!OY Coolermans 2/71 Build

[apeterson]

sucks to hear about that... for red valve cover it does not look that bad...

I will look for that hose... cant remember if I had 2 of them or not... not sure, but worth a look for ya...

 

[Coolerman]

sucks to hear about that... for red valve cover it does not look that bad...

I will look for that hose... cant remember if I had 2 of them or not... not sure, but worth a look for ya...

Not the hose, the low pressure nipple on the box... see pic...

 

[apeterson]

yea... I knew what you ment...

 

[Trollhole]

No big update, and no I have not started it yet. On going family medical issues have kept me from working on it regularly.

However, I did get the front of the engine put back together, and NO WATER LEAKS!

I also had a disaster with powder coating the valve cover. The wife decided that red anodized was the way to go... so... Saturday morning I prepped the cover for coating. Wiped it down with Xylene, out gassed it for one hour at 550 degrees, let it cool and wiped it down again. Normally to use the red anodized, I first coat the piece with a xtreme chrome then while it is still hot, apply the red. Since the cover is already polished, I decided to coat the valve cover cold. Big mistake...

The powder would not stick to the polished surface like I was used to other powders doing. I made several adjustments to the gun, and finally got, what I thought, was a good coat of powder on the cover. Into the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, let it cool and when i brought it out I was really disappointed. There were several places where the coating was not thick enough and the aluminum was showing through.

I decided I would re-heat the valve cover to about 350 degrees, spray on another coat of red and let it finish curing at 400 degrees. So... back into the oven, heat it up, spray on a THICK coat of red, which partially melted so stuck really well and back into the oven to cure.

That's when the disaster hit.... We lost power to the whole house....

It was out for over an hour, which allowed the valve cover to cool to the point the partially melted powder solidified. It had a wrinkled texture. I thought I could just re-heat the part and cause it to flow out, but that did not work.

The pic shows how it turned out. I will have the chrome acorn nuts on there later. The wife actually likes the 'textured' surface, but it does not match the other pieces. I got on the web and ordered some powder stripper from Eastwood Co. If the cover grows on me, I'll leave it be. Otherwise I will strip it and re-do it. This time I'll give it a coat of extreme chrome then apply the red while it's hot.

If that wasn't enough to ruin my day, I lost the long, low pressure nipple, on the mini-truck power steering box. So now I have to find one of those before I can hook up the pump so I can start the engine... If you have one of those I'lll buy it from you...

Sorry to hear about the issue with the powder. Glad you went with the red though.

 

[apeterson]

cooler.... do you HAVE to take your wifes advice??? or do you CHOOSE to??? that is the real question we all want to know.. wonder what else she is going to make you do to the cruiser... huh.... maybe we should start a poll.. hahaha..

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Try this page on my web site:

Rear Sill Replacement

It details exactly how I made this part.

Thanks very much!!! Good work on it also that is the route i will go!

 

[bsmith123]

start up probs

Sorry to hear about your start up probs, I had similar issues. I used the 1f pump so could not hook up the hose from the cooler to the pump. I meant to cap it but didnt and pumped water everywhere tonight.

Then I noticed my carb was leaking fuel from around the accel pump---there were stains there from days when it was a slower leak.


Next I put on the muffler cause when I cranked it before to see if it would fire it was too loud---well it is still loud only the header exh gasket is leaking


so now the carb and dizzy are going off to Jim C so I can fix the rest while its gone I had hoped to run it until it warmed up just to check everything out but I dont have a gas pedal linkage or choke yet so it is hard to keep it going but it fires up pretty quick.


I guess why should everything go easy for us now?

 

[Dirtys87]

Been lurking on this build of yours. You are A god amongst men! To see what you started with and what you have now is mind blowing. Good luck!

 

[Coolerman]

cooler.... do you HAVE to take your wifes advice??? or do you CHOOSE to??? that is the real question we all want to know.. wonder what else she is going to make you do to the cruiser... huh.... maybe we should start a poll.. hahaha..

Excuse #1. I have been married to this for 25 years and don't regret a minute of it. Every man knows that if the wife is happy, the man is happy. If it means letting her make some decisions on this build to make her happy, then so be it.

Excuse #2. I'm one of those poor slobs not blessed with the color matching gene. You know the one, it makes sure you don't go out to dinner with green slacks and a blue shirt? Well I was born without that gene. I have NO concept of color matching or color balancing. THAT'S what wives are for!

Since I will drive the Cruiser, I will choose the body color, hard to go wrong here! .

I'm down to four colors: Desert Sand, Dune Beige, Sea Foam Green (It's original color) or Military drab (it's current color)

I sort of like the idea of a drab vehicle on the outside, and a nice, dressed up engine under the hood. Sort of a Jekyll and Hyde truck.

Just need Matt's engine under the hood.

 

[Coolerman]

Sorry to hear about your start up probs, I had similar issues. I used the 1f pump so could not hook up the hose from the cooler to the pump. I meant to cap it but didn't and pumped water everywhere tonight.

