That picture with exhaust pipe and shock.  I know pic doesnt do justice but it seems like they are barely touching eachother.  Otherwise, everything looks good! 

i'm looking forward to seeing this thing tonight hopefully get a ride in 'Er too!

Thing is going to be a beast. Damn nice write up. Keep up the good work.

it's done and on the road! I might get a ride tonight 

WOW you guys knocked this project out pretty fast. Cant wait to hear how she runs.

YES, lets see some pictures, and hear it run.  That was one fast build.

YES, lets see some pictures, and hear it run.  That was one fast build.

its one fast kick too....wow....power and torque up the a$$!

I busted his chops a little bit about getting a finish post and maybe a vid up here too.

I was going to try to post the rest of the pictures and update the build thread this morning, but I don't have time.  I will get it posted u this afternoon, I promise.  I don't have any video of it yet, but I will try to see if I can get some this week.

Well, I finally took the plunge and signed up on this site.  Just wanted to say a huge thanks to Greg for all his help, use of his shop, tools and expertise to get this project done.  This has been a fun project that has turned out really well and been done in a very timely manor which was important since this is my only daily driver.  As of now things are all working great, this engine swap has transformed this sidekick and made it so much nicer to drive!!!  I still have to find an AC condenser and get some lines built before the AC will work, the cruise control isn't hooked up yet, I need to find a switch that will work with the toyota ecm, I'm going to try using a stock sidekick one first if that doesn't work I'll have to go after market.  I just got the signal converter for the tach yesterday, I hope to have that in soon so my stock tach will work and then sometime this week I'll be getting an extention/adaptor for the sidekick speedo cable so that it will work with the toyota transfer case.  And then last but not least I need to get the cowl on my hood to cover up the hole we had to make in the hood.  Considering the size of this project these are very minor things that I can easily do while driving the rig.  There is no way that this project could have been done with out all the help and advice I got from friends and the Mid Valley Crawlers club, Greg by far spent the most time helping with all the fab and instilation, Brian did the wiring harness, Eric helped remove the old wiring and ecu, Jared helped with his fancy hose clamps and hose adapters, Davey came by and spent a few night helping, lots of good help!!!  Thanks to all!!

Well I finally got the rest of the build diary and pictures off the other site, so here it is.

Joe Posted 2011-02-28 5:10 P
What kind of bump stops is Drew running? One mistake I made on my 4runner swap was under estimating how much my bump-stops would compress. They squish about twice as much as I thought they would, and I was smacking the steering link into the frame during hard compression. Its fixed now but was an annoyance. It just reminded me of that as I looked at your TIGHT tolerances! I was in the same boat (suspension wise)     

Drew   Posted 2011-03-02 7:15 AM
I don't have bump stops, just the rubber ring on the top of the shock, I've never bottomed out the suspension before but if I find this is a problem I will add bump stops later. I'm hoping to revamp my suspension at some point, right now my drivers side front shock is totally shot, we have to use a digging bar to pry it out of full compression. I'm going to save those things for another day, right now I just want to see this thing up and driving!!!    

Drew   Posted 2011-03-03 10:47 PM
Got the whole front end all put together, all my goodies are in under the hood, air compressor, winch controls, etc, got the front bumper and winch on, had to make all new mounting brackets as it looked dumb sitting low because of the body lift. Brian came over last night and lined me out on some wiring, got it all done today with a few exceptions. I got my rear drive line on, we had to modify the rear output flange on the t case to take a 1350 cv but it all works now. I built a battery terminal that I can mount on my fire wall and it gives me 6 additional 5/16" studs for mounting big accessories and I'm going to put a bat disco on b4 it so all accessories can be turned off with one switch. I'm also adding two 10 spot fuse box's, one will be constant power, the other will be ignition power for adding smaller electrics later. I really REALLY hope that tomorrow is the day we get it started, send good thoughts my way!!!

Drew   Posted 2011-03-04 6:01 PM
Well, it turns over great, and even tries to fire with some starting fluid but we never did get it running. After doing some testing with a fuel pressure guage the most we could get was 20 psi so we think that there just isn't enough fuel pressure to start. I found a 70 psi inline pump that I will get tomorrow and really hope that it will solve the problem. Talking with Brian he said that only having 20 psi might have been why the 16v never wanted to start right away, I guess we will find out when it goes in Davey's sammy with 90 psi!!! Thanks for the moral and tech support Davey, Brian, Jared and of course most of all Greg I think that we are in the home stretch!!

ghmikk  Posted 2011-03-06 11:40 AM
It runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With no major error codes on the computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to test drive it in a couple minutes!

