Builds BJ42 Restoration (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Well I've decided to visit my parents next month and while I'm in Panama I will look at purchasing my replacement doors, ambulance doors and windshield frame. Not sure how I'm going to bring them back but I will figure that out once I have them.
 
Sorry for being absent these last few months, its hard trying to get ahead where a person can spend money on the cruiser freely. I contacted Fabien from Tseven and asked for some pictures, he sent me a pic of some other customers tub that he was completing. I realize that my tub isn't the only one he is doing so I have been patiently waiting for word on how he is coming along with it. I still owe him another $5500.00 which is the reason I have been burning the midnight oil so to speak.
I truly hope my trip to Panama to visit my parents produces some rust free sheet metal, who knows maybe I will even make a contact there for future acquisitions. In the mean time I haven't had much time to play with the old girl.
Now i'm just waiting until i'm off work in a couple of weeks and then get on to rebuilding the diesel engine, that will produce a few uploads to the thread for sure. I also promised to attach some service manuals that you guys might find useful but the files are too big, If you are interested in PDF service manuals then email me and I will get them to you as soon as I get home from working on the water. Cheers and I hope you are all having a great summer.
Ralf
 
Just a couple of pics of a Teseven tub, detailing is unmatched.

1435537517075.jpg


1435537533167.jpg
 
So after driving to 3 hours to Santiago Panama to look for suitable donor parts for my restoration I came up empty handed. We used an interpreter to handle the communication and the auto wrecker claimed he had several units in stock some good and some not so good. So my parents, wife and I set off across Panama from Boquete to Santiago and found the wrecking yard, after several minutes of miscommunication and showing the owner pictures of what I wanted from my phone picture folder he walked me into the back forty and showed me one piece of junk.

1437519560390.jpg
 
Today we went to visit the coffee fields in the mountains of Boquete, and while under way I talked to a owner of a local repair shop who spoke excellent English. He promised me he would look into some sheet metal for me but he also stated that it will be difficult to find sheet metal because more and more people are restoring landcruisers. I am not too upset about that for two reasons, one if more people are into rebuilding them then there will be more landcruisers out there that are being saved and secondly if there is a stronger demand for parts then there will be a supply to match. Win win.
Here are some pictures of Boquete Panama

1437520413821.jpg


1437520440921.jpg


1437520457842.jpg


1437520484230.jpg
 
Sorry for being absent these last few months, its hard trying to get ahead where a person can spend money on the cruiser freely. I contacted Fabien from Tseven and asked for some pictures, he sent me a pic of some other customers tub that he was completing. I realize that my tub isn't the only one he is doing so I have been patiently waiting for word on how he is coming along with it. I still owe him another $5500.00 which is the reason I have been burning the midnight oil so to speak.
I truly hope my trip to Panama to visit my parents produces some rust free sheet metal, who knows maybe I will even make a contact there for future acquisitions. In the mean time I haven't had much time to play with the old girl.
Now i'm just waiting until i'm off work in a couple of weeks and then get on to rebuilding the diesel engine, that will produce a few uploads to the thread for sure. I also promised to attach some service manuals that you guys might find useful but the files are too big, If you are interested in PDF service manuals then email me and I will get them to you as soon as I get home from working on the water. Cheers and I hope you are all having a great summer.
Ralf
I've seen Fabien's tubs in person (metal, Aluminium, SS and Brass) his work is as good as a factory one. The man is amazing, a true craftsman!!
 
Last edited:
Terrax, that's really good to hear, Thank you!
I haven't met anyone who's actually had a close up inspection of his work so it's comforting to here that.
I spoke with him yesterday, my tub is now coming up for assembly. The metal has been cut and is waiting in que. He told me he has 25 tubs ahead of mine, which surprised me. I'm confident that he wouldn't be producing that many tubs if his work was inferior especially in Europe. He figured it would be completed in September and I should receive it by October. That timeline suits me fine, now if I can just get people to leave me alone for a week so I can rebuild my 3B. I am very behind in my restoration, every time I set aside time to work on it something comes up and torpedos my plans. I have 6 weeks of work coming up on 3 different ships which will keep me flat out until the middle of September. Then I will be a basket case for my week off and trying to get the house maintenance completed before winter. My son, god bless him bought a Nissan Skyline that just refuses to behave, everytime we fix one thing another major item fails. As of now it has zero compression in the number 4 cylinder, it was fine 3 months ago and has only been started a few times. I will bore scope that to determine what's wrong, my gut tells me it's a bent valve. He will have to wait his turn tho, there is no way I'm leaving that tub unattended outside while I work on his car. Once I get the tub fitted and off to the paint shop I will help him out. I will talk to you guys in the fall, all the best.
I am posting some pics of the Teseven shop.
 
Last edited:
Coming apart nicely, aside from some old leaks she looks to be in very good condition.

1443702694832.jpg


1443702711336.jpg


1443702803548.jpg


1443702816459.jpg


1443702829003.jpg
 
So I just got a 1000.00 qoute to re and re the liners , replace the cam bearings and to hot tank the block. Is it me or does that sound overpriced. I'm thinking I have to phone around or make my own puller. Stay tuned on this one.
 
So I pulled a huge day yesterday, I got up at 0330 and worked until 1900 hours. I accidently dropped a piston assembly into the oil bucket and had to clean the garage door, floor and walls for three hours. Fml.
Anyway I'm down to a bare block, I'm getting a plate machined right now to make a puller so we will see how that goes. I will bring down my block to a different machine shop to have the piston liners honed to size and the pistons fitted to the wrist pin bushings.
 
Easier day today, I pulled the final liner after spraying it with bolt out and letting it sit overnight. Came out without a hitch. I washed the new liners with hot soapy water, dried them and placed them in the freezer. Tomorrow I'll install them and wash up all the covers. On Monday the block is going to the machine shop.
 
Last edited:
Liners in the freezer overnight makes for easier installation. All the liners went in without a hitch. I put a small bead of green loctite 2 inches from the bottom as added security but I don't think it was necessary. These liners are of a very good quality, built to Japanese standard in Taiwan. I'm very impressed so far.

1443992167287.jpg


1443992214045.jpg


1443992254139.jpg


1443992267235.jpg
 
Well that's it for this week; block, rods and pistons,and the flywheel are all at the machine shop. Next week when I'm home I'll start putting her back to a short block. Then I will do some work on the cylinder head, in a perfect world it will be back in the frame in two weeks. Cheers guys and thanks for reading.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom