Builds 1984 BJ42 Story and Modifications - 3B to 15BFT

[AlbertoSD]

Please burn diesel sooooooooon.

The PSC reservoir and passenger dual batteries is a great solution to a crowded corner of the engine bay.

IT LIVES!!!!!

This weekend was a good weekend. A lot of small details got finished on the 40 (fuel lines, battery cables, adding some fluids, some wiring) and I felt it was time to give it a go and see if it would fire up. We spent a lot of time trying to bleed the fuel system and get constant flow of fuel to the injection pump and almost drained the batteries. We set them on the chargers and called it a night.

Talked to Roma @roma042987 and Ofer @ofer bruhis about their experience when bleeding the fuel system and we resumed on the task the following day. We were getting fuel to the engine mounted fuel filter, but we were struggling to actually prime the injection pump. It took a LOOOOONG while to get constant and consistent fuel to the engine, and what did the trick (for us anyways) was to crack the injectors while cranking.

The engine seems to run smooth and need to do a few more things to get it done:

- Iddle needs raised a tad
- Exhaust needs to be fabricated
- Crush washer on high-pressure PS line seems to be leaking
- Alternator needs to be wired
- VSV for engine stop needs to be wired
- Need to check for air intrusion in my fuel line connections
- Need to bleed PS system

 

[ofer bruhis]

IT LIVES!!!!!

This weekend was a good weekend. A lot of small details got finished on the 40 (fuel lines, battery cables, adding some fluids, some wiring) and I felt it was time to give it a go and see if it would fire up. We spent a lot of time trying to bleed the fuel system and get constant flow of fuel to the injection pump and almost drained the batteries. We set them on the chargers and called it a night.

Talked to Roma @roma042987 and Ofer @ofer bruhis about their experience when bleeding the fuel system and we resumed on the task the following day. We were getting fuel to the engine mounted fuel filter, but we were struggling to actually prime the injection pump. It took a LOOOOONG while to get constant and consistent fuel to the engine, and what did the trick (for us anyways) was to crack the injectors while cranking.

View attachment 3750323

View attachment 3750324

The engine seems to run smooth and need to do a few more things to get it done:

- Iddle needs raised a tad
- Exhaust needs to be fabricated
- Crush washer on high-pressure PS line seems to be leaking
- Alternator needs to be wired
- VSV for engine stop needs to be wired
- Need to check for air intrusion in my fuel line connections
- Need to bleed PS system

Nicely done Alberto. Can’t wait to see you driving with a smile.

 

[Wayneraintree]

I have 40 series turbo diesel envy after reading your thread Alberto! Keep up the great work! What is your intended use for this rig? Some nice day DD/light wheeler?

 

[AlbertoSD]

I have 40 series turbo diesel envy after reading your thread Alberto! Keep up the great work! What is your intended use for this rig? Some nice day DD/light wheeler?

Hey Jeff!!!

Long time no see!!!!!

Correct, this truck will see some wheeling (maybe slightly more than just light wheeling as I am hoping to take it on some trails in Moab next year), but then another different project that is sort of in-the-works will be the designated wheeling platform. Once that other one is done, this one will come apart to blast the frame and address all the rust issues, with the intent of fully preserving it.

Thanks for the kind words, Jeff!!!!

 

[Wayneraintree]

If you are feeling for an eastern KY trip sometime this fall let me know, we are looking to get my 45 and my buddy's 40 back out for some adventuring before the weather turns frigid. Enjoy your projects my friend!

 

[AlbertoSD]

The weekend went by too quickly, but got some things done on the 42. Mostly figuring out wiring.

With the help of Petter @masterpetter, figured out the VSV to kill the engine with the turn of the ignition switch:

The 15BFT on my 42 had 3 VSV's mounted on the engine, but needed to track one that was "normally-open" and closed upon the application of 24V power. In my case, the solenoid shown towards the left on the photo below fit that description:

Thanks again for all the help, Petter.

