..And so it begins.... my BJ40 frame off restoration

[Volcano cruiser]

The rims that I´m running are the Pro Comp Wheels Xtreme Rock Crawler Series 52 Black, 15 in. x 10 in., 6 x 5.50 in. Bolt Circle, with 3.75 in. backspacing. I arrived at the backspacing by checing the backspacing on the rims that came with the rig when I bought it and talking to the owner at a tire shop that is a sponsor to my local club.

Pro Comp Wheels 52-5183 - Pro Comp Wheels Xtreme Rock Crawler Series 52 Black Wheels - Overview - SummitRacing.com

The Spydertrax spacers are 1.5 inches thick:

Lug Centric (Early Model)

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Injectors are done being serviced and are now back in. They were tested and the tips were worn. I actually wasn´t suprised as the injectors have never been out since the engine was imported. Again now that they have been serviced and replaced with new by the diesel lab I should not have to deal with them again for years to come. They were replaced with new tips from Denso. Just in case here are the part numbers. As a matter of regular mantainance I will run a bottle of injector cleaner along with a gallon of canola with each tank.

 

[rloaderro]

As a matter of regular mantainance I will run a bottle of injector cleaner along with a gallon of canola with each tank.

That's interesting. Where did you come up with that recipe? I had my injector tips replaced a little over a year ago - made all the difference in the world - and I would be interested in any formula that contributed to their continued good behavior.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

That's interesting. Where did you come up with that recipe? I had my injector tips replaced a little over a year ago - made all the difference in the world - and I would be interested in any formula that contributed to their continued good behavior.

Well if you search canola oil here you will see a lot of guys add anywhere from a pint to a gallon of it with each fill up. The thought being that it is good for the fuel pump. I have been doing that for about a year. The injector cleaner is a long term experiment that I'm running on Cyclo 6XT Diesel Fuel treatment. Basically it is an injector cleaner and I saw a deal on it a while back for a case, promotion by a new local distributor.
Cyclo :: Products That Work :: Why Diesel Fuel Needs To Be Treated

I figure that for the piece of mind the canola oil can't hurt in this climate, tropics and if even half of the claims are true regarding the positive effects of the cleaner it is an aid to now preserving the long life of my new injectors.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Fuel Filter upgrade

Since I got the fuel pump and injectors re-done I thought that it was time to upgrade the fuel filter to the larger capacity one shared by the 1HZ/1HD-T and Coaster bus. When the engine arrived I needed to get it up and running pronto so I juat kept running the same size fuel filter which took care of the original B engine. It worked fine but now its time to clean this aspect up and get up to spec. Because of the diference in size I had to get a new primer. Because of the difference in length between the two filters I had have the bracket lengthened. Here are shots of the OEM filter and the after market one as well as the new filter mounted on the new primer pump and raised brcket.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Intercooler

Installing the PWR liquid air intercooler setup isn´t that interesting very straight foward except regarding the placement of the rad. The rad that comes with the kit is too wide to ride in the tight space in front of the engine rad. Given that the 1HZ is a tight fit in a 40 I had to come up with another solution. The decision was made to mount it to the underside of the winch plate at an angle. The theory is that it is high up enough to be protected from rocks and trail junk by the bumper and that it is at enough of an angle to allow it to get some air flow through, assisted of course by the rad fan that is attached to it. Here are some of the bracket.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Today the rad is mounted and the protection screen is in place. Here are my crappy cell phone pics. Another example of installing things here. the slightest thing has to be made. The bracket to hold the intercooler pump is a simple U shaped bracket. They don´t sell them here. They only sell the same bracket but with only one "foot " or "ear". As such the shop burned all morning making a u shaped bracket to hold the intercooler pump. The bracket came out well. The intercooler circuit should be done tommorow.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Scheduling

By this weekend I have to get the parking brake bracket design over to the machine shop so it can be installed next week. If we can get the intercooler circuit done tommorow and the air cleaner and turbo mounted again I can get the intercooler piping installed and the exhaust finished possibly this weekend. I need to keep the pressure on as I now have less than a month to go officially before the end of my tour.

 

[waiting for time]

Nice work, looks interesting. Can you post a pic from a greater distance to get an overview?

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Nice work, looks interesting. Can you post a pic from a greater distance to get an overview?

Sure, but it will have to wait until the rig goes over the pit again or up on a lift to get a better set of overall pics of the intercoller rad finished install.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Drastic decision about gauges

With the turbo and compressor came the need to add gauges to my dash. My rig didn´t come with a tach and I needed to add a pyrometer, boost gauge and a gauge for the compressor. So four new guages in a 40 dash. I really don´t like the look of pillar pods on a 40. I committed a while ago to keep the original gauge cluster and at the end of the day I want it to look clean. I spent time thinking about this and sketching and mocking up different designs in the limited real estate. I have decided to cut the center section of the dash, with odd PO holes and switches and replace it with a new re-designed center section which will screw into place. Here is what I ended up with after my first ever attempt a fabbing up something in metal.

This setup gives me two big advantages (a) no more dealing with the odd sized and oddly placed holes in the dash left behind by the PO and (b) I now have free access behnd the dash. Since the heat and ac went in you really can´t get access behind the dash from below unless you drop the ac/ heat unit. Once mounted the new center section will get primed and painted the same as the rest of the body. Again I wanted a clean look and I´m not big on diamond plate, just not my thing.

Fisrt is a mock up in cardboard that I did and the second is the center section primed and done in metal with the guages installed and the third is a side view.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

You will notice a couple of things. First, I conserved every original switch and light or indicator that I had in the dash except for one, the cigarette lighter. I don´t smoke and my kids made a list of upgrades that they wanted in the 40. Top on the list were power ports to re charge their gear. I grabbed four of these from the guys at Equipt. Two went into the new center dash section and the other two will go into the rear of the 40 for whichever of the two of them is slow on calling "shotgun" and has to ride in the back. Second, there is space for expansion, i.e. I can add another gauge if I want more information. I´ll leave it blank for now, would love if I could find a black plastic punch out like OEM to plug the hole. I´ll see over the next year after the dust settles and I get the turbo / fuel dialed in the way I want it what I f anything else I´ll want to see, e.g transmission oil temp, oil pressure. If in a year I´m good maybe an analog clock Again I think I´m just a hair shy of the "airplane cockpit look" which I was also trying to avoid.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Turbo and intercooler

Turbo is on finally. We drilled and tapped into the exhaust manifold for the pyrometer probe. Got the intercooler barrel mounted and started lay out the plumbing for the air intake circuit. As usual I am missing one siloicon educer which I will order from Silicon Intakes. Easy to deal with and fast shipping. Once he air intakr circuit is up and running I need to swing by the exhaust shop so that they can hook up my down pipe/turbo muffler and resonator. Here are some pics.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

More pics of the intercooler plumbing start

 

[Volcano cruiser]

I have been putting together the sections of silicon piping for the turbo to intercooler plumbing. I have been getting more and more concerned about the flow path of the of the air from turbo through the barrel to the air intake tube, way too many 90 and 180 bends. Well after responding in another intercooler thread I got into a discussion with sandcruiser and he gave me the idea of why not eliminate the factory crossover pipe from my air intake piping. The thought never occurred to me prior. It made perfect sense it eliminates many of the bends in my current design. The only issue is that my current idea requires a machine shop to fab up a transition piece in short order given the time pressures owing to my upcoming move.

New Plan:
Use the 4x10 PWR intercooler barrel as my new air intake tube. I will have a machine shop fab up a flange to match the end of the factory cross over tube that bolts to the intake manifold. Have th flange finish out to a short stubby tube of the same diameter as the intercooler barrel outlet. Use a piece of silicon tube to connect the intercooler barrel outlet to the new stubby intake manifold inlet. The beauty of this setup will be it will allow a direct routing from the turbo to the airintake like the 1HDT but in this setup the air intake tube will also cool down the air en route.

