Builds Finally got my own...Meet BeBe

[gregnash]

So I have to say that after a couple days of driving it around, multiple heat and cool cycles and what not the exhaust note has mellowed out.
When starting first thing in the morning with the choke pulled, has been down in the 40s which she really doesn't like to start without choke when colder than like 45* (was 38* this morning) the drone can be heard in the house. Not super loud but something where you can definitely tell there is a louder vehicle running outside. Give it about 5 minutes to warm up and the drone all but goes away. This morning the sound actually got quiet enough that at one point I actually peeked my head out the door to make sure that the truck was still running.

Have run her all over town, with some freeway and city driving and gotten up to 70mph (about her max) and it has definitely gotten much more tolerable. Hoping to get to the BILs this weekend to finish things up and assume that the note will mellow even more while in the truck due to the exhaust properly terminating outside the body panel plane.

 

[klinetime574]

Sounds meatier than mine. You definitely have a good fan clutch, can hear it on the revs! lol

I bet it will be quieter in the cab once it exits properly as well. I've sat above an exhaust cut out on a '98 Camaro Z28 before. It wasn't quiet Sorta the same idea here, resonance yada yada...

Also, nice video quality.

 

[gregnash]

@klinetime574 oh yeah once the termination is proper it will be nice and quiet in the cab. Driving home on Friday night I just had it end at the muffler (no pipes dumping down towards the ground) and it was loud and drone-y as hell in the cab which had me seriously reconsidering the welded muffler. Then put in a little time on it on Saturday to hook the rest of the sections that I could up and BAM she is quite a bit quieter. Can't wait to get it taken care of properly and exiting like it should. Form there it will be on to body work.

 

[gregnash]

Well finally got some time to run to my local NAPA and talk with the guys about the PCV hose. Ended up being standard michelin (sp?) non-collapsible 3/8" by the foot hose. Funny thing is now that it seems like it may have fixed my high idle issue as she has been idling perfectly.

Was going to try and tackle a couple other things, adjust valve lash and clean up some of the old tint that is on one of the back windows but the storm that has been brewing the last few days finally came through and it has been raining like crazy down here for the past few hours. Things seem to be lightening up so we will see.

 

[gregnash]

So I had planned on holding on to my old FJ62 mirrors for a bit, just in case I decided I didn't like the Aussie mirrors. However, after a good couple weeks of driving with the Aussies, though slightly smaller, I love them.
Now it is time to sell these off....
FJ62 electric mirrors, motors still worked when I installed (I had actually used a 12v battery to power them through the pigtails to adjust). Chrome is flaking or bubbled in multiple sections and drivers side had telltale wear, allowing them to vibrate some. I got them set in a position that worked great for me (6' tall) and then used some household spray foam to solidify the drivers side in place. Because of this the drivers side does not vibrate at all.

Asking $70 shipped for them as I know they are not in the greatest looking condition but they still are great and perfectly functional (will throw a FS ad on the parting out section.
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

 

[gregnash]

Couple weekends ago I finally got pissed off enough at the drivers side window tinting being so faded and hazy... It was peeling at the edges and genuinely so scratched and faded that in the morning when leaving for work it was hard to see out (I leave about 5:45am). So I pulled it with a heatgun, razor, some goo gone and elbow grease. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

So fast forward to yesterday and I had some time to piddle around on the cruiser. I decided that all the tint needed to come off as most of it was cracked and had peeled around the corners. Took me about 2hrs to do this with the heat gun and everything but holy hell is everything BRIGHT now. Was somewhat funny as the wife had me run to the store right after I finished up and when I left the house I initially thought that I still had the rear gates open because it was so bright inside.

The one MAJOR benefit to doing this was that I found multiple breaks in my defroster grid which has not worked in a couple years. So now on to attempting to fix that and if that doesn't work then looking at one of the FrostFighter upgrades like I had some time ago.

Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

 

[gregnash]

So after getting all the tinting off I finally got a chance to go through and truly test my in-op defroster.
I get power to it but it just was not working. Looking through everything and testing multiple lines it seems like I have multiple breaks in just about every line. Oh and to make matters that much better my grounding tab was pretty much in-op as it was not bonding properly to the conductive stripe.
Now comes the fun part....
Option 1: See if I can find a rear window WITH working defroster. Possibly $$$ for one that works, my glass guy says he cannot get the glass.
Option 2: See if I can repair the grounding tab, grounding strip AND all the small breaks. Will be lots of time and effort and could possibly not work.
Option 3: See about replacing the defroster with something like the FrostFighter system that can run off your current switch, I was getting 12v to the power connector. Would be somewhat expensive, about $70 if I remember correctly for just the sticky defroster...

Hmmmmmmm...........................
Got other house projects going on right now and mornings haven't been too bad, yet.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

I was a shop forman at a high end car stereo shop for years we also did window tinting well not us but we had an in-house tinter at all of our locations. The defrost grid can be pulled off by removing window tint lots of people would come in wanting there fadded or bubbled window tint replaced we would let them know that there was no guarantee that the window defrost would still work. Did you rip it off or did you take your time? Some tint is sticky asf some will just come right off. I think you can repair it...I think don't hold me to it tho. Check with @mel lowe I know he was parting out a 62 he might have a rear glass.

