1975 BJ40. Slow refurb underway.

[Canarias]

wheels on, brakes bled. It rolls and stops tho rears drag a bit. maybe I was a bit overenthusiastic with the pre-bleeding brake adjustment. But dragging is better than not stopping. I will readjust once I´ve driven it a short way if they still drag. Didn´t fire it up just now as want to change all the fluids and see what´s leaking. Couldn´t really investigate leaks before as the state of the brake wheel cylinders ensured there was brake fluid everywhere.

 

[pbgbottle]

nice Canarias. the metric system rocks
get with the times Vae Victus

i was taught both when i was a kid .now that was confusing.
one minute i was 5 ft 11' 175lbs. now .. im 180cm and 80kg

doesn't the landcruiser use metric sockets ,or do u americans not have those tools there. just joking.

You can think of a kg as the weight of a litre of water. I'm English so was brought up with English & metric and comfortable working with both. It's not so much the divisivility by 10 but the ease of not using tables when working with different units of measurement. There's a 1 to 1 relationship between units of volume and units of mass, or units of force and velocity, or temperature and energy etc etc.

 

[Vae Victus]

nice Canarias. the metric system rocks
get with the times Vae Victus

i was taught both when i was a kid .now that was confusing.
one minute i was 5 ft 11' 175lbs. now .. im 180cm and 80kg

doesn't the landcruiser use metric sockets ,or do u americans not have those tools there. just joking.

I agree with Chamba - though I don't know what a "stone" is or how many "hands" tall my horse is, I like the esoteric measurements of the old world (yes, until I'm trying to find a wrench - do enjoy metric for that).

Maybe we could all come to Spain and have a "Liter" together. Sounds fun.

 

[Weber Sarge]

You guys should tag along when I have any Japanese engine rebuilt at a machine shop - they always seem to have this crossover-translation that makes rings and bearing fit like the engine has 200k on it at startup . I had one guy pinned to the wall in a screaming match about him overboring the cylinders in last engine and costing me a $600 set of pistons .... I'll stick to metrics , thanks .
Sarge

 

[Chamba]

I agree with Chamba - though I don't know what a "stone" is or how many "hands" tall my horse is, I like the esoteric measurements of the old world (yes, until I'm trying to find a wrench - do enjoy metric for that).

Maybe we could all come to Spain and have a "Liter" together. Sounds fun.

The esoteric nature of English measurement aside, I believe our system is better in many ways. Ever try to divide a centimetre into 16ths? How about 12ths? 32nds? An inch is easy to divide into 10ths, but what the heck is a 16th of a centimetre? How about dividing a metre into even 3rds? A yard? Easy-peasy. A metre? 333.3

 

[Chamba]

You guys should tag along when I have any Japanese engine rebuilt at a machine shop - they always seem to have this crossover-translation that makes rings and bearing fit like the engine has 200k on it at startup . I had one guy pinned to the wall in a screaming match about him overboring the cylinders in last engine and costing me a $600 set of pistons .... I'll stick to metrics , thanks .
Sarge

That's just ignorance sarge. You need a better machinist. I had a similar issue in Australia with a 350 and had to find a machinist over 40 who still knew what 1/1000" was. He then converted it no dramas. The English system is very difficult for folks not used to it to understand. The Metric system can be used by monkeys. If properly understood, I believe the English system to be every bit as useful and useable as the French system.

 

[lostmarbles]

.... The Metric system can be used by monkeys. If properly understood, I believe the English system to be every bit as useful and useable as the French system.

You've got it there Chamba.

The metric system makes life easy.

(Sure. A changeover to Metric has significant associated one-off costs and there will be an associated one/two generation temporary-inconvenience aspect. But the overall long-term gains make it truly worthwhile.)

For the USA to go Metric, the push would have to be supported by all political parties otherwise people's "natural resistance to change" would see the downfall of whichever political party chose to attempt it.

When you get old you tend to see more clearly how political parties in democratic Governments all across the world generally prefer short-term self-interest (or short-term gain) rather than working in their country's best interests long-term.

So democracy definitely has it drawbacks! (But of course the alternatives to democracy have a far worse track record so far.)



PS. I was going to stay out of this argument but in the end I couldn't resist putting in my 2c. Which makes me think... You guys in the USA went metric with your currency? You don't have 12 pennies to the shilling, 2 shillings to the florin, 20 shillings to the pound, etc. So somewhere back in time you must surely have already undergone a partial metrification?

