Builds New Alaskan FJ40 intro thread (2 Viewers)

[Aussie Alaskan]

Can't say that you're wasting any time with the resto. Lots of hard work here. At -15, I'd either wait until temps warm up, or give it a shot of Ether starting fluid sprayed down the carb throat. Keep it Rustic Green, IMO.

I tried starting it today with ether and it still cranked and cranked with a few more rumps, but never caught and started. Then, because I suspected it was a temperature issue with the fuel, I took a small propane torch and held it on the intake manifold for a few minutes, and then pumped the pedal a few times and tried to start it. It almost started! It didn't, but it was as close as it had come all day even with the ether. Perhaps ether in conjunction with warming the intake manifold would have done it, but by then I had nearly killed the battery, so I put it on the charger and let it rest.

That kind of verified (at least in my mind) the theory that the fuel wasn't vaporizing in large enough quantities to start the engine and I quit trying after that. Didn't want to burn through a bottle of propane just to prove it. Here in a couple of weeks it should warm back up to around 0F and I'll try again. I started it the other day at 5 degrees above 0F and it started albeit without cranking and complaining for a while.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Welcome, and nice work! My 40 resides in Arizona, but my wife and I live in Fairbanks part of the year. Indeed there are not many up here. On my bicycle route around Farmer's Loop road there's a house with several 40s in residence; I need to stop and knock on the door sometime.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Welcome, and nice work! My 40 resides in Arizona, but my wife and I live in Fairbanks part of the year. Indeed there are not many up here. On my bicycle route around Farmer's Loop road there's a house with several 40s in residence; I need to stop and knock on the door sometime.

You should. I'd also be interested in talking to whomever owns a 40 up in Fairbanks.

 

[sggoat]

Brought the vehicle inside of the garage for the first time at the end of November 2022 and was able to install the freshly overhauled 2F engine.
Bored cylinders.
New piston rings.
New gaskets all around.
New crank shaft and con-rod bearings.
Fully cleaned, inspected and painted.
Head and Block checked for warping outside of spec.
New SS Oil pan bolts and manifold studs.
New clutch plate (old one was falling apart)
Reused old flywheel and clutch plate as they were in good condition still.
Valves and seats were cleaned, de-rusted, lapped and re-installed with new seals.

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Ouoo that's purty!

 

[h82crash]

Congrats on your progress. I find it bewildering to see so many 40s this non-factory color. It's weird. Currently completing a frame-off restomod. Mine is not that color any more.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Congrats on your progress. I find it bewildering to see so many 40s this non-factory color. It's weird. Currently completing a frame-off restomod. Mine is not that color any more.

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Any pics of your progress so far?

 

[pb4ugo]

Your starting problem coluld be that it's flooded. You can pull a plug and see. If it's wet or gassy smelling would confirm it. Back in the 80, I worked at a neighborhood auto shop. When temps went below freezing and lower we started to getting calls of cars not starting. Me and another guy would go out on service calls, and getting most of them running. It was usually from flooding and a weak or dead batteries. This was back when most cars were carburatorated and the issue was not specific to one make or model. Customer's would try to start it and if it didn't start they would continue pumping the gas and cranking until the batt died. If the hood was up and a gas can or starting fluid was around we knew we were probably pushing it to back to the shop. A flooded engine needs air. If there are no underlying mechanical issues, Open the choke, open and hold the throttle wide open and crank. Keep cranking, if it starts sputtering and shows signs of life, keep cranking while its sputtering until it starts catching, if it catches keep the tthrottle wide open. It will be sluggish and struggling for rpms. Let the rpms rise to a point. Black smoke will probably coming out the exhaust. At some point back off the throttle then rev on and off a bit to blow it out. If it doesn't start, pull a plug, if it's wet or real gassy smelling , pull all the plugs, open the throttle wide open and crank for a while to blow out the cyldrs. You can try to dry out the plugs with compressed air, fresh plugs would be better. You may still have to open the throttle to get it started. It sometimes takes a while for a really flooded engine to get running right again.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Your starting problem coluld be that it's flooded. You can pull a plug and see. If it's wet or gassy smelling would confirm it. Back in the 80, I worked at a neighborhood auto shop. When temps went below freezing and lower we started to getting calls of cars not starting. Me and another guy would go out on service calls, and getting most of them running. It was usually from flooding and a weak or dead batteries. This was back when most cars were carburatorated and the issue was not specific to one make or model. Customer's would try to start it and if it didn't start they would continue pumping the gas and cranking until the batt died. If the hood was up and a gas can or starting fluid was around we knew we were probably pushing it to back to the shop. A flooded engine needs air. If there are no underlying mechanical issues, Open the choke, open and hold the throttle wide open and crank. Keep cranking, if it starts to sputtering and shows signs of life, keep cranking while its sputtering until it starts catching, if it catches keep the tthrottle wide open. It will be sluggish and struggling for rpms. Let the rpms rise to a point. Black smoke will probably coming out the exhaust. At some point back off the throttle then rev on and off a bit to blow it out. If it doesn't start, pull a plug, if it's wet or real gassy smelling , pull all the plugs, open the throttle wide open and crank for a while to blow out the cyldrs. You can try to dry out the plugs with compressed air, fresh plugs would be better. You may still have to open the throttle to get it started. It sometimes takes a while for a really flooded engine to get running right again.

