Builds Cayman Islands FZJ80 DIY build-up

[mmajsw]

I have a few of projects left - aux fuel tank is the big one. Then there is the design, building and installation of (#1) a bat-wing awning for the roof rack, (#2) an overhead console for 2m and HF radios (one of the benefits of not having a sunroof), (#3)a snorkel and (#4) to install the lovely fenders from jamisobe. They are listed in no particular order as I will probably do the snorkel first.
Forgot to add the many engine oil leaks - from rocker cover to front crankshaft seal, oil pump seal and possibly the rear crankshaft seal.
In the meantime, I have started to do some work on my DIY expedition trailer. check my signature below. Looks I will be busy in 2018!

Happy new year everyone (according to the roman calendar)

 

[mmajsw]

I got up at 7 this morning after having missed all the midnight noise. I wandered to the garage and decided I could either do some more sorting and cleaning or install the cheap eBay snorkel I bought a few months ago. The snorkel won!
I decided to do it by removing the fender - my first time doing so. Quite a few bolts later the fender was off. Thankfully, there were no rusted bolts or screws to fight with.

With the fender off, I laid it on the Workmate and measured the approx location of the big hole. Once measurements were double checked, I drilled a couple small holes for the jigsaw blade and cut out the hole. It was a nervous cut. I placed a couple layers of tape under the saw base to protect the paint.

A fuzzy pic but you get the idea.

I was able to see for the first time the undercoating job that was done to the truck when it was new. I expect no corrosion problems for a long while.

The hole was about 1/4" oversized but my guesstimate was good. It gave me a bit of wiggle room. For anti rust protection, I painted all the cut surfaces with lithium grease. Then, before bolting the snorkel down, I liberally sprayed LPS3 rust inhibitor into each hole then tightened it up.

Then I drilled the oversized holes for the bolts that hold the snorkel in (for a bit of adjustment room) and installed them. I used Loctite blue to hold the bolts into the snorkel.
Once everything was secure, I put the fender back on the truck to guess where to put the support on the A-pillar.
I hummed and hawed and eventually decided to search ih8mud to see what others had done. I was reluctant to drill holes in the pillar and finally decided to use 3m VHB tape for now. I will look a making some sort of support brace that goes to the roof rack or the rain drip molding. Securing the snorkel to the roof rack seems to be my choice right now.
With that decision made. I bolted the fender back in and the end result is this. The only change was to cut about 1.5" off the snorkel intake rubber hose to remove a kink that was there due to excess length and to use all stainless steel hose clamps inside the fender.

More on the roof rack bracing to come.

 

[gearinstalls.com]

Nice

 

[mmajsw]

Another weekend has ended and some more improvements were made.
I had bought replacement window runs and decided this morning to install them. Thanks to the write-ups available on mud, it did not take long to replace the four doors.
The main problem was in the corners of the rear doors. A gap between the run and the door frame. The pic is of the passenger side rear door.

With the replacement, that space disappeared. Image is of the driver's side rear door. I had to go back out and take one as the other image was really fuzzy.

It was fairly easy to replace all 4 and the whole job was completed in about 2 hrs. My only issue was on the passenger door which was the last to be done. I just could not get the run to slide down more than a inch or so into the door. I even tried soap and water, but no go.
I eventually took the run out and took a careful examination of the groove in the problem area. There was a small flake of metal in the weld joint that the run was hooking on. Once that was removed with a screwdriver, I was home free.
A test drive this afternoon shows reduced wind noise.

 

[mmajsw]

Finally, I dealt with installing a 2m radio for emergency communications. I have been looking at designing an over head console to hold both HF and 2m radios, and it might still happen. But, with some upcoming events, I needed to get the 2m installed now.
It is an old unit, and is larger than 1 din sized (10" long x6.5" wide x2.5" high), so this automatically ruled out installing it in the Tuffy console or the cubby hole under the single din radio (the radio needed to go too deep as a minimum of 11.5" is needed when you install the antenna connector).
I have had my unit for a couple decades (I believe they were manufactured in the early to mid 80s) and the main reason for keeping and using it is that it allows upper and lower side band operation in voice. Almost all portable vehicle based radios today only offer FM.
The radio comes with a base for installing into a vehicle but the front of the rig ends up being about 1" above the base at the lowest height. It can be as high as 1.5" depending on where you position the mount. I needed that down to about 1/4" so that in its new spot, it would not interfere with the drivers seat.
The radio has the speaker on the bottom, along with ventilation grills. But the top is free from any vents, so it gets the almost zero clearance mounting.

