FJ62 LS Swap - Lone Star Sleeper - Stoffregen Motorsports

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Some pics of the headers and collector. You can also see how the oil pan had to be modified to clear the driveshaft.





Engine and trans installed in the truck.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

We wanted to try to use the original Land Crusier trans shifter, and it seemed possible, but the only way to find out was to get in there and start measuring. Once some basic measurements were taken from the shifter and from the trans linkages, I now had a plan. Both arms (from the trans and from the shifter) had to be lengthened so the travel distance matched.

I also had to re-bush the shifter and linkage arms during the process.

















Once the linkage was in place, I was surprised to find that the shift stops were almost perfect. Only a couple adjustments were made to the stops with a file to make them seat perfectly. The original LC reverse light switch is in the electronic cluster that mounts to the side of the trans. The 6L80E had no such provision, so a reverse light switch needed to be mounted on the shifter to activate the reverse lights. A simple toggle switch was mounted and wired up.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Now the fun part began. I actually really like to do wiring, but I hate the surprise I get when I tell the customer how many hours went into the wiring. Every job is custom, so there's generally no way of knowing what it's going to take, and in some cases, the existing wiring in the vehicle is so beat up that it requires a ton of repair before the actual new wire integration can take place. This truck's wiring was nice and tidy so we didn't have any repair to do.

To make the wiring as tidy as possible, I installed the A/C relay in the Bussmann fuse box that came with the engine harness. I also installed a low pressure switch at the A/C drier.





Ideally, I would love to be able to spend the time to completely remove and unwrap the harness to weed out wires that are no longer needed, but that would take a huge amount of time, and overall is unnecessary. So I do the best I can at hiding the unwanted extras. Some of them get re-purposed, some get clipped and bent over and hidden in the bundle. I usually label them for the next guy...

Finding the starter wire was easy, but I had to splice a couple wires together to bypass the no longer used neutral safety switch that was on the original trans.



A bracket was made to hold the Bussmann fuse box and to cover the new power post batter connections.



More wiring mess.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

With the engine in and all hooked up, it was time to fire it off. A simple bleeding of the fuel rail meant that it fired right up.

Sounds great too...







But then I went to put it in gear and got nothing...

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Adding some accessories is always fun. In this case, an ARB compressor was fit under the hood, with switches neatly parked together in the dash. We also wanted auxiliary driving lights, and found an NOS FJ62 fog light switch to activate them.

I like these systems to be easy to work on, so a custom bracket was fabbed up to hold not only the compressor, but also the relays and fuse block for both the compressor and the driving lights. The bracket is easy to remove with only four bolts holding it onto the inner fender.







Mounting the switches took some craft. A 12 year old could do this stuff. First, measure and carefully cut a hole, then epoxy the trim ring into the dash, then install the switches and their bezel. You will also notice a dual USB charger to the right of the ARB switches. These are nice to have.











Wiring all this up could be easy, but why not make it difficult? Again, I like these mods to be easy to work on. In this case, that meant snipping the ARB compressor switch harness and adding Deustch or Molex connectors to make the whole panel easy to remove without having to disconnect each wire from the switches.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Here's the new fog light switch and the wiring diagram for the FJ62. I had to reverse engineer the switch before I could wire it up







With the dash all apart, it's time to wire up and mount everything else including the OBDII diagnostic port. Some people like them on the passenger side, but most techs will look under the dash on the driver side, so that's where I put it. I had to move the fuel door handle an inch to the right, but the bracket to do that also held the OBDII connector. Two birds...



Repairing the HVAC duct seals is part of what I do to make everything new.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

To get a jump start on the tuning process, I bought myself a new laptop and loaded it with HP Tuners VCM Suite Pro. I then loaded the truck up and brought it down into the depths of inner city madness (I hate coming down off the hill), to have one of the west coast's most sought after tuners help me figure out the trans issue. I'll leave out all the details on what we found (or didn't find) until we get it finalized, but here are a couple pics.



This Caddy was there getting some tuning done, but look at that beautiful FJ on the trailer.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Next up, A/C, bumpers and tach.

 

[JunkManTX]

Absolutely beautiful work!!

