FJ62 LS Swap - Lone Star Sleeper - Stoffregen Motorsports

Finally, some great news.

After spending a week at Jim Miller's Zero Gravity shop in Arizona, the project has finally come to an end. He was able to work his transmission tuning magic to bring it up to snuff, while also adding in some tuning goodies. With the flexibility of the tuning on this trans, the shift modes can be individually tuned or programmed with unique characteristics. So park, reverse, neutral and drive retain their normal functions, but he was able to program the 2nd gear slot with a sport mode. No "tow/haul" button needed. Just drop from D into 2 and you're now in sport mode. Pretty cool.

Lots of small details extended the duration of the project, but I would say about 99.5% of the entire vehicle's systems have been gone through and modernized. Let's take a look back at the journey.

We started this project about this time last year, and quickly realized that the 6L80E trans we bought was actually a 6L90E. Not being compatible with the Advance Adapters split case adapter, we had to source another trans. A call was made to Pacific Fab to rectify the situation. After the new trans was installed, it was known that the new trans computer would have to be re-flashed with the body computer connected to it. So we loaded it on the trailer and took it to Motor Machine in Sacramento for our re-flash.

During the re-flash and tune session, we realized that the trans computer was not compatible with the ECM, so another call to Pacific Fab had a new ECm on the way. That computer was then installed and back to Sac we went. It all seemed to be working fine on the trailer, but when I got it back to the shop and off the trailer, I soon found that none of the gears worked as they should. It would go into reverse and drive, but it would drop out of gear at times.

After another call to Pacific Fab the decision was made to bring the truck to their shop in Gilroy, so back on the trailer it went and two weeks before Christmas, I made the 3.5 hour journey south. We figured that something was getting lost in translation and the best way to handle the situation would be to have them go through it wire by wire. All appeared to be going well, but then I was told that the transmission was no good, and that it was my fault. Not wanting to get into an argument, I owned the situation and had the truck brought back home.

The trans was pulled and brought to my transmission shop in Olivehurst where Ed Okray went through it to give it a clean bill of health. This was touch and go. Because of the nature of the clutch design in the 6L80E, they don't hold up well when the clutches start to slip. We didn't even know if it would be repairable. It was and I picked it up a week later. While I was there, we discussed possible causes of the failure and we found that the transmission had undergone previous repairs that were not done properly, exonerating me from causing the trans to fail. We also decided that a larger cooler would be a good idea. A low pressure drop cooler was sourced from Ed. At this point I wish he had opted to install a new pump, for reasons you will soon find out.

Ed had his toque converter service build us a custom, billet faced converter and that was installed here with the rebuilt trans, as well as the new, larger cooler. Installing the larger cooler meant completely re-doing the brackets and lines to get it to fit in behind the grill alongside the power steering cooler.

Two days later I had the trans back in and hooked up to my laptop. Some tuning is required after a rebuild, so the engine was fired up and brought up to temp. The tuning requires that the trans is up to temp.

Excited as all hell, I hopped in the truck and drove it around the neighborhood to find that the same symptoms reappeared. At this point I was utterly deflated. I picked up the phone and called the owner to give him the bad news. A day later the truck was on a transport to Arizona.

Jim Miller runs the Betty Ford clinic for GM electronic automatics (it's actually called Zero Gravity). His resume is extensive including actual design of a handful of GM automatic transmissions so we had faith that if there was anyone on the planet that could help us, it was Jim.

This week brought us great news, that after only five days in his shop, the truck was done and ready to go back home to Texas. During the process, Jim discovered that the pump in the trans was bad (ughh), so it was replaced and that was that...sort of. Not leaving well enough alone, Jim decided to kick it up a notch by adding the shift functions mentioned above.

Upon reflection, it was a very convoluted process. Many hands were involved and that only added to the confusion, but at the end of the day, it should be very fun to drive.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice or support during the process and thanks for watching. I am closing out the build with a handful of pics, but I hope that the vehicle's owner will update the thread as he sees fit and as time goes on.

 
While pulling the trans, it was discovered that one of the t-case indicator switches was leaking. Luckily these are still available new from Toyota.





The front driveshaft runs very close to the transmission case and pan. The pan as clearanced, but the driveshaft yokes still hit, so I chucked the shaft up in the lathe and knocked the corners off the yokes. I doubt they will ever fail.



 
Finished pics.











Parked next to my CJ5 Resto-Mod Project.







Loaded on the trailer to go meet the transport company. Since I am far back in the CA foothills, those large trucks can not get to my shop. It never fails that every time I go to meet one, it's dark and pouring rain. The weather was so bad that I left the loaded trailer in the shop the night before I was to meet him.

 

JunkManTX

New member
Matt,
Thanks for the updates and the diligence that you approach all you do with. As the vehicle owner, this forum is really a owners manual/diary for me. I've loved watching the progress and even enjoyed sharing in the frustrations thru the process. If this was easy, it sure wouldn't be as rewarding. I can recall seeing the green FJ60 written up in the Four-Wheeler magazine and being dumbfounded, amazed and instantly hooked. The thoughtfulness you approach nearly every decision is encouraging and reassuring. As a friend of mine commented, you truly have an artist touch with a craftsman mind. Functional, beautiful and well contemplated at every turn. I think it's important for those considering a project of this magnitude to understand what I asked Matt to do was basically create a unicorn. Here was my request, and let me preface it by apologizing to Matt. I had what he refer as "PDS" Project Drift Syndrome. I asked him to do an LS swap, install a 6L80E (More about this later) build me a custom front bumper (more here too) and to install a rear tire carrier/ bumper. Oh, I also wanted the long range fuel tank. Do all this while not changing the patina or interior.

