Builds Mississippi Delta Beast - 1974 FJ-40 Rescue and Rehabilitation (1 Viewer)

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I got woken up at 02:00 this morning by two fu$#$%^s trying to jimmy open the garage where the Dagha Boy sits waiting for attention. Couldn't get back to sleep so found this and read it start to finish. Grrreat work! Inspiring. And now I am really, really pissed I drove right past you in June without stopping. Love that old barn.
 
...we left this story in the search for a rebuildable 2F.

Fellow CLC family member @jrob pulled a 2F from El Toro a few years ago for low compression, and still had it in storage. He has since gone to the dark side and was willing to sell the 2F.

El Toro, named for its awesome hood ornament, started life as a Bolivian-spec 1978 FJ40.

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He sent me pictures of the casting numbers, which according to a quick mud search, had a 75% chance of having domed pistons. Searching yielded mixed results, mostly just speculation. It did come out a 78 after all, so maybe more like 95% chance.

So, I went down to Jackson to pick it up after first ordering a set of the super fancy by-special-order-only massive domed pistons from Jim.

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You can see El Toro in the background, looking more like BigFoot than its former self.

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Back at MM World Headquarters, El Toro’s 2F was prepped for disassembly. Mascot #ETAF watches from the corner and bestows his(?) blessing on the project...

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Dirt dobber nests? Check.

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Third World Country evidence of muddy ditch water-for-cololant and no-thermostat operation? Check.

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On the plus side, removing the valve cover revealed a nice clean topside with no signs of sludge.

Also note the lack of air rail ports on this non-US motor:

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What is the casting date of the head and block?

The head has a “0” and “1215”. So, a December 1980, right?

Which kinda ruins the surprise of what happened next, but I was sure surprised when I pulled the head and found flat pistons and a closed chamber head!

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It all makes perfect sense now. But not to me before I had it in my hands. It is definitely not original to the truck it came out of, since that is a ‘78.

For the archives: a 61013 block & 61010 head are flat piston & closed chamber.

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Serial number:

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The block & head went to a machine shop I have a good relationship with, the crankshaft went to a local Racing Camshaft shop that the above shop recommended, and the camshaft & lifters went to Delta Camshaft for an RV regrind (camshaft) and resurface (lifters).

The bores looked pretty good, so it’s possible we could have maybe have just gone up one piston size, but where’s the fun in that?

Just like in other areas of life, every mm counts, and this truck is named the Delta “Beast”, so we are going for the maximum 1.5mm oversized pistons, which will bump us up to 4.4L of displacement.

A call to @beno had a set of these beauties on the way from Mr. T...

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Once they arrived, I gave them to the machine shop so they could confirm the new bore size.

I would wait to order the main & rod bearings until that shop told me how much they would turn them, but I was expecting just the minimum (0.25mm) to be taken off.

With the exception of two pushrods, I was able to re-use them. These are the same style as current issue, so I didn’t feel bad about just replacing the two.

The camshaft timing gear was showing separation/deterioration of the rubber (dampening?) material.

I stumbled upon a new old Hecho en Japan all-metal gear on eBay, so I scooped that up...

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Cam,

Please save me some Carnage Award trophy parts. Gears always look cool.

Thanks!
 
I want to get my hands on an all-steel timing gear. Envious.
 
So only peripherally related to this thread - I was reading it before I went to bed last night. Apparently, when my newborn woke me up screaming at 3am I turned to my wife and (in my sleep) said "She's a Mississippi Delta Beast" then fell back asleep. My wife, having no frame of reference, thought this was hilarious and is now referring to our daughter as the Mississippi Delta Beast every time she's wailing.
 
So only peripherally related to this thread - I was reading it before I went to bed last night. Apparently, when my newborn woke me up screaming at 3am I turned to my wife and (in my sleep) said "She's a Mississippi Delta Beast" then fell back asleep. My wife, having no frame of reference, thought this was hilarious and is now referring to our daughter as the Mississippi Delta Beast every time she's wailing.

I dreamed of Jennifer Lawrence and some odd body condom.
 

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