Builds Sentimental Restoration of Family 1990 FJ62

[LCnAZ]

Of course Amazon sent the wrong model. They sent the B&M 70274...which is too wide. It was a 70274 box...with a 70268 sticker over the 70274 label. Have to wait two days now for the 70268.

Edit: Amazon stepped up and is sending it one day delivery...so I'll get to start some work on it by tomorrow afternoon, with any luck.

 

[Joa]

Thank you, sir. I'm glad folks are enjoying seeing the progress. I have to give our dry climate most of the credit for the condition of the rims. I did cheat a bit and used a 4" diameter buffer wheel on a drill to speed up the initial clean up. After a couple minutes of that, it was just the scouring pad. I've heard that aluminum foil is good for bad cases. I'm no metallurgist, but that approach sounds interesting.

Attention has turned to more mechanical things for a while. We've decided to keep the auto transmission (at least for now), so effort is going into taking the best care of that. The Rodney Flush was done over the weekend swapping out to synthetic ATF. Also changed to synthetic in the transfer case. This week I'll be installing a B&M 70268 transmission cooler, but with a custom twist. I'll install a fan on it that will utilize an in-line fluid thermostat and relay. I will also have a kill switch for the fan on the dash. I'm not sure why I think the switch is a good idea. Maybe I'm just a control freak. lol

Anyway, I'll post photos of that progress.

Greetings to you in sunny San Juan. I have some great memories of some PR Air Guard guys I flew with way back in '78. Also had a few come through our unit for training in the late 80s/early 90s. Some from that era also joined us here in Tucson last April for a reunion of A-7 drivers. Fun times.

Puerto Rico is a blast! Been on and off living here and it is superb. Hurricanes aside, the weather is amazing year round. Looking forward to the photos.
Cheers,
J

 

[LCnAZ]

Of course Amazon sent the wrong model. They sent the B&M 70274...which is too wide. It was a 70274 box...with a 70268 sticker over the 70274 label. Have to wait two days now for the 70268.

Edit: Amazon stepped up and is sending it one day delivery...so I'll get to start some work on it by tomorrow afternoon, with any luck.

So much for that plan! FedEx couldn't keep the schedule to deliver today due to the weather. I turned to solving the inop back-up lights. With FSM electrical schematics study and some troubleshooting, I determined that there were two culprits. First, those lights are on the wipers circuit, and unknown to me that fuse had blown due to some problem with the front washer...which is also on that circuit. Once that was isolated and the fuse replaced, I then learned that there is enough slop in the shifter to cause the back-up lights to be intermittent. New bushings ordered. I'll install tomorrow afternoon.

The electric fan I will attach to the front of the new transcooler arrived today. Relay is here. In-line fluid t-stat also arrives tomorrow.

New speakers and adapter pigtails start arriving tomorrow as well. Plenty to keep me busy for a while once things actually get here.

 

[LCnAZ]

Unique Installation of B&M 70268 Transcooler

I've had a couple of threads going trying to find the solution to fitting in a transcooler that will not only get fan clutch drawn air and relative wind across it when on the move, but would have active air across/through it via a fan. I was looking at everything from single, no-fan installation, to running two in series, to putting it between the condenser and the radiator directly behind a 12" condenser fan I installed a while back. A number of the usual suspects here were offering sage advice and opinions.

Of course, the clearance from the back of the grille is always there for us to contend with. Same for that pesky condenser line.

Sometimes, though, the solution is right in front of your eyes, although sometimes "disguised."

A light came on over my head that maybe I could somehow rig the 70268 (with its 3/4" depth) in front of the 12" fan...if there was but enough room. I've had the reproduction grille on for a couple of weeks, and that was what I was using as my reference. Today, as I studied this a bit closer, it seemed to have less clearance behind it than I remember the OEM provided. The OEM is in good condition, but its clips not so great. On a hunch, I pulled the reproduction and slipped on the OEM grille. BINGO! The slat structure of the reproduction grille extends deeper toward the condenser by a good 3/4"!