It's not as fast as a sports car, but is really fast for a wheelin rig. It has got some really nice power now. Here are some pictures from this week:

When we first started to really put things back together, the bumper just didn't look right being low, so we had to build some new brackets to raise it up,  Drew didn't like the big open space in the bottom, so he added some expanded steel to help protect the radiator, it turned out really good.





The wiring took a while to trouble shoot.  At first, it was a power wire for the injectors that was missing, and then this morning, we found the same problem to power the coils.  All problems are solved and everyting is happy.  This was with everything hooked up.  it got cleaned up a little more before the dash got put back.



Here was all the new fuse blocks and relays that drew added



There is a lot of stuff under that hood.  Here is all the other goodies all installed.  The power block behind the battery that Drew made turned out really good, nice clean place to hook everything up.



Everything put together but the grill



And here it is after a test drive.  It has a mud flap uver the motor to keep everything from just being out there.



That thing turned out so awesome. The gearing is so low, it will power brake at idle. It is also crazy how little the motor and transmission move, it fact it is hard to tell if they even move at all, no matter how much torque they take. That really helps with the tight fit, because there is not much room for the motor to move. There are still a few bugs to work out, but it is on the road again

 Posted 2011-03-08 12:12 PM
So far there is only two bigger issues. One was the driveline, it had a lot of vibration, and jack up and turning it looked quite a bit out of center, so it got taken back. Sounds like a new guy that they thought was capable of building the driveline, appearentlt was not capable, and they were imbarrased to say they touched it. The other was play in the rear output of the transfer case, and the bearinf is too loose of a fit in the rear housing. So hopefully all the parts will get here in time to be able to drive it to the meeting.

 Posted 2011-03-08 5:52 PM
This has been a fun build to take on. It is giving me lots of ideas for my sidekick. Today, Drew Talked to Marlin today, and they said they had a bad batch of tail housings, and thought they had caught all of them, so it sounds like we got one of the last bad one's. They are overnighting a new one, so that problem is solved. The driveline came from Dallas custom machine. It was a new guy that still kinda learning. They thought he knew enough to do it on his own, but from the sounds of it, they were wrong, and won't be doing that again.

Drew  Posted 2011-03-09 10:23 AM
The beast lives!!!! I still haven't gotten the smile off my face :0) all the little odds and ends are coming together nicely, I'm getting everything just the way I like it. Yesterday I got the overflow tank mounted and plumbed, the third fuel line plumbed, my gauges mounted properly (and yes I changed out the plastic oil pressure hose for a copper on Jared). I have a signal adapter I got off ebay coming that will make my stock tach work and I'm talking to a shop in portland that will help me get the suzuki speedo cable to work in the toyota transfer case. I've still got a few things to do like re-wire my remote winch control and I have a plug that got buried in my dash somewhere that I need to find to make the air compressor work. I don't really have any extra money to spend right now so I'm not going to be doing much to the front suspension, I just ordered a replacement shock for the one that is blown so I can drive it for now. I'm just waiting for the new rear housing to show up then I will be heading over to gregs to install it and hopefully drive it to the meeting!!!

Posted 2011-03-09 3:39 PM
So close, but so far away. Got the new tail housing and driveline, put everything together, and that solved those two problems. Now there is a loud noise coming from the bell housing that keeps getting louder. Soooo, it is not going to make it to the meeting. We will be pulling the transmission tonight after the meeting to see if we can get it on the road tomorrow.

 Posted 2011-03-10 1:24 AM
Well, the transmition and tranfercases are pulled, problem is fixed and the transmition and transfercases are back in. Just crossmembers, drivelines, clutch to bleed, and belly pan to put back. Turns out the problem was all of the crankshaft bolts backed off, and the flywheel was starting to chatter and come loose. We caught it before it did any damage, used locktite, and torqued everything down real good. I don't know if they really got torqued the first time, but they are now. It will be back on the road tomorrow, and should finally be all road worthy and ready to be driven.

