Ready to do some cleaning( people who drove by must have thought I was nuts, 34 degrees and I am washing the rig standing in the engine compartment) :flipoff2:



Here is a better picture of the rig..




Now, doesn't that look a little better (ok, at least it will keep ALOT of crap from falling on me )

 

Crap, boy, did I ever make one heck of a mess (and to think, I think half the stuff was on me,lol)




Ok, now I am ready




Ok, I winched the rig back into the shop and started planning my attack. The engine compartment is pretty much cleaned of most the seless stuff. There are just a few connectors that need to go away, but I will dig into that part once I am ready to actually start wiring the rig up..

 

So, here is my big plan(ok, maybe a day ahead of where I am now,lol) is to get the frame rails prepped.



So, the first thing I will need to do, is remove the stock motor mount platforms in preperation for my crashfab mounts. I also had to remove a couple pieces of the left over IFS stuff that was left over since the mount will be hitting in the general area..





No turning back now huh SO now that the frame around the engine is pretty much prepped and ready. The next thing, will be to start mocking the motor in place. So, up early, and back at it

 

nice!! you're fast!!!! so how much do you charge for something like this???

 

I'll give you guys a little insight as to how and I why I chose to do things. I decided to have Crash do the work for a couple of reasons:
- I've always believed in doing your own work so that you understand your rig and can take pride in your work. That being said, I really struggled with the decision to let someone else do this for me. Currently however, my schedule is just so jammed up that it would take me MONTHs to get through the project. I've already spent a couple months researching the pros and cons of the parts decisions. I also have a 1945 Willys MD that I've been doing a motor converion on and I've been about 3 months now and the motor is still hanging over the engine compartment waiting to be fitted and get the mounts welded in.
- My truck doesn't fit in my garage (too tall). I built a covered shop in the back but Wicked_Runner is under there with his 4Runner undergoing an SAS, rear leaf spring conversion and 4.3 swap. Markus has more time than I and he's been at it for about 4 months and may get start fitting the motor in this weekend.
- Why didn't I wait till I had more time? Well, in preparation for the project, I listed my motor and sold it quickly. I didn't want to put off completeing that transaction any longer than necessary. Markus will be using many of the Toyota parts that I'm taking off since he'll be using the Toyota drivetrain. My pilot and throwout bearing are cooked and I didn't want to pull everything down to change these when I'm going to pull the whole thing shortly anyway.
- So why Crash? I've know him for about 8 years and trust his knowledge, epxertise and honesty. I know that he knows Toyota's well and has done several similar conversions. I had 2 other places that would've done the work, but in both cases, they would've had to spend time figuring stuff out that Crash has already figured out with previous conversions. When I look at the work he's done and is doing, I know that it would take me 3 times the number of man hours than it would take him.
- The money??? When I figure that it would take me 3 times the man hours to do the same work, it made financial sense and would cost me less to not take the time from my work to do the project. As strange as it sounds (I'm self-employed), it would cost me more money to do it myself.

 

It depends on aplication. There are a # of variables I use to figure cost's

 

dernit! I wish I'd of caught this thread the other day! I was off work Thursday and Friday, and I woulda' come over to assist! Instead, I spent the first quarter of yesterday's work time normalizing, then quenching a blade... The other 3/4 went to trying to straighten it back out after the quench...dang'd thing ended up crookeder than a politition

I saw it out front yesterday afternoon, and was wondering if that was Gibby's rig... That thing is friggin' huge!

Nice work (not that I'd expect any less from ya')

 

Glad to see ya getting back to the hobby

 

Now that the frame is prepped, time to get the big heavy stuff ready...

Here is the th350



Here is the 203 (unfortunatley I am missing a couple internal parts so it will have to come back off)

 

I gave up trying to pick this heavy A$$ 205 Got it all cleaned up and ready




And here is the whole works bolted up. Gotta love a good quality tranny jack.




Got the tranny wheeled under the rig, so, now it was time for the other heavy item.

 

Now here is where the tricky part starts, getting everything in, making it fit, and making everything jive together. Right now I am just pre-fitting it(usually will have a motor in/out 3-4 times to get it right) to see where, if any sheet metal needs some lovin



So I got it where I wanted it and got a few things figured out (fit was pretty decent for a first shot) and pulled the motor back out.

So before it goes back in, I needed to first build the new motor mounts(on the engine side)

Here is how they turned out( due to header clearance and the mechanical fuel pump, was a tight/tricky fit)





So, now that was completed, it was time to give the firewall its first taiste of mr. 2 pound sledge



The lower corners of where the tunnel/firwall meet will also need some luvin due to the bellhousing...

 

Well, I've been working on that blade for quite a while now... It took me a full weekend to forge it to shape, then another to grind the edge...

Any ideas what the heck kind of steel the steering shaft of a '73 FJ-40 is made from? Dang that some tuff stuff to forge!

OK, thread-jack over... You're just getting to the part I enjoy

 

Wow... _AWESOME_ thread.

Thank you for taking the time to track this Crash!

 

Hey Crash,
Does the 4runner have A/C? If so, you hookin it back up? I didn't remember seeing anything A/C on there.

Hmmmm, I have a certain Landcruiser that I'm not happy with the motor mounts. I was looking at these to replace mine.

pic about half way through thread
http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...ht=motor+mount

They are designed for chev in a cruiser, somewhat adjustable, then most guys weld them

 

Hey ChrisCo,
You living in the same neighborhood as Crash? I knew you're up there somewhere.

We were thinking about running the pit up there sometime (soon?)

 

It did have A/C and we're going to try to retain it if we can.

 

He's just around the corner from Crash. Every time I drive up there, I flip Crash off, just on general principles, to keep his head from getting too big hahhahhahahah

WATTORA is putting the final details on a Reiter run on the 22nd if you want to come play with us.

 

Man this is great! Who's got the popcorn?

 

Yup, I'm literally just about a hundred yards from the doors of his shop (if that far)

 

Was it an R12 system or a 134a system? Should be able to install a GM compressor for the correct freon, and get the hoses fabbed for it. I used to do A/C work before Boeing.