CW 2.0 (1 Viewer)

[seapotato]

Lookin' good! Did you hammer out the ribbing(lack of a better term) in the floor panels?
Spring it over!!!
Waiting for the episode of you welding those plywood sides to the box floor...

Haha yeah that'll require those french welding rods i picked up back east...

I did pound those ribs in, really just to give the floor some rigidity. Special tool was an old tcase idler shaft...

I could have done it in the press if I'd cut them narrower and done it more pieces. Would've looked cleaner i guess, but I couldn't bring myself to give a s*** for something I'm gonna hide under stall mats.

 

[seapotato]

Been a while, but I've been pecking away at it for the last couple days after a bit of a break. Had to make sure the old guy in middle had a good sendoff.

Always sucks, but that's how it goes.

We got the little furbag on the left a year or so ago to make sure the other one wasn't alone. He and the old feller had been literally inseparable for 12 years, so we weren't sure how he'd take it, seems to be adjusting ok tho.

I certainly won't miss that fawkers bark...he figured out a long time ago that if he hit the right high pitch, he could make my guitars hum...it was possibly the most annoying sound on earth.


Anyways....back to the cruiser s***....

I got this hateful fawking thing mostly done. It's in two pieces, so the hope is that'll make my life easier in the future.
I'm sure I'll still be bleeding and angry if I have to mess with it again...

I also got the column finished off and bolted in, and then got the box mounted. Because between it and the rad I wanted some of my damn clamps back...

I did the fishy plate thing on the back, and sleeved the bolt holes, so it should be pretty solid.

There was a lot of farting about to get it in the right spot, but it ain't getting moved now. The white snot is food grade never sneeze I have.
It's good s***, you could probably eat it on crackers.

Also popped a new clutch master into the 61...and I expected the clutch to feel better, but I didn't expect the shudder I've had forever to disappear.

I guess we'll see if it's just a coincidence that it didn't shudder on the test burn. I don't really see how a dying master could cause shudder? I'll be shocked if it doesn't come back tbh. New clutch still most likely on the list for spring.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Rascal was a good boy, I'm sad to see him go although Tucker might not miss him as much.

We damn near lost Newman this weekend, horrifying and not expected at all. He managed to turn the corner and is now on the mend but one never realized what a dog (not cats) mean to you until they go (or almost go).

Truck looks like its coming along. Are you able to heat your shop these days?... all my s*** is frozen.

 

[seapotato]

Yeesh, hope the little s*** is ok. Scary dude.

Dogs are good people. Rascal was a pain in the ass sometimes, but not a mean bone in his body. A ladies man to the end
We had a good run with him, 14 years is a long time to hang out with anyone.

For heat, I have an old beast of a pellet stove on wheels I can fire up, with a temporary exhaust under the door. Puts out crazy heat.

I also have a woodstove but ive never hooked it up. The whole wett test scam puts me off. With the pellet stove I can do a temporary hookup.

I don't find this weather too bad tho. That cold s***ty damp a month ago makes me creak like a rusty door hinge.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Sorry to hear about your dog. It's definitely a tough thing to loose one you've had for a long time. On a positive note, that's a great photo of them!

Good to see the truck still coming along. Never knew there was such a thing as food safe anti-sieze, haha!

Is the plate you made behind the steering box to add strength and keep the frame from cracking? Lots of the HDJ81's have cracked frames by the steering box.... I really should look at my LJ's frame in that area...sort of procrastinating as I don't want more on the list of s*** to fix.

 

[seapotato]

Thanks, and that old clown did ham it up for the cameras once or twice...

And that's the idea with the plate. Spread the load out a bit. Probably overkill but easy enough to do now. It's more than they do from factory, I doubt it's likely to crack, but may as well do it when it's easy.

The never sneeze is pretty cool, temperature range on it is insane. Idea being you can use it on restaurant equipment and not poison the clientele

 

[cruiserpilot]

I drilled the 4 holes out and welded short sections of DOM between the rails on my BJ74
when I realized that the steering box had quite literally pulled the bolt heads through the
frame from the far side. I also welded a scab plate on the far side under the new bolt heads.
You can't overkill this.
On my FJ40, that plate was 1/2" thick under the Saginaw box, but I was running 38.5"x14.5" wide tires.

 

[seapotato]

Yep, if you read the above posts, that's what I did. Backing plate and sleeved. Sleeves aren't optional, backing plates don't hurt, but this isn't the same as a Saginaw conversion where the plate is tapped for threads. Basically just factory 60 setup.

Your 74 is a lhd convert isn't it? Both sides of the frames are drilled for steering boxes, but only the one side is sleeved. Whoever did the conversion probably crushed it on initial install when tightening the bolts. Without the sleeves the frame would start to crush long before the bolts got anywhere near the torque settings, after that it'd only get worse.

Those big fine thread bolts have some pretty intense clamping force.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Yup, I don't even think they thought about it. My suspicion is the kid actually honestly
lost control, cause the steering mount was that bad. His loss, my gain. HeHe!

 

[seapotato]

Did some fuel tank stuff today. Between this and hopefully getting the rad in this week, I want to fire up the lump and let it run for a half hour or so.

See if any of it's oil stays on the inside.

Again, me wanting my clamps back.

Tomorrow is rad mounts and some plumbing. I don't have to be back at work till a week Friday, so there's gonna be a dent made.

Wanted to build the fenders but I'd really like it to warm up a bit. Plan is to do them out in the woodshed so I don't stink the joint out, but there's no heat out there. So they'll have to wait.

This winter bs can **** right off anytime.

 

[Rigpig]

Ah man, that sucks!!! He was such a good dog. Was hoping to get the two old boys together one more time, cause ol' "P-dubs" isn't long for this world either.
He'll be missed!

 

[seapotato]

Ah man, that sucks!!! He was such a good dog. Was hoping to get the two old boys together one more time, cause ol' "P-dubs" isn't long for this world either.
He'll be missed!

Yeah he was. We thought about giving you a shout and doing the reunion tour, those two go waaaay back.

Found some funny old pictures, Petey looking nonplussed as an 8 week old fidd stole his bed and toys....

but he didn't travel well anymore, so we just made sure he was happy and ate like a king. Bout all you can do.

 

[seapotato]

I did some ghetto plumbing to get the rad temporarily filled, then dragged it outside for a cleanup, and fired it up and ran it for a half hour.

Still on the beer can, but I was topping it up with sea foam because apparently I have no diesel

Sounds like a 3b.

I stuck my ear next to intake and exhaust, I didn't hear that deep thump that generally means your days are numbered, so ****it.

Calling it good, time to giv'er...

Next time it leaves the shop it'll be under it's own power, that is, if that facking rob guy is ever home so I can grab some hub studs for the ass end off him

Anyone have a bj4x lower rad hose? I don't care if it's used, I just want to do a test and make sure it'll actually fit before I order a new one.

 

[Diesel Cruiserman]

Hey bro I gots those studs and nutz..back from skiing and home all weekend...Tell ya what if your around this weekend I am heading past your place and can drop them off...even if your not around I will stow them in your place of choice.. Little rig is looking very snazzy.

 

[seapotato]

Hey bro I gots those studs and nutz..back from skiing and home all weekend...Tell ya what if your around this weekend I am heading past your place and can drop them off...even if your not around I will stow them in your place of choice.. Little rig is looking very snazzy.

If you're heading past that'd be awesome. No panic though so no need to go out of your way, I'm up at ct every couple weeks.

I'm probably around most of the weekend, but if you end up dropping them I'll pay you back at one of the "regularly scheduled club meetings "

 

[seapotato]

Finally got the axles in. As usual it took getting swmbo involved when anything requires organization..

Pulled all the crap out of the dash to get room.

I have a few heater cores. Think I'll find a better one...

And here is where I'm at today. I have a 42 harness, but I think I'm going to stick with 12v. I like 24 but I'm missing too many things, so modifying the 40 harness. Some s*** is backwards which is why I pulled it apart. Starter, alt, batteries etc.

Also a fair bit of crap I dont want in there. Going full minimalist in the wiring department.

It's beer break time, just looking at this pic makes my brain hurt...

 

[cruisedeisel]

That wiring harness looks as if it has only 6 wires in it. Piece of cake! And I hate electrical.

 

[seapotato]

Haha, yeah it doesn't get much simpler. I actually kindof enjoy it, even been looking forward to getting into it. It's all a really a logic problem, you can think your way through most issues, good for when you wake up at 2am and need something to think about while staring at the ceiling.

Fortunately this harness was mostly in good shape, something to do with not seeing a volt in almost 30 years...just had to disassemble all the switches and polish up the contacts.

Still have a few things to sort out but, it'd start with the key now, exept i got a wee bit sidetracked by an utterly hateful clutch master removal s***show.

 

[seapotato]

Did some stuff. I'm in caffeine absorbtion phase at the moment. Things would have gone quicker if I hadn't had to bundle up like Edmund Fawking Hillary every time I wanted to work in shop over the last month, but it was nice to see the sun instead of the usual grey sky that looks like its 10' above the roof of your house.

But, wiring is mostly sorted, despite it being a simple harness, still pretty much disappeared down a rabbit hole for a week. Squinting at a tiny s***ty chiltons wiring diagram didn't help.

