Builds 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced (4 Viewers)

[Pip Bernadotte]

I've wanted one of these forever. Seeing a few of them at the 70 series meet finally pushed me over the edge to buy one.
Front Runner rear barn door table! (perfect width, but you have to DIY a mounting plate.)

I had bought what I thought was an aluminum sheet to make the mounting plate out of... but it turned out to be a polymer sheet sheathed in aluminum on both sides. (Home Depots description was not quite detailed enough...) And it was supposed to be anodized black, which would match the color of the door... and it was, but apparently only one one side... and it was NOT the side I chose to be the outward face...

Oh well.. We'll see how long it lasts. Worst thing that happens is I have to buy a new piece (of ALUMINUM) and remake it.
I also drilled out the OE "body pops" and replaced them with some M8 Rivnuts (plus a few extra) so it should be strong enough to last a while

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Two more action shots!

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

But first, I have to fix my rear axles... developed a leak on the left side.

A bit too much axle grease means the parking brake was... Iffy...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

In for a penny, in for a pound. Might as well rebuild both of the axle hubs while I'm at it. Thankfully I already had the rebuild kit on hand (Thanks @cruiseroutfit )

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

can it be turbo time now?

YES IT CAN!

IT'S TURBO TIME!!

Dismantle engine accessories
Remove exhaust pipe coupler

Drill holes in the engine block chec... err... you sure about that boss?

Yeah, I wasn't expecting to have to fit a drill in between the engine block and the chassis rail... but I got it done! (with a fun adapter with a stepper bit, and then another adapter, and having to cut a drill bit in half to fit that other adapter and the given space... but... "It's not stupid if it works" )

Oh yeah... then you have to tap those holes. So you better have a ratcheting tap handle

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Pulled the manifold off and then it was time for the oil pan.

So many aftermarket turbo kits don't use the OE coolant outlet from the 1HDT with the hose outlet for the turbo... I don't understand why... it's an easy swap and means less rubber hose is needed under the exhaust manifold. (the shiney chrome piece under the exhaust ports)

In for a penny. Just replace the manifold studs while you're at it.

Turbo is sitting pretty ^_^

Pulling the oil pan is NOT FUN when the engine is still connected to the transmission. Even after removing the little bolt on angle gussets that strengthen the connection (but get in the way)...
The welt on the top of my head, and nearly giving myself another TBI when I smacked myself in the head with the pan because I was pulling so hard I couldn't stop it are proof of that...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

On the list of "While you're in there"
- Do the Big End Bearings (rod bearings)

- check the old bearings for wear (damn they look clean)

- drill the pan for oil return and weld a screw fitting bung onto it

- Try not to get oil absolutely everywhere (not exactly my strong suit... )

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Also on the list of things to do, but not done well this time:

Keep antifreeze out of the reach of dogs... (less than 1/2 tsp per pound of body weight of the dog can be fatal)

We thought we had gotten all of it out of the engine, but it started spilling out under the block again so we threw the collection pan down under it. (and the cruiser was too low for the dogs to want to get under it) but we forgot when we lifted the car back up that we needed to pull the collection pan back up...

There was definitely a sickening feeling along the thought process of: why does it sound like the dogs are drinking something? there's no water in here... oh $hit!

Thankfully I noticed and figured out quickly enough that they had gotten into it. They also had had a large lunch, and we were able to get them to the emergency vets in time for them to help them. Still... Not a fun time (less than 1/2 tsp per pound of body weight of the dog can be fatal)

Fun fact: they way they help them at the vet is by getting them drunk.

Like literally. They put an IV in them with grain alcohol (everclear?) and monitor it so that their kidneys process the alcohol instead of the ethylene glycol.

Needless to say, after two days of being drunk they were extremely excited to see us, but also hungover, but still German Shorthaired Pointers, so their exuberance overcame their hungoverness.

Also needless to say, most expensive bender any Young has ever been on to date...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Well, nothing to stop things from progressing, even with the doggos at the vet for two days... So back to work!

