Buck's Dirty Bird Build Thread

[blbuck12]

Not a big fan of this right-of-passage. Pulled it apart and put it back together trying to tighten it better, and it's worse then ever...

I'm out of time for this weekend, so probably won't be another week or two until I can touch it again.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Yeah, it's not a fun job, but Spike is right, you've got to have those manifolds machined if you ever want it to seal like it did from the factory!

 

[HemiAlex]

They speak the truth.

 

[Spike Strip]

Everyone who has tried to do it fast or cheap or the 'maybe I can get away with' realizes at some point they've wasted time and money trying to booty fab it. It's gets old taking that assembly on and off after a few times.

Used to be only SOR sold the block off plate, but I think cruiser outfitters sells it now, unless you make your own.

We're just trying to save you effort, but people usually gotta learn the hard way.


Now, should you want one of these NOS units

 

[blbuck12]

After looking into this, I realize that I only have 1 heat riser gasket on my cruiser, not 2. The manifold also seems to be only leaking on the top half of the front and rear channels. So possibly the heat riser connection is pulling the intake off of the head. When I pull it apart I will definitely get a straight edge on the intake surface to check for warping.

I am going to order a block off plate or just fab my own while I'm still in there.

If you I do install a block off plate, do you remove one of the riser gaskets? Do you remove the spring and flap inside in exhaust manifold?

 

[Spike Strip]

Cut the flap or lock it in the open position. Some have said they removed the whole spring/flap thing and welded up the holes, but I've never actually seen that. On mine, I just locked it in the open position, so it wouldn't have the chance to rust closed.

There's supposed to be a gasket on both sides of the insulator plate but some people have reported they were unable to get the thing back together with two gaskets so they used one, on the exhaust side and some high-temp RTV (orange).

You can get new bolts from Toyota, too, for clamping the halves together.

 

[blbuck12]

Good to know, thanks! Already have the new bolts, had to get them when I pulled it apart for the desmog.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

?..but I think cruiser outfitters sells it now, unless you make your own.

Yup, we have lots of them!

Heat Riser Block Off Plates for your F/2F

 

[blbuck12]

This weekend I pulled the intake manifold off again, locked the exhaust flap in place, checking for warping with a straight edge, made a block off plate and reinstalled everything with 2 gaskets like it's supposed to have. I found some thin steel sheet to make the block off plate from so as not to mis-align the manifold and prevent good sealing.

The good news is that it leaks waaaay less, the bad news is that it still leaks.

Instead of the large leaks on the tops of the front and rear intakes, it appears to only be a small leak on the bottom edge of the rear inlet. I only removed the intake manifold, leaving the exhaust in place. I don't think I was able to align the intake manifold properly doing this and I am going to remove it all and bolt it back together again as one.

That said, should the intake and exhaust be tightly bolted together prior to installation? Or should I bolt them together once they are locked to the head?

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

And sorry commenting back... you did your diz recurve as @roadstr6 explainef on his thread? I have all the parts needed but just haven't pulled it yet. Gotta get up the courage.

 

[blbuck12]

I did, except I didn't have the #8 x 1/4 x 1/4 aluminum bushing at the time, so I used the smallest one from the MSD 8464 pack. It is just slightly bigger than the bushing. The install is straightforward with his instructions, and make sure you mark the position of the distributor and rotor to the block. I have read about a few folks doing it without pulling the dizzy.

 

[Breitz6989]

I am a little confused here not to high jack your thread. But I'm in the middle of removing my manifold with a desmog. I have the OEM gasket and new hardware. The current seal is good but the gasket around the left curved pipe towards the front is not in good shape fell apart when I pulled it off. So need to replace. Is what is stated above with heat block off plates etc I keep necessary with a cracked manifold or if you are separating the two EGR manifold and exhaust manifold? It looks like I have a good seal there not sure if I want this eperate them...

 

[blbuck12]

So, after removing and reinstalling the manifolds 4 times I cannot get the intake manifold to seal in the rear. The main contributing factor I can see now it that the exhaust manifold flange is thicker than the intake manifold flange, which is not allowing enough pressure on the intake flange. Possibly the head is warped as I've seen a few people talk about on here...

From what I've read, getting the manifolds machined to the same thicknesses seems to be the way to trick. Unless it's the head that is warped.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I am reading about this procedure myself now as I have a hairline crack in my intake. So its most recommended that both be machined more than likely? How are you doing now? Still fighting the mating surfaces?