A view of the gap under the radio

The mounting slot on the radio is shown below. Sitting on the slot is a piece of 1"x1/4" aluminum bar that I machined on both sides a 3/16" x1/8" slot so that it could slide into the mounting slot.

Three holes were drilled into the 1"x1/4" bar to match the mounting slot holes for a more secure mount if needed.
The next thing was to get a length of 2x2 angle aluminum and secure that to the 1"x1/4" bar with machine screws into tapped holes. This would drop the mounting height of the radio to about 1/8". Enough for my planned position.

A view from the back to show how things fit together. I had previously converted the factory 12V plug to Anderson connectors as all my rigs can be interchanged as needed.

With that resolved, I went to the Tuffy console in the truck.

 

[mmajsw]

On the Tuffy, I marked where I wanted to position the radio and removed one of the sides I had created. I was positioned and two mounting holes were drilled.
Then the radio was installed and I marked the position of the other mounting side. You can see the mounts on either side of the radio in this image.
When it was all done, the radio snugly slid into its new position. The 4 bare metal spots with holes in it were to position the BO-9 base accessory. I removed the mounts and have stored them with the mobile mount in case they are ever needed.
The console cover does not touch or interfere with the radio.

A view from the top.

In the end, I achieved everything I wanted to. Solid mount and easy access to the unit along with hearing the factory speaker clearly. The seat can adjust back and forth without touching the radio plus I can still freely operate the hand brake.

 

[mmajsw]

Having some time on my hands and not being able to work outside due to the inclement weather, I began my aux fuel tank project. The hardest part I figured would be the dual filler neck. Thankfully, others had paved the way for me.
I had considered a simpler approach. It involved using an electric fuel pump to pump fuel from the main tank to the auxiliary, and then reverse the pump flow to get fuel from the aux back into the main. The biggest problem is getting a reasonably priced, waterproof high GPM pump to do the job. I like the dependability of Holley electric pumps and have a Holley Blue pump in hand. But even with a 110 GPH pump, I am looking at 12 or more mins to fill a 20 gallon aux tank from the main tank. While that is not an issue when driving your vehicle and refilling from the aux tank, it is a problem spending 15 mins at the gas station pumping into the main tank and waiting to fill the aux tank - hope that makes sense.
So, I perused the ih8mud 80s and 60s forum to see what others had done.
To my rescue comes the article called poor man auxiliary tank installation by goranvolvo, where he covers in enough detail how to do your own installation.

I had already got a tank from the local recycle yard for $100. No holes in it and it is sound. It looks like it came out of a 4 door Suzuki Sidekick and is around 18 gallons. I got all the connectors but the fuel pump was removed a while ago. There is minimal rust on the outside and the inside is clean.

Next is a dual inlet fuel filler pipe.
Following the link above, I got a 90 degree piece of 1-1/2 " electrical pipe and cut according to his pictures. My ends were not as smooth as could be plus they were at an angle. So I placed them in the milling machine a got the fit I was after. A grinder could have also done the job.

There is zero gap between the pipes when they are fitted together and the pipes are different length on purpose. For my referencing.

With the pipes taken care of, I turned to the filler neck.

Looking down the filler neck, I could see the unleaded fuel only restrictor plate plus other bits of metal running down the filler pipe. Unable to find any information on what was down there, and unsure what I would find, I cut the pipe at the weld. I can always join it back together once I have things sorted out.

Next was to remove the restrictor nozzle plate. I placed the bit of filler pipe in the lathe and using a Dremel, cut a grove into the side of the plate holding the restrictor - it seens to be a crimped/press fit. I only have one filler, so no experimenting. Then off to the vise with the Dremel and cut-off blades and follow the grove. When I thought all was well, I tried gently hammering the plate assembly out and it moved.

And hammered out with a drift punch

Next step is to fit everything together.

I am considering brazing everything together with a combination of brass and steel rod with an oxy-acetylene torch. I like that I can heat the metal enough the the brass will flow into the joints for a strong and waterproof fuel proof joint. Can't do that with MIG or stick. Brass will be used for the lip highlighted by the red arrows above. Steel rod for rejoining the tubes together. More to follow.

 

[gearinstalls.com]

 

[mmajsw]

After brazing all of the joints, this is what I ended up with.

Before cleaning and painting it, I sealed the open pipe ends with rubber and hose clamps and filled it with acetone to see if there was any leakage at the joints. Thankfully, there were none.

Looking down the inside, there will be a lot wire brushing and possibly some sand blasting to clean and smoothen things.

The next step is mounting the aux fuel tank.

In the meantime, a partial image of my Christmas gift to myself that has finally arrived. It was opened up and all the parts checked. Looks like I'll be welding over the weekend. A 36"x48" Certiflat Pro table top with the heavy duty leg kit from Weld Tables along with a couple of 6" fab squares.

