LD20 turbo wagon build

[510tdi]

Oh yeah,
I meant to ask you why your Toyota is so slow? I've got an '81 Toyota p/up that someone swapped the original 2L diesel out for a 3L and it's a spunky little dude. Maybe it's all about the weight.

[jon510]

I'm not totally sure about the seals yet, Bryan. They seem pretty good, but the channel for the trim on the front is way too wide for the stock stainless. We have had a bit of a problem getting one of the cargo window seals to sit right too, but that may be an installation issue. I'm probably going to end up taking the wagon into a glass shop once it's moving again to see if they have any tricks. Overall the rubber seems pretty good and of reasonable quality, way better than the malaysian stuff I used on my last build, but the front windscreen seal isn't quite as nice as the NOS nissan one I managed to dig up recently for my 2dr.

The BJ60 is known to be underpowered. I think it's just way to big for the size of engine it has, even as a 3.4L 4 cylinder. Not a lightweight vehicle for sure, and hills are slow, but it is super functional. Until it's carcass rusts away like they usually do....

Jon

[510tdi]

I'll look forward to seeing how the seals end up going in. I think I remember that Datsport had different windshield rubber that took different sized stainless trim. I wonder if thay sent the wrong one?

I hate to think of your BJ60 rusting away. I guess all things must someday pass.

Bryan

[jon510]

Got a bit more done today. After wrestling with the transmission input shaft bushing for a couple hours, I have finally replaced it, hopefully properly. The old one came out no problem after I I used an old imput shaft and a hammer to force in bearing grease and push out the old bushing - thanks to James for the input shaft/clutch tool and the idea. Unfortunately, the new bushing was a bit of a pain to get in. It seemed to be slightly larger in diameter than the old one, maybe that's simply as it hadn't been installed yet, but it was a bit of a pain to get in, then the forward edge deformed from the tight fit, so I had to use a dremel to sand it down a bit inside. It was still a super tight test fit with James' tool, but seemed to be alright, I just hope I didn't take off too much of the bushing in any spots.

Then I got the flywheel and clutch back on the engine, only to realize I'd forgotten the flex plate, so back it all came off, then back on... Anyway, the new zx tranmission seems to bolt on without any issues. I thought it was going to be a huge pain getting it mounted to the engine given how tight the pilot bushing was but it actually slid in nicely.

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Some of the pieces that were orginally cad plated were freshened up by Mike with his copy cad setup and look great. I've had a go with Byron's technique of chrome and gold paint on some of the larger pieces, and it's not too bad, definitely doesn't have a plated look but comes close in color and actually looks pretty similar in photos. Not quite the same up close, but this won't be a show car. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to freshen up the injection pump and fuel lines, all the hundreds of parts on the pump are plated but I'm not overly keen to take it all apart unless I have to.....

I also took my alternator in to get checked out and cleaned up. Frank Ho runs a shop down just off Venables and Knight, he seems quite good and will rebuild pretty much any starter or alternator you bring him and will test everything up front and get your part back to you within a day or two. I guess this alternator I found in my stash was charging a little low so he rebuilt it and cleaned it up, even painted the pulley and fan. Not bad for 100 bucks given the reman units sound like they're not very reliable.

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I've also mounted the transmission isolator TTT suggested using with their transmission mount up to the transmission, it's a GM part numberand seems to bolt up to the tranny fine. There's a single hole on the tranmission mount that bolts to the center hole on the isolator, and the mount seems to line up ok with my tunnel, so here's hoping the zx unit sits where expected once mounted to the LD. Given the dogleg mounted up without an issue I think it should be fine.

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So now I'm at this point.

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Mike lent me a tilter to use with my engine hoist, so hopefully that will make getting this thing in without scratching or denting the engine bay a bit easier. I think I have Stephan coming over to help get this back in tomorrow so hopefully I'll be moving on to dealing with my fuel line and engine harness in no time.

[510tdi]

What a great looking powertrain. I forgot you're using a ZX tranny. Do you know what your 5th gear ratio is? It'd be great if it's in the .7ish range.

[James]

One thing I have found helpful is to lift the rear of the car on jackstands - which improves the angle for install.