The pile of "take offs" that were removed & replaced for the turbo addition! (also took the rear foot heater hard lines off)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Test drive time! (without a connected exhaust pipe... but it's only 34 miles to the muffler shop so what could go wrong?

It started right up, as it always has. It sounded good, even with the little bit of turbo whine at idle. Just a new sound to get used to I guess.

Cruiser drove fine. A little peppier than before, but nothing too crazy. I had the fuel dialed in fairly well for no turbo, so not much extra oompfh available.










Well... Apparently A LOT can go freaking wrong! (not because of the exhaust)

I got 20 ish miles in, and it started acting up. Within another mile, the engine died and wouldn't restart...
Oil light came on for the first time ever. So did the battery light...

Got out to check and nothing seemed out of place.
Decided to check and make sure the new turbo oil and coolant lines were warm so I'd know they had flow through them, and they were.

Tried the engine again. It'd turn over, and would idle VERY poorly if I kept feathering the throttle, but would then die immediately after I stopped.

So I had to call a tow truck...

Took forever to get there, but the driver was a nice enough guy. We just chatted the whole way back about what it could be.

He was even nice enough to lower the roll back onto the concrete at the shop and unload the cruiser directly into the bay so I didn't have to figure out how to get the cruiser over he 6-8" lip of the concrete (because they haven't graded the driveway in front of the shop yet)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

I wracked my brain for hours trying to think of what could have gone wrong as I did every test I could think of.

I checked:
The timing belt
The fuel filter housing & cracked an injector to make sure it was getting fuel
The intake & air filter
The list goes on for a while...

Then I knuckled down and pulled the glow plugs so I could check compression.

The engine that came in well above minimum spec for compression just this spring came back with this: (550-570 is normal)

I did the check three times. Normally the first two times, and the bottom line was after putting oil in each one of the cylinders and running the test again to see if that made any difference.

I was on the phone with 3 different people for 3 hours trying to relay findings and see if our collective brains could figure out what had gone wrong, and what could have caused four of six cylinders to have a catastrophic loss of compression.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

None of us could think of anything, so I had to start dismantling the engine.
That's when it became clear what had happened.

I pulled the intake crossover pipe and saw what looked like a bit of metal flake stuck to the side walls...

I then pulled the airbox and found that the intake down pipe from airbox to turbo had silver scratches all over the inside of the rubber hose...

I pulled the rubber intake pipe and found this, and right then I knew EXACTLY what had happened...

When I was reinstalling the engine, one of the last things to go on was the airbox topper after putting the air filter in. I noticed then that one of the three spring clips that holds the topper down onto the airbox was missing. I searched for it, but the airbox had been sitting on the ground next to the tool box for over a week and had gotten kicked out of the way a few times, so I though it had just gotten caught and came off... So something I'd have to get a new one of and replace, but not an entirely essential piece.

That little clip that I found against the pressure side of the turbo wheel is part of that spring clip...
Looks like this:

Which means, that some time during me bolting the airbox back onto the body work after installing the turbo piping, that clip had SOMEHOW gotten knocked off (and it's not easy to remove) and fallen about 1 foot down and half a foot backwards. Exactly perfectly to fall RIGHT into the 2" inlet of the turbo. Where the steel clip sat against the aluminum turbo wheel and ate the fan blades to pieces, sending all of that aluminum into the engine before the fan was gone and the clip itself got sucked through the turbo into the engine.

Which means the only thing I could do is the one thing I was trying to avoid with all of my testing: Pull the head off the engine and check the damage...

 

[JDM Journeys]

None of us could think of anything, so I had to start dismantling the engine.
That's when it became clear what had happened.

I pulled the intake crossover pipe and saw what looked like a bit of metal flake stuck to the side walls...
View attachment 3860827


I then pulled the airbox and found that the intake down pipe from airbox to turbo had silver scratches all over the inside of the rubber hose...
View attachment 3860828


I pulled the rubber intake pipe and found this, and right then I knew EXACTLY what had happened...
View attachment 3860829


When I was reinstalling the engine, one of the last things to go on was the airbox topper after putting the air filter in. I noticed then that one of the three spring clips that holds the topper down onto the airbox was missing. I searched for it, but the airbox had been sitting on the ground next to the tool box for over a week and had gotten kicked out of the way a few times, so I though it had just gotten caught and came off... So something I'd have to get a new one of and replace, but not an entirely essential piece.

