Lazy's Grocery Getter Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[lazy]

2020 Colorado Emissions Song & Dance (w/ ~$35 knock sensors that are likely to be OE)
Valve Cover Gasket replacement (Ishino Stone)
Intermittent Start Hell
New NSS and finally building a starting relay
Bought a donor motor to rebuild
hooked up on board air
Got the motor back from the machine shop a year later - start of engine rebuild

I love build threads, so I figured I would document the love/hate I have had with my grocery getter. My LS swap went down for like 4 years and I had landcruiser withdrawals so I bought another one. Especially since I lifted the LS swap and I can't get into my works parking garage. Honestly though, the grocery getter gets my 99% of places I want to go, so my inherent laziness, life and having a vehicle that fulfilled my needs helped to delay the swap.

All parts I have purchased & installed are listed in a spreadsheet here.

Highlights of improvements have been:

• New heater core
• New seat foam
• New landcruiser heaven covers
• 2nd battery in OEM tray
• Wits' End OBA York
• Prinsu Rack
• Power steering pump & high pressure hose
• Header back exhaust

I'm planning for an OEM rebuild and a bolt on turbo. I've found a core that will hopefully work to rebuild on the side and minimize downtime with the rebuild.

Moab in 2017

My now 4 year old on the same Moab trip

 

[GW Nugget]

Welcome

 

[lazy]

Spent last night pulling my front drive shaft. I have a spare that is dressed with new Toyota U's. Things were pretty rusted and with my luck I could find everything but what I needed - anti-seize and the penetrating oil. So the job included a trip to the autoparts store. Threw the hardware in my new harbor freight parts cleaner which does a pretty good job. Well worth the 5 mins to setup. Going to clean up the threads at the tcase, and she'll have a new front drive shaft.

My LS swap has some noise coming from the rear, so I ordered a new "woody" for the rear. I'll dress that old rear toyota DS with new U's and then move to the grocery getter. I can then clean up the rusted out DS's, dress with new U's and they'll be ready for swap out in the next 300,000 miles. Seriously, how do you tell when a DS needs to be replaced? I thought I was hearing a bit from the drive line, but I can't find any play by hand in the DS. And I had never greased in the 60k I've put on it and I'm guessing the previous owner didn't either.

 

[lazy]

Bought a donor motor the other night. $200 and had a knock with 245k on the odo. Probably spent more than i should, but i figure if i part it out over the next 10 years i should be able to get most of my money back out of it .

 

[lazy]

Tore down the motor the last 2 nights. I probably f'd a lot of stuff up, but i got everything out. I've been trying to understand how this rebuilding process goes, so i finally just called the machine shop and they have been really helpful in "holding my hand". I drop off the head, timing chain cover, block, pistons and cam tomorrow. They'll clean it all up and let me know how to proceed from there and will let me order my own parts.

I fear i might need a cam shaft though. I figured out the source of the knock. Any opinions on if this cam might be salvaged?

 

[lazy]

Been in part cleaning hell. Anyone know the size of this antitheft hext key on the side of the throttle body.

 

[Pippylongsausage]

That rod is toast. Pm me your address And I’ll send you a couple good ones from mine from when mine did the same thing. I replaced the engine and have most of my old parts in the garage. Good news is your crank is probably ok but post some pics of it to be sure. I think the bearings have to be specifically matched to the clearance so keep that in mind when rebuilding.

 

[Pippylongsausage]

Also, not sure about that screw specifically but if mr T didn’t want you to touch it, you probably shouldn’t touch it. That throttle body is full of really sensitive stuff that you don’t want to move (ask me how I know). If it’s not too late, do not remove the throttle position sensor.

 

[Pippylongsausage]

Post 3: actually it looks like your crank is shot too. You are going to need a new engine unfortunately.

 

[lazy]

Post 3: actually it looks like your crank is shot too. You are going to need a new engine unfortunately.

Yeah, it isn't a slam dunk, but i dropped everything off at the machine shop thurs. While i may not know what I'm doing, its the same machine shop robbie antonson uses, so i feel like they're doing the heavy lifting. They happen to be a couple miles from my house, so that is just a bonus.

I'm preparing myself for all new pistons and rods. They think the crank may be salvaged, especially with .25mm undersized bearings, but we'll see. If i have to buy a new crank, i should be money ahead than just buying a complete short block. They're going to get everything cleaned up and get in touch with me on what is salvageable and what isnt.

Interestingly enough, the machine shop mentioned toyota doesn't really do a good job balancing the crank and that he can get a smoother running engine than mr t, so I'm trying to shy away from a complete short block for not only the money, but also the crankshaft balancing.

I'll clean throttle body as is without disassembling it...thanks for that tip. And thanks for the offer on the rods. I may just go new and hopefully get another 300k out of her? Same with the head, I'm not sure if to buy all new valves and seats or run what is useable? The machine shop guy seems to think to just run head as is if it checks out ok...?

 

[Pippylongsausage]

If the head is off, might as well service it. Replace the valve guides and seals at the very least and have it checked out to make sure everything is in spec. Cheap peace of mind.

 

[lazy]

Yeah, for sure on the servicing, i was planning on all new valves and seats. The machine shop wants to do just what is needed....i guess we'll see what they say next week.

