Todd is referencing FJ62 production and may not know that the 3FE was carried over into the 80 for two model years.
Since the 3FE is slow, why no aftermarket support? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter alkaline747trio
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Kaderabek
GOLD Star
Todd is being an idiot.
It's still a short production run.
TJK
It's still a short production run.
TJK
Kaderabek
GOLD Star
ginericfj80 said:
You're now one of two people to make this claim to either Mark Whatley or myself. I believe you of course, but my point is that they're extremely rare.
TJK
(And I still think they were produced in 1989.
)
According to the sales figures I have seen on the Cool Cruisers site, a total of 16,311 FJ80's were sold in the US and 17,185 FJ62's
Not many hot-rodders are going to go after a market with only 33,496 total possible customers, not at all cost-effective.
Not many hot-rodders are going to go after a market with only 33,496 total possible customers, not at all cost-effective.
Trying to do too much (read: other than keeping it tuned up well) to a 3FE just kinda seems like sticking a 502 ci in a tractor to get a better 1/4 mile time...
It's just not what the machine was designed to do. For the market the 2F and 3FE motors were designed for, they fit the bill exactly. They're reliable, field serviceable, and run forever on crap gas. Perfect for being driven over rough terrain in the middle of nowhere.
-H-
It's just not what the machine was designed to do. For the market the 2F and 3FE motors were designed for, they fit the bill exactly. They're reliable, field serviceable, and run forever on crap gas. Perfect for being driven over rough terrain in the middle of nowhere.
-H-
powderpig
SILVER Star
The 3Fe has potential. while it does not turn the Rpm that fast or quick. It does build the r's relaibly. I do think it was a better power plant for the 62 over the 80. The 80 running full time and weigh's more, drives bigger tires.
I had a great 88 62 that I worked over real well (no i did not build a engine). Just minor things, bigger exhaust, a single high flow cat (two into one), 2.5 inch exhaust after the cat. Different spark plugs (bosch platimun 4). advance the timing. run synthetic in the diffs and t-case. Good clean ATF. At the elevations of New mexico and colorado I could drive it at 75-80 (get 16-17mpg)all day long and a few times I drove for several hours at 90mph from Santa Fe to Denver. All on 31 inch tires.
The biggest bang for the buck for that engine is to pull the head and mill it .030-.040 clean the carbon out and do the exhaust on it. Clean the injectors, do a good tune up. Have fun. Those with 80 with the 3fe, maybe do a partime conversion(live with the slight handling issues). Marks makes a gear now that can be put into the t-case with a couple hours of labor. But you loose any full time capablity. No machining as with some other kits (talk to christo). Any how all but the t-case I personally have done as well as rebuilding a 3fe for steve crase, which when we both have our swampers on our trucks, he will pull away from me(his 34 ltb and mine 36 tsl) So the 3fe has some hidden assets, you just need to spend some money on it. later robbie
I had a great 88 62 that I worked over real well (no i did not build a engine). Just minor things, bigger exhaust, a single high flow cat (two into one), 2.5 inch exhaust after the cat. Different spark plugs (bosch platimun 4). advance the timing. run synthetic in the diffs and t-case. Good clean ATF. At the elevations of New mexico and colorado I could drive it at 75-80 (get 16-17mpg)all day long and a few times I drove for several hours at 90mph from Santa Fe to Denver. All on 31 inch tires.
The biggest bang for the buck for that engine is to pull the head and mill it .030-.040 clean the carbon out and do the exhaust on it. Clean the injectors, do a good tune up. Have fun. Those with 80 with the 3fe, maybe do a partime conversion(live with the slight handling issues). Marks makes a gear now that can be put into the t-case with a couple hours of labor. But you loose any full time capablity. No machining as with some other kits (talk to christo). Any how all but the t-case I personally have done as well as rebuilding a 3fe for steve crase, which when we both have our swampers on our trucks, he will pull away from me(his 34 ltb and mine 36 tsl) So the 3fe has some hidden assets, you just need to spend some money on it. later robbie
- Thread starter
- #27
I am only looking for more power to have it when I need it. I live on a major highway, and am used to waiting up to 10 minutes to just pull out of my drive, but in this thing unless I have a good 1/2 mile or better between me and the cars comming I don't feel "safe" (as to not piss someone off into road rage or anything) pulling out and have found myself waiting upwards of 20-25 minutes, just to pull out of my driveway! I plan to remove teh cats, and maybe get a mild cam made for the 2F or even advance the timing. I want more low end, not highend...even though this had gobs, I need more to give that 3rd gear enough umph to get out of big trucks and fast car's ways when I pull out of the drive.