 

[gregnash]

Yeah I took my time peeling it off using a heatgun to heat up and NO RAZOR... actually the rear glass was the nicer tint on the truck so it came off pretty much in one piece and without much fuss. But I am sure that it pulled some of the strips off in points...

And just came across this video on PinkBike... encompasses 4 of my favorite things... Riding, Camping, Fishing and Land Cruisers.
Our Land: Traversing Oregon - Video - Pinkbike

 

[gregnash]

So haven't had a chance to post in a bit but been dealing with a weird grounding issue over the last couple weeks.
Basically, I get the dreaded "dead click" some days (usually after the truck has been sitting for a long period of time) that I then have to pop the hood. I initially thought it was the starter having a flat spot but I think I have a ground issue because if I go and mess with the ground clamp on the battery and then the ground to the fender it will fire right up. This doesn't happen every morning but does happen occasionally, for instance I was gone from Tuesday night last week until Monday night. Yesterday morning I went and the truck started right up no issues. This morning however, I went out and got the dreaded click. Went and messed with the cables a couple times and she fired right up.

No I am thinking I need to move some ground wires from the firewall where all of them are (negative battery connection). So looks like I need to find a new home for a few ground items.

Because of all the traveling we have been doing I haven't had any time to really work on the truck. However, one of the things I DID get taken care of finally was fixing the damn, ghetto, worthless cupholders that are on the SmittyBilt console. I purchased some 3" PVC pipe and cut myself some new "extensions" for the cupholders.... Pretty ghetto looking but it works perfectly for me, ended up each piece is about 1 1/2" tall (3" ID).
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

 

[KWalkerM]

you need a battery terminal cleaner yo. 99% of the time I had that issue it was battery terminals. it might look like its contacting but it wont, common issue I had with ole Bessie since I was too lazy to fix it haha Hood pins made it way quicker to quick fix when it happened.

 

[gregnash]

LOL... actually I do have a battery terminal cleaner... looks like I got myself something to do when I get home tonight.

 

[KWalkerM]

LOL... actually I do have a battery terminal cleaner... looks like I got myself something to do when I get home tonight.

My Mazda did the same thing. everything looked OK but it wasnt contacting, same symptoms. I just replaced the terminals to fix that issue on the Mazder. My guess is its the lead that is strethed and worn out. replacement terminals are like 3.50 at napa

 

[gregnash]

See these are new mil-spec items that I purchased a while back from Fourrunner here on the forums. Highly doubt they are stretched or anything like that. Probably just have some much gumming things us or I need to move a few things from the group on the fender.

 

[KWalkerM]

huh weird, well thats where I would start. then track that sucker back. have you replaced the starter at all?

your ignition switch could be going out too. Mine died out and had a push start, starter switch hard wired into it.

 

[gregnash]

Well pulled the terminals off and both were dirty underneath with a bit of corrosion so I cleaned both terminals up with my terminal brush and reconnected. We will see if it happens again or not.

Like I said, the weird part is that it is seriously inconsistent. I could not duplicate the problem if I wanted too. I at first thought it was the starter as I believe it is an original unit and never been rebuilt, thought it may have a flat spot or something. But again, wiggling the terminals make everything fire right up. We shall see what happens, if it happens again then I will go for a starter rebuild.

 

[KWalkerM]

Worth it hit them with the red battery terminal protectsnt too. Used to use that stuff all the time at work.

I bet its the terminals if they had some corrosion, thats funky though lol

 

[gregnash]

Yeah well could have been from the puddles that I have plowed through during the summer before I broke the leg and what not. Who knows, no issues starting up this morning. Hopefully it was just that they needed a good cleaning and that was all.

 

[gregnash]

Well today I finally got a chance to go back up to the BILs house and finish the exhaust. Great part was they are out of town til Sunday so I didn't have to worry about little ones or anything...

How she exits now and have to say that it completely quieted the exhaust. To the point that I really don't hear it at all now except if I am outside the truck.

Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

A @klinetime574 I thought you had a Flowmaster 50????? Don't mind a bit more of a V8 rumble to the exhaust just don't want something that is going to be super annoying/loud or drone at highway speeds. Right now, 90% of my time is spent in city driving so not like she is hitting highway speeds often. Hopefully will be cleared tomorrow to be out of the boot so I can start actually getting around normally.

While I am driving, normal process for the last couple weeks has been;
- Crutch walk to vehicle
- open back door
- throw $#%&ing crutch in back seat
- spend 2 minutes undoing straps on boot
- fight with Velcro that magically found something to attach to while trying to remove foot
- remove foot from boot
- throw $@%*ing boot in back seat with crutch
- close door
- hop to front door
- get in and drive
- get to location and repeat first 7 steps in reverse order

That is the fxxxing best. Really. I can so envision it all.