hoverlover’s “there are many like it, but this one is mine” extra long title bs thread and build too

Must be nice having all the critical parts in hand so that when you're ready to install it's one and done. 2 months for me...2 days for you.

 

lol yea, that had to suck pretty bad.

If it's any consolation, I started getting everything together about a year ago and waited 6 months in absolute uncertainty if I'd get the right parts


So flywheel bolts have now been replaced and torqued properly. Don't think I got pics of that.

Pressure plate looks like like somebody was playing frisbee with it but nobody could catch. Can't figure that out.

This is AFTER I cleaned it up.


I didn't get pics of the hydraulic hose before, but it was weird and flopping around in there all loose like. So here is how I did it





Took me a whole 30 seconds to do it correctly. I cleaned out the bell housing too, it's shiny and new looking again.

I beat the trans tunnel into submission and clearanced the t-case and sticks. Got the t-case split, modded, and twin-sticked. Even though we split the case in 2wd, the damn keys popped out.



I ended up pulling the other shift fork and gear and that made things a lot easier. They really weren't hard to get back in once I figured out what they were and how they fit and functioned.

The guy at the shop doing my drive shaft shafts said doing a one-piece rear would only cost a few bucks more than chopping the intermediate shaft so I'm really happy to have a one-piece rear going in. They should be done sometime tomorrow.

First thing tomorrow we're going to trim out the interior then put the trans back in. Then the t-case case and crawl box and figure out the placement for the sticks.

Despite a few slow downs and hiccups we're making good progress. I think we can get the front diff done sometime tomorrow afternoon and hopefully get some drive shafts back in by the end of the day. Hopefully we will have some ghost riding going on tomorrow evening!

And now,

​

 

Another productive day in the shop!

Added some rubberized under coat where I beat the trans tunnel



Clearance is a little tighter than I was expecting with the crossmember bolted back up and everything clears so I'm cool with it. No one is going to see it anyway, right?

Put the transmission back up and tapped in the oil seal extension and the coupler for the t-case. Also snaked the hydraulic hose up nearly and safely. I'll get pics of that tomorrow.



We got the crawl box and the FJ case up and in without too much trouble



After double checking all the bolts and sealing up everything we got to work on the wiring harness. You can see where we extended the pig tail and secured it to the tub with a self tapper



There was a bit of confusion with the wiring harness and the 4x4 ECU. It took a few minutes of WTFs to realize my truck has a combination pre and post 2008 Tacoma harness. Which is weird because it's a 2013. Luckily the wire colors didn't matter and they didn't change the pins in any of the plugs. We tested, mixed and matched, and then connected the wires from the correct pins with wires of incorrect color combinations and it worked!



2WD Low


4WD Low


4WD High


Hell yeah!

Here's how it's looking inside right now.



Tomorrow we'll finish up the FJ tube and double check clearance between all the sticks and shifters and seal up the new hole in the floor. As long as everything clears I'll just drive it home like that and finish it all up later to look best and as factory as four fucking shifters can.

This has been a really, really fun project. For one, I just love working on my truck and a mechanical project is right up my alley. But more importantly, it's been like 15 years since my dad and I worked side-by-side like this and it has just been an absolute blast being in the garage together again. The old man does some high-quality work and really inspires a lot of confidence with anything we take on. He's taught me a lot and I still love learning new things from him any chance I can. I'll have to get a picture of us together once we wrap all this up.

And now, beer.

 

Motherfucker.

 

Someone pulled the wrong part. That's for a Tacoma/Automatic FJ Cruiser. Can't get one for at least two days.

 

Nobody can do their jeeyob right.

 

You so lucky! Seems like the best recovery to this project has been the time spent. Miss it, and I'm again.

 

No kidding, if you want something done right, gotta do it yourself I guess

Yea man, it's been a real treat. He and I were talking about it a bit earlier about how long it's been and how much fun we've been having. Normally we are each alone in the garage trying to make everything happen on our own. But with both of us in there we get a shit load done really quickly and it comes together very nicely. I wish he lived closer so we could do this more often

 

Which reminded me, Texas plates on the Cobra?

 

Called Camelback Toyota three times and no one ever got back to me about them sending the wrong parts. I ordered the correct one AGAIN and it should be here Friday. I really need to be on the road home by Friday afternoon at the latest. I'm just going to go ahead and take next week off as well to go to Utah again.

Today wasn't as productive as we would have hoped. The FJ tube was actually a Taco/Auto FJ tube, not a manual FJ tube that I needed. So, I put the front diff back together so we could move forward. We debated the ADD bypass switch but decided not to worry about unless the FJ tube doesn't arrive on time. Fingers crossed that shit gets here Friday.

After hitting up a few Auto-Zones we gave up trying to find all the exhaust gaskets the idiots at the clutch shop kept and didn't use. We came back and reinstalled the exhaust without them, I'll deal with it later. Shortly after, we got the call for the drive shafts and went and picked them up, came back and got them installed, they're a perfect fit. I ended up keeping the 2-piece rear though. He didn't have the same material to build a 1-piece without having to order it and with my timeline, that would have cost a lot more. So I have a 2-piece still, no worries.

We bled the clutch and topped off the transfer case, crawl box, transmission, and front diff. We were just about to pull it outside for a drive-test when we saw it. A giant purple puddle under the truck between the transfer case and the craw box...fuuuuuuuuckinghell. The crawl box is leaking between the adapter plate (which was expected) and from a bolt on the transmission side (which was unexpected). It drained about a quart in like 30 minutes. Fuck it. We kept it on the lift, cranked it up, and ran through the gears. Not quite the same as driving it, but everything worked just fine and the shifters all cleared each other... for now. I popped the drain plug from the crawl box and drained $50 of brand new Royal Purple gear oil into a catch can. Tomorrow, I will hose the bitch down with brake parts cleaner, re-seal the adapter plate, and full the useless bolt hole with some RVT. Hopefully that will keep all that liquid gold in the crawl box.

Tomorrow, I plan to pull the triple sticks off to heat and bend them to fit the shifter cutout. The FJ sticks clear pretty nicely. I'll just heat and bend them so that the knobs are level instead of canted outboard. I already broke down the crawl box shifter to the base, heated, and bent straight on the vertical axis. We found out that if you install it backwards, it clears the trans shifter and when in its' farthest aft position, clears the shifter cutout without trimming. I will straighten it out a bit more on the lateral axis tomorrow. I think I can get it to fit within the factory shift cutout without having to trim the cutout any more. I might have to weld a bit of 1/4" round stock to raise it up some, but that's just one of the reasons I brought my welder.

I'll post up some pics later. For now, beer.

 

Yep, it's registered in TX. They have property in the hill country and keep it all registered to the Lone Star State

 

A couple minor setbacks but here we are, the very first test of compound low

https://youtu.be/cbyrRzLM6tY

 

Thought about you today. Guy down the street is always revamping old trailers and stuff. Check out his newest project find.

 

Good Morning Alex

 

Good morning Alex you make it home in one piece?

 

Morning, Alex. Bummer about that front diff tube

 

Hey guys

Welcome back Josh !

That’s a bad ass bus!

Got the front diff tube all taken care of