Builds 1992 LJ78 build/refresh (1 Viewer)

[Nas90tdi]

Decided to do the radius arm bushings this evening after work. Bushings are bushings, so that wasn't anything unexpected. However, the rear frame bushings I bought from Dobinsons were a full 3/8" longer that the stock ones, so didn't fit in the frame. I machined them down. Or more accurately took a PortaBand to them and then sanded them flat. Also, the template they provide is not accurate. Distance is 185MM between the bolts, which the template says, but it measures 175MM. Not a big issue because I was going to lay them out anyway. But, it could ruin someones day if they used it as is. The only other castor correcting bushing I have installed came from Slee. We used them on my nephews LX450 and his FJ80. I want to say their template was spot on.

I will align the front end tomorrow and see where I am. I still haven't gotten the new tie rods or the panhard bushings. But, I am betting it still drives a lot better.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Time for an update.
Lots of stuff done since I last updated.
I took the turbo and exhaust apart. Got the last piece of the EGR system from around behind the engine.
Added my EGT probe and swapped the oil pressure sender out with an oil pressure and temp sender.
Swapped the water temp sender out.
Installed my Madman gauge and a boost gauge and added an oil catch can. Vented it down by the frame.
Painted all my heat shields with header paint and cleaned and painted several of the brackets around the engine bay.
Gutted the ridiculous stereo out of the truck. The install was just spectacular. The sub amp had a 14 ga power wire ran back to the dash and was just looped and taped around a constant 12v wire. Pretty much the rest of the stereo was installed with the same level of skill. So, I just pulled the entire thing out and chucked it.
Some of the heads of the bolts around the turbo were definitely fun. I got them all out without to much drama by driving an 11mm 6 point on them and breaking them loose. The heads were very eroded.
The 2 on the return pipe from the EGR were just gone. Those came off with the biggest vice grips I could fit in the space. They made me a tad nervous. They didn't really have any visible shoulders left.
Fortunately they all came off and none broke ard created more work than just getting them off.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Few more

 

[Nas90tdi]

Snorkel is next. I am waiting on a couple of parts to run the intake through the fender.
After driving the truck with the EGT gauge, I just want to say, those are some seriously disconcerting EGT numbers. It's just on the ragged edge at factory tune. It's no wonder they pop heads. I haven't adjusted the tune in any way yet. I am going to drive it for a bit and track what it's doing. That way I can really tell what changes I make and how they affect the EGT numbers.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Snorkel is next. I am waiting on a couple of parts to run the intake through the fender.
After driving the truck with the EGT gauge, I just want to say, those are some seriously disconcerting EGT numbers. It's just on the ragged edge at factory tune. It's no wonder they pop heads. I haven't adjusted the tune in any way yet. I am going to drive it for a bit and track what it's doing. That way I can really tell what changes I make and how they affect the EGT numbers.

Very nice work, and thanks again for the great pictures and posts. Great build.

Yeah, the OEM EGT readings are scary aren't they. I remember hitting 1100F post turbine on just medium hills with my factory tune. After I intercooled I thought I'd broken my EGT gauge the numbers dropped so much. Makes a huge difference.

 

[ALEXY]

I had a drop of maybe 100 deg in egt value after injectors rebuild and reset of the injection pump. ip pump seals had to be changed.
still reach 500C post loader on some highway hills. engine is the early 2lt.

 

[Nas90tdi]

I am thinking I will be intercooling sooner than I planned. Seeing those temps is going to stress me out. I drove the truck yesterday in a location I drive my 300TDI Land Rover all the time. EGT's were significantly higher on the LC than I see in the Defender. I thought it was a good test drive because I am so familiar with what my other 4 cyl diesel returns on the same road.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I am thinking I will be intercooling sooner than I planned. Seeing those temps is going to stress me out. I drove the truck yesterday in a location I drive my 300TDI Land Rover all the time. EGT's were significantly higher on the LC than I see in the Defender. I thought it was a good test drive because I am so familiar with what my other 4 cyl diesel returns on the same road.

You could also change the tune pretty easy. Set boost 12-14psi, and turn the spill control valve down a 1/4 turn. More air, lower fuel curve. Same power, lower egts.

 

[ca18sean]

Clean work. What sort of EGTs are you seeing pre-turbo? Did I miss that?

 

[Nas90tdi]

I can break 1200F easily. That's at sea level small hills. Just a bit of hard acceleration for a short time. There's a few hundred feet of elevation change on the road near my house.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Parts for my snorkel project came in the mail today. So, spent a couple of hours getting that done. I bought one of the take off snorkels from bjowett.
Wasn't that bad mocking up the parts to make the later model snorkel fit. I used 2.5" exhaust pipe and welded it through a plate a fabbed up to take up the oblong hole for the later intake.
I wanted the under hood portion to remain factory so just cut the scoop from inside the fender off and ran into the remainder. So, filter canister remains in the factory configuration.

Not great part of the evening came when I decided I needed to tighten my alternator belts slightly. All was going fine and I was about where I wanted to be and that tiny little adjuster bolt decided it was fatigued and sheared off. So, I guess I will be fixing that tomorrow.

