Builds Build: Rusty Pumpkin Project 74' FJ40 (2 Viewers)

[bdawg23]

Busy night last night:

I got the head pulled of the F engine.

A few notes along the way:
- coolant was rust colored despite doing a full flush and all new parts including a new radiator. I flushed the new radiator before setting it aside until water came out clear again. Lots of weird white spore like things attached to the metal inside the thermostat housing.
- when I pulled the drain on the block lots of small debris came out first. I really struggled to get the block drain cleared when I first got tried to do a coolant flush so I'm glad more crap came out.
- supporting the exhaust pipe with a jack stand was my extra hand to help slide the exhaust/intake manifold group off the studs without too much effort

Number 5 piston was clean around the edges and had very little carbon build up which I think means oil was getting past the rings. The pistons are all extra oily from the wet test I performed a day earlier. That swirl make is from the shopvac

Here is the head after being removed.

I know the pistons/rings seems to be my biggest issue but I'm still going to have the head rebuilt by a local machine shop while I sort out the bottom end.

Any other pics folks want to see?

 

[bdawg23]

Pulled the oil pan and all the pistons. #3 and #4 had broken rings.

Removing the front driveshaft allowed for plenty of room to work. I did use an impact gun to remove the connecting rod bolts, was pretty challenging using a ratchet so if you try this at home grab an impact gun and a 14mm socket to make your life easy.

I was getting excited and started spinning the crank by hand only to have fuel pumped out onto me so make a note to disconnect the input to the fuel pump.

Also remove the flywheel cover to access to the two most rear oil pan bolts.

There seems to be quite a bit of wear on the connecting rod shims/bushings (not sure what they are called)

Any advice from here on what folks would do or have done in this spot is welcome.

 

[cruisermatt]

Post up some good pics of the rod bearing journals on the crankshaft.

 

[bdawg23]

Post up some good pics of the rod bearing journals on the crankshaft.

Too to bottom 1-2-3-4

 

[bdawg23]

Top to bottom 5-6

 

[cruisermatt]

None of the rod bearings look like they spun, right?
Based on those pics, if it were mine I would get fresh bearings and put the pistons and rods back in and see how long it goes for. Might run for years.

 

[bdawg23]

None of the rod bearings look like they spun, right?
Based on those pics, if it were mine I would get fresh bearings and put the pistons and rods back in and see how long it goes for. Might run for years.

Not sure I know what you mean by “none of the rod bearings look like they spun”

Are you taking about the sleeves I have pictured on the right side of the photo below? Are you asking me if it looks like these spun?

 

[cruisermatt]

Those are the rod bearings.
They all look pretty much the same condition? If they spun they would typically be a DARK purple/brown color and lots of damage

 

[bdawg23]

Those are the rod bearings.
They all look pretty much the same condition? If they spun they would typically be a DARK purple/brown color and lots of damage

Ok, I think I’m following now.

No discoloration across any of them and they all came out with the notch on the bearing oriented with the notches on the connecting rod.

The shop doing the head said they would come out and measure the bore on each cylinder to check for roundness and or taper wear.

Once that checks out I’ll make my next move.

Thanks @cruisermatt!! And thank you for your help with shipping me parts along the way too.

 

[Green Bean]

Ok, I think I’m following now.

No discoloration across any of them and they all came out with the notch on the bearing oriented with the notches on the connecting rod.

The shop doing the head said they would come out and measure the bore on each cylinder to check for roundness and or taper wear.

Once that checks out I’ll make my next move.

Thanks @cruisermatt!! And thank you for your help with shipping me parts along the way too.

Wow. A machine shop that make house calls. I'm so jealous.

 

[bdawg23]

Wow. A machine shop that make house calls. I'm so jealous.

We’ll see if it happens! Hopefully this week.

 

[knuckle47]

About in the middle of NJ and fairly accessible …was a place called Raceway Park, a nationally known drag strip probably for the televised NHRA Summernationals. They had a bunch of other activities on certain nights and weekends. There were quite a few machine shops and speed shops in a lot of areas due to the large crowd of enthusiasts.

As the land in the surrounding areas was purchased by developers and houses started growing everywhere around the track…the new buyers bitched about the noise and within 5 years Raceway Park was no more… subsequently those speed shops and machine shops thinned out considerably. These days you’ll need to travel a bit to get to them as they are fewer and far between

A shop that makes house calls? Holy mackerel!!

 

[bdawg23]

About in the middle of NJ and fairly accessible …was a place called Raceway Park, a nationally known drag strip probably for the televised NHRA Summernationals. They had a bunch of other activities on certain nights and weekends. There were quite a few machine shops and speed shops in a lot of areas due to the large crowd of enthusiasts.

As the land in the surrounding areas was purchased by developers and houses started growing everywhere around the track…the new buyers bitched about the noise and within 5 years Raceway Park was no more… subsequently those speed shops and machine shops thinned out considerably. These days you’ll need to travel a bit to get to them as they are fewer and far between

A shop that makes house calls? Holy mackerel!!

