Meet Betty White

[ARJMN]

After giving it some thought on how to fix this without the Wit's End fix, I test fit an M8 bolt through the hollow post and used heavy washers and a nut to secure it. Once installed on the door it worked great, and felt close enough to stock that I had no concerns about the force required to fold the mirror back. The issue with a solid bolt is that the powered mirror harness routes through the hollow post. I was not going to give up the powered function, so I have to figure out how to still route the harness through there. In the end, I knew that M8 was the largest fastener that would pass through the post without modifications, and that M8 clamp load/strength was way more than sufficient for the compression needed for the spring assembly. I ordered a bunch of different M8 hardware off Amazon and after some fettling about, I arrived at this setup.

Running through the post is an M8x1.0 threaded hollow bolt. Essentially, it is hollow all thread most commonly used in lamps and lighting products. This one is stainless steel, so it is a bit more robust than one used in a common lamp and should be corrosion resistant as well. SS thick M8x1.0 nuts were used on both ends to secure it all.

liberal amounts of red Loctite was used to ensure nothing would back off.

I turned down one of the SS nuts in conical shape to match the taper of the post for a wedge fit. The wedge fit actually provided enough friction to resist rotation when torqueing the top nut, but I chose to epoxy it all in place as an extra measure.

After a trim and deburr, I was left with this. It all fits inside the mirror surround with ease and should hold fast for the life of the rig. The large SS washer you can see here actually bottoms out on the top of the post meaning the spring has slightly less preload that when it was in the un-failed condition. There is still more than enough there to hold the mirror solid at highway speeds.

 

[ARJMN]

Here it is mounted back to the door and ready for the associated parts to come home as well. I am pretty happy with the outcome.

 

[ARJMN]

The Shaky condition was next to be addresses. On this one I am happy to have a market option for the fix. The Slee solution in my top pick for this fix. There are some 3D printed ones out there, as well as a handful of shade tree fixes that involve building up the area with epoxy or JB Weld using a reinforcing material such as mesh screen or stranded wire, but this beats them all in my book. Clean, scuff, degrease, then lay it in place with a generous amount of epoxy, and that'll do.

Here are the tabs that break off on the mirror actuator housing.

Both sides needed the fix and I have taken to keeping at least one of these on hand at all times.

A close up of the fix. I am pretty sure these are laser cut and the fit is spot on. Use a good quality fresh epoxy and they will never come off.

 

[ARJMN]

The last update for today is the install of all new belt dressing on the doors. Kinda hard to see in the pics, but the new chrome belt dressing clicked in place and will hopefully last the 30 years the previous set did. The belt dressing not only trims the top of the doors, but also carries the outer window seals. When these fail, they allow matter to infiltrate the inner workings of the doors, which is generally a non-desirable condition.

 

[ARJMN]

While I do regret that I will not be making the Casner Run for another year running due to work sending me to the field, I do look forward to getting back in the garage when I get back this weekend. I am really pushing for the engine to be done ASAP, as once I have that a ton of task with start to fall off the list. I have less than 90 days left before Betty goes on the car hauler headed east, so I need to really make hay any chance I get. Stay tuned.

 

[GeoEng]

Chicken Dinner. How did you know?

Oxidized and altered rock, looked like a gold mine, plus I did a due diligence study (desk top only) back around 2015 when the company I worked for at the time was thinking of buying the mine. Cheers and safe travels.

 

[Saddletramp]

Nice work on the mirror repair.
Betty should be ready for the trail soon, let me know when we can make plans.

 

[ARJMN]

Nice work on the mirror repair.
Betty should be ready for the trail soon, let me know when we can make plans.

Thanks Steve. I am flat out trying to get his thing running and on a trailed by the week of Christmas. Once I get that done, it will go back to my buddy in AR where he will do the electrical work. Come January, I will be in need of a break and some time out bush.

 

[ARJMN]

Time for an update dump. While the engine was still out at the machine shop, I wanted to get some other stuff done and keep the ball moving down field. I decided to tackle the under dash stuff, so out came the seat and the carpet was pulled back to give view to what awaited. I needed to do a few key tasks in that area, such as replace the steering shaft seal, start formulating a throttle pedal bracket, and getting the hydro boost brake bits landed home.

Both the stock throttle pedal and the steering rag joint had to come out before disconnecting the shaft from the steering box to replace the seal.

7-Pin mod and the Window Rocket will get installed in the driver's kick panel.

 

[ARJMN]

After that, I started tracing the added wires that had bothered me from day one. If you ever think about doing this kind of wiring...just don't. Don't do it. Be a better person.

I am guessing this was used as a signal wire for an amp at one point in time. It was run under the carpet and under the driver's seat.

It was then stubbed into a fuse in such a shade tree move, I had to share it. Again...don't do this.

The under dash with all her knickers removed. Still not the most ergonomic spot for man my size.

Under the carpet I found a business card for the original owner of the 80. @OlafProt said it was sold new to a Little Rock lawyer, so it fits.

