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I still get excited when I hear a new motor start up, I can only imagine what the kids are going to think when they see a bunch of parts, nuts and bolts make a noise for the first time. I am sure this will be some of thems first experience.
I hear that!! I love doing this. Somedays I think about just leaving what I am doing and just work on Toyota's exclusively. My Toyota addiction is getting stronger than it already was. Not sure how thats possible.
Some of them are very excited to see it run and all together as a whole vehicle.
Its going to be so nice. Kelvin really found a Gem of a Runner here. NO RUST AT ALL!!
so the runner has been sitting awhile and i made the decision to put in a spare axle while i build the fj axle. the past few weekends ive been going back up as gizler and i have been busy with our own lives. today we got the axle installed and set of wheel on it to see how it looks. i am surprised how high it sits but it looks good. so the RUF high steer setup is going to require a short pitman arm or move it forward. probably end up moving it forward, clocking it and using a flat arm. heres some pics
getting the axle installed
so heres how it sits with stock wheels and tires, stock rear suspension and the swap. i removed the overload leaf and added 2 leafs off a rear spring setup from a different runners rear leafs. they were cut down by me.
here is the last picture. i put one of gizlers wheels on to see how it looked with 35s. the lift was setup to lift the rear of the runner to a similar height to see what it looks like. it should sit pretty good.
its been awhile since i posted, but an update. after installing the mini axle i towed it back to lincoln to mess with it as my fj62 axle wasnt done yet. ended up doing it in the parking lot at my apartment with my older brother which took about 4 hours to finish. the axle install was fairly simple, only a few hang ups. i need to install my axle shims to turn the pinion angle up as its incorrect. i will also need to get a longer drive shaft. i got it aligned and all buttoned up and been driving it since. i moved to denver colorado at the end of june so ill hopefully be hitting some trails soon. i know this weekend the fiance and i will be going to chinns lake with some friends for the meteor shower.
heres a picture with stock stagging rear springs and temporary axle.
heres how it looks with some speedway motors 5x13 150lb springs in the rear and how it sits now.
and a picture i took today by voodoo donuts with the fj62 axle installed.
also i cant thank gizler enough for letting me work on my runner at his shop. he really made this happen as i didnt really have a place to do it or the knowledge. im really happy with it and looking forward to seeing how it performs,
and just some info on my steering/shock setup, i did use the ford front shock towers and ended up using 1995 ford f250 rear shocks. from eye to eye where i welded the towers it measured 20in. the rear shocks measured 26in extended and 16in compressed. since im not really doing anything crazy they should be fine for what im doing.
the fj62 axle is 4in wider, so i do not need spacers to match the rear axle. i didnt save the stock steering setup from the axle so i had to do some research to find out what i needed for lengths as my hi steer kit was for the mini axle. i ended up cutting a tube with weld-in threads to be about 44.5in long tie rod to tie rod. this ended up being to long. the fj80 tie rods have a ton of thread so i should of cut it down to about 44in. after getting it aligned it worked out. i cut the the other tube down to be used as the drag link. since i moved the steering box forward to make up for the RUF swap, i didnt have any clearence issues with the steering.
found a 2nd gen v6 4runner at the local junk yard with a fairly new upgraded radiator and took it. used the factory mounting holes. had to cut a small piece out of the radiator support at the bottom due to the relocation of the steering box, cut about 1/2in out of each radiator hose so they wouldnt kink as well as a few whacks with the hammer to the inside of the hood to clear the radiator cap.
I have a small exhaust leak i'm tracking down. about every nut on the exhaust manifold was loose and after tightening them all the noise level went way down, but i still have a small pop i cant locate.
A small oil leak on the back side of the motor i cant locate either. cant tell if its coming from above the egr cooler plate which would make sense, or somewhere else.
picked up some 2001 montero sport rear disc calipers and rotors for a rear disc swap. looks pretty straight forward just need to fab up some brackets and should be good to go. i got these after reading about the mustang gt brakes with ebrake provisions so i may just use these to get it setup and going.
I am also trying to track down the wire that must be grounding out the 7.5a IGN fuse. the only other relevant thing ive done that could be related to is i swapped in a new bosch o2 sensor awhile ago.
Put a tablespoon or so of transmission fluid in the Intake thru the Throttle Body or even thru one of the vacuum ports. It will smoke badly for a short time. Have someone to block of the tail pipe for a few seconds at a time and you should see the leak soon. Does yours have the block off plates on the Exhaust manifold? I have seen some of the noise come from that area.
been daily driving this with really no issues. having a lot of fun exploring colorado. here are some pics.
suspension test another angle mount evans mount evans trip. on the way back home with my buddy joe. so i tried installing my front driveshaft and found out the fj62 flange is different than the IFS that was originally on my 4runner. after some research i found that the fj80 rear driveshaft flange is the same since i couldnt find any 62s around, a quick craigslist search got me a rear driveshaft for 20 bucks. i modified my factory tube to accept the fj80 flange. flange in shaft. fit pretty much perfect. finishing up the weld. the only failure was it was to short. i tried making it longer and it didnt work out as well. i ended up going to a square tubing shaft. pretty much maxed out the splines were 3in longer, and the shaft itself was about 3in longer. it still came out. after a wash. top off for the first time this year. waited til march.next to barker reservoir.
Havent been on here in awhile. back to traveling again. this was south of Dallas about 2 hours for a job. i will be working in north Alabama in a few weeks. currently doing some maintenance.
Today I decided to deal with the tailgate harness that pulled apart from the rear window going up and down. The plug on the tailgate was gone, so I purchased a waterproof connector off ebay to replace it. Got everything wired up soldered and working again.
i happened to check facebook marketplace a few days ago and found a used 1994 sc400 engine for sale. turns out the dude took it out to replace it with a 2jz to turn his car into a drift vehicle. i was able to pick the engine up for 300 bucks. this will be my new winter/spring project.
searching the local upullit database i found a 1994 LS400 had just arrived. i was able to pull the engine harness, igniters, and ECU from it. i didnt have time to pull the wiring for the 4th plug (under the dash going towards the driver side) i dont know what its for, but im sure its needed for something important. some plugs busted off when i trying to disconnect them from certain things so i will need to start sourcing a place for replacement plugs. correct me if im wrong, but i think i will also need the LS400 headers for best fitment?
hit the upullit again for that 4th plug. after some reading and research i found that i only use about 4 wires on the plug so i cut it off at about 16 inches. it has the ecu power, constant power, efi relay power and ecu switched power. still reading about which manifolds to use. the engine is from an sc400 so i will not be able to use them. the LS400 in the yard has its manifolds, as well as an 06 sequoia with its manifolds as well. if anyone has experience or knows which to get, i would appreciate the info. thanks
04-19-2016, 06:42 PM
