Topic: BigMike's Big Project

[GrimReaper]

My sister never took up for me! She was usualy the one giving me a hard time. You sure hes your brother and your not pulling out leg? 

[BigMike [OP]]

So who's ready for some updates???








I mean who REALLY wants to see the NEWEST progress to my project?









I MEAN SERIOUSLY, WHO REALLY WANT TO SEE A VIDEO OF MY TRUCK RUNNING?!!






I will let the suspense continue until Monday night, and then BOOM - SERIOUS UPDATES COMING MONDAY NIGHT


A teaser update: Its just past 1am and I just got home. Mounted the battery and finished the exhaust to the cat. All that's left before I can test-run the engine is wire in the fuel pump and purge canister and main power source, and then look everything over and hot wire the T100's harness. SA-WEET!

And yes, this is actually the first time I've had in TWO, count em, TWO WHOLE WEEKS to work on my truck. Two weeks ago I went on a trial ride and last weekend I worked at the shop on the clock 'cuz I need some $$$$$$ because Im broke. Damn Cali budget cuts is killing me with tuition.....


CYA MONDAY, SAME FORUM, SAME THREAD,
BIGMIKE

[Skinny_Pedal]

dude at this time at night u need to hook us up

[FIREBALL]

Bout time Mike! Glad you were able to spend some time on it.
I left you some more cable lock pics on the other thread. (internal)

[reklund5]

OK Mike, its Monday night...what gives?   

[BigMike [OP]]

OK Mike, its Monday night...what gives?

Hey, the night is still young!

Labor Day Weekend,

Just got home now. It's just past 12:30am. Worked half day Saturday (2p-1a), Sunday (9a-3p), and half day today (12p-12a).

Took on three major obstacles that were standing in my way to completing the engine.

• Finish Fuel Lines and Mount Gas Tank
• Build Exhaust Crossover pipe to relocate exhaust to drivers side
• Build a tray and mount the battery + wire the battery into the system

By the end of Sunday I had the first two items finished leaving the battery for today.

Without wasting any more time, lets just get to the pics!!


hmmmmmmm.......... I just looked through my pics and apparently I didnt care about the gas tank because I didnt take any pics of it finally installed. Oh well.. It's installed and all lines are connected except for the fill nozel; the stock hose just isnt quite long enough.

Ok, so on to the exhaust!!

Here is the first break I took from all the welding and cutting, so I took some pics. This is the 2nd exhaust sys I've ever built by myself. I got tired of the exhaust shop taking all of my money, so the last system on my MR2 I built and it didnt really turn out so well  but I learned alot about setting up pipes and getting angles correct and making some templates and jigs, so this time was not as bad.

[dirtbag]

looks good so far.





BTW, check your PM's for once, please 

[BigMike [OP]]

Fortunately I am able to downsize these images because my welds are Where ever boogerwelds is, he would be proud of my work.

I remembered that on my MR2 I made like 3 or 4 measurements, and then cut and welded the 3 or 4 pipe lengths/angles together at one time. Big no-no When I bolted the system back up, GEEZE! everything was off and I was so pissed. I cut it up, re-welded, had to make some spacers in some places and it was just total

So, going from experience, I carefully measured the FIRST length/angle and welded it, just the first piece. Then I would remount it and after being satisfied, move on to the next section -- as apposed to doing everything at one time which I found out is a bad idea.

So to make a long story not any longer, the very first weld, first section, I had it measured perfectly and tacked it in place and it looked peachy-keen, but after welding it it was a good 20 degrees off from where I had measured. I was pretty mad and thought I could bend it a bit with a large soft pursuader (aka. hammer/rubber malot), that didnt work, so I thought I could use my body weight to bend it, but I only managed to screw up the pipe, flatting it out loosing it's natural circle.

So after all of this, still on the first section, I just cut about 80% of the pipe, then I was able to bend a massive gap on the back side (where I got the extra 20-degrees or so from) and then I spent a while filling in the gap. And anyone can tell ya that filling holes on thin walled exhaust pipe is no fun chore


Fortunately, since the pipe is going under the trans, I was already planning on useing exhaust wrap, so all of my nasty welds are hidden for ever! hahaha!

So here is the finished custom crossover pipe:

[BigMike [OP]]

BTW, check your PM's for once, please

Yeah you know, I only have 58 of those things, I was thinking I should take a look at em pretty soon..

I'll check them in a min..


