Canman’s LX450 resurrection

[canman]

It’s been a total nightmare but I think I have the frame side forward mounting bracket/strap figured out. It’s just tack welded to the formed L-shaped piece but it seems it may work. Issue is I can’t tightened up the mounting bolt to the body as the head of the bolt is stripped. The factory bolts are M10 x 1.25 and the SS bolts I purchased were only available in 1.5 pitch. Also don’t have a M10 x 1.25 tap, which probably doesn’t matter as there is hardly any room above the frame rail to use it.
It is almost impossible to properly locate the tank as any little movement causing some sort of interference. I need to pay particular attention to the clearance at the front with the t-case, the rear with the pinion/driveshaft input, and the notch for the rear floor support. Still not quite sure what is supposed to happen at the top of the tank. The e-brake cable is wedged in pretty tight between the front floor support and the top of the tank. Tank for sure needs some rubber along the top where it will be in contact with the two floor supports. Don’t think the manual mentions anything like that. Without that rubber in place it will just be metal on metal. That makes no sense.
I’m done for the day. Lying on concrete when it is only 16C with some rain this afternoon just sucks the energy out of my. My back is actually pretty cold. Time for pizza and something with alcohol.

Front outer bracket/strap in place. Can’t see it, but the bracket is loosely bolted to the body. The L-shaped factory piece which is just tack welded to the section bolted to the body is just hitting the brake lines. Will need to make sure it will not pinch then for the final install. I had to straighten out and re-bend the front LRA strap as the way it came prevented it from lining up the the floor support. It needed to be widened along the bottom section to allow it to move into the correct position to line up with the floor support.

Other side of the front strap near the driveshaft. Will add some welds to the 1/4” thk plate to secure it to the floor support.

Clearance between the front of the tank and the t-case. Any slight movement of the tank greatly affects this clearance.

 

[canman]

Welded up the front DS strap mounting section. Next grind, reblast, paint. Will start on rear strap attachment pieces while this cools.

 

[canman]

The rear strap driveshaft side mounting bracket. Will weld this to the floor support just like the one for the forward strap.

 

[canman]

After some grinding, sanding, more welding, and another visit to the blast cabinet got it primed and a skim coat of body filler.

Also made this little guy so I can try to tap out the M10 x 1.25 nuts in the body that are used to fasten the tank straps. I don’t want to remove the tank, so space is tight. Hoping it works. Ended up buying an all metric tap & die set since I’m missing some of the metric sizes.

 

[canman]

Welded-in pieces are blasted and e-primed.

The rear strap section is figured out (I hope) and welded.

Next is to weld in the those two pieces to the body and clean up the welded strap section to get it ready for paint. Still need to sand down the other piece that has the body filler. Will be another full day.

Also added a bit of body filler to the forward strap that had to re-bent. Didn’t really anticipate all the painting etc.

 

[canman]

Got the rear strap section ground, sanded, blasted, primed, and a skim coat of bondo.

Got the forward strap sanded, coat of body filler (where I had to re-bend), sanded, primed, and painted.

Also got the two inboard strap mounting brackets tacked into position. Will clean up the welds and finish welding once the tank is out. Not easy to weld upside down with not the best ground.

 

[canman]

Fabbed up a brkt for the e-brake cable. Will “spot” weld it to the tank (I think) and use a P-clamp. Factory clamp is finished - rusted).

 

[canman]

Hoses cut and test fitted. Hope I didn’t mix up the return with the vent line. Used orig crimped hose for test fit. Now will drop tank and weld on e-brake bracket, add a couple more welds to the two plates on the body, more topcoats on the forward strap and strap section, then should be good to re-install everything, and give her a crank. Hopefully, around supper time.

 

[canman]

Tank is back out. Got a little scraped by the rear control arm bolt. Installed the new high pressure supply hose with new washers and relocated the electrical connector to the other side of the flange as it is too close to the floor support when installed in the factory position. Will break for lunch, then clean up welds on plates, prime, then weld on the e-brake bracket. Also got to glue on the rubber strips and install the filler pipe. Damn, still lots left to do.

