Builds 76 FJ40 in South Texas

[South Texas 97]

Finished up my Sniper, more heat wrap on the fuel lines, and all the way up to the sniper body itself. Picked up a 150 degree AN6 elbow, to get the return line away from the engine as quick as possible.

Overall it looks like this now, with the fuel lines running in front of the radiator.

During my trip, the speedometer stopped working, I had too tight of an angle and it wound itself into knots.

Picked up a new one from city racer and installed this weekend. Along with a Toyota water temp sensor, although I dad to run a new sensor wire as I could not find where the original yellow with green stripe was under the hood. All the rest of the gauge cluster works, and along with the sniper head unit, I think all the info I need is available. The only addition is the sensor for a digital amp meter, as the gauge cluster sometimes pegs, or appears to peg the 30amp meter. Although the digital gage shows perhaps 12-15 amp draw, the cluster shows closer to 25-30.

It not really clear why this draw, but ok.

Also pulled the choke cable, as it is not needed.

 

[South Texas 97]

I found a nice trick to installing the speedometer cable.
Plug in the harness ( in my case of a 76 the round plug), and the two amp meter wires. Battery is of course disconnected. Engage the tabs on the bottom edge of the cluster, and tilt it a little towards the dashboard. Make sure you can see the head of the Speedo cable, and snake your left hand up beside the fuse panel, and there is just enough space to get your hand and forearm in behind the cluster, grab the cable head and gently slide the plastic clip into place. Based on my previous attempts, that kinked the cable, it was routed straight out through the grommet, and then down beside the master brake cylinder, going ‘over’ the top of the brake booster. Speedometer is now working correctly.

Next is the reverse switch all the way back from the Solid Axle Summit #8 the reverse lights were on. looking at the diagram the switch was bad or there was a short between the power and reverse wire.
With a bit of finagling I cut of the wires at the switch, they are just soldered on, and a 24mm socket would just fit over the body of the switch. After leveraging it a bit, I remembered that I was upside down, so was trying to tighten the switch. Changed direction and it came right out. Without removing the seats, frames, gas tank cover and center trans cover!!!
A quick test with the multi meter shows it is bad. Showing a short all the time, even when the plunger is not depressed.

I even have some of the right colors of wire!
Next up is order the switch. Bless Mr Toyodas heart, the gasket/washer is identical to the drain and fill plugs on the rest of the truck. I have plenty of these in stock!
I think a 24mm crows foot wrench with an extension should allow me to put this back fairly simply.

 

[South Texas 97]

Well, it seems I have been updating the wrong thread for a couple of weeks now. As some of you may be aware I had asked if anyone had driven up to Deadhorse, AK in their FJ40. I got quite a few comments and good suggestions.
I went up to CCOT in Dallas to pick up new HFS springs for the ‘40, and documented that under my South Texas 97 new to me thread, and for some reason simply continued posting my entire Alaska adventure there. Follow the link below

Post in thread 'South Texas 97 - New to me'
Builds - South Texas 97 - New to me - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/south-texas-97-new-to-me.1239447/post-15960209


In summary I made it up through Salt Lake City to the Land Cruiser Museum, and on up through the bitterroot range, and across to Osoyoos in BC, then on through Hwy 37, the Cassiar Highway to the Trans Canada Highway to Alaska.
I made it as far as Tok Junction, about 200 miles short of Fairbanks. So a total of 3700 miles, and 700 short of Deadhorse.
The ‘40 ran great the first couple of days, but progressively worse over the next 12 days. Very hard to start in the morning and running rough all day. The last straw in Tok was the alternator stopped charging. The Sniper monitor screen gives voltage, so it’s easy to monitor.
I decided it was better to stop than put myself and perhaps others at risk for a rescue in a remote location.
Was able to pick up a U-Haul car carrier, and over the next 12 days worked my way back to South Texas.
Stopped in at Redline Landcruisers in Colorado Springs, not to ask them to fix it, but to give me some pointers. They were very generous with their time, spending almost an hour with our heads under the hood, and the rest of the truck, looking at what had been done.
Some excellent comments and suggestions I will be taking on board.
My approach will be to clean everything first, as there are good portions from Whitehorse YT to the Alaska border that are pretty rough or gravel road.
Then look at compression with perhaps a leak down test
Distributor vacuum advance working correctly
Change plugs, spark plug leads, distributor cap, rotor and points. And the coil.
Several folks made the point that a slowly failing coil or bad plug leads could cause the symptoms.
Re-run the sniper setup wizard.
Test and most likely replace the alternator.
Clean up the alternator wiring.
I am pretty sure the igniter is not actually connected, but will look more closely at this when I get back to South Texas.

