Thanks for reading! The thread here is significantly longer than the 4BT swaps thread, so grab some beer and set aside a couple of hours if you intend to read the whole thing. Tales of great immaturity, poor decisions and of the immense generosity of our community are all here
Sprinkled through the pages are some glimpses of maturity, good decisions and cruiser tech
1. Long plans are good. Centralize your planning around what type of vehicle will enable you to have the most fun. By type I mean FJ60 ( of course ), but SOA vs. SUA, gasoline vs. diesel, manual vs. automatic, shiny straight body or bedliner-coated and dented body. Costs can be great, but space is the absolute key element. The vast majority of this build has happened in a series of garages, shops and barns that I do not own. This build literally would not have happened were it not for the incredible people that associate themselves with TLCA sanctioned clubs. If you are going to wait to do your build ( the smart thing to do ) then buy a house with a garage ( large garage ) first. Once that's set up then buy a DD and rip your cruiser apart and build until you've built your dream.
That said, I've done the exact opposite. In college I'd literally all of my money, including beer money
, on cruiser parts to get the next project done. Now that I've done all of this work, I'm going to slow down and get myself into a house either with a shop or enough land that I can build a shop of my own. I couldn't be happier with the way I've done it as I've met some of my best friends through this and other builds.
2. She's hooked up and running now. I've been DD'ing Moonshine for about a week and a half without any complaints. I am not going to give you a good basis of comparison because in addition to the engine I also changed out the transmission, so I'm relearning how to drive this truck ( again ). I can tell you that there is a noticeable difference in usable torque and it pulls harder up to 2500rpm than my 2F did up to 3500rpm. The power curve is pretty close to the same so it drives pretty similarly, the 4BT just has more power. The 2F, at least in my eyes, was built like a diesel in terms of power and longevity, with the difference being it runs on gasoline.
3. Complexity. The 4BT is really just as complex as a desmogged 2F. They're both pushrod motors that are timed via a gearset on the front of the motor. The carb and distributor on a 2F is replaced with an injection pump and injectors on a 4BT. The injection pump seems to be about as difficult to rebuild as an Aisin carb. The 4BT needs three wires to start, the 2F a couple more than that, but relatively speaking, they are about equal complexity levels in my opinion.
When you start talking about power improvements is when the 4BT becomes a whole lot simpler. You can get crazy if you want in P&P the head, aftermarket camshaft, the works, but none of that is necessary to get 250hp out of this motor. Turn a couple of screws on the IP and you'll get up to ~150hp ( from 105hp ) for free. Change a turbo and get an aftermarket fuel pin and you should be close to 200hp. Get new injectors on top of that and you're well over 200hp. Try doing that with a 2F without spending $4k.
4. Range. This is where the 4BT excels over the 2F. I don't have my speedo hooked up yet but after driving for a week, I've burned what seems to be about 1/8 tank of fuel. With comparable driving habits and the 2F, I'd have burned 1/4 to 1/3 of a tank by now. Take that with a large grain of salt because I don't have speedo hooked up, but it seems to be more efficient to me. Long trips will become immediately cheaper as a result of a a 4BT swap. That's offset by the increased cost of the truck, but 60s are pretty cheap to come by these days anyway.
If we ever meet up I'll have you drive Moonshine so you can make a decision as to whether or not you want a 4BT.
