How to LS Swap a FJ60 or FJ62. Quick and dirty guide for regular folks wanting to do an engine swap in their driveway. (1 Viewer)

[dbbowen]

Dang there ya have it haha I had a feeling the fuel rails between return and returnless were interchangeable. Were about to put a sniper kit on my dads firstgen camaro and are going to run a Fuel filter with a FPR for the reason @Megadoomer said, Less hose to run. Ive got my 60 set up how @cruisermatt described and it runs fine too. bunch of ways to skin the cat

 

[cruisermatt]

My LM7 was a late 03 motor that came with returnless fuel from the factory. I would think the fuel rails are interchangeable. I like the returnless setup because you have less fuel navigating the vehicle and you are not just pouring in hot gas as it comes back to the tank. I used the Corvette filter at the gas tank to return the fuel.

Unused gas does not get hot. Lol

I am kicking myself for building a really nice returnless setup on my 62 and now i want to add a return since I’m going turbo on it

 

[dbbowen]

Unused gas does not get hot. Lol

I am kicking myself for building a really nice returnless setup on my 62 and now i want to add a return since I’m going turbo on it

Turbo is the ultimate goal for me too. keep going back and forth on it because for the cost to turbo, i could just get a second car hah

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Unused gas does not get hot. Lol

I am kicking myself for building a really nice returnless setup on my 62 and now i want to add a return since I’m going turbo on it

 

[cruisermatt]

Turbo is the ultimate goal for me too. keep going back and forth on it because for the cost to turbo, i could just get a second car hah

My turbo setup will probably be about $1000-1200 all in including my ECU (MS most likely) It doesn't have to be expensive if you know what you're doing.

 

[dbbowen]

My turbo setup will probably be about $1000-1200 all in including my ECU (MS most likely) It doesn't have to be expensive if you know what you're doing.

A lot of my expense is swapping my 4l60e to 4l80e, getting an acdc tig and getting it set up, and the fancy turbo i want to be honest. The piping required companion parts wont be too bad though. Im only looking for low boost. This is pretty far out, time wise, for me so ive got some time to save hah

 

[cruisermatt]

A lot of my expense is swapping my 4l60e to 4l80e, getting an acdc tig and getting it set up, and the fancy turbo i want to be honest. The piping required companion parts wont be too bad though. Im only looking for low boost. This is pretty far out, time wise, for me so ive got some time to save hah

that is true. 4l60 gets sketchy if you're going to put power through it. I don't think about the cost of my tools as well. As for actual turbo cost you're silly if you're spending more then $3-500 on a turbo for a Land Cruiser

You want spooly noises and 150-200 extra hp, not a class-killer race turbo

Off topic here. sorry

 

[dbbowen]

that is true. 4l60 gets sketchy if you're going to put power through it. I don't think about the cost of my tools as well. As for actual turbo cost you're silly if you're spending more then $3-500 on a turbo for a Land Cruiser

Haha everyone ive talked to about it have advised me that the 4l60 will pretty much immediately melt . The tig is a must, all of this piping is visible unlike my current exhaust so i really want it to look nice hahaha I think ive got just about everything else i need toolwise. For the turbo my thoughts on getting low boost out of a relatively large 76ish mm turbo is to use one with ball bearings instead of journal bearings and controlling boost with the wastegates. This in theory will allow it to spool up a little faster without going smaller. Im still in the research phase of my turbo sizing though. Got a few guy local to me guys that drag race turboed v8s that im trying to pick their brains. Figure ive got a few years to learn everything i can

 

[cruisermatt]

Honestly a $180 GT45 on your truck with nothing else will probably make you s*** your pants. Especially with the auto

bearings aren't going to effect spool time at all. Camshaft, turbine, and converter will. converter is the big one.
I got a 78/75 with the smaller back housing, and going to try and fit two gates in there. I want it to make a controlled 4-5lbs over the entire RPM range. I'm stick-shift so it's a bit different, auto is way better for this stuff. pretty much anything small-frame is going to creep hard on a LS unless you do really big or dual gates. My BMW makes 15lbs on a 8-10lb spring in high gear

 

[dbbowen]

Honestly a $180 GT45 on your truck with nothing else will probably make you s*** your pants. Especially with the auto

bearings aren't going to effect spool time at all. Camshaft, turbine, and converter will. converter is the big one.
I got a 78/75 with the smaller back housing, and going to try and fit two gates in there. I want it to make a controlled 4-5lbs over the entire RPM range. I'm stick-shift so it's a bit different, auto is way better for this stuff. pretty much anything small-frame is going to creep hard on a LS unless you do really big or dual gates. My BMW makes 15lbs on a 8-10lb spring in high gear

Good to know! I honestly am looking to find out how i can get low boost and keep it reliable. Just about everyone ive talked to or read online is looking for max hp out of their turbos on their LS motors. For spacing i was looking at a single big gate routed back into the downtube. Ive found a few truck cams that are responsive to boost that i have added to the growing list of stuff haha

 

[Megadoomer]

Unused gas does not get hot. Lol

I dont know how the LS does the return but the small block I took out had TBI injection and that defiantly warmed up the gas that got returned.

 

[gonzopancho]

On the l31 the fuel pressure regulator and spider are inside the manifold. Problem was pretty evident in a 110F ambient environment.

 

[cruisermatt]

On the l31 the fuel pressure regulator and spider are inside the manifold. Problem was pretty evident in a 110F ambient environment.

This thread is not about trash TBI’s

I have plenty of datalogs showing 75-degree fuel temps on my LS race car

 

[gonzopancho]

This thread is not about trash TBI’s

I have plenty of datalogs showing 75-degree fuel temps on my LS race car

The L31 is not a TBI engine.

TBI was phased out of production cars by the mid-90s, The L31 started production in 1996.

 

[dbbowen]

As kind of a closing post for the whole "how to" post...

This is for those who arent like "experts" or whatever... just regular folks doing this swap, basically who this thread was designed for. These things helped me with the swap. Before i did this, i had never ever pulled a motor from a vehicle before.

Couple of things that will help you with your swap and keep your sanity.


Its easy to get overwhelmed with the swap since its so involved but if you just look at it as 40-50 little projects or tasks you can break it out into smaller jobs so youll have little victories along the way. Going out to your driveway thinking you have to hook up your entire motor is pretty daunting, but if you go out there with the thought of just building and hooking up your trans lines today will allow you to just work on and focus on that one thing that day until you complete it. If you knock it out early you can plan and start on the next little task. You can make a little check list of tasks and get that super satisfying feeling of checking each thing off as you roll through them. The saying of slow is smooth and smooth is fast is the rule on this swap. If you get to rushing youll end up spending more time fixing your mistakes than if you just took your time and did things the right way from the get go.

You dont necessarily have to have every single part for the entire swap at once. It helps to have most of it up front, but for each of these tasks you will be doing, think it out before and just make sure you have what you need for that single task. For example if you are doing your fuel system that day, youll obviously need your fuel filter and pump but make sure you have all your fittings, go out and check what bends and what not for the fittings youll need, any rivnuts or bolts etc. Running back and forth to ace or oreileys will just make that task take longer, and waiting on parts from summit will be even worse. Nothing worse than driving around town for an hour looking for parts to finish what you are working on. Just try and break everything out into smaller more managable jobs, make a plan for each of these jobs and try and compartmentalize everything so you dont forget any steps, forget any parts, and are able to knock them out one at a time. Always finish one task before starting another if you can. If you have all of your parts and minimize downtime waiting on parts or suppliers, it will just be on you for how long this swap will take. I had supplier issues and still was able to get this swap knocked out in 6-7 weeks. Thats with going on a 6 day vacation right in the middle of the swap. Really just depends on how much time you want to throw at it.

