FJ62 LS Swap - Lone Star Sleeper - Stoffregen Motorsports

[NCFJ]

I think that a big part of that is what I refer to as "Land Cruiser Syndrome" As a group LC owners got their truck on the cheap. Sure, they are 20-30 years old but they are the best off road vehicles in the world now becomes the mind set. But, and it's a big butt, a great many of those LC owners somehow think that parts for said truck will also be cheap.

That said, anyone that sells a swap in an LC at $3K labor plus parts and actually does a proper job is selling themselves short. Don't bother arguing with them Matt, just keep on doing what you do.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Stan, just doing what I do, and making progress.

In a scramble to get the batch of parts ready for the powder coaters, there were still a couple items I needed to check off the list. The power steering and trans coolers needed to be mounted, as well as the A/C drier and the charcoal canister. For the trans cooler, I ended up going with a stock size cooler, but generic fit and with -6AN nipples.

Here is the power steering and trans cooler bracket and plumbing.















Using Aeroquip hose and hose ends, I made up a pair of hoses for the trans cooler. I connected them to the trans using the new manifold I bought from Marks 4WD, then routed them up over the fender well to the cooler. Not wanting too many hoses going through the small hole in the radiator support, I decided to bend up a pair of hard lines for the cooler to connect to and installed steel tube sleeves and nuts to be sure they lasted a long time. The hoses then got a sleeve of heat shrink for both appearance and longer life.







And finally, the routing. I don't like how the power steering pressure hose loops like that, but without a custom bent hose end, this is the only way. Aesthetics are important to me.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Moving on to the charcoal canister. Technically we don't need one, but I wanted to have one. It may or may not be connected to an EVAP purge valve system in the future.

It's stock location is right on the frame rail, and would now contact the header, so with a modified bracket, it now sits next to the washer fluid bottle.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

If I had done a little more planning, I could have built the fan shroud around the A/C drier, but I didn't... A simple extension of the bracket puts the A/C drier back close to its original location.



Heater hoses seem insignificant, but to get them out of the way in a manner that looks professional takes the right hoses and a fair amount of time. The stock Toyota pipes were used wherever possible, but most of them had to be modified in one way or another, from a simple heat-and-twist to a re-route, to larger size inlet, a lot of tinkering was done to get the hard steel pieces right. Then the hoses were chosen from over the counter sources to ensure future availability.







These are the final mock-ups before cutting the new hoses to length.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

On to the transfer case shifter. I was careful to take measurements of the stock shifter pivot before I disassembled the truck, and that made building the new bracket a lot easier. Here a simple pivot is needed and a bracket to attach it to. I had thought I would just use the original pivot, but soon found out that my selection of large metric taps is lacking. Instead, I grabbed a standard shock mounting stud, one that can be found in just about any Rancho shock package, made one simple cut on the lathe, and had my new shifter pivot.

These were my choices.



From there, this simple bracket was made to bolt to the trans.



Then the linkage rod needed to be shortened.



The final assembly.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

While I had the trans up on the bench, I had to clearance the pan slightly to avoid driveshaft interference. It didn't need much and instead of cutting it, I peened the edge to gain clearance and keep some rigidity.





It never ceases to amaze me how some people just suck. Removing the trans oil pan revealed three different bolts, which then revealed all but one stripped or partially stripped thread in the aluminum body of the transmission oil pan mounting flange. People who don't know how to do stuff just shouldn't work on cars. This trans is only 7 years old...

Instead of fighting with the supplier of the trans, I figured I would just tap new holes, but even this wasn't without problems. The gasket has vulcanized in stainless steel bolt spacers that could not be removed nor did I want to try that. So using 7mm x 1.0 bolts from a Volvo 5cyl turbo cam cover, I tapped the holes and secured the pan. It didn't take long, but I just get tired of finding hack jobs at every turn. At the end of the day, you can only rely on yourself.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Getting all the parts ready for the powder coaters, there were two tubes that needed to be pressure checked.

Here's one being tested. The bubbles you see are from the hose, not the tube...



With everything finished and carefully counted and documented (don't want to lose anything at the coaters), everything was loaded up and brought to my regular powder coating shop, who then told me of a 5 week wait. Um, hell no. After a phone call to a buddy, I found a new shop who was more than happy to take in my job. Thank you Trevor Huiskens for the recommendation.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Now that all the hard parts ore off getting powder coated, it's time to dot some i's and cross some t's.

I'm sure most of you Toyota die hards have heard of the FJ80 brake master cylinder swap. It's a popular swap but I doubt most people realize why. Bigger is not always better and simply bolting on a larger bore master is not going to make your brakes better. In some cases, it will make your brakes worse. In my experience, I have found that using the larger master in conjunction with the larger booster is the trick. But then that leads us back to the booster. Who sells a "FJ80 brake master cylinder"? Go down to your local auto parts store and ask for one. About six varieties come up. Do you have rear disc brakes? ABS? What year is the truck? All good questions. Places like Marlin Crawler and Trail Gear sell the mythical master cylinder, but I like to go to the source.

