Luigi (1 Viewer)

[Dread Scott]

Thanks! It‘s been a fun project so far! I had to go to a few different places - oil cooler hoses and heater valve are coming from City Racer, big radiator hoses and bypass hose are from Rockauto, which also had the Aisin water pump and 82 degree thermostat. I’m just now realizing that I need a thermostat housing gasket, so will get that from my local dealer if I can hunt up a part number.

I sprayed the whole motor with some degreaser yesterday in preparation for today’s dismantling, which went fine. I failed to notice the petcock on the bottom of the radiator, which is GIANT, and just ended up pulling hoses off the radiator to get the coolant out. I was also able to drain the block, plug came out pretty easy. Coolant was nice and green, but not surprising as the PO just refilled it. Degreased the bejeezus out of my leaky steering box.

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Glad I’m doing this, note the crystallization on the water pump. Pump flange is very loosey-goosey, might be the original pump? I also have a leak right around the timing cover, so I’ll be pulling this and replacing the cover gasket and crank seal. Evidently there is also a plate behind the timing gears that may leak, which I’m hoping isn’t my issue. If it is, well… it wasn’t leaking that bad.

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General view of where I left things this evening.

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And the radiator. This looks new-ish, just flowed some hose water through it until it ran clear. My son likes to show that the Auto Shop is open when I’m working on the cars.

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That’s it for now, more to come tomorrow and over the weekend once the City Racer parts get here.

Looking good! Thanks for the reply on hose parts sources. That is what I am finding- several different vendors for the lot of what I need. Keep up the good work!

 

[majdomo]

Looking good! Thanks for the reply on hose parts sources. That is what I am finding- several different vendors for the lot of what I need. Keep up the good work!

I just pulled the hard coolant line to the oil cooler, and it is all rusted out - check yours before placing an order from City Racer and make sure you don’t need it, or add to your order if you buy from him. (This is the one bolted to the valve cover.)

The lower hard line from the lower radiator T to the heater is brass (maybe? if you have it), doesn’t rust but be careful pulling the old hose off. Don’t bend it like I did with a pair of Channel Locks… on my rig a PO had the heater routed straight to the pump rather than the T, and routed the hose on the T to the oil cooler…

 

[Dread Scott]

Thank you for the parts info! I am doing along the lines of what you are. Cooling system. Ordered the seal kit for my leaking steering box.

ETA- steering box seal I ordered from TPI if you need one.

 

[majdomo]

Thank you for the parts info! I am doing along the lines of what you are. Cooling system. Ordered the seal kit for my leaking steering box.

ETA- steering box seal I ordered from TPI if you need one.

Nice, was just going to ask where you got the steering box seal kit from! I tightened mine up at the box, will see if it cleans up the steering. If so, will pull the box and reseal.

May be coincidental, but so far this is a greatest hits of baselining jobs… crank seal is almost done. At the dealer picking up thermostat housing seals, other parts are on order to come during the week.

One more on the timing cover - make sure to “dimple” this back to flat if needed. Mine was a mess and most likely the source of my leak. I found some orange silicone sealing the timing plate, so someone’s been in here before, but they didn’t use any sealant on the bottom two bolts. Timing cover before dimpling with a ball peen. Same trick works on your oil pan, FYI.

 

[majdomo]

Good amount of work done today, at a slow rate as I was cleaning everything as it came off the engine. Timing cover, new gasket, new crank seal installed. New heater valve arrived in the mail from City Racer, just in time for install! Tomorrow will be the water pump, but that’s about it - need some more of my special clamps from McMaster-Carr and the oil cooler line is on order from the dealer. Also flushed the block, head, and heater return to the head through the block drain, got some fun gunk and tea water out of there before it ran clear.

I also did some cleaning before installing the heater valve, and likE the way this shines up. May get more ambitious in the rest of the engine bay at some point.

 

[majdomo]

Ohhh….. nothing preserves original paint like a no prep respray…

 

[majdomo]

Finished up the cooling system baselining and refilled with coolant, runs nice and cool now, to the point where I don't know if I was able to get it warm enough just idling to open the thermostat. Burped the system with one of those fancy schmantzy no-drip funnels (lol). Still runs cool. Lots of good heat coming out of the heater as well. Not going very far anyway, took it for another test spin around the neighborhood and it totally died on me down the street. However, it happened at the bottom of the hill leading up to the house, and couldn't get it started back up. No fuel in the bowl, at all. Was able to get it running for a second by dribbling some gas down the carb throat, but couldn't get it to keep going and fill the bowl on its own.

I was able to get it home by installing a new clear plastic fuel filter, and then ran some fuel line from the filter, through the grommet in the firewall behind the glovebox, down to the passenger footwell and into a 2 gallon jug of gas. Just about killed the battery with all the cranking, but by dribbling more gas in the intake, was able to get it to pump enough gas from the jug to make it up the hill.

