Build Salted Pork fj55 family wagon build

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So unfortunately the ferry boats did not run on friday due to fog. So I ended up not going to harbor frieght or getting more shielding gas. I am going to try and be off the island again on the 16th so hopeing to pick up shielding gas then. I did order online the icon off set metric wrenches. I still will try to go to harbor freight to pick up a few things for painting the fj55 too. Also I need to find some good self leveling seam sealer for the roof gutters. if anybody has suggestions let me know. I might just use the google machine to find the best cheep option.

But because it was so nice this past weekend I got a few projects around the house done and on the Suzuki samurai project too! finally got the windsheild wipers to work, installed a radio on it too. On the fj55 I started trying to smooth out the welds on the rocker. I cant completely finish that off because I still need to finish the fender flair thing but cant do that without shielding gas. The next steps are to start cracking on the rear end of the piggy. Then hopfully paint it.

I may start rebuilding the brake cylinders this week after school some time if little baby Margot is napping.
 
SIDE QUEST ALERT: Aright I am back on the Pup. Using it as a learning opportunity at the risk of a student breaking somthing. This truck has been pretty frustrating. my white whale. Its classic - the parts are well made Japanese parts but the design of how they fit with maintenance is not good at all. For example - the transmission crossmember is not removable. I believe pulling the engine is the easiest way to do a clutch. another example - to pull the front timing cover off you need to pull the pan off, and to do that you might as well pull the engine because there is not enough room to pull the pan off to replace old gaskets. what made me take another long break on the truck was the timing chain tensioner. It stopped working. Somthing inside the release mechanism of it broke. I took a brake from it and worked on the land cruiser. I thought it might be fun to do with my automotive club and boat engine students. So I brought the truck over to the school to work on with my boat engine students. Added bonus I get it out of my yard for a bit. I am going to order some parts here soon. gaskets and a timing chain tensioner. One of the things that got lost is the valve cover nut. I have no idea where to find one. If you all know let me know. its very similar to the 3fe style valve cover nuts. you can see the missing one in the picture.

Goal today is to pull the engine. My students got everything loose yesterday afternoon.

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A picture of the broken tensioner (and some knuckle blood) on the left side if you follow the chain down. It just does not lock into place either tensioned or untensioned anymore. It actually shot out of its little bore.
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ANother thing concerning I noticed was coolant and oil mixed in the exhaust port of #1. Going to investigate that while the engine is out. Hopfully nothing is cracked head wise. I think the intake is loose. I noticed one of the nuts walked off a little or I did not torq it. the tstat was housing was also leaking all over the intake so that could be part of my issue there too. the coolant goes through the intake* Or its a head gasket issue. IDK its only run probably a total of 30 minutes

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The students wanted me to take them to lunch in it once we get it running again. hahaha. we shall see.
I will be selling the truck if I do get it going again. The samurai seems to do all the things I needed the truck for. not well but It does fit two big trash cans in the tub to take to the dump.
 
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Augustiron said:
Blood offerings to the horsepower gods is an important lesson to learn early in life.
Well done.
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This cracked me up good! but so true!

SC-Cruiser said:
You are a brave soul.
I hope your students appreciate all that you do for them.
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yeah I hope so. Lots of lazy kids these days. but this project seemed to light a fire under them at least. I needed somthing that actually needed repair for my boat engines class, the engines we have are new and nothing is wrong with them. people around the island with outboard engines from people have strings attached and I cant afford the students brake something. so I figured why not use this isuzu as a learning tool. The truck is just waisting space otherwise.
 
No flip flops? Who’s teaching this class? 😛
 
middlecalf said:
No flip flops? Who’s teaching this class? 😛
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Hahah. Trying to do the whole do as I say not as I do thing. I actually have been wearing boots to teach this one. But you know come summer the flops are coming back out.
 
So yesterday we pulled the intake off and noticed that the intake was what it looks like it could be sucking in coolant right under the thermostat housing.... This could explain the coolant in the #1 exhaust port. I wonder if this had anything to do with my rough running at idle before my timing chain issues. One of the things I remember seeing when I was talking to @theglobb (when I was working on it) was that the thermostat housing gasket was leaking. I wander if it was sucking into the head some how from there. I am going to comb over the intake to make sure I am not seeing any cracks or anything. I realized I should have ordered a clutch alignment tool and a reverse light switch too.