 

[lazy]

Finally [sort of] got my on board air to work. Finished the hoses which uses aeroquips PTFE hose. I bought an ORB to -8 for like $5 locally and found a locking nylon nut to go on the back inside the air cleaner. I already had the hose and fittings.

I had bought all the rest of the fittings like 4 or 5 years ago when I bought the bracket. But, I got the york for $21 at a local pull and pay!

It airs up a tire which is all I need it to do right now. I am going to super glue to the top of the cruise control actuator....I think. I still need to get it wired, but I can at least air down and have my wife help me air back up. I also tested the pop off, and it works.

 

[lazy]

My machine shop has an issue with my camshafts and suggests to replace them. Those bad johnny's run like $470 each locally before shipping. UAE not much better @ $415 +$63 shipping and only one available. Cruiser yards had a pair listed, but they cancelled my order, I assume they don't have them.

Best to go OEM or since I am going to turbo this engine go with a set of crower cams? Or try and pull out of a yotayard?

Toyota Land Cruiser Camshafts 4.5L

Toyota/Lexus - 1FZ-FE Stage 2 TurboINT/EXH - Dur @ .050” Lift: 227°/219° RR: 1/1 Gross Lift: .415”/.397” LSA: 112° RPM: Redline:

www.crower.com

 

[lazy]

Well, after talking to crower, I pulled the trigger on a stage 1 turbo pair of cams. Saved money over the cheapest price I could find from mr T

 

[lazy]

Well, these crower cams have been an absolute disaster. I wanted to go over some numbers to make sure I or my machine shop (who does all of Robbie Antonson's work) aren't missing anything.

They went to adjust the height for the valves and when they put the crower cams in, we now have a >0.030" gap against the original shim than we were with stock cams. This is after the valves and seat has been ground down. The centerline of the crower cams is over 0.06" smaller than OEM, which gives us the ~ 30 thou we are off.

Crower has been non-responsive, telling us that "no one else has ever had this problem." Our questions have been:

1. Are we supposed to use the factory procedure for adjusting the valves? Their answer is always yes.
2. The current shim is 2.90mm or 0.114" after valve and seat grind. With over 0.030" we need to over come, less 8 thou/12 thou gap, that means we would need shims measuring 3.35mm (exhaust) and 3.45mm (intake). As far as we can tell, the "biggest" or thickest shim toyota sells is 3.30mm. Do you make a bigger shim? If not, do you know someone who does? We never get passed this point.
3. Do you know someone who makes a valve with a longer stem?
4. Will you provide measurements that our cam was supposed to be machined to so we can rule out there was an error on your end?

My questions to the group are:

1. Anything else I am missing?
2. Anyone know of bigger shims?
3. Anyone know of valves with longer stems?

 

[lazy]

anyone know the size of bolts so I can mount the block to an engine stand? Everything I read says M12x1.25???

 

[lazy]

Got the engine back from the machine shop. This is my first time putting an engine together, so all advice is welcome. The machine shop told me, "you can't spend too much time cleaning."

Block was broken down, cleaned with freeze plugs removed, bored to the 1 over pistons, decked w/ timing cover. also, oil pump bushing taken care of.
cylinder head was cleaned, pressure tested, new valve seals, valve and seat grinds, new toyota cams, valve lash adjusted, decked

crankshaft was grinded down, I believe .25 u/s. Whatever it was, I had to buy mahle bearings. crank was balanced with pistons and rods, cryo'd piston/pins/rings/rods/bearings/crank

Today, I got it mounted on the engine stand. 12x1.25, 65mm length is probably the ticket.

cleaned up the nozzles...

Setup crank, and plastigauged main bearings. came in within spec. cleaned crank and block again. checked thrust, within spec. installed crank per FSM.

finished the day by checking ring clearances, installing rods on pistons, install rings.

 

[lazy]

have to head out on a grave shift, but I couldn't sleep this morning. got the pistons installed. checked bearing clearances and thrust. everything checks out. all were in line except for the #6, which had the spun bearing and was the source of the knock. #6 connecting rod bearing is within range, but right on the cusp.

Next up is the rear main seal and then the timing chain stuff.

 

[lazy]

Not much progress this week. Got the oil pans scrubbed and the timing cover on. New chain stuff, harmonic balancer, bolt. I ordered a 300 ft/lb torque wrench, which cost me $16 shipped (thanks Tekton and your 10% back).

I'm trying to figure out where to drill the hole for the turbo oil drain. I got the bung, but I'll be on the phone with Joey here this week. I was going to have someone weld in the bung for me, but I bought a tig welder instead. I have some other projects and I have always wanted to learn to TIG, so...here I am.

Ordered a cometic gasket and the opel studs. I'll chase the threads here this week.. In the meantime, I think I am going to tape off the block, media blast it and then hit it with an etch primer followed by some seymour engine enamel. They have a lower "temp rating" than other paints, but no one has reported any issues. I'll hit the oil pan too while I have the paint out.

Been debating on rebuilding a t case. I bought one years ago with sumo low range gears, part time stuff, and I already bought all the bearings and seals a couple years ago to refresh it. I may buy the overdrive gears and new flanges and build out the t case, depends on how long it takes for the head gasket to arrive....