Pulled the hard line to the carb, and a lot of rusty gunk came out of my freshly rebuilt carburetor. Guess I'm doing that again... along with dumping the gas in the tank to take it down for a complete strip and reseal. I was able to get it running from the tank while in the driveway, but the plastic filter is visibly full of silty gas. Some brake cleaner in the metal fuel filter resulted in very rusty brake cleaner coming out the other end. Hoping that the crap in there didn't ruin the fuel pump, I understand rebuild kits for that are NLA. May pull apart just to clean, if useful. And I now have enough fuel hose to replace all the soft lines in the fuel system. Yay!

2 good things came of a long weekend of wrenching and troubleshooting, though - finally had enough gas in the tank for it to register on the fuel gage (which works!) and all that Roadkill watching has paid off!

 

[avicenna110]

Looks like we’re going through some similar stuff. I bought my California spec ‘77 on July 7th in NorCal, which must be very close date to yours! Is yours also a California spec? I also had some gas tank + fuel like cleaning to do, and now I’m spending my vacation learning about the smog stuff and realizing all the parts I’m missing. But I’m enjoying it, so it’s all good. I also have the full roll cage, but debating whether I should cut it make it factory.

I’m very curious on how your smog will go. I’ve put together this pdf file of what I’m missing (for California spec), and all the part numbers, perhaps it might be of some use to you. Let me know and I can complete it to include everything, not just what I’m missing.

love your rig and the color, mustard yellow is on the top of our list of paint for now as well.

 

[majdomo]

Looks like we’re going through some similar stuff. I bought my California spec ‘77 on July 7th in NorCal, which must be very close date to yours! Is yours also a California spec? I also had some gas tank + fuel like cleaning to do, and now I’m spending my vacation learning about the smog stuff and realizing all the parts I’m missing. But I’m enjoying it, so it’s all good. I also have the full roll cage, but debating whether I should cut it make it factory.

I’m very curious on how your smog will go. I’ve put together this pdf file of what I’m missing (for California spec), and all the part numbers, perhaps it might be of some use to you. Let me know and I can complete it to include everything, not just what I’m missing.

love your rig and the color, mustard yellow is on the top of our list of paint for now as well.

Thanks for the kind words and the list! I was taking a look and I think most / all of mine is installed (its CA spec). Luckily the PO had bought the 1977 emissions manual, which has been entertaining reading for sure. See if you can get some of the parts from someone trying to de-smog out of state?

The plan originally was to get it down to smog this week, but that got delayed as I dropped off the tank for stripping and cleaning this morning. I also got the silty gas to a hazardous materials collection center. Hoping with any luck I get the tank back by Friday, fog it up with some black epoxy paint Friday night, and have it back installed over the weekend. I also want to re-clean the carb, buy a tach that works (having a rough time with this) and get the carb adjusted to lean drop idle..... all before the end of the weekend. We'll see how that goes.

 

[avicenna110]

I’m in contact with another member here that has most of the smog parts if not all that I need so hopefully I’ll get all the missing pieces before I start tearing the car apart.

Looks like busy few days ahead of you. Best of luck, I’m rooting for you. I also have bought an ‘85 Toyota pickup a year ago that I painfully smogged but didn’t learn my lesson and bought another car that needs to be smogged. But at least I know it’s doable. Let me know what tach you end up using. I bought a multimeter with rpm option but haven’t yet used it.

 

[majdomo]

Ahhhh... white bezel adds 50 HP at least. Wimbledon white over primer. We'll see how it lasts. Still need that front Toyota badge but that can wait for a minute.

Had a debacle with the fuel tank the last 2 weeks. Had it completely stripped out, then took it to a radiator shop to have it checked and possibly recoated inside. One of the POs had coated the interior of the tank, and though it was completely fine, I had the radiator shop redo the coating anyway. So that took a week for him to get around to it, then another week to let the Red-Kote completely cure up. Exterior of the tank was painted as well with some epoxy rattle can paint. I also pulled apart the fuel pump for cleaning, replaced the fuel filter with an OEM unit, replaced all the soft fuel lines, re-cleaned the hard lines, and re-rebuilt the carb. My fuel level is now too high, so have the pleasure of re-re-readjusting my float. Pain in the butt.

I can't get a tachometer to work with this rig to save my life. Have tried a lot of el cheapo options though, so going to just throw $ at the situation and get a Snap-On timing light with a tach. I should have learned my lesson on cheap tools a long time ago.

 

[majdomo]

Let me know what tach you end up using. I bought a multimeter with rpm option but haven’t yet used it.

I ended up getting a sweet Snap-On timing light that has a tach on it for $100 from a retired dealership mechanic on Offerup. Works awesome but when I tried to set idle, I couldn't get it down to 650 - it just stalls. Now I need to find if I have vacuum leaks, likely as these 3mm hoses are 20 years old at minimum. Planning to replace all of those next.

In other, 80-related news, will spend Labor Day weekend rebuilding front calipers, replacing rotors and pads, and rebuilding / repacking knuckles, bearings, the whole shebang.... the last major baseline project on that rig.

