Got the installation instructions yesterday from Long Range America. The tech mentioned I probably have one of the first tanks they made as he couldn’t track the serial number. Told me I should check the inside surfaces to make sure they were still in good shape. So, I pulled the fuel pump assembly and was pleasantly surprised to see it was in pretty much in new-like condition except for a few spots with some light rust.
Picked up the engine air cleaner filter, tire rods, and hood insulation clips yesterday at the Lexus dealer. Hood clips are not the same as what is on there, but parts tech confirmed these are the correct ones. Was supposed to bring to the local garage tomorrow, but now they say Monday…
Working on the Yaesu install. Got the leads done from the aux batt. Had to ad about 4’ to reach the main unit which I decided to mount on the right side of the driver’s seat. Will likely need an extension for the mic if I mount it on the dash next to the CB mic.
Also installed my old CB radio antenna. Can’t remember if was busted or not. I guess I’ll see soon once I can drive it.
Managed to get a bit of painting done including the top coat on the fuel tank. Will need another 2 cans of primer to finish some of the sides and bottom. Picked up some stainless hardware for the fuel pump and vent flanges yesterday.
I went ahead and ordered the following from GPS Central for the Yaesu install. Will be shipping today.
Spent/wasted half a day yesterday looking for extension cables for the Yaesu mic and display. Picked up some telephone cable, but then read about a guy who fried his brand-bed Yaesu because on some phone cables the wires are reversed. Ordered the “correct” one on Amazon. I think the cable for the display will just be barely long enough. Picked up some more primer, but by the time I got home it was getting late and too cold to paint (14C). The weather has changed drastically from just last week. Was only 6C this morning. Changed the hazard switch. The red one does not fit as one end is slightly longer and beveled. Will remove left front fender today and replace with my spare. Did it on a buddies way back with a bunch of others in our club and I remember it being a bear of a job. Like 8 hrs to remove and install a new one. We’ll see.
1. Step 1 lots of coffee mixed with a bit of Canadian Club (maybe).
2. Crank radio to Ike & Tina Turner to piss off neighbour.
3. Start fire. Kids complaining it’s too cold (6C) out.
4. Make kids crepes.
5. Feed dogs.
6. More coffee (cappuccino)
7. Talk to sis.
8. Now I can really start. Lol!
Already snapped the one bolt under the vent cowl. Not looking good for these three. We’ll see.
The three fender bolts behind the light came out ok. Bottom of fender was rotten and snapped one bolt off the bottom. Pulled the last bolt behind the door on the A pillar and fender came off easily. I now have a much bigger problem. There is nice rust hole in the rocker. I’m afraid to pull the plastic rocker moulding off now as the rocker is also rotten at the rear. Also, aside from replacing the damaged fender, I wanted to reinstall my power antenna on the LH fender, but it doesn’t fit as it is not a mirror image. It is also different from the one I pulled off an old HDJ81. There is only one 2-way connector on it whereas my has both a 2-way and 4-way connector. There seems be the same hole in the same location to the mount the antenna on the LH fender, but this is going to require more thought than I anticipated.
Got the old antenna working, but was a pain in the a$$. First, lost one of the ground wire screws. Then I noticed that one of the wires on the harness side for the two-way connector was busted. Both had been previously repaired by me. Had no idea on how to remove the terminals, so cut the other wire. Even in a vice with magnifying glass, and LED flashlight, I could not figure out the latching mechanism for the terminals. While fiddling with it, what was left of the one broken wire broke off at the terminal base. Then tried the other terminal, and managed to pull the wire out of that terminal. Decided to try pushing on the terminal while kinda blindly stuffing a small screwdriver into what looked like a latch. Finally got both terminals out, but buggered one of the latches. Had to enlist the aid of my youngest but she even really couldn’t tell how the latch worked. Of course, by now I forgot which terminal went where. Had to ask her what she thought. Found some spare screws, fabbed up a ground wire to the battery and a couple of leads with female terminals to attach it to the 2-way connector on the antenna. Luckily, her advice was correct and antenna still works via the dash buttons. Yeah!
Of course, had no time to do anything else. Want to clean out the garage tonight so I can fibb n ally bring it inside after sitting outside fit 2.5 yrs.
