FJ62 LS Swap - Lone Star Sleeper - Stoffregen Motorsports

Trying to finish up all the fab work.

The last FJ60 I LS swapped had a bit of a lift on it, so oil pan clearance was not an issue. This truck had a bit of an oil pan clearance problem. The pinion flange would possibly contact the kickout on the custom pan at full suspension compression. I doubt the truck will ever see full suspension compression, but to play it safe, I decided to cut the corner off the kickout. Luckily, I have a welder!

Here are a couple cut options. I decided to go with the cleanest option, which ended up being the largest.





Mock up.



New drain plug location.



Weld er' up.



Leak test.



Back on the motor (final installation will come later).

 
Building the exhaust.

Starting from the headers, using 2.5" tubing and stainless V-band clamps, the y-pipe is a tight fit. Most exhaust shops would not use a collector, they would just plunge the one side into the other side, and call it god, but I want my designs to be at least as good as OEM, if not better. This y-pipe utilizes a Flowmaster d-port collector. From there, we will go back with 3" tubing to a Walker muffler, which is quiet, but not too quiet.

Building the y-pipe.













 

buffy

Member
I just love your fab work. An engineer's mind with an artist's hands. Love for old iron is hard to beat.
 
Last edited:

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
How is the front driveshaft clearance at full bump? Mine was hecko tight with the 80 chassis and the high pinion front axle.
 
I just love your fab work. An engineer's mind with an artist's hands. Love for old iron is hard to beat.
Thank you. Are you friend's with the owner of this truck? He's in Longview also.

How is the front driveshaft clearance at full bump? Mine was hecko tight with the 80 chassis and the high pinion front axle.
There is a pinch point at the transmission pan, but I think a simple trim will solve the issue.

On the FJ40 buggy I built a couple years ago, we had to build a two piece front shaft to get through the tight frame rails.
 

buffy

Member
Yep. He's a dear friend. We're both vintage four wheel drive crackheads. Our wives spend a lot of time rolling their eyes at our tomfoolery.
 
Hey Buffy. Sorry about that. I am having withdrawals too. I had to sneak in a job on a Jeep which needed to be ready for the "wheeler's for the wounded" Rubicon trip, but I'm back on the job now. No distractions until completion.

I'm working on the power steering reservoir today. A Toyota mini truck reservoir was chosen, because it's Toyota, but I had to cut the mounting bracket off as well as the lower outlet nipple. I bought the worlds smallest u-bend, in 3/4" diameter, so I could fabricate up a new nipple. Boy is it hard to find small diameter tubing like that. I am going to silver solder the nipple and new mounting bracket on instead of TIG welding them. Since the factory does it that way, who am I to argue?

There are a couple more items on the fab list, then things go off to the powder coaters for a nice coat of satin black heat coating.

Anyway, pics will be coming soon, as I make enough progress to post something up.
 
Picking up where I left off. The exhaust system is done, the radiator plumbed (I still need to weld a stem port bung into the upper tank of the radiator), the intake tube and MAF system are done, power steering reservoir done. A lot of fab work has been check off the list. Actually, I just made a to-do list for the first time on this job. I always feel like when I get to the point that I can actually make a to-do list, I know I'm getting close.

For the exhaust, I always try to emulate the engine's original exhaust configuration. So on this job, it got a single three inch exhaust with a y-pipe near the front of the system. We're only using one muffler at this point, but I left a long straight section in front of the muffler in case the owner wants to install a CAT at some point. I also try to build OEM style mounts. They tend to vibrate less and last a whole lot longer. Here are some completed exhaust pics.











 
Finding the correct MAF bung for the intake tube was challenging. I almost made one on the mill, but at the last minute I found what I needed at Summit Racing, for only $30. Placement is pretty straightforward. It can't be in a valley and it shouldn't be at the bottom of the tube. Other than that, you can put it pretty much anywhere you want.

Pics.







When building the intake tube, I had a helluva hard time getting it to weld. I spent the better part of the morning troubleshooting my welder setup, only to find that my tank was contaminated. A trip to the welding supply got me back in business. It's a bummer I didn't figure that out when I was building the fan shroud and coolant tube as those welds would have come out nicer.





 

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