-Alberto

 

[AlbertoSD]

JimC @FJ40Jim came over to help me figuring out the alternator wiring. The BJ42 had an alternator with external regulator and the alternator on the 15BFT is internally regulated. JimC made a nice jumper to provide Ignition (IG) power through the harness that goes from the firewall mounted-external regulator to the alternator. We made a new charge wire since now the batteries are only on one side (and since the alternator on the 15BFT is from a Coaster bus, it is likely higher Amps than the one that was there before).

Pinout of the external regulator plug:

Pinout of the internally regulated alternator: (Pretty generic for Toyota it seems)

The alternator on the 15BFT had the connector but not enough pigtail to do a solid connection. Brian @gifu sent me the link to the connector that will fit the 15BFT alternator (which is pretty generic to other alternators as well):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQNP6N4?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_JG770YSZ6HRFF87FQPGD&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_JG770YSZ6HRFF87FQPGD&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_JG770YSZ6HRFF87FQPGD&starsLeft=1&skipTwisterOG=1

The alternator is now charging and I will need to clean up all the connections to permanently wire this and the VSV, so it all looks nice and clean:

Then had lunch/dinner with JimC, the man, the myth, the legend!!!

Thanks, Jim and Brian!

 

[ofer bruhis]

JimC @FJ40Jim came over to help me figuring out the alternator wiring. The BJ42 had an alternator with external regulator and the alternator on the 15BFT is internally regulated. JimC made a nice jumper to provide Ignition (IG) power through the harness that goes from the firewall mounted-external regulator to the alternator. We made a new charge wire since now the batteries are only on one side (and since the alternator on the 15BFT is from a Coaster bus, it is likely higher Amps than the one that was there before).

Pinout of the external regulator plug:

View attachment 3754800

Pinout of the internally regulated alternator: (Pretty generic for Toyota it seems)

View attachment 3754799

The alternator on the 15BFT had the connector but not enough pigtail to do a solid connection. Brian @gifu sent me the link to the connector that will fit the 15BFT alternator (which is pretty generic to other alternators as well):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQNP6N4?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_JG770YSZ6HRFF87FQPGD&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_JG770YSZ6HRFF87FQPGD&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_JG770YSZ6HRFF87FQPGD&starsLeft=1&skipTwisterOG=1

The alternator is now charging and I will need to clean up all the connections to permanently wire this and the VSV, so it all looks nice and clean:

View attachment 3754802

View attachment 3754801

Then had lunch/dinner with JimC, the man, the myth, the legend!!!

View attachment 3754803

Thanks, Jim and Brian!

Alberto, This is all good, but more important, WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR LUNCH????

 

[AlbertoSD]

Alberto, This is all good, but more important, WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR LUNCH????

We went to my favorite wings restaurant, it is called Roosters (not sure if they are a National chain but there are quite a few locations around Ohio)

 

[AlbertoSD]

The BJ42 came with some European-Spec towing package, that though it was cool, it looked a whole lot like a big shovel under the back of the truck. I am planning to keep it for some history on the 42, but decided to install a Toyota Pintle Hook that I got from my good friend Joe @joekatana. Joe has quite a few of these Pintles for sale, the price is super reasonable, considering that they come with the factory mounting hardware.

Old Towing Setup:

With Toyota Pintle Hook:

If you want/need one of these Pintles, get a hold of Joe while he still has some!

 

[dogfishlake]

The truck is looking good. Almost there! I am excited to hear your feedback on the engine performance.

 

[AlbertoSD]

A lot of time has passed since the last update on this post, but no major progress to report.

I noticed that once we got the engine running, the oil pressure gauge was not reporting any readings.

I remember when the truck had the 3B, the oil pressure gauge worked (as shown on the picture below):

First, I tried to replace the oil pressure sending unit, as the little ground tang came undone from the factory sending unit (that I moved from the 3B to the 15BFT):

No luck. Gauge was still unresponsive.

I also remember that when we were cranking the engine, the signal wire got pulled from the sending unit and was stuck to a ground, which pegged the gauge. I tried to bend the needle back to the zero position (it was bent way way backwards), but the gauge was still not working.

I emailed Dave Stedman @Japan4X4 and he was able to source the 24 Volts oil pressure gauge.

Installed this and voila, the oil pressure gauge came back to life.