So, with some work with the steel brackets that come with the 70268, I am successful. I have the best of all scenarios: Active air flow from the fan clutch, active air from the 12" condenser fan, and relative wind air when on the move.

I think this is a unique installation. I certainly didn't find one anywhere in my couple of weeks of research. I hope this is helpful to others.

Plumbing later this week.

More photos follow in next post.

 

[LCnAZ]

More photos. One with grille on. I'll get in there with black paint when complete.

 

[LCnAZ]

@TheNeek got his front door speaker adapter rings to me this week, so I was able to swap in four new speakers.

With the rings here, I removed the panel and OEM speakers (yep...still worked, too), lowered the window, then measured the clearance with the ring. I then went shopping on line. The replacement 2-din AV head I put in a few years back is made by Boss. Coincidentally, the 5.25" replacement door speakers I found with enough depth clearance are Boss. They are 1.8" deep. That is too close for comfort, BUT...TheNeek's ring adds enough clearance. Boss CH5530.

These speakers are ridiculously inexpensive! I feared they would sound like crap. To my surprise they sound quite good, and spectacularly so compared to the OEM. They also provide deeper response than I expected. They can give a bit of thump where you like it.


For the back speakers I wanted a bit heftier speakers, and went with JBL GTO629 6.5" speakers. I removed the OEM grille structure (in pieces), removed the panels, removed the OEM hard mounts behind the panels. From there, it's pretty much straight-forward attaching them to the panel.

TheNeek has thought out his rings well. The small mounting hardware slips right into the countersinks...which ensure a flush fit to the panel.

Sounds great!

 

[TheNeek]

Glad it all worked out! Looks awesome!

 

[Skniper]

More photos. One with grille on. I'll get in there with black paint when complete.

View attachment 1895320

View attachment 1895321

Nice install. Think I have the same trans cooler, looks identical, it was installed many moons ago. I did similar mounting with some generic metal straps and used all existing random bolts holes from the center grill support to the headlight mounts. I painted the straps flat black...it's a super clean install, looks factory.

I don't have the fan like you do, but yea your cooler is gonna get air flow coming and going. Nice.

 

[LCnAZ]

The 140 degree thermostat that I was using for the 12" fan failed this morning. That's the last straw on that! I joined the two t-stat leads permanently, and it will strictly be a on/off dash switch operation now.

 

[86aggie]

When you were redoing the panel lights, did you replace the heater/ac control panel light? If so, what did you use?

 

[LCnAZ]

When you were redoing the panel lights, did you replace the heater/ac control panel light? If so, what did you use?

IIRC, I couldn't find lights behind or integral to the controls. I think there is light that spills over those controls from elsewhere. Can't remember if that was one I replaced or not. Sorry, the RAM dumps pretty quickly these days.

Upon reassembly of the dash, I didn't seem to be missing any light in that region.

 

[86aggie]

If you pop off the plastic panel between the HVAC levers(a tab at each end), there is a small shield that just lifts out and a 'festoon' bulb is there. Also, I discovered the same size bulb as the instrument panel lights is used to light the three switches just below the controls. It has to be changed from the rear of that entire panel.

 

[LCnAZ]

If you pop off the plastic panel between the HVAC levers(a tab at each end), there is a small shield that just lifts out and a 'festoon' bulb is there. Also, I discovered the same size bulb as the instrument panel lights is used to light the three switches just below the controls. It has to be changed from the rear of that entire panel.

I saw the ones on the back of the instrument cluster, but they were not burned out. Thanks for the tip on how to find the one in the air controls. Not sure I want to fight my way back in there for that one.

 

[LCnAZ]

Buyer Beware

Very annoying. This week I ordered Red (not pink) coolant, a thermostat, and t-stat gasket from Camelback Toyota with the plan to flush the system this weekend. I was actually advised that I would not need to replace the outlet housing gasket. Against that advice, I ordered the housing gasket from the local dealer (I'm in Tucson, 2+ hours away from Camelback in Phoenix).

