Builds Patches - My '76 40. B3.3 Swap and some general fixin' up (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jun 6, 2012
Threads
30
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1,390
Location
Missouri
A little background to begin.

A friend's brother back in Missouri had a pair of 40's squirreled away in the weeds, and was cleaning up. One had already been taken back to my friends place, and that was when I learned it was for sale. Put a check in the mail, and made the trip down from Ohio over Memorial Day weekend to bring her back. Part of the deal was that I'd need to go bring the other '40 back to my friends place, since I was coming down with a truck and trailer. With the set of wheels and tires from mine we got to work getting her out of the weeds.

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The American dream. Ohio trailer, Missouri '40, Oregon Super Duty, and a rust free cab we had room for. Time to hit the road.

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After driving an hour and a half with the AC blasting, we got back out into the Missouri heat to swap tops since mine had someones idea of a sunroof cut into the top, which I assume is how Mr. Raccoon was able to use the passengers seat as his toilet.

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Loaded up, green top strapped down, ready to head North in time for work on Tuesday. Here you can see the chop job that was done, along with some "rake your Nova" autozone shackles to run 36" rubber. New front fenders are in order, along with some more sheetmetal out back.

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What I'm dealing with..

Well, after getting her home here's how she sits. Interior isn't bad, it's all there and the floors appear solid. Still Rustic Green inside :). The exterior had been camo'ed, and then rattle canned black.
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Rear sill is a peice of rectangle tube and some sheetmetal welded in on top. That will need addressing eventually.
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Bottoms of the rear doors are rusty, and the patch work on the sill and rear quarters was hastily done at best.
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Sweet leather seats! They actaully cleaned up pretty good.
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The support channel behind the seats is pretty toasty, as are the rear wheel well supports.
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Before I acquired a couple of 3.3 Cummins engines I was going to get the 2F going. Upon initial inspection the engine was turning free, had waaay too much thin smelly oil in it (leaky fuel pump I thought?). The air injection lines had been brazed shut at the manifold and the air pump was missing, but for Missouri that's par for the course on anything more than 3 years old. I checked compression and had absolutely nothing on the fourth cylinder. Pulled the valve cover and didn't see anything unusual when turning it over, so I filled that cylinder with ATF and let it sit overnight. The level only dropped 1/4", so my guess is there's a pretty good split in a valve. When I dumped the oil I got a couple quarts of silver sludge followed by a couple gallons of nasty stale gas.
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Hardware store shed latches on the ambulance doors. I guess that's what you resort to when the sill peice patched in doesn't have a striker plate in it.
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All in all, I like her. Nothing too scary yet!
 
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Progress happens

So I enlisted the help of a fellow Toyota nut from work, and we rolled her out of the garage and spun her around so I'd have room to work. I'm going to point out that I live in a rented condo at the moment and having stuff like this in plain view is a no-no (or even inside probably, never have been provided the rulebook but I made sure to make a note of that on the lease..) I think other than my junk the oldest thing I've seen around here is an early 2000's Dodge minivan parked next door.

I got the front clip pulled off, breaking most all of the 10mm bolts in the process. The 12's did a little better. Drained the trans and t case and was pleasantly surprised to find them both full of nothing but good smelling clean gear oil. Pulled the driveshafts as well, and found the locking nuts on the DS flanges to be looking new and shiny, so out of place under there.

You might also notice a green door where there was once a black door. I tried out some supposedly non-toxic, non vapor producing paint stripper (orange gel, forget the name). It does a pretty good job of clearing off the spray paint in a few minutes, but I need to improve my technique; I'm leaving behind a chalky white residue where I don't get it all off. Any suggestions there?

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As I was leaving work the other day, I spotted the sharp looking yellow CJ I'd heard rumored to have a 4BT in it leaving, so I caught up with the guy chatted for a bit and it turns out he doesn't live far from me and is a fellow wheeler and diesel nut with a shop. The Jeep did indeed have a very well done 4BT/NV4500 swap. I may be on to something. Speaking of diesels, here it is.

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I've fired it up on the floor if for nothing else than motivation. Surprisingly quiet these little things are.
 
