no tape. In fact those tranny side adapters are the only ones I taped because the rest seal by the seat of the adapter or the o-ring on the adapter.
When I put the adapters in the tranny they didn't feel like they were binding but I'm not going to take them out to find out if the threads were different. I am still deciding on the exact position of the heat exchanger so I haven't hooked up the lines yet. I just hope I bought enough line. I did get the push-in hose ends so if the hoses aren't long enough I guess I'll just make another run to the place and get some more.
I made this bracket to hold the power steering fluid reservoir and the overflow tank for the radiator.
It mounts on the driver side fender well using existing bolts and holes.
Overflow tank and reservoir mounted.
It's getting cold again but I'm loving the jumpsuit my wife found at an estate sale a couple months ago. I put that thing on and stay warm. In fact it was in the 50's on one day and I had to take it off because it was too hot! I definitely recommend a lined jumpsuit if you have to build your project outside like me.
A local 4bt FJ60 came by last week and gave me a hand. We mostly chatted but talked through the wiring and the heater hose configuration. So I didn't get much physically done that day but I know where to hook everything up now. As a reward I asked for a ride and that kept my motivation high. From the passenger seat it felt like it's got plenty of power to get out of it's own way and I can tell that the torque is going to be addictive. He has a T400 tranny with no overdrive but the first three ratios are the same as my 4L80 so it should be similar in acceleration.
I got some key systems hooked up this weekend. After hitting a few places and having each one tell me to try out a different place I finally arrived at a place called Oil Filter Service that had what I was looking for. Here is the stuff I came home with. Top to bottom: hose for tranny cooler lines, power steering hose, old hose for reference (toyota line on top, then stepvan hose), and a handful of adapters to make it work.
I ported the steering box but will mount my ram later, probably when I have time to trim the fenders for the 38s. These are some 6 AN caps.
These are the o-ring adapters to 6 AN. I needed three of these for the pump and the HB unit: 1-18mm x 1.5 to 6AN, 2-16mm x 1.5 to 6AN.
I should have taken a pic of the other end because this shows the 6AN side but this is the one that fits in the steering box. It's for an inverted flare. This was 16mm x 1.5 to 6AN.
These are for the tranny. The guy behind the counter said the original threads are not quite 1/4 NPT for the line adapters. My tranny research said they were but he has seen these before (I brought mine in for reference). He did say that a tranny shop around the corner goops these and cranks them in. They will go in once, but not twice so if you need to take these out again you'll have to tap new threads to whatever you want. They are 1/4 NPT to 6AN.
I needed 6AN adapters on my tranny heat exchanger to match the ones on my tranny so there they are put in. They seal by o-ring so no tape. In fact those tranny side adapters are the only ones I taped because the rest seal by the seat of the adapter or the o-ring on the adapter.
When I put the adapters in the tranny they didn't feel like they were binding but I'm not going to take them out to find out if the threads were different. I am still deciding on the exact position of the heat exchanger so I haven't hooked up the lines yet. I just hope I bought enough line. I did get the push-in hose ends so if the hoses aren't long enough I guess I'll just make another run to the place and get some more.
I made this bracket to hold the power steering fluid reservoir and the overflow tank for the radiator.
It mounts on the driver side fender well using existing bolts and holes.
Overflow tank and reservoir mounted.
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- Thread starter
- #290
More
I got the brakes hooked up. I loaned a flaring tool at Autozone and started practicing. I didn't get it on the first couple of tries so I kept practicing. The flares finally started to turn out alright so I started hooking up my lines. The master cylinder had two different threads for the front and the rear so I got an adapter to make them the same. I reused one of the original fittings and got another one for the other side. I took the master with me to verify it would fit and got a fitting for 3/16 line. That and the toyota metric line are the same. It didn't take too long once I could duplicate good flares. I'm also reusing the toyota proportioning valve. I don't know if it will work but I'll try it out. If it's a no go I'll just pick up an adjustible one and plumb that into the rear line. I had this laying around so I thought I'd try it out. You can also see the power steering lines hooked up. That system is complete too.
