I agree with Pablo, Evan doesn't say much, but when he does I listen. My new fire extinguisher is on the way, on board for the Pig Party.
20 years in the making. 72-fj55 (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter trainbufftony
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bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
DITTO 
- Thread starter
- #143
I asked Hank about the "trick" new fire extinguishers discussed earlier on this thread. Hank is the fire chief of the small town where I work.
Hank basically confirmed what anyone with half a brain probably already knows.
"They put out the fire by starving it of oxygen. What's to keep it from starving you of oxygen? We don't use em, and we don't recommend you use em"
You need an answer, ask the internet...
You need a correct answer, maybe consider asking an experienced professional instead...
Next up on the FJ55 is u joints in the rear shaft.
Brakes are now working correctly, I had the booster pushrod misadjusted too far out. Once corrected the pedal went to the floor, after a shoe adjustment the pedal was back and the MC piston can come all the way back in it's bore.
Please excuse my dear aunt Sally
I had the order of operations all mixed up...
I remember the brakes worked really well as a kid and they're getting back to what I remember, performance wise. Overall I'm very happy to have kept my stock brakes, knuckles and axle shafts...
I'm convinced that the reason people convert them is not their poor performance but the amount of work and learning required to get them to the point where they work well is beyond the aptitude level of most back yard mechanics and probably most professional mechanics as well.
I have decided not to drive it again until I find the free time to pull the d shaft and squish in some u joints.
I'm excited to start tracking my fuel mileage now that my right rear brake isn't dragging. Once It was so bad that I couldn't take off, it was seized, stuck, until it cooled down.
I'm having fun with it, and I'm not on any sort of schedule.
I took dad to the taco stand last weekend and when we got home I asked him what he thought...
"I think you're driving it too fast"
I think I hit 60 on the freeway...
Hank basically confirmed what anyone with half a brain probably already knows.
"They put out the fire by starving it of oxygen. What's to keep it from starving you of oxygen? We don't use em, and we don't recommend you use em"
You need an answer, ask the internet...
You need a correct answer, maybe consider asking an experienced professional instead...
Next up on the FJ55 is u joints in the rear shaft.
Brakes are now working correctly, I had the booster pushrod misadjusted too far out. Once corrected the pedal went to the floor, after a shoe adjustment the pedal was back and the MC piston can come all the way back in it's bore.
Please excuse my dear aunt Sally
I had the order of operations all mixed up...
I remember the brakes worked really well as a kid and they're getting back to what I remember, performance wise. Overall I'm very happy to have kept my stock brakes, knuckles and axle shafts...
I'm convinced that the reason people convert them is not their poor performance but the amount of work and learning required to get them to the point where they work well is beyond the aptitude level of most back yard mechanics and probably most professional mechanics as well.
I have decided not to drive it again until I find the free time to pull the d shaft and squish in some u joints.
I'm excited to start tracking my fuel mileage now that my right rear brake isn't dragging. Once It was so bad that I couldn't take off, it was seized, stuck, until it cooled down.
I'm having fun with it, and I'm not on any sort of schedule.
I took dad to the taco stand last weekend and when we got home I asked him what he thought...
"I think you're driving it too fast"
I think I hit 60 on the freeway...
- Thread starter
- #144
Got my new u joints in, greased and drive shaft reinstalled and I went to my girlfriends house for the night. Took her for a ride in it over to see her mom and grandpa. Now I'm at my old haunt "has beans" for coffee. The Barista asks "is that your truck"
"OH yeah, she's mine"
I'm having a lot of fun.
"OH yeah, she's mine"
I'm having a lot of fun.
RUSH55
SILVER Star
Ooooh… nice vise! What make is it?
- Thread starter
- #146
Use it for a while! That's the second from the worst vise in the shop.
Handle is too short, and the jaws are really sloppy. It gets beat on constantly and I don't think there's even a name cast in it.
I'll let you know what I find on Monday when I'm back to work.
I've got a big yellow vise out front of my workshop that opens to 12" and its set on a piece of well casing 8" diameter which is set 8 feet deep in concrete.
That's a nice vise!
bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
Ya she's taken years of beatings 
- Thread starter
- #148
Stopped by the stealership to pick up parts for a rav 4.
