So I bought this neat little go cart last Fathers day at a local auction house. It's a Jacobsen SV3422. It has a 30hp Ferd engine, 4 speed trans with high/low range, 2800lb hydraulic lift bed and remote hydraulic connections. As my in-laws would say, it's shop ready. I bought it as a non-running unit, the description said because it needed a key - spoiler, it needed more than a key.
So the wife and I drove like 2 hours to go pick it up - a first long drive in the Tundra pulling a trailer. Thankfully they had a forklift and it was on a pallet, so it was super easy to load. I had brought a battery to see if I could hot-wire it, I messed with it for like 15 minutes, but it was hot and lunch time, so I gave up on it. I was really surprised it had a TBI style EFI throttle body - not something that was in the shop/parts manual. Brought it home and started messing with it. Hot wired the key and got it to crank no problem, but wouldn't cough or even attempt to fire. Spritzed some flamables down the throttle, still nothing. Pulled the plugs and no spark to any hole. Look at things closer, no signal to the coil pack. Huh. I know nothing about batch, Ford style coil ignitions so I had to figure out what was going on there. The closer I look the more confused I got. So there's a Zenith EFI + throttle body, there's a ford EFI module, plugs not used, splices abounding - crap. I contacted Zenith to get a wiring diagram for the EFI, I was super impressed how quick they got me that info. Turns out, at some point, the PO had given up on the carb and "upgraded" to this zenith stuff. Lo and behold, the ECU wasn't giving the coils a signal to start, but was getting all the info it needed; crank sensor, coolant temp, etc. I couldn't find a single ECU on evilbay, I found one on a sketchy website for $1500 - no thanks. Contacted Zenith and they told me good luck. Great.
I did more research on the Ford module and reconnected many of the disconnected back over to the ford stuff. Boom, spark - how neat is that? Put all the plugs in, pulled the TBI off and, again spritzed some flamables and got it to sputter - on the right track. Now how do I modulate that? I have a single barrel Monojet from the Chevy 250 in my FJ40 - I figured it was close enough to maybe get the thing to run on it's own. You know, ignore the fact that it's jetted for a 4.2L vs my 1.6L. I vice-gripped the monojet to the intake and filled the bowls. Hit the "key" and it fired right up. I mean, it looked like a diesel, but a step in the right direction. My grampa is an old hot rodder and we talked about carb options for something with that 1.6L engine, but didn't come up with much. So I started more research and found a list of carbs that came with the VSG4111 engine and hit up the interwebs. Found 1 option for like $500 bucks - ouch. Offered him $350 and he immediately accepted - crap, should have offered less. Carb showed up in a few days, bolted right up - sweet! Filled the bowls, fired right up! Hooked the fuel up, not thinking about the electric pump. Rewired pump and hit the "key". Engine ran long enough to empty the bowls, then ran out of fuel. Gave the carb a tappy-tappy to loosen the needle and immediately flooded the engine. Oh yeah, this carb probably needs like 3 psi, not 60. I got a return style regulator from Summit, since there was already a return to tank and set it to a more appropriate pressure. Sucker fired right up and would even rev-out with the carb. The exhaust looked much cleaner than with the monojet - no surprise there. I had also purchased a universal throttle and choke cable since this was a drive-by wire setup. Thankfully, the earlier models came with drive-by cable, so a number of provisions were already in place. Got the cables hooked up and wired in a universal key. It was finally able to start and modulate fuel all on its own.
With the engine doing engine things, I was able to get the tires turning. No strange noises coming from the clutch, trans, driveshaft or rear end. Went through all the gears high and low. Hydraulic bed went up and down. All warm fuzzies! Threw some brake fluid in the master and got a bit of pressure to the brakes. Awesome! Came back a few days later and the master was empty and a puddle under the rear tires - great. Pulled the tires off and sure enough, cylinders were leaking. Turns out this has a cut down Dana 44 rear. So that's neat. Found some cylinders from a Jeep with a 44 rear end, but they were wrong in too many ways. Conveniently the seals were the correct size, so I just stole those and they seem to be doing their job ok.
Otherwise I did a general oil change: engine, trans, diff
Hopefully this is useful around the farm. 2wd will be super lame, but maybe I can find a cheap locker for the 44. Not sure I'm committed enough yet to just weld the spiders. We'll see how it does this year and just go from there.
