Finally Bought my first CRUISER! (1 Viewer)

[HoJo 61]

There must be something wrong with your welder if you keep getting the wire stuck or bend. It should not do that.
Do you have right size feed rollers for the thinner wire?

Also, those little pinholes can be painted over, no need to bondo.

 

[dkyuss]

Lincon 180c, 240V
solid wire with shielding gas. Rollers, nozzle and feed are marked for the .025 wire, and all would run correctly for the most part. Occasionally some weld spatter or something would cause some resistance at the nozzle and wire simply bends right after the feed roller. End up having to cut the wire and re-feed through the liner every time this happened (about 4 or 5 times doing both sides). Way too often in my opinion....

Hojo 61, I will use some bondo on the edge where my new weld in piece mates with the rest of the body, under the weather stripping lip. If I were to do this again I would have repaired the surface under the lip prior to welding the new lip on but too late now. I can live with it, still 9000 times better than it was!

 

[HoJo 61]

I see.
Could the welding wire bend if you have the rollers too tight = too much grip = bend wire?

 

[dkyuss]

Brought the welder back to work (not mine unfortunately) and realized I was missing a retaining bracket to help feed the wire.
That explains that!

So prettying up her rear end... Quick recap.. The good, bad and ugly

To this, all new steel

A little sin to hid my sloppy welds

Almost there. Lots of sanding......

Far from perfect, but way better than it was. Rock solid, *relatively* smooth and tight.

Still need to get some new weather stripping, mount the tail gait and im almost ready to call this repair good enough, for now. I will also probably try to find a rubber mat I can cut to fit for the rear end.

 

[alaska120]

Three things....good ground, right amperage, right speed, good ground. Ok, four things. Isuppose one could add clean welding surface... but most of the time its ground. At least for me.

 

[dkyuss]

So front clip is on, and body is tight! Bought a box of new 6mm and 8mm bolts to put this all back together and so nice!

She also got a long overdue pressure wash!

And rear end is all buttoned up. Still need new weather stipping as mine is in rough shape but other than that this project is done!

 

[dkyuss]

An update on my to do list from page #4. Getting a little more complete though the list keeps growing. So glad to be done with the body mounts! Up next is brake lines. And fuel lines could probably use come PM (replacement)

Re-torque Ubolts, 10 km 100km 1000km
Properly fix rear upper shock mounts
Stitch Weld shackle mounts to frame
Properly fix rear 4 body mounts (I have rubber 'pucks' wedged tight but no bolts )
Check compression (need to get a tester)
Adjust valves
Fix rear tailgate mount
Clean and paint rims / new tires
Replace rubber brake lines front and rear with SS braided (already have these) / Bleed brake lines
Re route/replace hoses on heater lines.
Check/replace steel brake and fuel lines
Recheck wheel Alignment
Paint grill
Reinstall OEM air filter
Install rebuilt drivetrain
Tidy interior
Bumpers, Front w/ winch and Rear w/ Ladder swingout and tire carrier

Long Term (some of it may be a pipe dream )

Seal/bearings on rear axle
Better Stereo/speakers
CB Radio
Center console
Seat upgrade
Upgrade/Add lights
New mirrors
Begin body repairs
Install snorkel
Add intercooler to air intake
Paint (I think a lighter colour is better suited for this non AC truck in the Canadian desert)
Diff lockers
RTT

I am sure there will be more to add to this long term...

 

[dkyuss]

Got a bit of brake work done today.
This is the worst of it, front brake lines stretching the front axle. Looked almost the same while it was installed, kinked and everything. Thanks again PO!

And here is the replacement. Man the flash sure shows the dirt! Need to do some more washing!

The long 8' line from front to rear axle has been kinked as well and I ordered a coupling to connect two 4' lengths as an 8 footer could be found nowhere!

While I have the brake system open, I might as well rebuild calipers as I skipped this when doing the knuckles and brake pads.

I also had a sticking rear drum periodically, e brake related, so I ordered a hardware kit for the drums as well. Brakes are not something I want any surprises with.

On it goes....

 

[dkyuss]

Little 'tinkering' as I tell every night and I am finally happy with the brakes. All new lines (almost all, didnt change the lines from booster to first 90º fitting) but everything else is new, bled and ready to go!

Drum brake hardware is now all replaced to hopefully eliminate a sticky e-brake. We shall see.... I think it was probably the fact that I only had one spring on each bell crank, with 2 springs per side now installed as supplied with the hardware kit.

