- Thread starter
- #161
I was feeling like a kid today so I took the '73 Honda Mini Trail for a ride, gave it a bath and took a picture of it with its younger cousin.
Builds The Rushing Turdle (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter roadstr6
- Start date
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- Joined
- Jun 21, 2011
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- 230
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- Location
- Redding, California
- Website
- trail-tailor.com
Pretty cool classic Dave.
I want a Toyota i-Road.... but I doubt my big ole butt would fit in one!
J
I want a Toyota i-Road.... but I doubt my big ole butt would fit in one!
J
nice looking trail 70! i have a 72 trail 90 I need to get running. your turdle all shiny make me wonder what mine would look like, can you wax rust? lol
what size tires are you running?
what size tires are you running?
- Thread starter
- #164
I like the CT90's as well. Gotta love the Hi-Lo transmission in those! Funky looking old bikes but they were tough as nails. The tires on the Turd are 33x10.5's. Rust will bead water if you wax it enough!
NCFJ
Supporting Vendor
That's not rust Dave, that's Patina 
- Thread starter
- #166
I did a valve adjustment on the Turdle this past weekend. Everything was pretty much in spec. Had a couple of exhaust valves that were a smidge tight but other than that, all was good. I did replace the valve cover gasket while I had it off. I had been experiencing a little "tweety bird" sound from under the hood when the truck was under load. I knew it was a slight leak where the carb meets the intake manifold. I decided to cut some gaskets and install over and under the carb insulator. Hopefully no more tweety birds under the hood now.
I seem to be loosing a small amount of coolant over time. I have to top off a couple of inches in the reservoir every 500 miles or so. I can't seem to find a leak anywhere. I'm hoping that maybe there is a little bit of air in the system from my last radiator install and that it just needs to work itself out. If not, I guess it may be a head gasket deal. I have done a compression check and it tested fine. I did an exhaust gas check on the radiator and it was negative as well so we will see what happens. Truck seems to be running good. I've been enjoying driving it. It sure is miles ahead of my 40 in the comfort category. I like this truck a lot!
I seem to be loosing a small amount of coolant over time. I have to top off a couple of inches in the reservoir every 500 miles or so. I can't seem to find a leak anywhere. I'm hoping that maybe there is a little bit of air in the system from my last radiator install and that it just needs to work itself out. If not, I guess it may be a head gasket deal. I have done a compression check and it tested fine. I did an exhaust gas check on the radiator and it was negative as well so we will see what happens. Truck seems to be running good. I've been enjoying driving it. It sure is miles ahead of my 40 in the comfort category. I like this truck a lot!
Could be a slow leak that evaporates before it causes a drip.
- Thread starter
- #168
I know the front and rear heater cores are usual suspects. Lines all look dry underneath. I haven't noticed any wet carpet in the cabin but I must admit that this old thing does smell a little funky inside. I need to pull up the carpet and see if there is anything going on under there. The glass does not fog up when on defrost mode. When that happens it is usually an "Aha!" moment. But nothing like that here yet.
I'm guessing more along the lines (ha) of a metal coolant pipe in the engine starting to rust through from the inside, causing a small leak only when going down the highway or something. The metal line that goes from the water pump to the lower radiator hose (or any of the three coolant hoses that connect to it) is a common culprit for a coolant leak, mostly because it's buried and difficult to repair/replace.
For example, on the truck I put together this spring, I had to replace 2 of 3 metal coolant pipes on the engine because of rust/rot underneath where the hoses connect. Each rusted connection was surely a (slow) coolant leak before replacement.
This is kind of a grainy pic, but you can see the short rubber hose that connects to the water pump and the black pipe behind the AC belt. It connects to the lower radiator hose and has another nipple to go up to the oil cooler via a metal pipe on the side cover:
For example, on the truck I put together this spring, I had to replace 2 of 3 metal coolant pipes on the engine because of rust/rot underneath where the hoses connect. Each rusted connection was surely a (slow) coolant leak before replacement.
