- Thread starter
- #21
Stumbling my way through an LS Swap (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter yotadude520
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #22
I took the last gear cluster over and started to press everything off. For some reason this is the part of the TC rebuild that made me really nervous, but everything came right off.
There is a tiny needle bearing that slips over the front output shaft yoke that can be a PITA to get out. I bought a kit from Harbor Freight (seen above behind the press) and it worked like a charm.
Once you get it all connected you're going to turn this into the shop version of a shake weight - grab the gear shaft and have it hammer upside down. Looks pretty stupid to be honest but hey it works!
Pressing everything back on was really easy - for the rear output shaft bearing I used the old one and a 38mm socket to help get it seated all the way
Voila - all back together with the new overdrive gear as well
It was so satisfying to see all the gears back together
Then the final product - really happy with how everything turned out and it really isn't that hard but now that I've rebuilt my knuckles and TC is the hazing over? Am I officially a Land Cruiser owner now?
With the tranny and TC now situated I turned my attention to pulling the original drivetrain. I started by dropping the transmission out of the bottom on a trans jack. I could've pulled it with the engine but honestly with the TC disconnected it was just four bolts to separate them.
Teardown on the engine happened really quickly
And before we knew it we had liftoff!
Got it on a pallet for the new owner to come pick up - for any purists reading this don't be too sad to see this engine go. It was sold on Saturday to a gentleman who will be using it in a stock 78 FJ40 to get it back on the road.
Here's the old vs new:
Now to clean up this mess - I lost some steam on Saturday but am going to try to get the mounts cut off and the new engine mocked up this week. I leave Thursday to go to Denver for a few weeks and would love to have the new drivetrain sitting in there so when I get back it's just electrical and plumbing.
There is a tiny needle bearing that slips over the front output shaft yoke that can be a PITA to get out. I bought a kit from Harbor Freight (seen above behind the press) and it worked like a charm.
Once you get it all connected you're going to turn this into the shop version of a shake weight - grab the gear shaft and have it hammer upside down. Looks pretty stupid to be honest but hey it works!
Pressing everything back on was really easy - for the rear output shaft bearing I used the old one and a 38mm socket to help get it seated all the way
Voila - all back together with the new overdrive gear as well
It was so satisfying to see all the gears back together
Then the final product - really happy with how everything turned out and it really isn't that hard but now that I've rebuilt my knuckles and TC is the hazing over? Am I officially a Land Cruiser owner now?
With the tranny and TC now situated I turned my attention to pulling the original drivetrain. I started by dropping the transmission out of the bottom on a trans jack. I could've pulled it with the engine but honestly with the TC disconnected it was just four bolts to separate them.
Teardown on the engine happened really quickly
And before we knew it we had liftoff!
Got it on a pallet for the new owner to come pick up - for any purists reading this don't be too sad to see this engine go. It was sold on Saturday to a gentleman who will be using it in a stock 78 FJ40 to get it back on the road.
Here's the old vs new:
Now to clean up this mess - I lost some steam on Saturday but am going to try to get the mounts cut off and the new engine mocked up this week. I leave Thursday to go to Denver for a few weeks and would love to have the new drivetrain sitting in there so when I get back it's just electrical and plumbing.
Nice progress!
- Thread starter
- #24
Thanks man -we're getting closer! I'll feel a lot better once the new engine is sitting in the truck.
Engine Bay Prep
- Thread starter
- #25
Started to remove all the stuff I'm not going to reuse in the engine bay, and a local Toyota enthusiast (who will hopefully be joining Mud) offered up his plasma cutter to get the engine mounts off. Got the mounts off in a jiffy
Still have to do some more engine bay prep, but am really happy with where things stand now.
Since my donor truck was a 2003 Tahoe, it originally came stock with the drive by wire setup. As noted above I am going to drive by cable just to make things IMO more reliable and simple. When you go from a DBW to DBC setup you need to make sure that your ECU has provisions to read off the Idle Air Control sensor that was not on the DBW throttle body but is on the DBC. Here's a neat website where you can see which ECU's are compatible with the IAC on the DBC throttle body.
I was lucky that mine did in fact have the IAC provisions, verified by the model number on the computer and also by pulling the cover and checking to see the pins at B67U1
I unfortunately didn't have a chance to get my engine mocked up in the bay yet and am leaving Friday to go to Denver so I think this is where I'm going to stop for a few weeks unless I get a wild hair to install the engine tonight.
Still have to do some more engine bay prep, but am really happy with where things stand now.
Since my donor truck was a 2003 Tahoe, it originally came stock with the drive by wire setup. As noted above I am going to drive by cable just to make things IMO more reliable and simple. When you go from a DBW to DBC setup you need to make sure that your ECU has provisions to read off the Idle Air Control sensor that was not on the DBW throttle body but is on the DBC. Here's a neat website where you can see which ECU's are compatible with the IAC on the DBC throttle body.