You should have seen the 2 sales guys.
Their necks became rubber and for a brief momen in time they were ignoring the little old lady trying to buy a highlander...
"I've got it and you can't have one, neener, neener freaking neener"
Good times.
I absolutely love seeing my fj55 outside the garage, it needs to happen more...
I'm going to drive it now...
You should have seen the 2 sales guys.
Their necks became rubber and for a brief momen in time they were ignoring the little old lady trying to buy a highlander...
"I've got it and you can't have one, neener, neener freaking neener"
Good times.
I absolutely love seeing my fj55 outside the garage, it needs to happen more...
I'm going to drive it now...
Sounds like the swine flu is settling in. The smile you get while driving, and the odd attention the pig gets is addictive.
- Thread starter
- #150
I was stopped at the feed store yesterday and some old mountain man man felt the need to comment, "that's a sweet truck"
My reply. "Yeah well it's not getting any days off..." as I proceeded to load it full of chicken scratch.
He and I probably sat there and BSed about everything under the sun for a solid hour...
When I went to leave for town in her last night I had a pretty major oil leak from the oil lines to the filter mounting bracket.
So the landcruiser will be getting a few days off while I figure out a solution.
- Thread starter
- #151
The oil filter lines came in from specter and I started by taking off the old and leaky oil line. The one that failed goes from the oil filter housing strait into the oil galley of the block. It goes right by the header and appears to have been rubbing on the header.
The rubber line is completely split open.
Unfortunately the 1/8" pipe fittings that specter sent don't actually thread into the hole in the block. They're too large in diameter. I ran a tap over them and cut off some significant amount of metal but still the darn thing would not screw into the block. I'm not about to take the header off to run a tap back in there so I think I'm going to shop around for another fitting to kick the line out at a 45° angle instead of straight out, that way I can route it away from the header. Running a tap in there is also complicated by the fact that the chips will contaminate the whole oiling system if I don't get them all out 100%.
I was hoping for a bolt up solution and was forgetting my life philosophy.
"EVERYTHING IS A KIT"
Nothing in life works as good as it could work if you put some effort into making it better. Some things don't work at all, and require you the user to make them work.
The parts I got in the mail, they definitely don't work at all...
Will require modifications.
That's my update.
The rubber line is completely split open.
Unfortunately the 1/8" pipe fittings that specter sent don't actually thread into the hole in the block. They're too large in diameter. I ran a tap over them and cut off some significant amount of metal but still the darn thing would not screw into the block. I'm not about to take the header off to run a tap back in there so I think I'm going to shop around for another fitting to kick the line out at a 45° angle instead of straight out, that way I can route it away from the header. Running a tap in there is also complicated by the fact that the chips will contaminate the whole oiling system if I don't get them all out 100%.
I was hoping for a bolt up solution and was forgetting my life philosophy.
"EVERYTHING IS A KIT"
Nothing in life works as good as it could work if you put some effort into making it better. Some things don't work at all, and require you the user to make them work.
The parts I got in the mail, they definitely don't work at all...
Will require modifications.
That's my update.
bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
Threads are British pipe threads 
- Thread starter
- #153
They're supposed to be.Threads are British pipe threads
And I believe they are, in the block.
The 4-an to "pipe" adapters which specter furnished were too big to go in the hole, I ran a die over them and cut them to BSpt and they still wouldn't go.
So I ordered a 45° fitting from Earls...
- Thread starter
- #154
Update.
I ordered a pair of brass bspt (male) to npt female adapter fittings as well as a brass npt 45° street elbow in order to route past the header without contacting it.
Fingers crossed.
They should arrive monday...
That will allow me to use the lines which I ordered from specter rather than modify them, send them back or order something entirely different...
I ordered a pair of brass bspt (male) to npt female adapter fittings as well as a brass npt 45° street elbow in order to route past the header without contacting it.
Fingers crossed.
They should arrive monday...
That will allow me to use the lines which I ordered from specter rather than modify them, send them back or order something entirely different...
- Thread starter
- #155
Over the weekend I dug in and came up with the fix for the oil lines.
I had to beat a wedge in between the header and the block in order to get the other oil line to thread onto its fitting.
Once tight, I aligned the nearest flat, parallel to the header down pipe an knocked the wedge out.
It fits really really tight but it works and doesn't leak. Unfortunately, Sunday once oli finished up, I couldn't think of anywhere to go, so I just drove to the end of the street.
Today I took the fj55 to work. Before I left work my friend Ken called and his 4x4 mini truck quit running at the library (I just worked on it).
So I swooped him up in the fj55 and we went to fix his truck. His coil wire had come loose due to me routing it improperly around the air Cleaner.
After that I met up with my girlfriend and her family to celebrate her grandpa turning 91 years old. Caught a lot of guys staring and I had a great time. It feels good to use it as I would any other truck.
Throw some tools and snacks on the seat and go to work...
I had to beat a wedge in between the header and the block in order to get the other oil line to thread onto its fitting.
Once tight, I aligned the nearest flat, parallel to the header down pipe an knocked the wedge out.
It fits really really tight but it works and doesn't leak. Unfortunately, Sunday once oli finished up, I couldn't think of anywhere to go, so I just drove to the end of the street.
Today I took the fj55 to work. Before I left work my friend Ken called and his 4x4 mini truck quit running at the library (I just worked on it).
So I swooped him up in the fj55 and we went to fix his truck. His coil wire had come loose due to me routing it improperly around the air Cleaner.
After that I met up with my girlfriend and her family to celebrate her grandpa turning 91 years old. Caught a lot of guys staring and I had a great time. It feels good to use it as I would any other truck.
Throw some tools and snacks on the seat and go to work...
- Thread starter
- #156
I decided to drive it over to the boat launch by my work to have lunch at a picnic table instead of just eating it in the break room at work...
It's not for sale.
That's the ticket.
RUSH55
SILVER Star
It looks happy to be getting some rays
- Thread starter
- #159
So yesterday after work, my girlfriends uncle had us over for tacos, I took the iron pig, because iron pig. The event was held on the other side of Durham, the next town over. About 40 minutes each way. The pig did great and no fewer than 3 people asked me about selling it... I had such a great time that I drove it to work again today! After work I decided that I wanted to keep driving it and I drove all through the town of chico, then gassed up, and drove up the hill to Cohasset which sits about 3000 feet in elevation on a ridge outside of chico. The pig did great, had to let a few people pass but it chugged right to the top. I took a right turn and came home the back way down an old dirt road which I once lived on. No 4x4 required but it got me out of the valley and I found a little stream to sit by and smoke a joint.
What a great time.
There's a lot of gear whine coming from the gearbox but it's always been like that.
There's a faint smell of burning oil and a strong smell of gasoline. The next/current stage is that I've got to go drive it, shake it down, and build confidence in it, that it will always get me home... So far so good.
Here are some photos of today's madness... I think it looks right at home in its natural environment.
What a great time.
There's a lot of gear whine coming from the gearbox but it's always been like that.
There's a faint smell of burning oil and a strong smell of gasoline. The next/current stage is that I've got to go drive it, shake it down, and build confidence in it, that it will always get me home... So far so good.
Here are some photos of today's madness... I think it looks right at home in its natural environment.
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- Thread starter
- #160
I parked out front to the shop where I work today (yesterday too) and this afternoon a gentleman wandered in and started talking to my boss as if they were old friends. They exchanged pleasantries then he asked "how much are you asking for the old land rover" John's reply: "That's Tony's, you'll have to ask Tony about it.
So I crawl out from the miserable pos I'm working on to intertain the guy.
"Hey I really like your old truck what do you want for it? I really like old jeeps and stuff...
He didn't even have a clue what it was...
I turned around while he was talking and went back to the task at hand. I said as I was walking away "you're more than welcome to look it over"
After he left, the boss told me how last time he was in the shop he couldn't pay his bill.
Stfu donny, you're out of your element.
Just the one guy Today...
So I crawl out from the miserable pos I'm working on to intertain the guy.
"Hey I really like your old truck what do you want for it? I really like old jeeps and stuff...
He didn't even have a clue what it was...
I turned around while he was talking and went back to the task at hand. I said as I was walking away "you're more than welcome to look it over"
After he left, the boss told me how last time he was in the shop he couldn't pay his bill.
Stfu donny, you're out of your element.
Just the one guy Today...
