DFL’s ‘79 Build

[DamnFewLeft]

Hey everyone, I am finally posting my build for the TEQ community. I’ve been an owner and rebuilder for about 12 years, but I’ve never really had the chance to enjoy and improve my own stuff. Always fixing something for others to pay for this 40 habit. Case in point, I’ve owned 3 and this is the first one I’ve ever driven on the road. Today is the day. Here it goes:

I bought this May 1979 in May of 2019. The last owner had daily’d it for years, but it sat for about a decade until I bought it. It was covered in moss, wouldn’t start though it turned over, and the tires were all dry rotted. I tossed it on a dolly and drug it home.

I immediately power washed it. Spent an entire day getting it cleaner. And then I turned toward starting it. I also snagged some tires from CL to get it toward roadworthiness.

PO told me it had run six months prior to the sale, but it was in gnarly shape so IDK about that... I pretty quickly deduced that it was not getting fuel. Sure enough, the line in was rotted. I swapped it. No fuel. So I pulled the fuel pump. Diaphragm was rotten as well. New pump and filters from SOR came in a few days. I spent the meantime cleaning and dechunking the rust (it’s pretty rusty around the sill inside the hardtop) so it wouldn’t blind me if I hit a bump and it rained rust bits on me while driving.

Pump in. Grumble grumble then rumble rumble. Took it for a spin as it choked at me, but it lived once again!!

I’m going to do a resto-mod build. I am no purist, but I obviously respect the hell out of the old LCs or I wouldn’t own 2. I also have a Frankenstein’67 that is way more of a hardcore corner build. It’s currently down to the frame and about to get a 4BT, but that’s for a different thread. I will build the ‘79bit by bit at first to keep it road worthy and then once the other build is done I’ll get to the resto of this one. MTF.

 

[Steady 360]

Looks like a great find if the price was right. I'm certain it was with your experience.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

Looks like a great find if the price was right. I'm certain it was with your experience.

I paid $5K and up in the PNW that’s a killer price for a ‘79 that is mostly original. Has factory PS and that lovely square bezel!

 

[Steady 360]

I'd say that's a killer price anywhere.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

I drove it a few times around the block that first day and decided I’d give it a try to work. Well, the choke cable would jam and it idled pretty rough so I had low expectations. Good thing, too, because the first uphill I hit it sputtered and died. I got it started before it stopped rolling, but I knew that I had to do a carb rebuild. Fortunately the PO was a great guy and gave me a bunch of extras. Not only did I get a tape player with the Beastie Boys tape “Licensed to Ill”, but he gave me an NIB carb rebuild kit. So I dug in. It was pretty dirty and the secondary was basically caked in place.

More goop.

I took a ton of pictures of it prior to the rebuild so I could make sure it was assembled correctly. These things changed so often it’s hard to keep track. SOR also has a great resource of rebuilt pictures so I made sure to reference those.
And here it is ready to go in.

Only took about two days including a bunch of grime cleanup and waiting for the carb dip to do its magic.

Runs much better now.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

I also started cleaning up the dash. I started with the Choke cable. The end had frayed and couldn’t make it thru the hole to attach securely to the carb again so I decided to replace everything except the pull.
The sheath was destroyed and the cable would get stuck. I yanked it all apart, measured lengths and diameters, then went to Home Depot because Amazon didn’t have what I was looking for.
Boom. Drip irrigation .25” O.D. line fit perfectly to act as the sheath for the new stainless cable I had from a different project.
Only problem is that it couldn’t fit in the end of the old metal cable end.

So I stretched it to decrease the diameter (an engineering term known as necking).

And popped it back together with a quick tack in the same spots.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

I then polished up all the pulls. Simple technique. Clean it and pick out all the old paint.

Fill the old embossed letters with new paint of your color choice.

Then you can either polish with a wet towel or sand it with 600 grit. Buff it after the paint on the surface is gone. I used a buffing wheel, but spit and a rag would work, too. Plug it in and drive to enjoy.
I also painted the Brake/Seat Belts cover.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

And I drove it for about 1000 miles. It was glorious. Any chance I had to take it I would drive it. I have a brand new Ram that thinks for me, but that makes traffic boring. I found myself counting the stitches on my dash to keep occupied. NPR only does so much. But in the ‘79 it’s a different story. I have to plan my route and every step of the way I enjoy how long it takes me.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

But then I noticed it started to bleed out a lot of fluids and I was certain I had pushed it too far. It sat for years and the seals dried out. When I ran it up to temp and put it to work over the summer it pushed it too far. The seal in the nose cone went, followed by the RMC and the pinion seals and the knuckle wipers and the PS box. Ugh. So instead of bringing a bucket with me everywhere I decided to rebuild the trans/tcase and do the clutch, RMC and oil pan gasket while I was there.
Pulled it into the garage next to big brother.