Fortunately I was able to steal lots of bits and pieces from the 60 firewall sitting nearby. I've connected the gauges to the senders, but we'll see how they work, might have to take the oil pressure sender apart to lower its range. I have a feeling it's going to spike the gauge when I start it...or maybe a 24v one would drop the needle.

I think I'll do a quick test to see if the ammeter works tomorrow before I go through the hassle of hooking it up... Different era cluster, so its shunt style, unlike the earlier version the harness came with which took full load. Thankfully everything else seems the same, the only thing that doesn't work on it at the moment is the highbeam indicator, which might come back to life as I improve the grounding.

Occurred to me at some point, (finally) that I should make the ass end useful. Kinda looking forward to getting started on the deck now...

I put a small terminal block on the firewall so I could hook up to the fusible links and such. Doesn't seem like this era of 40 had a starter relay, I may still ad one while it's easy, but I'm trying to avoid adding things. We'll see if the magic smoke stays inside of everything when I start it next. Alternator is the one that has me giving it the hairy eyeball.

Brass thing is because I was sick of looking at the hole someone gnawed in the dash to put a tach in. Dumb place to try to put one, as the defrost hose is right behind there.

Did this light thing just for s***s and giggles... I wanted a glow light that was after the relay, so I'd know if the relay sticks..because I've had glow relays stick before, more than once even. There is no dead battery like a dead battery after a glow plug relay sticks. Had a 24v truck where it actually reversed the polarity on one of the batteries for half a day. ( no s***, read -7v ...)


Figgered it'd be more useful than seat belts and a brake warning light, which I was never going to hook up, and non working crap annoys me to leave in. Plus, it's an awkward rectangular hole to fill otherwise.

Yes, it's just freehand with a dremel, once I'd had enough beer to steady the hands and make it all seem like a good idea

Oil is hooked to the low psi switch.

Battery box, with some temporary cables so I can chase circuits around.

This thing is actually for making wire rope crimps, aka "nicopress" fittings, but it does a good job crimping battery cables too. Had it since the 80's. Usually it's a big ass tool that looks like a pair of bolt cutters, this is slower, but not so much with air.

Some monkeyfuckery to get the 60 throttle setup to work.

The throttle pivot mounts line up with the ebrake lever mounting bolts with some minor tweaking. Just had to shorten the push rod a couple inches. The gas to diesel throttle thing can be a huge pain in the ass, because the 42 pedal is totally different to the 40, but this actually made it fairly easy.

Rube Goldberg nods approvingly... it'd be a lot simpler if the stop lever moved back not forward, hence the need for a pivot.

F'd if I was going to use an edic motor. (Despite having 3 or 4 of the damn things)
I have something else in mind than the rope and halyard ball for the pull, but I doubt it'll work any better than this. Has a spring and stop so it doesn't shake the lever around when not in use.

Aforementioned halyard ball...if it'd had teethmarks I'd have used tongs to pick it up...

The hateful clutch master scenario I referred to earlier...one bolt is behind the brake booster, which makes it almost impossible to remove, especially when some bonehead in the distant past tried to remove said bolt with a chisel, and then the welded nut on the inside of the firewall decided to break loose, and the pin was siezed in the pedal.

I don't remember having this issue on my last 40? Maybe this booster is a slightly larger diameter. Pain in the ass either way.

None of this was particularly fun...

Welded nut breaking free was a good thing in the end, because it allowed me to put a bolt through in the other direction, so I might be able to get the clutch mc off without messing with the brake booster in the future.

Maybe...

I may need to scrounge up another 40 series booster, the one I have has some broken studs, I opened it up to see how hard they'd be to replace, doable but it's not exactly pristine. I don't think the 60 booster will fit, tho I haven't given up on that possibility quite yet.

And lastly, I was browsing the amazon a while back and I stumbled across primer pumps. Amazon product ASIN B077ZRJNPR
Figured at that price it'd be a good spare if nothing else, but when it arrived, the bag says made in china, but it sure looks like a real bosch pump to me. I know they love making knockoffs, but I can't imagine it being worth the effort on something like this. Maybe a minion ****ed up and put a real one in the bag by mistake

Not bad for 12 bucks.

And now, I get to continue attempting to make one good heater fan out of 4 s***ty ones.

Seriously.

 

[seapotato]

Did I say 4 s***ty blower motors?

Clearly I meant 5.

Had to get the blue 60 involved, the old 40 one howled like a bastard. I probably could have heard it over the road and engine noise...

60 motor is identical, just have to swap flanges. Scary tacking it back on, you don't want to melt the glue holding the magnets in.

Smooth as a gravy sammich now.

First pic is the 60 flange cut off. Its off center, you could probably get away with cutting it round and redrilling.