Rookie 2f rebuild and my 78 FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[romey]

Hi folks,

so here it goes. i bought the 40 in 2009, shortly after getting married and havin our first kid. this was going to be my hobby on the side whenever i could fit it and get some wheelin done. the rig has really only done trails, mostly challenging ones (or at least to me) and has had very little DD duties. we had our second kid almost 2 years ago and that started to limit my play time, but it's all good. all the work this year really started with a couple maintenance jobs that the truck was in need for....and because i wasn't carefull with it. 2 years ago she was in a deeeeep silty hole which i fried a recent clutch on. turns out, there was no clutch fork boot and plate which allowed water to quickly get in (including wood chips) the clutch pieces...chunks of wood managed to get wedged in b/w teh clutch plates! work and kids got busy and she sat for a few months till i finally was able to get her out to a friends shop for some much needed wrenching. the clutch as done, front knuckles re/re'd, calipers/pads, steering gone over...and oh, a new/used tranny was put in since the rear output bearing was gonzo from just age(a rebuild was going to cost just as much if not more/plus time than the 76 tcase i found on kijiji, so we dropped that in and did the 2 low mod). then she was all done and ready for some wheelin!

shortly after that, i had a smoking issue...which i tried to address with just doing the basics and keeping my fingers crossed..

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-te ... nosis.html

i tried a few things and the smoking seemed to have lessened..and i felt/thought all was great...

so, recon run comes up early spring and i say bring the 40! she seems to be running okay!

meet up with some cruiser buddies... within 15 minutes of getting back on the freeway...i start to hear loose change in the engine and loose power....!! oh no!!! manged to pull off and park near this chapel. we checked the dipstick and no oil! no puddle and i never saw oil on the ground. did i burn it all out?! i must have! anyway, she was done. Wayne, in his generosity, immediately said something in the lines of "well Romey, if you want, we can take this to the shop now, skip the run and start pullin the motor out and start the rebuild.."...i was like, really?! no way!! but, we came to go wheelin, so i said nope, let's keep goin up north. called CAA, they were there in 45 minutes and she was taken to Wayne's garage. i rode with Wayne, we did the run with some other yota folks, and had a blast!

after that, it was just getting our schedule right over the summer combined with gettin the approval from the wifey..and off we went on the rebuild!

Before i start, i would first like to thank landblazer/Brad for getting her back on the road with some much needed major maintenance work! i was happy to have wrenched a little but really wished i could have done more (family and work, well, you know the deal) Also, big thanks to Mudshark/Dave for helpin Brad with a lot of the work too! thanks to you guys, the clutch was tight, steering smooth, i got my 2Low mod done so i don't have to fight the front lockers, and she can stop with confidence!

at another friends shop...

when the motor went...

 

[romey]

Day 1


so, the plan was for me to make it up when i could, do whatever wrenchin we could do at a nice relaxed pace, stay over at the cruiser spa, and enjoy ourselves!..

bare with me while i try and remember most of the details.

so we wheeled the rig inside over a pit. and here's what was done to start:

- remove driveshafts
- drain oil
-drain coolant
- disconnect wires/tubes/air cleaner/some hoses...anything touching the motor
- strap the chain hoist
- remove front engine mounts, loosen rear engine mounts, disconnect exhaust from header...
- loosen front bib and swing it down to get clearance (fingers crossed we ddin't have to remove teh winch)
-start hoisting the motor up with the chain hoist and get the angles just right!
- she was eventually free, removed the rear engine mounts, and wiggle her outta there!

 

[romey]

day 2 (long day, dissasemble motor)

- remove tranny/tcase from bellhousing
- mount 2F on engine mount to first drain whatever coolant is left (plastic sheet on teh floor with kitty litter oil spill stuff)
- remove coolant drain plug on the motor, move engine around to make sure all the stuff is out
- remove exhaust/intake manifold and carb and whatever hoses that are still there
. flip her upside down, remove oil pan and see the damage!
- beb on 5th cylinder went gonzo..i guess with the heat and lack of oil, a layer of the bearing just slipped out and caused a ruckus!
. flip motor right side up again and start on removing the head, rocker, etc..
- using chain hoist, lift head away from block...work smart not hard as Wayne would call it
- you can see the bits of bearing on the oil pump filter
- inspect crank, teh rest looks okay...but check out that con-rod/bearing! Wayne said he'd never seen anything like it before
- organize all the stuff and get em ready for the trip to the machine shop

 

[romey]

day 2 cont'd

off to machine shop on day 3

 

[romey]

day 4

- back from the machine shop, wooohhooo!
- start painting all the pieces, start with head/block using high heat primer, then high heat orange..
- black on the rest of the stuff
-once all dry, spray all exposed metal pieces with wd40, load onto skid, and cover in shipping wrap.... till the next wrenchin weekend..

day 5

- paint header
- clean all nuts n bolts and stuff in varsol, label

 

[Weber Sarge]

Looks like the original break-in oil , ouch .
Bet that made a few noises....
Can the crank be saved ?
Sarge

 

[romey]

day 6 (reassemlby!)

