Builds Moonshine - A Build Thread

[GLTHFJ60]

Ordered all of the fittings and tube to convert my fuel system over to -6an and put it on the driver's side. Also picked up more brake line and some inverted flare fittings for 3/16" line so I can remove some of these adapters in my system. Should be here later this week. Cable shifters are getting here tomorrow

Things I've got to get done before our trip up to NY for a wedding in two weeks:

- re-route my fuel and brake lines
- build an exhaust
- install AC
- hopefully rebuild my transfer case

 

[krzyabncanuck]

You know. I got that really nice / expensive Eastwood tubing flare kit here right ? Does the flares for the brake lines in about 2 seconds.

 

[krzyabncanuck]

Btw, great to see you out there this weekend in Moonshine. Coming along great man.

Talk to Rodney ?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You know. I got that really nice / expensive Eastwood tubing flare kit here right ? Does the flares for the brake lines in about 2 seconds.

I didn't know that, but I should have figured I've got a cheap double-flare tool kit that does a good job, thanks though man

Btw, great to see you out there this weekend in Moonshine. Coming along great man.

Talk to Rodney ?

It was great to be out there!! That's the first time I've had Moonshine on the rocks in I can't remember how long. She did great considering I was in 2wd high range the whole time

I left a VM for Rodney. Hopefully he calls me back.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I left a VM for Rodney. Hopefully he calls me back.

He called me back! Looks like I'll be getting my shovel in not too long.


Got my cable shifter kit in the mail yesterday. Super pimp. NWF makes a real nice kit.

I never liked how far away the transfer case shifter was. I thought that with front digs, I'll be shifting the transfer case more often, so I'd like to get it closer to the driver. I've got plenty of room underneath the truck to put the shifter on the driver's side, so what do people think?

Kit:

Shifter location on driver's side:

Factory location:

 

[krzyabncanuck]

I will say this for you.

It is your rig and your rig only. No one else has a clue what you have done to it , under it except for a few of us.

With that being said.

Put it where you will be happy with it the most.

 

[The Phoenician]

I vote closer to the driver side. I like all controls to be comfortably close to me.

 

[jtaco1]

As close to and comfortable for you to reach. My twin sticks are right where my hand rests when not on the wheel or shifter. I don't have a center console, so the twin stick works out quite well.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I will say this for you.

It is your rig and your rig only. No one else has a clue what you have done to it , under it except for a few of us.

With that being said.

Put it where you will be happy with it the most.

I vote closer to the driver side. I like all controls to be comfortably close to me.

As close to and comfortable for you to reach. My twin sticks are right where my hand rests when not on the wheel or shifter. I don't have a center console, so the twin stick works out quite well.

Good points guys, thanks for the input. Driver's side it is.

Had an exciting couple of days for Moonshine and hope to have a few more today and tomorrow.

I moved the air cleaner over to the driver's side of the motor so I could install my AC lines. I'm going to bring it to a shop this week to have the compressor lines made, then I'll have AC!

Got my fuel line and exhaust parts earlier this week:

Flared some ends and put some new lines up on the frame rail:

Kink is an optical illusion.

I then went and picked up some new seats out of what I believe was a Turbo SR5 4Runner. Should be perfect for my new WagonGear Seat Box

 

[The Phoenician]

You're going to LOVE having AC. It's gotten in the upper 90s in Texas lately and there's no way I would be driving without AC. It's looking good.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You're going to LOVE having AC. It's gotten in the upper 90s in Texas lately and there's no way I would be driving without AC. It's looking good.

Hell yeah man, I am gonna love it. I haven't had AC since 2010 IIRC. Didn't need it up in NY, but down here in NC it's a different story.

It'll be nice to be able to drive somewhere and not look like an idiot for having a sweat stain in the shape of the seat belt across my chest

 

[Tapage]

Let me know how that seats works for ya pal .. I mean how much fab required to fit in your 60 ..

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Let me know how that seats works for ya pal .. I mean how much fab required to fit in your 60 ..

Will do brother!


Cleaned up the seats today and started brainstorming how I'm going to mount them to my seat box.

Driver on the left, passenger on the right. Since the 4Runner is a 2 door, the passenger seat folds nearly flat and slides way far forward. The driver's seat has side bolster and lumbar adjustment, as well as lower half height adjustment, but slides forward and back like a regular seat. The driver's seat has a ~12" by 18" spacing on the mounts and the passenger side has an trapezoid mount pattern. This won't be straight forward.

