Builds Mail Order Ride - My HDJ81 (2 Viewers)

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I was wondering if that was what you meant. Any reason for moving that instead of rotating aneroid?

I found I got the best drive-ability by turning up the main fuel screw until it started to raise the idle, then tuned with my aneroid until temps were safe. This gave me the best off-line performance.
 
I was given a lovely gift from one of my machinist customers earlier today, and had a few moments with a 2 year old helper after supper to check the timing. Following the FSM seems quite straightforward, although I really can't see how this is doable with everything in place.

As it says, from tdc, rotate the crank ccw until no more movement of the needle happens. Then with help of my wife (the 2 year old was not a reliable source) make sure that moving the crank back and forth doesn't move the needle at all. Zero out the dial.

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Then, rotated the crank back up to the indicator marks on the case and take a phone picture to ensure its as close to lined up as I could get it. Honestly, could this mark have been put in a more inconvenient location?

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Then, had a looksee at my dial.

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This being an imperial gauge, that should be about 0.045". Fsm has a different spec for Europe and Australia, with Europe being a bit more advanced, which I naturally assume is due to climate, and not prevalence of dangerous animals. I'm going to lean on the European numbers being in the north. Specs are here:

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So, holy crap. This thing is around 20% retarded. The marks on the pump case are consistent with someone retarding the timing at some point. Some reading online says that would reduce nox emissions. This makes me believe that the Japanese PO may have had it adjusted as such in order to help pass emissions tests, or as part of the shakken inspections.

Right now its time to put the kiddos to bed, but I can work on adjusting it back later on. Then, everything can go back together.
 
I was wondering if that was what you meant. Any reason for moving that instead of rotating aneroid?

Because I get into lazy excuse mode. I didn't want to mess with the boost compensator until I had a chance to look inside it and see what was going on and understand it, and doing that would require cutting down an Allen wrench and dealing with the sics and bacs valves in the way and just never did it. Pure irresponsible laziness.
 
Because I get into lazy excuse mode. I didn't want to mess with the boost compensator until I had a chance to look inside it and see what was going on and understand it, and doing that would require cutting down an Allen wrench and dealing with the sics and bacs valves in the way and just never did it. Pure irresponsible laziness.

You and me could be related...
 
After the pump was adjusted and all tightened down, I spun the crank another time, got back to TDC, and this is where its at:

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I checked and adjusted valves again as needed, installed the intake manifold and injection pipes and decided that 1am was late enough on a work night. I'm going to be kicking myself tomorrow...
 
Continued today by building a custom SST in order to check the leakage pipe for leaks. Gauge, Schrader valve and some 3/16 hose to connect to the pipe, bike pump it up to at least 50psi and then leave it for a while. 10 minutes later its still at 60, should be good.

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Then, buttoned the rest of it together. While everything was apart, the intake, cross over pipe and valve cover got into a fight with a wire wheel. The cover got hit by some VHT wrinkle black at the same time. I think it looks hella sweet.

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Took a bit to get it to start at first, but I figure that was due to the pump being emptied. Once running I adjusted the idle up to 750ish; manual asks for 800, and I may increase it a bit later. So here's what it sounds like through a lousy phone camera.



The pump seems noisy to me, but I'm starting to think I wasn't paying enough attention before all this happened. The buzzing noise at the front of the pump goes away if I pump up the fuel filter primer, but then returns a few seconds later. Is this maybe still some air in there? Do I need to look at a lifter pump to help it out?

It sounds about the same as before for the rest of the engine, so I guess the valves weren't loose enough to cause any extra clackity-ness?

Will go out for a longer drive tonight and see how it feels on open road...
 
Well it's no faster than it was before to highway speed, that's for sure, still almost 30 seconds to 60mph. At 110kph on flat ground I'm seeing around 750f EGT, +/-50 depending on the wind. It held speed up the only hills nearby and didn't get hot at all; 45 seconds or so of 115kph, decent uphill, pedal to the mat, 3200rpm, 13psi and couldn't get it over 1050f.

There is also no black smoke whatsoever when punching it. A haze after cold start, but I wouldn't call it smoke. I think I've got some room to increase fuel and play with compensator later on. The custom built bike pump leakage pipe tester will come in super handy for that.

No major leaks, but I did find a little bit of wet from the short piece of leakage hose between the manifold and head cover. The hose was pretty stiff from years of heat, so I think I'll just replace that short piece with some new 3/16 fuel hose and clamps.

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Engine work honestly makes me nervous, but I think this has gone ok. Learning lots along the way. I would have liked to notice more power right away, but we shall see how tuning goes later.

3 weeks is too long of a time to work on a project while driving nothing but modern gas vehicles, I can't remember how it sounded or felt before
 
Sounds like a good result.

Engine stuff makes me a little nervous too, but I think it's normal to become hyper-alert to every noise and tick and imagine noises that aren't there.

Maybe you should have had the two year old turn the crank while you watched the dial gauge :hillbilly:

The plunger lift being off 20% doesn't necessarily equate to timing being retarded the same amount. How much did the IP body get rotated to correct the timing? I'm guessing not a lot at all?

The timing correction won't necessarily improve power, but may have other benefits like improved economy, change in combustion temps, or quieter combustion

Definitely sounds like you have room to dial in some more fuel
 
That valve cover looks sweet!

Are your EGT's lower now than they were?

You definitely have room to crank up the fuel. For me, the amount of power it makes at 1050f vs 1250f is dramatic.

If you turn the boost up to 15 psi, and increase the fueling till you get closer to the EGT ceiling, it's going to be a big difference.
 
My IP was pretty noisy, and quietened down considerably when I added a pusher pump back near the tank. I put in a Walbro.