About the mild cam, how many
's is it gonna take for that one, and also on advancing the timing? What is the cost of that mild cam usually, also?
About the mild cam, how many
's is it gonna take for that one, and also on advancing the timing? What is the cost of that mild cam usually, also?
NO need to mess with the cam at all. Use the MAGIC search button and do a compression test. With good compression a 3FE, tuned, can fly. Cats are fine and ther is no need for drastic changes in the motor. The 3FE benifits form many small fixes.
- Thread starter
- #29
I need to get rid of my cats, one got a nice hole in it from the trip to URE this weekend, and if it's not required, I usually get rid of it or don't do it. I will probably tune it soon and the compression test, then maybe the mild cam if I feel I need more. I'm only acustomed to tuning RC car engines, so would there be any useful info on that through the MAGIC search button?
Moby
GOLD Star
Gears!!!
If you're running larger than stock tires with a well tuned 3FE and are still looking for more seriously consider a gear change. I just had 4.56s installed in my '89 FJ-62 (along with a rear air locker) by W and James at Over the Hill. I'm only running 31s but after my tranny rebuild (with a modified valve body and torque converter) I could really tell that the 10% hit in rpms at highway speeds (torque converter locked up) was hurting me on hills.
I'm very happy with the 4.56s - my 62 will never be rocket with the 3FE but it is acceptable and can pull most highway mountain passes in my area (Seattle, WA) at 60-70 in overdrive with the converted locked up.
My 3FE has been rebuilt (but has one bad cylinder - #5@20% leak - which is blowing oil through the PCV). I'm running a TLC air intake, Downey ported throttle body, stock ceramic coated exhaust manifolds (the headers leaked so bad I returned them to Man-a-fre), custom exhaust with single dual entry, dual exit cat and dual entry single exit Flowmaster muffler. I've also had the injectors rebuilt and balanced and I'm running an MSD stacker ignition and blaster coil. These simple things alone really help if your 3FE is in good shape and tune and is properly geared.
Given the bad cylinder I will most likely be rebuilding the 3FE again in the near future. The original rebuild was 5 years ago and I knew next to nothing about engines. I'm still looking at my rebuild options but if I do the 3FE again it will get head work (SS valves, porting, bronze valve guides and new springs), polished and shot peened rods, arp rod and cap bolts, probably JE forged pistons and arp head studs. Maybe coated bearings. Maybe a Downey 2F cam (haven't looked at that too closely yet). Too much work and money for a poor old 3FE? Maybe - but I want to see how far this engine can go. If anyone has done anything along these lines or has additional 3FE building ideas let me know.
If you're running larger than stock tires with a well tuned 3FE and are still looking for more seriously consider a gear change. I just had 4.56s installed in my '89 FJ-62 (along with a rear air locker) by W and James at Over the Hill. I'm only running 31s but after my tranny rebuild (with a modified valve body and torque converter) I could really tell that the 10% hit in rpms at highway speeds (torque converter locked up) was hurting me on hills.
I'm very happy with the 4.56s - my 62 will never be rocket with the 3FE but it is acceptable and can pull most highway mountain passes in my area (Seattle, WA) at 60-70 in overdrive with the converted locked up.
My 3FE has been rebuilt (but has one bad cylinder - #5@20% leak - which is blowing oil through the PCV). I'm running a TLC air intake, Downey ported throttle body, stock ceramic coated exhaust manifolds (the headers leaked so bad I returned them to Man-a-fre), custom exhaust with single dual entry, dual exit cat and dual entry single exit Flowmaster muffler. I've also had the injectors rebuilt and balanced and I'm running an MSD stacker ignition and blaster coil. These simple things alone really help if your 3FE is in good shape and tune and is properly geared.
Given the bad cylinder I will most likely be rebuilding the 3FE again in the near future. The original rebuild was 5 years ago and I knew next to nothing about engines. I'm still looking at my rebuild options but if I do the 3FE again it will get head work (SS valves, porting, bronze valve guides and new springs), polished and shot peened rods, arp rod and cap bolts, probably JE forged pistons and arp head studs. Maybe coated bearings. Maybe a Downey 2F cam (haven't looked at that too closely yet). Too much work and money for a poor old 3FE? Maybe - but I want to see how far this engine can go. If anyone has done anything along these lines or has additional 3FE building ideas let me know.
My 3FE is quite powerful, great off the line. I have a cat back system and I have tuned it up with new goodies and ensured no vacuum leaks, etc. I can pull out into traffic with no fear.
3FE powa!
3FE powa!
- Thread starter
- #32
What are these new goodies, don't hold out. And what brand cat back, size, etc?
We have done a few 5sp manual conversions in 62's and 80's. By far, this was the most power we have developed out of a 3fe, it was like a whole new car. The next 5 speed we do will be behind a 1fz, should be pretty awsome.
Steve,
what are you using on the 3FE powered trucks for a 5 speed, the 151??
just curious, and moby drop me a line when you get closer to doing your rebuild, I need to learn a thing or two in the next 50k as mine is due,
200356 miles as of this afternoon.
Dave
what are you using on the 3FE powered trucks for a 5 speed, the 151??
just curious, and moby drop me a line when you get closer to doing your rebuild, I need to learn a thing or two in the next 50k as mine is due,
200356 miles as of this afternoon.
Dave
Moby
GOLD Star
On the tranny front I thought long and hard about going to a H55F before I had my A440 rebuilt. I had a ton of hassles with my rebuild because I outsourced the valve body and torque converter to a shop on the east coast that was supposedly a toyota transmission specialist and had the tranny rebuilt locally (this was before Slee started importing the modified A440 and A442s that they now stock). Nothing but hassles and lost money.
Fortunately my local tranny shop (Dean Transmission in Seattle) agreed to salvage the modified valve body and get it tuned correctly. They spent many hours in this effort. This took custom springs, modified valves and a higher line pressure. In the end I finally got what I wanted - an A440 that shifts much better and faster than stock and is a pleasure to drive in traffic, on the freeway and on the trail.
This alone was probably the single biggest performance modification I've made. I can definitely believe Steve's comments about converting to a manual making a huge difference in performance. However if a manual doesn't fit your needs consider either the modified valve body or a full modified tranny from Slee. I can't vouce for those actual units but I know that at least the A440 can be made to perform much better than stock.
Oh and I also had the torque converter rebuilt (furnace brazed instead of spot welded) and had the stall bumped up a couple hundred rpm over stock. If you rebuild an A440 torque converter make sure they check the seal on the lockup clutch (apparently its a real pain to replace). Mine was broken in three place and probably had been for some time. Now when the lockup is in the truck really pulls strongly
Fortunately my local tranny shop (Dean Transmission in Seattle) agreed to salvage the modified valve body and get it tuned correctly. They spent many hours in this effort. This took custom springs, modified valves and a higher line pressure. In the end I finally got what I wanted - an A440 that shifts much better and faster than stock and is a pleasure to drive in traffic, on the freeway and on the trail.
This alone was probably the single biggest performance modification I've made. I can definitely believe Steve's comments about converting to a manual making a huge difference in performance. However if a manual doesn't fit your needs consider either the modified valve body or a full modified tranny from Slee. I can't vouce for those actual units but I know that at least the A440 can be made to perform much better than stock.
Oh and I also had the torque converter rebuilt (furnace brazed instead of spot welded) and had the stall bumped up a couple hundred rpm over stock. If you rebuild an A440 torque converter make sure they check the seal on the lockup clutch (apparently its a real pain to replace). Mine was broken in three place and probably had been for some time. Now when the lockup is in the truck really pulls strongly
Land Speeder
InstaH8R
The 3FE is slow?
D@mnit, why didn't somebody tell me...
D@mnit, why didn't somebody tell me...
PHAEDRUS said:
For the FJ62, we use the H55, the FJ80's get the H151. Of course there are a alot of other peices needed, but overall, a well-worth conversion.
Man, its amazing how much time and money people put forth into the 3FE. Me?-"Fully" synthetic all around and replace anything that begins to leak. Stock timing, stock exhaust, stock every part and clearance under the hood-right down to the filters. I threw in 4.88s behind the 35s. I've replaced most gasgets through the 190K, o2 sensors, and I make sure I check timing, valve clearances, spark plugs often. Never have a problem with power. Its not a 350, 400, 0r 454-but if thats what people want-go out and get a vehicle designed to be "fast." And for MPG I am steady at 13-15 around town and in the "patch."
3FE Powa!
I have a 3BI in my BJ60 (no turbo...YET), believe me, the 3FE80 is a racecar!.
2cents
3FE Powa!
I have a 3BI in my BJ60 (no turbo...YET), believe me, the 3FE80 is a racecar!
.2cents
Land Speeder
InstaH8R
Yeah, since money is tight, I believe 4.88's will be coming for me when tax return season comes around...
Steve-O said:
The 151 goes behind the 3FE or the 1FZ, or both? I was under the impression that the H55 would work in the early 80 series (91-92) because of the 3FE.