One question that needs to be answered before you buy a new brake master is disc/disc or disc/drum? If you've got disc front brakes and drum rear brakes, then you need the early FJ80 master.

Specter Off Road sells them at a reasonable price, and by application too.

Here's a pic of the new master with the box and it's part number. I hope this saves some of you from a potential headache.

 

[buffy]

Matt: I'm looking forward to seeing how you managed the transmission shifter. That was always in my head as the tricky piece. Brian and I are heading out to Arizona next month to run the Copperstate Overland in my K5. We're acting like complete goobers getting things ready and planned. I can't wait to see your finished product in person.

 

[DCH109]

I think that a big part of that is what I refer to as "Land Cruiser Syndrome" As a group LC owners got their truck on the cheap. Sure, they are 20-30 years old but they are the best off road vehicles in the world now becomes the mind set. But, and it's a big butt, a great many of those LC owners somehow think that parts for said truck will also be cheap.

That said, anyone that sells a swap in an LC at $3K labor plus parts and actually does a proper job is selling themselves short. Don't bother arguing with them Matt, just keep on doing what you do.

Agreed!

Thinking parts are cheap and a swapped in engine is cheap are out to lunch. I looked at doing it mine at a point and will do it with the help of a good friend (he put a 454 in a Trailblazer SS and looking at it you would never know) and I know even then it is a 7++K job.

You guys are the experts when it comes to this. I never understood why people argue.

 

[dcoy]

Now that all the hard parts ore off getting powder coated, it's time to dot some i's and cross some t's.

I'm sure most of you Toyota die hards have heard of the FJ80 brake master cylinder swap. It's a popular swap but I doubt most people realize why. Bigger is not always better and simply bolting on a larger bore master is not going to make your brakes better. In some cases, it will make your brakes worse. In my experience, I have found that using the larger master in conjunction with the larger booster is the trick. But then that leads us back to the booster. Who sells a "FJ80 brake master cylinder"? Go down to your local auto parts store and ask for one. About six varieties come up. Do you have rear disc brakes? ABS? What year is the truck? All good questions. Places like Marlin Crawler and Trail Gear sell the mythical master cylinder, but I like to go to the source.

One question that needs to be answered before you buy a new brake master is disc/disc or disc/drum? If you've got disc front brakes and drum rear brakes, then you need the early FJ80 master.

Specter Off Road sells them at a reasonable price, and by application too.

Here's a pic of the new master with the box and it's part number. I hope this saves some of you from a potential headache.

Just for fun I thought I'd mention one approach to the brake upgrade that I took that I'm happy with. I upgraded to a hydraulic booster. This is a fairly infrequent approach and I could only find one example on IH8Mud, but we went for it and it is working well so far. I had been chronically unhappy with my braking since my Vortec conversion so I was seeking a solution. It may seem to be overkill but we discussed possible Fj80 or 4Runner swaps and we went with this as a more definitive approach. It is a GM remanufactured unit that bolted in without much fanfare. My shop did the upgrade so all I can say is they relayed no major problems to me. The brakes now feel like my FJ Cruisers brakes; I get a good positive feel that is proportionate to pedal effort in "panic" braking situations. I previously felt unsafe with the stock setup plus TLC calipers in the front. We did have some issues with some drag in the rear drums that we've been able to fix over time.

 

[buffy]

Matt: Anything new to show? Last time I checked with Brian, he said you were reassembling everything.

 

[buffy]

Crickets................

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Sorry guys. I have been avoiding the web.

I have made a ton of progress, near completion actually. I have had a couple hang ups though, which have pushed me back. I'm actually feeling a bit guilty that it's taking this long...

Problem #1 - the original trans that was sent to us was a 6L90e which wouldn't work with the split case adapter. A 6L80e was shipped to us, but without having the TCM flashed. I brought the truck to Mark Romans to have him synch the two computers and turns out there is a year break which kept these two computers from communicating properly. So I bit the bullet and bought myself a new laptop and the top version of HP Tuners software. I figure I need to learn this stuff anyway. We also bought a new ECM and it needs to be flashed. That's been the biggest hangup.

Problem #2 is the tach. I wanted to have a stock looking tach in the dash, and I attempted that on the FJ60 I built last year. The company I used to modify the tach did a beautiful job, but ultimately the tach didn't work. Looked great, just didn't read. They threw up their hands and said they couldn't help me, so I too left it a that, knowing that I would have a solution soon. I recently called Classic Instruments to commission a custom tach from them. They have sent me an off-the-shelf tach to try before they build the custom one. I haven't gotten there yet, but should be in the next day or two.

Like I said, the truck is nearly done, and I do need to get some updated pics and info for you guys.

On a side note, I have booked two more FJ60 LS swaps. These two are getting new E-Rod engines and I should be underway by January. One of the customers came by to visit the shop (he and his wife live in SoCal), and their truck literally died in my driveway, so they made the decision to leave it then and there. I have a property now littered with beautiful FJ60's and life doesn't suck.

 

[Metcalf]

Nice!

Let me know what you learn with the computer stuff. I am very curious about that with my Lexus project.