Nice, drop that bad boy back in and get her back on the road!!
Blitz build 79 FJ 40. Rust, engine work,seats
- Thread starter FJforty
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #22
I have good news and bad news. 
There's no good news.... After all the stuff I found wrong and fixed I thought I might get a break. Nope... After starting the engine and letting run for awhile it still smokes. The only thing I can imagine is that there is a crack in the head that allows oil to get out of the oil galley in between head and block. #4 has oil on it again. I tried a shim under #4 rocker which shut off the oil to the rockers, still smokes. Wish I would have looked closer at the head or had it magnfluxed. Searching for a head.
There's no good news.... After all the stuff I found wrong and fixed I thought I might get a break. Nope... After starting the engine and letting run for awhile it still smokes. The only thing I can imagine is that there is a crack in the head that allows oil to get out of the oil galley in between head and block. #4 has oil on it again. I tried a shim under #4 rocker which shut off the oil to the rockers, still smokes. Wish I would have looked closer at the head or had it magnfluxed. Searching for a head.
maybe look to do a 2fe up grade, I think there is someone in your neck of the woods selling a bunch of 3f stuff...
- Thread starter
- #24
Thanks. I looked at the 2F with a 3F head, that's cool, I had no idea about that direction, unfortunately I have domed pistons so that will not work.
Project update..... I pulled the head back off and planned to take it to have it magnfluxed and then got ticked off. Two things bugged me:
1) What are the chances that the oil galley is cracked into the combustion chamber. Slim.....
2) What are the chances the head was leaking and the head gasket leaked. Good....
So, with the head off I plugged the head bolt chamber(this is the fluid path for rocker oil) and air pressurized the rocker oil feed, filled up the intake chambers with ATF and looked for bubbles. Nothing. So no crack..
Next, how good are my torque tools, head gasket and head bolt threads. Made a thread chaser and cleaned head bolts and block, bought a Felpro gasket, changed to my 35 year old Sears torque wrench.
I put the head back on last night... Will start it today sometime.
Here is a picture of the new Felpro head gasket installed and the prior gasket, notice the differences, more metal rings around holes, a white line of some kind of silicone. After reading a few dozen posts I see the head gasket,torque and retorque as a major issue.
Project update..... I pulled the head back off and planned to take it to have it magnfluxed and then got ticked off. Two things bugged me:
1) What are the chances that the oil galley is cracked into the combustion chamber. Slim.....
2) What are the chances the head was leaking and the head gasket leaked. Good....
So, with the head off I plugged the head bolt chamber(this is the fluid path for rocker oil) and air pressurized the rocker oil feed, filled up the intake chambers with ATF and looked for bubbles. Nothing. So no crack..
Next, how good are my torque tools, head gasket and head bolt threads. Made a thread chaser and cleaned head bolts and block, bought a Felpro gasket, changed to my 35 year old Sears torque wrench.
I put the head back on last night... Will start it today sometime.
Here is a picture of the new Felpro head gasket installed and the prior gasket, notice the differences, more metal rings around holes, a white line of some kind of silicone. After reading a few dozen posts I see the head gasket,torque and retorque as a major issue.
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- Thread starter
- #25
I also want to bring up one of the better tools that I have found: While in the browser press Ctrl and + to zoom in and Ctrl and - to zoom out, this is good stuff for looking at pictures.
You can also use the scrol wheel of your mouse while holding ctrl
- Thread starter
- #27
Thanks. Also the Felpro head gasket was $45 from Schucks/Oreillys. Napa had an off brand for $70.
nice job
nice job so far looking forward to seeing the bed replacement.
Nice scrounging job on the seats---god I wish I lived anywhere near a decent junkyard!
nice job so far looking forward to seeing the bed replacement.
Nice scrounging job on the seats---god I wish I lived anywhere near a decent junkyard!
- Thread starter
- #29
Maybe it's just my opinion but I think this is a pretty good story.
A little history:
1) Buy 79 FJ40 that smokes bad... real bad.. good price
2) Checked everything, valve stem seals loose so replaced, still smokes
3) Crappy compressions so I pulled the head, put a mic on everything, honed, replaced rings, rod bearings, replaced head, still smokes... What!
4) Bunch of tests thinking the head was cracked, must be a bad head gasket or a cracked head.
5) Pull the head again to have it checked and got a Felpro gasket for a better seal. Got pissed because I ruled out a cracked head and got this better gasket, so I put the head back on, still smokes....What!
The present:
So, I'm not the best mechanic around but I have not made any mistakes here so what the heck is going on....Well, it came to me in a drunken stupor. Went out and pulled the plugs, they all looked nice and white, so the oil that was burning was not burning in the engine. Hmmm.... So where...Hmm.. When the engine failed originally it started burning oil, lots of it and it started pouring down the exhaust and collected in the.......... catalytic converter. Pulled that sucker off and no more smoke, now I know why it took a couple minutes to start smoking, it had to warm up the converter first and now I know why it smoked worse while driving, the converter got hotter. Went for a drive last night... No smoke.
A little history:
1) Buy 79 FJ40 that smokes bad... real bad.. good price
2) Checked everything, valve stem seals loose so replaced, still smokes
3) Crappy compressions so I pulled the head, put a mic on everything, honed, replaced rings, rod bearings, replaced head, still smokes... What!
4) Bunch of tests thinking the head was cracked, must be a bad head gasket or a cracked head.
5) Pull the head again to have it checked and got a Felpro gasket for a better seal. Got pissed because I ruled out a cracked head and got this better gasket, so I put the head back on, still smokes....What!
The present:
So, I'm not the best mechanic around but I have not made any mistakes here so what the heck is going on....Well, it came to me in a drunken stupor. Went out and pulled the plugs, they all looked nice and white, so the oil that was burning was not burning in the engine. Hmmm.... So where...Hmm.. When the engine failed originally it started burning oil, lots of it and it started pouring down the exhaust and collected in the.......... catalytic converter. Pulled that sucker off and no more smoke, now I know why it took a couple minutes to start smoking, it had to warm up the converter first and now I know why it smoked worse while driving, the converter got hotter. Went for a drive last night... No smoke.
thecrazygreek
A.K.A. TheCraftyGreek
TADA!!!
- Thread starter
- #32
The fun never ends. Checking fluids and found the transfer case fill bolt with a rounded top. Filed it down a bit and welded this nut on. Got it off and put 1-1/2 quarts of gear lube in it. The PO was not much on maintance. The tranny had no extra fluid so the seal might be good. The PO put on all new brake cylinders and pads, rebuit the front axle, this thing is almost driveable.
- Thread starter
- #33
Got my seats in. Old stock seats and new seats installed. It was like they were designed for the FJ. I really like the way the bottom plastic fits on the floorboard. Drivers has a lumbar support adjustment, the electric controls are disconnected of coarse. Will post more pics and some install stuff.
- Thread starter
- #34
Pulled the stock seats and removed the bottom sliders. Pulled the electric junk off the bottom of the new seats. Measured all the holes and it was my lucky day, the stock holes on the new seats are the correct dimension across and spaced from the front. Had to put 3 washers ontop each slider to deal with some interference. Put the front bolts in the sliders and lined up the rear, drilled new holes and thats it. Bolted them in and cut just a bit of plastic on the bottom edge so they could move back. I was finished in 4 hours. I can't imagine a better fit for a replacement, 2002 Monte carlo is what the tag said from the junkyard.
Love the seats, why take out the E-stuff?
Only two reason I could think of, One would be those motors make the seats sit high, and there aint much room between the steering wheel and my thighs to begin with. Two, wold be just cuz its something else to go wrong, and it not very correct, to the ruggedness of the vehichle, but having said that, he is going to install the digital gauge cluster, so who knows what was going on in his head.
I do know one thing, I LOVE THOSE Seats, I have already called around to a couple of diffferent junkyards to see if anybody has them and so far nothin, or they want like 400 bucks for them, I will just have to wait for the good deal to creep up.
How is the fitment of the seats in regards to height, FJForty? Do you feel like you are too close to the steering wheel? Are you able to slide the back far enough and still have comfrotable leg room? I am running a pair of volvo seats, and they work, because the were a direct drop in. Well I had to flip the rear brackets then directly in. But, wile they are confortable, I hate the way they look. in regars to the look of the fj40, I feel they contrast. But those monte carlo seats look stock, drrooolllliiiinnnnggggg for a pair....
I do know one thing, I LOVE THOSE Seats, I have already called around to a couple of diffferent junkyards to see if anybody has them and so far nothin, or they want like 400 bucks for them, I will just have to wait for the good deal to creep up.
How is the fitment of the seats in regards to height, FJForty? Do you feel like you are too close to the steering wheel? Are you able to slide the back far enough and still have comfrotable leg room? I am running a pair of volvo seats, and they work, because the were a direct drop in. Well I had to flip the rear brackets then directly in. But, wile they are confortable, I hate the way they look. in regars to the look of the fj40, I feel they contrast. But those monte carlo seats look stock, drrooolllliiiinnnnggggg for a pair....
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- Thread starter
- #38
The electric seat motors and brackets added too much height to the seats, about 4 to 5 inches. The stock sliders are about an inch. The FJ needs a low profile seat to be comfortable behind the steering wheel.
How about some closer up pics of the plastic at the floor board. Does the platsic drop down past the seat sliders and conceal them, thanks.
- Thread starter
- #40
You can see the washers and the plastic overhang.