(crappy photo as I took a photo off a video that I got once I got it to work. Might replace it with a better photo later)

 

[AlbertoSD]

I also filled the cooling system with the proper Toyota coolant and a new radiator cap since it was supposed to get really cold here.

Also, my great friend Peter @peterb gave me a Factory roll bar which I wanted to use on this. Somebody had cut the seatbelt bracket from the lower section so we weld it, grind it, and paint it.

 

[AlbertoSD]

I know that this might not be everybody's cup of tea, but it is mine

I had bought a Safari snorkel from a fellow MUD member in the Colorado Springs area. The name is escaping me, but will try to update that later, too. I have always loved the look of the 40-series with the Safari snorkel, so here we go!

 

[AlbertoSD]

Now to figure out the hose routing.

Safari/ARB supplies this really long hose to go from the left side to the right side and plumb the snorkel like on the diagram below:

You might remember that we used a 70-series air cleaner and I purposedly pointed the air intake side to the left side, to make this connection a little cleaner (older photo for reference):

In looking for ideas, I stumbled on this photo from a fellow cruiser owner in Australia that I saved on my phone (credits to the owner). I really liked how they routed the hose away from most engine bay components:

So started mocking mine to match the photo above:

 

[AlbertoSD]

I bought a piece of rubber to cover the snorkel hose, but it was temporarily tied to the heater hose.

So I made a little bracket using two of the mounting locations where a vacuum tube was mounted and space it out and give it two support points:

You might also have noticed that I installed a catch can between the valve cover breather and the air cleaner lid. I have used a Radium Engineering Catch Can on my HZJ70 and the HDJ80 and I really liked it. It is made in the USA and I think it is a high quality piece. I made a little bracket and bolted the catch can where the external voltage regulator was previously mounted on the firewall (external voltage regulator got deleted as the new alternator is internally regulated).

I use the single catch can from the link below:

https://www.radiumauto.com/Universal-Single-and-Dual-Catch-Cans-P178.aspx

I like that it has connections where you can use AN fittings and make it for a really flexible and clean install. It is well worth the price in my opinion.

 

[ofer bruhis]

Alberto, fantastic build. I’m curious what milage you are getting. Same drivetrain on my old 60 I get 22-25 on the freeway but this is a much lighter car.

I miss you hermano.

 

[AlbertoSD]

A very wise man once told me:

"Every diesel engine should be turbo and intercooled. -JimC" @FJ40Jim

Furthermore, I think it is imperative to have gauges to see what your engine is doing. I believe all diesel-powered vehicles should have exhaust gas temperature (EGT) and Boost gauges, at the very minimum.

On my HZJ70 I used ISSPRO gauges and really liked them, but didn't like that they had a control box between the sending unit and the gauge itself. On my HDJ80 I decided to use VDO gauges. They are simple enough and seemed to work well, too. I like that the needles match the color of those of the factory gauges on the main cluster.

These are the 3 gauges that I am installing:

A long time ago I bought a 70-series gauge plate from Wayne @crushers and had it around for quite a few years:

I am mounting the gauges where the factory stereo used to be:

(the 4 holes around the stereo surround were made by the PO)

Initially, I had position the EGT gauge closer to the driver location, boost in the middle, and Voltmeter on the far side. But when mocking the plate and gauges, the steering wheel completely blocked the EGT gauge when driving in a straight line, so I decided to switch them around to have a clear line of sight to the EGT one (which I think is the most important one):

So started taking the dash apart to mount these. The center dash piece is nice, but doesn't come out as easy as you would think, as there are two pull cables (Warm and Fresh Air knobs) that do not allow for a whole lot of room, unless you disconnect the cables from the mechanism itself. A royal pain

 

[AlbertoSD]

Alberto, fantastic build. I’m curious what milage you are getting. Same drivetrain on my old 60 I get 22-25 on the freeway but this is a much lighter car.

I miss you hermano.

I miss you, too, mi hermano!!!!!!!

No mileage to report yet. I have a punch list of things to finish before I take it to the exhaust shop. The list is not THAT long, but it all needs done.

Will provide some numbers once I get it on the road for good

 

[shellb]

Not sure how I missed this build @AlbertoSD!

Following now…beautiful build!