This is kind of a grainy pic, but you can see the short rubber hose that connects to the water pump and the black pipe behind the AC belt. It connects to the lower radiator hose and has another nipple to go up to the oil cooler via a metal pipe on the side cover:
- Thread starter
- #170
A couple of weeks ago I took the Turdle on its longest trip since I took ownership. It was a trip from Charlotte to Asheboro. I took the scenic route so it took about 2.5 hours. The old Turd did fine but one of the things that has always nagged me about this truck is its gutlessness. It does fine around town but on the highway it struggles with long uphill pulls. I know this is partly due to the 3.70 gears, 33 inch tires and the old 2F but something kept telling me that there was room for improvement.
I de-smogged the truck a while back but was still running the factory carb with all the unnecessary vacuum ports blocked off. I had an old Trollhole carb in my parts stash so I decided to yank the Aisan carb and put on the Trollhole to see what would happen. What happened was this:
The engine bay looks so much cleaner and neater without all the vacuum lines running willy-nilly everywhere. I removed all the vacuum connections on the driver's side fender with the exception of the A/C idle-up. I re-installed that vacuum canister onto the Trollhole in order to keep the functionality. I also disconnected the emissions computer and performed the "green wire mod" by grounding one of the two wires (NOT THE GREEN ONE) to the carb body.
![IMG_2710[1].JPG](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='960' height='1280' viewBox%3D'0 0 960 1280'%2F%3E "IMG_2710[1].JPG")
I decided to install a heat resistant sleeve over the fuel line to prevent fuel boiling and help with hot start-ups.
I tuned the carb using my vacuum gauge and set the idle and took it for a short drive. I was very impressed with the performance of the Trollhole as compared with the worn out original carb. The truck had a lot more "pep" off the line and seemed to work it's way up through the rpm range with much less effort than before. Next I decided to check into the vacuum secondary to see if it was working properly. I did the "paper clip trick" which involves placing a paper clip on the secondary actuator rod so that it touches the base of the vacuum can, taking the truck for a spirited drive, and then checking to see that the paper clip had gotten slid down by movement in the actuator rod. My truck failed the paper clip test (I actually tried this trick with the old Aisan carb before I did the carb swap and it wasn't working on that carb either). Apparently the secondary is not receiving enough vacuum to fully operate. Here was my solution:
I took apart the secondary diaphragm canister, removed the factory spring inside and installed a weaker spring from a $15 Holley/Demon carb secondary spring kit. The kit came with seven springs. I used the weakest one (the white one). I used a digital scale to determine the strength of the springs. The Trollhole spring registered 250 grams when I pressed it to almost full stack on my scale. The white Holley spring registered about 200 grams. Re-installed the diaphragm canister and took the truck out again. Viola! The secondary is opening as it should and the Turd is a whole lot less gutless than it was before!
Overall I am much happier with the truck's performance. I can't say that the difference from before is night and day but it is a serious improvement. The truck idles better and pulls harder. I drove the Turd to work today and it had no trouble running 75 mph on the interstate with the A/C on. There really aren't any hills to speak of so the hill pulling test is yet to be performed. I know it will do a lot better though.
I de-smogged the truck a while back but was still running the factory carb with all the unnecessary vacuum ports blocked off. I had an old Trollhole carb in my parts stash so I decided to yank the Aisan carb and put on the Trollhole to see what would happen. What happened was this:
The engine bay looks so much cleaner and neater without all the vacuum lines running willy-nilly everywhere. I removed all the vacuum connections on the driver's side fender with the exception of the A/C idle-up. I re-installed that vacuum canister onto the Trollhole in order to keep the functionality. I also disconnected the emissions computer and performed the "green wire mod" by grounding one of the two wires (NOT THE GREEN ONE) to the carb body.
I decided to install a heat resistant sleeve over the fuel line to prevent fuel boiling and help with hot start-ups.
