FJ40Z's '97 FZJ80

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GLTHFJ60 said:
That's super flipping fast guys. What's next? There doesn't look to be too much left!
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Start to finish only took ......... 2weeks!

Had we known that we woulda slapped a turbo on :D

Well ok. 4 workdays. The machine shop and sick leave break kinda held us up but all I can say is, man that is a LOT of work. Not hard, just a ton of pieces come off to get to the project at hand. Steve and i at least felt satisfied no independant shop woulda taken as much care and for about the same price Steve managed a lot of PM and new pieces along the way. Kinda jealous of all these new shiny pieces ive been putting on others peoples rigs lately.


Thanks to all the helpers along the way.
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Exactly what Jason said! Not that hard of a job but just a ton of pieces and planning. First thing I gotta say is a big public thanks to @jfz80 for all the time he put in helping me with this. Couldn't have been remotely possible without him, he and @Rice put in a ton of time and it really is sincerely appreciated. True friends and hellacious fun to wrench with! We came really close to getting this finished in a crazy fast time frame of one week. Considering there was at least a week turn around time for the head work and the injectors it was a long shot but we gave it all we had, my week off sick as a dog would have done us in regardless. All things considered I'd say 2 weeks wasn't too shabby.
 
Another big thanks goes to @beno for all the parts, calls and texts along the way. So awesome to make one phone call, tell one person what your planning and here them say "I got you covered bro" then everything you need shows up in a box. It doesn't get any better than that.
 
So here's a rundown of what was changed, rebuilt, replaced.

Head completely reworked
Replaced head gasket
Rebuilt oil cooler
Replaced thermostat
Replaced water pump
Hot tanked upper and lower intake manifolds
Replaced oil pump seal
Rebuilt starter and alternator
New fuel filter
Rebuilt injectors
New radiator hoses
New silicone heater hoses
Rear heater bypass
 
Really happy with the way everything turned out. A little noisy at first start up and had me worried but Jason quickly noticed a knock sensor unplugged and a support hitting a heater hose, once we fixed that she's quiet as a mouse.
 
Really glad we found those two!

I know you weren't thrilled and i was hiding my concern but still cant comprehend the heater line/ head hoist interferance. Both fixed objects we didnt mess with. Just glad it was an easy roadside fix :clap:
 
Technically the video is actually of the 2nd startup. The first startup went well for about 10'seconds until Jason noticed I had forgotten one of the trans lines that go into the radiator :doh:
 
Great job guys. It would seem that we have a new business within the club, "We Be Head Gaskets and Stuff"

Glad you are feeling better Stephan.

@jfz80 that foreman needs an apprentice.
 
Used to be the right of passage was either doing the phh and/or a birf job. i guess the hg gets added to the list.

Great job guys. I guess I call dibs on next? not that I'm looking fw to it.
 
I really do commend these three guys. Watching them together through Rice's job and then this one should be inspiring to anyone that reads the threads. I'd rather do a swap than a head gasket on these trucks. Soooooo much interrelated stuff to deal with. Kudos fellas.

With all seriousness, anyone that asks me about head gasket or any LC motor work I am pointing them toward you guys.
 
I'll weigh in that in spite of the delays, fatigue, long hours, et al; I had a blast. There are no two finer gentleman to wrench with than @jfz80 and @fj40z (and brown dog, of course!). For almost the entire time I was there everyone was on the same frequency with respect to what had to be done and how to do it. A pretty awesome experience I must say.

Stephen .... I really was wishing to be there for the final button up and firing. (That first mile down the road is a nervous one, ain't it?).

Anyway, enough verbal clutter and rambling. If you guys ever need a wrenching hand, I'm there.

It was a pleasure.

Rice
 
OK, so I'll ask you guys. Which was more headache, doing Rice's motor swap (with all of the assembly done on a stand), or doing the HG and associated bits with the engine in the truck?
 
Rice said:
I'll weigh in that in spite of the delays, fatigue, long hours, et al; I had a blast. There are no two finer gentleman to wrench with than @jfz80 and @fj40z (and brown dog, of course!). For almost the entire time I was there everyone was on the same frequency with respect to what had to be done and how to do it. A pretty awesome experience I must say.

Stephen .... I really was wishing to be there for the final button up and firing. (That first mile down the road is a nervous one, ain't it?).

Anyway, enough verbal clutter and rambling. If you guys ever need a wrenching hand, I'm there.

It was a pleasure.

Rice
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Man the pleasure was all mine pal! I wish you could have been there as well but I totally understand and didn't want you to have to be away from the family any more than you had to. I am sorry that Friday night I had nothing in the tank and basically watched the last few hours though. Really didn't expect my sickness would have affected me like that.

Nervous wasn't the word for it! Especially until Jason pulled out the roadside diagnosis of a lifetime and figured out where the noises were coming from. After we fixed that I was ecstatic.
 
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