I stopped by the machine shop today to get some pieces fabbed up for my aux tank and took the opportunity to ask about the transition piece. They can do it and it will be ready Mon afternoon. I will post uppics of the factory crossover tube the new stubby piece and the simplfied piping after I get back from the machine shop on Monday.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Center dash section progress:
The guys at the shop decided that while they were waiting on the cross over stub to get the center dash section installed: Again this was my first time trying to fab anything in metal I quite like how it worked out.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Stub update

I have been putting together the sections of silicon piping for the turbo to intercooler plumbing. I have been getting more and more concerned about the flow path of the of the air from turbo through the barrel to the air intake tube, way too many 90 and 180 bends. Well after responding in another intercooler thread I got into a discussion with sandcruiser and he gave me the idea of why not eliminate the factory crossover pipe from my air intake piping. The thought never occurred to me prior. It made perfect sense it eliminates many of the bends in my current design. The only issue is that my current idea requires a machine shop to fab up a transition piece in short order given the time pressures owing to my upcoming move.

New Plan:
Use the 4x10 PWR intercooler barrel as my new air intake tube. I will have a machine shop fab up a flange to match the end of the factory cross over tube that bolts to the intake manifold. Have th flange finish out to a short stubby tube of the same diameter as the intercooler barrel outlet. Use a piece of silicon tube to connect the intercooler barrel outlet to the new stubby intake manifold inlet. The beauty of this setup will be it will allow a direct routing from the turbo to the airintake like the 1HDT but in this setup the air intake tube will also cool down the air en route.

I stopped by the machine shop today to get some pieces fabbed up for my aux tank and took the opportunity to ask about the transition piece. They can do it and it will be ready Mon afternoon. I will post uppics of the factory crossover tube the new stubby piece and the simplfied piping after I get back from the machine shop on Monday.

Update: Below are the photos of the work done by the machine shop. The good news is that with a different intercooler it could work as is. However for the PWR barrell that I have the "stub" is about three inches too long as is. As such I have two choices, keep working with the machine shop to refine the design or go back to the original plumbing setup. Given that I will get m move orders imminently I need to complete the mechanical upgrades of this refurb and get the rig into the paint and body shop before shipping it back to the USA. As such I have decided that, for now, I will stick with the plumbing setup that I have and keep working on the "stub" design refinements. Here are the pics :

 

[Volcano cruiser]

More pics. Next of the stub interior and then of the fit up with the barrell.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

IC/stub first fitment.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Life gets in the way

Well just as I was getting close to the end here my job decided that they needed me to move back to the States now, budget issues. Still left to go on my build is the obvious paint and body work that is sorely needed. The problem is that the movers were scheduled to clear out my gear by 14 Jan. They scheduled this date on 4 Jan.. Soooo switch to Plan B. Clearly not enough time to get the paint done in 10 days so after much consultation my rig will now hang out with his "uncle" a buddy of mine who just finished the restore of his 79 BJ40. Same guy who hooked me up with the paint contact and we use several of the same shops. The good news about this is that now there is no more rush to get everything done under a deadline. I can give the paint and body guys all the time that they need to do a great job without feeling my hot breath on their necks every other day.

For any future readers I will point out that in every build there are choices and with each choice there are compromises and consequences. In this connection here was my decision on "to paint or not to paint" at the beginning of this build two years ago. Option A was to paint and do body work first. My thinking was that if I painted first I´d have that important piece out of the way and the mechanical build could follow. At the end of the process I would have had a rig completely restored and transported back to the US when my time was up. Option B was get the mechanical improvements done first and drive the rig DD and run it off road as much as possible while living in this off roader´s paradise; mud, rocks, sand, jungles and rivers to cross, all withing 45 minutes of my house no need to repeat any trail in the last two years. I obviously decided to fix it and run it knowing that had I painted it I would never have risked my investment in paint trying some of the trails that I did. The risk was what is now happening, I fixed her and ran her as much as I could and ran out of time to get the paint done before my time to leave. No matter the paint is still getting done. The new plan is that everything should be good by Easter and maybe I can get a test run into with some buds to Nicaragua or Costa Rica before I have to put it on a transport to the US.