Builds Recently acquired locked 94 build

[swankstar]

Doin work! Making good progress here man. Keep it up! What is your estimated time to completion?

Gotta get all the parts in house first, then I can start thinking about when it can be done. All I can do until then is keep plugging away. I want it done sooner than later since this is my daily.

 

[swankstar]

Got this thing all together now, just waiting for engine mount brackets to show to drop in and start testing fitting/mocking up cross-member and clearance for steering.

After taking a look at @jmlockwood ’s sweet build and seeing how the brake pedal is SUPPOSED to go, I took a closer look at my hack job and noticed WHY Toyota makes the brake pedal the way they do. Now I will be redoing the shape of my pedal. Might just get a new one to start with. I will be editing my post above with “DO NOT DO” to avoid any confusion in the future.

Thanks to some guidance from @Dirty Koala ’s thread, I found this slave cylinder from a 97 Dakota and Russel fitting that goes direct to AN. Now all I have to do is get a custom flex line that goes from M10 to -3 AN. The ig gold anodized piece is some kind of Chrysler quick connect coupler or something. Just tap pin out and replace with the Russel fitting for max pleasure.

 

[Dirty Koala]

You might need to put the pushrod from an NV4500 slave into that NV3500 slave to get the right amount of throw...that’s what I did after a little trial and error

 

[swankstar]

New steering valve assembly came in so I was able to get this thing back together. Also got a completely new steering box for business partner's 95. With the new one on the bench, was able to verify the preload of 9 in-lbs, as delivered by Toyota. I set my rebuilt to the same after getting ahold of a used steering shaft u-joint.

 

[swankstar]

While waiting for parts more parts to show up, I also decided to add some sound deadening to the front fenders in an effort to keep some of the diesel noise where it belongs. I put Hushmat on the outside of the footwell areas (where fuses and other electronics are located inside) that seem to be the most likely to transmit sound into the cab. Then cleaned up the inside of the fenders (pic shows dirty and partially cleaned up) and covered both with Hushmat and the driver side fender with Second Skin mass loaded vinyl. Decided to not do the passenger so I can see if there is any difference whatsoever from outside the rig once it's running. Quite easy to pull fender off and add later if I feel like it.

 

[swankstar]

Since I dropped the tank to clean inside and out, and make more room for LSPV delete, and mod fill tube, as well as just check stuff out to see how it's all doing (tank is really nice inside and out it turns out, even after 395k miles), I figured I may as well get the tank skid powdercoated. Very happy with how clean it is now!

Tank itself is pretty filthy, step one was an air bath, next will be hosing down gently to get the outside nice and clean too. Can't believe how much dirt was on the thing (upwards of 1/2" on some of the horizontal surfaces).

 

[swankstar]

a little icing on the cake right here, care of @Onur, figured this old beat up one will match the tarnished look of my rig nicely. just need to figure out exactly how to mount it now.

 

[OGBeno]

You can also get the update grille part number and there is a location for the addition of either “DIESEL” or “turbo”

 

[swankstar]

Finally had the chance to pull exhaust and finish off rear heater line removal today.

Since the tank is out, figured I may as well replace the parking brake cable too.

While I was under there getting stuff in my eyes, I noticed something a little off with one of the upper links. MIGHT have something to do with the clunk I’ve been hearing from back there. Good thing I have new ones ready to go in.

I got stuck for a second on the cable swap when it came time to get it through the hole in the body. There is a spring loaded mechanism that keeps the cable locked in place from the inside, kind of like a Ford fuel line or something. Need to compress these spring radially in order to get the cable to slide out of the body. Turns out a 14mm 12-point socket is the perfect size to push down over the springs and allow it to slide right out. Maybe I’ll remember that in 20 years when I have to do it again.

 

[on the rocks]

@swankstar What you got going on for sliders there? Guessing you might be on a trial for them? Any chance to show a little more and are they working well for you?

 

[swankstar]

@swankstar What you got going on for sliders there? Guessing you might be on a trial for them? Any chance to show a little more and are they working well for you?

Prototype/first article of production. I am one of the two owners of DVS, so my rig is just as much a test vehicle as it is mine. I just put that on the other day, so I haven’t been able to “test” anything besides fitment unfortunately. I did take my business partner’s 95 to Cruise Moab with the first proto set installed, worked great there. We are just waiting for first batch of raw material to get delivered at this point, then into production.

 

[swankstar]

Welded around the tubes on the inside of the frame rail then measured and cut some reinforcing plates for both sides. Tacked in place for the time being for test fitting purposes. Plenty of other things to cut and weld, would rather just do all the welding at once, when everything is known to fit.

Steering box bolted in place, invisible power steering lines in place.

The holes around the welds have clearance to fill in (on the inside of frame) and fill in and grind flat (on the outside of frame).

 

[swankstar]

Got the AVNW 4BT frame side engine mount in, it comes with a nice little plate that makes it very easy to line up for tacking in place.

Have to figure out what this hole is for. It seems very similar to the valve cover blow by drain on a common rail Cummins, but I have seen anything like it on a 12v before.

Digging around for Cummins bolts I found an old Bosch injection pump governor spring. Looks like they are saying “no suits” to me.

 

[swankstar]

Next up is getting the trans mount/isolator dialed. The OEM Dodge piece is a piece of sheetmetal with an integrated exhaust hanger. That piece ALSO aligns everything and allows the isolator to bolt to the tail housing. As it sits, the holes are nowhere near where they need to be. Transmission shop sent me a link to a plate they use sometimes, but the t-case adapter plate will interfere with it, I’m pretty sure (plate has holes centered, they need to be offset for this application). Gives me a good idea how simple it can be though.

What is really nice, is the OEM Toyota isolator-to-cross member surface is just about 3” away from the bottom of t-case. Dodge isolator (above) is ~2.75”, so by making the little adapter plate out of .25” bar, should be at just the right height for driveline placement.

 

[swankstar]

Had to pull the loaner oil pan off, put the oil pickup tube in, and replace with a new, rear sump pan.

As I was about to put it on, I realized it is just nice thin sheetmetal. Most of the 6bt oil pans I’ve handled have had SOME kind of sound deadening in/on them. Decided to try putting some HushMat on the outside of mine to see how it works/how long it lasts. We’ll see.

Weighs about 4x as much now!

Trying out a new load balancer. Cable wraps around about 4 times. Not much to it really, but very easy to use (so far).

 

[swankstar]

Big day has finally arrived. Putting in place for the first of (likely) many times before this thing gets fired up.

SQUIRREL. Not sure what possessed me to replace this thing at this moment, but this pic is in line with the others from this post...

Still has about 2” to go back (not all the way over the studs on engine isolators) and there seems to be plenty of room so far. I don’t even have to deal with the steering brace adjustments that the 6bt folks have to.

 

[swankstar]

Turbo placement is going to be toughest part so far. Might have to make some kind of adapter tube to get the exhaust pointing in a reasonable direction.

 

[FMC80]

Holy s***, you’re making a lot of progress! When is your goal to get thing rolling under its own power?

 

[swankstar]

Holy s***, you’re making a lot of progress! When is your goal to get thing rolling under its own power?

Today would be great...still waiting on too many parts though. Big changes of brake system and big changes of steering system aren’t conducive to getting things done on the weekend.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks.

 

[swankstar]

Turns out pulling the rear valve cover makes it infinitely easier to get the engine onto the mounts. Since this thing is going in and out more than a @NLXTACY film, I’m much happier now.

Also, it seems I should not be allowed to math once the sun goes down. Took another look at the isolator mount and what it needs yesterday, which is A LOT more than .25”, more like 1.75” to match the OEM t-case height.