Builds Finally got my own...Meet BeBe

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

So attempting to finish out my exhaust upgrade and took delivery of a new 2.5” in/out cat and some other misc parts. Pulled the belly pan last night to find this garbage!! Really?!?!!?

2EFB1CC3-DA3A-41A9-ABEE-946C596C2A2D.webp


CCE12E27-429E-449F-B80E-A05D9D7D4948.webp
 
Apparently the exhaust was worked on/replaced at some point but the shop/P.O. in their infinite wisdom decided that the hanger and O2 sensor should be permanent attachments.
 
Well that made for an interesting weekend. Started on the project at 5pm last night and finished tonight (moving truck out of garage and sweeping out everything) at about 10:30. Went to bed at about 11:45pm last night then was gone most of the day starting again around 8pm tonight.

First issue ran into was that the spare downpipe that I pulled from a cruiser at the beginning of the year that showed up in the local PnP ended up having a break in the flange (similar to @NeverGiveUpYota) so lucky I found that while I was messing around with placement of everything and was able to weld the flange back on. However, I ended up welding it at a funky angle apparently because I came out with a strange angle. So this caused me to have to fab a weird connector pipe between the new cat and the downpipe. Honestly that took the longest time, rest was pretty simple of getting things lined up but doing this on the ground, with new creeper caused lots of delays.

Also found out how nasty FLUX Core welding fumes can treat your body. I did a little welding on Thursday with the flux core while preparing the cat and Friday my body felt like I had been hit by a truck. That was the only thing I could think of what was causing so much muscle pain as I was not bending over weird, up and down a lot, etc. So masks from now on while welding (especially with flux core).

Got everything buttoned up and took the truck for a quick spin, new exhaust has quieted the truck down some, no more rumble roar like it had previously. That tells me either my old cat was that shot or a combination of that and the fact that the 2" to 2 1/2" from stock cat to muffler had some decent resonance to it.
 
Oh yeah and that welded on front hanger, well it was apparently just sitting on top, the rubber insulator piece had completely broken so it was not actually attached to anything... LOL go figure.

New carb should be here next week and it will be getting a turn around trip to @FJ40Jim to have it rebuilt for my desmogged truck. So excited to get that taken care of.

Next couple weeks will be attempting to knock out the last bit of rust repair for the body and prep for paint!
 
having a break in the flange
I don’t think that was me? Unless your talking about my Nissan which had some exhaust pipe/flange issues I had fixed.
 
That was my picture of a cracked downpipe. We all chatted about it. I'm going to get my exhaust re-done soon due to a leak from a warped flange.
 
That was my picture of a cracked downpipe. We all chatted about it. I'm going to get my exhaust re-done soon due to a leak from a warped flange.
See I knew someone had recently gone through it and we all had talked about it.
 
I was thinking Alex but didn’t want to make any assumptions. Hey Greg... I’m so close to my $1500 goal... do you still want to donate to the cause?
 
I was thinking Alex but didn’t want to make any assumptions. Hey Greg... I’m so close to my $1500 goal... do you still want to donate to the cause?
Yup absolutely!! Will throw one on tonight!
 
Messed with the Idle mix, idle speed and timing a bit last night to see if I could get the high idle issue to drop and well really I was kinda bored as Wednesday night softball got cancelled. I think I have he running a bit better now but definitely still have the high idle issue.

Fuel screw is turned about 4 turns out and she purrs along happily with timing set right at the BB (or slightly before). However, when that is the case, idle is still right around 1k rpm mayb slightly lower and the idle screw really does nothing for adjustments. Vacuum is at a steady 18-19inHg, which is pretty good for the fact my house is at ~4600'.

Also last night I went through and tightened up all the bolts for the new exhaust just to make sure I have no leaks and everything seems good and happy. To me this is all pointing to the fact that I have to have something strange going on with my carb that will not allow it to drop idle down to normal rpm without manipulations (quick pump of the pedal, pulling on the pedal with the toes, etc.). So maybe like @FJ40Jim said, something it keeping the butterfly from closing properly during idle.

