Builds New Alaskan FJ40 intro thread

[Aussie Alaskan]

This is a fun thread to follow. Thanks for sharing.
How well did the Cruiser Corps paint match? It’s hard to tell in the photo but it appears to be a different shade unless that’s just lighting differences and phone rendering.

Ian

The paint from cruiser corp is close, but not an exact match unfortunately. It's slightly more gray than the original paint. Works for my engine bay, but it would be a visible difference on the exterior of the rig.
That being said, my rigs original paint is 45 years old and faded somewhat potentially, so I cannot say for sure that the cruiser corp paint isn't correct for what the OEM paint was originally.
Thanks for following!

 

[RevISK]

The paint from cruiser corp is close, but not an exact match unfortunately. It's slightly more gray than the original paint. Works for my engine bay, but it would be a visible difference on the exterior of the rig.
That being said, my rigs original paint is 45 years old and faded somewhat potentially, so I cannot say for sure that the cruiser corp paint isn't correct for what the OEM paint was originally.
Thanks for following!

Thank you for the reply. I'll probably take the fuel door or something to a PPG or Tasco store to see if they can match along with the paint code (T621) to try and get some 2k rattle cans. I am far from the full paint stage, just need to hit patches and ground off rust bubble that are just premiered now.

Looking forward to following along.

Ian

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Ok, just got back from an extended work trip down to the States and am back to tinkering with my FJ40. When I left the state, I had a new head and manifold gasket ordered and a valve job done on my head and ready to be reinstalled. Upon returning home, I installed both the new head gasket and the manifold gasket and after bolting everything back to torque I did a compression test.
The compression numbers were horrendous!! (5-25psi) I could hear pressure escaping into the crank case from several of the cylinders after cranking. I then squirted some WD-40 into the cylinders thru the spark plug hole and redid the test. Still pretty bad (75-90psi. I then squirted some leftover gear oil (from the tranny into the cylinders and cranked again. Boom! Good compression finally! (130-145psi for most and 165psi on cylinder #5)
Now that my compression numbers are much better I know the valve job I did worked. Not sure why the rings were leaking so badly, but they really haven't had time to set into the honed cylinders yet and were left for a month without oil...
Anyways, it runs far better with much more power and torque. I can creep the vehicle forward or backwards now without touching the gas whereas before it would almost instantly stall without high RPMs, and would burn the clutch plate.
It starts decently now when the engine is cold. 2 pumps of the gas pedal, full choke and a few seconds of cranking and it fires up. Sluggish, but it starts. Seems to prefer less than full choke since it seems to be bogged down when first starting until I go to half choke and it smooths out.
But... Hot starts are another matter. After running for 20-30 minutes and shutting the engine off. It is nearly impossible to restart. Starter cranks fine. Engine spins fine. It sputters but won't fire. I've tried the FSM hot start procedure, but it doesnt help. It's definitely heavily gassed and likely flooded from the smell, but the hot start procedure should fix that, so it's confusing. I'm wondering if it's an ignition issue that only rears its ugly head on a warm engine?
After 45 minutes I can give it two pumps, full choke and 5 seconds later it starts right up.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

I set the air fuel mixture screw in conjunction with the idle speed screw per the FSM, and it's timed so that the steel BB is at the bottom of the little view window, so slightly advanced. I'll do more observation and testing tonight, but would appreciate thoughts from the community. Im wondering if my coil (new 12v internally resisted), no ignitor, and new fully electronic magnetic pickup dizzy setup is not supplying a hot enuf spark to ignite a super rich/flooded mixture.

Thoughts?

 

[FJ907Warrior]

I set the air fuel mixture screw in conjunction with the idle speed screw per the FSM, and it's timed so that the steel BB is at the bottom of the little view window, so slightly advanced. I'll do more observation and testing tonight, but would appreciate thoughts from the community. Im wondering if my coil (new 12v internally resisted), no ignitor, and new fully electronic magnetic pickup dizzy setup is not supplying a hot enuf spark to ignite a super rich/flooded mixture.

