Finished Bitza!

[anothernz45]

Now it's finished!!! Southern Alps Pinstriping And Signs - thanks Cam, wanted it done old school.
And he's got a pretty cool FJ45 too.

 

[anothernz45]

Back to work for the finished truck. Roof repair covered techniques used for rest of panels but if anyone wants me to expand on any other area just leave a reply.
Now, the next one. Done enough to the 1969 to get it usable, stainless sleeved both masters and kitted clutch slave. Havn't touched rest of brake system but they do work, sort of.
Put a ply skin over the Flintstone deck and an outboard tote tank for gas. New front engine mounts and sorted most of carb issues.
The biggest issue was the oil feed to the rockers, the copper feed pipe from the cam bearing to the rocker shaft broke I'm guessing thousands of miles ago and the valve stems had worn well into the rockers. Couldn't locate 4.5mm copper anywhere over here but China sell it in 1 foot lengths which is just long enough. Had to turn up some olives, clean all the crud out of the shafts and clear all the rocker oil feeds. New o-rings on the shaft banjo then tightened tappets to just touching before backing them off a quarter turn.
Fired it up then stood there with an oil can squirting away, it took 5 minutes for the shaft to fill with oil and all the rockers to start dripping where they should - short runs are a bad idea.
What is normal for a less well worn motor?
Just going to use the old girl for a while and think about what's next.

 

[anothernz45]

Got tired of not being able to see well at night, fitted H4s but still not happy. Tried Britpart Lynx Eye leds, what a difference! I'm still running 2 inch wide drums, need all the advance warning I can get. (Not really true, now I have a decent booster I can lock everything up - maybe once or twice).
On the 69 I've had a go at patching the gas tank - a sandblaster did the best job of cleaning up the pitted areas but still pretty tough getting it tinned nicely, patched the only hole and just filled over the rest. Cordless blower fitted in sender hole nicely.

 

[anothernz45]

Nasty bleak weather over here, good time to sort radiator issues on 69.
Cleaned out and resoldered split seam on top tank and reattached flappy side frame. Will reverse flush then see how it holds up.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Yes I'll take a brass one I can solder over plastic and aluminium everyday. I use real acid core lead/tin stuff - the new lead free stuff is way harder to work with.

 

[autobon7]

Outstanding work......turned out beautiful

 

[anothernz45]

Borrowed a reverse flusher, great bit of kit if you need one. Refitted radiator and ran up to temp - so far so good, will add antifreeze now.

 

[anothernz45]

More trash weather, want to fit 31inch muds on the 69 but thought I'd fix a leaky front slave first. Has been upgraded to 3 inch drums, they came off easily and had no lip round them, thats a win. Removed the slaves and pumped all the pistons out with a grease gun - I stainless sleeved the 72 but thought I'd try a hone first with this old girl. Surprised how well they came up, wasn't expecting too much. New cups and dust seals, anneal the copper washers and brake cleaner on the drums and shoes and see what happens. Gave the adjuster bores a hone while I was at it, have fought with plenty of stiff ones over the years.It's a good idea to lube the bottom of the adjusters as well as the bore, that takes all the thrust.

 

[anothernz45]

That was the theory, refitted slaves then found a brake line had cracked at the tee join, then been overtightened enough to flare the inside of the running union. Squashed the flared bit straight in a lathe chuck then made a new pipe - this has early 9mm threads in copper banjos and tee fitted to the later diff. The wider backing plate along with the banjos made adjusting the front slaves a real mare - ended up adjusting rear slaves normally then pulling drums off and getting the front adjusters as near as I could before putting drums back on, meant I only had to do the final bit thru the little slots.
I fitted an old set of Warn hubs while I was at it, they need the 31 x 10.5s so you don't knock them off on a rock.
Time for a road test.

 

[anothernz45]

Pedal pretty good as I havn't touched the rear brakes and huge surprise, they worked! Front right not locking up, jacked her up and had another go at RH adjusters. This time, a four wheel skid! This is the early single circuit brakes with an Australian PBR in line booster fitted back in the day. They were a quality booster, they look like a Girling/Locheed built under licence - something else I havn't touched yet.

 

[anothernz45]

As I was fitting the 31s to the back axle I found something weird going on with the right side - nuts came off easily tho one was missing, thread obviously stripped. Went to put wheel on and a nut wouldn't start on a stud, looked closer and 2 were still 12mm Toyota, the other 4 were 1/2 inch UNF - reverting to Chev.
Pushed them out, their spline is slightly smaller than the metric ones, then pulled the new ones in. I should put one drum spring on the outside but may not, if they're both on the inside I reckon it makes drums easier to get off, they don't cock over and jam

. I see why the rear brakes worked, the slaves look 20 years younger than the front ones.

 

[anothernz45]

Just noticed keeper pins are awol, too