Builds Pete the Old Prospector

[majdomo]

Short project for today. Noticed that the rig was leaning out when coming uphill, thought that I hadn't changed the fuel filter and that maybe this was part of the problem. I had the glass bowl filter from the '68 bottom end that was included in the parts haul, so wanted to get that going with a new filter element.

Notice however how it's sits in the bowl. This doesn't look right.

What's missing is this guy. Which is not included in the element kit, by the way.

I ended up cutting a few coils off this to get the top to seat and seal, but this worked nicely for $2 from Ace. I also bought a bib to convert the inlet side from a screw-on to a barb fitting, so that's all done.

I added 1/4 turn to the idle mix screw, and that seemed to help a bunch along with the new filter. Test drive up the hill had a lot more power according to the butt dyne and no lean coughing or hesitating.

Pulled the flywheel inspection cover to get at my oil leak, and the good news is that it doesn't appear to be from the RMS. I have the gasket on order from the dealership, will replace that probably next week. I also ran the speedo cable attached to the speedometer using a drill, and my son is saying that the needle dances around the same way whether it's driven by the drill or the trans, which means that it's probably the speedometer. Will have to research that some more as well.

 

[pb4ugo]

Usually it's the speedo cable binding against the sheath. You might try pulling the inner cable out of the speedo cable sheath/case and greasing it?

 

[majdomo]

Usually it's the speedo cable binding against the sheath. You might try pulling the inner cable out of the speedo cable sheath/case and greasing it?

Yeah, that was what I was hoping for - I pulled the speedo cable and greased it last weekend with no change. I pulled apart the odometer last night, cleaned off all the dried-up lube, re-greased and reinstalled with still no change. Followed this tech article for the procedure, which was great. The gears from the speedo to the odometer are all gummed up too, but I can't see how to pull them apart without possibly wrecking the speedo. Plastic worm gears may also be toast. In touch with @JVZii on what might be wrong and possible rebuild.

 

[JVZii]

I uploaded a video to YouTube that shows some troubleshooting steps to see if you speedo is bad.

It may help. @majdomo sent you a message as well.

 

[majdomo]

Was able to spend a little bit of time yesterday pulling the speedo back out, and taking a look at all the moving parts that connect it to the odometer. Thanks to the video above, I was able to determine that the speedo likely wasn't busted, but the lube on the worm gears and sprocket was so glued up that it was preventing the odometer from moving. Once I pulled it apart (again), was able to take out all the old lube, reinstall and the odometer now works with the speedometer reading a steady rate. If this didn't work it was definitely going in the box over to @JVZii as a core.

I did bend the little shaft back to straight before reinstalling the speedo needle. Here's the shaft that goes between that back worm gear and the sprocket, I cleaned a bunch of goo out of both:

Speedometer reads about 10 mph too high, however, at lower speeds. Tires are 225s on 15" wheels and should be close-ish to stock, if anything they are probably a little bigger and so should read slower. Will want to take it out a little more and make some notes comparing to GPS. I'm not sure if the trans and transfer case on the rig are original to the truck - these may have belonged to the '68 bottom end, and thus might have a smaller driven gear in the transfer case. I haven't done a search to see which trucks were paired with which driven gears, etc. Adding it to the list.

Did some other odds and ends yesterday, tried to get the rear heater going, noticed that the front fan is connected to the second H switch and is plugged in backwards - first detent is high, second detent is low, so that's wrong. First switch does nothing, so I have some digging around under the dash to look forward to. Having fun.

 

[majdomo]

A little rear fan tech this morning. Was able to get under the dash a little and figure out what was going on with my rear fan switch, turns out it was just very dirty and gummed up. Took it apart, cleaned with some electronic cleaner, scuffed the copper contacts with red Scotchbrite, and then reassembled with dielectric grease and the switch works just fine. PO replaced the fan, but left me with bare leads on the ends. Here's the part number, I can't seem to find this p/n anywhere but it works fine... EDIT - corresponds to 87104-87003, which is the later single speed fan motor.

...except that it has only two leads - power and ground. The switch allows for two fan speeds, and both wires coming off the switch at the connector are hot. That means the original fan grounded through the chassis somewhere. So a little bit of a mod here, and this worked great:

Plugged each end of the orange leads into the wires coming out the back of the dash with some bullet connectors, and then connected the white lead to one of the screws holding down the fan inside the heater core.

I did some more searching on Mud, and seems that the '72 front fan switch went to high first, then the second detent is for low, from the factory. Swapped spots and switches on the dash. Last cheap / free-ish project will be installing the passenger door weatherstripping, which the PO included in the parts haul, and then it's on to tie rod work.

Also, got in touch with the PO, and turns out that he reinstalled the '72 trans and transfer case, which suggests that there's already an 18t driven gear in the transfer. Hm..

