- Thread starter
- #141
So quite a bit happened this winter with stuff breaking etc. Put about another 20k miles on her so I guess something is bound to break. Plus I have to admit that I was not frequently greasing my joints etc. Drove down to Miami for the birth of my niece. As I was driving around Orlando the vibrations grew and all I thought to myself was man Florida has some s*** roads. Then I thought why are these Floridians (notoriously crappy drivers - except any Floridians who see this post) not slowing down with these corrugations in the road? I let off the throttle and the vibrations stopped. Crap!! It's me. Right at this moment another built cruiser with his thumb up out the window passed me. I temporarily forgot about my problems trying to check out this cruiser when I realized that at higher speeds the vibrations stopped. So I kept going and made it to Miami. Thanks to the help of the guys on here, I got all the parts I needed to rebuild the driveshafts. It was at this precise moment that that I came to a profound realization. I FU***NG HATE U-JOINTS!!! The Toyota versions, I hate especially. I ran across this youtube video of a Malaysian mechanic making quick work of dismantling these suckers and that worked for me, so right now all is good with the world. When driving around Miami with the front driveshaft out and the center locked, it was like driving a different car. The sluggish overweight cruiser sprung to life and now I "need" a Marks part time kit. I must have it. And so the list of wants, needs and must haves grows faster than my wallet can support.
Throughout ownership of this cruiser I would have to put it on a charger or I would get stranded needing a jump. My windows were slow and my wipers would slightly stutter at slow speeds. I just accepted it and dealt with it. Its something you learn after being married for 20 years. I had a spare battery in the back and would just give myself a jump when needed until one day in front of a Petco. I jumped in, turned the key and the truck let out a pathetic farting sound. I open the trunk only to remember I took the battery out. Crap again. Good thing I was only a mile from home. I walked home that day to get the battery and come back to jump the truck and drive it home. Im a middle aged skinny guy. I was not built to carry an AGM battery a mile. After a mile of bitching and moaning to myself in my head I decided to put the multimeter to good use. I collected all the data and soon realized that I was about as useful as tits on a boar. Im no electrician.
Time to get the best education I never paid for on youtube. It turns out that I have quite a few choices of alternators. The Tercel, Paseo, Supra and the FZJ80 all use the same mounting types. Good to know. The original alternator died on me and I got a second hand Tercel alternator and I have a FZJ80 alternator around. The difference was the plug on the rear of the alt. Mine needing round and the FZJ80 being oval. Armed with the knowledge gained from Youtube I dissected all three alternators measuring all sorts of stuff I did not understand and still don't. I put all the components aside that measured within spec and threw the rest away. I wound up with the body and stator of the FZJ80, the rectifier from the Tercel and my original voltage regulator. Put it all together and I was quite pleased with myself and had a celebratory cigarette and beer.
The next morning came around. I popped the hood and peered down in the area where the alternator sits under the AC compressor and all the hoses attached. Now I additionally have intercooler components with hoses. Access from the top was a no go. So under the cruiser I went. Steering components as well as intercooler components were in the way. Also no go. Then it started to rain. This was going to be a fun day.
All that's left for me is to remove the AC compressor which I did not appreciate cause that was quite a bit of work to install. And even with the damn compressor out of the way accessibility was not great for me because of the height of the vehicle. Insult to injury the wife would come out and laugh at the sight of me squatting on my front bumper cursing every time I dropped a bolt or tool. Incidentally, the neighbors found it amusing. FU**ERS!!
4 hours later everything was buttoned up. I started the motor and grabbed the multimeter in anticipation of seeing something around 14.5 volts and I would prance around gleaming with pride at the accomplishment.
And then............ 11.9 volts........CRAP!!!
There comes a time in a mans life where he must concede and retreat to preserve his sanity and grab a bottle of Scotch and just wallow in his misery of having to hire another man to do a mans job. I had failed. I put the charger on the battery, closed the hood and called it a day.
