Builds My '78 FJ40 "44" (2 Viewers)

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Well, speaking of my head up my ass characteristic...

I hadn't opened my rear doors, until this morning, after the return of our most recent trip across the desert.

Being an astute observer of the quite obvious, I immediately noticed I had failed to fully latch my left ambulance door... But, had latched the spare tire carrier.

So, the doors were open about a half inch... Plenty of room for several pounds of fine dust to permeate the entire rear of 44.

I mulled it over, decided against planting a garden and spent the whole morning unloading 44 and blowing her out... I never clean her the way most of you clean yours, because it only lasts for a few miles on dirt anyway... But, I hate a half inch of dirt on everything back there!!

Gratuitous picture of a Teddy chewing on Chester's collar... about all that's left of Chester...

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Actually, we've noticed that Chester is acting exactly like Gunner used to, after we got Chester... It's almost as though Gunner came back...
 
Chester and I are getting ready to leave for a few days... packing, checking fluids, etc.

When I went to start 44, to back it out of the garage, I noticed it took a couple of attempts the fire up... it’s been starting on the first crank ever since I installed the DUI.

So, I popped the hood, to check the timing, and found the dissy hold down bolt had broken off.

My fault... the new hold down bolt was too long... I reused the original bolt... now, I have to deal with the fallout of that poor decision.

Oh, well... the wind’s gonna blow like hell on Monday. So, we’ll delay departure until Tuesday morning.

That gives me Sunday and Monday to remove the broken bolt... if I’m lucky, it won’t be that difficult...
 
You need a roadmap under your hood just to find the distributor!:p
 
Oh, well... the wind’s gonna blow like hell on Monday.
Oh crap! My wife and I are rolling into town (if you can call Indian Springs a town :)) tomorrow afternoon with axles/spings/wheels/tires for my '84 FJ60 parts vehicle, the plan was to get it back into rolling condition Monday so I could move it into the garage next to my other '84 FJ60. It won't be fun working out in the sand and dirt with the wind blowing like it does out there. There's basically nothing but desert between our double-wide and Mt. Whitney, and that's usually the direction the wind comes from. I guess I could postpone a day and work on getting the '71 FJ40 started up and running, it's parked inside the garage out of the wind.
 
Hopefully you won't have to delay your trip more than a day. Where are you headed this time?


We’re leaving Tuesday morning... just camping/hiking in various places in the DNWR.

I need a trip, sans breakdown, before we go too far... should be fine this time...

I got really lucky this time. I was able to unscrew the broken bolt with a left hand drill bit... came right out!!

Of course, I had to remove the battery, tray and dissy to get my hands in there.

But, it’s back together and started first try.

I’ll run it up to temp in a while and tweak the timing, tighten it down an make sure it doesn’t leak.

But, I think the timing is spot-on already.
 
Mark (@65swb45 ),

Do you recognize the view?

Can you find 44 out there?

This is the hike we took when you hiked my legs off... piece of cake!!


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Some kind of animals in this pic... either big horn sheep or mule deer. I couldn’t tell with my nekkid eye and certainly not in this iPhone. I think they are sheep.

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Missed having you to guide the hike!
 
44 is on the thin, light tan strip two lines below the base of the opposing hills. :wink:

Don't ever ask my wife or kids about my skills at guiding!:lol::lol::lol:
My shortcuts are even worse!

Wish I were out there again. My week in Death Valley last month was my first REAL vacation (Alaska was just a marathon) The kids are going back to Vegas the week before Christmas, but they didn't invite me.
 
I have no idea ;) where 44 is in that pic... until I get something better than this phone, to zoom it in.

44 ran like a scalded goat... until we returned from our hike and drove about a half mile... now, it’s running really rough... very little power... we returned to where we were parked and will overnight here.

I was running off the aux tank (newly rehabbed and new lines)... but, I switched to the main tank... same issue... something fouled the carb.

I have your de-foul method below... I’ll try it out in the morning... after the sun warms my cold, cold heart and I check the fuel filters... especially the aux filter.

