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Project Castle Bravo... probably

FrankenToy

FrankenToy

Cynically skeptical...
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Member Number
2431
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495
I happened to get a '93 4Runner at a really good price. Engine runs, no water in the oil, coolant iis full and doesn't bubble when running (no bad head gasket). Seller said the rear driveshaft broke and was removed and wouldn't move. The rear DS is, indeed missing and the muffler has taken a beating.
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The rest of the truck is very, very clean, ZERO rust. Upon further inspection I found this: I'm considering just repairing this and flipping it or replacing the automatic with a manual and building it up for myself. Regardless, this transmission needs to be removed. I have never removed a Toyota bellhousing while the engine is still in the truck, my only experience is an earlier engine swap where I installed the engine/trans as a complete unit. My question is: How difficult is it to remove the bellhousing while the engine is still in the truck? Any secrets, hints, anecdotes regarding this will be appreciated (3.0 V6 with auto). TIA.
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When you are getting pissed off trying to get to the upper bolts on the bell housing. Its pretty easy to get them through the shifter hole....... never messed with an auto before though.
 
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pull the trans mounts, let the motor mounts stretch and hang on for dear life, then lots of extensions like Aisin said. leave the lowers tight, get the uppers first then support the trans again to remove the more accessible ones.
 
Hmmm, with so many positive waves, this should be mother easy. :laughing:

Thanks all, and there will be more questions undoubtedly, never did a 4Runner before.

I named it Castle Bravo because it probably will, most unexpectedly, blow up in my face in a BAD way... so let's continue...
 
Clean start!

+1 bad idea
Swap a T100 A340F trans to still be auto but regular pass drop gear drive Tcase that could be easily doubled with NWF setup if staying tota axle based 😬
 
UPDATE (just this much, however > < ).

I got the automagic trans/tcase combo removed. I would have thought one of you minty jackasses might have mentioned the "reverse" threaded (from the engine to the bellhousing instead of bellhousing to engine lower starter bolt) :flipoff2::laughing:. Anyhow, after I figured that out it came out fairly easily, thanks again. You, indeed, do require 4 feet of extensions and letting everything hang off of the motor mounts made it accessible. The bellhousing was broken into four or five pieces. After I removed the torque converter and drained it, the converter makes a distinct clunking sound when tipped in any direction. Not going it put another Toyota automatic transmission back in because if I never deal with a Toyota auto again, in this life or whatever comes next, it will still be too soon. Never seen so much shit attached to a transmission, even the t-case had it's own dedicated oil cooler. And you can't split the tranny/t-case while it is in the truck. That was a heavy SOB..

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So my plan is to swap an R-151F gearbox into it, install a crawl box and gear-driven t-case, and use an FJ80 front axle. Unsure which rear axle I will use, don't Tundra's have a 10" ring gear? The Toy 8" rear ring gear is what I destroyed the most on my last rig. I got a basketful of lovingly manhandled Toy 8" R&P's already. As one can observe below, I do have most of the difficult bits. I need to source the 3.0 manual gearbox bellhousing and ALL of the clutch assembly all the way up to the pedal(s). At least I won't crawling under it for a couple of days.

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Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated or ignored... :beer:
 
Aisin said:
I have this guy in my shit rig. Flipped FZJ80 axle. Full float 9.5 inch 3rd.
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You put in a non-trivial amount of effort to flip that, correct?

A clever idea but, I fear, that axle will be difficult to source locally. I've had this front axle for the better part of 20 years and I bought it in a different (more Toyota friendly) state. I suppose almost any rear LC axle would work width-wise, though ('cept mebbe a 40 series).. Something to consider. Thanks!
 
FrankenToy said:
You put in a non-trivial amount of effort to flip that, correct?

A clever idea but, I fear, that axle will be difficult to source locally. I've had this front axle for the better part of 20 years and I bought it in a different (more Toyota friendly) state. I suppose almost any rear LC axle would work width-wise, though ('cept mebbe a 40 series).. Something to consider. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I understand on the difficult to source. I got lucky. I found a set of FZJ80 axles for cheap. They wanted $300 for the rear. They wanted $50 for the front axle. It was listed as junk on car-part.com. The only thing that was wrong with the front axle was the passenger side steering arm studs were sheared. It bought all new hardware for both sides(knuckle studs, cone washers, lock washer and nuts ) for $40. I’m sure Arse would call me an idiot for putting that much effort into Toyota trash. It wasn’t too bad. Cut the cover off, spin it 180 and hot glue it back on. You also have to cut 2 new notches in the flange for the ring gear to fit thru and there are two longer 3rd member studs that need to be swapped. Some might not like this but the calipers are now up front. I’m sure I could have modified the backing plates to keep the calipers in the original spot but I didn’t really care enough to mess with them.
 

