Cooking With The Crockpot (2 Viewers)

[roadstr6]

Clemson 4Wheel Center. Roger that. I went with the black bumper. If the CP were closer to stock I would have done silver just to maintain the stock look. I figure black will be easier to touch up with any old semi-gloss rattlecan paint if it gets scraped up. I like your bumper. Y'all did a great job on that. Silver looks just right for your ride.

 

[roadstr6]

The Crockpot and I went on an adventure last Friday. I was attempting to take the CP over to a nearby shop to have the shock hoops burned in. Sitting at a stoplight, I noticed a little steam escaping from under the hood. As the light turned green the truck died. I ended up pushing it across three lanes of traffic to a vacant gravel lot to assess. The heater hoses (along with the heater) have been removed by Adam, his dad, or somebody in the past. They capped off the inlet and outlet with little rubber plugs and hose clamps. Well, one of those sprang a leak and sprayed down the engine with coolant. Sitting there waiting for a tow, I started thinking that that was no reason why the truck should have died. It did not overheat at all. The coolant overflow was still full. I had only lost a few ounces of coolant. What could have caused it to die? I had filled it up with gas just a few weeks ago and had only driven it 50 miles but alas, the sight glass on the carb was empty and the carb would not shoot gas with me working the throttle manually. Well, here's the deal...the CP is working off of an old Con-Ferr auxiliary tank. The factory tank was pulled out for some reason and the gas gauge in the aux tank does not work. When I last filled it up, it only took a couple of gallons so I thought, "Cool, Adam sold me the truck with an almost full tank of gas." Well, I was wrong and as it turns out the old Con-Ferr tank likes to take baby sips at the pump and not a full blast of gas from the pump nozzle. What I though was a full tank was actually only a little over two gallons! The pump shut off looong before the tank was actually full. So I basically ran the CP out of gas. That was the problem. So I got the CP towed home, re-capped the coolant inlet and put in 5 gallons of gas from a can...drove it to the store and added another 15 gallons. Danggit. I had to re-schedule the welding for later. There are so many little issues with this rig that drive me absolutely crazy that will take me forever to get sorted out. No heat. No fuel gauge. At least I got the e-brake fixed. That is a pet peeve of mine as well...not having a parking brake.

 

[roadstr6]

I got the HFS bumper installed.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I probably should have mentioned that filling issue

I believe the filling issue is due to a kink in the section of fuel neck that's rubber.

HFS Bumper looks awesome!!

 

[roadstr6]

In my parts stash was part of an old Con-Ferr jerry can mount. I had looked at jerry cans at the local 4wheel parts store and the new cheapo paper thin Chinese ones are rounded at the bottom and don't have the lip needed to use the Con-Ferr mount. I decided to give Craigslist a try. Lo and behold I found a "real" jerry can. This one is a Russakov can from 1952. I assume Korean War vintage. It's solid and fits my Con-Ferr clamp. Now I just have to fab up the rest of the mount.

 

[roadstr6]

Earlier I was ranting about my pet peeves and how this rig has my OCD raging full-bore. This is another issue that had been driving me insane. The truck had no door stops. Every time I would open either door, they would swing open and hit my mirrors and knock them out of alignment. To make matters worse, the bracket on the driver's door had been torn completely off. Scrounging through the parts stash I found one brand new door stop mechinism still in the bag. I could not find the second one. A helpful MUD member (thanks mydogpea!) sold me a used set so I decided to install the stopper on the passenger side and try to repair the driver's door. I ended up using a section of 3/4" square tube. I cut a pie section out of it and bent it to match the contour of the door and then welded the seam I had cut. Then I drilled it for the pin. Finally, I opened the tubing up on the outer edge using the cutoff wheel. A little prep of the door and I welded the new bracket into place. It's not pretty but it is strong and functional. I don't think this one will get ripped off the door anytime soon. Of course, I'll clean this up a little and shoot some paint on it to keep it from rusting.

