BBYHUMR 06 Re-build

[BBYHUMR]

Another half day of work….running out of things to do without the alpha on hand and motor mounts still working their way through the mail.

On my way to the house the wrecker company called saying they won’t be able to deliver until tomorrow. I fully expected this from their limited communication but they provided a discount so as long as it shows up tomorrow all will be fine. Ready to have it on hand and get things moving.

Got the bushings replaced today, old ones appeared good but I figured since I had the new ones on hand and the motor was out it was going to be the best (easiest) time to do them. Not to mention the fact they’ve been caked in oil and grease for who knows how long I’m sure they’ve weakened over time. Also worked a bit more on cleaning up the underside of the truck.

It’s certainly not perfect but it’s better than it was. I didn’t take an after picture unfortunately.

After finishing those I pulled the last couple clips from the i5 harness to get it off the motor and set it up on my temporary makeshift table to get it stripped down. If you ever do this either enjoy washing your hands or wear some gloves.

Took about a hour to get the loom, clips, and misc tape off it while bs’ing with my neighbor. No, none of it is cut. Just threw it in an extra trash can the dogs have enjoyed the corners of to keep it bundled up and out of the way.

Once I have both harnesses on hand and ready to work out will come the fold up table and a sheet of wood so everything can get laid out nicely. Currently space in the garage is at a premium since the 4Runner will be in and out of the garage everyday for the next week or so with the storms passing through north Texas.

With any luck I’ll have some alpha pictures tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed for me lol

 

[BBYHUMR]

Well, still no Alpha today.

Spoke with the transport company late yesterday when I saw they still didn't pick up the unit from Copart to find out what was going on. In my morning conversation they informed me they found a driver and he would be picking up the truck within the next hour. 6 hours later it still had not been picked up so made a call to them. Spoke with a guy who informed me "we're still trying to find someone to pick up the unit" which is opposite of what they had told me earlier in the day. After a bit of a heated discussion (from my side) we both agreed it would be best to just cancel the transport, refund me the money I paid them for a next day delivery, and I would use the Copart shipping option. I didn't want to use Copart since it would take 2-3 weeks for the Alpha to arrive but since i'll be headed out into the field for the next 3 weeks it's not as big a deal anymore, going through Copart also stops the storage charges i've been accruing this week while waiting on the wrecker company to pick it up. I was hopeful to have the truck before leaving so I could get the PCM/TCM sent out for programming while I was gone but that option has been thrown out the window now. It is what it is and there's no point stressing over it. If anyone is looking for parts for their rig feel free to drop me a message!

 

[BBYHUMR]

Well I’m back from New York and still waiting on Copart to deliver the alpha. Spoke with them this morning and they’re going to see if they can transfer it to the Fort Worth Copart so I can head the two hours down there with a trailer and pick it up that way since it’s been going on 4 weeks waiting on them to ship it.

Yesterday I pulled out my half ass fog light bracket and got to work redesigning it to better suit my OCD and hopefully fill up the bumper gaps a bit better.

This was my first version just to get them mounted and useable last year or maybe the year before. From there I modified the design on my 3d printer to come up with…

After re-measuring the holes and some additional modification I came up with

Print is done with very little attention to detail as far as the print quality goes but all the holes line up with my previous version. From there I worked on moving the fog light itself forward with a trim ring to cover the gap

After the print I found I had a couple missed measurements and I didn’t like how the trim ring and insert were two different pieces. After some more modification I came up with my final or pre-final prototype, again using a very low quality print

I may make some more small modifications but the fog light clicks into the assembly with some moderate pressure and holds tight. Still need to look into more adjustability with it for the beam direction but very happy with the current outcome. From here I need to bolt it into my h3 and make sure everything aligns correctly in the opening before making a final print with ABS.

 

[BBYHUMR]

Well, couple other changes to the bracket. Found out I missed some of my measurements so things were a bit askew once it was bolted in. Pay no attention to the fog light being angled in the bracket. It was just thrown in for measurement purposes.

Made some changes to the bracket to better center the the light, made an alignment pin to prevent the light being installed crooked like in the picture, recessed the light itself (my OCD didn’t like how it stuck beyond the trim), and modified the lamp mounting hole to allow more adjustment for beam alignment.

I have what I believe to be my final test version running in the printer currently. Added a tab to the base to attach the alignment screw and spring (not shown), which will also hold everything together (in addition to some CA glue).

Will likely take on the headlights next while waiting on the Alpha to be delivered.

 

[BBYHUMR]

Final fog light bracket revision completed! Fog light clicks in with some moderate pressure but still allows up and down movement for beam adjustment, and the foglight is better centered in the bumper opening without those ugly gaps.