On the way I met some great people and saw some fantastic sights. Some of them are posted here

Post in thread 'South Texas 97 - New to me'
Builds - South Texas 97 - New to me - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/south-texas-97-new-to-me.1239447/post-15960209

One of the coolest things was seeing a LeTorneau Road Train in the Yukon Transport museum. Those wheels are 10 feet tall.

Loading up the ‘40 in Tok Junction, I used the old school trick of first gear, foot of the clutch and use the starter to roll the truck on to the trailer. The owner of the place I spent a couple of nights didn’t think it was possible.

More as I do the work to get the truck ready for Solid axel summit in August.
3700 miles, in a 1976 FJ40, was not too shabby,

 

[RevISK]

Wow.

The “Alaska Trip” link above isn’t working for me.

Didn’t realize you were going to SAS, may be a chance to caravan? Or at the very least, you are welcome to pit stop for a night at my place in northern NM.

Hit me up.

Ian

 

[OlYellr]

Well, it seems I have been updating the wrong thread for a couple of weeks now. As some of you may be aware I had asked if anyone had driven up to Deadhorse, AK in their FJ40. I got quite a few comments and good suggestions.
I went up to CCOT in Dallas to pick up new HFS springs for the ‘40, and documented that under my South Texas 97 new to me thread, and for some reason simply continued posting my entire Alaska adventure there. Follow the link below

Post in thread 'South Texas 97 - New to me'
Builds - South Texas 97 - New to me - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/south-texas-97-new-to-me.1239447/post-15960209


In summary I made it up through Salt Lake City to the Land Cruiser Museum, and on up through the bitterroot range, and across to Osoyoos in BC, then on through Hwy 37, the Cassiar Highway to the Trans Canada Highway to Alaska.
I made it as far as Tok Junction, about 200 miles short of Fairbanks. So a total of 3700 miles, and 700 short of Deadhorse.
The ‘40 ran great the first couple of days, but progressively worse over the next 12 days. Very hard to start in the morning and running rough all day. The last straw in Tok was the alternator stopped charging. The Sniper monitor screen gives voltage, so it’s easy to monitor.
I decided it was better to stop than put myself and perhaps others at risk for a rescue in a remote location.
Was able to pick up a U-Haul car carrier, and over the next 12 days worked my way back to South Texas.
Stopped in at Redline Landcruisers in Colorado Springs, not to ask them to fix it, but to give me some pointers. They were very generous with their time, spending almost an hour with our heads under the hood, and the rest of the truck, looking at what had been done.
Some excellent comments and suggestions I will be taking on board.
My approach will be to clean everything first, as there are good portions from Whitehorse YT to the Alaska border that are pretty rough or gravel road.
Then look at compression with perhaps a leak down test
Distributor vacuum advance working correctly
Change plugs, spark plug leads, distributor cap, rotor and points. And the coil.
Several folks made the point that a slowly failing coil or bad plug leads could cause the symptoms.
Re-run the sniper setup wizard.
Test and most likely replace the alternator.
Clean up the alternator wiring.
I am pretty sure the igniter is not actually connected, but will look more closely at this when I get back to South Texas.

On the way I met some great people and saw some fantastic sights. Some of them are posted here

Post in thread 'South Texas 97 - New to me'
Builds - South Texas 97 - New to me - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/south-texas-97-new-to-me.1239447/post-15960209

One of the coolest things was seeing a LeTorneau Road Train in the Yukon Transport museum. Those wheels are 10 feet tall.
View attachment 3932937

Loading up the ‘40 in Tok Junction, I used the old school trick of first gear, foot of the clutch and use the starter to roll the truck on to the trailer. The owner of the place I spent a couple of nights didn’t think it was possible.
View attachment 3932938

More as I do the work to get the truck ready for Solid axel summit in August.
3700 miles, in a 1976 FJ40, was not too shabby,

Looking forward to seeing you again at SAS!

