Builds 02/75 fj40 restoration

[LSUfj]

Plenty of small stuff done over the past months. I finished refurbing the bib. Also bought the OEM headlight upgrade (81110-60P70). Door weatherstrip on the way from Cityracer and exterior stainless hinge hardware already here from Overland Metric.

I left the bezel in gray epoxy for now, kind of want to see how it looks as-is. It matches the wheel color pretty well.

the OEM headlight kit came with the relays and wiring. I’m not sure what the intended routing is, but it seems like there is quite a bit of excess. I’ll probably just tuck it behind the bib.

 

[LSUfj]

Bib mounted along with one door. I also got some city racer door weatherstrip installed and will work on getting the guts into the door now that it’s installed. Ignore the mess, a spring cleaning is coming.

 

[LSUfj]

Getting a lot done lately. Have a question about rear wire harness clamps around the fuel tank and frame rail. The rear brake line uses these clamps that have a flat spot. Is that flat portion used for the rear harness along the frame rail? Here is the clamp in question.

 

[LSUfj]

Installed new OEM rear marker lights and got the glass back in the driver door.

 

[LSUfj]

Think I found the answer to my harness clamp question. Looks like they just get bent to hold the harness. Any verification is appreciated. Here’s a photo from another thread with what I think is the intent.

 

[LSUfj]

Need some help getting this 3f started. Here are the things I’ve done so far. Attaching some pictures of the coil/distributor/starter. It turns over, fuel is in the bowl, verified spark by pulling #1 plug. It’s made a few “pops” at the exhaust manifold, but I am not sure if this is excess fuel dumping out and igniting or if it’s actually trying to start.

-tried with and without choke
-added fuel directly to carburetor
-idle solenoid has power
-assume coil is working since I got spark at #1
- distributor was pointing at #4 plug at tdc

Any possibility of timing being too far off? Distributor has the little octane adjuster. Haven’t messed with that much.

 

[brian]

looks good. i hadnt seen this thread before.
i also have a February 1975, vin fj40193877. how close is yours?

 

[LSUfj]

Thanks. Hasnt run in years. Was hoping to get it going today. Thinking it’s timing related.. need some help from the experts. another photo for fun. I’ll check the VIN when I get home.

 

[charliemeyer007]

That looks way too nice not to run. Maybe its got a cold from no top!

 

[LSUfj]

looks good. i hadnt seen this thread before.
i also have a February 1975, vin fj40193877. how close is yours?

Very close, VIN is fj40 193757

 

[RevISK]

Fuel, spark, ground.

Air?

Vacuum may be a thing on a 3F, don’t know.
3FE won’t run with major vacuum leaks.

Hurry up with this thing.

 

[LSUfj]

Fuel, spark, ground.

Air?

Vacuum may be a thing on a 3F, don’t know.
3FE won’t run with major vacuum leaks.

Hurry up with this thing.

Would confirmation of spark also be confirmation of ground? And to clarify, this the carbureted version of the 3f. Theres only a few vacuum ports: brake booster, PCV, carb base to distributor, and the intake gaskets are new. Seems like it might start briefly even with a vacuum leak. Going to start over with verification of TDC/timing tomorrow.

 

[LSUfj]

I reset the distributor and swapped out to a coil/resistor combo that would normally go with the 3f. Can someone take a look at the distributor internals and let me know which way I should rotate to get timing close. This is at TDC.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I'd say you are pointing at #4 spark plug and you should be close enough to get it to start and run so you dial in the dwell/point gap and set the timing.

 

[LSUfj]

It runs!! Set the timing. Just need to sort out a tendency to stall as soon as I touch the accelerator. If I ease into the accelerator, rpm’s increase normally. Accelerator pump?

 

[charliemeyer007]

That would be first guess. Look down the bore and see if it squirts gas down the bore as you open the throttle.

 

[LSUfj]

Well, the excitement was short lived. I hadn’t started it in a few weeks while trying to source some 3f carb parts. Went out to start it up again yesterday to find water in cylinder 2. I suspect it’s from a loose head bolt where a bracket was removed. Will head down the path of replacing the head gasket, but might try my luck at checking condition again with all the head bolts properly torqued. I never ran it long enough to get hot. I’m going to put fresh oil and water in it, start it up again and see what I got.

I did make some other progress in getting rear brakes assembled and the brake and clutch systems bled. Ready to drive, but….ugh.

 

[LSUfj]

I attempted to run again with fresh fluids, but I’m pretty sure head gasket is still leaking. Never got it started, but had some signs of water in #2 just from turning it over. Going in reverse now,…

 

[LSUfj]

With the head out, I tried to see if the low compression on #1 was due to valve seats. Poured a little mystery oil and let it set. Sure enough that cylinder leaked while the others held volume. Did some valve lapping and will check again. So far I’ve only done this to #1. Other cylinders were 150 or better, but #1 was only about 125-130.

Hoping a new head gasket and this will get things in good enough shape to run for a while. I think I’m going to expedite the install of the original 2f (or another later model flat piston 2f) and will move this head over so I can keep the 3f carb and manifolds.

 

[LSUfj]

Turns out there was a crack in the head at #2. So, I’m going back to the original 2f. Finding a carb 3f head is a challenge and the whole reason I was using it was to expedite getting on the road. Here I am 15+ years later, so obviously no rush. I pulled the head on the old 2f and the cylinders look really good, head seems to be good. Will take both to the machine shop next week. One of my cam lobes is out of spec though.

What’s the best path forward for a 2f cam replacement? And, is it mandatory to replace lifters with a new cam?