mt_goat

Looks like it's snowing pretty good up there today. :pat:

I'm surprised you couldn't just cut your drill bit shank down, worked fine for me. I did have a problem with one of those 90 deg drill adapters though. It wobbled all over the place, so I took it back.

breknraj

Back at it, again, today.

I had to tear down the remains of the canopy, as the 14 to 16" of snow that we got over night last week killed it. I can't blame the guy that was looking after it while I was away helping my Dad. The snow hadn't started when he went to bed, and by morning, it was already done. The engine hoist protected the truck under the canopy, thank God! The total damage to the truck was some scrapes of the new white paint, and one broken headlight adjuster plastic nut.

After I got the old canopy off, I tried to take advantage of a beautiful, cloud free day, to try to get the engine all the way onto the transmission. I still haven't been able to get it all the way onto the transmission, and I haven't got a clue as to why. Obviously, I have the engine on the hoist, and I have a floor jack under the front of the transmission (the tranny is still attached to its mounts on the rear of it). I've gotten it close enough to use a couple of the long bell housing bolts from the Taco as guides, but I just can't find the sweet spot to mesh it all together.

I took the engine back out far enough to check the clutch alignment, and everything is concentric to the pilot bearing. I have checked both the clutch and transmission splines for nicks, and found none. I ran a little smear of grease over both of them, as per the FSM, as well. I know that I'm close to getting it, but, if anyone has any brilliant ideas to send my way, I'm open to suggestions.

After aggravating the hell out of myself with the engine, I erected canopy 2.0. It is the same style as before, but I found full nylon sides for this one, so it should be nicer to work under in the wind. It is now time for some dinner, and a few !!

mt_goat

Be carefull using bolts to pull the 2 together, I heard of one guy that broke his bell housing doing that. It should slide together easy. Make sure there is no rust the pilot mating surfaces and that it's all lined up straight.

breknraj

Thanks, Mt. Goat.

I'm only using the Taco bolts to aid in alignment - they are way too long to put any pressure on the housing. I'm only moving things around a very little at a time, but have yet to find the sweet spot.

I know that the pressure plate is making it onto the tranny shaft, at least partially. The closest that I've gotten it, yet, is a little over an inch from mating the housing to the block, so I'm sure that I'm mis-aligned just a bit, and not yet engaging the pilot bearing.

This is just incredibly aggravating, since I've never had this much trouble getting an engine and transmission together, before.

I'll be playing with tomorrow, yet again!

mt_goat

Oh are you using a couple bolts with the heads cut off for alignment?

breknraj

I didn't cut the heads off, but the Taco had some bell housing bolts that are about twice as long as the ones one my truck. I'm using a couple of those to keep me somewhat close to where I need to be, as I'm trying to get them together.

mt_goat

Hummm, that sounds like it would be kind of a loose or sloppy alignment. Try cutting the heads off some tranny bolts and screw them into the block (cut a slot in the end so you can remove them with a screw driver after its together) Thats what I did and it helped a lot.

breknraj

LOOK, MA! NO ENGINE HOIST!!!!

After another fruitless, frustrating day yesterday, I decided to go after the problem in a different way, today. I put the tail of the transmission on a floor jack, and removed the rear support member from it and the frame. I still had the 2 Taco bolts in place as guides.

I then lowered the transmission a bit, and moved the engine back to line up with the motor mounts. After lowering the engine into the mounts, I bolted them up to stabilize the engine. I tried to work the tranny onto the engine at this point, but there was still too much slop in the system, with the isolators on the mounts. By using the hoist to lift the back driver's side hook a little, that made the engine pretty close to solid.

At this point, it was just a matter of slowly finding the right height for the jack under the transmission, and then gently working it onto the engine. I knew that I had finally found the sweet spot when the gearing on the flywheel went behind the bell housing. It had never been that far together, until today. The bell housing is bolted up, and I'll put the tranny support and driveshafts back together tomorrow.

Hopefully, I can get back to making some decent progress, now!

breknraj

I got most of the chassis mechanicals put back together today. Re-installed the transmission support, put the driveshafts back on, and put the grease guards over the cardan joints.

I did run into a couple of unexpected things. The ORS crossover comes down lower than the stock one did, and I can't get the driver's side frame heat shield back into place. I don't think that this will be very critical, since the crossover is covered in header wrap down to the flange, which is almost at the top of the frame rail.

The cast brackets that I installed on the bottom sides of the block, for the bottom flywheel dust cover had an alignment issue on the passenger side, so I couldn't get the dust cover bolts through. I removed the bracket, and just used nuts and washers with locktite on the bolts. For the sake of continuity, I did the same to the driver's side, even though that bracket lined up.

The last one of the day was discovering that the bolt on the passenger frame rail for my steering damper is now caught in that position by the proximity of the A/C compressor. I'm just going to cut it out, and replace it with a new bolt (running bottom up, this time!)

I took a long look at the starter situation, and I think that I'm going to drill out the threaded hole on the bell housing, so that I can use the Taco starter, and avoid having to hack the wiring harness to fit (the plug lugs face opposite directions, and the small wire won't reach the '90 plug without a splice.) I'll have to get another 10x45 bolt to use for that hole - no big deal.

With the last light of the afternoon, I used my vacuum bleeder and changed the fluid in the clutch system.