Get you some good supportive friends with positive, non gatekeeping attitudes. You only really need outside help when removing and replacing the motors, but having good positive friends who are interested and will drop by just to drink beers and kick the tires helps a lot for your motivation and breaks up the tunnel vision of the swap. Nothing worse than having "friends" being unsupportive of your build and talking trash or being passive aggressive or trying to gatekeep owning a freaking car, or "friends" who only want to help if it benefits them financially. That is just kinda sad activity as a person and you just need to drop that stuff from your life. Take your friends suggestions into consideration, but at the end of the day its your car so your word is the end all be all for it. Also just ignore the "should have kept the original motor" types. Youll be getting that A LOT. Like a surprisingly large amount. Until that person is paying for your car, their opinion just doesnt matter. Its your car, do what you want to it. If you want to lower it and put it on airbags so its an inch off the ground... do it. Seriously. And take photos and send them to me because that would be so freaking cool. Its no ones business but your own. That being said, just having someone come over with a 6 pack to talk about his grandpappys old nova they built when they were kids or even stuff completely off topic or whatever will give you a break, some laughs, and also help lead to the next point...


Have fun doing this stuff. This swap is kind of a chore to do, but if you are a regular person doing this swap and not some shop or moonlighting mechanic, chances are youre not going to be doing another LS Swap for a while or ever for that matter so just enjoy it. Do what you can to make your swap your own. Just have fun. Youre building your own car for the most part. Resist the urge to buy another car to do another engine swap in hah. Try and get some worn out tires to put on the back tires and rip a few burn outs and donuts after youre done. After my swap it rained pretty good and i turned the parking lot of my local college football stadium into the drift meet.




At the end of the swap youll just be tying up loose ends and double checking your work here and there. After a month or so you should be good to go but periodically go back and check on everything you did. Maintenance will be a breeze because since you did all of your own work, youll know where everything is and what it should look like. Check the fuel fittings a lot. It will only take a few minutes of your time, and for the first few months watch with a hawk eye for any weird smells or noises your car is making.


That should be it on the LS Swap thread. Good luck and have a good time. If you have any questions feel free to reach out or post here.





Also, did you do another bolt check? You should probably go back out and do another bolt check.



-Brian.

 

[Megadoomer]

Great thread. I enjoyed it. I like the closing remarks. Good advice and it isn't even car related. I'd like to double up on the positive support team. You are going to go down a dark hole on your own at some point. You don't need the negative Nellys around. I did my swap with my father-in-law at his house. He has a neighbor that would come around that I just don't like. I remember the day we backed it out of the garage for the first time. The LS was in, the front suspension was all in and we were going to go around the block. He walked around the truck and was looking at it but didn't really say anything until he got to the back and said "oh, looks like you got some cancer here." Um, ya. It's a 50+ year old Toyota. That is bound to happen. Now GTFO you a-hole.

 

[dbbowen]

Great thread. I enjoyed it. I like the closing remarks. Good advice and it isn't even car related. I'd like to double up on the positive support team. You are going to go down a dark hole on your own at some point. You don't need the negative Nellys around. I did my swap with my father-in-law at his house. He has a neighbor that would come around that I just don't like. I remember the day we backed it out of the garage for the first time. The LS was in, the front suspension was all in and we were going to go around the block. He walked around the truck and was looking at it but didn't really say anything until he got to the back and said "oh, looks like you got some cancer here." Um, ya. It's a 50+ year old Toyota. That is bound to happen. Now GTFO you a-hole.

Thanks man! Yeah I noticed there was a few things that I learned through this that were not even Swap related and figured id share them here as well. Theres always that guy who will see something awesome and point out one tiny nit pick. I know plenty of folks like that. I tell ya once i removed all of the negative nellys from the equation the swap definitely started to roll faster and I was having a ton more fun!

 

[dbleon]

Hell yea!
I agree with you 100%. DIYis such an intimate experience... you just can’t get it by dropping it off at a shop.
FANTASTIC WRITEUP

 

[dbbowen]

Hell yea!
I agree with you 100%. DIYis such an intimate experience... you just can’t get it by dropping it off at a shop.
FANTASTIC WRITEUP

Heck yeah man thanks! If anyone feels like reading the novel of the posts i feel like they should have most of what they need to do it hah!

 

[Adam Scherm]

IVe read this thread twice. Taken notes, copied links and started to work on a spreadsheet of required parts. Thank you for the significant amount of detail yo have put in to this. And thank you to the Cruiser Heads that build their livelihood around Cruisers and motor swaps. You all have made me more comfortable that I can do this.... with help. The wiring still has me in a frenzy, but hell, whats the worst that can happen?!