Pulled the trans/tcase with a picker thru the top.

Here’s a shot of the crud built up on top of the bellhousing.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

I did the tcase first. Bought a parts cleaner from HF and filled it with:

Then power washed and chiseled out the grime.

and ripped it all apart. Make sure you have bearing pullers and a bit of patience.

I cleaned everything as it came off so I could store it and not get grime everywhere. I’ll spare the details, but it’s back together.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

Then I went at the 4 speed. I used a mix of this forum, SOR’s rebuild manual, and my brainy parts.

Make sure you take lots of pictures of everything. I’ve read a great build thread on here where the poster had trouble determining how things were oriented. Just make sure that you also ensure it’s all built correctly before you tear it down!

Make sure you double check that the bearings are the right ones.
I painted the case and got some kiddo help. So satisfying to pull of the masking!

 

[DamnFewLeft]

I then replaced the RMC and oil pan gasket. If you can pull the oil pan, the RMC will slide right on. Also made sure the rear plugs are sealed. I added some sealant around them now because I’m doing an engine rebuild within the next 10k miles anyway.
Popped in the new clutch from SOR after I got my flywheel resurfaced.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

Put in the trans/tcase.

Painted the drive lines.

Rolled it out on its own wheels.

Back on the road and super excited!!

 

[EStein]

I drove it a few times around the block that first day and decided I’d give it a try to work. Well, the choke cable would jam and it idled pretty rough so I had low expectations. Good thing, too, because the first uphill I hit it sputtered and died. I got it started before it stopped rolling, but I knew that I had to do a carb rebuild. Fortunately the PO was a great guy and gave me a bunch of extras. Not only did I get a tape player with the Beastie Boys tape “Licensed to Ill”, but he gave me an NIB carb rebuild kit. So I dug in. It was pretty dirty and the secondary was basically caked in place. View attachment 2170388

More goop. View attachment 2170389

I took a ton of pictures of it prior to the rebuild so I could make sure it was assembled correctly. These things changed so often it’s hard to keep track. SOR also has a great resource of rebuilt pictures so I made sure to reference those.
And here it is ready to go in. View attachment 2170390
Only took about two days including a bunch of grime cleanup and waiting for the carb dip to do its magic.
View attachment 2170391
Runs much better now.

Hey that’s a good album! That 2 tone paint is kinda cool!

 

[DamnFewLeft]

Hey that’s a good album! That 2 tone paint is kinda cool!

That was my favorite album growing up so to find it in the rig on tape was insane!
The paint is half original half primer. Well almost half primer

But I love the off-white so I’ll probably rattle can it for now and do a nice two stage when it gets resto’d.

 

[EStein]

One of my favorites too. My kids not so impressed. Rig looks cool.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

Question about 4 speed grinding.

I have been driving it for about a month on and off. Now after the rebuild I have been experiencing some slight grinding especially on cold startup when I shift first to second and second to third. Fourth rarely has trouble finding teeth cleanly. Synchros are both new. It’s cold up here in the PNW right now. I have only driven it in warm weather before now.
Anyone have any experience with a rebuilt four speed grinding after a rebuild but not before? Once in gear it sounds and feels fine. I think it’s just the temp outside because the problem is less pronounced when the rig is warm, but it’s still worse now than before the rebuild.
Rebuild was a complete SOR kit with new bearings and synchros. All gears looked pretty good. (Had some slight rounding on second.) All parts were within tolerances. New GL4. Clutch operates well, but I’ll admit I have it over extending the fork right now and I haven’t bled it yet.

 

[Bripars40]

Question about 4 speed grinding.

I have been driving it for about a month on and off. Now after the rebuild I have been experiencing some slight grinding especially on cold startup when I shift first to second and second to third. Fourth rarely has trouble finding teeth cleanly. Synchros are both new. It’s cold up here in the PNW right now. I have only driven it in warm weather before now.
Anyone have any experience with a rebuilt four speed grinding after a rebuild but not before? Once in gear it sounds and feels fine. I think it’s just the temp outside because the problem is less pronounced when the rig is warm, but it’s still worse now than before the rebuild.
Rebuild was a complete SOR kit with new bearings and synchros. All gears looked pretty good. (Had some slight rounding on second.) All parts were within tolerances. New GL4. Clutch operates well, but I’ll admit I have it over extending the fork right now and I haven’t bled it yet.

Sounds more like a clutch fluid/pressure issue.

 

[Dizzy]

That is funny, you mentioned the tape in the deck. I clicked here thinking, DFL - the hardcore Horovitz project.

 

[DamnFewLeft]

Sounds more like a clutch fluid/pressure issue.

That’s what I’m hoping. The fluid resembles puddle water so it’s probably not incompressible anymore. Additionally, I noticed a bunch of muck in the bottom of the slave cylinder that could be limiting the travel of the piston, but I opted to do nothing until I bled the system.