Project Blind Confidence

[greenbeasty]

That looks great! Better than a sand blast cabinet.
I'm gonna send you some stuff of mine to clean up!

 

[bfBird]

That looks great! Better than a sand blast cabinet.
I'm gonna send you some stuff of mine to clean up!

No problem. Send it over, but I don't think you're going to like my hourly rate.

 

[bfBird]

Still waiting on the pump. It should be here over the weekend. I spent the wait reinstalling the pan. I got a 4 piece gasket from the local auto parts store. I wish I'd known there was a 1 piece available, but it went...ok. Before starting, I chased all the threads and cleaned all the bolts. (I lost one as mentioned before so looked for a long time then sourced a new one)

I used some permatex right stuff to seal it with a good amount at the gasket edges. I went gasket on pan then pan to engine. It seemed to be the most reasonable way to install. I had one of the curved sections jump off a bit, and I had to push it back into the channel of the pan with a screw driver.

I used a torque wrench to tighten the bolts, but each time I checked the torque it moved a little and made the gasket bulge. I gave up and called them good after the 3rd round, but I think they would have torqued forever. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it leaks!

Now the pan makes everything else look a bit rough. The pics do make it look more rusty than in person. The camera really picks up the browns/ reds with the flash. It's nothing structural that I can see, but everything needs some TLC. I think I'll be wire wheeling for the foreseeable future.

 

[bfBird]

I've started project frame clean up. Based on progress, I've already resigned to myself that getting the frame painted will come in stages overtime. 1. because it's horrible and 2. because it's a large amount of horrible.

There's quite a bit of dirt in the frame rails. I don't think this rigs been offroad in a long while and the dirt is a very light brown and fine sandy silt. I'm guessing it's some original northern California dirt. I targeted the front passenger rail mostly because of it's proximity to the fuel pump and the sludge from the leaking oil/gas around it.

I removed battery tray and bracket as well as the rock guards. The brackets are going to be spray painted and the frame brushed on. Someday in the future there could be a frame off, but that day is not today. If the engine and mechanical work out, the plan is to drive it for a while before further demolition.

The brackets cleaned up pretty nicely. I'm not sure what color the battery bracket was originally. Anybody know if it was black or matching the body paint color? I didn't get the pic of the parts before hand, but they looked a lot like the frame rail in the last pic.

I pulled the rubber coating off of the battery tray since it was ripped up anyways. I figure I'll just set the battery down on some rubber strips for isolation.

 

[Catching Neutral]

@GA Architect did his frame as well as several others. I would check out his thread

 

[bfBird]

@GA Architect did his frame as well as several others. I would check out his thread

Thanks, I'll look it up.

 

[bfBird]

Did some cleanup and paint of the passenger side and installed my new fuel pump. Word of advice, make sure you get the gasket with the pump. I thought it was included based on some offerings from the cruiser sites. I bought it from discount toyota parts, and it didn't have a gasket. It slowed me down some, but I sourced it from Napa and picked it up the next day.

I plumbed up the fuel lines and primed the oil pump with a drill. I'd taken the bearings and oil pump off so I made sure there was oil flowing in everything. I was getting some good resistance by turning the pump manually so high confidence I'd get some pressure. (it was already showing pressure when cold so it doesn't tell me much) I used 15w-40. The PO had a bottle of 5w-20 in the cab so I'm guessing that's what was being used. Maybe the Texas heat had something to do with the lower pressure when hot.

A quick aside on trying to get the distributer to plug into the oil pump. It took forever to get it set. I lined it up as spec'd in the haynes manual and got things started up, BUT the stupid vacuum line contacts the oil filter so I couldn't rotate enough to set the timing. Hours of struggle just to get to do it again. I attached a closeup of the clearance. Is it contacting because I have a bigger than expected oil filter? (I have the smaller WIX installed) I had to clock the distributer about 30 degrees to the front of the engine to have enough rotational clearance to adjust timing. It was hell to get it to mate with the oil pump in a weird position. I think I ended up getting it several times but not trusting that it was far enough in.

Now for the test, can I hold oil pressure? After a little pedal cycling and cranking, it started right up. Pressure showed mid way between the high and low. It runs MUCH quieter. The diesel sound is gone. I can now hear some valve noise (I'm hoping it's from the valves). It's a sharp tick that seems to be coming from the middle-ish of the top end. I'll add that to the list of things to look into in the future.

Photo evidence the pressure shows a little over 40lbs! All cheers and high fives at a job well done. I leave it idling and give it a few revs to see if the oil pressure is responsive to RPMs. Pressure goes up a bit with revs so things are looking promising, but then it starts to decline with temp. After a few minutes, temp gauge is climbing to the mid range between the tick marks, and oil pressure is taking a nose dive. Now all grumbles and kicking dirt.