Thoughts

Ah, good ol' carburetors...

Try flooring the gas pedal next time this happens, and it doesn't start up hot.
DO NOT pump the gas, floor it and hold while cranking, when it starts let up on the pedal.

When hot, fuel can sipen out into the manifold (I believe from the idle circuit) causing a extremely rich condition.

(Don't know if this is the FSM Process you mention or not)

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Ah, good ol' carburetors...

Try flooring the gas pedal next time this happens, and it doesn't start up hot.
DO NOT pump the gas, floor it and hold while cranking, when it starts let up on the pedal.

When hot, fuel can sipen out into the manifold (I believe from the idle circuit) causing a extremely rich condition.

(Don't know if this is the FSM Process you mention or not)

Yes sir. I've tried that and it does not work.

That's what the FSM calls for on a hot engine.

 

[FJ907Warrior]

Yes sir. I've tried that and it does not work.

That's what the FSM calls for on a hot engine.

Carby is clogged somewhere

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Carby is clogged somewhere

I really appreciate the responses @FJ907Warrior.

Since the vehicle idles fine, drives fine and starts (cold) fine. How could it be the carburetor? I've got it idling in my driveway right now waiting for it to get up to temp so that I can test out the hot restart after cleaning up my engine ground connections. Imo (whatever that's worth) the carb is operating normally.

 

[FJ907Warrior]

I really appreciate the responses @FJ907Warrior.

Since the vehicle idles fine, drives fine and starts (cold) fine. How could it be the carburetor? I've got it idling in my driveway right now waiting for it to get up to temp so that I can test out the hot restart after cleaning up my engine ground connections. Imo (whatever that's worth) the carb is operating normally.

Something is clogged or stuck. I don't honestly know this specific carburetor well enough. But I would lean towards something stuck open in idle, or secondary jet.

But that is in all honesty just what it's sounding like to me.

I don't think it's ignition.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Took this pig out for it's longest drive in who knows how many decades. About 8 miles to and from a friend's house. Didn't remove any of my tools/bolts/supplies from the back so the whole drive they were all rattling around, but overall it was quieter than I expected. Top speed for this short drive was 40 mph I'm guessing since my speedo/odometer isn't working even after installing a new cable.

Never shut it off since I knew I couldn't restart it for about 45 minutes once it was warmed up.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Really would be nice to figure out why it starts hard when cold (5 seconds of cranking at full choke and 2 pumps) and won't start at all when hot. I'm about to experiment with disconnecting the idle solenoid and letting the vehicle siphon all the gas it can before dying to see if that helps me restart it within a few minutes. Should relieve the likelihood of it flooding itself upon shutdown, but I'm open to ideas.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Had the FJ40 shut off on me as I was coasting to a stop and I suspected it was a blocked idle circuit. So I pulled out the idle solenoid and sprayed it with cleaner and compressed air. Did the same down the idle mixture screw hole. Seemed to fix the non-idle issue. That's the 2nd or 3rd time it's happened, but I've never changed the original steel fuel filter so that was the next fix. Went down to the local auto store and picked up a clear plastic filter. This is a temporary filter, so that I can see how dirty it gets and how quickly.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Changed the differential fluids. The rear differential was okish, while the front dif came out like old molasses. I also got around to checking my vacuum at 750 rpm and 400 ft elevation. Just under 21 PSI of vacuum from the brake booster line. Next I checked my oil pressure manually since the sending unit either isn't working or the wiring is shorted somewhere. About 40 PSI of oil pressure. I hadn't worried about the oil pressure since it was coming out up top by the valves so I knew (assumed) it was good but it's good to verify my assumption before too much driving around.

 

[FJ907Warrior]

Had the FJ40 shut off on me as I was coasting to a stop and I suspected it was a blocked idle circuit. So I pulled out the idle solenoid and sprayed it with cleaner and compressed air. Did the same down the idle mixture screw hole. Seemed to fix the non-idle issue. That's the 2nd or 3rd time it's happened, but I've never changed the original steel fuel filter so that was the next fix. Went down to the local auto store and picked up a clear plastic filter. This is a temporary filter, so that I can see how dirty it gets and how quickly.

