The Lemon Gelato Journey - Build Thread

[4runner2FJ60]

Thanks for sharing all this. Look forward to seeing how it all turns out. Sounds like you left the area?

 

[TheEngineer]

Thanks for sharing all this. Look forward to seeing how it all turns out. Sounds like you left the area?

Unfortunately I had to. Still in Va but moved to Nova. Old gig was fully remote but this one requires me to be in the office.

 

[Land Shark]

@TheEngineer man you left us hanging here...

 

[Land Shark]

@TheEngineer man you left us hanging here...

 

[Land Shark]

@TheEngineer man you left us hanging here...

 

[yotadude520]

Good signs this motor was taken care of. Newer valley cover gasket that normally doesn't get addressed.

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Buttery smooth, no pitting and freely rolling lifters.

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Everything shown here is obviously high mileage based on the coloring but even that oil pan gasket is new.

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Fully broken down as far as I am able. Cam bearings and a couple freeze plugs remain because I don't have the tools to remove them. Next step with this is a couple calls to some LS shops to see if I have the right parts in mind for what I want to do before taking it to the machine shop for some cleaning and clearance work.

Chose this motor because it's a 6.2L aluminum block that is essentially an LS3. Internally, the differences are hollow exhaust valves in the corvette and solid valves in the truck motors. Slightly different compression numbers and camshaft. Externally it has the truck intake, truck accessory drive and that's about it.

The physical casting of the heads as well as the motor are identical to the LS3. For the amount I'll spend on this motor it will cost as much as a crate LS3 but this will make more power. Parts are interchangeable and bolt right on so it makes sense for my use case to get this over something new. Current plan is to go with a corvette accessory drive because it sits tighter to the block and it will give me extra space between the belt and the radiator for either a physically larger fan setup, or a thicker radiator. For the internals, I need to make some calls to see if I actually need the parts in my cart or if they're overkill for my goals.

Funny you say not to buy the folding dual leg engine stand from HF. I had bought the cheaper one originally and it bent trying to hold a fully dressed LS.

The leg issue was a little bit annoying for me, but was easily solved by pulling the pins on one of the legs and folding it up to clear the stand. Then I jacked the engine and stand in the air, folded the leg back down and pulled it to the side clearing the cherry picker while I lowered it. It was quite a feat alone, but I got it done lol

How'd the rest of the 5.3 swap go?

 

[TheEngineer]

@TheEngineer man you left us hanging here...

I didn’t realize how long it had been since updating. We bought a house and it’s been pretty hectic since. We sold my wife’s ’22 VW Tiguan and got a 70 series Prado to replace it and most of my time has been spent on that while the 60 has sat.

It’s been a great car too. It’s got a diesel turbo 4, will do 90 on the highway, gets about 25mpg at 70mph and it’s surprisingly quiet on the inside. Refreshing this has taken my attention but it’s almost at a good enough spot that I can switch back to the 60.

You can see the 60 in the back of the garage.

I stripped the interior out and started working on removing all of the gunk and factory sound deadener. Used a couple pounds of dry ice to clear it all, sanded any rust and painted the fresh metal before laying down some kilmat.

Next step is to get some mass loaded vinyl before dropping in the the new carpet set that @dnp sells on here. I originally bought grey because I was planning on swapping in a grey 62 dash set I picked up but the brown has grown on me.

Once that’s put back in I’ll have to send my steering box to redhead so they can fix a leak. Those two things are the only items to do before this becomes my daily driver again.

 

[Land Shark]

I didn’t realize how long it had been since updating. We bought a house and it’s been pretty hectic since. We sold my wife’s ’22 VW Tiguan and got a 70 series Prado to replace it and most of my time has been spent on that while the 60 has sat.

It’s been a great car too. It’s got a diesel turbo 4, will do 90 on the highway, gets about 25mpg at 70mph and it’s surprisingly quiet on the inside. Refreshing this has taken my attention but it’s almost at a good enough spot that I can switch back to the 60.

View attachment 3784974View attachment 3784973

You can see the 60 in the back of the garage.

View attachment 3784978


I stripped the interior out and started working on removing all of the gunk and factory sound deadener. Used a couple pounds of dry ice to clear it all, sanded any rust and painted the fresh metal before laying down some kilmat.
View attachment 3784979View attachment 3784980

Next step is to get some mass loaded vinyl before dropping in the the new carpet set that @dnp sells on here. I originally bought grey because I was planning on swapping in a grey 62 dash set I picked up but the brown has grown on me.

Once that’s put back in I’ll have to send my steering box to redhead so they can fix a leak. Those two things are the only items to do before this becomes my daily driver again.

Awesome man! Love the 70series. Check in with the local club VA- Bay to Blue Ridge Cruisers - https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/va-bay-to-blue-ridge-cruisers.89/ We have several in the area and we all love to work on our rigs. Hope to see you around

 

[TheEngineer]

We also got married in Shenandoah National Park and my wife is cool enough for this to be our wedding car and to include it in some of our photos.

Had to drop down to second gear on some of these mountain roads and I’m pretty sure I got single digit MPG. It was under 10 degrees on the mountain top where we stayed and the truck wasn’t happy but it started after some convincing.

 

[TheEngineer]

Awesome man! Love the 70series. Check in with the local club VA- Bay to Blue Ridge Cruisers - https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/va-bay-to-blue-ridge-cruisers.89/ We have several in the area and we all love to work on our rigs. Hope to see you around

I'll check them out for sure! Always happy to join local cruiser clubs. We tried taking it to the Capital Land Cruiser Club event at The Cove but we weren't able to find a spare that matched what's on there now.

 

[Land Shark]

Yeah the Fall Crawl is a good event and not that far. Yeah man stop in the clubhouse and say hey.

 

[TheEngineer]

Funny you say not to buy the folding dual leg engine stand from HF. I had bought the cheaper one originally and it bent trying to hold a fully dressed LS.

The leg issue was a little bit annoying for me, but was easily solved by pulling the pins on one of the legs and folding it up to clear the stand. Then I jacked the engine and stand in the air, folded the leg back down and pulled it to the side clearing the cherry picker while I lowered it. It was quite a feat alone, but I got it done lol

How'd the rest of the 5.3 swap go?

Dang, I'm surprised the single leg wasn't able to support the weight of the LS. I think it took me over an hour to get the engine transferred from the hoist to the two-legged stand and it didn't feel safe at any point haha.

Haven't made any more progress on the swap unfortunately. The bare block is still sitting on the stand waiting to get cleaned and for new parts. If I go the route I'm planning, I'll have one of the largest displacement 60 series out there.