 

[majdomo]

Some bling (and less mess / chance for overheating!) Visited Mark @65swb45 and picked this up along with a set of tie rod ends. Would have stayed longer but needed to get home and push the button for The Man for a little while. Drove the truck down and back, all was fine but still getting that leaning out thing going up the big hill near the house. I pulled the choke a little and it mostly cleared up. Could be a few things, but will mess with some settings first and then fire parts if that doesn't work.

Mark checked out the steering, likely am in for a box rebuild. In for a penny.

Thanks to @ToyotaMatt for Skunk Works-level awesomeness! Now I need to get some coolant for it..

 

[majdomo]

Making a little bit of progress on my dying while going up the hill problem. Went to pull the cover off the carb this afternoon to see if there's any trash in the needle valve, float, bowl, etc and noticed that the weight wouldn't move to open the secondary throat all the way as it was hitting the metal housing of the vacuum diaphragm. Thought that was weird, did a search and saw that the diaphragm wasn't supposed to be bent inward at a 30* angle, it's supposed to be straight up and down. That probably had something to do with it.

Anyway, bent it back and it's better, still getting flat spots and hesitations at WOT, but seems to power through them more than before. Haven't taken the lid off yet to check for garbage, will do that later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[65swb45]

Look what I found in the back of the shop John.

 

[majdomo]

Look what I found in the back of the shop John.

Woohooooo!!! Well that's pretty dang exciting! We'll chat soon

 

[majdomo]

Proper Blue Plate Special! Year-of-manufacture (YOM) registration done. It was a huge help that the DMV tech had done one of these just yesterday, made it painless (by DMV standards) though I can see how it'd be rough if you get someone who's never done this before. A lot of weird paperwork that I'm sure they never see.

Registration and sticker have to come from Sacramento, so have another one of those ghetto month-to-month registration papers in the back window again for a few weeks.

But, ahhhhh...

 

[mtn biker]

Proper Blue Plate Special! Year-of-manufacture (YOM) registration done. It was a huge help that the DMV tech had done one of these just yesterday, made it painless (by DMV standards) though I can see how it'd be rough if you get someone who's never done this before. A lot of weird paperwork that I'm sure they never see.

Registration and sticker have to come from Sacramento, so have another one of those ghetto month-to-month registration papers in the back window again for a few weeks.

But, ahhhhh...

View attachment 3649380

Are/ were you a wild cat or is that just a P/O add on

 

[majdomo]

Are/ were you a wild cat or is that just a P/O add on

Mostly a Trojan (Fight On!), the sticker was from the miner and definitely part of the patina, afraid if I take it off it'll be all shiny underneath.

 

[majdomo]

Short update - leaning out thing ended up being a combination of that diaphragm preventing the secondary from opening all the way, and the wrong secondary jet installed when I put the Keyster kit on the carb when cleaning it up. I put the old jets back on the secondary and power valve, adjusted the float just a smidge, and all seems fine on hills once again. Re-timed and reset lean drop idle.

I also noticed that the general purpose screwdriver I was using was chewing up the heads on the soft brass carb parts. Ended up getting a hollow-ground cabinetmaker screwdriver, which has a round shank for less linkage interference (especially on the idle speed screw) and tapers the tip so it gets a better grip on the slot without wallering it out.

Was out of town last weekend and am all tied up this weekend, so no real work is getting done on the rigs until next week.

 

[majdomo]

So this turd is out of the rig and ready to go over to Mark @65swb45 for a rebuild. Remember this is a 1972, and I thought (according to the Goog) that they stopped using these boxes in '67? Someone on here would know better.

Cleaned off most of the barnacles, looks alright but there's some slop in them thar gears. Was a ton of fun to pull this from the rig.

Also had a rear-ender in the '02 today, the dumb b*tch that hit me is going to feel this in the insurance premium for a while. Everyone was fine, thankfully. Doesn't look bad but you can't just respray a fender on a restored car. Minor upside, that gas stain will be repainted, but so will half the car. So much fun.

EDIT - this was $16K of damage. Holy sh*t body work is expensive.

 

[majdomo]

Been a while, but was able to get the steering linkage all back together along with the rebuilt steering box from @65swb45 , which is AWESOME. I didn't get photos as I went, but put some clear coat on the box and TREs, got a replacement tie rod from Mark, and put it all back together over the last week. I followed Mark's instructions to a T, but I think I'm still a couple of splines off (EDIT - was just 1 spline and some minor adjusting on the drag link, phew!) of the sector shaft to pitman arm, so will get after that tomorrow. BUT quick test drive around the block proves so much tighter, I think there's maybe 1/4" of play (if that) in the steering linkage at the steering wheel (!!) now, and it feels nice and solid on the road. Excited!

Things are not quite as good on the 62 front. Found a busted spring eye while replacing the spring pins, on the driver's side. Trying to figure out what to do next there, may not bother with all new springs but haven't decided yet.

