Builds Mike's 1978 FJ40 Turbo Diesel Refit Project and Cross Country Road Trip!

[Jdc1]

I guess its been a little while and I'm due for an update...

Right now I pulled the transmission/transfer case out of the truck to replace the flywheel ring gear (this is a separate topic i will address later)

I am having shoulder surgery in a few days, so I was hoping to have the truck back together before that as I will be unable to do any hard lifting for at least 6 months according to the doctor. I ran into some issues with the parts I received so that wont be happening unfortunately.

I had planned a few things to tinker with when I have one arm, and planned to update you guys when it was all installed, but with the setbacks i figured what the heck. Here's a quick teaser of one of the projects I've had sitting in the que for a bit:

VW:
View attachment 1886038

My design:
View attachment 1886039

And the custom unit built by Dakota Digital out in South Dakota:
View attachment 1886040

I've bought a bunch of stuff from them in the past, and they really hooked it up this time. I got a ton of add-on modules, and had them all potted to they are all waterproof and carry lifetime warranties. I love those guys over there, they can make you whatever you want.

Thanks,

Mike

Good luck with the surgery.

Dakota Digital is a great company to work with. I called a few others to see about custom work and they didn’t want anything to do with it. Are Dakota they will do whatever you are willing to pay for. Your cluster looks great.

 

[yotadude520]

WHOAH! How am I stumbling onto this thread just now? I almost bought this 40 when it was for sale in New Mexico! I even found the CL ad pics saved on my computer.

Really cool project you've got there and love the diesel swap - I look forward to seeing you finish and hope you have a speedy recovery!

I'll be following this one.

 

[daniel.watters]

Did you delete that crazy oil pump in the pan on your BHW? I was scouring the earth looking for a decent BHW until I heard/read about it.
I’d love not to have to buy new nozzles, turbos, etc and just get a mild tune and go with it. I think your best performance would be to do that with a BHW. But, I think an ALH is still doable and a little more easy and straight forward?
Thoughts Mike?

 

[fjdiesel]

I like the changes you had them make to the dash. I just called DD the other day and asked prices for some of the custom options. Like the 100mph speedo and the 5500rpm tach. Hope surgery goes well.

 

[Godfather90]

Did you delete that crazy oil pump in the pan on your BHW? I was scouring the earth looking for a decent BHW until I heard/read about it.
I’d love not to have to buy new nozzles, turbos, etc and just get a mild tune and go with it. I think your best performance would be to do that with a BHW. But, I think an ALH is still doable and a little more easy and straight forward?
Thoughts Mike?

Yes!

I got rid of the balance shaft/oil pump assembly when i pulled the engine from the car. If you look back you can see the deep sump and pickup I built with it.

I built a VE engine in my Mini Truck before, It was plenty of power for the Mini. It took a bit of work to get the power out of the VE, and to have it hold up long term. The 40 loves the PD the way I have it set up though. I don't think the VE would move it anywhere nearly as well, but that's a matter of preference. The OM617a was absolutely anemic, so I didn't want to fall short with the new setup. It goes down the road with as much acceleration as a "normal" car/truck, which is plenty for me that's for sure!

 

[Godfather90]

I like the changes you had them make to the dash. I just called DD the other day and asked prices for some of the custom options. Like the 100mph speedo and the 5500rpm tach. Hope surgery goes well.

Thank you!

Yea I'm excited to have all my instruments in the cluster instead of hanging out on the dash.

 

[Godfather90]

Good luck with the surgery.

Dakota Digital is a great company to work with. I called a few others to see about custom work and they didn’t want anything to do with it. Are Dakota they will do whatever you are willing to pay for. Your cluster looks great.

I'll get some pictures once its installed.

I went a little overboard with all the modules too

The idea was to get it all to give me something to tinker with while I'm recovering. I'm excited to have a working speedometer and tachometer!

Mike

 

[Jdc1]

I'll get some pictures once its installed.

I went a little overboard with all the modules too

The idea was to get it all to give me something to tinker with while I'm recovering. I'm excited to have a working speedometer and tachometer!