Lower bracket allows the original screw and spring (from the aftermarket fog lights) to be inserted for adjustment for a factory like install.

Will be printing them in ABS sometime this week when I have a nice day outside and can vent out one of the rooms since ABS puts out some serious fumes.

While I was at the house I pulled the a-pillar trim as well. Will be working on creating a factory looking a-pillar with dual gauge pod for oil pressure & transmission temperature gauges to be installed after my V8 swap.

 

[BBYHUMR]

FINALLY PROGRESS!!!!

Alpha got delivered today after waiting almost 5 weeks for delivery and boy the auction pictures didn’t do her justice! Interior is in amazing condition and the body isn’t awful either…..minus the driver rear corner.

First thing I did was check to make sure it had oil and fluids in it then after a quick daisy chain with another battery and some jumper cables did a dry crank over (no fuel) to get the oil moving. After that I threw the relay back in and she fired right up! Let it run for a little bit while the dashboard was screaming codes for ABS, BRAKE, traction control, and almost every other light possible EXCEPT for the check engine light. Threw a scanner on it after shutting it off and found zero codes in the power train. Obviously there were lots of codes for the brake, traction, and other misc modules associated with the rear end. Started it up again just to make sure there wasn’t some pending CEL that needed two cycles to display but was pleasantly surprised to see the CEL stayed off after another 5 minutes of it running

Once I drooled over it for half an hour I decided it was time to get rolling with the work at hand. I have a few people coming by tomorrow to buy unneeded body parts from it so I can start recouping some of my purchase price, so I needed to get rolling getting those parts removed.

After roughly 45 minutes the front end was nearly completely disassembled and parts ready for pickup.

Then came time for the whole reason I purchased this truck. Time to work on getting the motor ready to come out. After another hour or so of taking extreme care to label every harness and remove them without damage the wiring is all but disconnected from the chassis. I could probably do without labeling every harness but since I will be splicing and modifying the harness to work in the 06 I figured it was worth while. Still need to pull the plugs to the PCM/TCM but that will be a very simple process for tomorrow.

Also scored an extra custom screw driver during the tear down lol if you don’t enjoy getting “free” tools you shouldn’t be working on cars.

Tomorrow I will finish disconnecting the harness, pull the cross members, remove the rad & condenser, and with any luck pull the entire swap in one go. I plan on chopping a nice large hole in the upper rad support to assist in the removal ease since I’m sure that’s not going to be a part to “fly off the shelf” so to speak, nor am I going to drill out every single spot weld for it.

 

[BBYHUMR]

Unproductive today day overall. Slept absolutely terrible last night so my energy today to get stuff done was non-existent.

Finished getting the harness disconnected and labeled in the engine bay. Also removed the AC, radiator, and heater hoses thanks to a quick release tool printed from my 3d printer.

Went to remove the condenser carefully as I had intended on reusing it but once I got it released from the radiator and begun looking it over and checking the fins, the fins started falling apart in my hand. They must have deteriorated in place and once things shifted around they broke loose so the condenser and radiator got thrown into the truck bed and taken to the dump along with half a bed of other things. It’s amazing the system still had a full charge and blew cold while I had the engine running during my pre-check.

Was able to get the radiator surround cut off to ease the motor pull.

After pulling the rad support I begun working on removing the power steering cooler. Sprayed the 3 bolts (2 on the cooler, 1 on the rack) to help them come loose. The two on the cooler fought me for every inch but came out. The bolt on the rack broke off almost immediately without putting much pressure on it with my 1/4” ratchet. Unfortunately it broke in a way that the lines are still being held in place which creates an additional issue since I don’t have a welder to weld a nut onto what’s left of the bolt. I may just order some replacement hoses and do without the cooler as it seems to be overkill for my needs honestly.

After breaking off the steering bolt I decided to call it a day and shut things down. Sometimes it’s just not your day and you need to know when to stop before you start breaking more s*** out of anger, and today was that day for me.

 

[BBYHUMR]

Well more of the same today.

One of the dogs broke a window last night while “protecting the house” from a squirrel across the street so the morning consisted of replacing the window and screen.

Got the rear end thrown up on some jackstands and somewhat level in the yard to allow some underside access.

Crawled underneath the rig to start working on getting the underside disconnected and that’s where the progress for the day stopped. I got the drivelines disconnected and removed then begun working on removing the transmission cross member. First bolt I went to remove broke the head off (yes I had sprayed a liberal amount of penetrating oil on it prior). All the other bolts came off the cross member and transmission mount very easily but the cross bolt on the passenger side broke in such a way it got jammed in between the cross member and frame mount. After having a disagreement with the bolt for longer than I should have, I got out the sawzall and just lopped the rest of it off and pried them apart.

Next thing was to remove the downpipes from the manifolds. I’m sure you can figure out how that went - broke off two bolts on the driver side. Had drenched both in penetrating oil, used a torch to get the nut red hot, and “shocked” the bolt with a few firm raps with a hammer and they still broke off. The third nut came off with almost no effort, and only a coating of penetrating oil to assist it. I still need to do the passenger side if you guys have any words of wisdom besides what I’ve already tried….I doused all of them in penetrating oil this evening when I chose to shut down already but I’m still not holding my breath for a smooth removal.

After I get the downpipes removed the next step will to pull the motor mount bolts (which also got a healthy coating of oil tonight) then I get to figure out the tinsel strength of anything I forgot to disconnect while the motor comes up. Currently running a couple days behind on having the engine out which I’m not happy about but battling the rust and bolts breaking off has certainly delayed the process.

 

[cgalpha08]

I am very interested in the A pillar pod you come up with. I've had a couple over the years, and a one off sitting on my shelf right now, but none have that clean OEM look.

 

[BBYHUMR]

I am very interested in the A pillar pod you come up with. I've had a couple over the years, and a one off sitting on my shelf right now, but none have that clean OEM look.

That’s my issue with the aftermarket versions. Just looks like an after thought, rather than something that could have come factory.

To be clear, that’s a bit on the back burner now that I have the motor on hand. But, once I get it done I’d be happy to reach out to you about it (maybe by Christmas?)

 

[BBYHUMR]

Now we’re cookin with butter!

Went 4 for 6 on breaking off the exhaust bolts. Didn’t matter if I used heat, penetrating oil, or impacts, nothing was going to save them. Even tried the crayon trick on a last chance whim with zero success.

But!!!!! The motor is out!

Figured out where the oil leak has been coming from, looks like the cooler bypass block off plate has had a consistent little drip coming from it which has coated the underside of the powertrain. Sorry for the blurry pic, this was roughly 5 minutes after I sprayed the area down with brake cleaner, you can see a little trail on the oil filter - I was originally thinking it was coming from the rear main seal but I popped open the viewing window and the back of the block is nice and clean.

Lastly, what are people using for exhaust heat shields on the manifolds? Pretty sure it’s not supposed to look like this…..this was the one that actually had some of it left. The driver side was missing roughly 70% of the shield

All buttoned up for the evening ready for the wiring to be started on tomorrow, as well as a deeper cleaning of the assembly with my low budget power washer from a few years back. I’ll end up building some kind of base out of 2x6’s to better support the motor and trans while I’m working on the wiring.

 

[rascole]

I am very interested in the A pillar pod you come up with. I've had a couple over the years, and a one off sitting on my shelf right now, but none have that clean OEM look.

Agree here, very useful to add gauge pods

 

[BBYHUMR]

Had a nice visit from the police today while working on things. Apparently one of the neighbors who had nothing better to do called in a complaint because the Alpha was “unsightly”. Police just laughed it off once they saw what I was doing luckily.

Went by harbor freight this morning and bought a couple “1000 lbs” roller dollys. 5 seconds after lowering the engine on them (not even full weight of the motor) they both broke…decided to use the wheels and made some dollys out of a spare 2x6 I had laying around which worked perfect.

Then settled in to start stripping the loom and tape off the harness

After about an hour I had most of the loom and tape taken off the harness. We got hail and tornado warnings this afternoon so I ended up buttoning up things a bit early to clear out the garage for the 4Runner.

Since clearing out the garage didn’t take as long as I planned I did some minor cleaning to the top of the motor. The block off plate gasket will be here tomorrow so I didn’t want to work too much on the lower half just for it to get oiled up again. Cleared up both valve covers and the power steering reservoir although it doesn’t look like I took a picture of the valve covers afterward.

Once I shut everything down for the evening I decided to do some tinkering on the computer. I’ve been working off and on on the pillar gauge pod idea but while I was looking over the interior of the alpha today I realized it would be much better if there was an overhead console to not only provide front lighting but also house things like the sunroof switch or aux switches for light bars and what not, still baffles me there’s no front lighting on these things.

So I threw together a quick idea using some measurements I took off the alpha earlier and came up with this concept.

Obviously there is still some work to be done with it but it could possibly solve my gauge pod issue as well so I threw in a couple spots for pods although I’m not entirely sure they’ll work in that location but for a first draft it’s not awful. While I was looking around the alpha I found there is a brace just in front of the sunroof switch which wouldn’t be terribly difficult to build a bracket to support the overhead console in the front (by the windshield).

That’s all for today. More to come tomorrow!