Decided to pull the seats and gas tank to get at the trans tunnel. My original plan was to pull the tub and sandblast the frame and axles, paint them, rebuild the brakes, drop in the diesel and worry about the body later with the exception of fenders. What I found after pulling the seats and particularly the rubber mat under the drivers seat has me thinking I'm going to need to do some metal work before she goes on the road. I'm sure many of you guys have started with and driven way worse, but I really only want to deal with rust once.


A field mouse nest, chewed up Busch beer box, and a couple of high brass 20 gauge shells were found adorning the gas tank cover. She's had a classy past. In a good way of course!

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Methinks a new tank and sending unit is in order. Actually after pulling the cover and putting away tools, I was about to go to bed and had a weird feeling like maybe I left the garage door open or something. Went downstairs to find the air full of fumes, a puddle of brown gas under the rig and a small steady stream coming from the drain out plug under the tank. Never heard it dripping earlier in the pouring rain. So the tank came out then and there and into a big rubbermaid tote. I must have jostled it removing the cover to break through what was left of the bottom of the tank...
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Floor pans exposed!

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See where she got her name?

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This weekend I am hoping to get the engine/trans/tcase pulled. Seems a lot of them are hard to seperate in situ, so I'll keep them together. Want to clean up the trans and case and reseal them anyhow.
 
Engine is out!

So with the trusty harbor freight engine hoist extended all the way out to the "1/2 ton" mark, and a floor jack under the tranny, up and out she came. In case you are wondering, yes that's a 4' florescent shop light inside the truck, best 10$ you can spend if you have work to do inside a rig.

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All out and apart; except the trans/t case. I could only find one long M10x1.25 bolt to thread into the case to get a puller onto the trans output shaft, so that will have to wait.

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Next up is either finding a place to pull the tub from the frame and sandblast the frame for painting, or grudgingly do what I can with it where it sits using hand tools and painting it with rust bullet.

Anyone needs a 2F? It's going to sit in the back of my Tacoma till I decide to scrap it for beer money. Would probably deliver it for gas and said beer money!
 
following this thread. I to have a 76 40 and am in the process of sticking a 4bt in it. What are your plans for the rest of the driveline? I opted for a ranger OD using the stock 40 trans/TC, but am concerned about finding a 13" clutch disc with a Ranger 1 1/8 spline. Interested in hearing about your plans.

This is not an easy project jamming this beast engine in a 40 frame.
 
following this thread. I to have a 76 40 and am in the process of sticking a 4bt in it. What are your plans for the rest of the driveline? I opted for a ranger OD using the stock 40 trans/TC, but am concerned about finding a 13" clutch disc with a Ranger 1 1/8 spline. Interested in hearing about your plans.

This is not an easy project jamming this beast engine in a 40 frame.


Good thing for me the 3.3 is smaller than the 3.9 ;).


I was going to get to this eventually...I considered a bunch of different things, from a centered rear axle and AX15/231, nv3500, nv4500, H55F, NSG370, etc. etc. I am pretty much set on a Ranger OD with the rest of the drivetrain stock (with the exception of swapping out the 4.11's for 3.70's.) Without equipment (or the experience) to do any fancy adapter machining myself, so I'm limited to off the shelf parts. I would also rather retain as much of the stock drivetrain as possbile, so this seems like the best solution. Useable ratios in the middle and a decent overdrive. The final drive with 31's is about the same as if you had 33's and an H55F. I may go to 33's some day, but I'm going to get it up and going without messing with the suspension. One thing at a time!



I am planning on using the Phoenix smallblock Chevy adapter on the SAE bellhousing on the Cummins. There is also a cone adapter that bolts to the Cummins flywheel and has a snout matching a Chevy crank end, so your Chevy flywheel goes there. From that point you use a regular smallblock bellhousing and chutch kit which are 11 7/8" or 12". I don't know how you're planning on adapting the engine to trans, but there are 13" 1 1/8" spline clutch discs out there, Centerforce has one. I'm probably just going to use a standard 100$ Chevy clutch kit, as the one in my K5 has done fine for the last 3 years since swapping the SM465 (I think it came from AutoZone). If a stock replacement works fine with a turbo 6.2 (350-400lbs trq?) and 39.5's, I see no need for a fancy Centerforce or the like for an otherwise stock '40 with a B3.3. Your plans may differ.