Sneak in one of the steering box
I chatted with dieselcruiserhead about the adapter for my turbo compressor housing. My old one didn't fit. He said he had one tigged. I decided to cheat and if my cheat doesn't work I'll end up doing that. I took the housing off and ground the lip down to get the hose over it. I left a lip to act like a barb to catch the hose. There is enough flat surface on the neck that I think the hose will seal with a good compression clamp. So I'll give it a try and see.
Got my new caliper at Napa, painted it and put it on. Actually one of the threaded holes in my knuckle was stripped. I found that a 1/2"-20 (fine) would re-tap the hole so I converted from metric to grade 8 fine 1/2" bolts. I didn't even have to drill out the hole, it was the right size. The old pads looked good so I sanded them to resurface the pad and put them in.
I decided on a location for the brake line tabs and welded those back on the axle. This location allows the caliper movement without binding the rubber line. These are the shorter lines from Napa (per the part numbers on the tech section). I think I could have saved some $ if I had them made at Oil Filter Service where I got my steering hoses. Oh well, they are hooked up now.
Driver side
Passenger side
These are the long lines to connect the axle to the frame. They are plenty long and I doubt I'll use up the length. This is the front axle.
Rear axle, sorry these turned out blurry but you get the idea.
Close up of the connection between hard line to rubber on the rear.
I fixed the smashed line on the front axle with a union and two 3/8" fittings. They didn't have any 10mm unions (I had extra 10mm fittings) so I used standard thread instead. I may grab a whole new line and bend it up since this one was pretty wavy.
Heat hose routing. You will notice that I put t-fittings on two of the lines. Those are for the tranny heat exchanger. I wanted flow through the exchanger and the engine pre-thermostat or in other words for the exchanger to get flow before the thermostat opens up. On the 4bt there is a pre and post thermostat port (in my definition pre allows flow with out the thermostat having to be open) so I hooked up the front heater and exchanger to that line. I hooked up the rear heater to the post port. The cruiser already consolidates the heaters to one return so I put a T in the return line for the exchanger.
I cut down the original upper radiator hose to fit. I've had some problems mating the lower to the radiator because the 4bt has a masssive 2 1/2" port while the cruiser's is 1 1/2". I'm still playing with ideas and will show what I come up with. I just need to get some hose that fits. My first pieces were too small.
I found some bilsteins brand new on craigslist so I offered a reasonable amount and picked them up. The fronts are 5150s 14" and the rears are 5125 12". It seems like that was what most with SOA's were running. They should look good with my color scheme.
Things left before I can start it:
- finalize the lower radiator hose
- plumb the heat exchanger
- route the intercooler tubing (I had an idea last night when I couldn't sleep which might work)
- get a belt
- hook up fuel tank and lines
- hook up battery
I got the brakes hooked up. I loaned a flaring tool at Autozone and started practicing. I didn't get it on the first couple of tries so I kept practicing. The flares finally started to turn out alright so I started hooking up my lines. The master cylinder had two different threads for the front and the rear so I got an adapter to make them the same. I reused one of the original fittings and got another one for the other side. I took the master with me to verify it would fit and got a fitting for 3/16 line. That and the toyota metric line are the same. It didn't take too long once I could duplicate good flares. I'm also reusing the toyota proportioning valve. I don't know if it will work but I'll try it out. If it's a no go I'll just pick up an adjustible one and plumb that into the rear line. I had this laying around so I thought I'd try it out. You can also see the power steering lines hooked up. That system is complete too.
Sneak in one of the steering box
I chatted with dieselcruiserhead about the adapter for my turbo compressor housing. My old one didn't fit. He said he had one tigged. I decided to cheat and if my cheat doesn't work I'll end up doing that. I took the housing off and ground the lip down to get the hose over it. I left a lip to act like a barb to catch the hose. There is enough flat surface on the neck that I think the hose will seal with a good compression clamp. So I'll give it a try and see.
