Builds Stevo's '95 4BTRunner

[Vossie]

I needed to make a tool to put a bead on the intercooler pipes. Came up with this.

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Test bead looked pretty good.

Took it home and in the comfort of my apt finished them up.
First Pass.

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Second Pass

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Finish pass

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One down, two to go.

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Once I get them back to the shop ill be smoothing out the welds and trimming the excess off of the tubes.

nice. need a tool, make a tool

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

nice. need a tool, make a tool

It worked out pretty well. Plus it took less than 20 mins to make. As much as I don’t want to do things twice it seems like that’s how things will be until I get this thing driving.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Been away from the build for a bit, with a trip to get a distillery client set up in TX, and my father in law having a stroke and getting into an accident time has been scarce. However some progress has been made.

Intercooler piping was finished up.

Running well.



While installing the intercooler piping I realized the accumulator was damaged on the hydroboost setup I had pulled from the junkyard.
So with that out of the way I got to work on redoing the steering shaft.

Got everything in and it doesn't bind at all. Much happier with this vs the rag joint setup I had originally.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Out visiting a client in Texas I had the misfortune of dealing with the least professional boiler installer I have ever dealt with.
He installed the steam system totally wrong, and then proceeded to complain and moan about any suggestions that I made to make the system actually function. I ended up doing a full installation drawing for my client to give to him to be installed.
He proceeded to tell my client numerous times "I'll install it the way he requested, but I guarantee the system will not work."

This jerk had never installed a boiler system for a distillery before, and I have designed several very similar sized distilleries so I knew it would work. Sure enough after he installed it the way I asked and got it fired up it started working great, he left in a huff and demanded nearly $20,000 extra for fixing his mistakes. Needless to say I will probably be doing some very thorough explaining of how he messed up.

But the trip wasn't a total waste, I generated some sketches for fermentation storage racks, greatly improved the quality of his vodka, and helped build some barrel ricks for the rum and bourbon I will be making next trip. Ricks have capacity 144 barrels.

 

[The Phoenician]

Out visiting a client in Texas I had the misfortune of dealing with the lease professional boiler installer I have ever dealt with.
He installed the steam system totally wrong, and then proceeded to complain and moan about any suggestions that I made to make the system actually function. I ended up doing a full installation drawing for my client to give to him to be installed.
He proceeded to tell my client numerous times "I'll install it the way he requested, but I guarantee the system will not work."

This jerk had never installed a boiler system for a distillery before, and I have designed several very similar sized distilleries so I knew it would work. Sure enough after he installed it the way I asked and got it fired up it started working great, he left in a huff and demanded nearly $20,000 extra for fixing his mistakes. Needless to say I will probably be doing some very thorough explaining of how he messed up.

But the trip wasn't a total waste, I generated some sketches for fermentation storage racks, greatly improved the quality of his vodka, and helped build some barrel ricks for the rum and bourbon I will be making next trip. Ricks have capacity 144 barrels.

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Whereabouts in Texas?

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Once back home I stated working on the shifters and also the throttle and choke for the injection pump.
Installed the cable shifters onto my new center floor cut out.

Installed into the truck.

Just wrapping up the shift boots and going to connect the shifters to the NP205

Since I needed to pull another hydroboost master I ran over to the junkyard and grabbed another one to swap in that had an intact accumulator.

It was too hot to do any welding today and I didn't want to mess up my measurements so I saved it for another day.
I now have full controls for the engine from the cab of the truck, feels good to be able to start, throttle and kill the engine.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Whereabouts in Texas?

Out in Amarillo.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Back to the build. I installed the cable shifters and everything works perfect. Nice shifts into 2WD and 4WD and High and Low.
Had to bend the shifters slightly so there wouldn't be any contact between them and the transmission shifter but now everything clears perfectly. I also added an additional support to the steering and its a lot more solid now it has that additional brace.

Next big item to get knocked out was the ball joints on the front axle.

New Ball Joints installed

Painted red of course

All Buttoned up.

Now that things are back together its on to the brakes, still waiting on a driveshaft from High Angle Driveline. They said it would be 4-6 weeks, its been 9 weeks now, they keep saying they are working on it this week, but they have said that since the last week in August.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Still waiting on the driveshaft, 12+ weeks at this point.

Since I need the driveshaft to finish up the final suspension geometry in the rear I decided to spend some time on the front bumper.
Gotta say I really hate having to drill the frame. I really should have precut these holes with the plasmacam.

The main chunk of the frame is 4x4x.375" picked it up for scrap cost so thats why I went with the thicker wall. .25" new would have been 4 times the price.
Going to be incorporating some wings, and a hoop. Messed around with some CAD modelling.

Thinking something along the lines of this:

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Can't believe how time flies, here are some updates on the build.

Worked out the front bumper, its not 100% but good enough for now. Just wanted to have something on the front to stand on and protect the truck.

Main Base structure tacked up

Smoothed out

Hoop and recovery hooks mounted

Deciding on the front plating so it didnt look like a funny mustache

Good enough for now, definitely stout

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Took another trip down to Texas

Mashed some blue corn bourbon, nicest corn I've worked with so far. Great flavor and color.

Also welded up a fermenter rack to free up some floor space. Welded it upside down and flipped it up. Turned out really nice and my client was thrilled to have the extra room.

glamor shots

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Back to the truck. I finally got my driveshaft in, only took 14 weeks.
Installed that and then once I confirmed all the geometry looked good, welded in the rear suspension completely.
Started work on my anti wrap bar as well.

Axle mount

Frame heim tie in

Triangle bar

Did some test fitting

Painted up and installed

I just needed to adjust the heim out slighly to get the shackle vertical and it was all wrapped up.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Next up is wiring, I picked up some gausges to make sure i dont cook my new turbo.
I also wanted to have a backup RPM gauge in case my toyota one isnt thrilled with the input signal from the alternator.

Still working on getting the engine bay wiring cleaned up, but im about 80% there. While waiting for some parts to come in I decided to start working on the clutch for the ZF6.
I have to say I really don't like the "twist-lock" slave cylinders that the ZF transmissions have, mine was a super loose connection and I didn't want to rely on a flimsy seal to keep it in place or just pressure from the rod. I decided to make a spacer that would keep it a much tighter fit without me worring about it working its way loose.

Started with a really big washer, and opened up the bore and notched it with a die grinder.

Turned down the outer diameter on the lathe to improve the fit.

Fits perfect now, I used an o-ring seal to seal against the bellhousing.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

It's been a crazy year so far, working and whatnot has been eating up a lot of my time. But things have progressed on the build.

Added in a muffler, it was too loud without it and I didnt want to be "that guy" in the neighborhood with the loud truck.

Worked on the brakes and added in a proportioning valve to be able to adjust the ratio between the fronts and rears. I picked up a vice mounted flaring tool and have to say that there is no reason to use the old clamp/hand style to make flares.

The clutch wasnt fully engaging so I had to cut and reweld the clutch pedal, now there is enough angular throw to actuate the master fully.

Last on the list was getting some sliders on the truck so I wouldnt be going through pairs of pants with ripped inseams as I tried to get into it. They are 2x4" tube .25" wall so they aren't going anywhere.

I drove it for the first time today, just a few feet forward and backward, but it has great torque. No need for any thottle and the engine didn't even act like there was any load on it to get it moving. Injection pump is leaking so I'll have to pull that apart again to seal it up. Once thats done I am going to go through all the bolts again and make sure they are torqued and mark them with a paint pen.

Last thing is to swap out the fluids in the front and rear diffs and It will be ready for the road!

 

[Vossie]

Nice! Best feeling ever during that first drive, even if it is only a few feet here and there. Its confirmation that it's all worth it

 

[cody c]

The build is really cool, but the big whiskey barrels and distillation stuff takes it over the top. Love to see more of that stuff too and hear about the design etc

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

The build is really cool, but the big whiskey barrels and distillation stuff takes it over the top. Love to see more of that stuff too and hear about the design etc

There will hopefully be a bunch more of that stuff to come, getting a client set up locally to me. I also have a rum distillery to set up in LA, an agave distillery in Isreal, and a whiskey distillery in Japan.

I hope ill also get the truck driving soon. The IP is leaking pretty bad, so I am on the fence for a rebuild or a new one.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Injection pump is leaking bad, the cost of a rebuild it 75% of a new pump, so looks like a new pump is in the works.
In the middle of buying a house so the pump will have to wait until after all the bank stuff closes, but the highligh of it is I will soon have my own garage to work in!!!

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

So its been way too long since I have done an update. The spring summer was nuts with work, plus other things that came up along the way.
First things first, the old pump was shot so bought a new one

The new pump was slightly different, no manual fuel shutoff so I had to wire in the solenoid to shut it down manually.

Getting the thing on the engine is a bit of a pain, lot easer with two people.

But got it installed with all the upgrades from the old pump.
First fire up she tried running away hard, I cut the switch, but apparently the 12v I tied into was self feeding off of the alternator. Made for a bit of an event. Fortunately my buddy Toby was able to crack some injector lines while I smothered the intake. Got everything adjusted and its running great!

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Once I got the garage setup at the new house a bit it was time to bring this thing home. Mostly so it wasn't tying up space in my buddy's shop.

Made myself a little welding table.


Then got a dolly to bring the beast home. I needed to swap over to some rollers to get it to fit.

In its new home for now.