Build Abandoned 84 FJ60 gets some love, and a 4bt!

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Since I have to work tonight, I didn't have a lot of time but wanted to make some progress today, however small it may be. So I decided to start wiping down my dash and steering wheel and door panels, to remove the thick layer of dust/mud that had obviously been coating the entire interior for the last couple of decades.
My dash pad is crumbling, but everything else definitely looks better after a good wipedown!
Amazon says my Remflex intake/exhaust gasket will be delivered today, but it'll probably show up after I leave for work, but maybe I'll have time to put it on tomorrow.
On Monday I plan to register the thing and add it to my insurance, since I plan to start driving it at least locally to know where it stands on dependability.
Baby steps, however I think by the end of the summer I'll have the interior livable and the mechanical stuff sorted well enough to depend on it.
As it sits, I'm feeling pretty good about my $1800 investment so far.
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Well, I got my Remflex gasket in just in time to throw it back together before leaving for work, and now I have no exhaust leaks! Woohoo!!
But I still have the weird popping backfire through the carb, that happens every time #2 fires.
I pull the plug wire for #2, and the pop goes away.
Tomorrow I'll yank the valve cover off and verify that my valve adjustment was done correctly, as I suspect the intake not closing all the way.
The head was shaved down a bit, and all the valves were tight, maybe I just missed that one when adjusting them back out...
 
Thechief86 said:
Well, I got my Remflex gasket in just in time to throw it back together before leaving for work, and now I have no exhaust leaks! Woohoo!!
But I still have the weird popping backfire through the carb, that happens every time #2 fires.
I pull the plug wire for #2, and the pop goes away.
Tomorrow I'll yank the valve cover off and verify that my valve adjustment was done correctly, as I suspect the intake not closing all the way.
The head was shaved down a bit, and all the valves were tight, maybe I just missed that one when adjusting them back out...
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Did you adjust the valves with engine hot or cold? If it was cold you should leave everything about .002” on the looser side as they tend to tighten when they get hot. Also more valve clearance is safer than less valve clearance.
 
Seth S said:
Did you adjust the valves with engine hot or cold? If it was cold you should leave everything about .002” on the looser side as they tend to tighten when they get hot. Also more valve clearance is safer than less valve clearance.
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I did it cold. Hopefully that's the issue, either adjusted too tight or overlooked altogether.
I should get a chance to pull the valve cover tomorrow and check. Crappy how work gets in the way of the stuff I'd rather be doing lol....
 
Thechief86 said:
I did it cold. Hopefully that's the issue, either adjusted too tight or overlooked altogether.
I should get a chance to pull the valve cover tomorrow and check. Crappy how work gets in the way of the stuff I'd rather be doing lol....
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Work and family 😏
 
An other remflex for the win!

And congrats on having the only destroyed passenger seat cover I've ever seen on the forum! :hillbilly:
 
So I had an issue with the engine popping back through the carb, and today I pulled the valve cover back off, and found that the exhaust valve/rocker for #2 was extremely loose and the valve wasn't opening. Turns out that the pushrod for that valve had mushroomed and was no longer making contact with the rocker. I'm assuming it must have been damaged during the failure of the donor engine, and I just must not have noticed.
A quick swap and readjustment had the engine purring like a kitten, and down the road I went, for a good 30 minute cruise. My buddy riding with me was blown away by how smooth the Cruiser runs and drives, even with so many miles and the custom Eyesore/Yard Art paint scheme, lol.
Progress was made!







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Now that it's running well, I need to chase down this awful wheezy screeching noise that is present whenever the engine is running. It doesn't change pitch or volume in relation to RPM, vehicle speed, load, or temperature. Just RHEEEEEEEEEEE! All the time, lol.
I can tune it out, but apparently it drives my buddy crazy...
 
Hey, just a friendly howdy and kudo's on bringing another old rig back from the dead. Nice work so far! I've been sidelined the last two weeks thanks to work being super demanding, and I've been getting annoyed at not having time to work on Kaylee. Tomorrow maybe I'll get after a few small repairs myself, but for now I'm living vicariously through you and a few other build threads. Keep up the good work and congrats on all the progress you've made!
Kathryn and Kaylee, who is very patiently waiting for me to give her some quality time
 
TLC4K2 said:
Hey, just a friendly howdy and kudo's on bringing another old rig back from the dead. Nice work so far! I've been sidelined the last two weeks thanks to work being super demanding, and I've been getting annoyed at not having time to work on Kaylee. Tomorrow maybe I'll get after a few small repairs myself, but for now I'm living vicariously through you and a few other build threads. Keep up the good work and congrats on all the progress you've made!
Kathryn and Kaylee, who is very patiently waiting for me to give her some quality time
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I know all about putting the projects aside when work wants all your time. I had to switch to night shift to actually start getting days off again, after working 7 days a week since October, and getting maybe one day off each month.
Now I'm sacrificing sleep for daylight, but I'm getting things done, and still managing to have time with my wife and kid.
I probably won't get any more wrench time this weekend, but I'll have most of the day Monday and Tuesday to work on cleaning the thing out and start removing the seats and carpet.
I guess for now I'll do my best to clean up what's left of my front seats to be sanitary, and I'll stick them back in until I find something good to replace them with.
I'm hoping to find a pretty clean floor under the carpet, but I know better than to get my hopes too high. Hopefully I won't have to do a ton of cutting and welding, but I'm prepared for it.
 
I think my assimilation into the cult is just about complete. I'm going after a new job right now, not only for better hours but for more pay. One of my first thoughts when contemplating the higher pay rate, is "hey, now I can spend more on Kaylee!" Yea, it sucks you in.
Kathryn and Kaylee, who isn't a cheap date
 
Thechief86 said:
Now that it's running well, I need to chase down this awful wheezy screeching noise that is present whenever the engine is running. It doesn't change pitch or volume in relation to RPM, vehicle speed, load, or temperature. Just RHEEEEEEEEEEE! All the time, lol.
I can tune it out, but apparently it drives my buddy crazy...
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Check the AC idler pulley.
 
cps432 said:
Check the AC idler pulley.
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There's no belt on the AC at the moment, since a lot of that system is missing.
It's a vacuum leak at the carb base. I'll make a gasket for it tomorrow.
I got out for another 30 minute drive today, and absolutely loved it, although my charging system needs some attention. The battery gauge started out at a solid 12v, and then gradually dipped down as I drove, until it was only a little above the orange section at the bottom.
Tomorrow I plan to inspect and clean as many ground terminals and charging terminals as I can find, and possibly add the secondary charge wire directly off the alternator to the battery, assuming that the alternator is actually working.
When I started with this car, the starter wouldn't work at all. But after cleaning the terminals on the solenoid, it works fine. I wouldn't be surprised at all if 40 years of grease and road grime are impeding the flow of electrons.
My trusty multimeter will let me know if the alternator is doing its job.
Each day I get a little closer!
I did remove all the non-essential tools and junk that were in the thing, as I had planned to go to a car wash and vacuum this thing out and hose off some of the barn grunge, but the charging thing worried me and I decided not to go into town just yet.
 
Thechief86 said:
The charging problem ended up being simply a dead alternator. Got one for $63 at the local box parts house with lifetime warranty, and we're charging at a solid 14.24v. Heck yeah!
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It's still making that noise?
 
Thechief86 said:
Yeah, still got that wheezy screech, didn't get a chance to make new carb gaskets yet. But I'm finally confident I can drive the thing into town and use the vacuums at the car wash to suck up all the critter poop and hair.
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Good progress!

Could the screech possibly be the throw-out bearing? Not changing with RPM is interesting though.
 
Thechief86 said:
Yeah, still got that wheezy screech, didn't get a chance to make new carb gaskets yet. But I'm finally confident I can drive the thing into town and use the vacuums at the car wash to suck up all the critter poop and hair.
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remove all the belts or at least loosen them all so they are not doing anything and see if the noise goes away. If its gone then you know its an accessory....then one by one tighten the belts and see which belt brings the noise back. If loosening the belts doesn't change any of the noise you now can focus on the engine/trans/electrical side of things.
 
Good thoughts, guys. Luckily it's definitely not the throw out bearing, it doesn't change when I push the clutch, and I don't think it's an accessory pulley/bearing, since I can kinda localize it to the carb/intake with a stethoscope. I may squirter around with some ether and see if I can verify it's a leaky carb gasket.
I suspect that anyway mainly because when I primed the carb pouring a little gas in, I saw it get wet around the base....
I'm getting ready to cruise to the car wash now and put a bunch of dog hair and varmint poop in their vacuum system haha
 
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