!New Improved! "Last Minute" buildup thread

[mudtoy67]

Figured I'd go ahead and start tossing around ideas for the FJ.

Right now the plans are:
Finish power steering swap
new trans and tcase
new wiring harness

Steering:
I'm doing some side work to trade for a new steering box. Gonna go with the standard saginaw setup. Since my column was part of the old box i'm building a new one like a dirt track setup with a quick detach steering wheel. I've also got to build a new tierod to adapt the standard/metric tie rod ends, or build one using heims.

Trans and Tcase:
I'm going with a short powerglide tranny and a Dana 300 tcase. This should give me a short enough drivetrain that I can move the engine all the way back in the engine compartment and still have a decent rear driveshaft without moving the rear axle back.

Wiring:
Gonna start working on a new homemade chassis wiring harness. I need to find a good weather resistant fuse block to start from, should all be fairly easy after that. Gonna finally wire in my ALDL so I can figure out what up with my sometimes crazy idle.

If anyone knows someone looking to get rid a Glide for core, let me know. It needs to be a short tailshaft. Also, does it matter wether I look for a scout or jeep dana 300? I don't know much about them except that I always seem to hear people talking about the Scout one. Is it stronger than the jeep? Are the replacement gear sets the same?

[jerryg79]

Figured I'd go ahead and start tossing around ideas for the FJ.

Right now the plans are:
Finish power steering swap
new trans and tcase
new wiring harness

Steering:
I'm doing some side work to trade for a new steering box. Gonna go with the standard saginaw setup. Since my column was part of the old box i'm building a new one like a dirt track setup with a quick detach steering wheel. I've also got to build a new tierod to adapt the standard/metric tie rod ends, or build one using heims.

Trans and Tcase:
I'm going with a short powerglide tranny and a Dana 300 tcase. This should give me a short enough drivetrain that I can move the engine all the way back in the engine compartment and still have a decent rear driveshaft without moving the rear axle back.

Wiring:
Gonna start working on a new homemade chassis wiring harness. I need to find a good weather resistant fuse block to start from, should all be fairly easy after that. Gonna finally wire in my ALDL so I can figure out what up with my sometimes crazy idle.

If anyone knows someone looking to get rid a Glide for core, let me know. It needs to be a short tailshaft. Also, does it matter wether I look for a scout or jeep dana 300? I don't know much about them except that I always seem to hear people talking about the Scout one. Is it stronger than the jeep? Are the replacement gear sets the same?

Karl might be getting rid of his???? When he swaps in the LT1.

[eight]

Scout stuff = queer. Really all a scout d300 is good for is to replace a d20 in a scout or jeep. U wantum jeep d300, cheaper + goes with the J in FJ.

[TxCruzr]

Scout stuff = queer. Really all a scout d300 is good for is to replace a d20 in a scout or jeep. U wantum jeep d300, cheaper + goes with the J in FJ.

No better reason than that right there

[uglyota]

I think he means the bolt pattern is different (round vs "texas" pattern or something like that?)

[mudtoy67]

I've been doing some research, and the Jeep D300 is what Advance Adapters specifically says I need. So far, Advance is the only place I've found that has adapters for this combo. Anyone know of any others? Another option is to let a Klune V do the adapting, but by the time I bolt it all together, it would be about the same length as my Th350/NP205 combo......which defeats the purpose of wanting to use the Glide.

[agjohn02]

scout has a different bolt pattern. you need the jeep one, as do i.

[mudtoy67]

ok, i've been looking at D300s and I'm not sure which I need. I had assumed I needed an 80 model because it is 2" shorter than 81-86. But I've seen that the HD output shaft that's sold for the 300 doesn't fit the short version specifically......supposedly takes lots of extra silicone. I'm not sure if I'm going to need the HD output rightaway. The thing that has me worried is that I read someone on PBB had broken the output on their short 300 and talked like it was a common thing. Are the short output 300s any weaker than the long?

[robertf03]

fawk the short shaft version. Its exactly 1" shorter than the long output. I didn't even deem it worthy on my cj5, and I've got less rear driveshaft than you.

If you can find one, great. The long ones are much easier to find and when you do the 32 spline output it makes it long anyway.

You can redrill the short output pattern to fit the longoutput housing, and those companies are making them for both now (instructions might just say "drill here")

I don't think theres much of a strength difference. The short might neck down a little sooner than the long.

http://www.utdallas.edu/~rsf031000/pics/d300long.jpg
http://www.utdallas.edu/~rsf031000/pics/d300short.jpg



need some spank material? $100 for all 3 (they are all gone now)





edit: Home made wiring harness? you want to start with my old gv10 centech kit? its pretty much been rummaged through but the fuse block and other random stuff is there. I can throw it in the back of your truck this weekend when you aren't looking if you want.

[mudtoy67]

Sure, you can throw that fuse block and wiring stuff in my truck......I'm a sucker for free/cheap stuff! Apparently I'm also a sucker for front door displays at stores. Last night I went to Walmart to get some things and I just had to have a jug of washer fluid and a 10 pack of Reese's by the door. Then I just had to have that roll of ducktape I saw at the register.......I think they saw me coming a mile away.

[mudtoy67]

Did some work on the FJ yesterday. Actually dug it out of the garage and moved some stuff off of it. Pulled the rear axle so I can swap the internals in to my rodeo d44. I hoped to have more done by now but I went to work for Eaker for the past couple days to make a few extra bucks to put into the project. Should have the 4.56 gears and miller-locked carrier swapped by this weekend, it's just too hot to work during the day! Coop and I pulled the tranny/tcase a couple weekends ago, so I guess I'm neck deep in the glide/d300 swap now .

[mudtoy67]

Got the new axle in, but it's not complete. Ran into some problems with the gear swap. Found that the Rodeo axle uses a smaller inner pinion bearing, and the shims are between the bearing and the head of the pinion. The CJ axle I had been running had a larger inner pinion bearing and the shims were under the race in the housing. So I stuck the diff in there and will get to the gear setup at a later time. I also got the 35" Dunlops I picked up at a yard sale saturday mounted, even though they are only 2" larger, they look a lot bigger than the 33" swampers. Definately going to have to do some clearancing on the rear fenders. The axle looks good, it's about 3.5" wider than the CJ axle, so my tires line up with the front ones alot better.

[mudtoy67]

got my dana 300 this week

[mudtoy67]

Thought I would post up some progress I made today. Yes, I actually worked on it

Plans have changed slightly since I originally started this thread. I've decided now I want to use Scout power steering, because it keeps the steering box out of harms way, and routing the steering shaft is slightly easier. The powerglide idea is not totally scrapped, but i am a lot less enthusiastic about it. I've been crunching some numbers, and if I ran a powerglide instead of a TH350, I'd be paying a couple of grand extra for only 3-5/8" shorter drivetrain, and it would still be a worse crawl ratio.

So on with the progress. Here it is as pulled out of the garage. It's gotten a little dusty. First order of business was to remove the fenders. The passenger side got pretty crunched at TCC a couple years ago.






One fender!...Aaah, Aaah, Aaaaah!



Two fender!...Aaah, Aaah, Aaaaah!

[TxCruzr]

You could have just trimmed the edges, now where are you going to put your beer

oh....your bezel is upside down