Got my new caliper at Napa, painted it and put it on. Actually one of the threaded holes in my knuckle was stripped. I found that a 1/2"-20 (fine) would re-tap the hole so I converted from metric to grade 8 fine 1/2" bolts. I didn't even have to drill out the hole, it was the right size. The old pads looked good so I sanded them to resurface the pad and put them in.
I decided on a location for the brake line tabs and welded those back on the axle. This location allows the caliper movement without binding the rubber line. These are the shorter lines from Napa (per the part numbers on the tech section). I think I could have saved some $ if I had them made at Oil Filter Service where I got my steering hoses. Oh well, they are hooked up now.
Driver side
Passenger side
These are the long lines to connect the axle to the frame. They are plenty long and I doubt I'll use up the length. This is the front axle.
Rear axle, sorry these turned out blurry but you get the idea.
Close up of the connection between hard line to rubber on the rear.
I fixed the smashed line on the front axle with a union and two 3/8" fittings. They didn't have any 10mm unions (I had extra 10mm fittings) so I used standard thread instead. I may grab a whole new line and bend it up since this one was pretty wavy.
Heat hose routing. You will notice that I put t-fittings on two of the lines. Those are for the tranny heat exchanger. I wanted flow through the exchanger and the engine pre-thermostat or in other words for the exchanger to get flow before the thermostat opens up. On the 4bt there is a pre and post thermostat port (in my definition pre allows flow with out the thermostat having to be open) so I hooked up the front heater and exchanger to that line. I hooked up the rear heater to the post port. The cruiser already consolidates the heaters to one return so I put a T in the return line for the exchanger.
I cut down the original upper radiator hose to fit. I've had some problems mating the lower to the radiator because the 4bt has a masssive 2 1/2" port while the cruiser's is 1 1/2". I'm still playing with ideas and will show what I come up with. I just need to get some hose that fits. My first pieces were too small.
I found some bilsteins brand new on craigslist so I offered a reasonable amount and picked them up. The fronts are 5150s 14" and the rears are 5125 12". It seems like that was what most with SOA's were running. They should look good with my color scheme.
Things left before I can start it:
- finalize the lower radiator hose
- plumb the heat exchanger
- route the intercooler tubing (I had an idea last night when I couldn't sleep which might work)
- get a belt
- hook up fuel tank and lines
- hook up battery
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looking nice. its amazing how much we can get finished if we just set aside a little time!! Keep up the good work!
I've got major wood looking at this thread my man............
I know you are soooo close....
stay warm AND dry
john
I know you are soooo close....
stay warm AND dry
john
- Thread starter
- #293
LOL, It was the extended shocks wasn't it.
My goal this weekend is to start it. I bled the brakes last night and eliminated a headache, I'm ditching the AC compressor until spring. It just simplifies the work and routing the intercooler will be much easier with the parts I already have. I was going to reuse my small-child sized air filter that came on the stepvan but after really looking at it, it's got some breaks in the pleats so I won't be using it. Fitment would have been a problem anyways. I ordered a really nice one and will show it when I get it. Also grabbed a new locking dipstick for the tranny online. I picked up some more radiator hose to adapt the bottom port and finalize the top just today so that will be done. I also have most of the exhaust pieces I think I'll need. The ducks seem to be lining up for a weekend puff of diesel!
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2006
- Threads
- 162
- Messages
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- Location
- Hillsboro, OR
- Website
- www.cascadecruisers.com
good to hear man!!!
This has to be one of the best, most complete builds i have read on Mud. Great job.
- Thread starter
- #297
Thank you.
I put in some more time last night and got the fuel lines hooked up to the first filter but ran into size problems for the lift pump. I took off the hose barb that was 3/8 and will look for a 5/16 one. It doesn't sound like much but I cannot get it to slide on far enough so I'll run around at lunch break today.
Other things I got done last night:
-cleaned, cut and hooked up the passenger side intercooler pipe once I tighten up my altenator in the original position.
-clamped down the upper radiator hose.
-worked on the lower but didn't have the just right clamp to cinch it down to see if my adapter is going to work.
-changed out the bad u-bolt on the driver side for a good one.
