Builds Meet Ivy, 1976 FJ40 w/VW TDI, 2.8 CRD, OM606 (3 Viewers)

[fjdiesel]

How did they do in the snow?

Looks like fun!

Mike

Mike, yes, it was a great time! I was surprised they did very well in the snow. It was a little warmer that day, so the snow was heavier and a little sticky. It was a new experience riding a 4 wheeler at 11-12,000 feet. A lot more tiring with less oxygen. lol. But it was a blast and the scenery was awesome!!

 

[fjdiesel]

@Cruzilla The axle made it here safe and sound. Looks good. Looking forward to the upgrade! Thanks.

 

[AirheadNut]

Looking great! Any idea what it weighs at this point, and what kind of mileage you're getting now? I finally got my project on the road and so far haven't quite been able to break 24mpg. Hoping it will improve when I go to a Stage 4 tune and don't have to romp on it all the time. I suspect mine weighs a bit more than yours, too.

 

[fjdiesel]

@AirheadNut Thanks! I am still doing some tweaking as well. I average between 26-27. When I am goofing off it is 23-24. Lol. It pays to be light on the foot feed!! I haven't weighed it since the first time. Then it was 4k. After I get a rear tire carrier and the spare mounted I will check it again and post it. Do you have a build thread? Would love to check out your project.

 

[AirheadNut]

Wow, that's heavier than I thought it would be! I haven't weighed my Prado yet, but I estimate it is in the 4600 lb range, plus RTT and a bunch of junk I tend to carry around in the back. Hopefully I will be able to get a little better mileage after optimizing the tune, new injectors and adjusting the turbo actuator. My build thread is in my signature below.

 

[fjdiesel]

Yes. When I was building it with the aluminum tub and the tdi compared to the iron straight 6 I thought it would end up pretty light. I was shocked when I weighed it as well... I will check out your thread when I am on my computer. It doesn't show up on my phone..... I am building another motor from a bunch of parts I had. It will be a 2.0 alh/bhw hybrid. Just playing around for more low end power and keep the egts down moving this brick around.

 

[AirheadNut]

Ooh, that new motor sounds pretty awesome! I really wanted to use a BHW for my swap, but the ALH was local and a good price. So far I have been really pleased with EGT readings, usually when cruising at highway speeds I'm under 900ºF, and have only seen 1250º once when accelerating hard in 5th.

With the ALH/BHW hybrid, will you be using the BHW short block with ALH head/injection?

 

[fjdiesel]

Yes, same here, I had the ALH so that is what I used. Then I got this BHW(and I had a spare ALH) recently so I figured I would do the BHW bottom with a ported ALH head and stage 2 cam. I am thinking that I will go with a little smaller turbo, so it reaches full boost at a lower rpm. All in all, I am very happy with the swap. My egt's aren't as low as yours. Mine run 1100F cruising... All in the tune I am sure. It took me some time to figure out how to keep the underdrive cool, so I only put on about 2500 miles so far this year. Pretty much working bugs out.

Just picked up this Full Float axle, so that will be going in next. I will get rid of the ratcheting locker and put in an Eaton E-locker.

 

[fjdiesel]

Busy week upgrading a couple things. Hadn't had any time to work on the 40 this winter. Built a house and a shop... That took all the time I had... But, we are in the house and shop now so I got to take some time off work this week and get a few fixes done...

Took the interior apart to modify the tunnel so I have a trap door to add fluid to the top of the BlackBox...

Cut a hole in the tunnel for the access.

 

[fjdiesel]

While things were apart I put a grounding switch in to turn the pump on for the BB at 140 degrees F. The sensor on the right is the temp sensor for the BB.. I sure hope these upgrades work on this underdrive... Not gonna lie, this thing so far has not been worth having...

 

[fjdiesel]

Modified the coolers, came out pretty good I think. Put a smaller power steering cooler in, it doesn't even get warm. Put in a bigger, dual pass, cooler for the BlackBox. And changing the coolers actually gave me some open real estate to the ac condenser.

 

[fjdiesel]

I did get my temp sensor put in my oil gally, pretty nice to have more gauges!!!

 

[fjdiesel]

I told my wife and kids we were taking the 40 up the north shore this last saturday, so I took a couple days off work this week to get all this done.. Barely made it.. But we put 250 miles on and hiked about 5 miles while up there. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive. Of course the drive did reveal a couple more bugs to work out... And my beautiful bride would like some interior door handles.

 

[Godfather90]

Here are some quick and dirty door handles:

I got sick of the stupid little straps ripping off, and the lack of an armrest when the windows were up.

They are from a 90s Toyota minitruck.

After making the mounting plates I put M6 rivenuts (not shown yet) in the plate to hold the handles in the desired location. They are very sturdy and a nice arm rest. They also have a little pocket to put Chapstick or whatever.

Not sure if they will work with your doors, but this is just an idea!

Mike

 

[FJ40Jim]

So what kind of engine & gearbag oil temps is it showing under boost going uphill?

 

[fjdiesel]

So what kind of engine & gearbag oil temps is it showing under boost going uphill?

I pulled a few pretty good hills going to Duluth and up the north shore. Coming home on one long hill the EGT's hit 1450F and I started backing off the skinny pedal. But the BlackBox and engine oil temps didn't climb. The BlackBox stayed at 128-130F all day. And the engine temp stayed at water temp all day. And my coolant temp only rose to 190F. on the long hill.

I am extremely impressed with the Treadstone intercooler. My intake temps have always been 2-3 degrees F above ambient temp. Don't get me wrong, I haven't run this thing in 110F weather. So this summer will really tell some stories. I plan on taking it out to the Black Hills in July to do some wheeling, so we will see. On trails nothing is even close to an issue with heat, even the BlackBox cools off on the trails and runs about 80F. It's just down the road that things heat up...

 

[fjdiesel]

Here are some quick and dirty door handles:


View attachment 2622665View attachment 2622666

I got sick of the stupid little straps ripping off, and the lack of an armrest when the windows were up.

They are from a 90s Toyota minitruck.

After making the mounting plates I put M6 rivenuts (not shown yet) in the plate to hold the handles in the desired location. They are very sturdy and a nice arm rest. They also have a little pocket to put Chapstick or whatever.

Not sure if they will work with your doors, but this is just an idea!

Mike

Mike, thanks for the pics. I will show my better half. I think she would like the idea of an arm rest as well. Thanks.

 

[FJ40Jim]

I recommend getting a drainplug oil temp sensor and checking the oil sump temp under load. Currently, the oil is being measured after the oil cooler and before the bearings. That's a very small amount of oil that is very briefly cooled off. Sump temp is the bulk of the oil at it's typical temp. On our heavily loaded TDIs on the street and on the racetrack, the sump temp can easily exceed 300*F.

 

[fjdiesel]

Mike, thanks for the pics. I will show my better half. I think she would like the idea of an arm rest as well. Thanks.

Sounds good. It would be nice to know what the sump is. Thanks.

 

[fjdiesel]

I installed a center console this weekend. 10in wide one... barely fit. lol. It sat around all winter waiting for me to install it. So its a little dirty apparently. It sure is nice having cup holders!!