Builds Introducing Oliver (1 Viewer)

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I put in a Chevy S10 tilt today from an 85 pickup. Seven bolts and thirty minutes to get it out and a couple hours to get it installed enough to get the truck back in my garage. I'll fab a proper bolt in mount for it tomorrow. I also need to figure out why I'm stuck in 4wd when everything was working fine yesterday.
 
Some quick pirate style cheap ass catch cans in progress.

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I finished up the top over the last couple of days. 6 coats of satin black xo rust paint followed by 8 coats of black plastidip and 4 coats of the plastidip glossifier.
I did the liner with an indoor/outdoor carpet in a dark grey attaching with a 3m industrial two part glue.
I didn't bolt the top in in hopes of being able to wheel the next weekend and cruisin the woods topless. If needed I can bolt it right in though.

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The top turned out awesome! I also like how your front fenders turned out. I don't really like how u did the comp cut in the back though. The front fenders look well thought out and really preserve the fj40 look, but the back fenders dont quite look right. Just stating what I see, not trying to be a jerk. Comp cuts are tough to make look right. I like the one here in post #8: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/need-comp-cut-and-wb-stretch-pics.764411/
 
The cut in the rear is for eventually fitting 39.5's. If you take a close look at an uncut 40's rear fender and Oliver's, you'll see that Oliver's match the original angles and such, but on a larger scale.
 
Took Oliver out for its maiden voyage yesterday.
Wheeling-wise the thing is awesome. Minus one low/low jaunt through a trail filter in which the truck walked through flawlessly, I spent the day wheeling in 2hi. By the end of the day I realized this wasn't a great idea as my engine and tranny temps kept getting pretty high, but it showed me how well the truck really does.
At the beginning of the run I had to remove the brake pedal and adjust the booster mount as the brakes were dragging, but most of the rest of the day went pretty well. The reason I say most is that mid trail late in the day, the truck would keep leaning out and dying. At first I thought perhaps the angle was starving it, but when I got it level again it would do the same. We got the rig back to the bottom of the trail and tested to see if fuel was getting to the carb (it was), but I noticed the fuel filter on the Qjet was clogged pretty bad. Now, there was maybe ten hours on this filter so I think I need to drain the tank from the bottom and filter the fuel. The bigger issue though was that as I was trying to reinstall the filter housing, the threads stripped (a common Qjet issue) and I was unable to restart the truck. My friend graciously towed me back to my trailer and I was able to get it home without issue.
I'm going to fix the Qjet, and redo the fuel line adding VW inline filters between the tank and fuel pump. The VW filters are awesome as they're cheap, see through, and available anywhere.
I also need to replace the low pressure hose on my power steering as it developed a leak and sprayed everywhere.
For a first day out I have to say things went remarkably well and my repair list is very short. I'm also happy to say the list doesn't include anything I did during my build. :)
Pictures will come later. I ran my phone over taking the little dude to school friday, and the batteries for my camera were not charged. My oldest son and my wheeling buddy both had cameras though and I'll post those once they're shared with me.
 
I replaced the fuel lines from the tank to the fuel pump and added the inline filter. I also replaced the low pressure hose on the power steering pump and started everything up to check for leaks…. of course the high pressure line had a pinhole leak in it that was only noticeable when actually turning the wheel. I'll get that replaced tomorrow and it looks like Oliver's ready to wheel!
 
Replaced the high pressure line and bled the system.
I noticed that I had a fuel leak coming from the accelerator pump on the carburetor. I ended up blipping the throttle a few times and the leak stopped. Maybe something was in the fuel line when I replaced everything and ended up stuck under the float or in one of the needles? Whatever it was seems to be gone but I'll be keeping an eye on it.
 
After a ton of research and thought, I'm going to convert to propane after Cruisin' the Woods. My truck is a 90% trail rig so for me this is the best route to go for my usage. It also pencils out to be cheaper than swapping to fuel injection.
I'll do a detailed write up of the install since I need to be able to get everything in and still take the occasional trip with the kids in the back seat.
 
I had a propane powered Chevy pickup, it worked awesome except that the tank took 1/2 the bed. Propane requires 1/3 more fuel than gasoline, so when you get a tank - size it with the idea that if you use 10 gal. fuel on a trip, you'll use 13 gallons propane for the same adventure.

the other benefit, not often discussed, is you won't do another oil change. You'll change the filter when you remember - but propane burns so clean that the oil stays pristine.... I literally went 15,000 miles without changing the oil (conventional oil) - and I only changed it when I got it because the PO couldn't tell me when he changed it before. I pulled that motor apart, and it looked like GM had just put it into the truck (it was a 75 pickup... this was ~94) and the truck looked terrible. It had been a utility company truck, then several progressing careless owners. I traded it for my 65 FJ40... and I'm certain it's still getting the same level of care that I gave it.... :D
 
It's good to hear opinions from folks that have run propane.
I've read in a few places now that in low speed low usage like wheeling that the mileage can be a bit better than seen with gas. Any truth to this?
 
I never compared it because it came as a propane powered truck... I had a 30 gallon tank and would fill it when the mood struck - it didn't help that the odometer was one of those Ouija ones, it'd tell you your fortune, but never really tell your how many miles you traveled. With all of that said, I've owned something like 20 of the box-generation chevy trucks and I always felt the propane got a bit worse mpg because you'd have to push it harder... but I have zero data to back up that feeling.
 
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