-repositioned my pitman arm so that I'd have more adjustability on the drag link.
-put on my belt.
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Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
I'm pretty sure if you get any failure in yout Cruiser .. you gotta know exactly where is .. and how to solve .. the bigest benefit from a scratch build ..
I love your rig! I just read this whole thread and am very impressed! Your attention to detail is great and this thread is on my watch list now!
- Thread starter
- #300
weekly update
Wow, what a long week. In fact it's been a couple of long weeks. Quick summary: IT RUNS!! but........ she's not moving all that well meaning probable tranny rebuild sooner than later.
There are many ways to do this and and probably better but this is what I came up with for the lower radiator hose. I had to adapt the 2 1/2" to a 1 1/2" with a funny angle. I couldn't find any copper elbows big enough but I did find a plumbing elbow that had close to a 2 1/2" o.d. It is actually list as 1 1/2" i.d. Then I just got some 2 1/2" radiator hose from Napa.
I took in a half of my 4bt upper hose to Napa and had them find something that had a similar bend. They had something so I used that new piece as the second half of the upper hose and used this older piece to connect to the FJ60 lower. I picked up an exhaust reducer from 2 1/4" to 1 1/2". This is the lower section of the frankenstein hose.
This is how it goes together.
After I invested in some hose clamp stock I picked up some better clamps and put it on. The engine side clamp is not small enough so I'll need to get a smaller one and eliminate the second clamp from the top. Hey, sometimes more clamps are better. It makes me laugh looking at it but it works.
Friday was a very good day. Kevcj came over and put in 9 hours with me and we got a ton of little stuff done. Little stuff like circle clips, front hubs, rear lug nuts, filler neck tube to the gas tank, finished routing lines to the heat exchanger, making a mount for the heat exhanger, wiring, hooking up power, oh yeah we even got the engine RUNNING!
The tranny cooler/heat exchanger came with a mount base. We heated it up and bent some parts and now it's on the firewall.
We had to troubleshoot a few things before it would actually start. This is what we did: We hooked up the battery and found a switched 12v source from one of the connectors on the driver side that wasn't being used. We wanted it hot once the key was in the ignition spot. I got new fuel, took off the fuel filters and filled them up. Then we put the rest of the fuel in the tank. We primed it using the primmer on the lift pump. The arm went limp. Then we tried to start it. The starter turned over very slow. After some additional batteries and a couple of jumper cables we found that the ground was not efficient. I had put it where the last one was and that was on the fender. I scratched off the paint but the ground was inefficient. Once we went to the frame with the ground it spun the starter much faster and I now get the instant start that I got in the stepvan. We used the big, thick cables that came from the stepvan and had plenty of room to re-route the ground. I ground the engine and the battery to the passenger side diagonal brace that already had two bolt holes in it from removing that front undercover (I think this is FJ60 specific), anyways the threaded holes were already there. The engine started up and stumbled for about 20 seconds and then it settled into a rock solid idle. I didn't have to bleed the injector lines. The fun came when I tried to turn it off and it kept running when I took the key out of the ignition. There is a manual shut off on the injector pump and I used that to stop the engine. After talking it out we must have used some wire that continued to get power after the key was out. I knew the coil wire was good but it was on the other side of the engine bay. I decided to tag off of that wire to try it out but Kevcj, who already stayed later then he planned, could go home and leave me dumbfounded that things actually worked. I hooked up that wire and the engine started and stopped with the turn of the key like it should so I'll just clean up the routing of that coil wire. If you are doing a swap, label your wires, I did and it was easy to find them 7 months later when I needed them again. Also before I started the engine I put in any necessary fluids like power steering, engine oil, coolant, and ATF since I'm running an auto.
With the engine running I could see a few leaks I needed to fix. The biggest one was the block heater. The next day I took it out and found a tighter fitting o-ring at the hardware store. It wasn't as easy to get to since everything was on the engine now but with the air filter off it was accessible. HINT: When I put it back on I tightened it as far as I could get with a little allen head wrench but it didn't feel tight enough so I got some socket extensions and tapped it with a hammer. I tighten it some more. I did this a couple of times until the block heater looked almost flush with the block. Now it doesn't leak.