Thank you for your input. It could definitely be a flooding issue. Maybe not upon initial start attempt with 3 pumps of the gas pedal, but further pumping and frustration could certainly have flooded it. I did try cranking with a wide open choke and throttle however, but it didn't seem to help. But I'll go pull one of the plugs today to see if I ended up fouling them before I tried the flooded engine starting procedure.

 

[h82crash]

Any pics of your progress so far?

Here is the build. I'm thinking now I should have put it in this forum because I am missing the social aspect of these threads.

74 '40 Build LM7/NV4500

Corbet suggested I put this here and there are already plenty on the FJ40 and Hardcore forums. I am planning a frame off restoration and a drivetrain swap. My LC is mostly stock right now but far from a Concourse original. The good news is, as far as I have been able to evaluate, it is rust...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[suzuguru]

Great job so far! I don't see how you guys work in the cold up there in Alaska. I hate working when it gets even in the 20's down here, and that's probably warm for you guys.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Here is the build. I'm thinking now I should have put it in this forum because I am missing the social aspect of these threads.

74 '40 Build LM7/NV4500

Corbet suggested I put this here and there are already plenty on the FJ40 and Hardcore forums. I am planning a frame off restoration and a drivetrain swap. My LC is mostly stock right now but far from a Concourse original. The good news is, as far as I have been able to evaluate, it is rust...

forum.ih8mud.com

Just finished looking through your build thread. looking great! I'm not going to go as far as you are, but once yours is done it will be a "keeper" for sure. I don't quite understand why you laboriously stripped all the bed liner off to put pretty much the same stuff down again just in red instead of black. I'm likely going to put down some type of body protecter coating on the floor of mine when I get to that stage of the project, but I'm curious your thought process and why you chose the products that you did.

 

[h82crash]

Just finished looking through your build thread. looking great! I'm not going to go as far as you are, but once yours is done it will be a "keeper" for sure. I don't quite understand why you laboriously stripped all the bed liner off to put pretty much the same stuff down again just in red instead of black. I'm likely going to put down some type of body protecter coating on the floor of mine when I get to that stage of the project, but I'm curious your thought process and why you chose the products that you did.

Thank you! I stripped it off because I had rust investigation and repairs plus the Line-X was hiding about 150 self drilling screw holes a PO had installed. The Line-X people just put masking tape over the holes and sprayed. I also found four 3/8" holes in the bed sides that were taped, lined, and bondo filled under that teal paint. Took me weeks to weld and grind all that stuff.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Let the rust repairs begin... I'm not a very skilled welder, but once I put a skim coat of filler over these spots I think it will turn out just fine. There are probably 7-10 spots like this around the body that I'll have to cut out and patch. Slow going, but once its done its done and its the right way to do the repairs.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

More rust issues to deal with. I've got a new drivers side floor panel on the way, and will have to fabricate the lower part of the firewall myself. Good thing sheet steel is relatively cheap

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Took me about 4 hours today to patch the edges of the tranny tunnel cover with 22 guage steel sheeting. The lighter guage steel really tests the limits of my welding skills. After all the patching was done and ground down I put a skim coat of JB-Weld on it to smooth it out. I'll coat this whole tunnel cover with POR-15 paint or similar to seal it from ever rusting again. Then when I get around to painting the whole vehicle back to Rustic Green, it will get painted as well of course.

 

[suzuguru]

That thin stuff that's rusted is the worst. It's nearly impossible to weld. If you can, it helps to put some copper pipe behind it while you're welding.

 

[pb4ugo]

I tried to use that 22ga stuff 1st and gave up. I kept blowing holes thru it and found it to be too weak. I even tried loading my welder with 025 wire and it wouldn't push it thru the whip. I remade the hump mounting flange and a portion of the side out of 16ga.

 

[CruisinGA]

I didn’t see if you mentioned what size wire you are running, but In my experience running .024 wire makes a big difference in thin sheet welding capability. As @pb4ugo mentuined It is a little more finicky but my Miller 170 pushes it just fine.

All that said I don’t think I have ever gone to 22ga but if I was id want every advantage I could get.

 

[JohnnyC]

I’ve been driving my 40 for 30 years … quite a many were in VT at 0 and -15 as well as a few -20’s

It had started …things that WILL help

Dual batteries
60 series type starter
In-line water heater aka block warmer
Good ground to block
To name a few

I used to run 20w50 in vt

I had since moved back to ny been running 15w40 … last few years I started running 15 in summer and 10w30 or 40 in winter depending on sale lol

Less struggle to get started with the lower weight

What oil are you using?

 

[JohnnyC]

You may already know most of these:

Winterization techniques for the 40

What have you done for winterization of your 40 in order to drive it during winter? For us idiots who DD or drive around during the cold weather :) Here are a few things I do (#1-8) (lived in upper north east my whole life as well as upper north western kingdom VT , grand isle -20 regularly)...

forum.ih8mud.com