I broke my own rule again with a 1994 petrol pickup "Iota"

[John Young]

Today I went searching in Sharjah for a few things. I'm looking for a good used floor jack, a stainless steel free-standing sink specifically. It was bloody hot and even with lots of ice water there were times when I worried that if the LX broke down for some reason I'd really be in trouble because I would not be able to be out in the sun dealing with the tow, etc. Thankfully the 2000 LX was a champ as per usual even if the odometer had been spun back to a ridiculous 40K miles.

I found a humongous vise that made my mouth water.

For scale, that is a 14" bandsaw base next to it. It was huge! But I'm not setting up a general shop in the warehouse so I can't really justify it. I suppose I could ship it back to the US in a truck but I have too many projects to handle properly.

There was some pretty big iron out there.

including this pretty nice English version of a Bridgeport with power feeds.

The ways looked good on it. I sure wish I had some way to justify this. It would be a hoot to play with.

I found some baby (horrible) floor jacks suitable only for endangering your life and limb and then this monster:

This was rated at 15 tons. Obviously a truck jack. It was also 6 feet long or thereabouts. I could not lift the front part. Kinda overkill, but if I get Iota running and registered (so I can haul this), I might just come back and bargain for this monstrosity.

Oh, and here was a nice German car lift

Super sturdy looking. But again, I'm not trying to equip a garage.

 

[John Young]

Part of my search today was to re-orient myself. I've wandered these yards before but that was pre-pandemic. And I've been out of the country for a year and a half. I could not remember where things were most of the time. I knew I'd seen stuff but was not sure where. I went to the area in general and then parked, walked around, moved the LX, parked and looked some more. I did find the kind of sink I was looking for for parts washing:

700 AED or about 90 USD, asking. I did not bargain today because I had no way to transport the thing. Here's another nice one. Probably better for our use:

This is also the same area where there is a breaker yard that takes the left over 70 series pickup parts from when they make light armored vehicles out of them. I think I did not really need them, but I picked up a pair of 70 series mirrors:

Asking price 350 AED for a pair -- about 100 USD. The foreman remembered me and I paid a little less. I was also looking for replacement seats and whatever else I could use but the foreman told me that lately they've been having guys come through and just buy all the 70 series parts in big lots. Good business for them, but not for me. He seemed all excited to buy IOTA from me. I guess we are not the only ones who like the earlier 70 series trucks.

With that, dehydrated and feeling pretty weak it was time to drive to a different area to pick up the turn indicators for IOTA that I had paid for last week.

 

[John Young]

Several of you commented on the RJ77 so I made a point of taking a few more photos of it:

 

[John Young]

The roof rack looks adjustable and seems to be very solid. I asked if he would sell just the roof rack and he said he would get back to me.

The guys had not pulled the turn signals off so I had to cool my heels for a while. Fortunately they have a lot of their stuff out of the sun.

Here is a pile o' rear view mirrors from some kind of Land Cruiser.

And a PTO sitting sadly on the floor, sans winch.

Finally it was my turn and they started pulling down the stack so we could get to the turn signals.

I did not take any photos of pulling the turn signal boxes because it was too damn hot. It was so hot that my phone kept turning itself off! But as usual things don't go quite as they should. One side came off ok, but on the other the plastic inserts started spinning. I ended up mixing and matching trying to find bodies that had intact inserts and lenses that were not too badly cracked. One of the guys offered to wrap the units in plastic (to help keep my LX clean-ish. Of course, as I was helping him wrap it, it fell hard on the floor and got a little crack in the lens. It was their break time and in this heat they really need it. Anyways I did end up with an acceptable pair.

 

[John Young]

I eventually got back to the warehouse with the goal of swapping in the turn signals.

In the process I found I need a new wiper washer reservoir.

It is really odd. It is just in this one place that the plastic failed. The rest seems flexible and strong--even the mounting tabs. I got some special German epoxy putty today (thinking to fix the existing turn signal housing) so I might try it on this hole.

But coming back to the turn indicator, I could not put it on because the connector is different. I either have to swap the connector over or repair the existing turn indicators.

It was mid-afternoon by this time. I had to stop every few minutes to sit down and drink water. We -still- have no power in the warehouse so not even a fan is available.

But I survived, after a fashion.

Yeah. That's -after- the water.

Because some of you don't make it over to the 80 series forum that often, and because it was such a cool photo, I will post it here as well. This is the sight that greeted me when I (laboriously) pulled up the roll up door:

 

[JDM Journeys]

Quick aside... What kind of temperatures are we talking about here? (Just for reference for a Canadian who dies in 30°C.)

