Builds 1970 FatherSonJ40 project (1 Viewer)

[charliemeyer007]

Never learn to drive your own (old) Ferrari - no syncroes on any gear period. Wheel speed and rpms matched to the gear is the trick. I learned to down shift my deuce and half into low with out grinding. I hear the later years had rubber gears to help with that j/k

 

[Kmehr]

Got some more miles on the truck today. I’ve been disconnecting the battery everytime I get out and then the next time I start it up frustrated at how poorly it runs. Doing reading through the Howell EFI info, I see that every time you disconnect the battery it resets the memory from the last time you drove. Crazy how much better it runs after having been in closed loop mode! Lesson learned to stick the trickle charger on it, not disconnect the battery!

Also my belt squeal is bad and happening low enough in the rpm range to be a problem. I’ve ordered a double pulley for the water pump in the hopes that the problem is belt wrap, not a bad bearing. There is very little contact on the alternator (though it certainly appears to be charging fine). I’m also running the skinny belt at the suggestion of the place I bought my power steering pump bracket and pulley and think that could be a mistake.

 

[Kmehr]

Few little things done today- mounted some eye bolts to attach the top strap of my boys car seats. Welded a 1/8in thick body washer to an 1/8in thick bushing to mount under the body tub.

Digging around in my old parts bin I found an autometer tachometer with a steering column mount, fits perfectly! Still need to wire it up, but what a score from my parts bin of something I think I bought about 15 years ago.

Also reinstalled my dash pad. It’s not in perfect shape but I think it looks nice on the dash.

Finally picked up a double pulley for the water pump from CVF racing. It’s a really nice piece. Waiting on a fan spacer and a new power steering pump pulley also from CVF. I need a little different offset to utilize two belts. The groove is a little different than the factory pullers and the cheap Amazon power steering pump one I have. The angle grabs both the wide 17mm belt AND the narrow 10mm/ 3/8ths belts. Hoping this solves my belt wrap/squeal problem.

 

[Kmehr]

Bummer parts arrival today. The new CVF racing pulley (for a Pontiac) was not as I was told, has the far narrower belt width just like the standard 3/8ths pulley I have now. After talking with them on the phone, they do have a specific FJ40 pulley for wide Toyota belts not advertised on their website. It has a .85in setback from the front of the shaft to the middle of the pulley groove. The drawback is it is only for the 5/8ths shaft keyway pump. So I bought a new pump… a year and a half later I did what I should have done the first time around!

One step closer, but hopefully this post lives on through the internets and prevents another mistake like I made! The company I bought my pump from says narrow belts work on the wide OEM pulleys, but that was NOT the case for me. Particularly given my F.5 with the standard alternator as the only accessory setup. The narrow belt squealed like no other!

 

[Kmehr]

Electrical question for the experts- tried getting my tach wired up today but nothing is happening. I have Howell EFI and DUI ignition. The DUI ignition has a “tach” wire coming off one side that appaears to be the B- side. The autometer tach signal wants B- from the “coil” (it’s autometer part #2890). I’ve tapped into the white wire coming from the “tach” plug on the distributor that goes to the Howell ECU. Admittedly it may not be a good convection/tap. How do I test if I’m getting a signal to my “tach” wire if it’s B-? I hooked my test light to it while running and nothing happens.

 

[mrboatman]

Try these instructions https://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/atm-2890.pdf

 

[Kmehr]

Try these instructions https://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/atm-2890.pdf

Yeah that’s what I’m working off of.

 

[Kmehr]

Going to try this tomorrow:

Set the meter to AC voltage. Connect the negative Meter lead to a good chassis ground in the vehicle and the positive lead to the suspected tachometer wire. Start the vehicle and wait for it to idle down to normal idle speed. At this point the meter should be displaying a fairly constant AC voltage. If this is the case, rev the motor up and down and observe the reading on the meter. The AC voltage should rise when the engine RPM’s rise and fall when the engine RPM’s fall. Locate a tach source that has at least 3V AC at or slightly about idle speed.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Lost track here. Is this the son posting or the father? Are both on this build still?