Set up to do the flush this morning...only to discover that I have two outlet gaskets and no thermostat gasket because Camelback sent an outlet gasket instead of a thermostat gasket (despite having recommended not changing the outlet gasket). Glad we hadn't start the change out and flush.

Okay...honest mistake. As someone who is planning a 5-speed conversion and planned to get the many parts from Camelback, it gives me pause.

Part not in town even as aftermarket. Camelback has it in stock, but is 2.5 hours away, one way. Earliest part arrival is Tuesday for Wednesday flush.

It's not like there's not plenty to do in the mean time. It's just annoying.

 

[LCnAZ]

The B&M 70268 tranny cooler got plumbed in and exhaust adjacent to the transmission got wrapped. I've done a preliminary test drive temperature check using a point and shoot digital thermometer. The improvement was so dramatic that I am suspicious that I need to confirm it again in the morning. I have a specific route/distance/time I've been using for this purpose, but the test drive this afternoon was not as long...so I want to make sure before I publish the numbers.

The cooling system flush will be done Wednesday. We'll also replace that lower radiator hose that looks like it's over the hill.

 

[BlackCat]

Where in Tucson are you?

 

[LCnAZ]

Numbers Verified. Spectacular Improvement in Tranny Temps.

This morning I re-checked tranny temps again using the same "test conditions" I had used earlier to establish how hot the tranny was running. Cold start, 15 minute level terrain drive at 45-50mph. Ambient outside temp upper 30s. Same point and shoot digital thermometer.

"OEM" condition after test: Driver side pan temp 200 degrees; driver side 8" above top of pan 290 degrees. +/-8 degrees. Passenger side pan temp 175-185 degrees; passenger side 8" above top of pan 220 degrees.

Test after installation of fan-boosted B&M70268 and exhaust wrapped adjacent to the transmission, same test drive conditions:
Driver side pan temp 120 degrees; driver side temps 8" above top of pan 165 degrees. Passenger side pan temps 100 degrees; passenger side 8" above top of pan 120 degrees.

Temps are lowered an amazing 80 to near 150 degrees. All three elements clearly work in synergy. The obvious and predictable player in this is the 70268 transcooler. With many expressing that the 70268 was not adequate for them and switching to a fan-boosted unit such as the Derale Atomic (@BlackCat), I realized that I would benefit from finding a way to fit the 70268 between the 12" condenser fan I had installed and the radiator grille. That fan pulls like a flippin' hurricane! Noticing with point and shoot temp readings that there was drastic radiant heating of the transmission on the driver side by the adjacent exhaust was rather important....and spurred the idea to wrap that exhaust. The three working along with the OEM elements (radiator transcooler and fan clutch) have made a spectacular improvement in temps.

Later this week the cooling system is being flushed (and t-stat and full red coolant mixed with distilled water). After that, I'll be taking the same mountain highway test drive I did a week or so ago which resulted in the transmission reaching over-temp levels. That will be an interesting final test.

Wish I had known to do this 29 years ago.

 

[LCnAZ]

Where in Tucson are you?

Far northeast.

 

[SteveH]

Cold start, 15 minute level terrain drive at 45-50mph. Ambient outside temp upper 30s. Same point and shoot digital thermometer.

That is certainly hot enough (in such a short time, at low ambient temps) to warrant the mods you made. Good job on the pix and explanation.

My trans. would not get that hot, that fast, but my 9x11" stacked plate cooler is marginal in the summer. I have an 80-series cooler, and I may install that and see if it works better.

 

[LCnAZ]

Cold start, 15 minute level terrain drive at 45-50mph. Ambient outside temp upper 30s. Same point and shoot digital thermometer.

That is certainly hot enough (in such a short time, at low ambient temps) to warrant the mods you made. Good job on the pix and explanation.

My trans. would not get that hot, that fast, but my 9x11" stacked plate cooler is marginal in the summer. I have an 80-series cooler, and I may install that and see if it works better.

I'm also curious to see if a good flush of the entire cooling system might help the rather short time to transmission heat up I've experienced. Like you mention, I'm sure the mods will pay off in the summer months...especially with the fan helping when at lower speeds or idling.