Old and New: 5.7 Vortec to 6.0 LS Swap, ‘69 FJ40

[Rock40]

Fiddly. This is all I got done today before I had to move appliances in/out of the house

Clamped and bent to closely follow the contour of the floor and tunnel

 

[Mike Shull]

Fiddly. This is all I got done today before I had to move appliances in/out of the house

Clamped and bent to closely follow the contour of the floor and tunnel

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View attachment 3559026

I know the feeling. I was able to shorten 4 wires before I had to take a call. I’m curious to see the finished piece.

 

[mr jits]

Agreed. Missed you at the last CTW last year. Goal is to get this done before a Rubicon trip with @CreeperSleeper and a few others this August.

Which week are you all going? Heather and I were looking at going some time in August (either before or after our oldest gets married).

 

[Rock40]

Which week are you all going? Heather and I were looking at going some time in August (either before or after our oldest gets married).

21-28th of August. Hoping for a zero drama run with folks that are pretty self sufficient. Come join us at Loon on 8/21

 

[Rock40]

The McLeod clutch went in today and this “might” be a bit of a product review

From what I have read and from seeing the products in person, McLeod products are top notch quality, USA built stuff. However, the instructions are right on par with something you purchased from China. Lots of talk about adjustments, zero information regarding actual assembly.

I say this because the flywheel came with two approximately .25” dowel pins which were obviously designed to be driven into the flywheel in pre-drilled holes. They were TIGHT and I hammered them in with a brass drift. Found out next that the pressure plate wouldn’t fit with the dowels installed

Called McLeod and referenced both part numbers for the flywheel and pressure plate. When mentioned the dowels, was told “Oh you don’t use those”. The tech person went on to say that the provided instructions are just a super generic guideline essentially. I mentioned that providing parts that have no use in the assembly is pointless, let alone not mentioning the dowels at ALL in the instructions. Was told to go get a dowel pin puller in order to remove them. Good grief, I don’t have that nor did I want to spend the money for one. In the end, the crappy instructions cost quite a bit of time and hassle.

I broke out the TIG welder and welded the dowels to my slide hammer. Took some time but they did come out. DUMB

And here’s the completed clutch assembly with a custom metal alignment tool (hacked off GM 10 spline input shaft) that works far better than the plastic versions

 

[Rock40]

Spent the rest of the day fiddling with the old AA slave cylinder mount. It’s “supposed” to place the FJ40 slave at the right height for the GM bellhousing. Well it doesn’t, and 21 years ago I had to modify it to fit.

I’m nearly certain I welded this extra corner onto the bracket in the bowels of the Coast Guard icebreaker I was stationed on at the time. Well it’s always looked crappy so I cut it up

Made a new corner piece…

Rounded the corners, drilled and tapped new holes that correctly align the slave with the clutch fork, filled some old holes, welded the spacers permanently in place, blasted it and shot it with Steel It. Not perfect, but better

 

[cruisermatt]

Why didn’t you just use the stock Gen 3 flywheel/clutch?

 

[Rock40]

Why didn’t you just use the stock Gen 3 flywheel/clutch?

Was looking for something a bit more performance that can easily handle what the engine is going to crank out. At roughly 430 HP, I think that’s sort of the edge of stock clutch stuff. Or past it?

 

[cruisermatt]

Was looking for something a bit more performance that can easily handle what the engine is going to crank out. At roughly 430 HP, I think that’s sort of the edge of stock clutch stuff. Or past it?

Mine is fine

 

[Rock40]

Mine is fine

That’s actually good to know. I lean towards over doing things a bit, if it doesn’t work out, I’ve got options

 

[southern son]

I’m glad that I’m not the only one who put the dowel pins in just to have to snatch them out too….so frustrating. Build looks awesome!

 

[Mike Shull]

Spent the rest of the day fiddling with the old AA slave cylinder mount. It’s “supposed” to place the FJ40 slave at the right height for the GM bellhousing. Well it doesn’t, and 21 years ago I had to modify it to fit.

I’m nearly certain I welded this extra corner onto the bracket in the bowels of the Coast Guard icebreaker I was stationed on at the time. Well it’s always looked crappy so I cut it up


View attachment 3562939


Made a new corner piece…


View attachment 3562940


Rounded the corners, drilled and tapped new holes that correctly align the slave with the clutch fork, filled some old holes, welded the spacers permanently in place, blasted it and shot it with Steel It. Not perfect, but better


View attachment 3562941

Outstanding progress! This bracket looks like it rolled off of the assembly line!!!

 

[Rock40]

I’m glad that I’m not the only one who put the dowel pins in just to have to snatch them out too….so frustrating.

Gosh dang! Im sure I’m not the only customer to have called them about this. Bunch of baloney

 

[Rock40]

Tackled the transmission cover/firewall access today. Was putting it off a bit because these can get fairly time consuming.

Had my wife hit the pedal while I very quickly tacked the border metal in the truck. Just slightly melted the LineX, not too terrible. That won’t be seen at all when the cover is in place

Made a bit of a mess tho on the back of the metal

First it went in the media blaster to clean everything up, then over to the welding table.

Made the initial front facing piece…

Then a few more…

And it’s done

 

[Rock40]

Fully welded here. TIG settings at about 55 amps with .045” filler rod, a little pulse with the pedal where it needed it.

Fairly low heat, zero mess and zero distortion, fits the firewall very well

Cleaned up the interior radius, media blasted the whole thing again, sprayed it down with acetone and shot it with Steel It. Might have it LineX’d in the future to match the interior but I’m not worried about it right now

 

[Rock40]

Lots of little stuff but getting closer…


Started wiring in relays. These are 50 amp waterproof units. I’m also using Deutsch plugs for the engine harness to chassis harness connection.

From left to right: ARB Compressor, Fuel Pump, Coils, TCC brake input for ECM

Made an adapter mount to be able to mount the ECM up under the glovebox

Made an adapter bracket that will mount the engine harness fuse and relay panel. Way overkill with 5 total 1/4-20 nutserts and bolts. Whatever, it won’t be able to shake its way loose

Finished all the firewall nonsense with the exception of the heater hose pass through. Counted, added 24 nutserts to the firewall

Threw paint on it. Not perfect and certainly good enough. It’s a firewall in an old wheeler

 

[Firemedic831]

What are you doing with the 5.7 that came out ?

 

[Mike Shull]

Lots of little stuff but getting closer…


Started wiring in relays. These are 50 amp waterproof units. I’m also using Deutsch plugs for the engine harness to chassis harness connection.

From left to right: ARB Compressor, Fuel Pump, Coils, TCC brake input for ECM

View attachment 3568849


Made an adapter mount to be able to mount the ECM up under the glovebox


View attachment 3568850


Made an adapter bracket that will mount the engine harness fuse and relay panel. Way overkill with 5 total 1/4-20 nutserts and bolts. Whatever, it won’t be able to shake its way loose

View attachment 3568851


Finished all the firewall nonsense with the exception of the heater hose pass through. Counted, added 24 nutserts to the firewall

View attachment 3568852


Threw paint on it. Not perfect and certainly good enough. It’s a firewall in an old wheeler

View attachment 3568853

What brand of nutserts are you using? I got a set from Nextax recently and they don’t have enough bite.

 

[Mike Shull]

What are you doing with the 5.7 that came out ?

This would look great in Old Blue

 

[Rock40]

What brand of nutserts are you using? I got a set from Nextax recently and they don’t have enough bite.

They’re from MCmaster, I don’t think anything special the 1/4-20’s have just over 0.3” of thread contact. Not that I’d put a ton of torque on that but I’ve never had a problem with them