Wilma's Buildup thread - FJ45LV (1 Viewer)

[fogblanket]

my v8 is home. a lot of work ahead of me on tearing it down and cleaning it up but it should be fun. while I rebuild this engine (prolly looking at late spring early summer for an install. i did get a used Weber 38/38 kind of excited to see how it compatres to the Jim C carb that I have currently. I will have a nice 2 f at the end of the swap. would love to keep it and but it into a 25/40 project that I have cooking in my head we'll see for now just keeping the focus on Wilma.

also picked up my shackle reversal kit. while I have tightened up and aligned everything involved with the steering. it tracks nicely now but I still get the bump steer on bigger bumps and pot holes. its not horrible but its not nice.

 

[mderrick]

What SR kit are you using?

 

[fogblanket]

Bob firestein same guy that made my front crossmember ps bracket.over built stuff I will take some picks of it all uninstalled when I get home

 

[mderrick]

that would be great. I made some that use factory hanger bolts for my LV we'll see how they work out

 

[fogblanket]

here are some pics of the Shackle reversal

 

[mderrick]

looks a lot like mine, those look to be a bit taller is all

 

[Leaping Deer]

Wow that didn't take long to pick up the V8. What are you going to do for mounts?

 

[merbesfield]

This is good. I am watching what you do. I don't think I am going to be happy with my 6 cylinder either. Of course I still have lots of work before it ever runs.

 

[fogblanket]

the v8 is out of a 73' chevy pick-up. a good block and a decent place to start. I have a long lpart list forming. was looking into mounts and one issue I will have is the steering shaft set up as seen on the top of page 21 of this thread. from what I have seen the v8 tends to mount higher on the frame rails than the mighty 2f. luckily when I did the mounts for the 2f I used all factory holes so they are just bolted on i like the bob firestein mounts but will prolly run into clearance issues with those so I amstill looking into what mounts to go with.
I did get the v8 its space int he garage and on the stand sprayed all the bolts with PB Blaster ans started to take some stuff off.

 

[Leaping Deer]

When I was started building a 40 before I got the 45 I picked up a set of the Firestien mounts and they were really nice. They are well though out. However they seem kind of bulky and that was before I did any sort of fab work. I'm sure you could fab up your own mounts.

I've got a great machine shop who did the work on my 2F. The only problem is he was about and hour from me which makes it even longer from you. He is the same guy that does Landtank's engine work. He's semi retired and works out of his large garage but has all the tooling and knows V8s well.

 

[fogblanket]

almost did the Shackle reversal last night almost Monday nights seem to be my steady garage night these days so i will take what I can get. seems my kewl mounting spot for the OBA tank was not so kewl after all. first trip (Fall Gathering) off road I thought just broke the switch off. but as I finally got under there and took the tank down it appears I dragged it over something and the mounts are now a bit crooked. still all functional though and I was sliding around on the creeper figuring out where to mount it. my new favortie location is in the rear quarter between the frame rail and the quarter panel. I think there is enough room I may have to adjust the support ofr the rear quarter slider and may be able to mount everything to the bumper and leave the body alone.still will be a fun project.

back to the engine. thanks Jason for the tip on the engine guy. I mention my engine swap plans to my brother inlaw (who is the service manager for a local Nissan ,Volvo, GM truck dealership chain and said any machine work I need done to send through him in that he can take care of it. so I will see what exactly what that means. he put a very sweet 56 chevy pick up together and wins shows with it. he is always amazed that his truck and my cruisers shared the same engine block.

 

[foxfab]

need pictures and driving impressions.

 

[fogblanket]

alright just getting time to sit at my computer. Mike came over on Sunday morning at 6am to tackle the Shackle reversal on Wilma. we were going great got hte shackle perches adn the spring pin mounts all cut off ot ht e new spring pin mount ready to weld on and the welder argon tank was empty duh!!! not only that but I had the wrong fitting. so 3 homedepots and a harbor freight latter and a lovely trip through scenic Fall river MA. we were back in buisiness.

 

[fogblanket]

a couple more of the tear down. we got the tank and tacked the mount in got hte spring attached and we were off by 3/4" of an inch so by this time it was noon and fox had to go to work so there Wilma sat all week hamstrung....

 

[fogblanket]

so fast forward to today again Mike got here at 6am and we got right to work. for those of you that don't know I am half blind well close anyway and its hard for me to weld a straight line so I greatly appreciate Foxs ability to weld plus I know it is guna be bullet proof now. so we got hte new spring pin mounts off I had made some 1/4" spacers during the week and had preped the frame for welding and we got the spacers and the sopring eye mounts in and the meassurements were spot on 29 3/4" at the front back and axle of the springs yeah

 

[fogblanket]

as you can see from my previous phots witht he bob firestine front cross member my font frame is all boxed and made mounting really easy. we got hte fronts all welded on and started on the shackles through the frame. which supplied its own set of issues but we got them set up (oh I almost forgot to take a wedge of wood out that was holding the headers away from the frame) anyway fox left me with it all welded upa and cooling and I was able to get some epoxy primer on thre as well as so black paint. looks factory

 

[fogblanket]

I stopped taking pictures this afternoon anyway I got everything back together and had to answer daddy duties for the rest of the afternoon its all back together I was able to back it out of the garae turn it around in the dark and put it back int he garage. the steering seemsed really nice no sloop and it seems to sit level but again it was dark will take some pics of it int he light tommorrow

 

[fogblanket]

ok back to cruisers cause lets face it the world revolves around cruisers

first impressions of the SR

there are all the arguments for and against, seeing how my truck is not a trail only truck some of the againstare not as strong cons but what it did for me is took out ALL the slop provided by alcan sending me 18mm eyes on the front springs. when my front frame mounts were 15mm. what I should have down was cut the front 15mm frame mounts off and welded on 18mm ones, well really what I should have done is gotten rid of the alcans but anyway so I tried to use different bushings I drilled out the frame pins all ofcourse not optimal.

anyway the cruiser drives very nicely now and tracksbetter down the road. no more bump steer or thepothole cring . I may need longer shackes on it in that the springs settle quite a bit but right now the cruiser sits level. so far this ranks up there as one of the better upgrades. its low profile enough that it does not look funny .

here are some pics of it all together int he driveway. don't worry that paint will get dirty and match the rest soon enough I had to cut the side bumper mounts kindof take the bottome bend out of them and then weld them on rust above the new SR mounting plates. helps it blend in better due the the slight outboarding on the front spring eye mounts.

again this mod works for me and how I drive Wilma

 

[fogblanket]

some of the other side. don't worry the rest of the bumper bolts will get on there

 

[cruiser_guy]

This is good. I am watching what you do. I don't think I am going to be happy with my 6 cylinder either. Of course I still have lots of work before it ever runs.

You guys with your V8's

I actually LOST two cylinders in the resto-mod on my LV!!