 

[Vae Victus]

LostMarbles - we tried to go again back in about '76. We were going to go on a certain date and something happened - change of political power or something.

I remember a big push in school to learn metric. All for naught.

Now we live in between both worlds. Food packages, speed limit signs, etc, have both English and metric.

 

[Chamba]

You've got it there Chamba.

The metric system makes life easy.

(Sure. A changeover to Metric has significant associated one-off costs and there will be an associated one/two generation temporary-inconvenience aspect. But the overall long-term gains make it truly worthwhile.)

For the USA to go Metric, the push would have to be supported by all political parties otherwise people's "natural resistance to change" would see the downfall of whichever political party chose to attempt it.

When you get old you tend to see more clearly how political parties in democratic Governments all across the world generally prefer short-term self-interest (or short-term gain) rather than working in their country's best interests long-term.

So democracy definitely has it drawbacks! (But of course the alternatives to democracy have a far worse track record so far.)



PS. I was going to stay out of this argument but in the end I couldn't resist putting in my 2c. Which makes me think... You guys in the USA went metric with your currency? You don't have 12 pennies to the shilling, 2 shillings to the florin, 20 shillings to the pound, etc. So somewhere back in time you must surely have already undergone a partial metrification?

We were always decimalised with the currency because after we beat the brits (a feat few other people beside the Maori have done), it just made sense. we did tie it to the Spanish peso for some time though.

 

[paranoid56]

The esoteric nature of English measurement aside, I believe our system is better in many ways. Ever try to divide a centimetre into 16ths? How about 12ths? 32nds? An inch is easy to divide into 10ths, but what the heck is a 16th of a centimetre? How about dividing a metre into even 3rds? A yard? Easy-peasy. A metre? 333.3

lol what? why would you ever divide a centimeter into a 16th? thats the whole great part of metric is you dont deal with stupid fractions. I get that most people know fractions very well (well at least older people, kids these days dont know s*** lol)
every thing is in demesnes. its great. everything is base10. 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling. simple. wasnt it in the 60s we tried to change? kinda wish that took. lol.

 

[Chamba]

lol what? why would you ever divide a centimeter into a 16th? thats the whole great part of metric is you dont deal with stupid fractions. I get that most people know fractions very well (well at least older people, kids these days dont know s*** lol)
every thing is in demesnes. its great. everything is base10. 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling. simple. wasnt it in the 60s we tried to change? kinda wish that took. lol.

Very useful in construction to be able to easily devide things like a foot to 12 or 16 equal parts. I used English even in building things in Australia, as did my father-in-law. A metre is a pain for some things and Metric is not necessarily intuitive. For instance, I can visualise an acre foot of water (an acre covered with 1' of water), but I can't visualise a kilolitre or 1000 kilolitres. Just because the Metric system caters to the lowest common denominator does not necessarily mean it's better. Just easier to teach to people who don't want to memorise things.

Anyway, back to the bj40 before Woody moves this to chat.

 

[Canarias]

Something to add to the list of bare minimum jobs: install door cards and window winders. Pickup is donating these for now.

 

[Canarias]

nothing exciting to report, been busy with other things. Cleaned the door cards up, lost a window winder retaining clip - it pinged off somewhere, and changed the oil and filter. Radiator about to get flushed and waiting for fuel filter to arrive.

 

[Canarias]

Had a few delays due to laziness and electrical probs, Ended up making up a new rear wiring section for the lights and reverse gear light switch. Took some wrong turns diagnosing the wiring problems due to flasher relay being in backwards, a broken wire under the dash, a bad earth that showed great on the voltmeter as an open circuit but when probed with the lights connected up was giving no earth at all. Now all heatshrunk, taped up and working fine.

 

[Canarias]

Went for its ITV test couple of days ago. Passed all the test but the test centre had to write off for the original specs as they couldn´t confirm whether the tyres are the right sizes. Each car in Spain has to have the tyres according to the sizes on its own documentation, regardless of what was a showroom option with the vehicle. Two customers could buy identical cars but spec different tyres from the dealer. If they were to swap tyres, both cars would fail inspection. Welcome to the bureaucratic republic of Europe. Should hear back within 2 weeks and either get the coveted windscreen sticker or have to go and get the tyres changed and resubmit for inspection.

Everything else passed and won´t need reinspecting for anything except tyre sizes.