Here are some close-ups of the system installed. I left a finger-width gap between the pipe and the trans. I was sort'of worried, but Marlin reassured me the next day that he has seen pipes in direct contact with trans and it does ok. So apparently I've got more than enough room which is great. Also, I wanted the heat wrap to keep the exhaust temps up because the cat will be bolted right at that flange, so now the air can be as hot as possible for maximum somg efficiency. ( :bull crap: )

I tried to clear the front drive line by as much as possible and for now it seems to be ok. For sure their is more room right now between the exhaust pipe and the drive line then the oil pan to diff issue, so if anything, the oil pan will save the exuast pipe  ohhh ummm... eh But I dont need a front driveline to smog it anyways and once it gets lifted it wont be an issue at all, but I do plan on running a High Pinion diff, so I'll just have to see how that goes. Also the tripple cases will flatten out the driveline angle, so it just gets better.

[BigMike [OP]]

The O2 sensor is also close to the frame rail, but it should be ok.... The second O2 sensor mounts behind the cat...

[BigMike [OP]]

So with the gas tank and exhaust finished, I move on the the final major task, mounting the battery.

I knew where I wanted it, so I just needed to build a bracket to hold the battery, and then weld that bracket to the frame.


And after a couple of hours, wa'la

[BigMike [OP]]

I got RIPPED OFF AARRRGGGGGG at NAPA and didnt even realize it until I got back to the shop and checked the recipt. I needed a way to hold the battery to the tray, so I just figured I would buy a universal battery bolt down from NAPA.. yeah, $13 bucks later with two puney whimpy long bolts and some nuts I decided to return the parts and just build my own tie down.

And after a couple of hours, I had it made in the shade


For those who care, you'll notice that my supreme engineering skills designed the top tie down bar to go just in front of the  terminals. This essentially "locks" the battery in the mount. It can't move up because the terminals are in the way, and it's restricted down by the lower support brace.

 

[dirtbag]

looking good, youngin!!!

[BigMike [OP]]

So by now you're probably wondering what orientation I used to mount it with? So here ya go-

The funny thing is that I had to fill a 1/6" gap on half of the mounting surface. Apparently the frame is a multiple piece and I just happened to plan on mounting the battery right over a connecting area. So plenty of filler welds were needed on the back half of the mount, but unfortunately I wont be able to cover up any of those fantastic welds with any heat wrap. Oh well, have some boobs



More pics please!

[BigMike [OP]]

Oh, I do know that I will be relocating my rear spring hanger mounts forward about 6" so I kept the battery up about a inch on the frame..


So now with it mounted, I then moved on to wiring it in.

I picked up some 2/0 AWG welding wire a while back and finally put it to use.

I cleaveraly placed the positive wire within the frame rail for most of it's journey up to the engine bay. Keeps it out of reach from rocks and Hondas, in case I drive over one by mistake.

Originally, I didnt know where I would route the main pos. lead wire. The fuel lines there looked like a great canidate, I could just use the same hose+ziptie technique I have been using and run the pos wire in line with both fuel lines. But I was concerned about any electrical discharge or any kind of static electric problems.... ehhh oh boy. So I knew I didnt want it to be so close to the fuel lines, so I thought about the frame rail. Worked out great!

[BigMike [OP]]

I took the main hot wire from the battery straight to the starter. From there, a high amp wire is routed direct to the stock T100's main vehicle/chassis hot wire that leads into the fuse box. So now the entire system is powered up..

[BigMike [OP]]

...so with the whole system powered, you can only guess what I did next


http://board.marlincrawler.com/temp/crank.mp2

[dirtbag]

I like that little girlish scream of joy at the end 


congratulations, at least yours cranks over

[BigMike [OP]]

AWESOME!


Well, It's not running yet, but it feels a lot closer now! It took me a while playing around with the T100's harnesses.. I discovered that the main 80AMP fuse was blown, and two 15a and one 7.5a fuse were also blown. Apparently the roll over did some damage to the battery. I did find a couple melt downs in the interior near the radio wires, but I fixed those along time ago. So I carefully began pluging in stuff, and with my trusty multimeter, we traced the voltage all the way into the cab, found the clutch start cancel switch, jumped that, learned how to hot-wire a 1995 4cyl T100, and got this baby to crank for it's first time since in my possesion.

So I am quite thrilled right now and very motivated to get it running.