It looks pretty inhospitable...

It also looks like an absolute mecca of hard to find bits. Must be difficult to exercise self control, when every other place has (what would be in North America) unobtanium!

 

[John Young]

Quick aside... What kind of temperatures are we talking about here? (Just for reference for a Canadian who dies in 30°C.)

It looks pretty inhospitable...

It also looks like an absolute mecca of hard to find bits. Must be difficult to exercise self control, when every other place has (what would be in North America) unobtanium!

It got up to 42C or 107F today. Humidity felt like 100% Google says it was only 67%. Not sure I believe that number. Tomorrow is expected to reach 43C and 109F. As mentioned, when my phone was in direct sunlight in my dash mount it would shut off unless I had been running the AC for a few minutes. It's a Google Pixel 3A XL and not generally a delicate little animal. The direct sun today was brutal even with a hat. And being inside metal buildings was marginally better being out of the sun, but hotter.

Re parts, there are 70 series, but the pre-2000 stuff is getting hard to find. Still possible. Just hard.

 

[John Young]

Just to update you all on the local weather, which is starting to become noteworthy:

Here's the news item. That's 120F. Bit warm, even for here. And the humidity is reaching 90% in places.

I went up to the warehouse last evening after work and had to take it pretty easy. Stopping frequently and drinking lots of ice water.

I like to imagine that the heat and humidity is good for me--like a sauna. Only free and all around you.

 

[John Young]

I went up to put the parts back on the pickup. I'd really like to get this thing registered.

Here's the replacement with the pigtail from the original, soldered and covered with heat shrink tubing. I think in there that kind of repair is best.

The old one had been painted the body color. I actually prefer the black plastic. When it comes time to repaint this truck I am going to remove the assemblies again. Masking probably would not work so well given the small spaces involved around it.

Here's the repaired wiper washer unit.

The marine epoxy putty I used was not pretty, but it is very durable and there are no leaks. I also verified that the motor still works before I did all this.

This evening I am going up to replace the sub-tank pod on the dash. It was pretty smashed up. Fortunately I had a spare at home for a project I never started.

 

[John Young]

Today I needed to take care of this:

Fortunately I had a spare from a project I didn't get very far on.

When I got the old one out I saw something new to me--the pad had been marked at for LHD vehicles.

View attachment 2698000
I got the new one in. The binnacle cover is the wrong color but I'm not fussing about that right now.

The pad under it needs to be replaced. Right now I'm just trying to get things functional.

I also noticed for the first time that although here is no sign of any impact, the drivers side front bumper is a little closer to the grill than the passenger side.

This is looking straight down.

I also discovered when I was comparing things with the troopy (which is pretty clean under the hood at this point) that the windshield washer reservoir and pump are entirely missing.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to dig up a charged battery and see if the electrical fixes to the pickup worked.

 

[John Young]

I'm happy to report that with a charged battery Iota's turn signals now are working!

And incredibly, the air conditioner works too!

I have a question for all of you 70 series people out there. I can't seem to get the high beams to stay on constantly. The low beams work fine, and you can pull back on the stalk and the high beams go on, but if you push forward, the headlights go out entirely. That's not the right behavior, is it?

 

[Blomdala]

I'm happy to report that with a charged battery Iota's turn signals now are working!
View attachment 2698959
And incredibly, the air conditioner works too!

I have a question for all of you 70 series people out there. I can't seem to get the high beams to stay on constantly. The low beams work fine, and you can pull back on the stalk and the high beams go on, but if you push forward, the headlights go out entirely. That's not the right behavior, is it?

Love the work and general travel documenting! So cool to see all the things available out there.

As for high beams, its not normal for the high beams to not turn on when pushing forward, but it is correct that the low beams would go out. So at least the Lo circuit is operating as designed. Since the HI works momentarily, it seems like the The Hi beam forward position must have a poor connection.

Edit:
Looking at the EWD isn't terribly helpful as it seems like the momentary and forward position should use the same wire....

 

[John Young]

As for high beams, its not normal for the high beams to not turn on when pushing forward, but it is correct that the low beams would go out. So at least the Lo circuit is operating as designed. Since the HI works momentarily, it seems like the The Hi beam forward position must have a poor connection.

Thank you BD. This does give me a starting point. I will have a look tomorrow. I remember with the diesel pickup Golden Boy that the horn did not work reliably until I took the covers off and cleaned everything. I bought a couple of cans of brake cleaner that should let me try to clean the contacts on the headlight stalk. I probably will go out tomorrow evening and give that a try.