Then I noticed my carb was leaking fuel from around the accel pump---there were stains there from days when it was a slower leak.


Next I put on the muffler cause when I cranked it before to see if it would fire it was too loud---well it is still loud only the header exh gasket is leaking


so now the carb and dizzy are going off to Jim C so I can fix the rest while its gone I had hoped to run it until it warmed up just to check everything out but I don't have a gas pedal linkage or choke yet so it is hard to keep it going but it fires up pretty quick.


I guess why should everything go easy for us now?

My big fear is the timing cover leaking. When I powder coated it a bit of solder leaked out. Yes, solder. The seal holder is apparently soldered to the timing cover. Not much came out but it will be my luck it will spew oil everywhere when I start it.

Today, after some last minute Xmas shopping, I'm going to clean my whole shop while looking for that damn nipple. If I can't find it I guess I will just take the belt off the PS pump so I can at least get it running.

 

[apeterson]

hard to beat that sea foam green color.... plus it is light enough should be easy to spray... well so will both those tan colors also.... I vote no on olive... been done too many times, and hacked up too much...

 

[Coolerman]

Well after someone in another thread started making me feel guilty for apparently not getting anything done on the Cruiser for months, I decided to show that I have been making some progress.

What you see is a 2/71 wiring harness mounted to a 4x8 sheet of plywood and stripped of all electrical tape. Yes it is sticky, gooey, electrical tape and it is OEM. The adhesive from the tape had 'melted' onto the wires and created quite a mess.

I have complained for years that the schematics for the late 60's and early 70's FJ40's are pretty generic. The wire colors actually used vs. what the schematics shows is irritatingly wrong and the way they are drawn vs. the newer schematics is enough to make your eyes cross.

So... I am documenting MY harness in it's OEM state. Then, while I have it on the table, I am going to add the wiring that I will need later including moving the alternator to the passenger side, upgrading to larger wires in certain circuits, adding more fuses for better protection to existing wiring and adding ground wires to most of the lights that now rely on chassis ground to function. Then I will replace most of the pins in the existing connectors with new ones and finally completely fabricate the rear harness form the gas tank back as it is MIA.

Just waiting for Poser to send me an example to go by...

Then I will tape it all back up with a non adhesive harness tape and put it in a box until I am ready to install it.

 

[johnkappus]

Wow Cooler

You are certainly leaving no stone un-turned on this build!

And the great thing is that you have shared so much of the detail for others to learn from..


Great Job!!!!

Cant wait to see how your crusier turns out

 

[bsmith123]

oy!

Nice to see a post on Oy! again

well it looks like the patient is on the table ready for surgery Doc

 

[Coolerman]

I am actually amazed at the differences between the schematics and the actual wiring. There are splices inside the harness I had no idea existed.

And some weird mysteries...

Example: I saw tape wrapped around a red wire but it was not a splice (no second wire coming out) so I took the tape off thinking PO cut the wire or something. What I found was this: the wire had been "circumcised" and there was this little stub of a wire sticking out. It's almost like a shield wire in a shielded cable... It's not a broken piece of wire pulled out of the wire bundle, it's a separate wire. I thought maybe it was a 'tap' into the larger wire. Who knows...

The splices are well done. They used a unique crimp that is basically a type of butt connector. The crimps are well made but then they just taped them up. No heat shrink back then...

Oh and the 'dirt' on the wires is that damn adhesive that has collected, well, dirt...

 

[IDave]

Ain't it fun?

 

[Coolerman]

It's like Christmas man! All the colors!




Running together... spliced together... melted together... labeled wrong together, but when I'm done I will have the most accurate 2/71 schematic on the planet.

 

[Rick '79 FJ40]

Oh and the 'dirt' on the wires is that damn adhesive that has collected, well, dirt...

I replaced the tape under the hood with Flexloom, similar to what they use in new cars. It makes it easier to troubleshoot the wires in the future and doesn't contribute to the "sticky mess".

I keep thinking that some industrious soul could probably make some good money if they replicated the old harnesses with newer tech wire and heat shrink tubing, etc. It would be great if it had all of the original wire colors and stripes, just with larger gauge wire and maybe even some relays, where appropriate...

 

[fj hunter]

skip Christams ...

its like Easter. All the colored eggs.

Let the thing rise again, man.

 

[Coolerman]

I replaced the tape under the hood with Flexloom, similar to what they use in new cars. It makes it easier to troubleshoot the wires in the future and doesn't contribute to the "sticky mess".

I keep thinking that some industrious soul could probably make some good money if they replicated the old harnesses with newer tech wire and heat shrink tubing, etc. It would be great if it had all of the original wire colors and stripes, just with larger gauge wire and maybe even some relays, where appropriate...

I'm seriously looking into doing this. Lots more research to do...

To be honest I think the PVC OEM wire is fine as long as the under hood stuff is protected with heat resistance coverings. It's still fully functional in most of our unmolested 30+ year old vehicles.