 

[Metcalf]

Great updates!

Why didn't the trans go into gear? That seems odd, like something outside of a tuning problem. I guess the gear switch is mainly electronic on the 6L80...

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Absolutely beautiful work!!

Thank you. I can't wait for you to see it.

Great updates!

Why didn't the trans go into gear? That seems odd, like something outside of a tuning problem. I guess the gear switch is mainly electronic on the 6L80...

It appeared to be a communication/compatibility issue in the beginning. The ECM and trans computer weren't compatible so weren't communicating. They sent me a new ECM, I had it flashed with a file that is known to work, and the compatibility error went away, but still no shifting. Pacific Fab wanted me to keep trying with their guidance, but I can't load files with HP Tuners. Only someone with a TEC 2 scanner can. Since the only guy I trust is available only on Saturdays, the process was taking too long and I simply ran out of time. If they have a solution, they can probably get it done in one shot, freeing me up to work on other projects.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Transmission update - The truck spent Christmas at Pacific Fab while they were going through their wiring to make sure it was all correct. What they found was surprising: metal in the trans fluid. Not sure how or why this occurred, or if it were sold to me that way. Anyway, I've got the truck back here in the shop and the trans is coming out tomorrow and willb e brought down to Ed Okray of E-Trans in Olivehurst. He is great with GM transmissions and will go through it for us.

Also sending the tester tach back to Classic Instruments along with the original tach so they can meld the two together giving us a modern tach with a classic OEM appearance. Looking forward to that.

More updates soon.

BTW - I've just started another FJ60 LS swap, this time using an E-Rod engine package from GM Performance Parts. Will have a thread going on that one soon.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Apologies for the hiatus.

I am sad to say that the project is still ongoing. The troubles with the transmission have not yet been resolved. Long story short, the trip to Pacific Fab netted no results, but found that the transmission was failing. The resulting rebuild (done by e transmission factory) proved not to be the answer, though he was able to save the trans before it imploded.

We did find a man willing and able to take the truck and sort out all the transmission problems, but that meant shipping it off to AZ. Jim Miller of Zero Gravity was kind enough to fit us in right away and though the truck has been there less than a week, he has already made some headway. His resume is extensive and includes the actual design of a handful of GM automatic transmissions, so the truck is in good hands.

It has been a very frustrating segment of the journey, and I have learned a few important things about using/building/tuning a 6L80E transmission in the process. One thing for certain, when it does finally hit the road, it is going to be very nice to drive.

More pics and details soon.

 

[Factoid]

Your craftsmanship is first rate, so well done! And thank you for documenting the swap and build.

I recently installed an L99/6L80 (2012 Camaro LS and tranny) in my 1988 Land Rover Defender 90. It woke the old wanker up and it is a joy to drive. You will be very happy once it is sorted. Very happy!

I learned a ton about GEN IV GM LS engines and the tranny/ecu/harness issues that might help you or others:

1. The ecu and tcu must be matched or the engine will not communicate with the tranny and even though you manually put it in gear, it will not shift. For those looking to buy a used set up, buy them together and along with the harness, accelerator pedal and ecu (don’t worry if it is 2wd, the adapter, two plugs and oil seal are readily available and it takes less than 20 minutes to convert the 6L80 to be 4wd capable).

2. The tps is actually in the accelerator pedal so switching to a throttle cable is a little more difficult than simply replacing the pedal and throttle body.

3. The ecu must be flashed to remove the anti theft and other features (like the BCM interface) that will throw codes or turn on the CEL (speartech and others will do this and either strip down your existing engine wiring harness or provide a new one if yours is damaged). I had them remove the wiring for the post cat O2 sensors, AFM, and other unused wires and turn off AFM in the ecu. The beauty of this is the interface is now really easy. You simply need to connect ground, B+ and ignition (switched B+), their harness FP relay to your fuel pump and you are ready to go. It includes control signals to your cooling fan(s), tach, speedo, a/c compressor, and tap shift and indicator if you chose to use them.

