[Lucy_FJ55]

Progressing slowly...

All this little crap has been annoying but I am getting closer. I have a new 'detent spring' and ball bearing coming from $OR so I can then replace the transmission top plate and finish putting the cab/interior together. I have not been able to find the spring I lost and have been convinced that if it is still in the transmission it will not harm it and should just get pulverized. I'll swap fluids soon, we'll see what happens...

I have installed most of the remaining parts on the front end. The radiatior/front end supports and hood latch thingy, grill, headlight buckets, and lower valance. 'Lily' looks a lot happier now.

(pics soon to follow)

[RHINO]

wow carlos !! i hadent read this thread in a while, you've really got alot done. i know i am late to the game but heres a few thoughts anyway.

good idea to keep the tranny and case for the pig, since your not wheelin this one too hard it'll be good, put the split case in the trail pig in the future, a little stronger and a little lower geared.

dont mark the dizzy, just take it out and time everything when the engine goes back together, see told ya i was late to the game

i've done the grease pilot bearing, but i used a drift that fit nicely, some difference.

you'll love the new starter, i put one on my pig 5 years ago and never looked back. the wiring is bolt-on, cable is a no brainer and use the BY wire that went to the old starter. i think its BY ?? aww crap now i hafta go look.

Dwitcher and anyone else, the gear ruduction starter is standard on FJ60, gittum new, gittum used just go gittum, BIG difference.

congrats on all the work carlos, need any net help i'm just a PM away bro.

[Lucy_FJ55]

Thanks Rhino! I appreciate any and all advice.

I thought I would post an updated pic of the front end of the cruiser. As mentioned earlier, I have buttoned it all up-just need to adjust the valves, timing, and deal with the tranny, and, and, and.

Speaking of tranny-I received the 'detent spring and ball' I misplaced when I removed the tranny top plate during the engine install. I should be able to button that up soon.

I also posted a pic of the windshield washer fluid res. setup. I was able to use the original location by simply rotating the assembly and jerry-riggin'/attaching it to the battery tray. Now I have the room I need and I can tap into the original harness/wiring setup.

I hope to get some more work done this weekend-will post pics/progress soon. OINK! OINK!

[n2666s]

Great work and attention to small things Carlos; by the way......the folks from MAF nebver did get back to me on the rear bumper .......:(

Lou

[Lucy_FJ55]

Thanks Lou!

I got a little more done this weekend. I drained and refilled the transmission, transfer case, and front diff with new oil. I slapped the clutch slave cylinder back together. I replaced the detent spring and transmission top plate. Then I tossed the tranny hump, levers, and dust boots back on. I actually am still struggling with the transmission shift lever. I know how it is supposed to work but I have not been able to make it happen yet.

[Lucy_FJ55]

Took a couple hours to scrape mud and crap off all the front and rear axle and suspension components. Filled up the radiator with coolant and fixed a leak or two. Temporarily spliced a couple wires my buddy instructed me to connect before I tried to start the rig. I loosened the valves a bunch and then finger-tightened them. I tossed a battery in and then thought about all the connections and engine components and systems before I put the key in the ignition-and tried starting her up! After I calmed my nerves I gave the old gal a try. The gear reduction starter spun the engine like a champ and she had wanted to come alive but I have no fuel getting to the carb yet. I cranked it over a few times, a little longer each time. I swapped in a new fuel filter and cranked the engine a bunch more, trying to get fuel through the lines to no avail. I did not see any oil coming from the rocker arms which made me even more nervous. She popped and coughed but never really ran. I did however notice that I have a serious exhaust leak at the header. Stupid shat has given me more trouble than anything else on this project. I ran out of time and energy this weekend and may not be able to work out the bugs anytime soon...:( OINK!

[n2666s]

Carlos; looking good......; just got Ehsan's patches welded in this afternoon; they are great and seem to be a bit thicker than the original sheet metal........will try to post some pix tomorrow;

Lou

[Lucy_FJ55]

Sweet Lou-that's incredible! Nice work. You deserve a break. Sit back and gloat. Stare at that project, take pics, and share em'. Hee, hee.

