Builds Finally got my own...Meet BeBe

[gregnash]

NICE!

eager to see how that comes out.

I want to do the same to my gauge lenses.. with a bit of plastic polish

This is the plan from what @mwebfj60 did on Phoenix
Builds - Meet Phoenix aka Zombie

 

[Miloslavich]

yeah, Meguiars makes a specific plastic polish that I have a bottle of laying around... I'll have to give that a go. Hadn't thought of using the dremel ..

 

[mwebfj60]

Good project. Kind of nerve racking sanding with the 2000 and seeing the hazy finish. The bigger the polishing pad on the dremel the better. I did mine with about an inch pad and it took a long time. I can still see a few polishing marks at certain angles but a big improvement.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Thanks Jimmy @CenTXFJ60 I appreciate it.. See when I was shooting, basically everything I had read/watched said that 30psi was about the sweet spot so to start there... I did play with it a bit and adjust the fan, material and psi but think just combating the wind, debris flying around and using a cheapo HF gun all contributed to the orange peel.

Good thing is that I knew I was going to have a decent amount of orange peel from the get go, and was not surprised with what I got. Actually I was more surprised with how some of the areas came out (hood and on door are the worst of it, not worrying about roof) looking much better and smoother than I had expected. I just was curious whether it would be something I could buff out with a compounding disc and ultra cut compound or if I would actually have to wet sand. Turns out that latter is the way I will end up having to go but not that bad as I really spent more time playing with setting and getting a feel last night than actually working on it. Figure a good day working on stuff should result in getting the "classic orange peel" I am looking for. Now to buy some sand paper!!

Greg,

Every set up is a tad different. Sorta like a welding machine. Everyone says it has a "sweet zone" but it takes a little use to get that "zone" dialed in. 2-5 psi makes a world of difference with most paint equipment. I use a Sata 4000 and run 55psi off the compressor and regulate to 24psi at the gun for BC and add about 3-4 psi for the CC to allow for a better pattern and atomization and I use a 1.4 needle for both. I only shoot BC/CC with this gun.

An old painter told me years ago to keep the compressor BIG and the step down draw (compressor to gun) no more than 50% reduction, but I've never been able to achieve this ratio. Even now with a 80 gallon and two stage 24CFM compressor.... His theory was the air temp and up charge of pressure caused fluctuations in the paint quality. He said the less times a compressor "cycled and charged" the gun the more consistent and overall quality would be time after time.

Jason

 

[gregnash]

Greg,

Every set up is a tad different. Sorta like a welding machine. Everyone says it has a "sweet zone" but it takes a little use to get that "zone" dialed in. 2-5 psi makes a world of difference with most paint equipment. I use a Sata 4000 and run 55psi off the compressor and regulate to 24psi at the gun for BC and add about 3-4 psi for the CC to allow for a better pattern and atomization and I use a 1.4 needle for both. I only shoot BC/CC with this gun.

An old painter told me years ago to keep the compressor BIG and the step down draw (compressor to gun) no more than 50% reduction, but I've never been able to achieve this ratio. Even now with a 80 gallon and two stage 24CFM compressor.... His theory was the air temp and up charge of pressure caused fluctuations in the paint quality. He said the less times a compressor "cycled and charged" the gun the more consistent and overall quality would be time after time.

Jason

Thanks J. I am thinking the fact that I had my tank pressure cranked to like 100psi may have been part of the problem. I was watching my spray pressure as the tank would cycle to ensure that I was not loosing any pressure and also watching the spray pattern. It did not seem to be affecting anything however that was to my very untrained eye. Probably my two main culprits were the wind and me moving to fast with the gun (laying down more of a dry coat than a medium wet coat). But again, I kinda anticipated this might happen to it will be a few days worth of wet sanding, cutting and buffing for me and the shoulders it looks like..

 

[gregnash]

Got some time to do a little more cut n buff work last night...
This is the rest of the drivers side half of the hood. However, this time I went at it with my DA sander connected to my compressor. Did 1500, 2000, Compound, Fine Cut... About same amount of time spent and was using a spray bottle with a small amount of Simple Green added (my normal bike wash bottle that was almost empty) to water to spray down for a psuedo wet sand. Previous wetsanding was done by hand with a small handmade sanding block.

Look at the difference between the two sides of the hood looking at the cars, building and trees. Not bad for maybe an hours worth of work? Not really keeping track at this point.
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

 

[Gretsch]

Looks great. Gonna be sharp when its all done.