I'm going to start off with 1" square tubing as a mount material and see what I come up with tomorrow after cutting the stock mount feat off.

Driver's seat:

Passenger seat:

Maybe I'll take the stock 4Runner sliders off all together and try mounting the LC sliders

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Got my seat box mounted up today and mounted the new driver's seat. Due to the fact that we pushed the floor up a bit during the 4BT swap, it took a bit of modifications to get the box to fit properly. No worries, I'm not scared of a bit of grinding

Cut the mount brackets off of the 4Runner seats and cut out the rivets. Made some brackets out of 3/4" square 16 gauge tubing from the local Lowes. Came out really well!!

The bolts on each end are for attaching the seat to the bracket. The two bolts in the middle are for attaching the bracket to the seat box, as such:

Then the gut and cut began:

And finished:

Seat mounted!! Yes, it needs to be cleaned.

The best part:

I was going to use fender washers but they didn't seem necessary since the weight is spread across the whole bracket. I love it!! Thanks Kevin!!!

 

[Tapage]

Damn dude .. you fab skills are definitely better than mines .. and you are fast !

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Damn dude .. you fab skills are definitely better than mines .. and you are fast !

No way man, I'm an amateur at best. All I had to do was cut and grind

Yesterday was definitely a long day, but I've got a road trip coming up next week, which means that all of these projects I've been putting off are going to get done REAL QUICK

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Johnny, KRs seat boxes are awesome and look good in Moonshine. I'd love to get a set one day.

Looking good bro.

J

 

[TahoeFJ60]

A couple hundred miles of driving yesterday showed me the following:
- Speedometer is ~5mph fast at an indicated 75 mph
- EGTs climb quickly when cruising at 1600-1900rpm on the highway if I lay into the throttle
- Mileage seems to have improved, but the final answer will come when I put fuel in it next
- Boost is still the limiting factor. When accelerating, I see boost climb quickly, with EGTs following. When I hit the wastegate, EGTs climb quickly. Gotta fix the boost problem.

Overall, I'm loving these 3.73s and I'm sure it'll be perfect once I get my boost situation figured out.

One of the next things I'm going to do is build an exhaust. However, I'm planning on keeping my exhaust on the passenger side and above the bottom of the frame rail, which puts it right next to the fuel and brake lines. That is obviously a problem.

As a fix, I'd like to move my fuel lines from the passenger frame rail over to the driver frame rail, which would not only get rid of the problem of exhaust heating up fuel and brake fluid, but it'd also get rid of some of the crossover lines on my firewall. Therefore, my next question is:

- Can I use (wvo rated) rubber fuel lines from tank to motor?
- If I shouldn't use rubber lines, what materials do people use to make fuel lines?

Some pics of Moonshine now that she's got different wheels front and rear:

Checkout out SVO/WVO/bio sites for Mercedes Diesel conversions. A lot of them swap to Viton line that can use biodiesel or WVO/SVO.
I know many suppliers carry as retrofit for old rubber lines that rot with biodiesel. Cool Rig

 

[bluehawk]

He called me back! Looks like I'll be getting my shovel in not too long.


Got my cable shifter kit in the mail yesterday. Super pimp. NWF makes a real nice kit.

I never liked how far away the transfer case shifter was. I thought that with front digs, I'll be shifting the transfer case more often, so I'd like to get it closer to the driver. I've got plenty of room underneath the truck to put the shifter on the driver's side, so what do people think?

Kit:


Shifter location on driver's side:


Factory location:

See you went with the NWF cable shifter. Hope you like it as much as I like mine. Haven't got my shift levers in final position yet but love the kit. Very Nice

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Johnny, KRs seat boxes are awesome and look good in Moonshine. I'd love to get a set one day.

Looking good bro.

J

Thanks man

Checkout out SVO/WVO/bio sites for Mercedes Diesel conversions. A lot of them swap to Viton line that can use biodiesel or WVO/SVO.
I know many suppliers carry as retrofit for old rubber lines that rot with biodiesel. Cool Rig

Thank you sir! I may revisit that in the future, but for now, I'm liking the setup I installed.

See you went with the NWF cable shifter. Hope you like it as much as I like mine. Haven't got my shift levers in final position yet but love the kit. Very Nice

Yes sir, the NWF cable shifters. You got a kit for your split case? I didn't know they made that!

Only downside is that it took 3 weeks from order to delivery, but they're in northwestern Canada, so I suspect that's normal.