My truck is pretty well twin to yours and I consider it a good performer. I'm running 15psi boost, I turned the star wheel thingy under the IP diaphragm back a couple clicks, and rotated the aneroid pin to its most aggressive setting (within the stock grind). Also rotated the off-boost adjustment to full. It pulls nicely, will do 120 without too much trouble, and maxes out around 1150deg EGT pre-turbo. Thinking I'll turn the main fuel screw just a touch to increase performance across the board. Oh, I should mention I have a top mount intercooler (with a home built hood scoop) which dropped EGTs 100-150deg across the board.

Sounds like you've got a good maintenance baseline, and now you can start tinkering with fuel and boost settings. It should really wake it up.
 
Engine stuff makes me a little nervous too, but I think it's normal to become hyper-alert to every noise and tick and imagine noises that aren't there.

I'm excited for a couple weeks from now after I've forgotten what noises I'm trying to figure out orreplicate and just drive the thing.

That valve cover looks sweet!

Are your EGT's lower now than they were?
You definitely have room to crank up the fuel. For me, the amount of power it makes at 1050f vs 1250f is dramatic.
If you turn the boost up to 15 psi, and increase the fueling till you get closer to the EGT ceiling, it's going to be a big difference.

Yeah, a fair bit actually. I was at around 900f/110kph before doing this, maxxing out at 1300f if I try. Playing with the pump is coming up soon after I finish up some more reading on the subject.

My IP was pretty noisy, and quietened down considerably when I added a pusher pump back near the tank. I put in a Walbro.

My truck is pretty well twin to yours and I consider it a good performer. I'm running 15psi boost, I turned the star wheel thingy under the IP diaphragm back a couple clicks, and rotated the aneroid pin to its most aggressive setting (within the stock grind). Also rotated the off-boost adjustment to full. It pulls nicely, will do 120 without too much trouble, and maxes out around 1150deg EGT pre-turbo. Thinking I'll turn the main fuel screw just a touch to increase performance across the board. Oh, I should mention I have a top mount intercooler (with a home built hood scoop) which dropped EGTs 100-150deg across the board.

Sounds like you've got a good maintenance baseline, and now you can start tinkering with fuel and boost settings. It should really wake it up.

I was thinking of getting one of these. Same idea that you went with?: https://www.amazon.ca/Walbro-GSL392-Fuel-Pump/dp/B000ED8KTG
I had read others mention the Walbro brand, and the price is much more appealing than the $800+ AFE or BullyDog kits. An intercooler would be real nice, and top mount would be the way to go for me. Do you run an electric fan on it?
 
Oil, filter, fuel filter, driveshaft lube done. Rotella T6 5w-40. One tire lost 4lbs over the entire winter, others all still perfect.

Last summer my little jdm fender mirror got its ass kicked by a cement truck thrown rock. I got some mirrors cut to fit the housing by a glass shop for $20. They are aren't convex mirrors unfortunately, just flat, but it will work well enough. Repaired the housing with some epoxy, was told to silicone the mirror on. Had some old window and door sealant hanging around so used that. If it doesn't hold, I have a spare mirror.

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I'd put intercooler way higher on the priority list than a pusher pump.
Intercooler helps give you a safety margin, better performance and economy.

Pusher pump is a contentious subject. Some swear by then many don't notice any difference, some will be completely against them.

I have one collecting dust that I bought about 10 years ago and never bothered with.
 
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Yeah, that's rounded off. Looks like I get to pull the intake manifold off again too be able to actually get at it. My boost compensator education is stalled for another night.

On the only, relatively minor plus side, since reinstalling things I've read that there's a stupid unused bolt nub on the hdft intake that prevents the diaphragm and lid from being able to bee fully removed, so this gives me a chance to grind that out of the way safely.
 
That sucks. I had to find a set of low profile allen keys to get the back screws off my boost compensator lid, and I have to remove the diaphram from the pin to get the pin out of there due to IM interference. It's a PITA, but it's the only way on mine.

Get some new screws from a diesel shop, and hopefully you can get some vice grips or something on that screw to get it loose without removing the whole IM, on mine you have to pull all the IP to injector hardlines to get the manifold off and that's not a small job.
 
That sucks. I had to find a set of low profile allen keys to get the back screws off my boost compensator lid, and I have to remove the diaphram from the pin to get the pin out of there due to IM interference. It's a PITA, but it's the only way on mine.

Get some new screws from a diesel shop, and hopefully you can get some vice grips or something on that screw to get it loose without removing the whole IM, on mine you have to pull all the IP to injector hardlines to get the manifold off and that's not a small job.

I'm going to buy some vice grips today and try them before tearing it all apart, but I'm not being too hopeful. The grips I had at home had no luck. I might try to Dremel a better shape in the bolt head to grab onto first, maybe it will help.

Im open to buying any other tools that might do the trick, if it saves me the effort.

Was just going to get some metric cap screws from a nut n bolt shop and make sure to put anti sieze on them, can't imagine there's anything overly special about them.

And yeah, this is the same thing: all injection lines come out to get the intake off. 30 or so bolts total plus the 12 union nuts on the hard lines.
 
I'm going to buy some vice grips today and try them before tearing it all apart, but I'm not being too hopeful. The grips I had at home had no luck. I might try to Dremel a better shape in the bolt head to grab onto first, maybe it will help.

Im open to buying any other tools that might do the trick, if it saves me the effort.

Was just going to get some metric cap screws from a nut n bolt shop and make sure to put anti sieze on them, can't imagine there's anything overly special about them.

And yeah, this is the same thing: all injection lines come out to get the intake off. 30 or so bolts total plus the 12 union nuts on the hard lines.

I was able to Mangle one of mine off with a big pair of vice grips. I believe in you.
 
I found these stubby allen keys at Princess Auto, works great for getting those rear screws out of the boost compensator lid.

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