Duffontap's 9/76 FJ40: From Here to Daily Driver in Two Weeks?

[duffontap]

Alright--I'm on my third round of tuning. Dwell is great, timing slightly advance, vac gauge reading a steady 20.5 at 650-700 rpms and it seems to be holding after a little town and highway driving.

I think I can finally call it a work truck/daily driver again--at least until it starts raining as I still need to work on the top and doors. Man does it feel good to be back behind the wheel of a '40 again!

Still working through tons of loose ends but here are a couple pics just for fun:



Cruiser Corps seat covers--the most expensive single item of the entire project. $299 well spent.



Home made quarters installed:



Thanks for looking.

 

[TCSTARK]

Great job! Highly motivating indeed.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD

 

[duffontap]

Great job! Highly motivating indeed.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD

Thanks TCSTARK! I'm psyched that I have it driving again. Hopefully I'll get a few weeks of good weather before I have to put it away while I finish the top and doors.

 

[mydogpea]

Your dash pad looks brand new! Is it? Or is it a cap or did you recover it?
Truck looks great, paint layed out clean.

 

[duffontap]

Your dash pad looks brand new! Is it? Or is it a cap or did you recover it?
Truck looks great, paint layed out clean.

Wait 'till you see the paint in person--every panel is a slightly different color. I've decided I'm not going to let it get me down. Big improvement no matter how you look at it.

The dash pad has one of those aftermarket 'caps' on it--thanks to the PO for that. Some people think they look bad compared to the originals but I can hardly tell the difference.

http://www.cruisercorps.com/store/interior/dash-cap-fits-fj40-1968-1984

 

[duffontap]

I drove the truck to work today. Knowing I wouldn't be home until dark, I spent a little time this morning making sure all the lights would be working and wired up the license plate lights in a temporary fashion. The ride down went off without a hitch. Bluebird day--cold, crisp, beautiful.

On the way home it was running well but when I switched the wipers on to clear some drizzle off the windshield, they blades barely moved and it instantly set in that I was barely going to make it home. Barely did, with dim lights and not enough power to run the blinker relay. Pulled into the garage and shut the engine off. Tried to restart but it was dead.

Classic charging system problem. The ammeter is reading way low.

Tomorrow it gets a new alternator and voltage regulator. Any suggestions on which to try first?

 

[JohnnyC]

check the wires and connections off the alternator...including the wires in harness on fender...i had a recent issue just as you say...it was a corroded connection on connector against the fender...cleaned it up and good to go

 

[91 4runner]

X2 I would check all related connections first, and most auto parts stores can bench test alternators, no need to just "throw" Money at it,

I had the same problem last winter, it turned out to be a broken wire at the harness plug off the alt, unfortunately it took out my battery too,

In my opinion if u have any other non stock electrical components ie( winch, lights, amps) the 45 amp stock alt is just too weak, after my charging problems I upgrades to a 140 amp alt beefed up my wires and got a red top battery and haven't had a problem since!!

 

[duffontap]

no need to just "throw" Money at it

Don't worry, that's not an option, ha, ha.

check the wires and connections off the alternator...including the wires in harness on fender...i had a recent issue just as you say...it was a corroded connection on connector against the fender...cleaned it up and good to go

Thank you gentlemen. I have backups on these parts so switching them out was the quick and easy way to diagnose by elimination. The results are in: both alternator and voltage regulator replaced with no change at all. Not getting any power back to the battery, and none of the electrics are getting enough power to work properly.

The three wires going to the alternator have been changed, so I'll start unwrapping wiring now and see if I can find a bad connection.

I drive it to work one day and it's already sitting lifeless in the garage! Better figure this one out ASAP.

EDIT: it was a loose connection at the fuse. Ammeter is pegged at 30+ trying to catch up. Hopefully the battery makes a full recovery and that's that.

Back on the road. Cheers, JD

 

[91 4runner]

glad u got it figured out!!

 

[duffontap]

glad u got it figured out!!

Me too! Thanks for the help. Funny that you and JohnnyC both predicted a bad connection. Good work gentlemen.

 

[duffontap]

Working through the bugs is a lot more fun than removing paint--and these little projects make for fun study breaks. Yesterday I figured out why the charging system wasn't working (bad connection at the fuse block, mentioned above), and got the gas gauge working again (lost power to the sender). Today my right turn signal stopped working (bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) so I made up a little ground strap for the taillight housing, which worked.

Here's a favorite: I have never registered oil pressure as long as I've owned this truck. I'm not insane, so while I did keep driving it, I kept the oil level up and removed the rocker cover multiple times to confirm that oil was getting up to the top (lots was). After a new sender made no difference I opened this thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-seri...e-new-sender-no-oil-pressure.html#post7108830

My gauge passed the test in the Haynes manual so I figured this build was as good a time as any to swap my spare engine in and sort the low oil pressure issue out later. So I changed the engine.

New used engine: NO OIL PRESSURE.

I have a drawer full of old gauge clusters so I finally dragged one out and plugged it in, and wouldn't you know it--bad gauge that tests fine. Just to be sure, I tried a third gauge and it registered exactly the same as the second. Bingo.

Learned in the process that it is actually easier to change the gauge than it is to change the engine:

You need a crescent wrench:



And ten minutes:



On the up side, I'm loving the new used engine.

Family fun ensues: