project stablemate - fj25 australia

[west aussie]

just giving this thread a little update. got the head off stablemate last night. want to sort this and tidy a few things up before i get much deeper into the 61 shorty. anyway no nasty surprises in there. not a drop of moisture in the pots anywhere; seems like simply a bit of gasket fatigue between a water gallery and the outside off the block. gasket has separated between layers in a small area. sump off is next for a panelbeat and clean then plot my next move. may or may not undo a bigend for a looksee; most likely a quick valve grind and slap it all back together

 

[west aussie]

a couple pics. head off, gasket damage from waterjacket to outside between my fingers, nos head gasket among my fathers junk

 

[west aussie]

got sump off this morning. what a pita. dunno what gasket goo they used but this thing was STUCK on. took me longer to remove the sump than the head. bit of sludge inside and be nice to get it panelbeated. i nearly abandoned the mission actually. still quiet an undertaking to get the remains of the gasket off the block and get this refitted. crawling around the concrete on my back; i'm so buying a hoist when i get rich (and a shed to fit it in)

had a bit of a geek out over the fj25 splashguard with the breather from the oil filler going through it. never really studied this before. will give these a bit of a clean and panelbeat also.

dented sump

 

[west aussie]

got a bit done over the last couple evenings. sump straightened out and refitted. learnt this is a whole lot more doable once the clutch covers are removed! prob some of the trouble i had getting the sump off but at any rate the old gasket goo non this thing was something special; everthing was hammer and chisel the whole way to get the old gaskets off. also pulled the side cover and cleaned the pushrod gallery while i was at it. nice to give the old motor a bit of love but wont be rushing into attemping this in situ again. took much longer than time i had to spare so went back together without even a valve grind but i gotta get stablemate out of front centre in the workshop and get some more pressing, but much less interesting, work in its place. coreplug really needed attention also but sure its no worse than the one in back of the block so perhaps down the track i have to pull the motor and sort them all. anyway got it running tonight; havent plumbed water yet. going to fit a thermostat this time. do have an old spare but it very stuck in the top housing. got all that boiling away in my yabby (read shellfish) pot as i tap away; thought the heat may gently help loosen things a bit.

learnt a couple things i didnt know. the aircleaner bracket (that mounts under the head bolts) is positioned further forward than my 64. this means it is a different bracket because the head bolt spacing is different. i was aware of the date coding on the block but now realize head is the same and also one of the manifolds. mine are all within a couple days of each other april 1960. i didnt know this stuff but it is bloody interesting for me because it helps me track how my father has swapped various parts over the years.

also snapped this pic of my crank casting marks. this is different to my 64. i believe the original 25 crank is different because i think the keyway that holds the 25 harmonic balancer is different. i have a spare crank i believe is from a 25 with this same teq casting but havent seen it elsewhere. i stared a thread on this theory once. will follow this up more once i get the sump of my 61; it has a 60 build engine with the 25 style harmonic.

anyways steady progress. be nice to get stablemate back to daily driver status. i really havent driven it much apart from 100 mile or so very beery maiden voyage to my mates wedding. get all that squared up and i can concentrate on the 61. project shorty,

 

[west aussie]

a late pic (this ones for you aussie25) head casting and block casting. alas didnt get a pic of the manifold casting; it is on the inside against the head and not really visible with the manifold installed.

 

[west aussie]

well punters time flies; doesnt feel like 5 months since i updated this thread. its quiet here in the hollow so thought i throw out a quick update. all the while stablemate has been sitting patiently with the head bolted up. during the year i purchased the correct thermostat assembly courtesy of mudder kevos37 in the usa. (thanks kev!) last weekend cleaned this up (one of the threads in the lower housing was a bit stripped) and got it all together with some donor studs and loctite. tested the thermostat itself; should be a good thing. now just need to mount up a bit better rubber and stablemate should be back to light duty, general farm runabout, daily driver status. be nice to use her regularly for a while. a long list of little things i want to sort yet whilst still ignoring the dodgy chassis.

i want to mount a decent capillary type temp guage but retain the old warning light. at present just have the sender thrown into the top rad hose. where are people mounting these? the old f motor doesnt have too many options. would love some ideas thanks.

 

[cult45]

Good to hear things are progressing west me old. What the hell is a capillary type gauge?

 

[cult45]

Just re-read this and I marvel that six weeks ago I asked you what a capillary type gauge is and only two days ago I installed one

 

[west aussie]

g'day punters. haven't really done too many miles in stablemate since I sorted the head. anyways you may remember I bought it from a farmer in western Victoria (but still a long way from western Australia) . His name is Ron Roberts. he is a great bloke, traveling around Australia lots in his retirement so he looked me up when in my parts and stayed for a couple days. We discussed this when I picked up his Toyota so was great to see it come to fruition. He bought this 25 as a farm hack in about 1970. it spent lots of its life without a tray; just a bulk diesel tank bolted to the chassis rails for refuelling equipment in the paddock. I don't know when it was parked up but it certainly had sat a time when I picked her up. Of course it was time to find a battery!

 

[west aussie]

thats ron pondering his old 25 and life in general I think. great bloke. he was of course delighted to get behind the wheel again but admits he got a bit used to power steering in the last decade or so haha. anyways we drove out about 10 mile to a scenic rock on my patch where some mates of mine were already camped a few days. beers and bbq then home in the dark with green cans and the odd top fuse wriggle. good times!

 

[cult45]

Nice yarn west, and good to see you're back on here! It got awfully quiet 'round these parts for a while there..

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

thats ron pondering his old 25 and life in general I think. great bloke. he was of course delighted to get behind the wheel again but admits he got a bit used to power steering in the last decade or so haha. anyways we drove out about 10 mile to a scenic rock on my patch where some mates of mine were already camped a few days. beers and bbq then home in the dark with green cans and the odd top fuse wriggle. good times!

View attachment 1139924 View attachment 1139925

Great pictures and history behind it.

 

[west aussie]

in other news I have a mate with a nicely restored very early ser1 landy about 1949. he opted for new rubber before a roadtrip we have planned for later this year. so I inherited his 'old' rubber. a set of 4 RTM pattern thread in 6.50x16. Bridgestone All Around. I still need to buy some new tubes but these are going to be awesome on stablemate!

 

[ozcrusier]

Nice

 

[cult45]

What's that about 29"? Sounds about stock for an early girl

 

[Aussie 25]

They Will turn the power steering back on.

 

[west aussie]

now for something completely different....

there was a 21st birthday party on the station here last weekend for a couple of my nephews. a good time was had by all and many friends travelled long distances and stayed for a few days. there was a fancy dress theme of "what you want to be when you grow up". so a group of us rigged the mast and sails, provisioned the ship and sailed into the party with a full crew of pirates on board....

 

[Doctor do Little]

now for something completely different....

there was a 21st birthday party on the station here last weekend for a couple of my nephews. a good time was had by all and many friends travelled long distances and stayed for a few days. there was a fancy dress theme of "what you want to be when you grow up". so a group of us rigged the mast and sails, provisioned the ship and sailed into the party with a full crew of pirates on board....



View attachment 1147351

That`s a cool pic

Cheers
Peter

 

[ozcrusier]

Wow the old girl looks great west.

 

[west aussie]

good times at west aussie's camp. building a new shed in among the mulga trees. should be able to fit a couple tojos in here!