——————

Mark’s anti-okie rebuild method:

——————

  1. Danny (and all)

    I would like to recommend for future reference (perhaps even as an FAQ stickie) a method I consider a wiser course of action than the okie rebuild (which IMO is nothing more than a corollary of the 'get a bigger hammer' mentality.)

    1.Point the truck downhill, with the left tire being lower than the right.
    2. Open the secondary main jet access plug (the one closest to the left fender)
    3. Pour gas thru the brass bowl vent tube (under the choke plate) to flush the bowl, then replace the access plug. If there is dirt in the bowl, this should take care of it.

    If the contaminant was stuck in the needle and seat, the bowl Would have been overfilling ,running rough in a partially flooded condition. The okie rebuild GUARANTEES that you will pull the contaminant further into the carb. There are no orifices inside the carb larger than the one between the needle and seat. It is only wishful thinking that it will pass all the way thru the carb.

    The pre-75 carbs have the advantage here, as they have an access plug directly above the needle and seat, which really helps make sure you can get the contaminant off the needle and into the bowl to flush it out.

    I gave a demonstration of this method on my own rig on Porcupine Ridge at Cruise Moab in 2005. No one is immune.
Two concerns.

One: don't let gas run on to a hot manifold. I don't know what temp qualifies for spontaneous combustion...and I don't want to know.

Two: don't lose the washer that seals the plug to the carb.

 
BTW This is the first time I’ve set up
My 10’ trucker antenna and my cell signal booster out here, where I ordinarily have a scant 1 bar that comes and goes.

Tonight, I have 5 bars!! EDIT: 4 bars... phone only goes to 4 bars... I put my glasses on.

Maybe I’ll watch the rest of the Houston-Baltimore football game, off my DVR at home :hmm:
 
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Surprise!! Mark’s method works.

...and the aux fuel filter (brand spanking new) was filthy!! It reminded me of a hole-in-the-ground toilet, in Tripoli!!

So, I’ll be dropping it again... my fault, I should have cleaned it again.

I’m having problems with the aux sender, so I needed to drop it again anyway.

On the road again... ready for the next adventure.
 
We made a tough climb this morning... until it started getting dangerous. Then we came part of the way back down and hiked east on the bajada, for a couple of miles.

Chester is still testing boots for UltraPaws... I made him carry his own water this time. Until I felt sorry for him and ripped (Velcro) the pack off the harness and carried it up the worst of it.

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Interesting pictures. It is real nice not to see mud (the real thing, not the forum) as there is a lot of it around here at the moment. In post 2437 you mention it was chilly. What was the temp? In some of the other pics it looks warm, but in the pic of the campfire it is easy to tell that it is getting late, and I know the desert is supposed to cool off at night. It has been getting cooler here lately, sometimes very close to freezing at night and in the upper 40"s and low 50"s in the day, and very wet.

In most of the pics there are "trees", and in the pic of Chester laying in front of one I am able to get a perspective on size. Are they all similar in size? I'm assuming those are Joshua trees, but I've never seen one in real life, only pics, so I don't have any mental pics to go off of. The pic of the campfire and 44 just doesn't give me a good perspective. The tree to the right of 44 might be taller than 44, and then again might not be.

Don
 
@handcannon

Hi Don,

Yep, the "trees" are Joshua Trees and, like all trees, they start small and grow ;). The one behind Chester was about 6' tall... The one to the right of 44 was about the same size as 44.

The largest I've seen, in my area, is about 8' in height, with multiple branches.

But, if you look up "Joshua Tree Characteristics", it says:

"The Joshua tree, the largest of the yuccas, grows only in the Mojave Desert. Natural stands of this picturesque, spike-leafed evergreen grow nowhere else in the world. Its height varies from 15-40 feet with a diameter of 1-3 feet."
The small "spiky" plants, in my pictures are also varieties of yucca.

I saved the following photo from birdandhike.com (an excellent resource for the Mohave Desert... And fun to read thru!!), it shows the three prevalent varieties of yucca, in my area... In fact, I think I've taken this same picture at some point.

image.jpeg


There is also Joshua Tree National Park, in California... Bigger trees there?

:cheers:
 

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