 

[blbuck12]

You only need to machine the thicker manifold flange to match the thinner one. Given that the thinner one is not warped and has a good mating surface.

After my last post I haven't touched it since. I've ordered some new gaskets and plan to pull it apart again this Saturday. Also bought a digital caliper and will measure the difference in intake vs exhaust flange thickness. Depending on how large of a difference and it's consistency I will decide whether to get it machined or file down some washers. I'm also concerned the head may be warped, so I will do my best to check it with a straight edge

When I first pulled off the manifolds to desmog there was a bunch of RTV on the gasket, I think I understand why...

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Mine has a very obvious layer on the side closest to the head as well. How much do these chunks of metal weigh? lol, probably alot more than the power steering gear box huh?
Well, thanks for your update and I'll be curious to see how the new calipers measure up. This is much more involved than I hoped to get. But I get it and I'm not running from it, just want to get as educated as I can on how it is for others before me.

 

[blbuck12]

Figured since I pulled it off again I'd post a few pictures of the gasket and how the pressure is being applied to the manifolds and gasket. After taking a pair of calipers to the manifold flanges I found that the Exhaust flange was anywhere from .5 to 1.1mm thicker than the intake manifold depending on the bolt location. Sent the intake off to be machined flat again, after placing it on a real flat surface I realized it definitely has some warp to it.

1- this shows relatively even pressure on the manifolds around where they meet.

2- here the exhaust manifold is getting way more pressure than the intake

3- This was another spot where the intake side is leaking and the exhaust is taking all the pressure.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Cool pics! That's really helpful for me. Thanks. I can envision it much better now.

 

[blbuck12]

Had a buddy weld my crack along with the mounting points to add material. Just need to file down the mounting points now so they are similar in thickness to the exhaust manifold and flat.

Since the manifold was out of my hands for a while I decided to work on the interior a bit. Installed a stereo and some speakers I had laying around. Speakers are using a 1" spacer since they are 6 3/4", and work fine. Used spade connectors so when I upgrade the head unit to something with Bluetooth and phone connectivity it will be more plug-n-play. Just really needed anything so I could actually listen to music instead worrying about all the random noises the bird makes when she's running. Had to build a little cradle for the stereo as the stock mounts had been butchered by the PO. The stereo basket stayed pretty well with that but I added some 3M double sided tape to reduce the small amount of play it still had. Didn't bother to make anything to cover the non-DIN sized hole since I will be upgrading the stereo later this year. Plus I don't find the gaps that noticeable.

 

[blbuck12]

Progress is finally being made again! Got the manifolds machined and the intake manifold spot welded to add material to the mounting ears. Then spent about an hour filing them down to be slightly thicker than the exhaust manifold ears. Hence the numbers near the ears.

After all the machining and filing I still had a small leak until I let it sit for a week then re-torqued the manifold bolts. After starting it up the bird idled like a champion, easily revved up to 4k but couldn't make it past 2k when driving. Reset the timing to the BB and it made it worse. After letting my father listen to it and having it backfire through the exhaust he said the timing was off. Turns out he was right because we went for a short drive, pulling over every quarter mile or so to adjust timing and now she runs really well through the rev range. Not sure where the timing needle points now, but i'm guessing I stabbed the distributor a tooth off.

This past weekend I dove into checking the transmission and transfer case levels and changing the fluid. To my dismay the tranny was near empty and the TC was VERY full and pulled in air when I open the fill plug. From what I've reach that means the breather is probably clogged so the vacuum is pulling gear oil from the tranny into the TC. I refilled the tranny with the TC drain plug off and it did not run out the TC which seems good. Partially refilled the TC but ran out of gear oil. Going to get some more today and clean out the TC breather this week to hopefully clear that issue up. The bird only has 166k on her which from what I've read is also about the time the transfer case need to be rebuilt. I figure she can last another 6-12 months so I can get some DRIVING enjoyment before tearing into another big project.

While making a mess with the tranny and TC i also painted the battery tray and air cleaner, top pulled off the grill and headlight bezels to fix a broken bezel, repair the hood latch cable, straighten the DS headlight bracket and paint the headlight bezels (satin black).

Next on the list is to reinstall the painted parts and install the new Gas Magnum shocks that I picked up from O'Reillys to smooth out the ride. If all goes well... should be DDing the dirty bird after this coming weekend.