Things left to do:
- Fix hood - It pivots forward like a semi and all the bracketry is gone and the mounting points broke and missing from the hood. So that will be my introductory into fiberglass/SMC repair
- Replace parking brake lines - parking brakes are super nice with a manual trans
- Replace tires - the rears are hardly worn, but hard as a rock and dry rotted like crazy
So the wife and I drove like 2 hours to go pick it up - a first long drive in the Tundra pulling a trailer. Thankfully they had a forklift and it was on a pallet, so it was super easy to load. I had brought a battery to see if I could hot-wire it, I messed with it for like 15 minutes, but it was hot and lunch time, so I gave up on it. I was really surprised it had a TBI style EFI throttle body - not something that was in the shop/parts manual. Brought it home and started messing with it. Hot wired the key and got it to crank no problem, but wouldn't cough or even attempt to fire. Spritzed some flamables down the throttle, still nothing. Pulled the plugs and no spark to any hole. Look at things closer, no signal to the coil pack. Huh. I know nothing about batch, Ford style coil ignitions so I had to figure out what was going on there. The closer I look the more confused I got. So there's a Zenith EFI + throttle body, there's a ford EFI module, plugs not used, splices abounding - crap. I contacted Zenith to get a wiring diagram for the EFI, I was super impressed how quick they got me that info. Turns out, at some point, the PO had given up on the carb and "upgraded" to this zenith stuff. Lo and behold, the ECU wasn't giving the coils a signal to start, but was getting all the info it needed; crank sensor, coolant temp, etc. I couldn't find a single ECU on evilbay, I found one on a sketchy website for $1500 - no thanks. Contacted Zenith and they told me good luck. Great.
I did more research on the Ford module and reconnected many of the disconnected back over to the ford stuff. Boom, spark - how neat is that? Put all the plugs in, pulled the TBI off and, again spritzed some flamables and got it to sputter - on the right track. Now how do I modulate that? I have a single barrel Monojet from the Chevy 250 in my FJ40 - I figured it was close enough to maybe get the thing to run on it's own. You know, ignore the fact that it's jetted for a 4.2L vs my 1.6L. I vice-gripped the monojet to the intake and filled the bowls. Hit the "key" and it fired right up. I mean, it looked like a diesel, but a step in the right direction. My grampa is an old hot rodder and we talked about carb options for something with that 1.6L engine, but didn't come up with much. So I started more research and found a list of carbs that came with the VSG4111 engine and hit up the interwebs. Found 1 option for like $500 bucks - ouch. Offered him $350 and he immediately accepted - crap, should have offered less. Carb showed up in a few days, bolted right up - sweet! Filled the bowls, fired right up! Hooked the fuel up, not thinking about the electric pump. Rewired pump and hit the "key". Engine ran long enough to empty the bowls, then ran out of fuel. Gave the carb a tappy-tappy to loosen the needle and immediately flooded the engine. Oh yeah, this carb probably needs like 3 psi, not 60. I got a return style regulator from Summit, since there was already a return to tank and set it to a more appropriate pressure. Sucker fired right up and would even rev-out with the carb. The exhaust looked much cleaner than with the monojet - no surprise there. I had also purchased a universal throttle and choke cable since this was a drive-by wire setup. Thankfully, the earlier models came with drive-by cable, so a number of provisions were already in place. Got the cables hooked up and wired in a universal key. It was finally able to start and modulate fuel all on its own.
With the engine doing engine things, I was able to get the tires turning. No strange noises coming from the clutch, trans, driveshaft or rear end. Went through all the gears high and low. Hydraulic bed went up and down. All warm fuzzies! Threw some brake fluid in the master and got a bit of pressure to the brakes. Awesome! Came back a few days later and the master was empty and a puddle under the rear tires - great. Pulled the tires off and sure enough, cylinders were leaking. Turns out this has a cut down Dana 44 rear. So that's neat. Found some cylinders from a Jeep with a 44 rear end, but they were wrong in too many ways. Conveniently the seals were the correct size, so I just stole those and they seem to be doing their job ok.
Otherwise I did a general oil change: engine, trans, diff
Hopefully this is useful around the farm. 2wd will be super lame, but maybe I can find a cheap locker for the 44. Not sure I'm committed enough yet to just weld the spiders. We'll see how it does this year and just go from there.
Things left to do:
- Fix hood - It pivots forward like a semi and all the bracketry is gone and the mounting points broke and missing from the hood. So that will be my introductory into fiberglass/SMC repair
- Replace parking brake lines - parking brakes are super nice with a manual trans
- Replace tires - the rears are hardly worn, but hard as a rock and dry rotted like crazy