 

[coinoperated40]

Everything is coming together more than it is falling apart.. Ain't that just like a PO (MB) for not selling with a full tank of gas?? What's the world coming too?
What and how are you to mount the con-ferr clamp? On the tire carrier or the other side?
Great job so far.
Shane

 

[roadstr6]

I probably should have mentioned that filling issue

I believe the filling issue is due to a kink in the section of fuel neck that's rubber.

HFS Bumper looks awesome!!

Thanks for the props on the bumper, Johnny. I'll check the filler neck...probably about the same time I drop the tank to replace the sender. Anything else about this rig that you want to tell me before it drives me completely insane? Damn..........

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Thanks for the props on the bumper, Johnny. I'll check the filler neck...probably abou the same time I drop the tank toreplace the sender. Anything else about this rig that you want to tell me before it drives me completely insane? Damn..........

I can't remember anything offhand! Keep asking questions and I'll answer everything I can. Meatball is off in Savannah or some s***.

 

[roadstr6]

Everything is coming together more than it is falling apart.. Ain't that just like a PO (MB) for not selling with a full tank of gas?? What's the world coming too?
What and how are you to mount the con-ferr clamp? On the tire carrier or the other side?
Great job so far.
Shane

The plan is to mount it to the spare tire. I figured I'd cut and drill a piece of flat stock as a plate that will be sandwiched between the tire carrier and spare. Then weld a piece of square tube to that to space the can out even with the profile of the tire and cut and drill another plate to mount the actual jerry can clamp. I'm thinking I will do the square tube as a tube-in-tube setup and drill it for a pin that will allow me to remove the can and outer bracket/clamp for quick access to the spare. If I drill the inner square tube at 1/2" increments it will also alow me to adjust the mount out further if I ever need to. Don't know why I would...I'm definitely not going with a wider tire in the future. Maybe I could mount the CB antenna on it or something.

 

[roadstr6]

I can't remember anything offhand! Keep asking questions and I'll answer everything I can. Meatball is off in Savannah or some s***.

Please tell me you didn't wire this thing. I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell is going on with that. Most everything works but little things like the heater fan, etc. The wiring and plug is missing... Also trying to figure out how to plumb the PCV into the intake. Right now I've just got a disconnected hose laying across the top of the valve cover. Looks fabulous.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Nope, fortunately did not play with the wiring on that rig.

PCV should be hooked to the intake manifold.

 

[roadstr6]

It's all good. I'll get it all figured out. You can't eat an elephant in one bite. Little pieces...baby steps. The CP is moving in the right direction and that makes me happy. I really like this rig, warts and all, and I'm proud to call it mine. Thanks to Adam and the rest of the ONSC gang who have helped on it and given me something here that I can work with.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[roadstr6]

Alright so finally I was able to get the Crockpot over to my friend Lester Lesneski's shop for a little welding. Les is a former NASCAR driver and car builder. He dabbles in dirt track racing and has an impressive record in the American Iron and NASA series as well. He's an all-around good guy and knows his way around a race shop. He does dyno tuning and chassis setup for several of the road racing guys out at CMP. He ends up working on Mustangs alot for the drag racing crowd as well. Having owned a few fast Mustangs and an SVT Terminator Cobra in my past, Lester has helped me out numerous times. This time was no different and Les hooked me up. Here you can see the shock hoops welded in place and the Bilstein 5125's installed. I ran out of semi-gloss paint and had to switch to flat but I will re-coat in semi-gloss tonight. Zeke, our Great Dane puppy (6 mos.) shares the shop with Crockpot and he's glad that things are moving along nicely.

