Builds Roma's 78 fj40 gets a refurb

[roma042987]

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

Wow your axle rebuild looks great!

I saw you had a box full of Wagner brake parts and mentioned it in your post. Did you get that at a certain vendor or anywhere specific. I want to rebuild both my front and rear axles like you have, doing a quality job. I need all new rear brake components

Anyway I think I remember your in Huntsville or Madison, if your ever in Pensacola shoot me a message I love talking cruisers.

 

[roma042987]

Wow your axle rebuild looks great!

I saw you had a box full of Wagner brake parts and mentioned it in your post. Did you get that at a certain vendor or anywhere specific. I want to rebuild both my front and rear axles like you have, doing a quality job. I need all new rear brake components

Anyway I think I remember your in Huntsville or Madison, if your ever in Pensacola shoot me a message I love talking cruisers.

Thanks
I try to buy strictly toyota parts when they are available but the brake hardware wasn't available as a kit from Toyota so I pushed the easy button and went with the Wagner kit. The wheel cylinders where more than twice as much at toyota as the aisin units I purchased and that's with my hefty discount from the parts counter. Those parts I purchased from rockauto. The Wagner kits came from amazon for 12 bucks. The reason there are two boxes and duplicates of everything is because I'm actually building to axles at the moment one for mine and one for Tucker. I've actually started acquiring parts for my 60 axles as well so technically four axles but, that's another thread.

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

Thanks
Yes the Toyota cylinders are pricy. I think I could get a complete donor 40 for the price of all of them.
But I'm not aloud anymore Toyotas or dogs she says....

 

[cruiseroutfit]

two shiny brand new backing plates directly from japan. Rebuild kit from Kurt with koyo bearings. New aisin wheel cylinders, wagner hardware kit for the drums and replated hardware from three different axles at my disposal
View attachment 1171029 View attachment 1171030 View attachment 1171031 View attachment 1171032 View attachment 1171033

Clean work!

 

[roma042987]

Third member housing after cleaning and assembly got a couple of coats of paint.

Installed in the axle housing with new hardware. 3/8 extension came in handy to hold the locker arm while the third wss dropped in.

Replaced brake junction and breather. This housing came from the factory with an extended breather so that's a nice little touch. I coated the threads with a touch of sealant prior to threading it in.

The Wagner hardware and toyota shoes.

 

[roma042987]

Brake bits on. The only part missing here is the spring washer and c clip that holds the parking brake tether cable pulley on. It's ordered but toyota won't have it in my hands until monday. Disregard the adjuster arm is improperly orientated on the left side. Fixed that after the photo. Also applied a generous amount of anti seize at all the wear contact points. New axle seals installed in the housing as well.

Someone had just rebuilt this axle with koyo bearings prior to me taking it apart the grease looked absolutely brand new so I decided to save the bearings I'd ordered for spares. I repacked the existing bearings and of course installed a new seal.

Made another toyota special service tool by welding three bolts onto a small metal plate and welding a nut onto the plate. Needed this to torque the wheel bearings and set preload.
I know it's ugly but it works great

 

[roma042987]

View attachment 1171714

Preload set and lock screws installed. I put some grease on the back or inside of the axle seal to keep the spring in place and give the seal plenty of lubrication while the axle shafts are being installed.

 

[roma042987]

New short side axle shaft from toyota with the longer inner splines for a cable or e locker third. Thing of beauty!

Both shafts installed and torqued to 25ft lbs.

 

[roma042987]

New brake line from toyota for the long side. The short side I made myself. The clips were still available so they got replaced. Oh and new drums of course.

 

[cruisermatt]

Beautiful.

What happened to Tucker's 40?

 

[roma042987]

Well still waiting on the cable conversion to finish up the axle which has been ordered for a couple of weeks now. In the meantime I figured I'd go ahead and do the head gasket job I've put off for too long. It started weeping some coolant after the turbo install during my Montana trip, which was before my Colorado trip so, it's been on the list for a while. It would only weep if I ran it really hard on the freeway for extended periods of time. In September I pushed it a little too hard trying to get down to Cullman in time for dinner for the 70 series meet and greet and it started weeping some oil between the block and the head. Head came off last night, I also pulled all of the brackets on the front of the engine for powder coating as well as the radiator to powder coat the radiator support, battery support and install the new aluminum radiator.

 

[roma042987]

Was a bit disappointed when I flipped the head over and found three of the chambers like this. Also all four precups were severely cracked which I was fully expecting. I already purchased a set of stainless steel precups from engines Australia to go in the head but now im debating on whether I should buy a new cylinder head as well (which wasn't in the budget). The head is at the machine shop today getting checked and im waiting on the dreaded phone call. I know this is super common on these engines and I didn't have any driveability issues so I would probably be perfectly fine running it like it is but im pretty picky about my stuff so will wait on what they have to say before I make a decision. A new head will run around 1200 dollars.

 

[roma042987]

Head is back from the machine shop. They pressure tested the coolant side to 100 psi and said it has no leaks. Their opinion is that the cracks are superficial so that's a relief. He did mention that number for cylinder had some pitting around the valve seat from coolant entering the cylinder and that what was causing my miss....well I didn't have a miss that I was aware of. Here are all the old precups. one is cracked through and through on both sides bad enough that I can break it in two in my hands.

 

[Michael B]

Wow! That was a quick turn around from the machine shop.

 

[roma042987]

Wow! That was a quick turn around from the machine shop.

that's typical for this place they do a lot of work for dealerships and extended down time on a customer's car isn't an option. A lot of the time if we send it in the morning they are back by the end of the day.

 

[Michael B]

Some guys have all the right connections!

 

[roma042987]

you can see where the old rubber o-ring for the oil galley failed causing the oil leak. Notice the 3b 13bt markings on the head gasket. I was actually under the impression it was going to be the frm (fiber reinforced metal) type but apparently by 12/84 (which is what the build date on the bj70 was) they were already superceded to mls (multi layer steel) type

engine block is thoroughly cleaned and awaiting the new head

Head is taped up before getting three coats of ford gray engine enamel...I mean Toyota gray

You can see the new stainless precups from engines Australia and the head was decked for flatness. and finally wiped off with acetone prior to being reunited with the block

 

[roma042987]

New Toyota mls headgasket thanks to Alberto

Head is torqued in three steps to a final of 94ft lbs. Rockers also torqued in two steps to 18ft lbs. and valves adjusted. I will readjust them again once the engine reaches operating temp. the rocker assembly looks dirty but its actually just covered in nice clean diesel engine oil (no sludge) so I stopped myself from cleaning it.

 

[Godwin]

View attachment 1171689 The Wagner hardware and toyota shoes.

Wagner hardware as good as OEM or at least close enough? I just went through the rear brakes on my 60 and some of the small bits are a bit crusty and rusted.