Through equal parts coincidence and being a collector of wayward projects i stumbled into being a diesel 40 series owner. Though its more of a continuation of what @ROBsSON had started a couple years ago. Huge thanks to him for letting me have a go at getting the rig going again. My kids have always just called it "Bluey" after hearing it was Australian and blue so slight name change there.
His build:
So, its a 1984 HJ47 RHD dual cab conversion from Australia with not much known of how or when it was imported. It looks like an Arkana conversion however the rear door has mostly OEM window and regulator setup that Arkana usually skipped so there's a chance the other conversion company Superior may have done it. Either way, trying to find information on the conversions is spotty at best. Also I have only seen 4 door trucks from those companies and this one is a 3 door.
First order of business was to pop on some split rims i had sitting around, much better!
Interior was pretty decent with some reupholstered seats and custom wood door panels, but I think i only have 1. Also all door handles are broken and drivers door latch doesn't let go once closed.
When I got it home it ran enough to get onto and off of the trailer but smoked a ton and it smelled like unburt fuel so I assumed injectors were hanging open or opening at low pressure so to avoid washing down the rings and scoring cylinders it was parked until those could be sorted. Tried getting rebuilt ones from Australia as US based options were not possible.
They must have thought I was a scammer or didn't want to deal with tariffs as I couldn't get anyone to actually quote it out. Instead I found some Denso replacement nozzles and a Mercedes pop test tool to figure it out myself. Shims for OM617s fit so I got some .010" and. 005" to dial things in
Injectors tested pre-rebuild leaked and opened ~1000-1200psi if they closed at all. Used white camp fuel/atf to soak and ultrasonic the carbon away. The gaskets in the head had failed so carbon had pushed up around the nozzle in the injector body. Lapped all the surfaces as they went together and set all at the higher side of the spec at 1750-1780psi.
Post rebuild the engine started easier and was smooth but still had a stream of white smoke at all times that smelled fuel related, PO had done a compression check that seemed to be above min spec for all cylinders so I replaced the injection pump diaphragm and verified the rack was free. No change there, so spill timing was next and found it was at ~9 degrees.. yep that wouldn't help!
After bringing it to 18 degrees advance the engine woke up a bit and that diesel clatter got a bit louder but smoke went down a lot. It still has a haze of burning oil smoke from valve seals and a decent amount of blow by but passes the oil cap at idle test with it kinda rattle around but not pop or "dance".
Electrical is a nightmare, the wiring harness in the alternator circuit had melted down and taken everything in the bundle with it. I continued what the PO had started of separating wires and replacing sections to get things working again. As of now brake lights and gauges (except temp) work but no other lights. Does regulate voltage to 13.5 after hooking the regulator back up.
With it getting suspiciously close to being drivable I had to tackle the brakes. PO had done the rears already but the front calipers were locking up. I got some reman V6 4runner calipers and hoped they would clear the rims. I've used them on my solid axle crawler for years stopping 37s without issue. Luckily they bolted on after a little backing plate massaging, we'll see if pedal feel is a problem later but a T100 or 4runner master should fix it.
That alternator driven vacuum pump is suspect but there's a 12v electric one to use until rebuild/replacement for the alternator one can be figured out.
This weekend it went on its first "drive" doing a 1/4 mile jaunt down the road and then laps in the yard with the kids. Drives like a tractor with bad steering just like my 78 FJ40 did
Goal is to have it ready for the Carolina Relic Run next spring, should be enough time to get it on the road fully.
Next im going to repeat the compression check and do a leak down test, 2H's are bad about ring breakage/wear/cylinder scoring so I'd like to know if thats the blowby driver or valve guides. I know the latter is unlikely but the lies I tell myself feel better than an engine rebuild