 

[canman]

Ran into a couple problems. The LePage contact cement is totally worthless. Rubber will not stick to it and to make matters worse, it took off some of my Rustoleum topcoat on the tank.
Also, went to install the filled neck (wrapped it all up like the fuel lines, but wasn’t really needed - still got scratched). It went in fairly easy, but I have a 1” body lift. Not sure it would be so easy without the body lift. Also had to remove the inner wheel well guard on the left rear.
Worst was when installing the rubber and plastic liners for the filler neck, I couldn’t keep the cable lock in position such that J could pass it through both pcs and install the nut. I’m thinking WTF!? Can’t just be hanging loose in there. Then I notice a plastic tab hanging down. I see a small circular thing and I’m guessing it was held onto that plastic tab with some two-sided tape. I have some (3M) but it is worthless. So, used up what J had left of some JB Weld epoxy and clamped it into place. What a time sucker. Meanwhile, I touched up the scraps and nicks on the tank with the brush-on Rustoleum. Also, blasted, primed and painted the e-brake cable brkt, and a few more coats on the tank straps. Doubt now I will get it running today, but we’ll see.

 

[canman]

After waaay too much cursing and swearing, it’s all installed (except for e-brake brkt) and it purrs like a kitten. Probably first time in 8-10 yrs that I haven’t leaked any fuel from the filler neck when fueling up. Dumped about 36L of fuel into the tank, and it still shows empty on the fuel gauge. Hope it works.

 

[canman]

 

[canman]

 

[canman]

Figured out that the gas door cable release mechanism does not attach to the plastic tab. There is about a half inch space between the two. It was a bugger to install as you have pull the access door on the interior panel hold it in position while trying to reach around on the outside to install the nut. Good thing I have long arms. Of course, I had mess of gooey JB Weld everywhere.

 

[canman]

Added another jerry can of gas and the low fuel light went out which is good. I think the needle moved slightly. Also picked up the two fuel line brackets, pinion seal, and inner rear axle seal from dealer. After watching a great YT vid by Adventure 4x4 on about replacing the rear bearings and seals, I realize I should have actually ordered the outer shaft seal and not the inner hub seal. No matter, with leaking diff fluid, the bearings are likely shot and are probably original, so will do the bearings as well. Need the hub gaskets as well and the special tool for the nut/collar. D’oh! Looks like a rebuild is in order with new rotors, pads, and parking brake springs, etc. Will replace the pinion seal after supper as it is leaking pretty good.

 

[canman]

Changed the pinion seal. Was fairly straight forward. Used a pulley puller and seal puller to get the flange out and the seal. Getting the new seal was a bit of s bugger to get in as it would just keep tipping out at the opposite side of where I was tapping it. Greased the u-joints and slip yoke on the rear driveshaft, but ran out of grease for the rear u-joint. D’oh!
Took it for a spin for the first time since U parked it last fall. Fuel gauge finally moved to about 1/4 mark as soon as I got it on the road which is strange. Parked it down the road a ways to try to get my iPhone to pair with the Kenwood headubit and noticed the low fuel light came on. It was flickering a bit before in the bumpy backroads, but now stays on. Will need to look into that further later on. The exhaust leaks at the joints are just crazy annoying, so called Borla to get the P/Ns for the gaskets/donuts. I bought the cat back system from them years ago (P/N 14590) and had a local garage install at the time. It started leaking within a year and brought it back to them. They “fixed” it, however it soon started leaking again, and I just lived with it for years. Borla was willing to go it under warranty if I still had the orig receipt. Told him to forget that, and he said he will email the details. Also added new diff fluid (Castrol 75W-90 syn).

 

[canman]

Decided to cut the bolts used to attach the tailpipe to the muffler on the Borla cat back system since they asked for pics. Figured I would bring it into town and see if one of the car parts stores could find a gasket. Found the receipt as well. Was purchased in 2013! Also replaced both cats at the same time with some from Magnaflow. They found something that might work. Will have to wait until tomorrow though as I sprained my thumb when one of tires I also brought into town fell out of the car as soon as I opened the hatch. I instinctively went to grab it, but it was too late. It bounced off the ground and straight into my thumb.

 

[canman]

Forgot to include a pic of what was left of the gasket that was in there.

 

[cruzinfj1]

Keep on pluggin away, man!! Ive been watching and give ya props on all the time youre spending on it!! Been there, and done it myself with mine!!! Its all the little things like this that arent the "fun stuff" that seems like no one takes into account owning these ole rusty piles!!!

 

[canman]

Keep on pluggin away, man!! Ive been watching and give ya props on all the time youre spending on it!! Been there, and done it myself with mine!!! Its all the little things like this that arent the "fun stuff" that seems like no one takes into account owning these ole rusty piles!!!

Thanks. But I really neglected the old girl the last 5-7 yrs. Really didn’t do a damn thing even though I knew it would eventually catch up with me if I kept her. It is a real testimony to their incredible build quality.