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Aisin So you flipped it to get the offset where you wanted it? I guess it wouldnt clear the tank with it offset to the passenger side? Ive been looking for a FJZ cheap rear axle just for the full float hubs to use on a toy 8" dually axle i have. Apparently the spindles are the same between the two.
 
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the_white_shadow said:
Aisin So you flipped it to get the offset where you wanted it? I guess it wouldnt clear the tank with it offset to the passenger side? Ive been looking for a FJZ cheap rear axle just for the full float hubs to use on a toy 8" dually axle i have. Apparently the spindles are the same between the two.
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Correct. Damn gas tank in the way.
 
Another small update...

Twas the daytime before most nights and the pedals were hung by the steering column with care:

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And what an automatic pedal bracket manifests itself as. Not too difficult a job, just drilling the three openings for the master required a bit of resourcefulness.

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the_white_shadow said:
Aisin So you flipped it to get the offset where you wanted it? I guess it wouldnt clear the tank with it offset to the passenger side? Ive been looking for a FJZ cheap rear axle just for the full float hubs to use on a toy 8" dually axle i have. Apparently the spindles are the same between the two.
Click to expand...
My old 4runner had one of those axles, it was a toyota 8" dually center section with fj80 outers to make it full float. Dude butt welded the snouts on so it was super bent but cool nonetheless
 
I plumbed the clutch hydro line, used all the factory mounts and brackets EXCEPT one... If someone has a manual transmission
'93 - '95 Runner or truck, please take a picture of upper hard-line right where the flex line connects to the upper line (line from master, passenger side up near the top of the firewall). I have the bracket, but for the life of me, can NOT determine exactly where it goes. The line almost fell into place (not really, kind of a bitch) everywhere else. The bracket is akin to the frame tabs w/clips that hold the brake hard-line static so that don't work harden and fracture. Again, thanks....
 
More progress:

I got the manual gearbox stabbed in (by myself :laughing:). Almost easier to stab in a manual than it is to remove the autotragic. The tunnel/floor will need some tenderizing for the shifter(s) as the manual is WAYYYYY shorter than the auto. Same for the mount.

<<<<<EDIT>>>>> It looks like the trans mount will work unmolestered....

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Most everyone prolly knows this or has done this, but for those who might be struggling here is my homemade transmission jack (for inspiration) and the two guide pins used to align the bellhousing to the engine. I used the two lowest points on the actual engine block for the pins. The alignment pins were just two ~4" 12x1.25 bolts I had laying around. HTH...
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And..... even more progress. Received the 4.70 gear set from Marlin and the top-shift conversion from TG. Seems Marlin doesn't sell twin-sticks any longer (I couldn't find them on his site). The TG set lacks the panache of the Marlin set I had long ago. Also the range fork that came in the conversion kit may need additional grinding to avoid contact with the final gear when shifted in low range. Which is strange because the range shifter knob has 4.70 on it. I gotta think about this...

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And just the right number of "left-over" parts.

assembled tcase.JPG
 
FrankenToy said:
And..... even more progress. Received the 4.70 gear set from Marlin and the top-shift conversion from TG. Seems Marlin doesn't sell twin-sticks any longer (I couldn't find them on his site). The TG set lacks the panache of the Marlin set I had long ago. Also the range fork that came in the conversion kit may need additional grinding to avoid contact with the final gear when shifted in low range. Which is strange because the range shifter knob has 4.70 on it. I gotta think about this...

4.70 gearset.JPG


t-case guts.JPG



And just the right number of "left-over" parts.

assembled tcase.JPG
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I’m shocked that Marlin actually had a fucking product in stock. It’s been almost 20 years since I spent money at Marlin Crawler. By the way, fuck Big Mike with a broken broom handle right in his asshole.
 
Aisin said:
I’m shocked that Marlin actually had a fucking product in stock. It’s been almost 20 years since I spent money at Marlin Crawler. By the way, fuck Big Mike with a broken broom handle right in his asshole.
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Yeah, I'm starting to get that very feeling about Marlin's inventory, too. At least I'm not in a hurry.
 
More pics....


I thought I would get "artsy" with the stock crossmember. Just made a mess of it. Made another.


new crossmember.JPG


Got all the link brackets removed and cleaned up. Got damn, I hope the front isn't as bad. :laughing:

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Going to try 63" Chevy's. If they don't work out, just more fawking grinding.

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To do any work on this "thing", however, one has to pass "The Gatekeeper". (:laughing: That's a small one.)

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Decided to go with a fabbed 9" Ford housing (and third). Wanted to use a 9 1/2" Tundra axle but Toyota fawked that idea with their 5 on 5 5/8" (or whatever) lug pattern. Can't reconcile that with the FJ80 front axle bolt pattern and I ain't gonna carry TWO spares.


fabbed F9 housing.JPG
 
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