Builds Just had to treat myself for Halloween... 65 SWB (1 Viewer)

[DomSmith]

I lowered the rear of the motor and removed the 3 speed bellhousing. Then added the four speed bellhousing with rear mounts and got it all bolted up.

Next I need to drain the fuel tank (no drain plug!? WTF?!) and pull the seats, tank and tranny tunnel. I’m going to look into having a fiberglass tunnel made so I don’t have to cut this virgin one. Unless someone has one laying around? I’m thinking we may have them make one an inch or two taller to support more options later.

Also considering an offset angled booster bracket like the early broncos use to solve the booster clearance issue.

 

[DomSmith]

New radiator arrived today.

Original radiator will go in storage as it’s a great example for a true restoration.

 

[DomSmith]

Fit the radiator for now and trying to sort out the lower radiator hoses.

Fan is really close to the radiator and just outside the edge. Going to make for a bit more of a challenge fabricating a shroud.

 

[DomSmith]

Finally bit the bullet and pulled the seats and the tranny hump...

I feel pretty lucky that only two of the retainers that hold the nuts in place were broken.

I’ve never seen these little washers that were in between the cover and body...

 

[DomSmith]

Transmission installed without the clutch for fitment.

Back when I was driving this I was very good about removing the rubber mats and cleaning up the floor. After sitting for so long they definitely held in some moisture and I’ve got some surface rust now.

I’m going to measure the driveshafts and hopefully get them sorted out. Also going to try to source an FJ40 tunnel to customize for now. We’ll have to see how that goes.

 

[DomSmith]

Also started trying to sort out a bracket to keep the geo metro booster I installed years ago. Here’s the original spacer I made to clear the firewall rib:

Here’s the spot I figured may work...

As with the bracket above I start with a crude cardboard mock-up. Here are some shots of the first prototype to see if it will even fit.

The center bracing top and bottom would house the shaft as a pivot point for the direction change for the pushrod.

 

[DomSmith]

Here it is in place. Obviously it’s difficult to get the cardboard to be as rigid as I need it to. In these pics it’s flexing closer to the plenum than the final version would....

Looks like it may work. I might need to adjust the position of the top and bottom plates so the pivot shaft is in the right location.

I’ll likely see if Pat can water jet some parts so I can start to tinker a little more robustly.

 

[DomSmith]

Been very busy with work, holidays, etc. but the bride and baby bear are in AZ visiting family so after most of the house chores I got out to the shop to get some things done.

Installed the clutch and transmission with ease. First time using a tranny jack AND a cherry picker. Pretty easy to manipulate that way.

Thanks to @cruiserbrett for helping me before Christmas to get the distributor in, oil dipstick sleeve installed, routing of some hoses, planning the shroud surgery and tackling some unforeseen issues with the clutch/bellhousing. I didn’t realize at the time but the 4 speed bellhousing I had didn’t have the clutch pivot ball hole on the driver side so we had to measure and drill a new hole to keep everything on the drivers side. This was done a few weeks ago...

The area on the inside of the BH is not machined flat like the other side so again we had to take careful measurements and make a small spacer to assure the clutch pivot had the right distance.

Got to use these sweet new Mitutoyo calipers.

Brett is always good for coming up with tasks that I need to buy new tools for, which I appreciate but I’m not sure the wife does.

I really couldn’t be doing this 3FE without his help. I’m pretty sure he’ll have at least 25% equity in the truck when we’re done.

 

[cppilot]

Dom, glad to see some more progress. It looks great...truely jelous of your skills..

 

[DomSmith]

Spent a few more hours tonight checking stuff off the list.

Routed the heater hoses temporarily and added a heater valve. The heater pipe rail that is installed on the passenger side of the 3FE has a few odd angles. One points right into the 4WD lever linkage. Fortunately I bought one of the front heater hoses as an extra and it works well to route the hose around the lever.

@cruiserbrett sorted out the lower radiator hoses while he was here before Christmas as well. We ended up using the lower radiator hard pipe from the 3FE with a couple of modified hoses to make it fit. I'll post pics when I get it reinstalled. In the meantime I cut off the mounting tab then cleaned it up and painted the pipe.

The rear mount for the engine hook that also carries the hard fuel line back behind the valve cover was hitting the firewall as it was just a few mms too thick to fit.

So I decided to hack of the part that runs behind cover and just use the part that bolts to the side of the head and still allows the fuel line to attach. This allowed just enough clearance for the fuel line to pass to the rear but not have the bracket hit the firewall..

Some other items I took care of...

Re-tightened the head bolt I used to remove/install the motor, gaped and installed the spark plugs and wires, installed the rear driveshaft, torqued front driveshaft shaft nut, installed updated master cylinder, cleaned out some of the column shift linkage (booooooooo!), re-installed the battery tray and swapped the original oil pressure sender from the F135. We weren't sure if the new sensor and old gauge would play nice so I just swapped them.

