The diary of Oddie... bigger..better..stronger (12 Viewers)

[djinn]

So, now is the time to actually start my build thread. Oddie came to me after being left in a field to die. I nursed her back in the field, during the historical February North Texas snow.. (crazy I know) Drove her home with a busted up windshield and a missing passenger door glass. Blessed be the cardboard! She, yes.. Oddie is a girl, had only 96k on the odometer.

Her story... begins here...

She wrote in her diary that she wants a new 4bt heart, nv4500, SOA, 35" meats, lots of expedition toys and gadgets

Dear Diary,

After arriving home and getting the glass replaced. She was elated and started to strip and insisted I pull out .. the motor. The nice <100k motor was delivered to my buddy Daniel in Austin in a late night caffeine-fueled care-flight trip to help with the OX's surgery!

Having the exterior of a clean, basically rust free FJ60 was a tough one.. But, I love it and I hope it helps some with noise from the 4BT. The slight surface rust was removed and self-etched to protect the metal. She had very little rust but she wanted to look rough and tough.. So, had her lined in Speedliner, inside and out.. then she just utterly demanded I get her a rack job!.. For the roof you gutter folk!! Geez!

I'm going to try and show the build and keep myself accountable here I've procured about 90% of the stuff needed and am working to get it done now. Got the SOA going in currently with Proffit's fine work. I also went with some Longs while I'm in there.

PS - Thanks to Trent (CruisinFJ60) for the help on pulling the 2F.. never had a cruiser before so I had novice questions.. OK.. a lot of novice questions.

And thanks to John and Jeremiah at Proffits for answering all my questions about the swap and taking care of me on the SOA gear.

A few pictures to help paint an idea

Oh and she got her name, oddie, from the color I had hand matched... Olive drab.. (O.D)

 

[sirenmoses]

wow. nice work. look forward to the progress.

and let me welcome you w/ the offical mud salute:

no offense intended, it's just what we do. you won't find a better car club on the interweb, or so I've heard.

back to the photo's please!

 

[CruisinFJ60]

Hey where are the damn updated pictures!

 

[djinn]

Front SOA

Thanks for the welcome, sirenmoses.. and the harrassment, Trent

OK OK, PICTURES!

I got the rear done and started the front.. need a tie rod puller to get them off and then the housing will come out... Everything else is loosened and ready. For some reason, the front axle really had me stressed. I'm worried I won't get it right and will have the wobble or worse, something come off in the middle of the road I'll be sure to torque per spec on everything. Just need to see if I can swap everything over to the new housing.

Man, once I got the vehicle's weigh on the rear.. it made those 31" tires look ridiculously tiny!

I got the cut and turned housing from Proffit's (Thanks John!) and got longfields' chromoly super set (axles and birfs) as well as a knuckle rebuild kit, high steer, pitman arms, shock hoops, new ubolts and plates and figured I would show

The boss inspecting my work:

This is with the rear SOA done and the front beginning:

This is the lovely housing:

Bobby Long's finest

Steering components:

And starting to get the front housing out:

 

[CruisinFJ60]

And then...

 

[djinn]

finally.. time to update

OK, so I'm not updating as fast as Trent wants

A few weekends ago, Trent came over (Thanks!!) and helped Oddie by taking the left knuckle and friends off.
Smile for the camera (with glare from the cellphone camera)!

And him giving it a go with tight gloves:

I should have taken some pictures of the knuckles from the housing's perspective.. pretty gooped up. But you can see the top and the slop below:

 

[djinn]

things need paint!

So before putting the leaf packs back in and since the ubolts, plates, drag link and steering arm were shipped naked.. I figured I'd grab my HVLP and some oil-based paint and make them look just a bit more pleasing.. prior to installing.

And then I started putting in new bushings and got the leaf packs hanging and cleaned the grim off the differential and painted it black before moving it to the new housing:

Finally got the cut and turned housing installed. I need to check the FSM and make sure everything is torqued correctly, I will need to for the rest of the front goodies:

So I should be getting the rest of the front put on and hopefully now that it's not 110 degrees all the time, I'll get the 4bt pulled out of the Frito truck. I'll probably try for that this next week.

Oh, and Daniel (guy who got Oddie's 2F <100k heart) got it alive today! I barely got the SOA done I am slooow. Would you believe me if I had only one arm?

In other news, the 35"s on this are going to be way too small. I'll probably do 37's. Without cutting, that's the largest an SOA rig can go, right?

 

[Fourrunner]

Looking good man...

 

[concretejungle]

do you think bobby longs are the right choice for an expedition rig? Just thought they were a bit softer compound to allow for a little more flex to keep from breaking; which also means they wear quicker?

 

[CruisinFJ60]

do you think bobby longs are the right choice for an expedition rig? Just thought they were a bit softer compound to allow for a little more flex to keep from breaking; which also means they wear quicker?

lifetime warranty.....

and also very strong stuff.

 

[djinn]

longs

lifetime warranty.....

and also very strong stuff.

Exactly what CruisinFJ60 said... And since birfs are the weak link after SOA and large meats... breaking a factory birf in the middle of nowhere isn't on my short list of things to do.

 

[SUUEEET]

give it to Trent

Exactly what CruisinFJ60 said... And since birfs are the weak link after SOA and large meats... breaking a factory birf in the middle of nowhere isn't on my short list of things to do.

Give those axles to Trent. He likes breaking axles. Might need a few spares for Orange Julius.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

Give those axles to Trent. He likes breaking axles. Might need a few spares for Orange Julius.

LOL, I did try and take them with me when i left but he caught me. and I have only busted 1 birf so far... rear axles tho, ive easily snapped two long sides.

and patches has the 30 spline longs already but i dont think it has the chromoly hub gears yet and it is equipped with poly performance rears.

 

[djinn]

Front is all done

So I cleaned, media blasted and painted what was reused and did a full knuckle rebuild. Even the wheel bearings.. which appear aren't included in a front rebuild kit. They include the oil seal, but you have to go after the only thing missing... the wheel bearing.

The old rotors didn't deserve a turning (they were out of min. spec with ~18.86mm thickness) so I bought new ones. Ordered the 95 4Runner calipers too. But breaking the hub and from the rotor.. Damn they were on there. I used a press with a wedge... hammer, sweat on it, pissed on it, and even cried on it.. then took my brass hammer and beat out the wheel studs.. BAAM it came apart!! So if you need to break em apart, kick the studs out first (even though you don't have to)

Painted knuckle and blasted/primed dust cover. waiting to paint:

Having to degrease yet more crud off the dust cover after a little blasting. Going to hit it again before cleaning up to prime:

Hubs after blasting and primed:

Starting to put things back together on the passenger-side:

Putting on the free wheel hub:

So lift is done, got to do the steering tomorrow and then it's ready for the Cummins baby!!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Sweet. I love the 4BT.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

thats some bling.

 

[djinn]

4BTA

Thanks Trent. It's all shiny under there now.

Now for Oddie's long awaited transplant.. She's been on the transplant list for a bit now..

So it's a 4BTA - 120HP from 97' and I pulled it from the stepvan a week or so ago. Time to start my chop shop up featuring my plasma cutter.

Below shows the motor all dirty and fresh pulled:

Here shows it and the SOA ended up yeilding 8" on the front and rear with the existing 31" tires. A bit taller.. Hopefully it will settle with the drivetrain in:

 

[CruisinFJ60]

vroom

 

[boots4]

It'll definitely come down with the new heart in it. Looks good so far. Are you going to play with turbos or slap in an intercooler?

 

[djinn]

new heart

I bought a Volvo innercooler but this one is aftercooled, I guess (edit: I'll be selling the innercooler ).. Turbo-wise, I need to look into that. The one that is on there is in good shape, no play at all. But, I'd love to size it up some without hitting wall for upgrading injectors and all.