What are you working on? (6 Viewers)

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For anyone considering building or buying a rear bumper, the rear closure mechanism on Gary's bumper is AWESOME! So much easier than the system I have on my 100 and that I've seen on other rear bumpers.

It's not quite as easy as the swing outs on my 74, which are cleverly integreated into the rear doors though :)
 
shmukster said:
I had a non-hinged tailgate panel that I'd bolt into the tub with the screw holes for the lower amby door hinges but now that the storage box is in place (thanks, Ben!) I don't need the tailgate panel. My swing out tire carrier and spare gas can carrier are safeguards against the drawers opening accidentally.
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Do you have the realsteel bolt in panel? If so and you don't want it anymore I maybe interested.
 
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Was enjoying my "new to me" FJ55 when the once operational rear window stopped working. It was sitting crooked in the frame. Motor sounded like it was running.

Was really bumming it wasn't working, it had rendered the rear tailgate inoperable. Read some threads about the drive assembly and got the courage to open the rear tailgate. Upon examination, I could see the problem was the swing arms were out of sync. You can see in the pic the right arm is higher then the left. The question was how did this happen? Not enough clearance for them to "jump", no signs of grinding or forced activity? Looked at it for awhile and had no idea idea how to get them back where they should be.

I was smart enough to call Gary and was at his place the next day. Might as well learn from the best! He said he'd never seen this happen. Ended up taking the entire unit apart. Needed more than two hands working with the spring loaded arms. Had to rotate the arms enough to where the gears no longer meshed and manipulate the arms in an attempt to line them up. Thought we were successful the first time thinking, just start the gears together at he top and the arms would be in sync! We were wrong, ended up doing it twice, you had to pay attention to the tips of the arms and introduce them in a staggered fashion. Used tape measures and a level to confirm they would be inline and so we wouldn't have to do it a third time. Fortunately nothing was broken and didn't need any parts. All is well. The window works great. Still don't know how it happened and hope it doesn't happen again. Many thanks to Gary and use of his time and knowledge.
 
Got the Cruiser back on the road today. Still need to fix an electrical issue with the fuel shutoff solonoid. I'll tackle that tomorrow.

I took a couple quick videos of the truck running and showing the guages all operating correctly.

Video of cruiser/motor idling

Video of guages when idling

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Finally got around to installing my lift springs and lower link skids today. Went with OME 2" rear and 2.5" fronts. I picked a nice cool afternoon to get the job done. It was worth it, stoked with the results.

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After weeks and weeks in drywall dust hell, I'm about ready for paint, followed by turning this into an ACTUAL shop, instead of a makeshift one.

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Can't wait to be done so I can tear into the cruiser. It dropped an exhuast pipe this weekend...

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shmukster said:
Shop looks great! Glad I'm not the one tackling those rusted manifold suds!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thanks Gary - time has really been the limiting factor in getting it up and running. Funny how something as simple as adding a breaker box and some 220V and 20A outlets can evolve into a 6 month project...just not enough time in the day!

And as for those manifold studs - I may just cut them off with a grinder if I can get it in there. Or I'll just cut the exhaust off and deal with the rest once the engine is out of the truck. My bigger concern are the manifold-to-head bolts...I'm sure they're equally bad. Dorman sells replacement manifolds that I was already considering buying, instead of trying to clean these up so I'm not too worried about having them come out in re-usable condition...

A lot of it depends on the condition of the 283 once I get the oil pan, intake, and valve covers off. My guess is, that it's salvageable (runs great and doesn't smoke) but if I find some nasty surprises inside, the whole lump may just get dumped for a 350...
 
I never had any trouble removing the bolts that attach the heads to the block. never! Studs where theexhaust pipe attaches are a different story! And if that 283 runs good and doesn't smoke i'd be surprised if you found any good reasoin to replace ti. they run a logn time as long as you keep oil and coolant in them!
 
shmukster said:
I never had any trouble removing the bolts that attach the heads to the block. never! Studs where theexhaust pipe attaches are a different story! And if that 283 runs good and doesn't smoke i'd be surprised if you found any good reasoin to replace ti. they run a logn time as long as you keep oil and coolant in them!
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Yeah, honestly it's a peppy little engine and even returns me a solid 14MPG highway. My only concern is the mechanical oil gauge in the cab currently shows about 9PSI with 10W30 when fully hot, at idle, which is pretty low...but the engine could be rebuilt and the bearing tolerances could just be wide, or the gauge could be off...I really have no history on the engine and it was sold to me as a 350...so I can't really go by anything the PO told me. :meh:

Everything else about it seems pretty good - no smoke, compression in the 140-155 range across all cylinders, nice and responsive and pulling well. 0-60 in about 12 seconds or so :cool:

Hope I have your luck with the manifold bolts - but those things are CRUSTY.
 
This wound up in my bay at work yesterday. It was brought in by a local used car lot. It was pretty rough. Good candidate for a full resto.

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Thanks Gary! The other 40 is coming along. Need to get trans/tcase together and then stab it in. Then it's onto wiring. Made a bit more progress today.
 
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