 

[ARJMN]

I started to swirl the brain matter on a bracket to mount the electronic pedal with some CAD work, but didn't land on a satisfying end just yet. I will have to give this some more thought. If you ever take on your own LS swap, go the manual throttle body route and keep the stock pedal. Toyota spent a lot of time getting the pedals just right and reinventing them takes a lot of time.

 

[ARJMN]

I paused on the pedal decision and moved back to the fire wall to replace the shaft seal. The original one had completely separated, just like you would expect from a 30 year old example. These are not expensive bits, and to be honest the effort to pull it all apart and then ensure it all goes back together exactly the same is more of a pain than anything. Tip: start the bolts that secure the seal, and leave them loose until the very last step after the entire shaft is back in and torqued. The seal has some really generous clearance holes and the bolts have big flat washers to allow the seal to self center on the shaft. Snug them up last and the seal will be properly located.

 

[ARJMN]

Next item was the hydro boost master cylinder. Needed to get it subbed up and test mounted to the firewall. I was a bit miffed to find that not only was the included hardware imperial, but it was also too short. There was no way I was going to be able to even start a nut on the bolts.

Test fitting the hydro portion...

No way to start a nut on that bolts....

 

[ARJMN]

Since I had to make a hardware run to Ace anyway, I decided to make some captured bolt brackets. I try to always design/fabricate things in a way that facilitates me working on it all as a lone person. Too many times I have found myself out in the boonies by myself with no one to help me fix a failure. As a result, I make sure I don't need extra hands whenever I can manage it. Captured nuts/bolts are a great way to accomplish that often times.

Metric HW obtained.

The basic plan laid out to match the 70mm bolt spacing.

Drill, weld, mask, and paint...

Finished product.

 

[ARJMN]

Here it is all installed and in place. The brackets insert in and hold them selves in place with enough tenacity to allow me to slide on the booster and get the nuts started. Generous amount of red Loctite and a torqueing to a spec I don't immediately recall, and it is there for the long haul.

 

[ARJMN]

Finished install of the hydro boost maser cylinder. The fit up of the Wilwood bits is top notch! The SS tubing bends are prefect as is the bracket that mounts the brake bias valve. I will have to either modify the existing lines or make new from scratch, so I am open to feedback from anyone who has done so. Jegs, Summit, and Amazon all have rolls of Nickel Bronze brake tubing that seems to be easy enough to work with, but I welcome advice.

Don't forget your torque marks. Really helps to eliminate anxiety over forgetting to torques a joint.

 

[ARJMN]

Something on the list that should have been tackled LONG ago was the removal and cleaning of the injectors. This donor rig was disassembled in 2017, so it had gas sitting in the fuel rail since then. If you are anything remotely familiar with what all the ethanol BS does in fuel systems, you know better than to let it sit the way we did. When I pulled the #8 injector, nasty stinky green liquid came oozing out. I do need to stress that nasty stinky part there, it was terrible.

#8 had a gift thanking me for the neglect it received.

I pulled and numbered each injector.

I also finally drained the fuel tank on Betty. Brother, let me tell you, I have no idea how long that gas had been in the tank...at least 7-8 years... It was horrible. It came out brown like tinted wood varnish and smelled terrible. The stink stuck to your nostrils and actually seeped through the gas cans. In all I drained about 11 gallons of it and thought I would pour it into pans in the back yard to evaporate in the sun. All that did was intensify it and make it stink all the more. I apologize to my neighbors if they caught wind of it. I ended up disposing of it well out away from anyone in a place that well ventilated and not on the breeze to anyone.

Lesson here is that if you have projects like this, drain the fuel as soon as you park them.

 

[ARJMN]

Shout out to Mike at Night Shift Injector Services. He got the injectors done over the weekend and shared the results with me. #8, the one that bled ecto plasm, was actually seized closed. Thankfully, he was able to free it up after running it through the ultrasonic cleaner a few times. All of them are within factory limits, and that is a relief in that I don't have to buy new injectors. EVERYTHING has gotten more expensive. a set of 8 new factory AC Delco spark plugs ran me $95 out the door. I was shocked. Those used to be $7.99 a piece, but are now $10.99.

 

[ARJMN]

Last update today is that I was able to pick up the engine while on vacation this past week. It is fully refreshed and ready for many thousands of miles and smiles. It was in excellent shape for having done 174,000 miles. The cylinders were only honed, no boring needed. The crank did have to be ground to eliminate a wee bit of wear, but everything else was good. We threw in all new bearing, seals, new pistons, and the same Comp 408 cam that we used on my build. Should be a rocking combo even if mine has more power. HAHA @OlafProt.

Almost have it fully dressed and it will be stabbed back in next weekend with some help from a few friends.

The tranny was rebuilt some time back and is ready to go.

Same story here with the t-case. It got the spa treatment at Lloyd's with all new seals and 3.11 low range gears.

 

[ARJMN]

I have gotten a massive amount of work done since the last update, which was almost a month ago. I got the engine and transmission married up, torqued, and marked. I thought I'd try to stab the entire stack with the transfer case, but the weight was too unwieldy to manage. The flex plate was no problem, but torquing the crank bolt on the harmonic damper proved to be a real test of my pry bar resisting the engine rotation. Time to upgrade another tool.