I tuned the carb using my vacuum gauge and set the idle and took it for a short drive. I was very impressed with the performance of the Trollhole as compared with the worn out original carb. The truck had a lot more "pep" off the line and seemed to work it's way up through the rpm range with much less effort than before. Next I decided to check into the vacuum secondary to see if it was working properly. I did the "paper clip trick" which involves placing a paper clip on the secondary actuator rod so that it touches the base of the vacuum can, taking the truck for a spirited drive, and then checking to see that the paper clip had gotten slid down by movement in the actuator rod. My truck failed the paper clip test (I actually tried this trick with the old Aisan carb before I did the carb swap and it wasn't working on that carb either). Apparently the secondary is not receiving enough vacuum to fully operate. Here was my solution:
I took apart the secondary diaphragm canister, removed the factory spring inside and installed a weaker spring from a $15 Holley/Demon carb secondary spring kit. The kit came with seven springs. I used the weakest one (the white one). I used a digital scale to determine the strength of the springs. The Trollhole spring registered 250 grams when I pressed it to almost full stack on my scale. The white Holley spring registered about 200 grams. Re-installed the diaphragm canister and took the truck out again. Viola! The secondary is opening as it should and the Turd is a whole lot less gutless than it was before!
Overall I am much happier with the truck's performance. I can't say that the difference from before is night and day but it is a serious improvement. The truck idles better and pulls harder. I drove the Turd to work today and it had no trouble running 75 mph on the interstate with the A/C on. There really aren't any hills to speak of so the hill pulling test is yet to be performed. I know it will do a lot better though.
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Was your secondary working at all before?
Nice work!
Nice work!
- Thread starter
- #172
Nope. Nothing. It works great now!
NeverGiveUpYota
Dare me.
, I'm just curious, the package in the pix above is without the "white" spring as you stated?
- Thread starter
- #174
That is correct. The white spring had already gone into my secondary by the time I took the picture. This same little group of springs can be purchased as a Holley kit. Part number is 20-13. I have not tested the tension of the Holley springs but I believe that they are the same as these in the 12412 kit...same color coding and all. Link: https://www.amazon.com/HOLLEY-2013-...=1473272333&sr=8-2&keywords=holley+spring+kit
NeverGiveUpYota
Dare me.
Thank you. Just want to keep this in mind as I am rebuilding a carb for my truck with parts from my existing carb as we speak.... buggers are next to me on my desk. And I did replace that diaphragm. The spring looks to be in very good shape tho.
- Thread starter
- #176
The spring in mine was good as well. Too good actually. The vacuum circuit in the secondary was not strong enough to overcome and compress it. That was the reason for swapping in the weaker spring...to get a little quicker reaction in the secondary.
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- Thread starter
- #177
I took the Turdle on its second wheeling trip this past weekend to the Olde North State Cruisers event, Logan's Run. The old Turd did great. I am constantly amazed at the capability of these old trucks. Here are a few pics of our fun:
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- Thread starter
- #178
- Thread starter
- #179
When the Turd gets nice and warmed up and I shut it off I always have to wind on the starter to get it to crank back up. Last night I decided to do something about that. The carb fan hasn't worked since I took ownership. The ground wire to the carb fan thermostat was broken off, hanging loose and not connected. Rather than bother with the thermostat, I stripped the end of the wire and crimped on an extension with a ring and grounded the wire with a self tapping sheet metal screw. Bingo! The fan comes on now. It runs for 30 minutes after cycling the key to the OFF position. The fan is in good shape. It is nice and quiet and the best thing is the hot start issue is greatly improved. I wish I had done this a year ago!
The carb fan may seem like a poor engineering solution on the part of Mr. T and really, it is but if you think about the amount of extra metal, wiring, circuitry and overall expense that Toyota went to to add this do-dad it must have made a significant difference. I'm happy to report that it really does. For those of you afraid of grounding the fan to let it run for the full 30 minutes for fear of draining the battery, don't worry. The fan only uses a couple of amps in a 30 minute cycle. No big deal in the grand scheme of things and far less amperage than your starter would use spinning over the hot truck with a non-fan cooled carb.
The carb fan may seem like a poor engineering solution on the part of Mr. T and really, it is but if you think about the amount of extra metal, wiring, circuitry and overall expense that Toyota went to to add this do-dad it must have made a significant difference. I'm happy to report that it really does. For those of you afraid of grounding the fan to let it run for the full 30 minutes for fear of draining the battery, don't worry. The fan only uses a couple of amps in a 30 minute cycle. No big deal in the grand scheme of things and far less amperage than your starter would use spinning over the hot truck with a non-fan cooled carb.
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Do you have any photos of the work for getting the Carb Fan to work?
