project stablemate - fj25 australia

[Aussie 25]

Great progess

You are doing Stablemate well. Must be good to drive it.
Mine sat for 15 years out in the paddoc with the bonnet popped up a foot. I did what you did took the tappot cover off and had a look,wound it over a bit until the oil came to the rockers, put the fuel hose in a tin, operaited the hand pump and watched the bowl fill , full choke hit the key and it went. It ran very rough the points were changed and it runs good now. I havent touched the carby. I see your engine block was made on the 6 4 1960. Mine is 15 2 1960

 

[west aussie]

thanks aussie 25; really not so different to what i did with old patina, she too had been sitting a long long time. yea fresh fuel and clean spark and they usually go. i remember you looked at it but really happy i bought it; i needed one! lots more to do but the plan is just use lightly and fix and ignore the rust issues for now or perhaps forever. im a bit lucky with endless backroads at my disposal!

took 15 mins tonight and dropped the gearbox and trans oil into a clean container. left it draining overnight but it looks clean enough at a glance though not much of it. seems to be a solid weep between the 2 (but i can live with that for now).

below a pic of my dented sump though the main large dent at the bung doesnt really show.

then it was an hour or 2 on an old ek ute we have had for years. completely unrestorable rotten rusty but been lotsa fun over the years. n hasnt run for 5 years; we think we close. a good mate wants it for his wedding in a fortnight!

 

[west aussie]

jack and toolroll

 

[ozcrusier]

My 1975 parts manual. I think there's a shifter, screw driver and plug spanner missing. The jack looks like its from a 60's does it have flat blade screws holding it together .

 

[west aussie]

these older tool rolls were quiet extensive; there is a good thread about them in this forum somewhere. the jack is fj25 specific though very similar in appearance to the 60s examples. gave mine a little use yesterday and was dismayed to find a sizeable crack in the top housing hidden under all the grease. disapointing but sure it is fixable; a job for one of my better boilermaker mates

 

[west aussie]

got a little done today. dropped diff oils and they were surprisingly clean, so didnt bother to inspect further; wait until i have a swivel kit (needed) and axle seals for that. this 25 has original rear diff and later front. not at all happy with the noticeable play in the rear pinion bearing, this needs attention of some sort soon. also a collapsing uni joint in the front shaft. the fill plugs were a variety of mismatched sizes and some of them quiet battered esp the transfer fill. anyways replaced all oils and greased eveything.

i gave the light switch a twist and was rewarded with a puff of smoke from under the dash. was happy the battery within easy reach! decided to pull the old aftermarket indicator unit. it was messily installed with wires wrapped around the steer column and ugly white wire laid randomly through the engine bay. this is a nice period unit and i will probably use it down the track but it need installing properly to incorporate the dash mounted indicator lenses which are currently missing

 

[west aussie]

i try some pics

 

[west aussie]

each time i try multiple pics i get a 'security token missing popup'?
you can see the old indicator unit under the steer column and mess of wiring

 

[west aussie]

i went to pull the light switch to start exploring behind there but was having trouble getting the screw that holds the plastic knob on. i pondered a while and played with the handbrake adjustment. eventually i got a small gas powered soldering iron with a blade tip and applied that to the screw between doses of penetrant for a little heat. this worked well and got it all apart without damage. i popped of the fuse cover (of which i am very proud i might add) and found myself no doubt as mystified as the last bloke that looked under there. at least i now know which one is the spare!

 

[west aussie]

but apparently 15amp is all the go! i decided not to go much further until i find a test light that actually works and did through my junk and find the spare set of terminal blocks that i ordered from toyota several years ago when at this stage tinkering with project patina. i will add that after some very cautious tests since i hung the light switch low the puff of smoke has not returned which only serves to leave me more nervous than before. wiring is never my strong point. the light switch was a bit loose in the dash so perhaps there was an issue there?

 

[west aussie]

my current plan is to have stablemate driveable enough to take to aforementioned wedding saturday week. 60 mile each way of nice dirt backroads. i have a mate going to the city this week so have ordered core plugs, air cleaner and carb kit. see what turns up! anyways its time to pack an esky and wander back to the shed.

 

[ozcrusier]

Mate the early door strikers arrived with bolts and a long neck, stubbie holder for packing. I owe you big time for them west aussie. When you come through Coffs mate I give you the grand tour with beer supplied. I see what you mean by 50 years of rutted roads giving those strikers a flogging but there's some very good quick steel products around thats tough and sticks like .... to a blanket.

 

[west aussie]

no worries ozcruiser; all the ones i find over here are like that (and worse)!

so i got about 40 mins on stablemate tonight. AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! haha

 

[west aussie]

im a very poor auto sparky but it just a matter of working downstream. cleaned though the fusebox (found an ugly melt on the light fuse - was that my puff of smoke?) then got power through the light switch as i think it should work. anyways no headlight power to the collapsed terminal blocks and the dimmer switch not operating as it should. that the next step. sprayed heck out of that and left it to soak then same on a possible old 45 donor, then just got carried away with the penetrant and sprayed many many pieces that may come apart over the coming months. i love how solid and untouched the original wiring harness is; just filthy at every connection.

i previously pulled the pair original horns to ease access to the brake hydraulics and keep them away from the serious australia day pressure was. with test light and manual override of the horn relay (thumb) got power through this circuit also but haven't touched the steering wheel end yet. again start upstream!

all in all moderate progress but needless to say i dont sleep at night with the battery connected yet!

a couple pics

 

[west aussie]

i try again. check out those new terminal blocks! i can almost feel the thrill of fear attached to financial commitment to project stablemate!

 

[west aussie]

PROGRESS (of sorts)

 

[west aussie]

so i pulled he dimmer switch and replaced with the unit from my recently aquired 1964 fj45 wreck (see project patina). then i installed the new terminal blocks. these were corroded and a complete pain to disassemble but i used my soldering iron trick again to effect. even more annoying was assembling the new blocks and i often could have done with an extra pair of hands; like one of those 8 armed indian gods! needless to say everything went back together with a terminal compound and healthy dose of anti seize on the threads. for convenience i used the new supplied phillips head screws though i kept the old brass flathead originals for reference in case i ever become that anal. some were a bit damaged during disassembly.

 

[west aussie]

i try couple pics. computer killing me tonight

 

[west aussie]

and again

 

[west aussie]

i guess the next step is back under the dash. i dont have a wiring diagram (and am not good at this stuff anyway) so doing this by braille. dashlights are a mess but mostly bad earths i think. also dont want to reinstall light switch until i hook up the darth vader light!

but mostly though the correct operation of the lightswitch still mystifies me a bit. straight up is all off? first click left is headlights? second (last) click left is darth vader light? so what is the click right?

excuse my ignorance