Builds 1988 BJ74 “Number 1”

[FJBen]

@ceylonfj40nut you aren't kidding about that lift. Need to figure out how to make that happen.





In other news. Here is the 0-60ish "sprint" this morning. Terrible camera work and I wasn't 100% flogging it. 100% stock engine/boost/fuel. No gauges yet so I can't tell what boost/EGT I'm at yet.

Does this seem somewhat normal of a BJ74, or slower than the average BJ74?

 

[jfrench]

Does this seem somewhat normal of a BJ74, or slower than the average BJ74?

That seems about right to me but I'll get in my rig, do the same today and report back. On a related note, your cabin noise seems to be about 100 dB more quiet than mine. WTF?!

 

[saltycoconuts]

That seems about right to me but I'll get in my rig, do the same today and report back. On a related note, your cabin noise seems to be about 100 dB more quiet than mine. WTF?!

That’s what I was thinking. But then I remembered I’m straight piped.

 

[FJBen]

That seems about right to me but I'll get in my rig, do the same today and report back. On a related note, your cabin noise seems to be about 100 dB more quiet than mine. WTF?!

It's actually thought it was pretty quiet myself, but wasn't sure if thats how all of them were. Last night my wife was on the phone and my kids and I were having a conversation driving down the road at 65. It surprised me how quiet it is inside. It's a really smooth diesel sound, not super clacky at all.

Good to see the speed seems about right. I plan to increase the boost a little to get a little more oompf. I was thinking of pinching off the waste gate just for a test to see how much more boost helps.

 

[FJBen]

The walk around video.

Yep, sounds like a tractor.

Shutoff courtesy of ARB turbo timer.

 

[cruiserdan]

It's quieter than mine and the 3rd and 4th gear pulls seem to be a bit sluggish.

On the other hand I have 2.5 inch exhaust and the boost it turned up to 14 psi.

 

[FJBen]

It's quieter than mine and the 3rd and 4th gear pulls seem to be a bit sluggish.

On the other hand I have 2.5 inch exhaust and the boost it turned up to 14 psi.

I would like to turn the boost up a little for sure, and exhaust will definitely help. I do feel it's a little sluggish at some points...but again it's a tractor.



First fuel up. Gauge showed empty, I put in 17.6 gallons to full. I'm guessing I need to adjust the arm on the sensor.
20mpg is what I'm showing, but I need a tank or two to make sure I'm filling the same way.

@cruiseroutfit Can you still get seals for this old style ARB compressor? It never seems to build pressure and the front where the bolt is was a little loose. I adjusted it and you could hear the air change like a leak so I think there are some seals bad in there.
Quiet compressor though.

 

[cruiserdan]

I would like to turn the boost up a little for sure, and exhaust will definitely help. I do feel it's a little sluggish at some points...but again it's a tractor.



First fuel up. Gauge showed empty, I put in 17.6 gallons to full. I'm guessing I need to adjust the arm on the sensor.
20mpg is what I'm showing, but I need a tank or two to make sure I'm filling the same way.

@cruiseroutfit Can you still get seals for this old style ARB compressor? It never seems to build pressure and the front where the bolt is was a little loose. I adjusted it and you could hear the air change like a leak so I think there are some seals bad in there.
Quiet compressor though.

The tank capacity is 90 liters (23.78 gallons).

Contact Cruiser Outfitters about the compressor parts. If anyone knows they will.

 

[FJBen]

So here is the morning issue I'm still having. It was 50 this morning, so it's not cold weather I still think fuel/air related.




So rebuild Injection Pump, cleaned/tested injectors, cleaned fuel tank and lines, new soft lines, new filter, new fuel
I've been doing some troubleshooting with the company that rebuilt them and they are being helpful, but they are also thousands of miles away.

Tank vacuum...after driving I can open the tank to some air noises...pressure or vacuum not sure but I've loosened the cap to make sure no vacuum sucking fuel back in. Still did the same on startup overnight.

Primed: pumped it about 15 times to try and purge any air from overnight. result is what you see in the video.

Once you start driving down the road, about 300' all is clear, no sputter and runs great the rest of the day. Idle is VERY low on first start, basically won't stay running without throttle up, or pressing accelerator pedal. For the first few seconds pressing accelerator pedal doesn't do much of anything, however it won't start/stay running without it.

It starts, fires/catches immediatlely.

Am I still chasing air here or something else?

Next step is to crack each injector one at a time while it's stumbling to see if one makes a change or not.