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anybody know where I can find a valve cover nut like this???? I have searched the google machine with no luck.
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Well the pieces to the puzzle are starting to come together to why this engine was not able to idle well and why cylnder #1 had compression numbers lower than the rest. #1 came up to about 100psi where the others were between 130 and 150. I actually had the oil out when I had to change the oil pan gasket a 2nd time and it was not milky. so this must have happened the last time I ran it before taking a brake (knowing I had to pull the engine back out for the timing chain tensionor.) So now I have ordered a new headgasket along with a clutch alignment tool. I want to change the rear main while I have it apart. I must have kinked the headgasket or it had a hole in it from shipping or maybe just a diffective gasket. Hoping its not a cracked head or somthing like that. If it is we might be looking for a v6 or somthing different to throw in the pup.


More pictures of the mayhem to come. Hopfully next week Ill get back on the land cruiser. I just need more shielding gas to finish the passenger side rocker job.
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also update: I am an idiot... the port on the intake is a coolant port. so Of course it would look the way it does. I thought it was an intake port. but give me some grace. I have a new born and these days my brain is running on at most 4 hours of sleep. I think all of my issues aside from the timing chain tensioner were 100% head gasket. it explains most of the problems I was having. I think that #1 cylinder was getting coolant in it and causing it to run rough at idle and less compresion. the exhaust port for #1 had coolant, The compression for 1 was only 100 with adjusting the valves verses the nearly 160PSI of the other 3. Looking back I feel stupid but you live and learn. Ill update as I go. Really really hoping the head didnt crack some how. Ideally the felpro gasket got messed up during install due to something I did wrong. To me it says compression lost through the gasket.

Strangely i feel headgaskets are easier to deal with on the 6cly 2f verses this little G200 isuzu engine. Probibly due to the pushrocker design of the 2f vers an overhead cam.
 
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So update on the fj55 I did some little things before It started Raining today Mainly body work. I sanded the high build on the hood, use a tiny itty bitty bit of body filler where I welded the rockers to the a,b,c pillars and I sanded it. I have to fill a couple little airbubbles still but its looking really good! I cant wait to fully prime it and paint it!

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I also realized I still had the oem fj40 bumper and I relized I had the warn 8274 mounting plate left over from when I cut it off the winch bumper on the 40 to mount the belleview. HUMMMMMM....... This could be interesting.

I think I would have to do some bracing with the plate welded on the fj40 bumper but this would be a fun project here in the future.
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Roastchestnuts said:
So update on the fj55 I did some little things before It started Raining today Mainly body work. I sanded the high build on the hood, use a tiny itty bitty bit of body filler where I welded the rockers to the a,b,c pillars and I sanded it. I have to fill a couple little airbubbles still but its looking really good! I cant wait to fully prime it and paint it!

View attachment 4103987View attachment 4103992

I also realized I still had the oem fj40 bumper and I relized I had the warn 8274 mounting plate left over from when I cut it off the winch bumper on the 40 to mount the belleview. HUMMMMMM....... This could be interesting.

I think I would have to do some bracing with the plate welded on the fj40 bumper but this would be a fun project here in the future.
View attachment 4103997
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Your body work looks fantastic! Check the depth of the Belleview. I know there is not enough space to fit an 8274 between the stock bumper and the front valence on a 55. You'll most likely need to extend the frame horns to make room for the winch...at least I had to. You'll need to fab an inner support piece if you plan to actually use the winch. Factory bumper won't hold up.
 
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roadstr6 said:
Check the depth of the Belleview. I know there is not enough space to fit an 8274 between the stock bumper and the front valence. You'll most likely need to extend the frame horns to make room for the winch...at least I had to. Please don't weld that plate onto the factory bumper and expect it to hold up. You'll need to fab an inner support piece if you plan to actually use the winch.
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the belleview was sold with the fj40. I would have to get a new winch. yeah I figured I would have to brace it up. I have seen this before somewhere on mud. I remember seeing you extended the frame horns o your build. I really wish I could find a good pto winch. that would be ideal. Looking at my bumper it looks like one was mounted in the past.
 
roadstr6 said:
Your body work looks fantastic! Check the depth of the Belleview. I know there is not enough space to fit an 8274 between the stock bumper and the front valence on a 55. You'll most likely need to extend the frame horns to make room for the winch...at least I had to. You'll need to fab an inner support piece if you plan to actually use the winch. Factory bumper won't hold up.
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Also thanks for the body work complement. I feel like I learn somthing new every time I dive into a welding project.
 
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