I shut it down thinking I must have lower end bearing issues. I only checked the rod bearings so it leaves the main or cam bearings as potential. Several posts say worn main bearings can cause pressure loss when warm. While trying to figure out what to do next, I noticed the radiator is bubbling and hissing. I wildly started searching for temperature gauge range to see if I was overheating. Based on forum searching, consensus was middle of the temp gauge range is high with the general expectation temp should stay below or around the middle tick mark. There are a lot of "humble brags" about low operating temps btw . I don't have a temp gun so I'm not sure where it was actually running. I found several posts around bad radiator caps that can cause air in the system. Current thought process is a new cap and potentially new lower temp thermostat. I didn't burp the system initially since the PO said it was running and driving, but I see a lot of extra coolant in my overflow that's not returning into the system so I don't think the radiator is keeping pressure. I'll wait for burping until I get a cap.

I'm leaning towards new thermostat so that would mean a drain of the coolant as well. The coolant looks nice and green, but who knows.

 

[bfBird]

It's getting to mid November so I need to start telling my wife what I want for Christmas. If it's not specified, who knows what I'll end up with. I was thinking about getting stuff for my jump seats so the kids can ride in the FJ.

My FJ came with 2 long jump seats (not installed). One is in better shape than the other but both need some work. Did a 76 come with the long jump seats and no rollbar?

I'm thinking about asking Santa for a set of SOR seat covers and foam, but looking through the SOR options, I'm now worried that the seats aren't original and will require some new holes in the wheel wells for mounting.

Also, my front seats are brownish. Is there a certain color that fades to brown or is there a year that came in a deep brown? Also, I have one with a head rest and one without so I'm pretty much all over the place with seats.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Keep in mind that "normal" oil pressure with hot oil on these engines is pretty low - it's a tractor engine. As long as it builds pressure with RPM you should be alright. Good rule of thumb is 10psi per 1000RPM - at least in the small block V8 world, seems to follow that the same logic would apply here. My small block, at idle on a hot day, is 12-15psi by a mechanical pressure gauge, and at or just below the lower hash mark on the FJ40 gauge. When I first start the engine with cold oil, I see 45-55psi depending on just how cold it is. On Chevy V8's, the "low oil pressure" warning light isn't even triggered until 6 or 8psi at idle. They really don't need much to keep things lubricated.

Once everything is hot, "normal" oil pressure hovers just under 20psi in the winter, and just under 15psi on hot summer days. At 2000 RPM I'm typically around 35psi. By 3000 RPM I'm at about 45psi. This is my second small block in this truck (replaced a 283 with a 350) and even with extremely worn bearings in the 283, the oil pressure was only marginally lower. (maybe 9-10 PSI at idle).

I've posted this on a couple of questions like this before - it's from the manual and a great reference that helped me put my mind at ease when I was going through similar:

Basically, as long as your oil pressure stays above the L at idle, you're probably fine. It will ALWAYS drop as it warms up. As for temperature - this is my more frequent battle since I'm trying to cool a V8 on the stock FJ40 radiator. It's sufficient, with a BIG fan, but barely. the third hash mark up the gauge is "only" 210F. On a hot summer day, my small block will start pushing north of that hash mark (215ish) but the radiator isn't going to boil over until 230-240 degrees, so until you start pegging the "H" you probably don't have anything to worry about.

I've confirmed the temperature gauge is accurate to the above with an IR thermometer at multiple points on a small block. so, while just north of the second hash mark is in that "perfect" 180 - 190 range, I don't worry if I'm pushing the third hash mark on a hot day. I start to worry if I climb much past it.

 

[bfBird]

Keep in mind that "normal" oil pressure with hot oil on these engines is pretty low - it's a tractor engine. As long as it builds pressure with RPM you should be alright. Good rule of thumb is 10psi per 1000RPM - at least in the small block V8 world, seems to follow that the same logic would apply here. My small block, at idle on a hot day, is 12-15psi by a mechanical pressure gauge, and at or just below the lower hash mark on the FJ40 gauge. When I first start the engine with cold oil, I see 45-55psi depending on just how cold it is. On Chevy V8's, the "low oil pressure" warning light isn't even triggered until 6 or 8psi at idle. They really don't need much to keep things lubricated.

Once everything is hot, "normal" oil pressure hovers just under 20psi in the winter, and just under 15psi on hot summer days. At 2000 RPM I'm typically around 35psi. By 3000 RPM I'm at about 45psi. This is my second small block in this truck (replaced a 283 with a 350) and even with extremely worn bearings in the 283, the oil pressure was only marginally lower. (maybe 9-10 PSI at idle).