Just off the top of my head, here's what needs to be done before it'll fire up:

• Still need to wire the fuel pump in
• Add colant
• Install intake plumping including air flow meter and air temp sensor
• Add gas to the tank
• ummmm.......

hmmmmmmm..... The vaccum canister is not hooked up yet, but that's not stopping it from starting. Also the 2nd O2 sensor is not installed yet, but that will just throw me a code im sure, It should still start up, but I think I'll get it installed first anyways.

Im sure their are still 101 things I will need to do, but it feels closer

So that's where I am now.

And before she's ready for the road, I still need to swap out the interior to the 89-95 style for the speed sensor and install some rear shocks and then I can take it down to the ref and get it approved and smoged. So I've still got alot of work ahead of me yet-

Regards,
BigMike

[BigMike [OP]]

I like that little girlish scream of joy at the end

Jealous.

congratulations, at least yours cranks over

Is your rig not running?

[dirtbag]

I like that little girlish scream of joy at the end

Jealous.

yep, jealous that I don't have a soprano voice like that 

congratulations, at least yours cranks over

Is your rig not running?

nope, and please don't rub it in, it makes me feel all the more sad.

[BigMike [OP]]

 

[WHITE_TRASH]

Boogerweldz is now dirtyskivies, just incase you were wondering. 
You do need to check you pm's more often.  Ya never know when there could be something important in there!
















But most of the time its just dirtbag babbling about usless crap. lol

[SWAMPER]

Mike seems its all going good for you I have to agree with DB about the scream  Hey post up another one when the engine finally turns over...make sure it has the exhaust and all....wanna hear that 

[reklund5]

Good work BigMike!  It all looks really nice and professional...You'll no doubt have a super-clean rig when it's all done.  Get it done for some southwestern wheelin' on Halloween weekend in Farmington, NM with us!

Ryan

[Tool Guy]

just got done reading this thread. i am thoroughly imoressed.  can't wait to to see the finished product.
Great job Bigmike

[BigMike [OP]]

Hey that's a nice header. I know that LC's header uses long primaries (won't work for me because Im diving down under the trans) and I know that Downey's header is rather short, so I thought I might go with that one much, much later down the road (maybe next summer, I will put all of my $$ into building the truck into a Rock Crawler first).

I've heard bad stories about pacesetter gewdies. I've heard that they like to rust out. My friend got one for his 86' Celica GT-S (4A-GE engine) and the O2 sensor had a very small taper and the stock sensor wouldn't even fit into the hole! We couldnt believe it!! Since then I figured to never support that company, so I am interested to see how that header does for you, because it is a short design and would fit with my setup as well, so please keep me informed!! Do you mind if I ask how much? $180?

Ahh...... I just checked on Ebay and found 'em for 'Buy it Now' $168. That is a very cheap price, I will definately go this route pending your install and service reports!!!!

...............Actually...... I am reading the Ebay page right now.......... And it seems REALLY tempting..... I might install that header this winter even..... I will run the stock Manifold and then convert to the aftermarket Header so I can figure out if it improved and in what power band. I know that my options will be very limited because of how I have to route my exhaust in the first place, so I'll pretty much take whatever comes available for my engine in terms of headers...... as long as its a positive difference.

I've attached another picture of the header. If I were to get it, then I would get it heat coated to keep the temps down, and I found a cheaper site that offers a coating for just $239 (http://www.importperformanceparts.net/imports/paceheaders-toyota.html)


Well, I didnt do anything today because I got sick from a friend on Sunday night, so I just stayed home all day. Missed work and that really sucks because I am down to my last food stamp now...

....but I will work on the rig tomorrow night (Wed.) and Thursday night, and I am sure that, if I dont encounter any serious problems, I can get it running by tomorrow night or Thursday night for sure 

Talk to everyone later, and thanks for the encouragement so I dont loose any more time on this project by being lazy-

Cya
BigMike

[BigMike [OP]]

Hey toyhatsu,

Once you get your header in, could you please place it next to the stock cast manifold and take a couple comparison pics for me? I would like some side-by-side pics so I can try to imagine if it will fit with my frame width and front diff.

Thanks in advance,
BigMike

[ifssucks]

whats up. im putting a 2.7 in my 86 4x4. and have some questions. i work at desert rat in phoenix 602 973 9697. call if you can or send me a number and ill call. im in a bind. any help would be great
thanks , jason

[BigMike [OP]]

whats up. im putting a 2.7 in my 86 4x4. and have some questions. i work at desert rat in phoenix 602 973 9697. call if you can or send me a number and ill call. im in a bind. any help would be great
thanks , jason

Hey, so what problems are you having? If its something simple, just create a new topic or shoot 'em here-

BigMike