Project Double Wide : F-Toy #23

[FYRDUDE]

The plan is to run a Toyota propane kit from GotPropane on a TBI 4.3.
According to Carey this hasn't been done, but said there is no reason it shouldn't work. My first attempt was to drill and tap the original TBI intake. Then I neede to slope one of the ports to line up with the primary of the Toyota throttle plate and. This didn't work out so well since the throttle linkage hit the TBI manifold.

[FYRDUDE]

My first attempt yielded another door stop. Since the throttle linkage hit the manifold, I decided to notch the manifold out so the linkage could pivot. I found out how thick the manifold is the hard way. Also, I eyeballed the drilling and tapping which made the studs a little catiwampus.

[FYRDUDE]

So I decided to build an adapter to mate the two together. This was a little more complicated than I was hoping. I used the stock gasket spacer thingy to figure out the best way to mount the adapter. I found that I could use one of the factory TBI manifold threads as a starting point.
I then lined up the holes and marked where to drill and grind out the port.

[FYRDUDE]

I did all the grinding using a Rotozip with a burr wheel. This took forever and I had to keep cleaning the aluminum out of the bit with a screwdriver

[FYRDUDE]

Next I built the adapter. Mind you I have no machining equip. So I improvised. Using the gasket spacer thingy from the stock Toyota throttle plate I traced the outline. Then I drill the holes the same size lining up with the throttle plate. Now I know that the primary and secondary are different sizes but who care that one hole is bigger. As long as its not smaller than the throttle plate hole. I found this at a local yard for free.
After drilling all the holes, I cut it out with a Sawsall.
Then of course I had to give it the F-toy stamp.

[FYRDUDE]

Here it is almost complete.
The next issue I had to address was the distributor. The stock one is computer controlled and I no longer have a computer. So I ended up getting a HEI distributor with a vacuum advance from ProComp Electronics on Ebay for $75 new. Hopefully this works. The thing is huge compared to the stock computer controlled unit. I also removed the AC pump and put in a AC delete setup and made it much cleaner looking.
I also cleaned up the engine a little and threw a fresh coat of paint over it and maybe a little paint over some grease.

[FYRDUDE]

The next issue was the stock oil filter setup. The stock setup involves a sandwich plate that sends oil to a remote oil filter setup and then to the radiator to be cooled. I wanted to make things as simple as possible so I decided to rid myself of the remote setup and just put on a filter. I thought this was going to be an easy task. Turned out to be a nightmare. Summit has nothing to do this and ended up sending me the wrong part.

[FYRDUDE]

There is a threaded female hole inside the block where the sandwich plate was. This hole is a 3/4"-16 hole. I finally found the hollow stud at a local speed shop that measures 1 1/4" long. The funny thing is that the one end would screw in but the filter side would not accept a Chevy filter. Or a Toyota. Ended up fitting a Ford Ranger filter.
Go figure! Nothing about this build has been easy.

[FYRDUDE]

Now I have to chase down all the electrical for the engine.
The next issue was to figure out how I was going to mount my brand new PSC TC pump to the Chevy motor. Turns out that the stock canned ham pump puts out more volume than the TC pump at a pretty decent pressure, according to PSC. They recommended keeping the stock pump to run my hydraulics over their TC pump. So I rebuilt the leaky pump and now have to get a special adapter that bolts to the back of the pump and adapts it to the PSC stuff. Here's the fitting I'm talking about.

[FYRDUDE]

Hopefully the steering won't be as much as a pain as the rest of it.
Next I had to figure out how to cool this beast down. Turns out the stock radiator that I kept out of the donor Chevy Blazer is too wide to fit in the engine compartment of the F-toy. So I decided to try and cool this V6 with the stock Toyota 4-runner radiator. Hopefull with the Ford Taurus fan that I picked up out of a car we tore apart at work will keep it cool.
I think I will just have to wire the Taurus fan on its highest speed to keep it cool. Anyone ever try to cool a 6 with a 4cyl. radiator? Here is the fan and all its chit.

[FYRDUDE]

Lucky for me the Taurus fan shroud literally fits the stock Toyota radiator perfectly like it was made for it.

[FYRDUDE]

Next thing I had to adress was the transmission. I am running a T350 trans mated to a D300 using a junkyard adapter setup. The only way this was goint to work was using a T350 4x4 trans. Unfortunately the only T350's I have are wrong. One has the special Downey output to a yota case. The other one is a freshly built 2wd. tranny. So now I am going to try to swap the 2wd output with a 4x4 output shaft. I heard this was an easy swap but it requires completely tearing the trans. apart. I will let you know how it goes. A local shop has the output for $25. But says he'll put it in for $150. I think I might pay him to do it, but we will see.

[FYRDUDE]

Onto the t-case. I am ditching the Toyota stuff because now that I run the 42's and tons, this is the next weak link that I broke recently which transpired the current buildup. After doing MUCH research, I found that the D300 would bolt directly to the T350 using a stock Chevy adapter. This adapter can be found at PNP for cheap. Mine came of an 80's Blazer that had a 700r4 to a NP231 t-case. Their are two different adapters they came with. One has a tall mounting base and one has a short. You want the short. Now to connect the two you need a spud shaft. Just so happens that AA sells the needed spud shaft.
When I called AA, some said it wouldn't work and I needed their kit.
I call again with the part number and the guy says it will work just fine and people do it all the time. Only thing is that their spud shaft rides on a bearing. Mine will not, but it is aparently a tight fit. Here is the spud shaft and the stock Chevy adapter.

[FYRDUDE]

This is were I really LUCKED out. A guy in our 4x4 club had a D300 sitting in his garage down at the Hammers. The t-case was out of his wifes old Jeep. He took it out in favor of stock D300 gears. My plan was to just use his case. But I found out it already had 4.1 gears installed. Saaweet.
Free is always a good price and had it shipped up.
When it arrived I was even more STOKED. Not only did it have the Tera 4-1 kit but it was complete with a new AA HD output on the rear.
So now I'm super stoked.
Next I am going to modify my other broken D300 shift rail assembly to have a twin stick setup. I heard this isn't very difficult but need some help finding info. on this. Searching the Interenet only had some various pics. that don't really describe the process.

[FYRDUDE]

I also have another broken D300 that had some Tera 4-1 gears. One of the gears was chipped and cracked but the rest looked perfect. I called up Tera and they said to send it in so they could look at it. 4 days later I had a replacement gear on my doorstep for FREE!!!!
Now I have a second backup Tera 4-1 set.

[FYRDUDE]

Next I will be bolting this all together and trying to hang it in the chassis. Hopefully I won't have to do too many mods. to the existing floor to get it all to fit. Stay tuned.

[Jeep07]

Thats some good tech on the 4.3 and propane. Thanks for updating us. What model impco is that adapted to the 4.3? 225?

[Anthony.Lee]

Looks good. Can't wait to see how it runs.

[Wilson]

The twin stick is nothing more than hooking the levers up. This will get you front lo, rear lo and 4wd hi.

[FYRDUDE]

Originally Posted by Jeep07

Thats some good tech on the 4.3 and propane. Thanks for updating us. What model impco is that adapted to the 4.3? 225?

Actually its a model 200. Carey said that this is the same model that he uses on the Jeep 4.0L engines. He said it should work but might lack a little on the top end. We shall see. Might have to go up to a bigger one later, but hopefully it will work.

[FYRDUDE]

Originally Posted by Wilson

The twin stick is nothing more than hooking the levers up. This will get you front lo, rear lo and 4wd hi.

Definately want this on my D300. I've done some searching and have found a bunch of pictures on the shifters themselves but not the mods to the shift rails or how it was done. Also found tons of dead links. Have you seen any writeups on this mod? Thanks for your help.

[Wilson]

No links, but I've done it. Modding the shift rails is only necessary if you want front hi (unless mine was just sloppy?). You can pm Im4yotas if you'd like. I was too scared to run the rig that way so I ran one shifter, but was setup to use 2 stock D300 shifters. Hooking them up was one of the first things he did and then the parts started flying.

It's funny how some people still trip out when I front dig. I used it to turn arounda couple of times last weekend and each time, someoen was staring.

[FYRDUDE]

So all I have to do is put one stick per shift rail. Just put two shifters on this sucker and I have front dig capability? Also, I just want to make sure that with this setup I can't shift the front into low and the rear into hi and ruin the t-case? I'll PM Im4Yotas.
Wow, that's easy then! Shouldn't be a problem.

[Im4yotas]

It won't go into different gear front to rear unless you modify the shift rails wrong. But you should only have to mod the rails if you want to add front only hi range. I had mine all the way apart to put in 32 sp outputs, and the rails were all stock and had the detent pills. This still lets me have front only low range. Might not be so good for an auto, because I usually end up using 2nd or 3rd gear for a good hard dig.

There's a really good writeup somewhere on here showing exactly where to notch the rails for front hi. Keep searching or try bumping the threads with dead links for updated links.

Might take a while to get used to the shifting. There is definately a finesse to getting it to pop into and out of front only easily...

[GOOBAWIGGA]

I read through most of the thread and love it!! You wouldn't happen to Know how tall it is at ride height? looking to do something with a beat up taco.