Should help in finishing off some outstanding projects like a rear ladder and other goodies where I need the ability to accurately repeat setups for welding items.
Ash Wednesday is next week and that is a public holiday in Cayman. Gotta get ready. I see no reason why I cannot completely assemble the table and squares in a day.
Plus I have some storage mods planned for the space between the table and the bottom brace. Stay tuned!

 

[mmajsw]

I have given up on trying to fix the snorkel to the roof rack. I could come up with nothing simple and elegant. My 3M VHB idea parted company after about 2 weeks. I am now using a 3x1x1/4 N42 neodymium magnet with about a 40lb. pull rating, as I am determined not to drill any holes in the pillar.

Here is a pic. The magnet is wrapped in heat shrink with a couple layers of Scotch Super 33+ electrical tape over that for protection.

I did come up with a nice simple mount if I installed a pre-cleaner instead of the scoop on the top of the snorkel using two pieces of 1/8x1" aluminum straps bolted to the top center bolt. The drop from the rack to the pre-cleaner was only about 4" by my estimate vs 10" for the clamping area of the snorkel. I did think about drilling a hole in the top of the scoop and using that with a nut and bolt and might pursue that approach if the magnet gives me any issues.
I did get the table welded with one bit of overkill. I ended up welding all of the slots flush only to find out later that it was not necessary. There are lots of videos on YouTube on how to assemble a table. I did not complete the squares as I was more concerned about the table. I used an AC buzzbox for the table build, but will use the MIG for the squares.
In the meantime, 5 days out of the package and very very light surface rust is appearing. So I cleaned the whole thing with mineral spirits along with washing it down with TSP. I then proceeded to cover every surface except the top with Hammerite paint.

The top will get a wipe down with a very light oil or maybe even WD40.
The only surprising thing about the table is when completely assembled, it is 40" high - greater than expected but at the same time, it is perfect for small work. If it presents a major problem, it is easy to sleeve the legs so that the height becomes adjustable. The clamping holes are a big bonus, and everything I tried to hold down was readily held solid.
I also made some quick DIY clamps following the instructions available here on YouTube, using wood working clamps and 5/8" bolts. Made 5 of them in about 40 minutes.
Tomorrow, I will post more on the mods I am making to the welding table. The battery in my camera dies and the spare was also dead!

 

[mmajsw]

The additions to the table were as follows:-
1. 3/4 fir plywood was secured to the bottom railings with self drilling screws.

Then a 3 drawer small filing cabinet was screwed to the plywood to hold helmets in the deep bottom drawer,

Clamps in the middle drawer

The top drawer currently holds magnets but that configuration might change.

A ground point was added using a 1/2 x3" bolt inserted into a drilled 1/2" hole and then welded.

Then it was time to make some accessories.

 

[mmajsw]

I needed a welder's 3rd hand. One for detailed, small work. A search locally resulted in no solid rod larger than 3/4" available anywhere.
So, as necessity is the mother of invention, I made my own 3rd hand out of 3/4" and 5/16" rods.

The first thing to do was to cut 4 pieces of rod 4" long to create the weight. The hole left in the middle when the rods are in a square formation is just shy of 5/16". So a piece of 5/16" rod was obtained. Things fit together like this. I used hose clamps to hold everything together for welding.

Take a length of 5/16 rod and bend the first 4" to 90 degrees to create the front leg. I had pre-shaped the tip to a point. Then another length bent into a U for the back legs.
Weld the 3/4" rods together and remove the 5/16" rod by hammering it out with a punch as it becomes a tight friction fit. Drill down the middle of the welded 3/4" rods with a 5/16 drill bit to create a slightly larger than 5/16" diameter hole so that the weight can slide up and down smoothly on the rod.
The end result looks like this. I still need to drill and tap a set screw to hold the weight where it is needed.

After it is painted, it should look presentable!

The final item was a MIG gun holder. I preferred a magnetic one so that it can be positioned where needed on the welding table. A small 2" speaker magnet, some scrap pieces of aluminum and you get what you see below.

That ended today's workshop adventures.

 

[mmajsw]

Well the MIG gun holder did not last long. A friend who lives close by who also does a little welding came by and saw it and needless to say, it has been borrowed indefinitely. Thankfully, it is easy to build so I'll have to make another one.

Continuing with improving the welding table, the next thing was to add some bits of plywood so that drawer slides can be added to store all the welding supplies and other related bits. The overall height of the wood panels is 27-3/4" and is the same height as the filing cabinet. The depth is 33-1/2". The width is between the vertical pieces is 24-1/4" which allows efficient use of a 4x8 sheet of plywood once the slides are installed. Everything is 3/4" plywood. There is wasted space behind the filing cabinet (about 8" ) and I might replace the cabinet with wood drawers if the need arises.

I had some 22" drawer slides but this would have left a 10" gap at the back. Tomorrow, I will get some 16" slides which will allow maximum use of the space.

A couple items were added to the table for maintenance purposes. The first was a 1/8" plywood top to hopefully minimize surface rust. I will be getting a work table anti-rust spray and see how that works. You can see the surface rust dust two images down. And this was inside the garage with the door down for 10 days!

Secondly was to cut another piece of 1/8' ply and place it between the welding top and the top of the metal cabinet/wood box to catch any sparks/flux that will drop down the 5/8" holes. It just slides in and out and is not fixed.Dimensions are 1/4" smaller than the wide space between the legs.
I did a bit of welding afterwards and the concept worked. I will now cover the top of the spark/flux/debris catcher with some sheet aluminum to minimize fires and extend its life.

Finally, the first bit of significant work on the welding table. The catcher plywood is already in place in the top image.

I had bought some jack stands many many years ago at Princess Auto in Barrie (when the chain was first opening up) and as men usually do, only bought two. A few years later I decided that i could have used two more, but nothing reasonably priced could be found. So, I lived with what I had.
A couple weeks ago, knowing that the table was on order, I bought metal and cut out the pieces that I would need to build two more.
Today I was able to transform this pile of pieces ...

...into the stand on the right. The one on the left is for comparison.

The silver bits inside the small square section are Simpson A23Z 1/16" steel angle bracing used to take up the gap/play between the inner and outer squares. They are just tack welded in and perform no structural duties. 4 pieces of 1-1/4" square x 1/8" thick are needed to spread the load out on the bottom of the angle steel and will be added.
Now to figure out how to bend 2' wide x 1/2" thick steel bar!

 

[mmajsw]

Over Mon and Tuesday evenings after work, I managed to finish off the chip/slag/spark catcher.
The first thing was to pre-cut the aluminum cover to fit. I used aluminum valley flashing from the home supplies shop.
Used Liquid Nails, I spread a thin layer than placed the aluminum immediately in top of the glue with some weight to press everything together. The aluminum overlap is about 2".
Afterwards, I continued using Liquid Nails to hold the rubber mat to the top cover plywood. While it held, I can easily peel the mat off the plywood 48 hrs later. Looks like I have to find some other adhesive for the rubber.

But this is what it looks like in the end...

The next thing was to start installing the drawer sliders. I managed to find 8 sets on island and they had 2 more in case I need them.
Starting at the bottom, the spacing was 12" then three 5" drawer depths. This was repeated on both sides. The actual drawer depth will be about 3/4" less in every case because I am using 3/4" plywood for the bottoms. Sides will be 1/2" plywood. I only cut one test piece and will do the rest this weekend on the table saw for accuracy and speed. I will rabbet the bottom edges about 1/4" to allow greater joint strength when the sides are installed.

Drawer depth will be enough to hold 5 lb. packages of welding rod and assorted squares, clamps and other welding related items.

 

[aging fleet]

@mmajsw, on Grand Cayman for the week, I’m keeping my eyes open for your truck.

 

[mmajsw]

Sorry aging. The truck in my garage as I try and sort our some engine oil leaks (rocker cover, front crankshaft and oil pump seals) as well as trying to design a foxwing canopy.

The last work on the truck was to replace all the window trim last weekend. It was an easy job. Still amazed at all the dirt that had accumulated under the trim. The ones I had on the truck were chrome and the replacements were black. But it looks good anyways.
I also finished off the drawers on the welding table.

From the front

And an additional 4 drawers in the rear

Ample storage space now. Will add the drawer fronts and the handles later.

 

[aging fleet]

Sorry aging. The truck in my garage as I try and sort our some engine oil leaks (rocker cover, front crankshaft and oil pump seals) as well as trying to design a foxwing canopy.

Oh well, I still saw a lot of cool stuff while out and about. I went for a few morning runs into Georgetown and saw a handful of 7x series Prados, two GCC spec diesel 100s, a really nice red 60, and one or two 200s. On Friday I ran past the Vampt service and sales buildings just to see what they had on the lot, but there wasn't much other than a few Hiluxes.

Best of luck sorting out the oil leaks, maybe I'll spot you next year.

 

[mmajsw]

As it is a 4 day holiday Easter weekend in Cayman, I decided to finish off the locker installation. The first thing was to get the two additional bulbs for the locker lights. That proved to be quite an exercise but in the end, I managed to get 3 sockets and bulbs locally at a cost of US$6 each! Should have gotten them from Amazon!