 

[gregnash]

So got an email from Jim over the weekend. Newly rebuilt and desmogged carb should be heading home today! He said that it was an exemplary example of a carb that has never been touched, molested, or rebuilt. He said that after a little cleaning off it was in great shape!

Can't wait to get this and see how she changes. Been averaging 8-9mpg with the cold weather an 90% city driving. Mornings have been down in the teens and 20s so she has been having a hard time starting if she sits for more than 8hrs-ish. Think part of that is due to the battery slowly going, this morning it was having a harder time turning the engine over, but then again it was all of 14* last night and about 20* when I went out to start her up a little after 7am.

 

[gregnash]

Unfortunately doesn't look like the carb will be here for my shakedown run this weekend. Family tradition to go Christmas Tree hunting in Apple Hill, Ca the weekend after Thanksgiving every year. That is about a 2hr drive from here (give or take depending on holiday traffic and weather) so figured that would be a good run to get her broke in. But just got shipping notification yesterday from Jim and won't be her until the following Monday (11/26) according to tracking, bummer.

Really really can't wait to see what this changes. finally got around to emptying the tank as much as possible, put 17.5 gallons in, and recalculation is showing me that I am now getting 7.2mpg avg... OUCH! Sure this is partially do to the carb issue I have been fighting with (hence the new carb coming from Jim), winter gas and it being cold so she idles with the choke pulled for a good 5-10 minutes every morning. That coupled with mainly city driving doesn't help matters.

 

[gregnash]

YEAH!!! The day of reckoning has finally come! Of course, while I was out of town with BeBe.
So the @FJ40Jim rebuilt/desmogged carb will probably be going on tonight!! So excited to finally get this and get rid of this damn finnicky original carb. Seems like as it has gotten colder the throttle is wanting to keep higher in the rpm range. Thinking I may send it off to @NeverGiveUpYota guy that redoes the bushings and everything. I highly doubt I will ever need this carb again but would like to have it as a back-up/loaner should an issue ever arise.

 

[gregnash]

So after installing the JimC carb last night and taking it out for a test run all I can say is DAMN so that is how these trucks are supposed to run. Super smooth, accelerates (if you can say a cruiser does that with the 2F) like no other and I was able to stick my foot in it on the freeway and feel instant response!!
Idle is nice and smooth and quiet and dear god does it feel good to not have to tap the gas pedal to keep the rpms down. Neat thing was that on the back of my invoice from Jim he gave what looks to be the date stamp on the truck and translates.


After seeing this I realized that my stock carb that came with the truck is actually a 21100-61141 carb and has an extra actuator/break pump on the idle set screw side.

Believe this is attached to the choke breaker circuit but not really sure, regardless it just went to one of the ports on the air cleaner.

 

[gregnash]

So first week initial impressions. Definitely a huge difference in the way the truck drives. I now have smooth, acceleration throughout the entire powerband which you can actually FEEL. This was something that the truck never really had aside from the secondary opening when load would dictate. I can now smoothly and easily accelerate on the freeway and in town.

This was simply a plug and play swap with my old carb, did not touch any settings and fired up on the very first try. Yesterday I finally emptied my tank and filled her up for a full reset. Put 19.6 gallons in for a total of $54 (currently cheap stuff is $2.75/gallon) so I will run this tank with a mixture of mileage until it is empty (or as close as I can get). Previous mileage was averaging out to about 8mpg with a 80/20 mix of city/hwy (dont really get above 40 around town).

With weather the way it has been the last couple weeks we are definitely hitting winter so this will be a good test of HARD conditions for the new carb. Next few weeks we wont see a high above 40* with lows dipping into the teens at night. Truck normally sits from about 6pm to 7am every day unless I have to run an errand. So mornings include a good 5 mins of choked warm-up and another 5-10 mins of idling after that before I leave for work.

Was looking through the pics I had taken while I was doing that swap and found this one... Looks like the spring will entail some downtime to take the intake to a shop and have them repair a small, hairline crack in the bottom of the intake. At that point since everything will be off I will probably order new exhaust horn springs and have the shop replace those as well.

 

[gregnash]

Little update... finally got around to doing a proper fill-up on of the tank (2nd actually, first I considered a new calibration tank) and this one was about 80% hwy and 20% city. My app says I did 198 miles on the tank, filled up with 19.55 gallons and got a total of 15.4mpg!!!! Of course that is not calibrated for the rubber overdrive (running 31s), so probably got about 5% more than that (what about 11 miles?) so all in all I am completely impressed with the upgrade. Thanks @FJ40Jim for putting up with me constantly sending emails and questions, the wait was damn well worth it!!! Hoping I can find a spare dizzy to send to him, if not, mine will be coming off in the warmer months and get sent out to him for rework.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

 

[gregnash]

On a different note, looks like I will be having a new "interior" project in a couple weeks here when the wife is gone for a few days for work. Got a large package from my MIL that said "Cruiser Corps" on the outside and is about 5 1/2ft long/tall and says "fraaageeelaaay" on the outside.