 

[FJBen]

So in talking with Kyle at Welcome to DFISPDX.com who rebuilt my injectors and IP, I showed him the video and he thought after seeing it that it's a timing issue. He asked if it felt a little sluggish, which according to Dan mine appears to be a little sluggish. He thought once cylinder temps got up (going down the road 300') it's able to burn better and overcome that smoke.

I looked at the factory timing marks on the case and indeed it's retarded. So my next step is to advance at least to the timing marks maybe a little more. It also might explain why my 13BT is so quiet.

So... how in the do you get to that nut on the injection pump that closest to the block up top? I spent 20 mins fiddling, and another 20 fishing out the extension that fell between the IP and the block.

 

[FJBen]

So I know what I did wrong. I believe I timed it incorrectly to the 0 tdc mark instead of the 11btdc that I should have. Looking back at pictures I was thinking incorrectly which meant it was timed 11 degrees retarded.
So I advanced it quite a ways, which i finally figured out an efficient way to do so. The first time took about 2 hours trying different ways to do it. I finally advanced it a little bit but it still white smoked.

Second time around was about an hour.
Involved removing a battery or 2 for you 24v guys, removing passenger side (RHD) wheel
Loosening all lines on injection pump
Loosening nuts on VSV.
Removing oil line on block to IP.
Made a mark and rotated it up about 1/8 or so from where I had advanced it the night before.

Wasn’t really cold to check for white smoke, but engine was more “clacky”. I took it for a test drive and definitely could tell it had a bit more power.
My 0-60 time with bad shifting improved 8 seconds and it pulled harder in 3rd and 4th. I’ll put a video up when I can get to better internet.

Advanced timing Pros:
- More power, particularly at high revs
- Improved MPGs
- Easier cold starts
- Less smoke
- Lower EGTs

Advanced timing Cons:
- Higher cylinder pressures
- Higher NOx emissions

Retarded timing Pros:
- Lower NOx emissions
- Lower cylinder pressures

Retarded timing Cons:
- Poor performance
- Poor MPGs
- More smoke (tons more with performance mods)
- Harder cold starts
- Higher EGTs



I still probably have some more tuning to do with setting the valves again and raising the boost. So far, happy with the new found power, boost is next.

 

[FJBen]

So 40° this morning and feels much colder than that. After advancing the timing the night before, this was the test to see how a "cold" start would be.
Instantly fired up and I put it at idle at 1k rpm. Still a little bit of white smoke, but way less and didn't seem to stumble at all. Smoke was gone within 40-50 feet and was faint. Maybe it's still a little retarded on timing, but it's much much better.

I also decided to try shimming the wastegate a little this morning. I shimmed it 5.5mm. Upon some late night reading, others have stated they shimmed 6mm and got around 3psi of boost. 5.5mm is what I had in washers so I figure that was safe until I get the pyro in. This little truck is getting more and more fun to drive.

Not so scientific tests, but a least a way to see change. Shifting, time/temp etc can make a decent difference. My seat-o-the-pants meter says we are gaining power....and I still basically cruise around at 60ish mph.

First 0-60 26 seconds

Timing Advanced 0-60 21 seconds (slight tailwind)



Wastegate Shimmed 5.5mm 0-60ish 19 seconds (headwind)

 

[cruiserdan]

Much better in that last clip. By the way mine smokes quite a bit on a cold start.

 

[FJBen]

Much better in that last clip. By the way mine smokes quite a bit on a cold start.

Pulls MUCH better through the whole RPM range now. Definitely like where it's heading. At lunch it would stumble on cooler days and smoke a little. Today, instant fire no smoke so she is much happier with the timing now.

I wasn't sure how much smoke an direct injected diesel would have in the morning, and at what temps it occurs. I do know that this morning it fired and idled instantly with minimal smoke that went away quickly. General consensus is the 13BT glow screen doesn't kick on until much lower temps. I verified my timer kicks the light on by removing the temp sensor. I will have to wait until it gets colder to see how it starts.

From my reading on the internet (which everything is true there ), talking with the company that rebuilt my injectors and IP that have been very helpful, and my personal knowledge of owning a few diesels over the years, here's what I've learned.

Feel free to skip if you already know or are bored.

Diesels will smoke upon startup the colder it gets. This can be controlled by computers etc to advance and tighter timing for starting purposes. The 13BT has no provision for cold start advancing.

According to Zack Ellison at Cummins, "White smoke is an indication of unburned diesel fuel. Normally, it would happen at startup in cold weather with lower compression engines and retarded timing. You get an incomplete combustion during startup and it causes raw diesel fuel to come out of the stack."
"If you have an older engine with really low compression and bad timing or low injection pressure, you are more susceptible to white smoke."