Following instructions from other members, I took the instrument panel out and added the two new bulbs. Holding the panel up to the sunlight, you could see the other available options.

Because the truck does not have ABS, the full time transfer case (I have the HF1A) and other standard US features, many of the warning lights are unused.
I added the locker bulbs and re-installed the panel. A very easy job.

The final item was to finish the wiring to activate the warning lights. I had not gone overseas in quite a few months so decided to make to with what I could find locally.

Start of with one spade lug to fit the 16 gauge wire I was using and modify it. The original is in the center and the two wire connectors are on either side. I did have to use a fine tooth file and make each leg a little thinner for a good fit. They were a touch too wide at the start.

Crimp them on the wires and insert into position 2 and 9 on the locker plug on the passenger side. Test. Go and reverse the wire positions so that the front light indicates when the front locker is engaged and the rear when the rear is engaged. Not vice versa.

And the final testing is done. With the rear locker engaged...

Both front and rear lockers

And finally with the 4WD button pressed

As I was finishing off the installation, a thought crossed my mind. It would be very simple to allow a front locker only engagement. All that is required is the break the power to the rear locker relay with a switch and place the truck in F&R. With the power cut, the front locker light would be the only one activated and lit on the instrument panel. Not sure if this is desirable or needed but worth remembering.
On the other hand, the same thing could have been done by using the Harrop installation kit with two individual switches, but then one could not have any use for the magic dial!

 

[mmajsw]

Today is a little write-up about cargo hold-down options for the floor space behind the driver and passenger seats. I had started to carry Scepter 5 gallon water jugs there but they would slip and slide with every turn I made . I decided to look into some cargo tie downs but most left the hook protruding or were not suitable for fold flat when not in use operation. Others required 2 or 4 bolts to hold them down.
On a trip to my favorite auto recycle yard, I decided to check out the various options used by the top 4 manufacturers. Many were plastic and others left a bit to be desired but I found these in a late 90s to early 2000 Oldsmobile Silhouette van. They are all metal, powder coated (I think) and had 180 degree folding capability. The added bonus was GM used 8mm mounting bolts. I collected 16 of them and came back home. Each van had 4.

The one of the left above has been drilled out to a 10mm hole so that the rear front seat bolts can go through it. A test mount on the rear of the front seat proves that it fits using the stock seat bolt with a gap filling spacer between the top of the seat bracket and the bottom of the tie down. The only sad part is that decorative plastic cover no longer fits but there is an option to that and you will need to do some minor filing to the flat washer to get it past the center bulge shown by the arrow above. I am also going to get longer bolts as I know that the seat bolt is not fully threaded into the floor nut.
Forgot to mention that the back of the tie-down has two little metal tabs to assist in locating them for bolting down in the Olds. They were readily compressed in the vise.

The fold flat option still works to keep it out of the way.

If you want to keep the plastic fascia, you will need to drill a hole into the plastic and mount the hold down like below. I used a 10mm bolt that I had to illustrate the idea.

1. Flange nut
2. Olds hold down
3. Lock washer
4. Flat washer
5. 10mm dia. x 1.25 pitch threaded rod.

The rod is threaded into the floor and the flat and lock washers are inserted. The first flange washer is threaded on upside down and used to secure the seat to the body. The tie down is inserted and the final flange washer is used. With careful measurements, the rod will not protrude beyond the final nut and the 180 degree folding of the hold down can be used.
The front mounts of the middle seats will be done in a similar manner. The result will be usable tie downs that are strong and secure.

 

[mmajsw]

Question - how long can an opened 10 oz cartridge of 3M 5200 polyurethane sealant.adhesive last before drying out? Local cost is about US$40 for black and about US$50 for white and clear
It dries by absorbing moisture out of the air.

My answer so far is 10 months! I bought a cartridge when I had to reseal my new windshield that was replaced in Sept/17. Because I did not need much, I decided to see if I could make it last - especially at the above prices.
So the remaining sealant was removed from the cartridge gun and the nozzle was wrapped in multiple layers of painters tape and placed in my garage fridge at 38F. I had used it twice between then and now (repeating the sealing process each time after use).
I finished the tube last weekend when I secured my trailer fenders in place.
You do have to dig out some of the hardened sealer from the tip, but it was usually a 1/4" or so before you had the flowable stuff.
I am opening a new tube and this time, in addition to the tape, I will also be placing it in a zip-lock bag with as much air that I can get out of it as well as adding a small package of silica gel.
Testing continues!