I've posted this on a couple of questions like this before - it's from the manual and a great reference that helped me put my mind at ease when I was going through similar:

View attachment 2497567

Basically, as long as your oil pressure stays above the L at idle, you're probably fine. It will ALWAYS drop as it warms up. As for temperature - this is my more frequent battle since I'm trying to cool a V8 on the stock FJ40 radiator. It's sufficient, with a BIG fan, but barely. the third hash mark up the gauge is "only" 210F. On a hot summer day, my small block will start pushing north of that hash mark (215ish) but the radiator isn't going to boil over until 230-240 degrees, so until you start pegging the "H" you probably don't have anything to worry about.

I've confirmed the temperature gauge is accurate to the above with an IR thermometer at multiple points on a small block. so, while just north of the second hash mark is in that "perfect" 180 - 190 range, I don't worry if I'm pushing the third hash mark on a hot day. I start to worry if I climb much past it.

Awesome explanation! I'm falling to below 10 psi on my gauge when warmed up. The low end of my manual gauge is hard to read since it's purposed for efi fuel pressure, but it's under 10 above 0.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Awesome explanation! I'm falling to below 10 psi on my gauge when warmed up. The low end of my manual gauge is hard to read since it's purposed for efi fuel pressure, but it's under 10 above 0.

Ok sub 10 makes me a little nervous. If your bearing clearances are super wide it could run that way for years most likely but that’s a little close for comfort. What weight oil are you running?

 

[bfBird]

Ok sub 10 makes me a little nervous. If your bearing clearances are super wide it could run that way for years most likely but that’s a little close for comfort. What weight oil are you running?

15w-40

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Yeah not much more you can do there...I came here trying to be the optimist but I think you’re probably right... sounds like some tolerances are loose somewhere!

 

[tlaporte]

My FJ came with 2 long jump seats (not installed). One is in better shape than the other but both need some work. Did a 76 come with the long jump seats and no rollbar?

‘76 should have come with rollbar and short jump seats.

 

[bfBird]

Hmm here are the jump seats I have. Opinions on using long jump seats vs short jump seats vs front facing aftermarket?

Note: The mouse traps are purely precautionary in the attic

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Depends on what you're going for with this truck and who will be sitting in the back. Long jump-seats won't work with a stock roll bar. The short seats will - so theoretically having the roll bar and a shorter jump seat offers an added level of protection - though there's a lot of debate as to whether the stock roll-bar is really up to the task in a roll anyway...it's pretty thin metal.

If you'll have kids/car seats in the back, it's really tough to mount them to the jump seats safely - but I've seen it done.

At the end of the day - it's up to you! Long jump seats have a certain retro "cool" factor, short jump seats are period correct if you're a purist, and a rear bench is arguably safest - though my counter argument is if you're concerned about safety by modern standards you wouldn't be driving around in a FJ40 to begin with!

 

[bfBird]

Depends on what you're going for with this truck and who will be sitting in the back. Long jump-seats won't work with a stock roll bar. The short seats will - so theoretically having the roll bar and a shorter jump seat offers an added level of protection - though there's a lot of debate as to whether the stock roll-bar is really up to the task in a roll anyway...it's pretty thin metal.

If you'll have kids/car seats in the back, it's really tough to mount them to the jump seats safely - but I've seen it done.

At the end of the day - it's up to you! Long jump seats have a certain retro "cool" factor, short jump seats are period correct if you're a purist, and a rear bench is arguably safest - though my counter argument is if you're concerned about safety by modern standards you wouldn't be driving around in a FJ40 to begin with!

I agree with there's a certain amount of risk no matter what. When I saw the 40 jump seats, I thought of the days we used to ride around in the back of my grandmothers station wagon. She had the two fold down jump seats in the very back. I was hoping to share some nostalgia with the kiddos just around town.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

I agree with there's a certain amount of risk no matter what. When I saw the 40 jump seats, I thought of the days we used to ride around in the back of my grandmothers station wagon. She had the two fold down jump seats in the very back. I was hoping to share some nostalgia with the kiddos just around town.

I have a kid, and I’m keeping the jump seats so you’ll hear no argument from me. She’s 2 so she’s a few years out from riding in the back of a 40 yet but I have no intention of installing a bench seat back there.

 

[Suntreemcanic]

Since I am spending some one else money why don't you role in a new set of bearings and see if that alone will increase your oil pressure. Mains and rods. Remove a rod and main bearing to see what size they are. This would give you an opportunity to put in a one piece pan gasket.

 

[bfBird]

Since I am spending some one else money why don't you role in a new set of bearings and see if that alone will increase your oil pressure. Mains and rods. Remove a rod and main bearing to see what size they are. This would give you an opportunity to put in a one piece pan gasket.

I've got a new cap and a 180 degree thermostat to try out. If I can't keep it up over 10 psi, bearings are next.