[Byron510]

I can offer you my bumper mount hoist, so you can pull up the front of the car and slide the whole drivetrain under the car just like the factory does it.

Let me know. No scratching anything, but you need a lifting point to use a chain hoist or something similar. I much prefer this method of installation. I think I have photos of using the lifting jig recently on my brothers car and the Greg Terry car where I didn't want to scratch new paint.

Jig shown half way down this page;

http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.ph ... &start=300

And the jig in use on my brothers car;

http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.ph ... &start=135



Byron

[jon510]

Thanks Byron, that looks slick. Not sure I'd have a great mounting point in my garage for the lift, though, I'll have a look tomorrow. The other thing would be that the suspension, brakes, etc all have to come back out... Maybe jacking the rear with the tilt bar will be enough to make it a bit easier, it wasn't terrible going in the first time.

Bryan, the tranny is a zx, I'm pretty sure it's the 7/80 - 6/83 version on this site: http://www.gracieland.org/cars/techtalk/gearing2.html

I have to confess I didn't check all the little bits on it or rotate it to confirm, but Byron was nice enough to dig one out that was supposed to be the 0.745 ratio I believe, and if so that's about as good a 5th as I can get for a diesel. Any more will need to be rear end, so I'm hoping this is good enough.

Jon

[510tdi]

Wow,
That's great Jon. I didn't know that Z trannys 5th gears went that tall. I have a feeling, without crunching numbers, that you're going to be OK without changing the rear end.

Bryan

[jon510]

Well, it's back in. With a couple pointers from James and a lot of guiding and maneuvering from Stephan we got the engine back in a couple days ago. It was probably a bit easier than the first time except I forgot to drop the center link until we got most of the way in but dropping it just off the idler was enough to get it through. The tilt bar on the hoist made a big difference. And we jacked the rear of the car up. Plus Stephan and James finally managed to wrestle the crazy exhaust out in one piece giving us a bit more room to maneuver.

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Only made a couple tiny nicks in the paint on the way in. Better than I expected

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It took a while to get the tranny mount sorted, I assumed it would still use isolators up against the tunnel but it turns out it's mount on metal. Hopefully vibrations won't be an issue, the big isolator bolted to the tranny itself should hopefully help.

We unfortunately broke a bolt on the engine block side of the driver's mount going in. It must have been binding on the mount as when I took the mount off the bolt came out by hand. Phew. Looks like the oil pan should clear the sway bar no problem. Here's hoping for no leaks!

I'm going to work a bit more on the e-brake before putting the drive shaft in. I'm not sure if the engine sits back a bit farther than a typical L-series, we had to lengthen the transmission hole even more than Mike had done to get the transmission in. Maybe this will make the sedan driveshaft a perfect fit, hopefully it's not too long but I doubt it.

Stephan realized that the timing cover will interfere with hood closure. Thankfully, I think cutting the top bolt and capture nut off the cover should give enough clearance. Not sure how this went on the previous LD install that was done, the timing cover looks intact and the same driver's side mount was used. Maybe the passenger mount sat lower, although this would make the engine tilt a bit more. Hmmm.

I got the rebuilt alternator back in and will start putting the rest of the accessories in the bay this week. Then to fuel lines and harness. And finishing the seals. And doing the rear suspension, finding shocks....... It will be a while. But it's coming.....

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Jon

[5teN]

Very cool Jon!

[510tdi]

Oh yeah,
That's a lot of eye candy! Every new picture has me liking that color even more and what a great looking engine bay that's going to be.

Did you get all the door and window seals in? I'd sure like your feedback as I'm in the process of deciding whether or not to buy a seal kit from Datsport.

Also, about your gearing: those ZX wheels are 15" right? That should help your highway cruising too.

Looks like you're making amazing progress to me. Especially considering I can't seem to get people to even call me back when I'm trying to buy parts from them to finish up my interior project. Every little thing I do seems to take for freakin' ever.

Cheers,
Bryan

[McShagger510]

Great to see the wagon coming together.

Sum Pics!

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[McShagger510]

Any questions just AXE!

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[510tdi]

Nice!