Builds 1996 Land Cruiser Build - "Kronk" (1 Viewer)

[Atomic City]

I think I am going to start tearing into Kronk tomorrow. Got most of the parts, and some extra tools that I didn't have before (like a 300 ft-lb torque wrench). I went ahead and sprung for the Ron Davis raddy. It is supposed to show up Monday.

Anyway, just in case you were wondering what ~$1K worth of parts looks like:

 

[Atomic City]

I didn't get much time to work on the Cruiser yesterday. Did get the ARB bumper pulled. Hoping to get rolling today.

 

[Atomic City]

Finally got to dive in today. Didn't move too fast, just took my time and enjoyed it. Got a bit done. Also got my new RD raddy. Effin beautiful.

 

[94landcruiser]

The transmission cooler is twice the size of my Tundra's tow package cooler.

 

[Atomic City]

Back at today. All I can say is that some of these electrical connectors are a PITA!

 

[Atomic City]

Getting there. Ready to drop the trans crossmember. Was wondering if my porter cable electric impact was going to have enough oomph to get the crank pulley bolt.....it had no problem.

 

[asuddendeath]

That is good stuff!
Big breaker bar against the frame, a quick turn over of the engine, crank pulley bolt lose.

You could build your own turbo kit for a lot less then doing a V8 swap. Even a simple turbo build can be done for $2500.
5 lbs of boost really wakes the 1fz-fe up! Night and day.

 

[Atomic City]

That is good stuff!
Big breaker bar against the frame, a quick turn over of the engine, crank pulley bolt lose.

You could build your own turbo kit for a lot less then doing a V8 swap. Even a simple turbo build can be done for $2500.
5 lbs of boost really wakes the 1fz-fe up! Night and day.

I have done the starter bump method with previous vehicles, but to be honest - I forgot about it until I had all of the electrical pretty much torn apart. Luckily the impact wrench is as strong as advertised.

I have started looking into the possibility of building my own turbo setup. That will take some research for sure - I am not super familiar with turbos.

 

[asuddendeath]

TurboClunker (a.k.a. cheap-ass slaps a turbo on his LX)

I just wanted to document this process for posterity. I seemed to find myself occasionally saying on the forums that turbo is such a great bang/$ option compared to the TRD/Magnuson route (which is also a great option, depending on your needs [CA]). But rather than just typing it on an...

forum.ih8mud.com

For a cheap turbo build.

 

[Atomic City]

Thanks for the link!

 

[Atomic City]

Got a little more done today.

 

[Atomic City]

Got some more work done today, but didn't disassemble too much. Spent time degreasing before opening too much up. Also, the previously "fixed" arch seal appears to be leaking again.

 

[Atomic City]

Got a bit more done today. Just about ready to crack the head bolts, but ran out of time today. It appears that pretty much all of the valve guides were leaking. Dizzy o-ring was cracked - that was the major source for most of the grime on the front end. I went ahead and ordered all of the seals for the timing chain cover as well. With the condition that dizzy o-ring was in, I figured I might as well just seal everything up again.

 

[Atomic City]

Got the head pulled today. I don't see any real difference in the appearance for the valves on cylinder #3. The cylinder walls all look pretty good - I can still make out some of the cross-hatch. I was sort of hoping to be able to see an obvious reason for the low compression in #3, though. Makes me think that I should have done a leak-down test. The wet test did bring the compression up slightly, but not much. Definitely glad I did all of this, though. The valve guides are definitely leaking. I am wondering if it is the rings after all causing the low compression, though. Or maybe I effed up the compression reading on the cylinder....with two different gauges....

 

[Atomic City]

I dropped the head off at the machine shop a few days ago. In the meantime, I have been going over and cleaning parts. Today I went to start cleaning the head mating surface. I started by cutting cardboard circles to put into the cylinders to help stop any debris from getting down in between the bore and the piston. I pushed the circles in place, and then I saw something in cylinder #3 that I didn't notice before. I don't know how I didn't see it the other day - a vertical mark. At first, I thought it was from something stuck to the cardboard I had just pushed in place. I removed the cardboard and spun the crank slightly to lower the piston, and it wasn't from me putting the cardboard in - the mark continued down lower than where the piston was resting when I put the cardboard in.

I have no idea how I didn't see this the other night - maybe it was the funky lighting in the garage - but I could have sworn I hit each cylinder with a flashlight. Anyway, I can't really "feel" this mark - but cylinder #3 is the only one that has one like it, so I am assuming that it is the reason that I had lower compression.

Frak.

 

[Atomic City]

Well, I figured that since I am in this far, let's just do it right. My OCD side wouldn't have liked it otherwise. This way I can get everything truly clean and baselined. So, I started tearing into it more. The oil cooler looks really good compared to some I've seen. I got the oil pans pulled. I have to go snag a dial indicator and some plastigage before I tear down any more.

 

[Atomic City]

I got everything torn down and ready for the machine shop. I didn't take any more pictures, but all of the bearing surfaces on the crank looked great.

I am going to take it in and have them clean it really well and then measure the bores for me. Hopefully everything will able to be cleaned up with a just a hone. We shall see. I'll have them inspect the crank and pistons as well.

 

[Atomic City]

Dropped the rest of the stuff off at the machine shop. The head is done. I sure do like seeing things all nice and clean.

 

[Atomic City]

Waiting for the machine shop sucks. So, I opened my xmas present this morning. Never had my own welder.....always used my father-in-law's or a friend's. Now I finally get my own.

 

[subzali]

Wish we could have crossed paths 10 yrs ago when I was working down there. Didn’t meet any cruiserheads but had a ton of fun on my KTM!

Very strange to have vertical marks like that on only one cylinder.