New to me carb should be here this afternoon so will be jumping on that tomorrow to send out to Jim for a complete overhaul. When it comes back from him I will plan to throw all new vacuum line on BeBe just for sanity sake.

In the meantime, prepping shall begin shortly for paint!
 
WOOHOO!!! New to me carb was delivered on Friday last week!!! We were camping all weekend and didn't get back till Tuesday, so yesterday she went out to @FJ40Jim for the full sheebang! Should have it back by end of September, early October based on emails with Jim.
 
Got some time this weekend to finish working on the drivers side body. Well almost finish, want to work a couple areas down and was somewhat difficult with the limited tools I have (small electric 1/4 sheet orbital sander vs. real da sander).

This is what was originally under everything. Lots of frankenstein patching to get things together after replacing pretty much everything from the wheel well to the back corner. This was the last part.
IMG_2640 by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
IMG_2644 by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
IMG_2647 by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

Going to stop by the local paint supply today to hopefully grab a small thing of 2k primer and finish out that entire panel this week. This weekend will be dedicated to the other side and replacing that wheel well with new steel and then doing some other touch-ups here and there.
 
So the push to paint suddenly became real. Wife and I went camping weekend before last and it was nice and warm up at the lake (7k') and when we left home it was in the mid to high 90s down here. Coming home four days later netted sudden temp changes where high were in the 80s and lows down to the 40s at night. I was hoping that it was just a weird week but looking at the extended forecast it looks like fall is showing up for September! Next couple weeks don't show any highs above 88* and lows dipping into the mid to low 40s at night. So yesterday was a quick run to HF to grab some new toys

- HF self vacuuming DA orbital sander ($19)
- HF 33oz metal paint cup ($12)
- Lots of sanding discs for the DA
- another small tub of bondo/body filler (just-in-case)
- air tool lube
- misc HVLP cleaning brushes
- swiveling headlamp (fwc)
all for $76

Also yesterday I took delivery of a new pressure washer, Anker ROAV. After we had gotten back from camping we took the wife's 4Runner to get cleaned and detailed and the only place we really have in town (that is near us) did an absolutely s***ty job. So I used that as justification to buy the pressure washer, which worked AWESOME! After BeBe got a thorough bath, I proceed to play with the new DA sander to see how my compressor was up to the task as well as how well it worked. I basically just knocked down an area on the panel I painted this last weekend with some 80grit disc.

Best part was then busted out the HF HVLP Purple gun and played with that as well. Had some rust-o-leum gray primer that I had originally planned to use to prime the entire truck but going to need a high build primer in some areas. She did ok with the Rust-o-leum primer but I had read on multiple reviews and articles that really the 1.4mm tip didn't work all that great for primers. Then there were a couple videos where guys "modded" the gun to shoot primer by drilling out the tip to ~2.0mm. I figured for $9 why the hell not, so I drilled it out last night after futzing with it for a while. This weekend I plan to replace the other side panel (and rear passenger door). So when I do that I will try it with the newly modded tip. If for some reason it doesn't work out all that great, Monday is the Labor Day sale (25% off store wide) so I will use that coupon to pick up their "professional" line gun kit that has a trim gun and a larger gun with two tips and go from there.
 
Last edited:
I'm really in awe of your rust repair. Almost makes me want to fix mine. Almost.
 
Hey Greg, I thought I’d asked but don’t see it... your welder uses gas? You mention using flux and the fumes bothering you?
 
Hey Greg, I thought I’d asked but don’t see it... your welder uses gas? You mention using flux and the fumes bothering you?
Yes it does... I had run out of welding gas late on a Saturday so I just swapped over to the flux for the time being. Note to self, Flux is not really meant for thin, body panel welding!!

I am now back to gas again, swap in the welder is super simple and really only takes a few minutes.
 
Panel welds look okay but was it burning through?
Yeah the flux was using higher voltage so was easily blowing through the thin sheet metal. I tried to put a tack in a pin hole that I found when I sanded down the panel so it was probably more due to the fact that I was welding on EXTREMELY thin metal. Once I swapped over to gas though and put the settings to my normal thickness I tacked right in without any issue.

Flux feels like it would be awesome for outside and thicker materials.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom