Hey fellow cruiser heads. About a year and a half ago, I bought a 1970 fj40, for what I thought was a steal. Turns out that the engine had just about as many problems as my Ex-Girlfriend. My dad, an experinced mechanic has owned many different classic cars over the years, but this silly little I6 is giving him more trouble than he has ever had. Long story short, we have fixed many different problems with the engine, but it still isnt close to being 100%. I will try to list exaclty what we have done to the engine over the course of ownerhsip. Then I will list what is still giving us trouble.
Fixes:
1. New battery
2. Fixed many different wiring shorts
3. New fuel and vaccum lines
4. New fluids
5. New HEI Distributor
6. New plugs and plug wires
7. New fuel Pump
8. Newly machined head from Rev Motors in Denver Co.
9. New head gasket, valve cover gasket, water pump gasket, and manifold gaskets
10. New water pump
11. New hosing
12. New JT outfitters header
13. Correct valve lashe dimensions
14. Tried two different new carbs
15. Timing is dialed in at about 7 degrees BTDC
16. Made sure cam gear hadnt slipped a tooth
We did not just start throwing parts at it, but rather diagnosed the problem, then proceeded to fix it with what made the most sense. For example, The old distributor was super wobbly and wouldn't make good contact for their to be good spark. We have fixed many different problems but something still ain't right.
The current issues right now are :
1. Even when warmed up, engine does not like no choke. When choke starts to open up to bring more air into the carb, the car wants to die. This feels like a vaccum leak, however, we sprayed and did not find one....
2. The mixture screw has no effect on the idle. We had the car idling with the screw about 1.5 turns out from all the way in, then kept turning it. No change in idle took place.
My thoughts are either an incorrect carb, and or possibly warn down cam lobe for intake valve, and or a tricky vaccum leak.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but she needs to see the road again. I appreciate you reading my description and would love you're thoughts.
Thanks, Andrew
Fixes:
1. New battery
2. Fixed many different wiring shorts
3. New fuel and vaccum lines
4. New fluids
5. New HEI Distributor
6. New plugs and plug wires
7. New fuel Pump
8. Newly machined head from Rev Motors in Denver Co.
9. New head gasket, valve cover gasket, water pump gasket, and manifold gaskets
10. New water pump
11. New hosing
12. New JT outfitters header
13. Correct valve lashe dimensions
14. Tried two different new carbs
15. Timing is dialed in at about 7 degrees BTDC
16. Made sure cam gear hadnt slipped a tooth
We did not just start throwing parts at it, but rather diagnosed the problem, then proceeded to fix it with what made the most sense. For example, The old distributor was super wobbly and wouldn't make good contact for their to be good spark. We have fixed many different problems but something still ain't right.
The current issues right now are :
1. Even when warmed up, engine does not like no choke. When choke starts to open up to bring more air into the carb, the car wants to die. This feels like a vaccum leak, however, we sprayed and did not find one....
2. The mixture screw has no effect on the idle. We had the car idling with the screw about 1.5 turns out from all the way in, then kept turning it. No change in idle took place.
My thoughts are either an incorrect carb, and or possibly warn down cam lobe for intake valve, and or a tricky vaccum leak.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but she needs to see the road again. I appreciate you reading my description and would love you're thoughts.
Thanks, Andrew