Builds Pete the Old Prospector

[majdomo]

Was able to start the brake inspection this afternoon, started with the front passenger side. This was impossible to pull off yesterday, but some fire and a BFH made quick work of it. Here's the mess:

The rears both looked great, no problems at all which is awesome. Will have to pull the front driver's side tomorrow morning.

Trying very hard to not throw parts at this one, but the passenger front will probably need everything. Since the driver front is the one that locks up easily, I'm guessing that one will be fine too. Debating if I do the knuckle rebuild along with the brake job, maybe someone with experience on front drums can offer some advice. EDIT - looks like I need to tear down the brakes when doing the knuckle job, so may be best to do them together.

 

[majdomo]

Alrighty... dropped the 3-speed plus transfer case off with Mark @65swb45, and caught up with him for a bit yesterday morning. I didn't know this, but Mark can get you just about any part you need, not just the rare stuff that comes from his impressive stash of Cruiser parts, but anything that you would get from any other vendor. Plus you get the benefit of his advice and years and years of experience working on these machines. Awesome to know and glad to support!

Ok - so tonight just started with installing the original ignition switch in the rig. Local locksmith was able to make a key, but of course someone had messed with it previously and the key doesn't work with the door or rear hatch. Maybe that is by design, who knows, but I now need to pull one of the door cylinders to get a key made for those. Ugh. Anyway.

Then it was positioning the rig to get ready for the knuckle and wheel cylinder rebuild jamboree. I pulled out the bleeder bucket, and was like "maybe I'll just get one or two done tonight," lol. Drained the reservoirs, and had my son help with pumping the brakes to push all the old fluid out the bleeders. Proceeded to then pull the booster and master, which was easy. Mark will be rebuilding the booster, and I'll be rebuilding the master with a kit that he had in stock. Cruiser Bros / Valley Hybrids stickers are waiting to go on the 62 @orangefj45.

A look at the master. This is most likely original, it still has the set screw in the body. Mark's advice - note which parts go in front of the set screw, and which ones come after.

And the booster. Doesn't look bad from this angle, no obvious leaking on the diaphragm. However, I did a vacuum check just before pulling it all apart, and it dropped significantly every time I hit the brakes in the garage, we'll get to the bottom of it.

That's it for now. After working on the rusty-a$$ 62, it's SO NICE to be working on a dry desert rig.

 

[21NDone]

I got my blue/yellow plates from Dave'sCLP or you can find plates at any car show vendor. He guarantees his plates to be good. Then you can register them under CA DMV's YOM-Year Of Manufacture program. Pretty easy to do. Just have to have a correct year (for your LC) sticker attached to plate which he also sells.

“Dave'sCLP”?

 

[majdomo]

Dave's California License Plates. Here's the link, the business remained in his family after his passing.

 

[Living in the Past]

Where was this 72 located? Arizona is probably one of the worst states as far as emissions depending on what part of the state you live in. Phoenix/Tucson areas anything from 1967 on requires emissions. The rest of the state has no emissions. That style license was the first time AZ issued a new style plate it was required to replace the previous plate. Years ago a license plate stayed with vehicle when sold. My 89 FJ62 was a couple years old plate came with the original which it still has today. My 73 FJ40 came with the original plates issued in 1973. In Arizona I will be allowed to use those plate again. Unlike all the specialty plates AZ now has that come with an extra annual fee those plates have no extra fee. Have plates that matchy cruiser's build dates I could use in Arizona.

 

[RevISK]

Following.

Cool ass truck. Amazing stash of stuff too.

 

[majdomo]

Where was this 72 located? Arizona is probably one of the worst states as far as emissions depending on what part of the state you live in. Phoenix/Tucson areas anything from 1967 on requires emissions. The rest of the state has no emissions. That style license was the first time AZ issued a new style plate it was required to replace the previous plate. Years ago a license plate stayed with vehicle when sold. My 89 FJ62 was a couple years old plate came with the original which it still has today. My 73 FJ40 came with the original plates issued in 1973. In Arizona I will be allowed to use those plate again. Unlike all the specialty plates AZ now has that come with an extra annual fee those plates have no extra fee. Have plates that matchy cruiser's build dates I could use in Arizona.
View attachment 3615549

Nice rigs man! Is that a 45 hauling kitty litter?

Fairly sure it was in Bagdad (Freeport-McMoRan company town!), but will confirm when I get home. His address was on a few of the parts he ordered from Man-A-Fre when they were still in CA. EDIT - confirmed Bagdad, AZ.