[inkpot]

Howdy! Lookin good. Try a shot of Hot Start, ether, to get her fired up. Sometimes those old fuel pumps take a while to prime up. The spyders in there may be doing the back stroke!! Ha your engine revolve enough to pump oil up into the filter? I think it has to fill up before you can see it in the rocker gallery. John

[Trollhole]

Originally Posted by Lucy_FJ55

Took a couple hours to scrape mud and crap off all the front and rear axle and suspension components. Filled up the radiator with coolant and fixed a leak or two. Temporarily spliced a couple wires my buddy instructed me to connect before I tried to start the rig. I loosened the valves a bunch and then finger-tightened them. I tossed a battery in and then thought about all the connections and engine components and systems before I put the key in the ignition-and tried starting her up! After I calmed my nerves I gave the old gal a try. The gear reduction starter spun the engine like a champ and she had wanted to come alive but I have no fuel getting to the carb yet. I cranked it over a few times, a little longer each time. I swapped in a new fuel filter and cranked the engine a bunch more, trying to get fuel through the lines to no avail. I did not see any oil coming from the rocker arms which made me even more nervous. She popped and coughed but never really ran. I did however notice that I have a serious exhaust leak at the header. Stupid shat has given me more trouble than anything else on this project. I ran out of time and energy this weekend and may not be able to work out the bugs anytime soon...:( OINK!

I had the same problem. Took forever to get the fuel all the way up to the carb. Thought is was the fuel pump but ended up just me being to impatient. It's a long way back to the tank.

Also you can pull the distributor and cut a long screwdriver up, put it on a drill and prime the oil system. That way you do no harm to the engine.

[Lucy_FJ55]

Thanks everbody for all the support and help.

My poor cruiser has just been waiting for some attention. I 'plan' on working on it this weekend. Trollhole, thanks for the 'screwdriver/oil pump' tip. I was thinking of filling the oil filter part way with oil and pulling the Indiana Jones move where I swap the oil filter upside down on to the base and not drop any oil. Hee, Hee, we'll see.

As for the fuel, I'm going to try something similar. I am going to fill the fuel lines from the top of the carb and just before the fuel pump with gas, maybe using an old turkey baster? I may toss some gas in the carb/float bowl also. What do ya think of that wacky-ness?

And I guess I'll have to futz with the header, AGAIN!

I'll update soon... OINK! OINK!

[pr0ject42]

jack up the back end, leave the fuel line disconnected to the fuel filter and wait for the gas to trickle out. When it gets there, hook up the filter, disconnect the line to the carb and run a line from that to a bucket and crank it over a few times and see if you are getting gas. Once you do, then hook the bastard back up to the carb and let her rip.

You may also want to just put a little go juice in the carb to see if the thing will fire at all. That will help prime things without burning up your starter or eating up your battery.

[inkpot]

Howdy! put it all together without the spark plugs installed, spin it up with the starter until you get fuel in the carb. A lot less work for the starter and battery. No drip, no smell, no mess. OOOOr, just put it all together all the way, and spray it good with starter (ether) fluid. It's not just for cold weather, ya know? John

[Lucy_FJ55]

Jeeez, I still don't have her runnin'.

Fixed a couple gremlins and am slowly moving forward.

I finally got the tranny lever to seat properly. The two pins that help hold it in place are kinda loose. One is real bad the other not so bad. Aren't those pins supposed to be soild/not move? That allowed me to finally toss the floormats and stuff back in the truck to finish up the interior. Minor accomplishment but it sure feels good after all this time.

I also found the rubber gas pedal pad I bought about two years ago for this rig in the glove box. So I tossed it in a small pot of water and brought it almost to a boil. The wife loved that. This allowed me to be able to stretch it over the gas pedal-looks good.

[Lucy_FJ55]

I also realized when I first tried starting her up that I had a bad coolant leak. I did not use any RTV sealant originally, just new gaskets (I thought I heard that was the way to do it, )on the thermostat/housing. So I disconnected the coolant hoses, removed the thermostat housing, cleaned all the surfaces, and then replaced the gaskets with new ones and RTV sealant. Threw it all back together and it apparently doesn't leak anymore, let's hope so.

I re-tourqed the manifold/header bolts to hopefully deal with the major exhaust leak I also realized I have after tring to start her last time. We'll see if that did it soon enough. I'm not holding my breath.