And front disk calipers cleaned, painted, new seals and gaskets. I possibly could have replaced the cylinders on the inner sides as a little corrosion is present (on what looks like a chromed surface) but didn't..... hopefully not a future 'make work' project.

From this

To This

To this

Rotors may look rusty (serves me for pressure washing without driving..... ) , but measure 19.8mm so well within spec (19mm min, 20mm NEW).


Another nasty job (hate working with brake fluid) complete!

Started the next project already

Fluids are draining as I type.... Out with the old, in with the new! Hopefully wrap this project up this weekend.

 

[dkyuss]

Well second time is definitely easier than the first! All is off, flywheel is being resurfaced and I should get it back tomorrow.
Pilot bearing was removed using the bread trick again. So easy. And the compressed bread behind the bearing pulls out like a solid plug. Nice and clean. Also new rear main seal installed!

While im waiting on the flywheel, might as well prep some stuff I neglected last time.

Starter

All cleaned up

Now lets look at those contacts. I had one instance where I just got a 'click' upon turning the ignition. Cleaned up the battery post connections and this problem has not occurred since. But while im in here......

Lots of copper left on these contacts, so I simply hand filed as a pair to achieve equal thicknesses of the contact plates. Chucked the solenoid plunger in a drill and a little emery and steel wool shined up the copper ring nicely! Hopefully as good as new.

Sprayed some Teflon dry lube on everything and reassembled waiting for install. I will use some copper cote anti seize on the threaded battery connections to ensure good continuity.

 

[dkyuss]

Lots of progress today...
If I ever need to do this again, I will have to convince princess I need a car hoist! And pave the driveway/garage! Ha!

Comparison of old unknown mfg to New Asian

Flywheel came back nice!

Pressure plate

And bell housing/throwout bearing assembly.

 

[dkyuss]

So about 2 hours leveling and perfecting the angle of the trans/t-case on my motor bike hoist so that it may mate nicely with enging/flywheel..... and 20 minutes jiggling in place. Pre work that pays off!

Pro Tip: Make sure to put the transmission in gear! I had to lower and engage the transmission then retry as near impossible to stab the spline on the clutch plate without being able to turn the trans input shaft!

And a little side project...
The magnetic drain plugs on these units have a very shallow hex head and are somewhat rounded by PO..... So my local auto store had a couple metal plugs.... And I have many 1/2" dia by 1/2" length Neodymium magnets at my disposal. So Here is the ultimate drain plug. If you havent felt the difference between neodymium and typical magnets found in these plugs, I could hang about 10 - 20 lbs of weight (metal) off these things. Tremendous force... very hard to separate by hand, you have to shear it vs pull if you want to be sucessfull. So hopefully these will help keep particulate out of the oil (no help with brass or aluminum shavings though.....) . Simply drill 1/2" hole by about 3/8" depth....

Oil proof gasket sealant and then peaned the edges so as to lock the magnets in place so no potential to release from the plug (not likely anyways as the plugs are metal and good luck pulling it out of the hole once dropped in!).

And while I am filling these with oil, I am draining the coolant! Time to fix/clean up the coolant lines. Partial PO mess and rushed turbo install. Also putting the OEM air filter back in as after only 1000kms my K and N filter is looking rough, and recommended here by many! Initial layup of the air filter... coolant line removed. So much simpler than your guy's 3F's! I am flabbergasted every time I look at one of your gasser engine bays!

So.. April 23 is my one year aniversary! Been a long haul! Almost there! Just making things pretty after this!

 

[hj 60]

Very nice, I just removed and installed the radiator and was suprised how much dirty water kept coming out while flushing and tilting the whole radiator by hand.
While I thought it was all clean because nothing came out, when removed and shaken it just kept coming, the design does not flush the furthest channels (left side, away from hose connections) propelry I think.