4. There are a variety of oil pan configurations available from GM to help fit your chassis, exhaust, and front drive shaft fitment issues. I had to change to a truck pan to eliminate the Camaro oil cooler and provide clearance for the front steering linkage. I also had to trim a handful of brackets, lugs and bosses off of the engine and transmission for clearance. Pretty easy once you can see it in place.

5. Front accessory set up is also easy to sort given all the GM and aftermarket brackets available. There are three water pump offsets: Corvette, car and truck/Camaro. The truck/Camaro set up is the longest (1.5” longer than the Corvette). I had clearance issues with the stock LR steering box and needed the PS pump and alternator on the driver side (the stock Camaro a/c compressor fit fine in the stock lower passenger side placement). I found the single bracket Corvette set up that mounts the ps pump at mid height with the separate reservoir above it and the alternator top left fit perfectly with four 1 1/2” spacers between the Head and bracket and some minor clearance trimming on the bottom of the bracket.

Anyway, great job and thanks for sharing with the community!

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Your craftsmanship is first rate, so well done! And thank you for documenting the swap and build.

I recently installed an L99/6L80 (2012 Camaro LS and tranny) in my 1988 Land Rover Defender 90. It woke the old wanker up and it is a joy to drive. You will be very happy once it is sorted. Very happy!

I learned a ton about GEN IV GM LS engines and the tranny/ecu/harness issues that might help you or others:

1. The ecu and tcu must be matched or the engine will not communicate with the tranny and even though you manually put it in gear, it will not shift. For those looking to buy a used set up, buy them together and along with the harness, accelerator pedal and ecu (don't worry if it is 2wd, the adapter, two plugs and oil seal are readily available and it takes less than 20 minutes to convert the 6L80 to be 4wd capable).

2. The tps is actually in the accelerator pedal so switching to a throttle cable is a little more difficult than simply replacing the pedal and throttle body.

3. The ecu must be flashed to remove the anti theft and other features (like the BCM interface) that will throw codes or turn on the CEL (speartech and others will do this and either strip down your existing engine wiring harness or provide a new one if yours is damaged). I had them remove the wiring for the post cat O2 sensors, AFM, and other unused wires and turn off AFM in the ecu. The beauty of this is the interface is now really easy. You simply need to connect ground, B+ and ignition (switched B+), their harness FP relay to your fuel pump and you are ready to go. It includes control signals to your cooling fan(s), tach, speedo, a/c compressor, and tap shift and indicator if you chose to use them.

4. There are a variety of oil pan configurations available from GM to help fit your chassis, exhaust, and front drive shaft fitment issues. I had to change to a truck pan to eliminate the Camaro oil cooler and provide clearance for the front steering linkage. I also had to trim a handful of brackets, lugs and bosses off of the engine and transmission for clearance. Pretty easy once you can see it in place.

5. Front accessory set up is also easy to sort given all the GM and aftermarket brackets available. There are three water pump offsets: Corvette, car and truck/Camaro. The truck/Camaro set up is the longest (1.5” longer than the Corvette). I had clearance issues with the stock LR steering box and needed the PS pump and alternator on the driver side (the stock Camaro a/c compressor fit fine in the stock lower passenger side placement). I found the single bracket Corvette set up that mounts the ps pump at mid height with the separate reservoir above it and the alternator top left fit perfectly with four 1 1/2” spacers between the Head and bracket and some minor clearance trimming on the bottom of the bracket.

Anyway, great job and thanks for sharing with the community!

Thank you for the comments as well as the compliments.

We had already exhausted our efforts with the tuning, flashing, and i dotting and t crossing. The ECM was flashed with the TCM connected. The pedal was matched to the ECM. The ECM was unlocked and tuned by one of the west coast's most competent tuners, so all those bases are covered.

As far as the accessory drive, the only drive I can use is a truck application. I do not like to use electric fans, and the truck drive (as far as I know) is the only drive capable of running a mechanical clutch driven fan. Also, I don't know if you noticed our PS reservoir, but it is an OEM Toyota unit that has been modified to feed a mid 80's TBI big block Chevy truck/Suburban PS pump, just like the way Toyota did it.

So, back to the trans. The guys at Zero Gravity think they have zeroed in on the problem. I will let you know as I hear from them.

Thanks.