 

[Blomdala]

Thank you BD. This does give me a starting point. I will have a look tomorrow. I remember with the diesel pickup Golden Boy that the horn did not work reliably until I took the covers off and cleaned everything. I bought a couple of cans of brake cleaner that should let me try to clean the contacts on the headlight stalk. I probably will go out tomorrow evening and give that a try.

Hopefully its a simple solution like that. Sometimes on those contact parts like a switch there can be a little carbon and a little gunk that prevents good contact. If someone has a pin out for the switch that would be best, I'll see if I have anything with a little more detail!

Edit: I need to stop responding without data lol. Here is tehe section with pin out for you to check at the column for continuity! It even has "flash" and HI!

 

[JuanJ]

I have a question for all of you 70 series people out there. I can't seem to get the high beams to stay on constantly. The low beams work fine, and you can pull back on the stalk and the high beams go on, but if you push forward, the headlights go out entirely. That's not the right behavior, is it?

Hello,

You should check the high beam relay first.

Then you should remove the combination switch and check continuity.

Chances are your combination switch is on its way out. In old age the high beam contact springs sag and cannot close the circuit. You can re-arch them as a temporary solution, but it may not last. It is better to change the entire assembly.

Since you changed the auxiliary tank gauge, you could take the chance and replace the combination switch as well.







Juan

 

[John Young]

Thank you both. Got it. Combination switch and relay. It is interesting that there is a separate circuit for the continuous vs 'flash' high beams. That's new information for me. I look into both and see what I find. Probably this evening.

I really enjoy going up to the warehouse after work. It cools off a bit and it is still light. I putter around for a bit as you have seen. Then it gets dark and because we don't yet have electric power it is an excuse to sit down, relax with a cigar and Hot Jazz Saturday Night playing on the Echo Tap and just relax. Renting the little warehouse was a bit of an extravagance but I'm glad I did it.

 

[John Young]

The other thing we did last evening was start up the engine. It seemed to run fine at 1500 to 2000 RPM but would not idle worth a darn. The guys had partially rebuilt the carburetor but my friend from Abu Dhabi who has two of these 1F engines with carbs said that he had a terrible time getting his 80s to pass inspection until he put on new carbs so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a new carb and fuel pump for the pickup from my excellent Land Cruiser parts hunter, Ryan up in Sharjah.

1. Carb: 21100-66012 1785 AED = 485 USD
2. Fuel Pump: 23100-69095 290 AED = 80 USD

Ryan had to get the parts send from Oman again. Timing wise, it is the end of the last day of the work week here. We will have the parts by Monday; so 2 working days. Pretty darned fast.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Just in case you need the info, that's a 1FZ-F engine (with carburetor) as opposed to a 1FZ-FE (fuel injected). The blocks are just slightly different. Not to be confused with the much earlier F blocks.

 

[John Young]

Well I was up at the warehouse (sweating) yesterday. Poking around at the carb on the pickup and then comparing it a bit to the carb on the troopy. Handy having two 70 series of the same age next to each other.

The truck starts willingly. But it obviously runs very rich. It runs smoothly at 1500 or so, but dies on idle. After reading the FSM I thought I might try to adjust the idle mixture. I had some trouble interpreting the FSM.

The idle speed and idle mixture adjustments are not in the most convenient location to reach.

You have to reach over the engine and you definitely have to remove the air intake tube to get to the idle mixture.

I had no idea what 'SST Type' was all about, so I took a close up photo.

That collar around the idle mixture adjustment screw just freely rotates. This really annoyed me. I went back and read some more and found that SST means 'Special Service Tool' or this doohickey:

I checked with Ryan the parts magician and not even the Omani's have this little tool. Why make it so difficult to make the adjustment? This morning, however, I read this in the FSM:

CAUTION:​

• Always use a CO meter when adjusting the idle​

mixture. It is not necessary to adjust with the idle​

mixture adjusting screw in most vehicles if they are​

in good condition.​

So I guess the idle mixture is supposed to be set at the factory and you are only supposed to mess with it if you have a CO meter. The guys at the garage had partially rebuilt this carb and I will bet the idle mixture setting is bad. The good news is that Ryan today is delivering a brand spanking new carb for Iota!

Nice, right!?

 

[JDM Journeys]

View attachment 2702338
Nice, right!?

Almost makes you want to do a plexi-window in the hood, to show that baby off, eh? So clean and shiny! So just some fine-tuning once its bolted on? The rig is coming along nicely!