I was lucky that mine did in fact have the IAC provisions, verified by the model number on the computer and also by pulling the cover and checking to see the pins at B67U1
I unfortunately didn't have a chance to get my engine mocked up in the bay yet and am leaving Friday to go to Denver so I think this is where I'm going to stop for a few weeks unless I get a wild hair to install the engine tonight.
- Thread starter
- #26
Back on the LS swap and started off by doing the valve cover gaskets on the LS. I'm really pleased with how everything looks inside this motor, it looks like it was really taken care of.
With the engine out I figured it was as good a time as any to replace my heater valve so I did that as my old one was rusted completely shut.
Speaking of the engine bay I'm kinda getting sick of looking at it all empty so the goal is to get the engine mounts welded in by the end of the weekend. I started by burning in the fishplates that come with cruisermatt's kit last night. They do go over the bolts for the brake line junction tee that goes to the axle but I will re-weld it somewhere and make up a new brake line.
I stich welded them in then filled the gaps so the frame didn't get too hot which seemed to work really well. I'll be the first to say there's no weld porn here - It was actually my first time ever doing any vertical uphill welding with a MIG. I'm sure they could be better but I'm pretty happy with them as it looks like I got good penetration and honestly that's really all that matters.
I got my new mounts on the engine with the frame portions and now all that's left to do is assemble the adapters with my old trans, bolt the trans to the crossmember and burn in the mounts!
With the engine out I figured it was as good a time as any to replace my heater valve so I did that as my old one was rusted completely shut.
Speaking of the engine bay I'm kinda getting sick of looking at it all empty so the goal is to get the engine mounts welded in by the end of the weekend. I started by burning in the fishplates that come with cruisermatt's kit last night. They do go over the bolts for the brake line junction tee that goes to the axle but I will re-weld it somewhere and make up a new brake line.
I stich welded them in then filled the gaps so the frame didn't get too hot which seemed to work really well. I'll be the first to say there's no weld porn here - It was actually my first time ever doing any vertical uphill welding with a MIG. I'm sure they could be better but I'm pretty happy with them as it looks like I got good penetration and honestly that's really all that matters.
I got my new mounts on the engine with the frame portions and now all that's left to do is assemble the adapters with my old trans, bolt the trans to the crossmember and burn in the mounts!
Engine Mock Up/LS Mounts Installation
- Thread starter
- #27
Got out of work early on Friday so was able to start mocking up my drivetrain to get the mounts burned in
I installed my trans mount to the crossmember, bolted it all in and then lined up Matt's mounts with the fishplates I had already welded in place. Lining everything up was honestly a breeze - the hardest part was getting the mounts flush with the fish plates but a few welding clamps made that pretty easy.
Man these LS engines look sooooooo good in a 60 series.
Unfortunately my transmission mount broke during disassembly so I'm waiting on a new one before I can put the drivetrain in for the final time, but I was able to burn in the mounts and am really happy with where I'm at.
I installed my trans mount to the crossmember, bolted it all in and then lined up Matt's mounts with the fishplates I had already welded in place. Lining everything up was honestly a breeze - the hardest part was getting the mounts flush with the fish plates but a few welding clamps made that pretty easy.
Man these LS engines look sooooooo good in a 60 series.
Unfortunately my transmission mount broke during disassembly so I'm waiting on a new one before I can put the drivetrain in for the final time, but I was able to burn in the mounts and am really happy with where I'm at.
Rockymtnreaper
Colorado.Cruiser
You are going to love it when it is done! I have the same setup in my truck!
Wowza!
- Thread starter
- #30
I honestly can't wait to hear this thing run for the first time! Hoping I can at least start it by the end of the month.
What is the P/N of the water temp sender you used?
Following!
Following!
- Thread starter
- #33
I'm coming in a hair under $10k for all the parts and the engine including the H55F. It can definitely be done cheaper if I wanted an automatic, but I had the H55F and wanted to keep this old gal a stickshift. I also opted to get a custom radiator from Mosley and to go with an in-tank fuel pump versus an external which meant I had to get a long range tank for a 62.
I'm sure I could've re-used my stock radiator and run an external fuel pump but considering this is going to be my daily driver here in AZ, I didn't want to skimp on the cooling system and I had concerns about vapor lock with the external fuel pump.
- Thread starter
- #34
I got it from the man himself - @cruisermatt
60 Series Land Cruiser Water Temp Sender for LS / Vortec
Modified OEM 60 Series Water Temp Sender to fit GM LS / Vortec cylinder heads for conversions keeping original gauges. Recommended torque spec: 50 in-lb
cruisermatts.com
- Thread starter
- #36
That's not bad! I was also able to recoup some funds from selling off the old drivetrain as well as some other parts which helps alot.
That is the only thing on this build that I'm not going to do myself - there's a really reputable shop here who has done quite a few exhausts for LS swapped Land Cruisers. I'm going to leave it to them to build it (which is not included in my previous figure of $10k - this will be around $1,100 to get it done)
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Exhaust is a pain ask me how I know
- Thread starter
- #38
I've helped a buddy build a few and I agree, I value my time and mental well being enough to just pay for it. Major props to the guys building their own
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
This is for a 80 I'm working on