Actually that K5 has made me think a lot about gearing.. Even with 39.5's and only 4.10's, I don't even use the 6.55 first gear around town. It crawls fine, but the gear splits on the SM465 are pretty horrible for a diesel, even one with a broader operating RPM range than a Cummins. There were plenty of places out west where it's either 65 in 4th, 40 in 3rd or 20 in 2nd, and no way to shift between. Breaking trail on snow runs was the same story..Make your ears bleed in 2nd Low, but just not enough steam to get to third.

Are you in the market for a matching set of vampire fang shackles for the front end? I'll let them go for REAL cheap:D!!!
Wow, I'll bet that thing handled well...I think I'll pass, but thanks! OEM shackles are something like $20. :)
 
Almost done sweeping up bolt heads....

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Got something accomplished today. Had a coworker swing by and we lifted it off. I officially have no room in the garage now. Top is on the hood of the K5 which is also now full of parts.

Found a local place that want's 300 bucks to blast the rolling chassis, so hopefully I can get it over there soon so I can work on the tub.

Got the brake lines, shocks, fuel lines, bump stops, running board brackets, wiring, what was left of the tail lights, hitch, and square tube sill off the frame. Just need to get the steering box and exhaust out of it, and that should about do it.

I'm pretty happy with the overall shape of the frame considering.. There was about an inch of dirt inside the boxed section which I scraped and shop vacuumed out, but it looks to have fared well. No holes or delamination except bottom of the rear bumper braces where they sit on the bumper. There was even some factory paint left under the undercoating after I scraped some of it off..

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This week I'm going to make a list of all the parts I'm going to need and start doing some shopping. Off the top of my head I'm going to need the following (aside from the hardware for the diesel):

fuel tank
body mounts
shocks
brake lines
clutch master and slave
brake master
caliper/cylinder rebuild kits (or rebuilt units)
pads/shoes (drums and rotors appear turnable)
bump stops
xfer case output seal
front fenders
rear quarters
rear sill
main body beam
tail lights
herculiner for the tub
rust bullet for frame
black top coat for frame (don't know what yet)
seals for steering box
rod ends for steering
misc bolts

Once it is all back together with the engine in I will work on things like fixing up the top and rear doors, door seals, window channels, and interior stuff..
 
Measuring it up!

Well, I'm not sure what had me thinking I could keep the trans and t case in the stock location, but somewhere in the early planning stages I took some quick measurements with the 2F still in the truck, compared that to the Cummins, added up adapters and figured I could squeeze it in there. Upon further review (and now that things are a bit easier to access) I think that conclusion in invalid. I bolted the stock bell back into the mounts, and get 36" from the face of the bell to the rad support. The stock bell is 7 1/2" deep, the same as the Ranger OD box. Add in a 6.5" chevy bellhousing, an inch worth of Phoenix adapter, and 28 inches from crank pulley to back of flywheel housing on the B3.3 and you get 35.5". I'm thinking a 4" set back would be about right. With the 7 1/2" OD box and the 4" flywheel housing on the engine, everything on the engine would still be well out of the way of the firewall and the engine would still be very accessible. 4" should leave me enough room to use either the mechanical fan on the B3.3 or an electric fan.

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I think it's about time to pull the trigger on the Ranger OD and adapters. Looks like Summit has the Ranger, plus body mounts, spring bushes, and rust bullet. Wallet is going to hurt tomorrow...



On a side note; got to play around with a 4BT TH400 203/205 Jeep LJ this past weekend, helping out with some finishing touches before it's maiden voyage. Motivation, even though I'm not building a 4 linked Jeep on 37's... I'm kindof at a standstill till I get the frame blasted and get some more parts in, need to get the K5 out of the garage to make some room!
 
More pics, rambling, and hatred of vermin.

No real progress here just yet, just some stuff I find interesting. Waiting on Phoenix Castings to make a run of the SAE#4 to Chevy adapter plates, and trying to procure a used Ranger OD. Spent some time reconsidering my drivetrain choices (throw a 350 in it and be done, for much less $, use a NV4500 instead of the Ranger OD, etc..) I am sticking with my original plan.

Used to spend hours digging through cars at the local junkyard my friends old man has when we were younger. Old receipts, manuals, whatever was in them. Digging through history to me I suppose. Well here's what my '40 has to say...

Odometer as I got it..Was working when I flat towed it across town.
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Missouri safety inspection sticker dated May 2000, found under the windshield frame when I folded it down the other day. So it's safe to say she hasn't been on the road in at least 10 years.
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Original owners manual..
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Let's see what's inside.

42 miles in 20 months on a new rig? Seriously? Then 13k in 4 months? And a service writer who didn't notice the entries went left to right not top to bottom.
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I'm half tempted to fill out this owners comment card (postage prepaid from 1976) and mail it in to Toyota.. I'd have to get creative on a few of the questions...What say the mob?
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Ahhh, yes the vermin. I really can't think of any critters I hate more than mice. Maybe Ticks, but at least tick bites heal. Cats are only marginally better because they commonly kill mice for sport, and rarely do they decide to occupy your windshield frame and use it as a urinal causing it to rust out. The lower left screw on the windshield motor cover snapped off as well, as it protruded into the nest of the filthy beasts. I took off the vents and shop vac'd the stuff out, but not before the sneezing and wheezing took hold. Went to sleep breathing at half capacity. Very allergic to mice.
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I wire brushed it all up and hit it with some rust-converting rattle can. Not ideal I know, but things like the windshield frame and doors will be addressed at a later date once I have this thing on the road. It's been apart too long already! Going to concentrate on getting the frame done once and for good, getting the drivetrain in order, and then the rear quarters/sill.
 
X2^. Borrelia burgdorferi.
 
X2^. Borrelia burgdorferi.

Just get a vaccine and wear a flea and tick collar! :)

If there was a single shot that would render me immune to the effects of mice and cat dander (or just allergies in general..) the world would be a much better place...
 
Still waiting..

Not much progress to report today but I felt like updating what progress I do have. I got a call from Phoenix adapters yesterday; they should have shipped my adapter today! So that should be in this week.

Found an alternator/vacuum pump that should work to run the stock brake booster! No messing around with hydroboost, and I get to retain more of the stock components.

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On a sidenote, here's what happens when you try and take a 280k mile truck on a 1200 mile road trip in a weekend to go to a college buddies wedding...I heard a few strange clunks around Springfield Ill, figured it was the bearing; low and behold there was an Autozone a mile or so ahead. They had the bearings, but no seals. I got a pair or bearings and a packet of grease and crossed my fingers as I had about 100 miles to go. The noises continued. I pulled off around Jacksonville and changed out my wheel bearing across from the State Pen at midnight. It appears that the dust/gravel shield had completely rusted off and had fallen into the seal area of the hub and had eaten the seal completely, as there was a peice of crunched up rusty sheet metal stuck agianst the seal. Rust is evil. So I still need to pull that side apart for a new seal and repack, and put new bearings and a seal in the other side.. Did I mention I hate rust?

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Craigslist Strikes Again, NV4500 Style!

So after chasing my tail on pulling the trigger on 1,376$ worth of AA Ranger Overdrive, and convincing myself that was the direction I needed to go.. I found what I think was a decent deal on Craigslist. It seems most of the NV4500's that ended up in this area were made during the few days following the mistaken delivery of of that truck of platinum to the foundries at New Venture Gear Co. I first reasoned that they could be had for a grand, but couldn't find any. Then I considered buying a reman for even more than that. Add in the adapter for the LC T-case, and I'd be close to $3k for just what's between the engine flywheel and the t-case. Ugh. That's 3/4 the reason I had decided to go Ranger OD.

Anyhow, found a '93 NV4500 (6.34 first gear) for sale in KY on the Cincinnati CL; included shifter, flywheel (can't use it though, it's the new style crank bolt pattern), bellhousing, and transfer case (NP272 I think). Guy wanted $650, but he beat himself down $40 when he pulled it out of the loft and saw the bellhousing was missing more of a chunk than he recalled (one bolt hole over the dowel). Said it needs 3rd gear synchro according to the PO. I am figuring it will need bearings, synchros, and seals ($300). If that's all, I suppose I'm ballpark going rate for a good one at about a grand (but at least it will have been freshened up and I'll know who did the work..). The gears all looked fine when I pulled the top cover, so hopefully thats all it needs. I bought a press and some bearing separators when I rebuilt my 465 in the Blazer after the 3rd gear snapring broke, so I think I should be good to go with this one.

Oh and my adapters from Phoenix are here too! Should be able to start mocking things up pretty soon...

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