Transmission: This may well be the only FJ62 with this set up, at least we have yet to find one. I've told Matt this, but I place zero blame at his feet for the difficulties this technical masterpiece created. As referenced above, the issues were many, varied, and utterly non sensical thanks to one particular vendor. This project would have been a bear with a perfect transmission, as they are a beautifully complex item. Much of this wouldn't have been possible without the encouragement of my friend/genius Cameron. He all but demanded the "double" overdrive 6L. Thanks buddy! When we are hauling-*** in a 30 year old rig with what Jim at Zero refers to as, maybe the most significant transmission GM ever produced, the smiles will be long lasting and wide. My advice to others considering this is to absolutely NOT buy unless you can verify and the seller can PROVE the transmission is in proper shape. In fact, I'd think very hard about buying a brand new one.

Bumper: I can recall my first conversation with Matt and we quickly realized we were on the same page as we worked thru a spec sheet. It was utterly key to us both to have a vehicle if parked with which you would have no clue what lies beneath. Thus, keeping the interior and exterior nearly stock was important. Sure we could have painted and "freshened up" a few cosmetic side notes, but our efforts remained on the following: reliability, simple, function, ease of future repair. What Matt has accomplished on the front nose of this ride is yet again deceptively beautiful. We kept the original bumper, cut her up a bit and put a winch behind it. Next came my fuel tank requirement and realization that, oops there goes the spare tire mount. So, I ordered a behemoth of a rear bumper replacement. Matt dutifully mounted, ran wiring, and sent me a picture and my heart sank. I called and said, "do you still have that old bumper." Matt said yes, and I said great put it back on! It ruined the aesthetics of this truck. It threw off the balance and just didn't feel right. So if you want a brand new 4Plus rear dual swing, I'm your man!

More on the transmission: So in February the afore mentioned friend of mine and I were in Phoenix for the Waste Management Open and to go visit a friend in Mesa that drops older K5 blazers and puts 6.0 and 6L90 tranny's. So we spent a day at the tournament and then went to Mesa to tour his shop and have a beer. Some beautiful, beautiful work and a small collection of greatness. Within 5 minutes of being there he begins describing some of the very same issues we were experiencing. It was a God-send, to meet Phillip get a data dump from him and realize that there would be a path forward on this project. Thanks Phillip for the referral to Zero-Gravity!

So, the rig is to be picked up this week in Mesa and make it's trip back to Texas just in time for the greatest time of the year in our neck of the woods. More to follow, when I have the Lone-Star Sleeper back in my hands. Again, thank you Matt for your diligence and more importantly friendship! You are a good man, and I'm honored to call you friend! Someday, I'm going to complete a dream of mine and drive alone from Texas to California, and I will be honored to shake your hand.
 
The best compliment I could ever get is if someone didn't notice what we've done under the hood. If it fooled them into thinking that the new stuff was all original. That's what I'm going for, and I think you will find that when you roll up onto a group of guys in similar vehicles, the only thing that will differentiate your rig from theirs is the burble coming from your tailpipe. That's when you rap the throttle.

I don't know where the term sleeper came from, but there's nothing more satisfying than driving one.

When I was working in the wine country, I used to drive my 1965 Datsun 320 pickup to work. Not because I had to, but because it was so much fun. The motor I built for it had over twice the original HP and it still drove well as a daily driver. Well, I was sitting at the intersection in Yountville and along comes a modern Ferrari drop top with a middle aged guy driving and a trophy wife or girlfriend riding shotgun. I rolled through the intersection and his eyes were glued to my truck. I could tell that he absolutely lusted after my green econo Datsun, while driving a quarter million dollar car. I can only imagine what the woman in the passenger seat thought of him checking out my POS, but the point is, different is cool. He got it. Cool people get it. Those who don't get it... I don't have time for them.

We will be waiting for pics from you Junk Man. Thanks again.
 

buffy

Member
I'm so gitty for the Junkman. This thing is gonna be freaking awesome. Kudos to Matt and the rest of the team that put this together. Can't wait to ride in it.
 

CRolandLJ

Adventurer
Hey just wanted to drop in and say i've been following along on this and your CJ5 and you've done a great job. Keep up the good work, and I hope for my sake you keep documenting them here!
 
Hey just wanted to drop in and say i've been following along on this and your CJ5 and you've done a great job. Keep up the good work, and I hope for my sake you keep documenting them here!

Thank you. I will be starting a new thread today. I think we're calling this one SRMINT, as in senior mint. This is another FJ60 LS swap, but 50 state emissions legal, with packaging issues right out of the gate.
 

buffy

Member
As a comment from a passenger, this thing is silly. It is so strange to hear American V8 grunt coming from a Landcruiser. It's a bit surreal. The 6 speed feels like you're cheating. You just don't expect all the steps. Installation is top notch. I've spent some time studying this rig. It just feels so thought out. The junkman is right. It's a unicorn.
 

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