I think the days of specialized repair shops and getting stuff fixed in general has gone away. I wanted to have my old radiator pressure tested and I couldn't find a radiator shop to do the work unless I drove a few hours. Of course if I wanted to talk about football that's an easy thing to find in State College lol

 

[bdawg23]

A few pics from the bottom so folks can see what it looks like. To get here I removed the flywheel cover, the front drive shaft and then the oil pan. Everything came out pretty easily which was a nice surprise.

I did all the work without putting this up on jack stands. I have a crawler which was ok but it was a little too high and I kept moving around when I tried to loosen bolts so I just laid on the garage floor.

Still need to finish removing the sealant around the camshaft humps.

The oil pan is sitting on the front bumper if you're wondering what that blue thing is at the bottom of the photo

 

[bdawg23]

Alright last night I tried to remove the intake and exhaust manifold and it didn't go so well. Too much rust and old age so had to resort to cutting and hammering. Well I didn't "have" to but it's what worked for me given my skills and tools available.

I've know the flapper valve wasn't working but when I finally pulled the intake from the exhaust side I wasn't expecting to find that the intake was already sealed off from the exhaust and the flapper rod was just left installed for good looks. That solid carbon looking area on the blue intake manifold is totally sealed off from the exhaust.

Here is where the carb mounts on the intake manifold (opposite of the carbon side shown above):

My exhaust manifold has a broken bolt hole though this is the longer bolt that seals with the graphite gasket against the intake manifold. This bolt was loose and came out pretty easily. Not sure yet what this means but I also noticed one of the holes for the studs that attaches the exhaust manifold to the rest of the exhaust is also broken so it may be time for a new header pipe.

I also pulled the water pump from the engine because I had found a bunch of weird build up inside the thermostat housing and figured I'd better check the water pump. Not sure what this stuff is but it's all over the water propeller. Going to work on trying to clean this stuff up. My only guess as to what this could be is some sort of left over science experiment from the muriatic acid flush. I did the flush without the water pump and thermostat installed but I guess I freed up some serious stuff in the block. Looks like all the aluminum parts is what this stuff is sticking too.

 

[knuckle47]

If anything has to be noted that is good…it’s that the plenum area under the carb mount isn’t cracked…. Do you have access to a glass bead cabinet? When super clean, it can reveal a multitude of sins or tell you things couldn’t be better

 

[bdawg23]

If anything has to be noted that is good…it’s that the plenum area under the carb mount isn’t cracked…. Do you have access to a glass bead cabinet? When super clean, it can reveal a multitude of sins or tell you things couldn’t be better

I don't have access to one at home but I have a small box of parts that I'm going to take to local shop to have blasted so I'll include the manifold in that box and see what we find.

I also researched the exhaust flap more and it seems like the block off plate goes between the intake and exhaust manifold even though the intake manifold is already closed against the exhaust manifold the block off plate creates an air gap between the two parts. Not sure why I was confused by this but I must have been over thinking how this all works.

 

[bdawg23]

I think this project has been headed down this path for awhile and I'm finally ready to acknowledge it. Time to pull this engine block and get this motor refreshed as best as possible.

I decided to drop the tranny/transfer case first and then proceed with the pull. The 4x bolts came out easily. I put a small cart under the tranny and transfer case, shimmed it up so it would sit mostly level, put a racket strap around the whole package and then rolled a floor jack under it all to support the weight.

I got so excited about dropping the tranny that I forgot to remove the transfer case shifter and had to that while it was under the truck. Not a big deal but would have been smoother had I remembered. Next step was getting the truck high enough off the ground so I could wiggle the tranny out. I had to use the floor jack and some wood blocks to get it to clear. A transmission lift would have made this much simpler and I'll see how things go for the re-install. Was great to see that wiring job for what I think are the reverse lights Not sure what the green connector is for as I need to better aquatinted with the wiring diagram.

And just like that the tranny and transfer case are on the floor. Was a little annoyed that I had to undo the work for e-brake drum since I just installed a dual seal and new e-brake pads but that's what poor planning does. Draining out brand new gear oil also hurt the moral a little but I think this a good course correct. Might as well do this all now so the next owner doesn't have to do it I lightly re-installed the transfer case shift lever and mechanism. You can see in the pic I have another 4 speed tranny that came with the chassis when I bought it.

Lots of room to hang out now!

And the engine bay is looking VERY empty which I suppose is a good thing at this point. I should also note that I reinstalled the oil pan in preparation for pulling the moto to help protect the oil pump and such.

 

[bdawg23]

So this is the tranny I pulled out of the truck. Not sure if that 6ZH means anything? I tried googling around and nothing came up. Is there another location for an identification number on this the transmission housing?

This tranny (from the PO) was supposedly the original tranny but it broke and needed replaced about 10 years. It was replaced with the unit above. I had planned on taking this one apart to check it out but my expectations are low. It's been sitting around for 10 years in a barn so I doubt it will be in very good shape.

 

[knuckle47]

gee! This is some rabbit hole. Had you been expecting any of this when you first started?. I admire your persistence here and know that you’re going to wind up with a beauty