As long as your morning white smoke doesn't smell like antifreeze, it's unburnt fuel.

 

[cruiserdan]

It has to be pretty cold (colder than I think it should be) before the glow kicks in. Some have fitted manual overrides. I see less smoke when it is cold enough to get the glow to activate. I also cycle the key a couple times to give it a bit more heat. I don't drive it much in weather that cold because that usually means snow and that means salt on the roads and I do not want the truck to dissolve.

 

[FJBen]

Makes sense. They don't salt here. I have to glow my Jetta and my old Isuzu P'up a few times when it gets really cold. Will be interesting to see how the 13BT does. IH8RUST.

 

[FJBen]

Curious about the noise levels in the cruiser I installed a free sound meter level. I place the phone on the dash (which has a dashmat) and took off driving.
At 60mph, in the rain and wind, wipers on and defrost full blast it shows 75.4db(A)
At idle at 750rpm, it's 58.8db(A)

Not sure how it stacks up, but it's pretty quiet I feel. I had a 67 FJ40, SOA 37's, 350EFI, SM420 and old 3spd t-case and it had to be nearly 120db at 60 with a hardtop. It was insanely loud inside. But I loved driving it.


I found this line strainer at the store last night. It was $25 for all parts, we will see if it works for the oil breather. It has a screen and they have different sizes you can choose, so it's going to be an experiment. I'm not sure if the tilt will work or not, I will need to see.

And of course a picture because why not.

 

[SNLC]

I got a diesel way back in the early 2000’s. I had no experience with them before that. It had probs when I got it and I worked through them learning as I went.

That engine smoked white super bad no matter how long I let it warm up, no so much driving it. It was timing and injectors.

I flogged the engine hard for nearly 10yrs. Tried to kill it a few times and it would not die. It got torn down for a rebuild and some upgrades eventually and it looked excellent inside. I decided diesels can take a lot of flogging and just keep going. Head gaskets are the main issue or problem.

From my experience smoke goes like this;
-white: possible head gasket. White is either a cold engine or water-coolant. Can also be air in the system.
-blue: oil, it’s burning oil, likely rings.
-black: to much fuel, black is always unburned fuel.

A bit of smoke on start up is no biggie in an old diesel, normal I would say. A healthy engine though won’t blow any blue, black should not be present either if fueling is set up right.

I have the 1PZ here, before rebuilding the injectors and IP it smoked a little at start up (white) and black only under max load. Not tested load yet but it doesn’t smoke on start up now. Burns zero oil and never has consumed any oil.

1HZ here is low mile, 12v. I have started it at 15*, zero smoke of any kind. It does blow a tiny bit of black under the hardest load conditions. This engine has never been opened up or touched, under 50k miles on it. Consumes zero oil.

1HDT here, injectors rebuilt but not much else done to it. It smokes a fair amount on start up. 200,000kms on it. Does burn some oil, rings in my opinion. It also smokes black bad and egts go high under load but I am fairly sure the fuel is turned up, I just need to dial it back. I don’t know if I can get rid of the smoke on start up without rebuilding the IP. I doubt the timing has been messed with but I will be checking it out.

Anyways, there is what I got here and how they run and what has been done to them. @TonyP 1HZ with over 600,000kms hardly smokes at all on start up or under load. A little white-blue when cold and a little black under load but it is not much.

Cheers

 

[FJBen]

Good info there. I'm not super concerned at the moment as just advancing the timing made a HUGE difference on the white smoke on startup. Hardly any now at mid 30's temp and no glow on a cold start. My guess is I could spill time it correctly again and find I could still bump it up a little. I might try that again.
Everything was rebuilt on this engine, IP, injectors, pistons rings etc. It could need time to settle in more, plus I need to check the valves again. I do know it has zero issues catching instantly on start.

 

[FJBen]

Not a whole lot of updates other than new tire time.

I went with Yokohama M/T G003 in 255/85r16. I was leaning greatly towards Cooper ST MAXX, but after getting stuck in mud and the dirt roads around my place with BFG all terrains, I said I'm going with a Mud Tire. It was going to be Toyo, but after seeing they made this Yokohama in 255/85r16 I decided to roll with it.

My old BFG's are 10 years old, it's time to upgrade. Even though this rig sat inside for 4.5years, it's still not safe IMO to run tires that old.

The BFG 235/85/r16 measure 30.25" on the cruiser. The Yokohama measure 32.78" unmounted.

Only 1 tire showed up...the others supposedly today. So for the moment I guess you could say I have a "Yoko-uno"