 

[Kmehr]

Well the son is only 4, (and his little brother is 2), so I'm just typing out their questions for them. They're doing all the work, I'm just handling the internet part.

 

[Kmehr]

Productive day today-

New pump and pulley came in. I’ve appeared to measure the correct new belt on the first try! 35in long belt, 1/2in wide (still a bit narrower than the Toyota belt, but those suckers are damn hard to find on the shelf anywhere!).

Started it up and no more squeal! Haven’t gotten her out on the road yet, but even revved up the belts appear to be just right. The CVF racing pump appears to be much higher quality than the box store junk too, hopefully appearances are accurate. I guess the last PS pump could have had a bad bearing, but that’s been eliminated as well.

Also got the tach hooked up and working. On my first wiring, I just temporarily used one of those cheap ass crimps and turns out it hadn’t even sliced through either wire. Took the distributor plug apart, stripped, joined and heat shrinked the two wires together and bam! She works. Doing things the right way….

I do have a ton of carbon coming out of my tailpipe, so hoping I just really need to run it hard and clean it out!

 

[Kmehr]

Power steering setup is dialed in! Running pretty strong once warm.

And what it’s all about:

 

[Kmehr]

Follow up for the pros- I’m having to give it a lot of gas from idle when taking off from a stop to keep the engine alive. I don’t have a lot of seat time in this but it feels like way too much. I started from a stop on a steep hill today and had to slip the crap out of it to get it to take off without bogging. Am I due for a clutch? Just poor power?

 

[charliemeyer007]

Bad clutch slips on its own. Do a good tune up. Air/fuel filters could be clogged. Put in a bottle of gas dryer, warm days cold night will condense water in the gas tank. Check the valve lash and the spark plugs while you are there. Clean the contacts on both sides of the dizzy cap.

 

[Grayscale]

I'd clean the plugs. Below is what you posted, back in December.

I'd use far far less anti-seize on the threads - the cast iron head can do just fine with a drop of engine oil. (I don't think that the anti-seize is an issue, but sometimes cleanliness is, like with plug-fouling and pre-ignition of gasoline by oil dilution) While there, I'd set the gap at .040-inch or .032-inch gap, not .050 -inch. In my opinion, I tend to think that dirty plugs will fire easier when the gap is smaller, even if it is partly fouled, like for the old lower-voltage points-type-coils.

Something like a partly clogged fuel injector can really be an issue making atomized fuel.

Does this engine employ a header? Is it a heated O2-sensor for the fuel injection system?

 

[Kmehr]

I'd clean the plugs. Below is what you posted, back in December.

View attachment 3862065

I'd use far far less anti-seize on the threads - the cast iron head can do just fine with a drop of engine oil. (I don't think that the anti-seize is an issue, but sometimes cleanliness is, like with plug-fouling and pre-ignition of gasoline by oil dilution) While there, I'd set the gap at .040-inch or .032-inch gap, not .050 -inch. In my opinion, I tend to think that dirty plugs will fire easier when the gap is smaller, even if it is partly fouled, like for the old lower-voltage points-type-coils.

Something like a partly clogged fuel injector can really be an issue making atomized fuel.

Does this engine employ a header? Is it a heated O2-sensor for the fuel injection system?

I’ve actually replaced the plugs since that picture, and cleaned them once since. I replaced the fuel filter as well, but I do suspect there was a bunch of trash in the bottom of the tank since I ran out of container space when draining it. I have a couple more filters on the way. Also have a fuel pressure gauge on order

I didn’t look at the inside of the rotor cap, that may need some attention.

As for the O2 sensor, I believe it’s heated, but haven’t inspected it closely. It’s definitely a multi wires sensor, not one of the dinky old single wire ones.

And yes, it has a header. I’m not sure how well it seals. It is missing the forward most bolt and there is some visible rtv sealing it in other places, though I don’t see any evidence of carbon in the engine bay.

 

[Grayscale]

So, I'm not an expert.

