FJ45 LWB truck project

[Ironmanfj45]

This was all very interesting and I spent the whole day putting chalk lines on the concrete, realigning the driveline and putting down new chalk lines. I used a very high tech system shown in this picture



I found that the rear and front of the frame are somewhat parallel with the driveshaft line. Well on my truck there was about 3/8” in 4 feet. I think that maybe when the PO did the SOA he may not have had my favorite tool or that was just the way they built them back then or my rubber bushings are shot. I have thought on shifting the driveline so that I could get it perfect but it appears that the transfer case will hit the mount or the exhaust manifold will hit the frame. I will work on these alignments tomorrow during super bowl to double check things.

I had to hold something from my last attempt at this project and that was the position of the front passengers side frame motor mount. I pulled the bolt on the left motor mount so I could align the rear of the transfer case easily without putting a bind on anything. I ended up with about ½” that the left frame motor mount should move to the rear.


I picked this mount because it seemed from measurements along that frame was further forward. I wanted the transfer case to move forward so it would fit the opening in the floorboard of the pickup.

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Are your FJ45 driveshafts in line from the front diff to the rear diff or is there an angle point at the transfer case? How much clearance between the transfer case and the passengers inner frame rail do you have?

I have gotten everything to line up within 1/4" but this alignment pushes the transfer case about 2" from my mount. If you add the thickness of the scab plate and the mount I have about 2 1/2" of clearance on the passengers side between the top edge of the transfer case and the inner frame rail.



Thanks,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Today I was able to figure out that I could get the power train parallel with the drive shaft line. It does push the transfer case a little close to the frame but it allows more room for the exhaust manifold which is also very tight. I did not get a chance to mock up the exhaust but hope to do that later this week if work allows.
This is the alignment on the slab of my shop.

The yellow line is from the front yoke to the rear yoke of the diffs. The white line to the right of the yellow line is the outputs from the transfer case. As you can see there is a little over an inch shift toward the passenger’s side of the diff line. Hence, I could move the rear of the tail to the drivers side half the overall distance but then the lines would not be parallel. This may be an option if I want to gain a little room between the frame and the transfer case. I now have been told that the drive train (motor, tranny and transfer) do not have to line up with the front and rear diff yokes. The line to the left (driver’s side) of the yellow line is the drive train centerline based upon the center of the water pump and the center of the main shaft of the transfer case. The next line to the driver’s side is the rear frame rail projected forward just for fun. This picture also shows that most likley the original drive shafts and transfer case are on a straingt line it also shows that my configuration will create an angle point at the transfer case which answers one of my earlier questions. I think that I should look at the twin stick configuration, front driveshaft and exhaust manifold on the drivers side before I start welding in the new mounts. This pictures shows the rear shift of the transfer case.

This week I will cut out three of the four mounts that we put in a while back and order new ones from AA. I am also going to check on another motor mount that will sit flat on the rubber mounts for the drivers side.

This picture shows the angle that the motor mount is sitting at compared to the frame mount. Notice the inside edge is compressed.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Yesterday I put on the radiator to check its clearance. I have about 1/2" and with the clockwise rotation of the Chevy block it only gets better when the motor rotates under load.



The clearance between the driver side frame rail and the exhaust manifold is a little tight. I still need to mount the exhaust pipe but I think that this one will work fine.



Ahhh but the front drive shaft clearance with the Turbo 400 is very tight. This is why AA suggests moving the engine 1" toward the driver’s side. I checked that and came up with 7/8" and I could be off a 1/8" so that was OK



"It was that way when I bought the truck" so it must be good enough.

I called AA today and ordered 3 new frame mounts, 2 new motor mounts (I could not live with a tilted motor mount) and they will be here tomorrow. The reason that I bought both motor mounts is that AA tends to continually improve on their design. The new design is thicker, laser cut and now they will both look the same. The great thing about AA is that they took pity on this old man and gave me the package at an unbelievable deal. I also asked them to measure their special front yoke which is suppose to be smaller. Seeing that I have to build new driveshaft’s it may be a good time to put a smaller and hopefully stronger u-joint and housing.

I got a job today at a local Engineering Company as a consultant to help them catch up. It is nice to see that somebody is busy. I hope to get the old mounts out and ground down on Saturday and weld in the new ones on Sunday.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

The AA parts came today but they sent me one wrong mount. I will order the one that I need tomorrow and should get it by Friday. Here are a couple more pictures from yesterdays work on the old truck.

Here is the exhaust manifold looking from the bottom. Once again I don't think this will be a problem but I will make sure before starting to weld on the new mounts.



This picture shows how much I had to move the motor forward to get the transfer case to sit where it sits today.



Another great use of that yellow string that I used to align the rear of the driveline. My schedule has slightly changed due to being invited to the Winter National Drag Races in Pomona so Saturday is a no work on the cruiser day. I will try to sneak away from work on Friday (I am getting tired of work getting in the way of having fun under the cruiser ) and do the cutting and grinding out the old mounts and then weld them new ones back in on Sunday or the following week sometime. One of my friends is going to help me with the welding because his welds are much better than I can do with the mig so I have to work with his schedule too. The longer I have the more I can measure and dial in the FINAL location of the drive train.

Here is one more picture of the twin stick clearance. I have not bent the shafts yet but it looks like I may have enough room. By pushing the transfer case 1 3/8" toward the passenger side I figure that this will make bending the shafts more interesting.




Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Today was a little cold and rainy so I only spend about 4 or 5 hours working on the old truck. I got a care package from AA and there was a slight mix up on which motor mounts that I needed. They ended up sending me the one I needed at no charge. The folks at AA are great to work with. No questions just “don’t worry sir, we’ll make it right” and they did.

So now I have all four motor/transfer case frame mounts. This is not a good thing because it allows me other options. (See later in the post) I also sprang for new motor mounts because the crooked one on the driver’s side bugged me and I wanted them both to match.

I like this level mount much better than the old crooked one.



Both motor mounts ran long and had to be cut off.



So first I got everything lined up and then marked my cuts. I decided for now just to cut the passengers side motor mount.

 

[Ironmanfj45]

I have an “inexpensive” Harbor Freight cutoff saw that works fine for me so I started cutting. It took a little longer to cut than I thought. This is the passenger side frame mount was the one mount that I had decided to try to keep.

This is the first cut



Then I trimmed it square to the frame and ground off the rough edges so it could slide up and down in the frame mount.

I then bolting the passenger side motor mount in I found that the new bolt holes shifted the motor about 3/8” toward the drivers side. I thought this is a good thing because the transfer case was so close to the frame on the passenger’s side and the twin sticks were going to be an adventure to bend. But, with all this good stuff there has to be something not so good to be considered. For instance, on the driver’s side, it pushed the exhaust manifold, power steering pump and the dip stick a little closer to the steering shaft than I had hoped. I guess that steering shafts can be changed…

 

[Ironmanfj45]

So I went back to dropping string lines and using my engine level tool.



By the end of the day I think that I realized that with the new location of the motor, closer to the drivers side other things aligned up better like the transfer case to the center of the body.



What I still don’t like about the transfer case is that it is still too close to the body at the rear. The new cross member should help out some.

By moving the driveline toward the driver’s side it gave me more frame clearance with the transfer case which was also a good thing.

 

[Ironmanfj45]

And more room for the twin stick



Here is the killer, AA says ideal distance from the rear of the shock tower to the center of the motor mount should be between 8” to 12”. I have 10” which you would think would be a nice mean. However with the Turbo 400 being so long I think now it would be nice to move the drive train forward about 2 inches which would drive my current pulley into my fan. Solution there is easy just go buy a short water pump and trade it for the new long water pump that I just installed prior to deciding to change the drive train mounts. It’s only money right. I am having one hell of a good time figuring this one out. So tonight I will check on the exact difference that the short water pump makes. I may have to think about putting one more universal joint in the steering shaft to give me more room for the dip stick power steering pump and the exhaust. With the additional room I started to check the vertical on the front motor mounts. AA tells you to go even or up to ½” above the frame rail with the motor mount. We tried to lower the motor in the frame to keep the COG where it helps us most. Well, by moving the motor higher it gave us additional room for the steering shaft but it is still not real comfortable. You guessed it with these new revelations I think now that it would be best to scrap round one entirely and just cut all the mounts off. With the motor moved forward about an inch or two and higher by about a half inch I can get the top transfer case about an inch off the floor board at the tightest point so I think I have finally gotten it high enough which was the goal of this exercise. Once I get the short water pump I will check everything one more time.

I bet by now you have all guessed that this is not what I do for a living. Thank god!

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Well several months have passed by and little work has been done on the old truck. I have lots of excuses like the usually two, money and time but I won't bore you with the details.

I have finally resolved the intake and carburetor issue that I had. I ended up spending less on this motor then the new intake and carb were going to cost me so I am money ahead. Or maybe not once I finish installing the 5.3.

I have been working on removing all the wiring without the use of wire cutters. OMG there are a lot of wires on these newer motor compared to the older ones without fuel injection and the computer.

Yesterday we pulled the dash to get that harness and attached items just in case. Hopefully over the Memorial Day weekend I will get it home to start on the cleanup. This, like most of my project, is my first attempt at putting a 2000 computerized 5.3 vortec into anything. I have been busy every night getting an education in the new technology via the internet and sites like this one. Maybe like some of you I have been into the old style motors for years and this is way different. I still have a couple of details to work out like connecting the VSS to either the Orion or the Turbo 400. If any of you have found the "perfect" solution please let me know. It seems like there are a few options but I am leaning toward using one of the Speedometer cable VSS units because they seem the simplest solution. I have also decided to modify the wiring myself.

More fun on the never-ending project that will hopefully be done someday....

Cheers,

Jim

 

[crusherboy]

Dude,

Sounds like your ride is getting complicator and complicator. Looks like you wont be doing the 45 run this summer without a tow truck. Mabe you can do a ride along.

Mike

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Hi Mike,

Yes this project gets more complicated every day but this is what I really wanted to do from the beginning and so it is exciting to get this opportunity for so cheap. I sold the old 350 so right now I have $100 invested in the new motor with the electrical spider web at no extra cost. I enjoy figuring out electrical problems so that part of it does not scare me yet. I got the old drivetrain out of the old truck this weekend as well as getting the doner motor pulled and back to the shop for the cleanup portion of the project.

If you wife is not going and you are looking for someone to ride shotgun with you let me know. I think the run is the beginning of September right? So there should be plenty of time to make plans. I would sure like to go this year. Hopefully seeing all those cool cruisers will motivate me to get-r-done.

Thanks for the response!

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Well, after a lot of thought and a very detailed discussion with Jim at Downey I am considering another change. It seems that the best route for me to take with this project is to use the 4L60E instead of the Turbo 400 due to reduced overall length by nearly one foot, a lower first gear, an overdrive for the road trips and hooking up the VSS. I thought that I would post here first to see if there was any interest in the rebuilt Turbo 400 and the Advanced Adaptor conversion to the stock transfer case which I sent to AA to make sure that it was solid. Please PM me if you are interested. If there is no interest here I will post it for sale in other places.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

I just sold the Vortec, way too much money and work involved for this old man. I finally figured out that I would have never gotten it done with that motor swap. Other projects have gotten in the way but it is time to get back to working on my old truck. The good news is that it has not been sitting out in a field getting rusty. Hopefully before the end of the year I will get the old mounts out, the new mounts in and be back on the road to finishing this one up. Once again I will try for the FJ45 run in Sept. Hopefully that will give me enough time to get off my a$$ and get-r-done.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

It has been a few years since I have done much of anything to the 45. I had someone interested in buying the old truck so I washed her up and was pleasantly surprised by how nice she has held up. Luckily the guy backed out of the deal and I have made up my mind to finish the project.

Just wanted to check in here with my FJ45 buddies, if there are any of you left from a few years ago. I will start getting my hands dirty in the next couple of weeks. First I have to finish putting the motor in my son's old BMW so he can drive it to college which starts next month.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[65swb45]

It has been a few years since I have done much of anything to the 45. I had someone interested in buying the old truck so I washed her up and was pleasantly surprised by how nice she has held up. Luckily the guy backed out of the deal and I have made up my mind to finish the project.

Just wanted to check in here with my FJ45 buddies, if there are any of you left from a few years ago. I will start getting my hands dirty in the next couple of weeks. First I have to finish putting the motor in my son's old BMW so he can drive it to college which starts next month.

Cheers,

Jim

I guess it was karma then.

 

[Ironmanfj45]

I guess it was karma then.

That's a nice way to put it Mark. I was thinking more like all I needed was a swift kick in the ass for a wake up call.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Chamba]

Sometimes your Karma runs over your dogma and you wind up with a new dog to kick. Luckily for us, the old dog survived and we will get to watch you finsh the project.

Josh

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Sometimes your Karma runs over your dogma and you wind up with a new dog to kick. Luckily for us, the old dog survived and we will get to watch you finsh the project.

Josh

Thanks Josh, The "old dog" could either be the old truck or you could be referring to me.. Either way I'm cool with it. I will have some pictures of the progress up in a couple of weeks. I have to get the boys car back on the road first.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironmanfj45]

I had some fun with the old girl today. First I removed the old motor mounts.



Then I decided to setup some of the new parts that I have acquired since I last worked on the truck. The headers may not work but I have another set to try before I modify the steering shaft.



Then I started the fit of the new motor mounts.



I hope to get some more done during the week if not then next weekend I will have some more fun. I know "it's about time", but I have new enthusiasm to complete the truck and get her back on the road before the summer is over and it starts raining.

Cheers,

Jim