However, at the dog park yesterday I noticed a small puddle forming under the engine. Upon investigation I found that the lower rad hose has a small leak (not consistent as I drove home shortly after and it hasn't leaked again). The hose is just a normal NAPA by the foot type hose that is a bit too large for the engine side of things. So question is.... Where can you get a good OEM style replacement by itself without having to purchase a whole kit?

Ok, is this the right part number 90916-01163???
@CaptClose @mwebfj60 @beno @OSS

 

[Cruiser Corps]

On a different note, looks like I will be having a new "interior" project in a couple weeks here when the wife is gone for a few days for work. Got a large package from my MIL that said "Cruiser Corps" on the outside and is about 5 1/2ft long/tall and says "fraaageeelaaay" on the outside.

However, at the dog park yesterday I noticed a small puddle forming under the engine. Upon investigation I found that the lower rad hose has a small leak (not consistent as I drove home shortly after and it hasn't leaked again). The hose is just a normal NAPA by the foot type hose that is a bit too large for the engine side of things. So question is.... Where can you get a good OEM style replacement by itself without having to purchase a whole kit?

Ok, is this the right part number 90916-01163???
@CaptClose @mwebfj60 @beno @OSS

We were asked to send you an empty box but make it look important!

Looks like we achieved our goal!

 

[cruiser enthuiser]

Hey Wow Greg! That color you chose is awesome! Looks really good. You must be thrilled.

Cheers!

-Ed

 

[gregnash]

Hey Wow Greg! That color you chose is awesome! Looks really good. You must be thrilled.

Cheers!

-Ed

Thanks Ed. Yeah I am happy with the way the color came out. Still need to do some cut and buffing but that will happen when things warm up a bit.

 

[gregnash]

So this year's Land Cruiser Christmas haul was pretty good.
MIL got me the @Cruiser Corps grey dash cap to clean up the inside. Like I said, an almost 6' tall box sitting on my doorstep makes things pretty obvious.
With the list that I had sent the MIL and wifey I had a few other things on there, the wifey ended up grabbing me the Cibie Lenses from Amazon and they definitely look and feel like the real deal. However, she did not realize they were "1/ea" so when I opened the box, first thing she says is "Where's the other one? Did they not send you all of them?" I explained to her that it was a "1/ea." purchase which was followed by a few colorful words from her. Got the second lens on order so should be here later this week or early next. Looks like I got myself a few projects to play with when she is out of town at the end of January!

 

[gregnash]

So I have been having some occasional issues with starting, nothing bad but on days where the temps drop below 40* the battery seems to have a real hard time turning the engine over. This isn't limited to nights where the truck has sat for more than 8hrs or less than 8hrs, really seems to be temp related and is something that has been prevalent this year.

After talking with @HemiAlex he turned me on to those little bluetooth battery monitoring systems. So I found one on Amazon for $33 and got it installed last night. Simple install, then go to your phones App Store and download their app, sync via bluetooth and BAM you are ready to go. System starts providing information right away and has a pretty decent range (maybe 30ft) to be able to sync to the module. Once you get the connection, the system then downloads all the "tracking" it has done since your last sync and updates the screens. Here is what you see, real simple and efficient and it updates as you drive the vehicle.
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

Looking at the info, my battery is getting towards the low end of the "good" cranking power so it may be time to replace it sooner than later (which is actually what Batteries PLUS said was my issue, battery was healthy otherwise just cranking output was on the low side). I will keep monitoring it for a while and see what this comes back with but for $33, this is definitely something that everyone should have if nothing else than for piece of mind.

 

[Gretsch]

Yeah I saw something like this at one point and thought about pulling the trigger on it but was not sure how legit it was. Good to know its right on. I am having a similar issue as you with startups and slow cranking on colder days (colder being relative for Texas). My truck generally has had a rough time starting because of some dumb vacuum stuff on my part and required significant cranking time before I got it sorted. Now the truck just seems to not have enough cranking to turn the engine over quickly anymore. I think I may have worn the battery out. But would be great to be able to tell if that's the case on the fly with one of these. Thanks for the link.