500 mile shakedown report
Over the last 4 days I put about 500 miles on "Stella". (that's what my kids named the 3FE40) I've driven thru sleet, snow, rain, and some fantastic sunny weather on the way from Dallas to Austin - then to Katemcy Texas for the LSLC Round up.
The first 200 miles went well, but on Thursday when I rolled into Austin and had a problem. Some of the RTV that Randy and I used around the Cold Start Injector - was not sealing well, so I had a big vaccum leak. In our rush to beat the Snow out of Dallas Randy snapped one of the two bolts on the Cold start injector. One the positive note - I burned lot of rubber, and did a few fish tails, trying to keep the RPM's up in first and second gear. Something you don't see much in a FJ40.
It ran great over 2800 RPM's so It was great on the open road. Once I got to the Roundup, I decided to park the truck and not take a chance on the trails with a truck that would not run well in 1st and 2nd gear. I borrowed some RTV, and tried to plug the leak - but it still not running well. So I just popped the hood and had lots of people taking note of Randy's work. Lucky for me my wife drove up our FZJ80, and we wheeled that, also it gave her a excuse to ditch me and hitch a ride with the hard core group.
The leak got even worse today, so it was a "Fast and Furious" ride home.
Eric - and I followed each other the entire time, him driving his 12HT FJ40. We ended the weekend at a early dinner tonight at Copper's BBQ in Lano Texas. What a great end to a fantastic 4 days. Eric Had just finished his truck on Friday, so it was a shake down trip for both our rigs.