Mike

We’ve had our DD dash in hand for about a year. I ordered the gps speedo to go with it. Now, they are offering a climate controller that pairs with the vintage air AC. I have to put my blinders on and finish our build.

 

[Godfather90]

We’ve had our DD dash in hand for about a year. I ordered the gps speedo to go with it. Now, they are offering a climate controller that pairs with the vintage air AC. I have to put my blinders on and finish our build.

Looks like I have some reading to do on your thread!

What did you have DD change on your dash?

Your trucks going to be so cool!

 

[Jdc1]

Looks like I have some reading to do on your thread!

What did you have DD change on your dash?

Your trucks going to be so cool!

Thanks man, I feel like I am being bogged down with small details.

Dakota changed the font to match the 40 gauges and backed the tach to 5k. We had discussed more but the budget was getting skinny. My perfect cluster was an exact match for their newest offering. I wanted them to delete the tach completely as the digital display can show it as well but they would have had to rebuild the board.

 

[Godfather90]

Thanks man, I feel like I am being bogged down with small details.

Dakota changed the font to match the 40 gauges and backed the tach to 5k. We had discussed more but the budget was getting skinny. My perfect cluster was an exact match for their newest offering. I wanted them to delete the tach completely as the digital display can show it as well but they would have had to rebuild the board.

I see it now!

When I looked at it first I thought it was like the VHX kit with the 6k RPM option. I really like your rendition, very true to the original styling!

I went a little weird on mine, my truck is kinda already ruined so I figured to make it a fusion to match the powertrain

My truck is pretty strange, I tried to keep the exterior pretty simple with the old school KC's, Warn winch and all that jazz. The interior I figured I might as well just make it as comfortable and modern as I can. I intend to spend a lot of time in there so the modern seats, stereo, storage, and now the cluster are welcome additions.

-Mike

 

[Godfather90]

I guess I'm due for an update on here...

Well as I had mentioned earlier I had surgery on my shoulder back in January. Ever since putting the truck together I had several issues with the adapter I had purchased. I'll skip the details of it but to make a long story short I spent a lot of time stressing and chasing a starter grinding issue. When I went to start the engine the first time the thing would only grind and grind. There was no adjustment allowed for the starter mesh, so I tried a lot of things to get it away from the ring gear. I got the starter about 0.035" away from the ring further than it was supposed to be via some creative back-yard engineering and was able to get it to start 4/5 times. I knew there was a problem but I was under the gun trying to get the truck on the road so I put it off. It was in Minnesota when we stopped in the Corn Palace when I heard the pilot bearing chatter, and I knew that there was a severe alignment issue with my adapter plate.

I pulled my transmission in CA in November, and measured the runout and the starter mesh. The starter had negative backlash, and the adapter had the following runout:

New video · Tuesday, Dec 11, 2018 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

To make matters worst you can see the runout from flex when I pulled up and down on the transmission tail shaft in the start of that video.

Now I'm no stranger to this type of issue, and I know to check it especially on a project like this. I was going to do it, but I had sealed up my transmission and was pleading out of sight out of mind and hoping for the best when I put it together the first time. With the time table that I had laid out getting a second plate made was not going to happen in time. Well it bit me in the end.

Fast forward to January this year I received the replacement parts from the shop, and to my dismay the runout was nearly triple that of my original:

New video · Sunday, Jan 20, 2019 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

I had my surgery shortly after the mad rush to get the truck back together before hand had failed. I gave the manufacturer 4 months after that the effort to make things right, and they did try to do so.

Fast forward once again to this past week/weekend and I had to take matters into my own hands.

Changed out the ring gear that was completely thrashed:

I got a plate made out of steel:

After a lot of one-armed work got the setup indexed:

New video · Saturday, Apr 13, 2019 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Set the starter backlash to 0.020" relaxed, and 0.025" under load and with some help from my buddies 80 series jump starting me gave it a a few tried before hooking the injectors up and then let it rip:

New video · Sunday, Apr 14, 2019 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Made a transmission jack:

And then the one-armed man got it in:

This week I have a bit of work to do to get her on the road, but I'm really excited!
The remaining work should be much easier with one arm.

The cluster will go in soon as well.