In order to take it around the block I needed to get the front wheels on so I did an alignment. This is how I measure for 1/8th toe-in. I found some straight angle, clamped them on, measure out equal distance on the front and back and compared. Pretty simple.
I went to my friend's shop and he helped me shorten the rear driveshaft. Finished up other stuff and went for a drive. I forgot to put the doubler and TC in gear but figured that out. Then it still wouldn't move. I increased the rpms and it finally started to move.
Got the hood on (yes I re-routed the air cleaner, this one's just temporary until the other one comes in), hooked up the dash and tested the lights. Only one bulb worked on the dash so I turned the others around in the sockets and now the others worked. LEDS are polarity specific so it matters which way they go in. You'll only know if you get it right when they do or don't come on. I really like how the lighting turned out and they do dim if needed. I then took it on the freeway to go the a cruiser christmas party.
I got on the freeway and couldn't get overdrive. I thought earlier that I wasn't getting third gear but it was actually overdrive. So this is what I'd get: 1st good, 2nd good, nothing in the 3rd spot, 3rd in the 4th spot, and no overdrive. I was going maybe 55 mph on the freeway (had my wife chasing behind me and we used little radios to communicate). It felt like 3rd is slipping (1:1 ratio). I got off at the next exit (2 miles) and turned around to go home. It was a good first test but with unfortunate results. I have the trans manual and will look it over to see if it's something simple but I'm leaning towards a rebuild. Since I don't have a dipstick low fluid is a possibility. I think I had 10-11 quarts in it. I added 3 more for a total of 14 quarts and took it out yesterday but it was doing the same thing. I should be getting my dipstick today so I'll have to see how it reads once I get it installed. Bummer, looks like we won't be taking it to California after all for the christmas visit. I didn't have a muffler on it when I was on the freeway and it was loud. I hooked the stepvan one up yesterday before the tranny test and it helped. I was worried because I haven't hooked up shocks yet but it wasn't that bad without them and I took it easy and left myself room to stop.
Here are some pics of the engine with the hood on. I have a clearance issue with the overflow tank and will need to cut of the mount and weld it on a little lower.
Wow, what a long week. In fact it's been a couple of long weeks. Quick summary: IT RUNS!! but........ she's not moving all that well meaning probable tranny rebuild sooner than later.
There are many ways to do this and and probably better but this is what I came up with for the lower radiator hose. I had to adapt the 2 1/2" to a 1 1/2" with a funny angle. I couldn't find any copper elbows big enough but I did find a plumbing elbow that had close to a 2 1/2" o.d. It is actually list as 1 1/2" i.d. Then I just got some 2 1/2" radiator hose from Napa.
I took in a half of my 4bt upper hose to Napa and had them find something that had a similar bend. They had something so I used that new piece as the second half of the upper hose and used this older piece to connect to the FJ60 lower. I picked up an exhaust reducer from 2 1/4" to 1 1/2". This is the lower section of the frankenstein hose.
This is how it goes together.
After I invested in some hose clamp stock I picked up some better clamps and put it on. The engine side clamp is not small enough so I'll need to get a smaller one and eliminate the second clamp from the top. Hey, sometimes more clamps are better
. It makes me laugh looking at it but it works. 
Friday was a very good day. Kevcj came over and put in 9 hours with me and we got a ton of little stuff done. Little stuff like circle clips, front hubs, rear lug nuts, filler neck tube to the gas tank, finished routing lines to the heat exchanger, making a mount for the heat exhanger, wiring, hooking up power, oh yeah we even got the engine RUNNING!
The tranny cooler/heat exchanger came with a mount base. We heated it up and bent some parts and now it's on the firewall.
