Builds My first 80 Series (1 Viewer)

[thetoyotaman]

Thanks for the input. Some of those observations may have been me as I had just chased the old head bolts in the block with the cutting oil that was in the threaded holes from boring and my hands were not perfectly clean with oil residue on them. I plan on making sure everything is as clean as I can get it upon installation. They are ITM pistons. These really looked great right out of the box. My machinist was extremely pleased with them upon initial inspection, but I will pass your thoughts on to him. He still measures everything though. I perused your photo album of the Safety and Toyota Pistons to compare today. I noticed the Safety Pistons did not have the ceramic coating on top among other things.

 

[thetoyotaman]

I went by the machine shop and double checked everything with the machinist. No problems at all found. In addition I received a bit of education on piston coatings. He said these are by far the best ITM Pistons he has ever seen. He was very impressed with them.

One of the most fun parts of this project is that my 10 year old daughter has become interested in helping and yesterday I taught her about chasing the threads with the head bolt. She ended up doing most of them as I double checked her work. Kind of fun that she doesn't care if she gets oil on her hands.

 

[sbman]

Anytime your family is willing to be involved in your hobby is a great time!

The pistons sound good. ITM is an importer/distributor so I wonder where they are sourcing them from? What country did they come from? The aftermarket pistons I tried 'Safety Auto' where sourced out of China.

I deal every day with china factories and can't believe what they try to slip by, so I just can't trust any mission critical part out of that part of the world. I mean, I've got some circuit boards coming out of there and they are swapping out a name brand part that I specified for one that costs 2/10 of a cent less each. We are talking about millions of units, so it adds up, but it kills the performance of the product and I only find it with QA once things hit stateside. With something as complex as a piston, there are way to many places to shortcut that you just can't see, so there was no way I could install them.

I used this summit racing tool to install the pistons:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SME-90A3900

Made the job easy. $30 tool to use once? Oh well, maybe I'll get to use it another time someday.

 

[thetoyotaman]

PM me if you want to possibly sell the tool and if you liked it.

I totally agree on being skeptical of parts especially on their country of origin. Hence why I returned the head bolts.

I've used ITM pistons before with no issues. The 2F ones looked identical to factory like a Aisin water pump with the TEQ symbol ground off. They're typically made in their Taiwan plant and their rings in Japan. At this time I'm not comfortable with any of their other lines. My machinist has been doing it longer than I've been alive and has used countless ITM pistons. I respect his judgment as he knows more about motors than anyone I've ever met. He returns less of theirs than any other main line brand. I'm familiar with them also because of the Isuzu world I've been in for 20 plus years and my Isuzu resource is convinced that the Isuzu pistons are coming out of the same plant. They work great in the diesels and boosted models. Ultimately, a good machinist with experience is good to get to know

 

[thetoyotaman]

There are some dash lights out and some radio lamps out as well. The radio seems to work along with the CD player although I haven't tested the cassette player . Looking at the pics, 1st is what the truck had, 2nd is radio off lights on, 3rd is radio on, & 4th is CD. The RM lamp is out along with the right side of the center display. Anything else look out? I'm considering trying to fix it.

Tested the cassette and the RM lamp does work. I just need to figure out how to fix the right side of the center display.
Radio Bulb Roadmap

 

[thetoyotaman]

Another upgrade for the cruiser. Low range transfer case gears. I've enjoyed them so much in my Trooper that it's one of my favorite mods. Thanks Mud_Guppie!

 

[thetoyotaman]

As it turns out, all 6 Pistons measured perfectly the same with no variance. So all bore sizes are exact.

Received another piece of the puzzle today.

 

[thetoyotaman]

I'm Old 7 blade TRD S/C ring fan next to new 1FZ-FE fan.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Over the weekend worked on the grab bar to prepare for paint, clear coated the zinc ring on the fan as they can rust, and used phosphoric acid to clean the 4 fan clutch nuts while using crust converter on the bimetallic fan clutch spring and tips of the 4 studs in preparation for assembly. Turned out well.

Also, worked on dash and radio lamps and am considering LED replacements. I just want to get the right intensity. The burned out radio lamp is soldered and one of the sockets broke.

Why are there what appears 2 antenna plugs on the back of the radio?

Also, there are 2 extra plugs on the radio wiring harness. What are the used for?

 

[thetoyotaman]

The radio LED has me a bit baffled on the correct way to remove it as well as match it. In the meantime I was reminded about the idler bearing through sbman's thread so I ordered a Koyo idler and power steering bearing to service those parts as well. I also began my Snorkle install but the pilot bit broke as I was cutting the large hole. I began by lining up the template, marking the holes with a sharpie, and masking with painters tape prior to using a step down bit to cut. More to come on this later.

 

[thetoyotaman]

More parts came today. I picked up a washable air filter, oil & fuel filter, cap & rotor, plugs, PCV valve, the double v-belt, oil nozzle, and some condensor o-rings. Thanks again Roman!

 

[thetoyotaman]

More parts came in today: the freeze plugs, hand throttle cable, heater control valve, power steering rebuild kit, rear transfer output shaft deal, and a dash bulb. Thanks amayama.

 

[thetoyotaman]

And more parts...air intake hose, hose clamps, oil cooler, thermostat, steering column seal, timing chain and guides, oil pump spring, crank bolt, speedometer o ring.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Serviced the idler pulley by removing the NSK bearing, cleaning the ground in muck off of it with simple green and driving a new Koyo bearing in its place. With my wife's help it was a lot easier to remove the snap ring. I used a 12mm socket with a 3lb. Mallet I have to gently remove it and then a 27mm socket turned upside down to drive the new one in. I then worked the snap ring in by hand.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Finished up the fan clutch/fan tonight. I cleaned the clutch with JVs best but I have to admit I was a little nervous about going all out not knowing what the seals would do. I cleaned the 4 mounting nuts one more time and torqued to 6ft/lbs prior to a final shot of clear coat over them to seal.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Back to the Snorkle. I went to Home Depot to match up the broken bit that was jammed in the 3.5 inch hole saw and they replaced it for free. Finished the large hole and found a little forward and a little reverse helped cut the hole as you are not cutting flat metal. The step down bit helped with the other holes and I haven't made the holes quite as big as the instructions say of 16mm. A Dremel will make for nice cleanup on the back side of the holes. With the power antenna removed it is easy to get to all of the nuts. This Snorkle will require a little heat for the antenna which I am going to try with my heat gun on final fitment. For the A-Pillar I used metric nutserts and it turned out really nice. More to come later.

 

[thetoyotaman]

A little more work in the Snorkle to get it where I want it. A step bit drilled the holes out to 1/2 inch except for the front bolt, 7/16. For the nutserts I drilled 15/64 after using the center punch. 4mm .7 thread 12 mm stainless steel screws used on the A-pillar. A Dremel was used to grind the flakes off the inside of the holes. Self etching primer for the bare metal will be followed by Toyota 045 touch up paint.

 

[thetoyotaman]

And a little heat gun massage using a sprinkler fitting to clear the antenna.

 

[thetoyotaman]

It took a couple of test fits, but works!

 

[thetoyotaman]

The touch up paint came in yesterday and I put 2 coats over the primer. I installed the Snorkle, the antenna, and the little electronic box next to it. I would like to get a pre cleaner hat too. Interestingly I noticed the antenna retaining ring is painted black pearl.