After dealing with that I tried getting oil up into the valvetrain/rockers in order to prime all the engine's moving parts and to be sure I put everthing back together OK. First I tried cutting a screwdriver and placing that in a drill and then spinning the oil pump that way (after removing the distributor...). It seemed to be working well enough but I bagged that idea and put things back together and tried spinning the engine with the starter (and no spark plugs) to try and get both oil to the top end and gas to the carb.

I now have oil pumping up through the rockers which is great news to me, BUT I do not have any gas in the carb yet. I tried spinning the engine for a long time like folks suggested and nothing happened. No gas at the fuel filter. I tried jacking the back end up a little, disconnected the fuel line after the filter-and nothing. Maybe I should try before the filter? Next I'm busting out the Hi-lift to jack it higher maybe. Anyway, I guess I'll try spinning it some more or I think I will 'prime' the carb and gas lines with some gas and see what happens...

Pics soon, OINK!OINK!

[n2666s]

Carlos, looking good; can you tell more about the cup holder /console in the front? never seen one like that before in my very limited pig experience

Lou

[Lucy_FJ55]

Originally Posted by n2666s

Carlos, looking good; can you tell more about the cup holder /console in the front? never seen one like that before in my very limited pig experience

Lou

Oh, that 'ol thing. I found that at Fred Meyers'. It's plastic and cost about $6. It fits a bit tight. You can probably find something similar at an auto supply/parts store near you.

[Lucy_FJ55]

Well, she LIVES! Sorta.

I apologize for the length of this post and that I did not throw any pics up. Soon.

I was able to get a few things done today. First, I crawled under the truck with my Sawz-All and cut off the last foot or so of the exhaust. Just before the engine seized I had a 2 1/2" exhaust and Magnaflow muffler installed on this piggie and now the exhaust was too long and was dragging on the ground becuse there was no room to fit it in the engine bay with the new headers installed. I chopped off the end leaving plenty to still work with and bolted the tranny skid plate up which is helping to hold the exhaust up until I drive the rig to the local guy who orig. did the exhaust work to finish hooking it up to the headers(Whoa, holy run-on Batman).

I was given a link to a thread about valve adjustments that I can actually understand-finally. I have been reading about it and asking friends about adjusting the valves and it finally has been making sense but I had been too nervous to try it until I understood it better or had someone to 'walk' me through it. I have a hard time following along when just reading a thread about the process, the link I received had multiple diagrams and a coler-coded table. It rocked and was exactly what I needed. It was easy to follow and I was successful in adjusting the valves close to where they need to be. I will need to adjust again after I get the engine up to operating temp but it runs smooth right now. I'll find the link and post it up soon-it was real helpful.

I then removed the distributor again. I followed the OEM manual and reset the oil pump/distributor to line up properly and then tossed the dist. back in. I then tried spinning the engine with the starter motor for a long time trying to get the fuel from the tank to pump to the fuel filter. No dice. I tried this repeatedly and finally gave up. I then grabbed a can of gas and poured some into the top of the carb. I tossed the plugs and wires back in and then fired the engine up. It roared to life and sounded great but quickly died as the fuel ran out. So, I dumped more in to hear it run some more. It sounds freakin' BAD ASS! The straight headers are a bit loud though, hee, hee. I just need to get this thing to the exhaust guy and have him button that up.

I still am not getting gas from the tank to the pump and then up to the carb yet. I need to figure that out ASAP! Its getting to be a little ridiculous. I tried using my jack to lift the back end to have gravity help but perhaps I have not been lifting it high enough. I may try that again with more blocks or my High-Lift. Other than that and spinning the pump with the starter motor, I am not sure what else to try. How long before gas begins to gel in the tank and lines? I already cleaned/replaced the entire fuel system when I first bought this truck so I was hoping to avoid that, but we'll see. I just put 5 gallons of new fuel into it a couple days ago and I estimate that it has probably 10-15 gallons of gas in the tank. The tank is one of those OZ long distance tanks and holds almost 50 gallons. Does any of this matter? Any idea about how long to spin the engine with the starter motor and plugs removed before I see gas? That seemed like the best idea but I was nervous about frying my starter. Is this stoopid or what? Any other ideas, words of advice?

Thanks everyone, Carlos. OINK!

[Wayneraintree]

Carlos,

Go to your local auto parts store and get a cheap "clicker" i.e. electric fuel pump (should be listed as a replacement for your 55 on their computer) one that pumps 2-5 PSI and install it. It should run the engine. Once you run it to your satifaction, take care to take it out with leaving as much fuel in the lines as possible to allow your mechanical pump pick up the rest.