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Was it super dirty? Obvious clog?

Getting consistent voltage at the idle solenoid?

1wire grounds through the carb, past the insolator via the mount bolts, doesn't hurt to throw a ground strap on the base.
I have the two wire on mine, not by choice, but it does allow me to ground it directly to the block.

 

[mattressking]

I'd pop that carb open and inspect every orifice. Most of the low budget repro's have issues with casting flaws, chunks of metal, dropped emulsifier tubes, misaligned secondary passages. Then make sure your solenoid is reliably clicking everytime you connect to power.

While it is open make sure the float is set at 6mm and 1.1mm respectively and that the float actually floats (check in a glass of water).

Then pull the emulsifiers/venturis out and make sure the tube isn't dropped in the body. I've seen that more than once on repros.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Pulled the entire rear wiring harness out and laid it out in my garage. Stripped all of the tape off, rewired, traced, reconnected and retaped the entire thing. A bit of a chore! But hey! All of my rear lights work now except the revers lights. The reverse lights seems to be on continuously. Could this be a bad tranny reverse switch? I put it in reverse (not running) and the lights didn't discernable change, and just stayed on continuously.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Pulled my gauge cluster out again today for seemingly the 50th time. My speedometer doesn't work and I also needed to test my oil pressure gauge. I tested the oil pressure gauge with a 9V battery and it works. Now I'm sure it's a wiring or sending unit issue.
Then I moved on to testing my speedometer. It seems to work fine with no stripped gears or anything else wrong. It actually looks really good inside. Fresh factory grease still shining.
While I had everything apart I went ahead and cleaned it all up, took a black marker to a few rust spots and it looks, while not brand new, far better.
I also took the opportunity to spray paint the front face/bezel. Once that's dry it'll all get put back together and will look shiny and out of place in my dash until I paint the whole rig.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Was it super dirty? Obvious clog?

Getting consistent voltage at the idle solenoid?

1wire grounds through the carb, past the insolator via the mount bolts, doesn't hurt to throw a ground strap on the base.
I have the two wire on mine, not by choice, but it does allow me to ground it directly to the block.

Wasn't super dirty. In fact the idle solenoid looked sparkly clean. I couldnt see any clog in the idle mixture screw hole, but I assumed the clog was somewhere in there and blew it out well, sprayed carb cleaner down into it and then blew it out well again. Same ritual for both ends of the idle circuit and idle solenoid end.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

I'd pop that carb open and inspect every orifice. Most of the low budget repro's have issues with casting flaws, chunks of metal, dropped emulsifier tubes, misaligned secondary passages. Then make sure your solenoid is reliably clicking everytime you connect to power.

While it is open make sure the float is set at 6mm and 1.1mm respectively and that the float actually floats (check in a glass of water).

Then pull the emulsifiers/venturis out and make sure the tube isn't dropped in the body. I've seen that more than once on repros.

My cleaning/blowing seemed to clear my idle circuit blockage, but my fuel level is a bit low and so I do need to open the carb back up at some point. Not looking forward to that. I'll do what you recommend while I've got it opened up.

what are the emulsifier tubes? What do you mean by dropped in the body?

My FJ40 runs like a top, but if you've been following my thread you've seen it starts hard and won't start at all when warm. Probably a carb related issue, but I'm pretty ignorant where carbs are concerned.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Got my guage cluster all put back together and took it for a 40 mile drive. My oil guage is still low and I'll need to try to adjust the range of the indicator arm, and my speedometer still doesn't work, but I figured out why and have ordered a larger driven gear for it. The 6x17 I previously ordered didn't fully mesh with the drive gear, and so I'm hoping the larger diameter 6x18 driven gear will solve my problem with the speedo. It won't be accurate, but I couldn't find a 6x17 drive gear for sale anywhere.