-Mike

 

[fjdiesel]

Sorry to hear about all the trouble with your adapter. seems like you are making a nice repair to it! Hope the healing is going well!

 

[Godfather90]

Sorry to hear about all the trouble with your adapter. seems like you are making a nice repair to it! Hope the healing is going well!

Its the kind of thing that makes me wish I wasn't in the industry. It's hard to sleep at night thinking about all this crap and the lack of respect the tolerances are given! Must be my OCD talking!

On the brighter side while I was in there I was able to clock the transmission differently with respect to the engine. This allowed me to both gain more clearance on both the steering shaft and battery, as well as align the OEM shift stalk holes on the floor so I can get rid of the dog-legged shift stalks!

I finished the new transmission cross member last night, and plan to make new shifters tonight and install the drive shafts and exhaust tomorrow.

 

[Godfather90]

I guess the run-out measurement videos stopped working. Here they are hosted differently on Youtube:

Original adapter assembly:


Replacement from original manufacturer:


My plate I just installed:
Input Bearing Runout. Final rendition of my new plate.

And the first few starts with the new assembly:
First Start. New adapter setup.

I also since built a new rear coolant flange to accommodate the Dakota Digital coolant temp sender:

I actually broke the one that I built the first time when installing the transmission, and letting it all hang down which pressed it into the firewall. Ooops

I'm trying to get it running before this weekend. I'm building a new radiator tonight among a few other cooling system changes while the water is drained.

-Mike

 

[Godfather90]

I guess its only two links per post for YouTube, here are the other two:

My plate I just installed:



And the first few starts with the new assembly:



-Mike

 

[fjdiesel]

Great idea on the DD temp sensor!! I just got my DD dash and am about to start looking where to put that sensor!! Did you ohm out the factor VW sensor to see if it was a close match?

 

[Godfather90]

Great idea on the DD temp sensor!! I just got my DD dash and am about to start looking where to put that sensor!! Did you ohm out the factor VW sensor to see if it was a close match?

I did not mess with the OE sensor. I made a similar flange to this one last time utilizing the coolant heater flange from an ALH, but was never happy with the way it turned out. That and I originally used the OE FJ40 sender the first time which was a large metric thread if I recall.

I have the OBD2 module from DD that reads over KWP2000 all these perameters, but figured I would put this sender in anyways.

I drove it to work just now after my lunch break:

I have a few odds and ends to catch up on before I take it on a little camping trip this weekend!


-Mike

 

[Godfather90]

Well it was a bit more work than I was hoping, but I finally got the custom cluster installed and wired up.

Made a Tee for the crank position sensor:

I did it this way because the Crank Sensor is the only sensor that will absolutely kill the engine if it fails. No limping home from that! This way I can easily remove the tee from the circuit if problems arise.

Made a little caddy:

Fixed a bunch of wiring alone the way (namely the turn signal/flasher wiring).

Got it all working, everything calibrated except the fuel gauge so far:

I have a few bugs to work out yet on the system:

Fuel level calibration- I measured 123 Ohm with the tank drained, and 25 Ohm filled out the neck. Somehow during this painful and smelly procedure the calibration failed and I ended up with 1/3 tank when full. Now there's 16 gallons in the tank so ill have to re-visit this again. Pretty frustrating how I cannot enter the resistance values manually, and this procedure is very painful the way they want you to do it. I still smell like diesel fuel..

The OBDII Module was not able to communicate with the ECU so I needed to install senders for all the outputs. I planned ahead and had it all on hand.

The speedometer jumps from 0-7mph and works smooth everywhere else. I really am not happy with that, and supposedly it inst supposed to do that according to DD. I would be very disappointed if the cable drive sensor cannot accommodate speeds below 7mph. I like to keep track of miles traveled, especially when driving off road- often below 10mph. Its probably a cheap non-hall type sender but well see. I will look further into this soon but need a break for now.

I need to figure out how to display 3 inputs in the right side display- I have Boost and EGT now, but i want Boost EGT, and oil temperature displayed.

Mike

 

[Godfather90]

I was thinking about headed up to Bakersfield for the swap meet with my little buddy tomorrow:

Free dog loves riding around with no doors:

Is anyone else on here going?

-Mike