 

[Canarias]

At the outset wasn´t sure how the brakes were going to work out. Original wheel cylinders were cleaned and honed. rubber caps looked good so weren´t replaced. I made up short copper pipes to each cylinder to replace the old rusted steel ones. Master cylinder was disassembled and cleaned out. A few bits from a repair kit were used (copper washers, C clip & Pressure sensors) but the pistons and springs didn´t fit so originals were cleaned and went back in. Original shoes and springs went back in the drums. Loads of work but very little cost. Vehicle inspection brake force results were:

first axle left/right 3360N/3410N
second axle left/right 3000N/3300N
parking brake left/right 3000N/2940N

How does that compare with other Mudders´cruisers?

 

[lostmarbles]

... Each car in Spain has to have the tyres according to the sizes on its own documentation.....

Hi Canarias

Gladdens my heart to hear that poor sods in another country are getting hit harder than we are over here (by senseless petty-minded bureaucrats)..

Nah... Not really...But it does somehow make it easier to accept the sh#t I get dealt when I see others being treated worse..

Your brakes aren't bad although I think your rear axle is marginal.

(I have a feeling that if the difference between left and right exceeds 10% then that represents a fail.)

In the testing stations I use, the inspectors no longer allow you to enter their work area due to our ever-increasing-strictness of health-and-safety rules so I'd have to get binoculars to study the dials.

But my last written inspection report on 18 June shows..
1 axle: 300left 330right
2 axle: 340left 350right

Maybe these figures are "kilograms of force" ... (which is an abomination in the of metric units)

For the park brake he's just written "STAT" ... and I haven't a clue what he means by that... Perhaps it just means that left and right were identical (and he probably wouldn't have known that that result was inevitable with any driveshaft-brake).



PS. As you can see, my front axle is a marginal pass too (like your rear). But I have an idea why ...I have slight play in my LH wheel bearing and my experience is that slight play often causes the grease-seal to weep into the brake area.

So that's why the inspection report is sitting in the kitchen on my "work to do clip". (To remind me to do the wheel-bearings and seals on that wheel.)

 

[Canarias]

The test centres here are a drive thru. Except you have to park first and go in the office and stand in a queue to register. Then you sit in a waiting room and they call you then you queue again for a bit of paper which you then take with you and get in your car and queue up for the drive thru tests. My Nissan managed to p1ss brake fluid over the guy in the suspension/steering inspection pit a couple of yrs ago. I don´t normally use brakes so having the braking test was a novelty the truck couldn't handle. It actually passed the brake test seconds before getting the suspension guy, but they still failed it. Not fair. Shows what a pass from their inspection equipment is worth anyway.

 

[bj40green]

Here is the Costa Rica version:
You make an appointment by phone or via the website. If you have a cell phone you'll get a confirmation text message.
You have to be 15 minutes early to do the paperwork and payment ($20).
It's a drive thru system and they check the basics first.
Model, serial number chassis and engine, oil level, battery situation.
Headlights high/low, blinkers, brake lights, license plate, wipers, washer, seat belts working, windows up and down, door locks, tires profile depth, not protruding outside the car.
Drive up to the first station. From here you can see everything they do on big screens at every station.
Drive up to the plates for the shock tests front and rear (not for leave springs). If below 75% you don't pass the test.
Drive up to the roller bank for the brake tests. Front, rear and hand brake.
Drive up to the pit and park on the (moving) plates. Now you'll be asked to move the steering wheel left and right with your brakes depressed, until they tell you to stop. While doing this the plates under your front wheels move left/right/forward/backwards/inside/outside so they can check for play at all components.
Same test for the rear except the steering of course.
Exhaust test. Here it becomes funny. ANY vehicle (car/truck/bus/lorry/motorbike/tractor whatever, has to comply with the rules for the year that the vehicle came on the road in Costa Rica.
So my 1978 Cruiser diesel doesn't has to comply with the nowadays rules.
Lucky me because there were no rules in 1978. That leaves only the blue/black smoke test and the basic pollution test for me, which I pass every year .
Fine with me but not for the smart guys who import an old vehicle. A guy imported in 1995 a VW Beetle from 1975. So in 1995 it had to comply with the rules for 1995. FAIL!!!!
Last week my Cruiser failed the E brake test. It's fixed already (new pads) so Tuesday is the re-inspection.

Rudi

Andy, a guy from town made a video on this -► Yearly car inspection
Have fun!

 

[Chamba]

Here's the New Mexico version: every two years you send in $72 and a copy of your insurance. The state sends back a sticker for another two years. Repeat.

God, it's great to be home!