That little clip that I found against the pressure side of the turbo wheel is part of that spring clip...
Looks like this: View attachment 3860830

Which means, that some time during me bolting the airbox back onto the body work after installing the turbo piping, that clip had SOMEHOW gotten knocked off (and it's not easy to remove) and fallen about 1 foot down and half a foot backwards. Exactly perfectly to fall RIGHT into the 2" inlet of the turbo. Where the steel clip sat against the aluminum turbo wheel and ate the fan blades to pieces, sending all of that aluminum into the engine before the fan was gone and the clip itself got sucked through the turbo into the engine.

View attachment 3860832

Which means the only thing I could do is the one thing I was trying to avoid with all of my testing: Pull the head off the engine and check the damage...

Oh man nightmare scenario... And you've left us on a cliffhanger!

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Oh man nightmare scenario... And you've left us on a cliffhanger!

Haha, didn't mean to leave it as a cliffhanger.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

So... to pull the head, you have to pull the entire intake manifold, the fuel injection lines, all of the auxilliary systems (AC, alternator, etc), the turbo exhaust manifold, timing cover and top sprocket... a whole lot... X_x

The head with cylinder one on the left

Pistons 1 & 2

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Pistons 3 thru 6

As you can see piston one and four are pretty well wrecked.... and #4 on the head had a few strikes in it as well...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

The engine bay looks so empty like this...

Cylinders look pretty good. Can even see the crosshatching left in the cylinders. some slight vertical scoring visible but not tactile.

Oh yeah, also need to pull the cam shaft.

Well... that means I have to pull the engine so I can check the cylinders and pistons to see truely how bad it is.

This expansion chamber has the same look as my face after finding all of this

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Well, I needed a break, and my way of relaxing is doing car projects. Though with all the feelings of a simple, stupid, nearly unavoidable mistake destroying the previously "well above spec for every metric tested" engine of my favorite car... I needed to switch gears.

In this case quite literally, because I also need a functioning vehicle while the HZJ is down.... So back to working on the Fiat transmission it is!

I've never done much transmission work, so this was... and experience... Thankfully Dad had the full factory service manual from way back when people still rebuilt things like this... (and the italians know how to describe how to do things pretty well, even in the 1970s. Maybe not Toyota well, but still good )

As you can see, there's a bit of wear on the 3rd/4th shift fork... So I guess that's why it was popping out of gear!

This one is obviously in better condition. (some wear is understandable with over 100k miles on it... but the other one is a bit much... )

Upon further investigation, it wasn't just the shift fork that had wear....

This is a regular shift dog.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Here's the 3rd/4th shift dog. Notice how the hole on the right of the groove is "closer" to the groove than the one on the left? Thats because the wall of the groove had worn THAT far...

Another view of how worn the sift dog is (it's the one at the bottom of the picture)

Getting that shaft out took some finagling... and a bit of help from dad, but we got it ^_^

Swapped the shift dogs, forks, and all of the "have to pull the whole transmission apart to access them" bearings after cleaning everything off with a fair bit of brake cleaner. Then it was time to put it all back together!

Took a bit more work, and some scraping to get all the gaskets swapped, but it's back together!

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

After the Fiat interlude to get things back together. It was time to get back to work on the Cruiser.

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy"

Or, more personal to my family "Sometimes I feel like if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all

Yay! Finally after a lot of struggling, we got the engine off the trans and ready to be brought out!

Pic2: F**k! The lift arm extension slipped and dropped the engine onto my front clip

I had to Jerry rig a way to remove the engine hoist to be able to fix it... So I put the cruiser on blocks to get the 2-post lift arms free, then put a 2x5x3/16 piece of steel tube (that reminds me: I have to make sliders for my friend sometime soon) on the arms and removed the over extension stops on the lift arms to get as much length out of them as possible... Then put that under the engine balancer so we could lift the engine enough to unhook the hoist.