 

[majdomo]

Spent Labor Day doing the knuckle service, rebuilding the front calipers, and replacing the front rotors / pads on the 80, so been a little while since I’ve been on the 40. But, got after it earlier last night after starting to test the throttle positioner, which doesn’t work at idle. Pulled the emissions computer to check the connections and found this. Hard to tell but a couple of these joints were sort of broken in the middle of the solder. Reflowed some solder there and reinstalled.

I also spent some time this morning cleaning out the EGR, checking vacuum and all of that getting ready for smog. I took it down for a pre-check, and it looks like it would pass but only just barely. The CO levels are high and it smelled a little rich, so I pulled the main jet and made sure it was at the CA spec 124 for the 77 MY (which it is). I swapped out the primary jet with the 124 that was in my rebuilt (probably 20 years ago) carb that was included with the truck, just in case the original one had been messed with.

For what it‘s worth, the resolder didn’t fix my throttle positioner problem, but the VSV is getting power and the solenoids click on and off. I’m not sure if that’s the computer or the VSV, but may need to get the computer connections redone by someone who knows what they are doing. I think there’s someone on Mud who does this for a small fee. Might also search out another VSV from SOR, or someone on the boards. Shot from this morning at the smog place, zero issues driving down:

Vacuum check and going through the diagnostic in the emissions control FSM showed that the BVSV is not working. I get about 5 vacuum right at idle from the EGR side of the BVSV, and there’s very little “gurgling” coming from the carb throat when warm at 2500 rpm (which is evidently the EGR kicking on). Vacuum at 2500 RPM is still around 5, EGR diaphragm is fine, as checked on the bench. This may be the source of my high CO, possibly? Planning to buy a new BVSV and a new air filter, the one I have is whatever came with the truck.

Once the new BVSV and air filter are installed, will redo lean drop idle and make sure that the idle screw isn’t out like 5 turns (I think it’s fairly high now, but can’t remember.) Oh, and I also did a valve adjustment this morning after the smog precheck, which was probably kind of stupid because they basically were all out of whack.

All of that to say, it was borderline with all the things wrong as listed. Hoping a little bit more $ and some more time, and I’ll be able to get it to pass smog, which would be huge.

 

[avicenna110]

Almost there!

 

[majdomo]

Haven’t updated much as I’ve shifted focus to the 2002, which came back from paint in late Sept. However, I’m basically done tuning and getting all the old emissions equipment back on the rig, and have bought a new gas cap and the 14mm vent line for the fuel tank in preparation to take it down for smog. I also finally received the title from the DMV, which was another reason to wait on the smog check. Did not want to deal with confusion at the DMV trying to smog and register a car before I had the title.

I’m starting it up every week or so, but noticing an oil leak right at the rear main / oil pan arch. Will check into that this weekend sometime.

 

[majdomo]

No joy today on smog - tested great at 15mph, but at 25mph it was showing something like 14.1% on CO and about 1500 on HC. The 15mph was like 0.15% CO and like 200 HC. NOx was fine on both. No idea but it seems like it’s dumping gas at the higher speed. I have a call in to @65swb45 Mark to see if I can get on his list for a carb rebuild.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Two good things to take from this - seems like it’s good at the lower speeds, and it’s so grossly off at higher speed that it has to be something fairly obvious to correct.

 

[avicenna110]

No joy today on smog - tested great at 15mph, but at 25mph it was showing something like 14.1% on CO and about 1500 on HC. The 15mph was like 0.15% CO and like 200 HC. NOx was fine on both. No idea but it seems like it’s dumping gas at the higher speed. I have a call in to @65swb45 Mark to see if I can get on his list for a carb rebuild.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Two good things to take from this - seems like it’s good at the lower speeds, and it’s so grossly off at higher speed that it has to be something fairly obvious to correct.

Sorry to hear. Was the carb tuned prior to smog? Maybe choke issues?

 

[majdomo]

Sorry to hear. Was the carb tuned prior to smog? Maybe choke issues?

Tuned by me, but that’s not saying a whole lot. Choke was off and idling down around 600, so that was all good. If I had to guess it’s probably something with the power valve, which I replaced but with the valve out of my low-buck rebuild kit. For all I know it’s too much / wrong for the CA carb. Was thinking of redoing again myself with a better rebuild kit, but figuring that’s just throwing good money after bad. Will wait to hear back from Mark on a rebuild first.

EDIT - carb heading down to Mark on Tuesday. Much appreciated @65swb45 !

 

[majdomo]

More guesses after sleeping on it - secondary butterfly probably isn’t opening far enough to admit the proper amount of air, but there’s enough vacuum at higher RPMs to suck down fuel and cause a rich running situation. Seem to remember that being very difficult to move, probably too difficult for the vacuum diaphragm to pull open as needed.

Hm.

Carb comes off today and then back on the 02, which is being difficult as well. Moral of THAT story - use OEM door and window seals, and the proper tool for the lock strip. They’re eye-wateringly expensive, but they fit and you won’t be wasting your time and money on “cheaper” alternatives. Already researching OEM seals for Luigi, which as usual ain’t cheap…

 

[majdomo]

Paper clip test on the secondary diaphragm shows almost no movement. Promising but if nothing else means a full pro rebuild should address at least this issue.