- mount block on engine stand
- install main crank bearings
- drop crank
- install the other bearings, torque to spec using plastigaugs..verify, all good
- install the remaining crank bearings, torque to spec
- install pistons, make sure connecting rod bearings are situated the proper way, oiling holes lined up (or else!!), use engine grease on all the contact surfaces of the bearings
- lube cyliner walls with engine oil
- slide pistons in carefully...x6
- torque to spec
- get gaskets ready
- lube camshaft
- slide cam in carefully
- allign timing gears
- make sure oil squirter thing faces where the gears join to ensure proper lubrication

 

[romey]

day 6 cont'd

 

[romey]

day 7
- first oopsie, i broke a small bolt on the timing gear cover, after the cam/crank was put in, i noticed that piece still in the hole which needed to be removed... so out comes the cam. remove plate, take out broken bolt, and repeat steps again...
- install oil pump
- bottom end is done, so on goes the oil pan gasket and oil pan, use proper gasket silicone, torque to spec
- flip motor right side up again to get ready for head and lifters
- make sure head gasket is on right!! if those oil (or are they coolant) holes are blocked if the gasket was backwards...then we're screwed.
- drop head down gently using chain hoist to avoid risk of damaging important bits!
- slide in valve lifters, add a dab of engine grease at the ends..
- mount rocker back on
- adjust valves
- install distributor, oil filter housing/filter, fuel pump

aint she a thing of beauty?!!!

 

[romey]

day 8


- reinstall intake/exhaust manifold, carb... we doubled up on the exhaust gasket, i think because there was a gap somewhere, things were snug and sealed, torque to spec.
- reinstall pulleys, fan, belts, bellhousing, clutch and all the bits that come with them
- lower engine close to the floor to meet up with tranny/tcase sitting on a doilley (this was a pain trying to line the output shaft)
- raise the mighty 2F and start dropping her back in where she came from
- lots of wiggling around, tripple checking here and there, a nudge here, a nudge there, back out, do it again..and finally she rests...
- bolt up engine mounts and exhaust.

day 9

 

[romey]

day 10 (the big day!)

- hook everything back up! plugs/wires, hoses, air filter, pulleys, alty/starter, battery, ground everything properly, tripple check, rad/coolant fill, oil fill
- and, and....?! fire her up! put put put, whine whine, put put, cough, whine, put cough..vrrr...vrrrr..vrrrrrrrrrooooooommmmm!!!
- we started her 3 times and listened and crossed our fingers..and listened...check for leaks
- timing was off, set timing
- and oh yeah, driveshafts back on, ebrake/cable back on, shifters back on
- drop the oil after 20 minutes, refill again, take for test spin.

day 11

- re-adjust valves a 2nd time, and retorque head bolts, just a couple were loose'ish after the first run
- fine tune timing...and well...i think the rebuild is done!

test wheelin run!

 

[78fj40mg]

 

[romey]

hang tight, it's taken me forflippin ever to get these pics figured out on an outdated computer! vids will come shortly if i don't crash the old apple G4! lol.

all i can say is a BIG THANK YOU to a fella by the name of Wayne who was generous enough with his time, shop, expertise and guidance to walk this newb through an engine rebuild!! taught me a few things no doubt, not just about cruisers and wrenchin, but life in general. what a wonderful experience it was to wrench on this next to a land cruiser guru. Wayne, i hope i do this thread some justice and hope that it helps others down the road. i know there are multiple engine rebuild threads here, so even if in some little way it does help, it would put a smile on my face.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Very cool ! Nice work...

 

[78fj40mg]

Excellent work! You are no longer a rookie!!

 

[NoeyR]

Great job Romey!
Lucky to have a guy like Wayne to help you out.

 

[crushers]

it was my pleasure to be of assistance.
some pretty nice pics, love the spider web shot.

we need to get out wheeling more.
now to find you a H55F to make the highway runs more enjoyable with those 4.88s
cheers.

 

[romey]

oh yeah, h55f would be cherry right about now....

thanks for the kind words fellas...it would NOT have been possible if it weren't for Crushers help.

i'd also want to thank the wife and kids for lettin me out on all those weekends to wrench and relax at the cruiser spa...cuz honestly, it was a relaxed pace we took, thanks to the environment we were in, amazing hosts, and a beach to cool off in not to far away..i can't believe it's november already! feels like it was yesterday.

 

[romey]

Looks like the original break-in oil , ouch .
Bet that made a few noises....
Can the crank be saved ?
Sarge

crank was saved

it made a few noises when the bottem end went...funny enough when we started it at the shop, it was much quieter..but we definitely heard some loose change under the oil pan near the back...coinciding with the 5th beb.

 

[Griffin]

Where do i find a Wayne?!?!?!? All my neighbors, okay me too, push pencils! lol

But dang that looks good, thanks for all the pictures.