Camping this weekend was a huge bust. Got to the campground yesterday and it was completely empty, but hot AF, it was 104 coming up the hill and 98 in camp. We'd stayed in our site previously, but a couple of years ago. Turns out the shade trees were lost to bark beetles since our last visit, which was a total bummer.

Set up the tent, went for a hike out to the swimming hole which was great, got back and the site right next to us had a family of 12 settling in with loud music and lots of alcohol, literally 5 feet away. Campground was sold out for the weekend, lots of others trashing the place and setting up for partying into the night, so we packed it up and headed home. 5 hours on the road for a 2 hour hike. Son was very disappointed, but we got him a new (needed) mountain bike today, so he's doing ok.

 

[majdomo]

Nothing much to report. Just took the 40 down to the grocery store on a beer run, the steering is sooooo nice now. Shocks up this weekend, driving out to visit Rob @landcrusher909 on Saturday to pick up a new front spring for the 62.

Pulled the binoculars and junk tray off the dashboard, as it was bugging me. Kept the binoculars, junk tray and the usual assortment of crusted-up cotter pins and spent .22 shells . Also pulled the Wildcats bumper sticker off last weekend after it was sitting in the sun and melted the glue, paint underneath was the same as the surrounding.

A little 40m work this afternoon, lots less QRN today than lately.

 

[majdomo]

Some good LC content today, all before about 2pm! Got up nice and early to make the trek over to Rob's @landcrusher909 to pick up a new front leaf spring for the FJ62. It's been years since I've been to this area, but I know it well and was glad to get back out there. I was afforded a personal tour of all of Rob's great projects, including the FJ45! He was getting ready to put FI on it today, lining up AN fittings and hoping to get some work done before the heat gets too gnarly. Got the full tour of all the rigs, including the "new" Pig and an Aussie troopy project. Also got some great photos of the 45, the story behind this truck is fantastic:

Since I was close, decided to take a short detour to Oak Glen for some apples. Which they don't have in late July, shocking as it seems. However everything is here just as it has been for the last 120 years or so. I remember coming here with my parents when I was in elementary school, even have a packing crate label on the wall at the house. Closed, though, until later in the morning, and even then the barn was full of tchotchkes instead of apples. We'll have to consider coming back out in the fall, I just can't deal with the crowds in a spot that is really not meant for it.

Was back at home by 11:30am and had much of the day ahead!

Some tech as well - this time it's weatherstrip installation. The PO had installed the weatherstrip on the driver's door, but didn't get around to the passenger side. I spent a few evenings taking the old stuff off with some strong citrus-based solvent, but kind of crapped out on the project when the heat got too bad in the garage. Today's the first day in about 6 weeks where it hasn't topped 90 before noon, unusual for southern CA in this part of the summer. Here's the weatherstrip glue that I'm using, its 3M 08011 - don't get the other stuff (different number) as it doesn't work as well. The first time I used this stuff, I put in way too much thinking more is better. (So did the PO, for what it's worth. The driver's side is kind of sloppy, would like to redo sometime when I'm way bored and have nothing else to work on.) Key is to lay this on the rubber part THIN with the stirring stick, and let it set up for 10-20 seconds until tacky.

Here's what it looks like when it's done right. You can use the stir stick to test for tackiness before applying. Just make sure that's where you want it to go, because once it sets up it's not coming off without a fight.

That's about all there is to it. It's out there curing right now, should be good to close the door sometime later this evening. Just ordered the rear hatch and half-door weatherstrips from City Racer for the 40, which will quiet the rig down considerably. I'm also replacing the shocks, finished the front today and will do the rears tomorrow morning.

Trying to do less wrenching and more hanging with the kids and doing other stuff on the weekends. Not there yet by a long shot, but making progress.

 

[majdomo]

Got after the oil pan gasket today. Dumped the oil, changed out the filter, and found some fun stuff in there. Some carbon chunks but also the remnants of cotter pins that were supposed to be attached to the con rod bearing caps. 5 of the 12 had busted off and landed in the bottom of the oil pan.

Rechecked torque on the caps and all was fine, no issues there. Just replaced the pins and went with it. No idea how long this was on here, but it was fairly caked on.

Put the oil in and found at least some of it running down the exhaust manifold, which means I'm replacing the valve cover gasket too. So much fun, but not entirely unexpected. PO didn't spend much time replacing gaskets, just kind of put it back together to get it running.

Anyway, finished out the rear shocks and am now pretty tired. Will focus on dumping coolant and replacing some of the main hoses during the week, and then hopefully taking a bit of a break.

EDIT - drove the old oil down to O'Reilly to recycle, made the old James Bond villain smokescreen all the way down the hill as the remaining oil burned off the manifold New one will be here Tuesday.

 

[65swb45]

Like I told my wife when I started working my way through all the deferred maintenance on Ruftoys 38 years ago, “It’s a machine; it has a finite number of parts. Sooner or later I will get to the end.”

And I did.

Then I got to drive it for two years without doing anything