 

[roadstr6]

I had spoken to a few of the ONSC folks a couple of weeks ago about the CP running rich and smelling of gas. When it sat in the driveway idling it idled rough and left a black spot on the cement where the exhaust was coming out. This problem has disappeared now and the truck seems to be running well and I don't smell like gas when I come home from a drive. I believe the problem was due to one or both of the following situations: 1. The CP was running low on gas and was running out the dregs in the bottom of the tank. If you saw my earlier post about the tank filling issue you know that I thought the tank was full but it actually only had a couple of gallons in it. 2. I made a scary discovery on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck the other day. When I pulled the cobbled-together hybrid Weber air cleaner setup off of the carb to see if it was getting gas I looked down and saw an allen head screw sitting wedged between the choke plate and the side of the carb. I quickly pulled it out and thanked the good Lord that the screw didn't make it any further down and that disaster was averted. As it turns out, this screw is one of four that holds the bottom air filter plate to the base. When I got home I took the other three bolts out (they were all barely finger tight!) and re-installed them all with loc-tite. I have a factory air cleaner setup in my parts stash. It is missing a few pieces but this situation has prompted me to order the missing bits and get rid of this Weber air filter. The stock setup has been painted up and will go on there ASAP. I think the running rich situation I was having was because the choke plate was wedged partially closed with that damn little screw...or old bad gas or both.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Shocks look great!!

Damn about the air cleaner. I always hated that small crappy filter and Meat was always on the hunt for a factory setup but I don't think he had all the bits to make it happen.

 

[roadstr6]

Darin hooked Adam up with the big pieces. I ordered some small stuff from SOR. I'll need to get some plugs to plug up the smog hose connectors from NAPA but I think I'll be able to get it mostly back to the factory setup. That little Weber thing is a serious POS!


...via IH8MUD app

 

[roadstr6]

Last night I fabbed up a bracket to hold my jerry can on the spare tire carrier. Being a cheap ass I used whatever I could find laying around. What I ended up using for the end plates was a set of mangled up FJ40 bumper mounts (the triangular ones) cut down and drilled as needed and connected by square tube that I had cut off the legs of an old deer feeder. Hey, it may not be pretty but it works! The mount is a tube-in-tube setup with a pull pin (actually pinned with a bolt for now) that can be easily accessed by reaching behind the jerry can up into the spare wheel. I am not crazy about the added weight of the full can of gas riding around on the spare tire carrier so I wanted to make it so that I could easily remove half of the mount along with the can and leave the other half attached. I don't plan to carry this jerry can all the time. Just when I know the possibility of needing extra fuel is high. I am going to invest in a lockable pin and I'll try to figure out a way to lock the can to the mount and possibly even lock the jerry can lid to avoid theft. Five gallons of non-e is pushing $19 these days...

 

[roadstr6]

Work continues on the Crockpot. I got a rear bench seat and belts for the kids but ran into an issue with the install. The rear seat latch mount interferes with the auxiliary gas tank. I'll have to drop the tank to do the seat install. It will be a pain but dropping the tank will give me the opportunity to replace the faulty fuel sending unit and check out my slow fill issues. Maybe I'll finally have a working fuel gauge when it's all said and done. I got lots of misc parts in the mail from SOR for the factory air cleaner assembly. It was missing a clip, all three wing nuts and the rubber grommets, the stud in the carb, the filter itself and the carb gasket. In addition, the heat riser and plastic accordion end for the intake are missing but I don't plan on replacing those parts right now. I removed the weber crap last night and installed the newly-refurbed factory assembly. The install was not easy due to the fact that the CP has an FJ60 ignitor/coil assembly which interferes with the 40 air cleaner. I had to space the coil away from the engine using longer bolts and big nuts as spacers to get it to work. I'm not crazy about this setup. I may end up putting the coil on the passenger fender in the engine compartment. To do so, I'll have to extend or replace some of the wiring including the coil wire. No pics right now but I'll get some up soon. The CP developed a skip last night and I found that the number four plug wire was bad (arcing). That may have been happening intermittently all along and contributing to my rich condition and gassy exhaust smell. I replaced the #4 wire with a spare I had from years ago and it seems to be working fine now. Drove the CP to work yesterday and today trying to burn off some gas to make the tank removal a little easier. The weather has been perfect for driving the 40 these last few days!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Good luck with the aux tank. We attempted to drop it once at a HAMOM and were unsuccessful. There appeared to be a bolt above the tank that was holding it in place after the straps were removed. That project wasn't a priority that day and we decided to skip it.