- Thread starter
- #81
It is nice to be close to completion, can't wait to drive this thing!
After taking a long time going over pros and cons, ability to source tranny and parts, and supportability in the long run, I finally got my hands on the gearbox itself in late February, so that's when I went all in on this project. I've only been able to work on it two nights a week and every other weekend so seems to be dragging out a bit. Took some time also to see what parts I could salvage and what had to be ordered new, but I received excellent help and all required parts from Akella, who is mentioned by others on this forum. As far as obstacles go, it has been suprisingly straightforward, I'm actually suprised more have not done this conversion. Some tough sections were moving the crossmember mounts forward, but the holes are already in the frame, old crossmember is already drilled to fit this new location once spacers are removed, and if you have equipment/experience cutting and welding then this task is not bad at all. Moving some electrical under the dash to fit the clutch pedal bucket takes some patience! As far as wiring, once I get these reverse lights hooked up, no other real issues. Looped the NSS at the plug with old harness and she starts right up, no other lights. I guess having an early model FZJ80 also helps being OBD I and all. Routing the clutch hydraulic lines was easier than I expected, advise using the factory hardlines that you can order from Akella to simplify this task. I utilized the old brake pedal, just cut it down to fit the non-US manual brake pad (same size as clutch pedal) to look factory. Working on the finishing toughes so if I run into anything else I'll post it up.
Dana, sounds like you may have to dive into this as well (oh darn, right?).
After taking a long time going over pros and cons, ability to source tranny and parts, and supportability in the long run, I finally got my hands on the gearbox itself in late February, so that's when I went all in on this project. I've only been able to work on it two nights a week and every other weekend so seems to be dragging out a bit. Took some time also to see what parts I could salvage and what had to be ordered new, but I received excellent help and all required parts from Akella, who is mentioned by others on this forum. As far as obstacles go, it has been suprisingly straightforward, I'm actually suprised more have not done this conversion. Some tough sections were moving the crossmember mounts forward, but the holes are already in the frame, old crossmember is already drilled to fit this new location once spacers are removed, and if you have equipment/experience cutting and welding then this task is not bad at all. Moving some electrical under the dash to fit the clutch pedal bucket takes some patience! As far as wiring, once I get these reverse lights hooked up, no other real issues. Looped the NSS at the plug with old harness and she starts right up, no other lights. I guess having an early model FZJ80 also helps being OBD I and all. Routing the clutch hydraulic lines was easier than I expected, advise using the factory hardlines that you can order from Akella to simplify this task. I utilized the old brake pedal, just cut it down to fit the non-US manual brake pad (same size as clutch pedal) to look factory. Working on the finishing toughes so if I run into anything else I'll post it up.
Dana, sounds like you may have to dive into this as well (oh darn, right?).