 

[DomSmith]

Master cylinder...

I need to find one of the banjo bolts I set aside for this... can't find anything right now. I know I have a few of these laying around. @cruiserbrett gave me a new clutch slave so they would both be done at once. I need to sort out which hose I need.


I also mounted (temporarily) the coil from the FJ62. I just used an existing bolt on the fender for now. I'm not sure how well it will work once I get the intake sorted out...

Battery set in and coil on the fender. Once I know how the intake is going to go I will probably build a bracket to put the coil where I want it while using existing holes.

I also pulled off the linkage for the transfer case as I need to lengthen it for the 4 speed. The 4 speed is 3.25" longer than the 3 speed so I'm going to cut and sleeve the linkage to make it long enough...

 

[DomSmith]

Pulled out the fuel pump to start looking for a good mounting location. It's the same one I'm using for the RamJet on the FJ40 so I can keep one spare for both rigs...

I'm not sure I'm sold on this spot above the frame rail inside the engine compartment. These things can get a little noisy too...

I also bolted the 3FE starter on for fitment but it needs to come off to be looked at/rebuilt/replaced.

 

[DomSmith]

Fan Shroud Surgery....


I started with a stock FJ62 shroud and went to work on getting it to fit. I've been marking this thing up and trying slight variations before I started cutting to make it fit without too much difficulty. First I set it on top of the radiator to be sure I knew what needed to be cut off...

The way it lines up in the engine bay on the fan I knew I would have an overlap on the drivers side. I am going to cut down a sheet and make a small adapter that will allow me to bolt the shroud to the adapter and the adapter to the radiator on the drivers side...

After I was pretty sure I had it sorted out I starting making cuts...

I needed to take more off the outside piece...

 

[DomSmith]

Once I knew the bolts would line up on the passenger side I could make some more adjustments...

I still have to bend the higher portion down to meet the lower portion along the cut edge on the passenger side...

For now it's tack welded in place and fits really well on the edges...

The only other spot I need to make some adjustments too is the small hump for the lower radiator hose. It clears the fan by about 1/4" so I really want to cut and enlarge that so I have more clearance. Then it's off to my buddy's welding shop because I don't have a stick welder or the skills even if I did!

 

[DomSmith]

I decided to start fitting the splash shields to see if they would fit and already there's an issue up front. Using the standard mounting holes the front pulley almost hits. Here are some shots of where I think it should sit. This would allow the fan belt to pass in front of the pulley. You can see the radiator mounting holes no longer line up and neither do the side mounting holes. I'm thinking I'll just add some sheet metal to the splash shield near the mounting points and move the mounting holes so they line up again...

Radiator stud holes will need to be elongated...

Passenger side...

Drivers side...

 

[1973Guppie]

I have a 3fe fan and one of those fuel pumps sitting around here somewhere if you want them. No use to me.

 

[DomSmith]

Thanks Noah. I’m happy to buy the pump from you. I do need a spare! Hopefully I can get your cherry picker fixed soon too....

Another day to work on the 45. Today I took the shroud over to my buddies shop and he’s going to weld it all up. He’s also going to make more clearance for the lower radiator hose. And he’s going to add the 3 1/4” to the shift linkage rod I need for FWD LOW.

Squeezed a ton of old grease out of a driveshaft I had on the shelf so it would fit the front. Which means I only had to pay for one rear shaft. Turns out the son of one of the retirees at work bought the local driveline shop so he gave me a good discount. I tried to insist on full price to support the cause but he was having none of it. New rear pinion and seals from Kurt as well...

Replacing the vacuum shift hoses because they needed to be longer resulted in this...

One BIG win today while I was looking through my old bin trays...

When I bought this truck the knob was broken off. Low and behold I found it under the seat and glued it on. Not sure how but I broke it off again early on in this project.

I may just glue the old one again and keep this gem until I really need it. It’s literally been in the bin for 20 years. Well before I ever owned the 45.

 

[cppilot]

Nice little trinket there Dom.

 

[DomSmith]

Grabbed some 3/8” tubing from NAPA and back in business. I’m afraid the other one is fragile too so I will probably make the other one too. The first try was ok. I didn’t like the 90 near the end so I cut that and ran a little extra hose for now. I may save these other small projects until it’s up and running...

 

[DomSmith]

Decided to set up all the coolant hoses with the shroud out. I also slotted the front splash pan to fit.

Lower...

Upper:

Complete...

Also put the battery on a trickle charger. Too soon? Ha ha. A guy can dream right?

Overflow coolant bottle back on.