Throw the cheap clicker pump in a storage area of the 55 as a back up in case the mechanical one fails. This should at least assure you the lines are full.... is the "foot" or lever on the mechanical pump in good condition? Hope this helps...

[Trollhole]

I had the same issue. It took forever for it to prime. I ended up buying a cheap had vaccum/brake bleader set and pulling fuel before the fuel pump and then from the carb inlet line. Worked great.

[Lucy_FJ55]

Thanks guys, that is a great idea. I have been spinning the starter for a LONG time trying to pull the gas from the tank but I like the idea of a cheap inline elec. pump or a brake bleeder set to try and fix this...I'll give it a try.




Thanks again everyone. I really do appreciate all the great advice I have gotten and would not have been able to even think about trying this swap without all of your help.

Cruiser owners rock. OINK! OINK!

[Lucy_FJ55]

Originally Posted by Wayneraintree

Carlos,

.... is the "foot" or lever on the mechanical pump in good condition? Hope this helps...

Yes, it is basically new. I replaced it shortly before I seized the engine. I am pretty sure the fuel pump is working well. Well, maybe not well enough...

[Wayneraintree]

let us know how it turns out!

[fastjim11]

Pull the fuel pump and make sure the foot is positioned aginst the lobe and not under it, it is possible to install wrong and it won't pump.
Next get a 2 liter coke bottle fill it 3/4's full with gasoline, remove the fuel line from the tank install a rubber hose on the inlet side (the side from the tank) insert it into the bottle and see if the pump is working.
If you tank or fuel line is restricted that will eliminate them. Be sure the bottle is fairly secure and not near the fan if the motor should start.
Jim

[Lucy_FJ55]

Originally Posted by fastjim11

Pull the fuel pump and make sure the foot is positioned aginst the lobe and not under it, it is possible to install wrong and it won't pump.
Next get a 2 liter coke bottle fill it 3/4's full with gasoline, remove the fuel line from the tank install a rubber hose on the inlet side (the side from the tank) insert it into the bottle and see if the pump is working.
If you tank or fuel line is restricted that will eliminate them. Be sure the bottle is fairly secure and not near the fan if the motor should start.
Jim

Sweet. Another good idea. I'll throw this idea into my bag of tricks and let you know what works for me.

In the meantime, I have been neglecting my trail pig for years now mostly because of this project. I have missed the McGrew Trail ride for the past couple years and have been trying to get back since I first experienced it back in 2004. So I have now been focusing on the trail pig and am preparing for the trip down south on Friday. I'll have to post pics after that as well.

[Wayneraintree]

Originally Posted by Lucy_FJ55

I'll have to post pics after that as well.

Trailpig pictures

[Lucy_FJ55]

---WARNING---HIJACK---WARNING---HIJACK---WARNING---HIJACK---

Wow, what a weekend.

Made it down to the McGrew Trail Ride in Southern Oregon/Northern Cali and had an absolute blast. I was able to enjoy myself this time much more. More confidence, less anxiety. The ol' pig, she did swell but we had to have a little help making it home. Drove over 500 miles this weekend, mostly highway/backroads and some off-road.

The engine in the trail pig has not been sounding that great for a while and I was a bit concerned about putting this rig through this much use/abuse. Unfortunately, I began burning and seeping oil from my engine at an alarming rate as I drove home Sunday afternoon. With the help of some good friends and extra oil we limped Lucy as close to home as possible. After I heard a crazy, metal grating metal-type sound while limping the rig along the highway I finally gave in and called AAA. We were towed the last 45 miles home and delivered to our driveway, where Lucy now sits awaiting perhaps the next re-incarnation...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PMADlrJby5Y

And more pics below.

[Lucy_FJ55]

#1-Loaded up and ready to go!

#2-Taking a break, somewhere in Oregon...

#3-Morning line up, locking the hubs.

[Lucy_FJ55]

#1-Jesse's SO monster pig.

#2-Joel's sweet chopped, bobed, tube-fendered, and armored family-hauler.

#3-Gettin' some...

[Lucy_FJ55]

#1 & #2-Along the trail.

#3-End of the line, camping along the Smith River, CA.