Drew Posted 2011-03-10 6:58 PM
Well, things are super awesome again :0) It was my fault that the fly wheel didn't get torqued, I took it off and had it machined and then put it back on (at least most of the way) and then got sidetracked by other things and totally forgot that I never torqued them, I think I meant to look up the specs and then just plain forgot... I think that the speed and ease we were able to take it all apart and put it all back together with all the parts and pieces on the car is a real testament to Greg's foresight and ability to fabricate things that work well, are built strong without over kill and can be worked on and added to. In taking everything apart last night I don't think there is one piece or part that I would change, to get that much motor, tranny and 2 t-cases into that little of a pakage and still be able to change the fly wheel in less than 6 hours is nothing short of an engineering marvel!!! And to think that there was no fancy auto cad designed laser cut pieces just makes it that much more impressive. Out of the 3 mistakes that have hindered this project Greg is responsible for none of them but he still fixed them all with a smile and a shrug. Bottom line: GREG IS THE MAN!!!!

Posted 2011-03-10 10:02 PM
Thanks Drew. Here are some pictures of playing around and testing this afternoon.




 
Drew  Posted 2011-03-11 5:19 PM
Well, I want to make sure there are very few surprises left under the hood before I go to far. But I've got the bug BAD!!! I can't wait to get this thing on a trail :0) There has been to much time wrenching and not enough time wheeling!!!

I just got my new front shock and put it on, it helps and makes the ride and handling way better but my drivers side front corner still sits low, I think that I've done some damage to that coil running it so long with a bad shock. I still barely bottom out when going over speed bumps evenly with both front tires at any speed so I ordered some new 16" heaver rate coils my old coils were 14" with a one inch spacer, I'm hoping to loose the spacer and get a little more up travel without lifting the front to much. Right now it feels like when it had the softer springs up front that came with the trail slayer kit, I hope that stiffening them up will get me back to where I was before the engine swap. Brent is now putting 16" coils with all the new trail slayer kits, I think that is a good move on his part and will make the kit work even better than it already does.

Well, I just completed my first kinda long distance drive, ran up to portland today for the 4 wheel drive place thing, that was a waste of time, no ramp, no food, no cool cars, but I did get a free shirt... The way the sidekick drives now is soooooo awesome I can't even explain, it is night and day difference!!!! At highway speeds it is quieter than before, still not silent, but way better, there are almost no vibrations, tons of power, and with the soft springs up front it rides like a cadillac. I finally got my GPS in and was able to do a MPG test, right now I'm only getting 17, not terrible, but not great either. I looked into the stock gearing of the FJ and they ran 3.91 axle gears and I'm still running 5.71's. First gear right now is super low, I can start in second no problem and third ok. I think that when I regear my mpg will go up a bit, I haven't gotten my tach signal converter but I would guess that I'm turning 3.5k - 4k at 65 -70. Just when I think that I couldn't possible like my car any better I find out just how nice it drives on the highway and fall start likeing it even more, when I get the springs set up right, it re-geared, AC blowing and the cruise working this is going to be the ultimate long distance exploration rig, at least in my opinion :0) Greg really is the man, have I mentioned that before?

Looks like lots of articulation.  Took a lot to get that rear tire off the ground.  I would like to see that doubler sometime, so if you ever run up North, let me know. 

(There is always something to make it a little better.)

Looks like lots of articulation.  Took a lot to get that rear tire off the ground.  I would like to see that doubler sometime, so if you ever run up North, let me know. 

I have family up in Washington so I'll see if we can meet up next trip.

Things are finishing nicely, I've gotten new front springs, they are a bit stiffer and work much better.  My tach signal converter is in and works well.  I've had the speedo working twice, but I'm having an issue with the speedo cable breaking right behind where it plugs into the cluster, I think that I might have a bad speedo, this is a new (to me) cluster because my old gauges had some issues.  For the little bit of time that I've had it working I can tell a huge difference in how the engine runs, I think that there are different setting the computer uses for running the engine based on wether its sitting idling or if it's driving, I think that my milage should improve a bit just getting the speedo working, at least I hope :0)  We were putting a tranny in LocJaw's nice 4 dr kick and I noticed that he had cup holders in his center console so I checked into the cost through suzuki to get one and it was only $46, so I've got a sweet new center console coming, I can't wait to have cup holders!!!  I've been slowly working on sound proofing the interior and got the back mostly done, I think that to do the rest I'm going to have to pull the seats so I might wait until I've got the new console and do that all at once.  I'm ready to do my first big fluid change and have decided to go with Royal Purple, I've got it all ordered and it should get here soon.  After getting that done it's going to be time to hit the trails!!!

Sweet build, you guys did a great job. wish I had friends with skills like that!

heres a couple "in action" pics.