 

[South Texas 97]

Well, the work starts on getting running again.
Took the alternator off and the local parts store confirmed it was bad. Not charging, and one of the bearings is squealing. Ordered a new one, should be in tomorrow. Picked up a new alternator belt, OEM Toyota part, much wider and beefier than what I had before. And I got a second as a spare.
Pulled the plug leads and plugs, dist cap and rotor, points and condenser.
One plug lead, 6 was not registering anything. Open circuit. Just for fun I measured the new plug leads as well.

The plugs came gapped at 0.030, which is below the range, so I re-gapped them to 0.035.

The points were hilarious. A hole entirely through the fixed pole, and the bouncy pole was very pitted. Kicking myself I did not change them before I left.

The fixed pole

And the rubbing block was definitely worn down compared to the new set.

I got out of sequence and put the plugs in before running a compression check. Will do that tomorrow.

 

[clrussell]

Coming back here soon

 

[South Texas 97]

Well, it runs!
New plugs gapped to 0.035
New plug leads OEM
New cap and rotor
New points gap
At 0.018
New coil with internal resistor

Checked valve lash per the very useful FAQ
Valve clearance FAQ

Timing is a bit off, less than the BB 7deg, will fix that in the morning.

The heater line that runs along side the block is interfering with the distributor cap. I may have installed it upside down. Rather than opening up the coolant line will make a couple of offset to place it higher on the block, between the plugs and the distributor
You can see it here in the top left circled in red

And the alternator was replaced along with a proper Toyota fan belt. Fills the grove much better and no interference with the alternator all the way out touching the battery case

 

[South Texas 97]

So the next thing was a compression test. Numbers were terrible. Only on cylinder above 100 and most around 50. I tried a bit of marvel mystery oil, directly in the cylinder and really nothing improved. Looking inside the cylinder’s with my proctoscope, there is a lot of carbon buildup. Looks like an engine rebuild might be in order, but should I try to clean things up by pulling the head first?

So I won’t be making it to Solid Axle Summit this year, disappointing, but the responsible thing to do
Suggestions welcome

 

[RevISK]

I think you should keep fiddling with it. 50 sounds way off.

 

[charliemeyer007]

If it runs, try whacking on the lifters to crack the valves open and let compression/combustion blow threw the seat area. It can blow off crud build. I use a lead hammer and strike in the line of action. If compression #'s go up it worked.

MMO is cheap, you have to use enough so it can get to the places it needs to, and then give it time to work. If the rings are stuck you could have poor compression. If the rings/bore are wore out you will have low compression.

Run engine to get it warm. Pull plugs and dose cylinders with like 15 cc (a table spoon) of MMO. Pull the fan blade 2 full turns or more to distribute the oil. Wait a day. Look in and see if its wet on the circumference No treat again Yes wait a day put the plugs in and fire it up and run until hot. You might try it 2 or 3 times.

You should do the leak down test - some parts stores will loan/rent the device.

 

[RevISK]

@South Texas 97
don't give up.

 

[OlYellr]

If it runs, try whacking on the lifters to crack the valves open and let compression/combustion blow threw the seat area. It can blow off crud build. I use a lead hammer and strike in the line of action. If compression #'s go up it worked.

MMO is cheap, you have to use enough so it can get to the places it needs to, and then give it time to work. If the rings are stuck you could have poor compression. If the rings/bore are wore out you will have low compression.

Run engine to get it warm. Pull plugs and dose cylinders with like 15 cc (a table spoon) of MMO. Pull the fan blade 2 full turns or more to distribute the oil. Wait a day. Look in and see if its wet on the circumference No treat again Yes wait a day put the plugs in and fire it up and run until hot. You might try it 2 or 3 times.

You should do the leak down test - some parts stores will loan/rent the device.

Second the leak down. Good piece of evidence with compression # on what to do next.


Edit:
And maybe rent a different compression tester to rule out a defective device

 

[rlong]

If the compression does not increase "wet" with oil aiding in sealing the rings it is an indication you might get away with "just" a valve job. Probably worth pulling the head and inspecting. I do like testing with another gauge as suggested.. make shure throttle plates are open, no impedance to air intake.

 

[pb4ugo]

If the compression does not increase "wet" with oil aiding in sealing the rings it is an indication you might get away with "just" a valve job. Probably worth pulling the head and inspecting. I do like testing with another gauge as suggested.. make shure throttle plates are open, no impedance to air intake.

Engine Masters debunked the myth of requiring the throttle plates to be open during a compression test. They found no discernable difference in the compression #'s whether the plates were open or closed.