All in all, I'm glad with what I got done today, and I shouldn't have to get under the truck much more, except for wiring in the plugs on the transmission, and then the fun of putting the exhaust together!

I think I hear a couple of calling my name!

mt_goat

Yeah I had the same problem, I was able to get it on after cutting it in half.

Good work.

breknraj

With better light to look it over, I decided to drill out the Taco starter, making it like the original one. After contemplating the clearance to get to the bottom bolt with the slave cylinder in place (had I drilled the bell housing), I figured that it would make a starter change a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

The modified starter has been installed and wired up, as well as the clutch slave cylinder, and the fuel feed line. I also put the hoses back together for the power steering. I used the original hoses, although I had to hack off part of the stay on the pump pressure connection.

The washer fluid bottle got cleaned and installed, and the the hose to the hood replaced and routed. I cut out the steering stabilizer bolt and replaced it, so that's back together, again.

I tried some test fitting of the A/C condenser and the new radiator, but I'm not seeing how the condenser gets attached to the sheet metal, and it looks as though I will need to space the radiator back a little to make room for it. Having never had A/C, I'm not sure if this is normal, or not. I hope that there wasn't too much difference in the front sheet metal between my '90 truck, and a '95 4 Runner (year of the A/C components)

As an aside, I have started a webshots album that includes all of the pics that I have taken, including the reference photos of both trucks. Both trucks were pretty close to stock, under the hoods, with the exception of the K&N FIPKs, so there are good pics of the engine bays of a '90 truck, and an '02 Tacoma. http://rides.webshots.com/album/555352913PvUzIT

With a couple of exceptions, the pics are in cronological order of my project. They are also available full size (2400x1800). I've received a lot of help from looking at Mt. Goat's pics (among others), and I figured that I would try to pass along the favor.

mt_goat

Here's a pic of my AC condenser, without the radiator in place (view from the engine bay side):

breknraj

I made a trip down to Denver to see my lady, and rummage around yotayard for a few odds and ends (grille clips, headlight adjuster, ect.)

Came back yesterday, with a nasty sinus allergy from whatever was blowing in the wind in Denver, so I just caught up on some snow removal, since it was relatively warm and soft.

Got back to the program this morning. I put in the original Evap can, then hooked up the heater hoses.

Part of what I did at Yotayard was take a long look at how the A/C stuff was mounted (unfortunately, I forgot the camera! :pat: ) It appears to me that the R12 condenser was considerably smaller than the R134 that I got. The sheet metal cross member that runs in front of the radiator was different in the later models that I looked at, giving more clearance for the condenser.

It was time for some field engineering to make the parts I have fit. I took my measurements, and chose to remove about 25mm from the back edges of the cross member. I had to leave some metal in place at the ends, so that I could bend up new tabs to sit the condenser on. The results came out a lot better than I expected, using a 4 1/2" grinder with cut-off wheels. I test fit the condenser, tweaked the new tabs a bit, then mounted the condensor.

breknraj

I then mounted up the new radiator, hoses, fan and shroud. All clearances seem very good.

The only screw up today was breaking a fitting on on of the A/C drier tubes. I guess I'll have to source myself another one, probably at Yotayard, again.

breknraj

Between the weather and a terrible cold, I have only worked here and there on the truck. Fortunately, I have had some really good days to work on.

I got the ECU and ORS harness stuffed into the passenger kick panel. I was originally planning to mount the computer the same way the original was, with the plugs down. I couldn't do that, because the Taco computer is about an inch wider than the original (so upside down wouldn't work, either). The Taco engine harness wouldn't have been long enough to reach the bottom, anyway.

I ended up mounting the computer with the plugs facing the front of the truck, and the engine harness was just long enough to make that. I plugged in the ORS harness, and then stuffed all of the wires and computer into the kick panel space - pretty much the old situation of trying to stuff 10 lbs of #%*@ into a 5 lb bucket!

I had to trim the kick panel a bit by the door side bolt hole, so that it would fit with the new ECU in place.

breknraj

I put the interior back together, with the addition of the new OBD II plug, under the E-brake handle. After being apart for a couple of months, a couple of the dash pieces had shrunk, just a little bit, so getting everything back together was interesting, specifically the knee panels on both sides.

breknraj

I did the initial fill of the cooling system, put in the intake, and started the basic routing of the wires. I also installed the new battery platform, and modified the Taco battery hold down to fit the truck, with an Optima Yellow Top (and no spacer).

I'm still stuck on the Evap system. I found a Vapor pressure sensor to use, but I still need a vapor pressure VSV to complete the system, using the old (round) cannister.

I secured the K&N intake, and installed a new Trueflow filter on the end of it.

The A/C is finished under the hood. I'll have to figure out a modification to get the cooling unit to fit under the dash, but I have until next summer to figure that out.

The throttle cable worked out fine with the Taco bracket. I can't get the cable housing much closer to the throttle assembly, but I'll have plenty of adjustment for cable stretch.

The hydraulic hoses for the oil filter relocation have been installed, and 6 quarts of Mobil One put in. The filter is still under the driver's side fender, since I really didn't see a better place to put it. I may fab a sheet metal cover for it, to keep it a little more out of sight.

Elton

good move

mt_goat

Looking good, ready to turn the key soon?

breknraj

I still have to finish the Evap system, sort out the last of the wiring and fab the exhaust (waiting for the parts to arrive).

I'm hoping that I'll be able to give it a try the latter part of next week.