Interesting about AZ emissions, had no idea the metro areas were really strict like that. Kalifornia of course is silly too...

 

[Roastchestnuts]

More photos:

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The plan is to just take my time and do a bit of a cooling system baseline, check the brakes, and figure out what to do with all these spares. But overall, pretty excited and feeling really lucky to find one in good original condition like this.

EDIT - where I just happened to unroll the topo map corresponds to the border between Mohave and Yavapai County on US 93, which Google Maps says is a place called Nothing, AZ. So awesome!

this is a really cool rig!

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Heh! Some of the new old stock parts have the guy's name and address, will have to look up where he was. The map is pretty rad. I have no idea what to do with it other than roll it up and protect it.

Yep, would guess the same. I have no interest in taking the top off, either. The miner put some industrial pile carpet between the straps and the body. I'm undecided if they stay on or come off, so I think that means they stay for now.

get that mapped framed and keep it as garage art. Has a fantastic story.

 

[majdomo]

Starting right in on the brake cylinder rebuilds. Got the front passenger side done last night, no issues and all is good even though they were leaking like a sieve. Lots of crud to clean up, looking forward to that knuckle job...

Got going after the driver's front, and noticed that there's a dust shield around the adjuster on these, unlike the front passenger side. Wondering if the passenger side is just an older design? Rebuild kit comes with both boots and a cup for each cylinder, but ended up not using the adjuster boot on the passenger front because there wasn't one to begin with. The threaded part of the adjuster goes all the way through the "piston" part of the adjuster on that side, whereas it doesn't go all the way through on the ones with the boot. They both have a Teq mark on the body. A visual, the completed passenger side on the right, disassembled driver's side on the left.

The driver's front rear adjuster is completely frozen. I've tried fire, big pliers and a vise, and PB and nothing is getting it to move, which may mean that cylinder is toast. I don't think you can get adjusters on their own, either. Oh well.

Ignition key B-plot continues. Took the driver door lock to the same locksmith that I visited with the ignition switch, and he was able to re-pin the driver's lock to match the ignition and gave me another copy of the key. Unfortunately that now means the rear hatch doesn't match the door and ignition, but I'll try to get around to the rear lock sometime down the line. The lift handle is now jammed however, no idea how that happened, but at least no one is getting into the rig! Door lock is reinstalled, that clip is a pain in the a$$. Used some long thin pliers to get it in place, then pushed it down with a standard screwdriver once it was in position.

Drove my '70 2002 to his shop this morning, and parked it next to an '89 E30 which happened to belong to his son, who's been fixing it up. Got talking about cars, my old 318is, recommendations for a driveshaft shop, and ended up only paying $5 for the re-pin and extra key.

Next up - master cylinder rebuild!

 

[pb4ugo]

Looks like you're doing a great job. I'm pretty sure the wheel cylinders should have dust boots on both ends.

 

[majdomo]

Looks like you're doing a great job. I'm pretty sure the wheel cylinders should have dust boots on both ends.

Thanks! Agreed and the rest of the ones on the rig have them, but the cylinder on the right literally isn't designed for one. Mine is a 5/72 build date, wondering if they used a mix of parts back in the day. Some other Mudders have found the same, but not many, guess it's just what they grabbed from the parts bin that day.

 

[majdomo]

Busy day of rebuilding the master, which wasn't difficult but was a bit tedious. Requires shop air to get the pistons out though, very much like rebuilding brake calipers. There was a bit of pitting on the bore, but not in an area that seals up. And brake fluid still spewed everywhere in spite of my best efforts to not have that happen, note the dripping nastiness on the junk parts can in the picture below. That piston shot out across the shop with some kick. The kit had everything I needed in it, mid-rebuild:

And done.

Next up was starting the knuckle rebuild. I got through the passenger side teardown today, it never ceases to amaze me how gross this job is. I've done it three times and it's still a shock how many paper towels I go through. The knuckle itself looked good, plenty of good moly grease and no soup (at least, not on the passenger side). The outside however was caked in that grease / brake fluid / dirt cement that you only find on parts that have been leaking for decades. Got after that with a chisel and hammer, still need to hit everything with parts cleaner. Managed to bork the tie rod end castle nut, eventually it came off without wrecking the tie rod end itself. Hoping to get the passenger side and driver's side teardown complete tomorrow.

 

[majdomo]

Knuckle job finished, brake rebuilds are done as far as they can go, need to buy one more brake cylinder after seeing that the very last one I had to rebuild was completely and irretrievably frozen. That can wait a few days, will get the brake booster back from Mark sometime this week.

Got after a slow cranking issue this morning. I test fired it yesterday and noticed that it cranked super slow, and that the metal choke cable housing was getting extremely hot. I've watched a LOT of Roadkill and RKG, and this reminded me of one episode where one of the guys (Finnegan? Dulcich?) failed to ground the starter to the frame and absolutely smoked the throttle cable on one of their builds. Went looking for another way for the voltages to get to earths, and found none. A quick trip to the parts store and it was cranking much better and firing right up as usual. It could probably still use one more ground from block to frame, but this is fine for now.

The most not exciting photo ever. I cleaned up that spot on the frame with a wire brush before attaching. I would note that there was a star washer just underneath that bolt on the frame, which suggests my PO didn't put a ground back where it belongs when they did the engine and starter work. Glad it was a simple fix.

With any luck, this will be back on the road by the weekend. I have until the 19th before my temp registration expires...

 

[majdomo]

Slouching toward completion here. Picked up the booster and a new wheel cylinder from Mark @65swb45 this afternoon. Mark was kind enough to set the pushrod length using his SST, so that I don't have to guesstimate it while in the rig. Came back from the shop NOT painted as requested

Fixed up a few odds and ends, including fixing the reverse light (bad ground) and the license plate light (bad ground, lots of dirt in the lens).

Also, key B-plot continues. Got the rear tailgate lock re-pinned to match the other two locks, which works great. However, I managed to drop the damn thing from a pretty decent height as I was trying to reinstall, which snapped off the end of the lock that seats in the little tab that moves into the slot on the handle. So it sits now with some JBWeld and a prayer. We'll see.

Last thing was probably most important, picked up one for the 40 and one for the 62. Mark was very generous with his time today and always. Mark - if you have a minute please drop me a PM with the name of that book you mentioned, so I can get reading.

Reading up on the booster / master reinstall, it's in the rig but just loosely, probably will need to come back out as I have to adjust the clevis block to match up to the brake pedal. Still aiming for the weekend, maybe cars and coffee on Saturday AM if we are lucky and I get some play time on Friday.

 

[65swb45]

John, it doesn’t get much more ironic. I just walked past the bellhousing you left in my driveway two weeks ago, and guess what I spied?

 

[65swb45]

 

[majdomo]

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lolololol!!! Hey I might need that, +50 HP at least!

 

[majdomo]

Been a rough time getting these brakes to bleed. Had a blockage (lol) on the front passenger side front wheel cylinder, which boiled down to a bad bleeder and crud in the hard line from the junction above the knuckle to the cylinder. Blew all of that out with some brake cleaner again and that side was good. Running into the same problem on the driver's rear side, the hard line between the two cylinders has a small kink in it right at the fitting, which may be causing problems since the bleeder seems to be fine.

Adjusting these has also been an adventure. FSM says to adjust until there's no movement, then back it off 5 clicks, which is way too much. 1.5-2 clicks seems to do it nicely, I was able to lock up the passenger front and just need to adjust the driver front to the same amount. Rears are already adjusted to that level, but have air in the lines.

I'm also trying to sort out whether a mechanical advance distributor can be used on my truck. The distributor on there now is making some rattling noise and the ball is jumping around all over the place when trying to time. I swapped out the rotor, which seemed to help, but would rather just swap distributors and go from there.

 

[RevISK]

Been a rough time getting these brakes to bleed. Had a blockage (lol) on the front passenger side front wheel cylinder, which boiled down to a bad bleeder and crud in the hard line from the junction above the knuckle to the cylinder. Blew all of that out with some brake cleaner again and that side was good. Running into the same problem on the driver's rear side, the hard line between the two cylinders has a small kink in it right at the fitting, which may be causing problems since the bleeder seems to be fine.

Adjusting these has also been an adventure. FSM says to adjust until there's no movement, then back it off 5 clicks, which is way too much. 1.5-2 clicks seems to do it nicely, I was able to lock up the passenger front and just need to adjust the driver front to the same amount. Rears are already adjusted to that level, but have air in the lines.

I'm also trying to sort out whether a mechanical advance distributor can be used on my truck. The distributor on there now is making some rattling noise and the ball is jumping around all over the place when trying to time. I swapped out the rotor, which seemed to help, but would rather just swap distributors and go from there.

Have you adjusted your valves? That or or a funky plug/wire.