Well gosh darn fiddlesticks..... I'm down again. I slid underneath this morning to retorque the u-bolts for the springs, grease my u-joints and slip shafts again. I gave the rear driveshaft a wiggle and the pinion has some play in it. Without actually measuring, I'd guess about 1-2mm of vertical movement, that shouldn't be zero, but it should be imperceptible by eye. The plan was to have the axles rebuilt completely soon, but I was hoping to drive it for the next few weeks/month until I got the parts and a slot to have it worked on.
Oh well, that's just how it goes some days.
I knew something was not happy in the rear end. At just the right load and throttle setting I was getting some, not super serious, but plenty bad vibration. I knew a bearing was going out somewhere. I don't want to risk my freshly built transfer case, or new u-joints. So it'll sit until I can throw it on a trailer.
The dog is starting to feel a bit more comfortable. It's pretty funny when she's sitting on the jump seat staring at the world go by.
I pulled the gauge cluster hoping to have easy access to lube the top pivot point of the clutch pedal. No such luck, I'll need to find an oiler with a long tube to get at it. It squeaks, and drives me a little batty. Since the two screws that hold the cluster in, were out, I polished the little bit of corrosion they had on them off. I did it with a leather wheel on a low rpm grinder. I need to load a cloth wheel back onto my other grinder and use some rouge for this. They look better, but not great. I have been thinking about getting a sonic cleaner. I've seen some incredible results on Instagram.
I'm also starting to second guess my diesel swap plan, and thinking about sticking with the 2F. Rebuilding that would be a fun project that I could actually do. I know I can't get big hp numbers out of a 2F, but 200 would be more than adequate I would think, and completely attainable. I'm still leaning towards the R2.8, but not having a computer controlled anything in it, and having something unsusceptible to EMP/solar flare has a lot of appeal to me. It would certainly cost a lot less as well.
I wonder if anyone has converted a R2.8 to mechanical injection. My opinion, a 4BT is a much better engine, but I don't think and FJ40 is the best application.
My company does some work for a few other cabinet shops around the area. I was dropping some stuff off at one and drove past, (for the lack of a better term), hot rod shop. They had a beautiful 70's Bronco sitting outside. Once I was done dropping stuff off, I swung into that shop. Chatted with the owner for a bit about what I was looking to accomplish, ways to get there, and my timeline, I ended up handing him my card. "cabinetmaker..... you interested in a trade?" Uhh, does the pope poop in the Vatican? I'm all for barter. Dat big gov man ain't got no tax on them barters. So hopefully I can work something out there and accomplish way more than my social standing would usually allow. I'm pretty excited about that prospect. They do some really awesome work from what I saw, so hopefully he wants some really awesome stuff for his wife's kitchen. I like building cool stuff at work.
I've started ordering parts for when the frame off will take place. Things like badges, door/window seals, door latches and catches. The list is basically infinite, but my idiot spreadsheet has two categories to it. One for parts that have been purchased, and when I think of it, parts that have to be acquired. I'd like to slowly obtain everything over the next 18 months so when the time comes, it's ready to go. Doing it over time will keep the whistling of the aggressively draining bank account somewhere in the range that doesn't make the dog cringe, and the wife from noticing too much.
Does anyone have a .dxf file of all of the glass, (not the corner glass obviously), to have it cut? I searched a bit, but didn't come up with anything. The windshield needs to be replaced for sure, and the side windows are fairly pitted as well. When they come out, I don't see much reason in putting them back in. If they don't exist, when my glass comes out, I'll invest some time into making them. Shouldn't take much time. I'm reasonably sure all of the glass in my rig is original as well, but I don't know that for fact.
