1979 Olive: Making a Dependable Driver (1 Viewer)

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Waiting on misc seals and parts. Engine is ready to go in once the flywheel is done being surfaced. In the meantime, made a new rear brake line because the old one had the tube nut and line fused together. Changed out all of the soft lines with new ones.
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And for anyone wanting to replace a tank in a 79+…. It’s involved. I removed the shocks and took the front pin from the driver side spring and undid they bolts. This lets the axle drop just far enough to get the tank in/out. All new rubber lines as well. Blew out all the lines to make sure no residual crud when it’s back running. But tank is in, one more item off the list.
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Still chugging away as parts and time roll in. Yesterday I split the trans and t-case in prep for cleaning and resealing. I loathe cleaning parts but the end result is worth the effort.
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T-case as removed for comparison.
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When we drove the cruiser at time of purchase, it was having a fuel supply problem so getting through the gears was challenging. We got through all 4 and reverse with no noises or vibrations so I had a feeling if there were issues they must not be terrible. Also tested out 4wd and had a very hard time shifting each way between 2hi and 4hi. T-case coming apart was in my mind from the beginning at that point.
When prepping to get the drivetrain out of the cruiser, I noticed the rear output housing had the bolts barely finger tight and the long bolt was about half a turn in; well something must be up. Removing the front driveline presented the potential reason this cruiser was taken off the road, or at minimum, why the output housing was loose. The front drive flange had a lot of side to side play, likely bad bearing. Upon tearing it down, I found the cage bearing on the rear of the front output shaft scattered throughout the front nosecone! That little bearing with the small rollers let go at some point. Luckily, all the pieces were contained in that shifting area and I didn’t find any shrapnel in the rest of the case. New bearings on the way.
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Still chugging away as parts and time roll in. Yesterday I split the trans and t-case in prep for cleaning and resealing. I loathe cleaning parts but the end result is worth the effort. View attachment 3007321
T-case as removed for comparison.
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When we drove the cruiser at time of purchase, it was having a fuel supply problem so getting through the gears was challenging. We got through all 4 and reverse with no noises or vibrations so I had a feeling if there were issues they must not be terrible. Also tested out 4wd and had a very hard time shifting each way between 2hi and 4hi. T-case coming apart was in my mind from the beginning at that point.
When prepping to get the drivetrain out of the cruiser, I noticed the rear output housing had the bolts barely finger tight and the long bolt was about half a turn in; well something must be up. Removing the front driveline presented the potential reason this cruiser was taken off the road, or at minimum, why the output housing was loose. The front drive flange had a lot of side to side play, likely bad bearing. Upon tearing it down, I found the cage bearing on the rear of the front output shaft scattered throughout the front nosecone! That little bearing with the small rollers let go at some point. Luckily, all the pieces were contained in that shifting area and I didn’t find any shrapnel in the rest of the case. New bearings on the way. View attachment 3007322
Very impressive detective work Ben! Mystery solved on possible difficulty with 2hi and 4hi shifting. T-case cleaning looks awesome! You're doing a very thorough job of sorting out all the issues.
 
Engine is in, but my assistant thinks something is missing….
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Pre-install. Checking pilot bearing fit after polishing input shaft. Don’t want the reverse problem I had on disassembly.
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Thermostat housing is the original. Sandblasted and wire wheeled to look new.

Today was start of exhaust. Ran out of gas for the tig but just about done. Stainless with a walker quietflow.
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Thermostat housing is the original. Sandblasted and wire wheeled to look new.

Today was start of exhaust. Ran out of gas for the tig but just about done. Stainless with a walker quietflow. View attachment 3009657View attachment 3009658
Nice work so far. But why an after market muffler? The factory muffler is still available or at least is was when I redid mine not too long ago.
 
Nice work so far. But why an after market muffler? The factory muffler is still available or at least is was when I redid mine not too long ago.
The exhaust was very rusted out so it was all being replaced. Tom wanted stainless so he never needed to deal with the exhaust again.
 
Not many updates posted but lots of progress this week. Been running all the emissions spaghetti with new hoses. Manifolds and carb, as well as accessories are all on. Finished the exhaust. Ended up ditching the stock setup that leaves the manifold in 2 small pipes and just running 2.25” stainless direct from the manifold. Every stud broke on the exhaust so I had to cut, drill, tap and replace the 3 to exhaust flange and the 2 for the egr pipe, as well as the outer 2 that go into intake. Cleaned, inspected and resealed the transmission. That needle bearing for the front output of the T-case showed up today so I was able to finish the rebuild on that, set the proper preload on the bearings with a shim assortment I had and get the trans and t-case joined back together. Most of the pics I took were to show myself how things go back together so not so interesting.
But here’s the remainder of the bearing I cut out next to the new one.
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Tom got the new BFG’s mounted up.
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Trans and T-case rejoined in blissful matrimony.
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Vacuum hose spaghetti.
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Not many updates posted but lots of progress this week. Been running all the emissions spaghetti with new hoses. Manifolds and carb, as well as accessories are all on. Finished the exhaust. Ended up ditching the stock setup that leaves the manifold in 2 small pipes and just running 2.25” stainless direct from the manifold. Every stud broke on the exhaust so I had to cut, drill, tap and replace the 3 to exhaust flange and the 2 for the egr pipe, as well as the outer 2 that go into intake. Cleaned, inspected and resealed the transmission. That needle bearing for the front output of the T-case showed up today so I was able to finish the rebuild on that, set the proper preload on the bearings with a shim assortment I had and get the trans and t-case joined back together. Most of the pics I took were to show myself how things go back together so not so interesting.
But here’s the remainder of the bearing I cut out next to the new one. View attachment 3015282

Tom got the new BFG’s mounted up.
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Trans and T-case rejoined in blissful matrimony.
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Vacuum hose spaghetti.
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looking great Ben....emissions spaghetti looked like fun!
 
Not the most glamorous or detailed of pics, but this means the trans and t-case are back where they belong! First time I’d installed them not with the whole engine package. Used the engine hoist through the trans tunnel and that made it pretty smooth.
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Cityracer front and rear mats in place and relaxing into position.
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New spare mounted and cleaned up a crusty stock hubcap I had laying around.
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With any luck, tomorrow will be the fire up day.
 
Well it runs and it runs pretty good! Tom came over and we fired it up and went for a short drive. Had a really smooth idle, then a rough idle issue but seems to have sorted itself after the drive, maybe a chunk of the old tank crusties was still stuck in the carb. So back to smooth idle. But, there’s a noise… Wasn’t there that we could hear when he bought it and started shortly after startup. It is a tick/knock at the same cadence of the valve movement and coming from top end. I ran it with the valve cover off and there’s nothing obvious; touching, pushing, spinning valvetrain parts didn’t change it. Found compression in #4 to be on the low side, especially compared to the rest: down around 90-100 where when we first brought it home it was around 125 (all the rest 135-145). Pressurizing that cylinder with both valves closed is just gushing air out the tailpipe so I’m thinking we have an exhaust valve issue. Disappointing but if it is just a valve, not a bad fix. It ran so good and so smooth, exhaust sounded good but quiet and this is probably the most powerful 2F engine I’ve driven.

So, off with its head! Got the head off and nothing looked immediately obvious but pulling that #4 exhaust valve, can just see where it’s starting to burn the valve. Looks like a little corrosion around valve and seat was causing the valve to not quite fully seat. Head is off to get cleaned up and a valve job.
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