non suzuki swap

[zooky]

havent updated in awhile. I havent gotten anywhere, still recovering from the fire. Just thought I would post a pic of what the engine went into. The 2wd's are kinda wimpy looking, I may throw some bigger tires on there after I get it going. I might try to get it going this week...

[zooky]

ok, finally got around to working on it again. I replaced an injector I found seized up and retimed everything. I fired it up and now it runs good again! YAY! I got some work to finish up before I can take it for a spin, nothing major, just a bunch of little things. I did notice when it is in 'drive' with my foot on the brake there is alot of vibration, I am guessing this is due to the way I have my engine mounts set up so there isnt anything I can do about it. Maybe I will get lucky and it will smoothen out when the engine is broken in (doubt it though).
Once I am satisfied with the swap its on to phase II. I dont much care for the look of the 2wd toyotas, the longbed in particular. I need to 'toughen' it up. The diesel makes it sound manly so the 195/85r14's have to go! Not going to go nuts, want to keep it light. A 2" lift should make room for some 30's. I have a D44 with 4.56 gears which I think will be better suited for the diesel. May also go with a custom bed for a utility look.
I will report back once I take it for a spin and give you my driving impressions, hope its not a dog.

[Tomkat]

Nice work, Randy!  ...where have I been? running well now?

[zooky]

Nice work, Randy!  ...where have I been? running well now?

Tom! Yea, where have you been?? Seems to be running good, havent driven it yet, soon I hope. Sounds pretty good if you like that kind of noise, sounds like an old F350. I think it will confuse people. The body style of the older 2wd toyotas are kinda generic looking, I was thinking of keeping if small and putting 'Ford' and 'F350' badges on it, that would really confuse them .

[Tomkat]

Been busy with the kids mostly. Will is a year already, and Emma's just turned 4. Sticking to milder trails mostly, Lot of powerlines out in the western part of MA, kids have a ball.
   Ford emblems would be good, but i think you should find some old Datsun emblems   THat'd throw 'em for a loop.

[Spulen81]

Have you got the tach to work with the Dakota Digital converter yet?  I read a while ago that it was the last of your wiring to complete.

I'm starting to research tach options on mine and its the same cluster I believe.  Just wondering if I should bother or not.  People seem to have alot of trouble setting them up.   Thanks

[zooky]

actually, I was working on that today. Got it wired up but when I tried it I got a 'no input signal' indication. Not really suprised, I used the alternator that came with the engine and it was a bit crusty. I sometimes get an alternator light so that tells me that its on its way out, when I replace it I expect it to work. I think it will be worth the effort, I'll let you know how it goes. The only other wiring I had to do was to fix the fuel and water temp gauges, took care of that today too. I finished the steering today also, I swapped in manual steering, I have the power steering figured out but dont feel like dealing with it right now. I like the simplicity of the manual steering and the uncluttered look, that was one of my goals with this project. Tomorrow I have to take care of a few front end issues then it should be mechanically complete.
I have to register it before I can take it for a test drive. I need to make sure it will be ready for inspection first, I have a 10 day window. I am not expecting any problems with the DMV but you never know. I need to bring it to get the exhaust finished too. The E-brake cable is broken, I like to throw the inspectors a bone and leave something like that for them to 'find'. It seems like they find a reason to fail something like this they dont look so hard afterwards
Getting it registered and through inspection will end 'phase 1'. 'Phase 2' will begin another thread and will include body work to the cab and perhaps converting it to a 1 TON which will consist of a 3" lift with stiffer springs and D44 in the rear with a 6 lug conversion in the front.

[Spulen81]

Cool, I'll be watching your progress. I got mine inspected last month.  I had to do the front cable on mine and unfreeze the rear parking brake levers.  They never noticed it was a VW engine, or a conversion even.  I had the title switched over to diesel so I only get the safetly inspection, no emissions check

[zooky]

I followed your build up on toyotadieselmadness.com, good site but I have too much trouble posting. New Hampshire should be pretty easy to get inspected also, we dont do emmissions right now, plus, the truck is over 20 years old. I am not expecting any problems but you never know. I just hope the performance is acceptable, I am a little worried about that. If its bad 'Phase 3' may be installing a TDI, that should move the little truck along nicely! Still getting 30MPG? Anything you unhappy with with the swap?

[Spulen81]

I think you'll be OK power wise, its a pretty small truck but like you said you can always swap in a TDI. 

Well, it was doing really well for quite a while.  I turned up the boost a couple psi and like clock work my turbo went two weeks later.  I'm in the process now of swapping in a larger more modern, stronger turbo and building a manifold that fits the truck better and gets everything away from the starter and up alot higher.  Although I never had a problme with the starter.  Right now I'm just waiting on the turbo.. its a special order so its going to take a while I guess.  Meanwhile I'm revamping an engine mount that was sagging (my bad design) and getting all the little stuff I put off done (huge list).  I'm also putting in a R151F and matching 23 spline case.  I found a great deal on one locally so it will replace my w56 with the bad reverse gear.

[zooky]

getting close! Picking away at it, this should have been done weeks ago. I got the exhaust done enough to get it to a muffler place. I am using a 4 foot length of flex pipe to get it from the down pipe to behind the drivers seat. This solves the problem of getting 2.25" pipe through some tight areas around the IFS stuff and does a good job with dealing with the engine vibration. The truck is pretty loud without a muffler but the turbo whistle sounds nice, when I pop the muffler on it quiets right down (and unfortunately the whistle goes away).
I got it registered as a diesel, that went pretty smooth. Not sure what that gets me but it only cost me $13 to register it (did my wifes Highlander at the same time and it was $250). NH is not doing emissions right now but when it does I will be exempt and legal. Should be able to drive it soon, it has about 2-3 hours run time in the driveway on jet fuel, I dont really want to run it much more until I can drive it so I can break the engine in. Soon I hope...

[redidbull]

randy glad to see you are still moving forward. got any new pics. jim

[zooky]

randy glad to see you are still moving forward. got any new pics. jim

no new pics Jim, nothing new to show.

IT MOVES!
I drove it around the block a few times, never brought it above 30mph. It is slow to get moving but once going it accelerates pretty good as the turbo kicks in. I really wanted to go faster and drive it more but it is not insured yet (insurance is not required in NH). I have to find a place to finish the exhaust and get it inspected then I will take it for a long ride. Cant wait.

[Tomkat]

IT MOVES!

Cool, good to hear. Get any Datsun tags? or gonna go with Ford?
Those Russian Ladas (sp?) would be a good tag, too

[zooky]

Cool, good to hear. Get any Datsun tags? or gonna go with Ford?
Those Russian Ladas (sp?) would be a good tag, too

no, I think I am going to stick with 'toyota' or maybe 'V O L K S W A G O N' on the tailgate like the old VW pickups.

finally got it together enough to drive it around the neighborhood. I only put maybe 2 miles on it, I didnt have a chase vehicle to tow me home if I had a problem. First off, I'll say the performance is better than I thought it would be. Its a little slow off the line but once it gets rolling it accelerates pretty good. The accelerator response feels like the 22r I removed. I only got it up to 55 so I am not sure how it will berform above that, but so far I am happy.
Not sure if I am liking the automatic, The vibration in 'park' is what I would expect, but in gear (stopped) the vibration is unacceptable. Ive made it a little better but it is still too much. When driving, it downshifts too much and the RPM's shoot up. I can adjust that a bit with the kick-down cable. I need to get that under control so I dont over-rev the engine, if not it looks like a 5-speed conversion this winter.
More to come after I take it out for a longer drive...