I suspect that the injector spray is so charged with kinetic energy that the atomized fuel experiences quite a bit of ricochet before it is redirected by engine vacuum. With headers, the intake manifold is at a winter temps, as the exhaust manifold formerly heated the intake from the bottom. The heat helps with atomization, during the winter.

They say that the lapping and relief angles, on an intake valve also can help 'atomize' fuel. That makes sense, as carburetors have an accelerator pump that delivers liquid-fuel (not atomized) to the engine. That might explain why my engine ran so poor when I first fired it up. I could see the intake valves were caked with carbonized, baked-on oil from the intake ports. Like this. My answer was new valve stem seals, and tune-up in a bottle or quality pump-gas treatments (Techron). The correct answer would have been a partial tear-down, valve job, and cylinder honing.

I realize that the books suggest that oil deposits on the plugs are shiny, but, I tend to think that the shine looses its luster after the motor heats up. Maybe your plugs look like that due to oil in the combustion chamber?

 

[Kmehr]

So, I'm not an expert.

I suspect that the injector spray is so charged with kinetic energy that the atomized fuel experiences quite a bit of ricochet before it is redirected by engine vacuum. With headers, the intake manifold is at a winter temps, as the exhaust manifold formerly heated the intake from the bottom. The heat helps with atomization, during the winter.

They say that the lapping and relief angles, on an intake valve also can help 'atomize' fuel. That makes sense, as carburetors have an accelerator pump that delivers liquid-fuel (not atomized) to the engine. That might explain why my engine ran so poor when I first fired it up. I could see the intake valves were caked with carbonized, baked-on oil from the intake ports. Like this. My answer was new valve stem seals, and tune-up in a bottle or quality pump-gas treatments (Techron). The correct answer would have been a partial tear-down, valve job, and cylinder honing.

View attachment 3862084

I realize that the books suggest that oil deposits on the plugs are shiny, but, I tend to think that the shine looses its luster after the motor heats up. Maybe your plugs look like that due to oil in the combustion chamber?

I’ve definitely thought about it being oil. Just haven’t driven it enough to see if I’m using any yet. I had an old tbi Chevy that guzzled oil and it was the top hat seals.

I’ve got high octane in the tank right now, with a good dose of marvel mystery oil. Hoping to drive it quite a bit in the coming days to get some more data.


On 12ht related news, I did just score a power steering pump, bracketed as well as a complete ac bracket setup on eBay for a far less price gouging price than elsewhere. Getting really excited to tear into that motor now that I’ve got the 40 solidly driveable in the meantime!

 

[Kmehr]

Drove around for about an hour today with my oldest (you know he’s tired when he can sleep over the noise of the 40!).

Did several long hills (at 6,300+ ft) and it seems like the harder I drove it, the better it ran. I was holding 2,000rpm on a two mile long steep hill in 3rd and wasn’t quite to the floor, so I’m feeling better and better about it. Seems like it just really wants to be driven!

Pulling back into the garage, it idles sweetly and revs freely with a sweet six cylinder song. I’m not sure how adaptive the ECU is, but it’s sure seems to run better once it’s in what I’m assuming is closed loop mode.

As for the clutch feel, it’s really more of a chatter than revving it high now that I’ve driven it more and it’s running better. I know one of my front motor mounts is in bad shape, not sure about the rears. And who knows what shape this clutch is in. I know I roared it pretty good when I was having brake lockup issues, so likely have some hot spots now…

Anyway, was a really nice day for driving it and I’m really having fun with it!

 

[Grayscale]

Front motor mounts are easy to replace. You can likely tilt the engine with a jack on the oil pan?

I’ve got high octane in the tank right now, with a good dose of marvel mystery oil. Hoping to drive it quite a bit in the coming days to get some more data.

MMO in the fuel tank, and fresh high-octane pump gas sounds like a good approach. Especially when there are no real parts to throw at it, or diagnosis to further confirm. The tune-up in a bottle for fuel-system cleaning goes way back. I use it only in the gas tank.