 

[dkyuss]

Seems like I fought way too much with the cooling hoses. I had great plans on fabbing some metal tubing for most of it but was unable to find anything larger than 1/2" OD (3/8 or 10mm ID) metal tubing without getting into some heavy wall. This was all smaller than OEM, looks like 16mm return and main heater core, 12mm for the rear heater which is in parallel with the turbo. As well, sourcing BSPT thread locally is a joke.. So all new hose it is!
Ended up filling coolant 3 times!
First time, had a small leak at what looked like the upper rad hose where it meets the rad.... Turned out to be a cracked solder joint on the recently (<1000kms) rebuilt rad! Drain, solder, refill, burp, place on rad cap and lone behold, the same upper hose has a slight drip in the middle of the hose, an unseen to me rub on the rad fan . Luckily the local parts store just matched me up with a slightly longer, but close 90º section of 38mm hose and I repeat the cycle one more time! I may do it yet ANOTHER time as I see an oil leak just above the water pump gasket face??? AND my fan clutch seems to minimally or not at all engage. Can this be rebuilt? New silicone or something?

How I burp the system... Jack all on the driver side lifted to allow air to get out of the rad cap hole where the funnel is taped.

OEM Air filter is installed again. Not sure Im happy with the routing of tubes but so far so good.

And got me some free leather seats today! Fronts have no power actuation but they do have heaters.... Hug your ribs and much more comfortable in my 2 minute sit test. Unknown origin, they came to the PO with a bunch of other parts. I may guess subaru or civic or something sporty. I will put seat covers on them as some typical wear in the leather and I hate leather in the summer! So sticky! Also a set of rear seats from a chev pickup, early 2000's.

By chance, folding the two front tabs on these seats bottom rail another 45º from their original position brought me to 3 factory bolts aligning up perfect! I will have to modify the 4th bracket but should be a easy install. Rear I will have to do a little modifying, but will have head rests for the kids and much more comfortable seats! Just need to get shoulder belts in the back and we are ready to go!

Initial placement and sit test in my dirty beast. This is slowly becoming her nick name. 'the beast'

 

[Cruising Canuck]

Great name, the 3b has such a distinct sound. It sounds like a bellowing beast.

The truck has come along way in the past year.

 

[dkyuss]

Where do I stop?!?

Notice all the insulation is removed as recommended! Definitely lots of air flow now!

And while I was burping the system earlier, I had noticed an oil leak at the headgasket just above the water pump.

Reading on here, people have discovered loose head bolts allowing seepage from the head gasket. Thought this was an easy enough thing to check.

pulled the valve cover and rocker arm assemble as per FSM. Set the torque wrench to 70 ft lbs (87 is the spec) and confirm all head bolts click before moving (tightening in sequence as per FSM)
Repeat with 80 ft lbs and 3 of 18 bolts move, several more than 1/4 turn (and bolt # 18 or 1 right above the water pump where I observed my leak).
Repeat at 85 ft lbs and 7 of the bolts tighten, several more than 1/4 turn.

Left it as is thinking all may be fixed!

Then I thought, while im in here, I should look at the push rods, clean up valve train etc.
Pulled the first push rod (closest to rad) and looks good. While the rod is in the bottom of the hole all feels tight and snug. After lifting approx 3/4" it goes loose and I inspect, wipe down and reinstall.
So far so good.l

On to hole #2, and I give a slight pull and as it goes loose, I hear a clink of something falling.....
Rod looks good, but will not insert fully in the hole now? Hitting what must have fallen/broken loose.
My heart starts racing a bit, I close the hood and walk away to try to educate myself what I just did!

Do I need to pull the head? Or access from the push rod cover plate? Something broke?
Or just a push rod lifer needs to be re seated?

 

[Cruising Canuck]

I'm way too many beers deep right now. But it's got solid lifters that will stick to the push rod and fall back down hitting the cam as you pull the push rods out. I do not thing there is anyway the lifter could have fallen past the cam.
I love the clutch, but it lacks colour, red is fast, green is racing colour. I bought a pink one. I don't know what that means but I liked it.

How are your cam bearings? Usually the one closest to the fron t of the truck wears pretty bad, killing your oil pressure

 

[hj 60]

Pain, Page EM-92: install valve lifter might help, just remove the rest and make sure the push rod did not broke off a bit?
Needs a new gasket but at least check the lifter bores (must be fine, impossible you got damage there I think) and driving with old gasket no problem until it leaks a lot.

Now I am thinking if I should run outside and re torque or just don't fix a problem I don't have

If 1 is IN, 2 is EX
So EX has fallen back and seems to be open position?

 

[dkyuss]

Pulled the push rod cover and dropped the lifters back in place. Easy peasy.
See 3b push rod lifter?

Unfortunately found this

 

[Cruising Canuck]

You are going to have to clue me in. I see vàlvetrain