 

[Nas90tdi]

More

 

[Nas90tdi]

My headlights just frankly sucked. So I pulled them out to see what all was going on with them.
The springs that held the buckets in were broken, so they were just sort of sitting in the hole. 2 different bulbs were installed.
I was debating swapping to LED lights, but, I frankly hate how LED lights look when they are off.
So, I replaced the springs. Installed Osram Night Breaker H4 halogens and put in a relayed wiring harness to take the load off the vehicle harness.
Lights are much better now.
I also ordered a new Odyssey battery. I had suspected the battery for a while, but had never gotten around to checking it under load. It was dropping to the 10.5V range under load. So,a new battery should cure the last tiny bit of my starting issues. I felt the truck was not starting quite as cleanly as it should from cold. And , with the battery not handling a load correctly, I suspect my glow plugs weren't getting the amps they needed to heat correctly. I had not noticed it as much because when I was working on the truck so much, I usually had it on a trickle charge. But, parking it in the driveway started showing shortcomings in the battery.


The chrome on my grill was flaking along the top edge and had several areas it was nearly worn through, so I painted it satin black. Turned out OK. Might go back to a silver at some point.

View attachment 1633394

 

[Nas90tdi]

As Nick predicted, the new cold start sensor didn't completely clear up the smoky start. However, the new battery reduced it significantly.
So, I call that progress.
I was looking through the thread with cold start videos. Seems they all smoke on cold start. Which makes me question all the people selling trucks claiming no smoke at start. Seems fishy that they have the one truck that starts perfectly every time.
I am losing my faith in on line sellers here. I thought they were all perfectly running barn finds. Driven by old ladies on Sunday who had the oil changed every third week.

I am hearing a bit of turbo wind down after I kill it. Might have always been there, but I don't remember it. Makes me suspect the turbo bearings. It's very quiet and can only be heard when the hood is up.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

As Nick predicted, the new cold start sensor didn't completely clear up the smoky start. However, the new battery reduced it significantly.
So, I call that progress.
I was looking through the thread with cold start videos. Seems they all smoke on cold start. Which makes me question all the people selling trucks claiming no smoke at start. Seems fishy that they have the one truck that starts perfectly every time.
I am losing my faith in on line sellers here. I thought they were all perfectly running barn finds. Driven by old ladies on Sunday who had the oil changed every third week.

I am hearing a bit of turbo wind down after I kill it. Might have always been there, but I don't remember it. Makes me suspect the turbo bearings. It's very quiet and can only be heard when the hood is up.

Looking at those videos in the cold start thread, 'Smoke' is a relative term....

My LJ78 with double glow will honestly put out zero smoke right from startup. However, when I'd first bought it, it put out a little bit of blue diesel smoke at cold start (tad rich maybe). Something in all the changes I made eliminated that. If I only single glow it, it would missfire on two cylinder for a few seconds and put out white unburnt diesel smoke. I think this was my rear two cylinders which had damage/blowby and thus low compression when cold.

My LN130 with the 2LT-II starts one glow no problem. However it puts out a touch bit of blue diesel smoke until it warms up a bit. (See video in the cold start thread).

It's perfectly normal to have one puff of grey smoke on first start, as pretty much all the fuel pumps are tuned for maximum fuel at very low rpm (100rpm or something.). So are rich at intial startup until they get to idle speed (less than 1second).

Have you done the oil filler cap teapot test? Does your cap bounce lots? If so, this means there is a lot of crankcase air movement. Pull your crank case breather hose off and feel how much air is comming out. Also look for oil mist. This oil mist will also cause smoke at idle. Go with a catch can or something to keep that oil out of your intake.

 

[Nas90tdi]

That's pretty much what I am seeing. Just a bit of overfuel at start. It's nothing like it was, and hopefully I clear it up more as I do different things in the future. I am fine with it as is since it's not billowing smoke like it did when I first got it. As I have seen marked improvement as I have adjusted and modified things.

No blowby at all really. I have no real oil cap bounce. And I swapped to a catch can and vented out by the frame as one of my first things I did. I have yet to even see any oil beyond a residue in the catch can and the pressure on the hose is very minimal. So, I think I just need to figure out what is causing the overfuel at start at some point. It's fairly low on my list of items to tinker with. I was just hopeful the temp sensor would get it dialed in.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

No blowby at all really. I have no real oil cap bounce. And I swapped to a catch can and vented out by the frame as one of my first things I did. I have yet to even see any oil beyond a residue in the catch can and the pressure on the hose is very minimal. So, I think I just need to figure out what is causing the overfuel at start at some point. It's fairly low on my list of items to tinker with. I was just hopeful the temp sensor would get it dialed in.

You're fortunate. Sounds like your motor is in very good condition from your description. Most of the 2LTE's I've seen bounce the oil cap pretty good.

If I remember correct, removing my throttle plate was the main thing that reduced my blue smoke at cold idle (which you've already done). Other things that might impact it are condition of the injector nozzles and injection pump. I think even different diesel/additives will impact it, maybe it'll go away with summer diesel. You could probably completely eliminate it by playing with the fuel resistor (impacts off boost fueling). I can give you info on the fuel and timing resistors if you're interested.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Mine will bounce the cap slightly. Just not really violently. I think very good condition might be an overstatement. I drove one with about 48k on it last year, mine doesn't crank or idle nearly that smooth.But, I paid a lot less, so, it's a fair trade off for me. I would call my blow by minimal for the mileage and it's not spewing crud into my catch can, so I figure that's about all I can hope for.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Kurt finally got his tie rod ends in at Cruiser Outfitters. So, that and the panhard bushings were my last thing for the complete front end rebuild. Can't say the truck handles much different, but I like starting fresh if I am going to rebuild the front end.
Not much to see, but here are a few pics anyway.

 

[Dprio34]

Got her looking great Kris!