We had to troubleshoot a few things before it would actually start. This is what we did: We hooked up the battery and found a switched 12v source from one of the connectors on the driver side that wasn't being used. We wanted it hot once the key was in the ignition spot. I got new fuel, took off the fuel filters and filled them up. Then we put the rest of the fuel in the tank. We primed it using the primmer on the lift pump. The arm went limp. Then we tried to start it. The starter turned over very slow. After some additional batteries and a couple of jumper cables we found that the ground was not efficient. I had put it where the last one was and that was on the fender. I scratched off the paint but the ground was inefficient. Once we went to the frame with the ground it spun the starter much faster and I now get the instant start that I got in the stepvan. We used the big, thick cables that came from the stepvan and had plenty of room to re-route the ground. I ground the engine and the battery to the passenger side diagonal brace that already had two bolt holes in it from removing that front undercover (I think this is FJ60 specific), anyways the threaded holes were already there. The engine started up and stumbled for about 20 seconds and then it settled into a rock solid idle. I didn't have to bleed the injector lines. The fun came when I tried to turn it off and it kept running when I took the key out of the ignition. There is a manual shut off on the injector pump and I used that to stop the engine. After talking it out we must have used some wire that continued to get power after the key was out. I knew the coil wire was good but it was on the other side of the engine bay. I decided to tag off of that wire to try it out but Kevcj, who already stayed later then he planned, could go home and leave me dumbfounded that things actually worked. I hooked up that wire and the engine started and stopped with the turn of the key like it should so I'll just clean up the routing of that coil wire. If you are doing a swap, label your wires, I did and it was easy to find them 7 months later when I needed them again. Also before I started the engine I put in any necessary fluids like power steering, engine oil, coolant, and ATF since I'm running an auto.
With the engine running I could see a few leaks I needed to fix. The biggest one was the block heater. The next day I took it out and found a tighter fitting o-ring at the hardware store. It wasn't as easy to get to since everything was on the engine now but with the air filter off it was accessible. HINT: When I put it back on I tightened it as far as I could get with a little allen head wrench but it didn't feel tight enough so I got some socket extensions and tapped it with a hammer. I tighten it some more. I did this a couple of times until the block heater looked almost flush with the block. Now it doesn't leak.
In order to take it around the block I needed to get the front wheels on so I did an alignment. This is how I measure for 1/8th toe-in. I found some straight angle, clamped them on, measure out equal distance on the front and back and compared. Pretty simple.
I went to my friend's shop and he helped me shorten the rear driveshaft. Finished up other stuff and went for a drive. I forgot to put the doubler and TC in gear but figured that out. Then it still wouldn't move. I increased the rpms and it finally started to move.
Got the hood on (yes I re-routed the air cleaner, this one's just temporary until the other one comes in), hooked up the dash and tested the lights. Only one bulb worked on the dash so I turned the others around in the sockets and now the others worked. LEDS are polarity specific so it matters which way they go in. You'll only know if you get it right when they do or don't come on. I really like how the lighting turned out and they do dim if needed. I then took it on the freeway to go the a cruiser christmas party.
I got on the freeway and couldn't get overdrive. I thought earlier that I wasn't getting third gear but it was actually overdrive. So this is what I'd get: 1st good, 2nd good, nothing in the 3rd spot, 3rd in the 4th spot, and no overdrive. I was going maybe 55 mph on the freeway (had my wife chasing behind me and we used little radios to communicate). It felt like 3rd is slipping (1:1 ratio). I got off at the next exit (2 miles) and turned around to go home. It was a good first test but with unfortunate results. I have the trans manual and will look it over to see if it's something simple but I'm leaning towards a rebuild. Since I don't have a dipstick low fluid is a possibility. I think I had 10-11 quarts in it. I added 3 more for a total of 14 quarts and took it out yesterday but it was doing the same thing. I should be getting my dipstick today so I'll have to see how it reads once I get it installed. Bummer, looks like we won't be taking it to California after all for the christmas visit. I didn't have a muffler on it when I was on the freeway and it was loud. I hooked the stepvan one up yesterday before the tranny test and it helped. I was worried because I haven't hooked up shocks yet but it wasn't that bad without them and I took it easy and left myself room to stop.
Here are some pics of the engine with the hood on. I have a clearance issue with the overflow tank and will need to cut of the mount and weld it on a little lower.
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