The next morning came around and it was time to do some errands. Unplugged the charger, closed the hood and I was on my way. But something was different. Very different. My widows were fast in opening and closing. My wipers did not struggle at all. I looked at the gauge cluster and the volt needle was pointing up higher. My cruiser acted like it just got some viagra. Everything in there just worked. I mean everything!! I got back home and pulled out the multimeter which I had shunned because it was the bearer of bad news the night before. Today it read 14.7 volts. Holy s***!!! It worked.
So its day two today of everything working and I am still weirded out by it. I guess not knowing why everything started working is almost as bad bad as it not working at all.......
The good thing: Now that I don't have to fix stuff anymore its time to get back to modifications
Throughout ownership of this cruiser I would have to put it on a charger or I would get stranded needing a jump. My windows were slow and my wipers would slightly stutter at slow speeds. I just accepted it and dealt with it. Its something you learn after being married for 20 years. I had a spare battery in the back and would just give myself a jump when needed until one day in front of a Petco. I jumped in, turned the key and the truck let out a pathetic farting sound. I open the trunk only to remember I took the battery out. Crap again. Good thing I was only a mile from home. I walked home that day to get the battery and come back to jump the truck and drive it home. Im a middle aged skinny guy. I was not built to carry an AGM battery a mile. After a mile of bitching and moaning to myself in my head I decided to put the multimeter to good use. I collected all the data and soon realized that I was about as useful as tits on a boar. Im no electrician.
Time to get the best education I never paid for on youtube. It turns out that I have quite a few choices of alternators. The Tercel, Paseo, Supra and the FZJ80 all use the same mounting types. Good to know. The original alternator died on me and I got a second hand Tercel alternator and I have a FZJ80 alternator around. The difference was the plug on the rear of the alt. Mine needing round and the FZJ80 being oval. Armed with the knowledge gained from Youtube I dissected all three alternators measuring all sorts of stuff I did not understand and still don't. I put all the components aside that measured within spec and threw the rest away. I wound up with the body and stator of the FZJ80, the rectifier from the Tercel and my original voltage regulator. Put it all together and I was quite pleased with myself and had a celebratory cigarette and beer.
The next morning came around. I popped the hood and peered down in the area where the alternator sits under the AC compressor and all the hoses attached. Now I additionally have intercooler components with hoses. Access from the top was a no go. So under the cruiser I went. Steering components as well as intercooler components were in the way. Also no go. Then it started to rain. This was going to be a fun day.
All that's left for me is to remove the AC compressor which I did not appreciate cause that was quite a bit of work to install. And even with the damn compressor out of the way accessibility was not great for me because of the height of the vehicle. Insult to injury the wife would come out and laugh at the sight of me squatting on my front bumper cursing every time I dropped a bolt or tool. Incidentally, the neighbors found it amusing. FU**ERS!!
4 hours later everything was buttoned up. I started the motor and grabbed the multimeter in anticipation of seeing something around 14.5 volts and I would prance around gleaming with pride at the accomplishment.
And then............ 11.9 volts........CRAP!!!
There comes a time in a mans life where he must concede and retreat to preserve his sanity and grab a bottle of Scotch and just wallow in his misery of having to hire another man to do a mans job. I had failed. I put the charger on the battery, closed the hood and called it a day.
The next morning came around and it was time to do some errands. Unplugged the charger, closed the hood and I was on my way. But something was different. Very different. My widows were fast in opening and closing. My wipers did not struggle at all. I looked at the gauge cluster and the volt needle was pointing up higher. My cruiser acted like it just got some viagra. Everything in there just worked. I mean everything!! I got back home and pulled out the multimeter which I had shunned because it was the bearer of bad news the night before. Today it read 14.7 volts. Holy s***!!! It worked.
So its day two today of everything working and I am still weirded out by it. I guess not knowing why everything started working is almost as bad bad as it not working at all.......
The good thing: Now that I don't have to fix stuff anymore its time to get back to modifications
it has fooled me before
There is the RHD/LHD thing again. Bloody hell!!!!!!! The saga continues.....
My back will attest to that.
That certainly was a good moment for me.