Looking through my stash for the front mud flaps designed for no running boards, and came across a couple bags filled with hardware etc. Found the knob for the hand throttle and the antenna nut although it is pretty chewed up and corroded. Guessing this one came from the HDJ81 my buddy scrapped. Still can’t find the PS mud flap. Raining out now, so stuck with the rig halfway in the garage. Going to work on extending the wiring for the antenna.
Garage says old tie rods are still good. I’ll have a look myself. They also said the entire fuel line(s) need to be replaced. Will take 5-10 days for them to arrive from Cali via thd local Lexus dealer.
Did a bit of work on the wiring last night to extend the antenna to the DS fender. Using some coloured speaker wire that I pulled from the rig when I purchased it. Lol! All that wire filled a small box. Also ordered some knock-off Deutsche connectors from Amazon. Seems you can’t purchase the real deal on Amazon.
Seems that the replacement fender might need some rust repair as well. Might use my fender to patch it. We’ll see.
Picked up the HAM antenna stuff this morning from GPS Central at the Post Office. Will run the antenna cable today and install the antenna on the ARB bumper. Still waiting on the threaded RAM ball from Amazon for the display unit which I ordered before the stuff from GPS.
Mounted the antenna to the tab on the ARB bumper, but after going to a CB shop here in Ottawa, the owner said it wouldn’t work as it requires a ground plane. He actually said I could ruin the transceiver because without a proper ground plane it could reflect the power back. Not sure if it is 100% accurate as a guy in our club says he has been running the same antenna mounted to the same ARB bumper. Just in case, I fabbed up a metal bracket to mount it off the PS fender. Also had to get another adapter for the antenna cable as the one GPS Central sent was the incorrect one to attach to the connector on the transceiver. Got a external speaker as well. Think I’ll mount it next to the steering column on the DS.
Stopped by the dealership as well and ordered more hood insulation clips, antenna mast nut, and DS mud flap (for wheel flare but no running board) as I lost mine many years ago in a trail run. Also dropped off the factory power antenna at a stereo shop as I needed the antenna lead extended as I had to cut the cable to remove it.
Just about wrapped up the wiring. All the wiring under the hood is done which includes:
1. Antenna coaxial cable incl antenna mount.
2. Yaesu power leads to aux battery.
3. Factory antenna extension cable harness to PS fender.
4. Engine air Filter Minder sensor leads extended into dash area for possible future connection to idiot light in gauge cluster.
Installed PS kick panel/rocker interior panel with factory amp tucked inside with closed cell foam added to both sides to help it from moving.
Installed glovebox and cleaned up existing wiring previously installed for Cobra CB and rear camera switch including the Yaesu power leads up to centre console. Also have the Yaesu display cable and antenna cable in place up to the centre console. Still have to mount the ext speaker to dash by steering column (3M two-sided tape is total crap). Will have to wait until I have the ext cable for the mic before I can reinstall the shifter and centre consoles. Supposed to be 19C tomorrow, so hopefully I can finish painting the fuel tank.
Working on the PS rear flare which got ripped off years ago. Also doing the same for the DS front flare. Warm enough today in the sun to paint the bottom of the LRA fuel tank. More pitted than I remember. Has me a little concerned.
On my a good note I was looking at the relay for my 1/2 hp elec air compressor and noticed a lever and flipped it up. Tried it via the switch on my dash and the bugger works! Thought it had crapped out like 2 years ago. Lol!
Ext speaker for Yaesu unit. Hot glued it in place, but it later fell down. Just going to screw it to the dash even though I don’t really want to. Tried Velcro as well, but it is too floppy.
Antenna cable tied down with P-clip.
PS Rear Fender flare repair. Used tried and tested JB Weld.
Got the bottom and last panel primed and top coated for the LRA fuel tank. Just have a couple of spots to sand down some excess bondo.
Primed and painted the ham antenna bracket.
Epoxied the broken tabs on the DS front flare.
Started rust repair work on the DS spare fender. The spare and my orig fender were unfortunately too badly rusted. I really didn’t think either were that bad. At first I made a small patch panel for the bottom of the fender. However, I then realized the metal above my cut line was too thin to weld to. So I tacked in that piece and cut a section of the worst rust leaving the fender lip in place which was fine and also to use as a frame of reference. There are actually some complex curves at the bottom of the fender as it curves inward as it approaches the bottom and also flares out towards the wheel opening. Hopefully, I have time tomorrow to make the second patch panel.
Seems like there was a previous dent repair on the spare fender, but you can hardly tell by looking at the inside surface.
