The TexaCali 45 Emprise—Dani California Rising

[MadMace]

You may not get oil to show with the drill trick. In the early F’s there are passageways in the crank that need alignment for the oil to make it up in the valve train. The FSM shows that. Pour some oil over the rockers before startup, then watch for the oil to show up.

Thanks Paul. I'll do what you suggested when we start her up for the first time. I can definitely see (through the oil fill hole after removing the fill tube) the oil getting moved around in the oil pan so I am pretty confident that the oil pump is working. I also got the o-rings replaced on the valve train so everything should be good to go.

 

[middlecalf]

Another thing you can do to see if the oil pump is working is to have the oil pressure regulator hose unhooked and in a bucket, then crank the starter, if it’s working you’ll get a good squirt of oil. (My hose came disconnected when I first cranked my motor, so I had to clean up a good amount of oil on my new shop floor - but at least I knew the pump was working )

 

[MadMace]

Got the tie and relay rods off. They aren’t too bad so I’m going to clean them up and put them back on.

Just kidding….

 

[MadMace]

Gotcha, didn’t I!!! Those poor rods must have taken some big hits!! Got new tie and relay rods as well as new ends. Going on later today.

 

[middlecalf]

Dean those would have worked great for going corners and such . I see those original turn signal housings, nice!

 

[JLawson]

Those are a safety feature like in PWC's? If you fall out, the vehicle will travel in a circle around you so you can catch it!

 

[MadMace]

One of the things I have loved most since getting into LCs is learning new skills, finding new things “fun” that I wouldn’t have otherwise explored. A promotion for Audible came up on my Amazon account. I figured I give listening to audiobooks a try while in the workshop when not working with my son. What fun—I’ve now got Misery, The Shining, Jurassic Park, and The Exorcist in my rear view mirror and am now on a book titled Oracle. They do a great job mitigating frustration, I find myself going slower, being more meticulous mainly because I want to keep moving forward in the Audiobook.

Case in point are the running boards for Dani. They are mangled. @Indygbd was kind enough to make a pair available to me, they are only missing the top trim. I figured I‘d try and salvage the ones from my running boards. It was definitely going to be an uphill battle.

Here is Dani’s original driver’s side board—seen better days.

The retaining screws were very rusted. I have found that a “0” or a “1” welding tip on an oxyacetylene torch is the single best way to remove frozen nuts, bolts. It’s not just heat that you need, you need intense heat to free a lot of these frozen bolts and nuts. Getting the nut and bolt to just turn orange and then quickly quenching with Liquid Wrench and subsequent soaking with PB Blaster has resulted in a near 100% success rate (just make sure you’ve got a water bottle or fire extinguisher or both handy. I haven’t needed either but better safe than sorry).

Here it is off, didn’t lose or strip out one phillips screw.

Started off attaching the trim to the replacement running board at one spot and then heating with oxyacetylene, light tapping and working my way out.

And here we are, all done with the fitting/reshaping.

Honestly, this was quite fun. I am looking forward to the passenger side—it is not in near as bad a shape as this one was.

So, in summary, try Audible and get an oxyacetylene torch with a “0” or “1” welding tip….and have some fun.

 

[MadMace]

Today did the passenger side. Was able to preserve all the original screws—the gold plated bolts were just to hold the trim in place while we heated and lightly hammered it into shape.

After removal of trim from the original running board and on the “new” one before reforming.

Part way through reforming. Started bottom side and worked up. Most of the misshape was on the right and top side.

All done.

 

[MadMace]

Good day for Dani thanks to @JVZii. Jack was very kind to offer this early speedo after he sold me the early cluster bezel. For some reason, the speedo and bezel were removed from Dani's original cluster. At least they left the dummy lights.

Jack, thank you for protecting the speedo and bezel by sending it in a cluster case ( I only bought the bezel and speedo, Jack sent it in a cluster case so it would get to me safely).

For anybody following this thread and is wondering about the silver vs black speedo: Dani is a late 1963--it was right about that time that Toyota switched from silver to the black speedo. It is very possible that Dani originally had a black speedo like this one. This speedo is very early. Has metal internal gears and the odo rolls up vs the later ones that role down.

This was a HUGE get. Again, thanks Jack!!

These early speedo had the screw-in type speedo cable. You can see the brass gears and that the odo rolls up.

 

[JVZii]

Dean

I am glad everything made it to you in good shape. I was about to pitch that housing and bezel but I thought it would be a good protection for the parts.

That is a really cool speedometer with all metal gears and even the odometer wheels are metal. I have several older screw in speedos but this is definitely the oldest one i have ever seen.

I hope it serves you well.

Jack

 

[MadMace]

We are a little “snowed in” here in central Texas so I’ve had some time to work on Dani.

Good news, frustrating news kind of day which brings me to a question I need some help with. We have been working to get the engine running again. After extensive cleaning and oiling, we were finally ready to turn her over and get her started. She started up quite quickly. I couldn’t believe it—that’s the good news. The frustrating news--it reved high--like the throttle plate was wide open. I checked and the plare was in the closed position. We tried again and same thing. There was some gas leaking down the front of the carb base. I pulled the carb off and there was gas puddled in the intake. I have included some pics below. THere was no gas coming through the brass venturi so the carb wasn't flooded. I know it looks like the carb is smoking a pipe--I assure you, it isn't. I set it up that way so I would put small amounts of gas in at a time as we got her running.

So, the question is do I need to re rebuild the carb? I do not want to invest too much into a carb as ultimately I am going to put a Sniper EFI on her. That being said, is there a low cost carb option (prefer under $150) better than a Carter carb to put on her to get the engine running.

Any and all input is appreciated.


Gas was leaking out from the base of the carb where the throttle body post passes through

When I took the carb off, there was gas puddled in the intake

Here's the setup. If this is a stupid idea, feel free to tell me. Again, I did it this way so I could put in small amounts of gas through the carb at a time. Also, I am not confident that the fuel pump works--just haven't tested it yet.

 

[MadMace]

Yesterday was a good day for Dani. Her silver faced speedo came in!! @Skreddy posted this one for sale and I was fortunate enough to get it.

 

[middlecalf]

Dean - wish I had a good idea to help you with your Carter carb. I’ve rebuilt a number of them, and in fact have dual WA-1s on my 45, but I have an opposite problem that I’ve temporarily worked around by using a bit of choke on one of them (stumble on acceleration). I don’t recall (and honestly I should go back and go through your build thread to see) did you put a rebuild kit in your carb (I use Mike’s carbs kits, he should have one for the YF)? You‘re obviously getting fuel dumped past something that should be regulated by vacuum but isn’t. Your “pipe” temp setup shouldn’t have any impact - in fact by having that you‘ve eliminated the potential issue of too high of fuel pressure . The leaking of fuel out the shaft could just be an issue with age, but I think you’d have less, or virtually none, if the source of all that extra fuel at idle were tempered. I’ll scan my Carter carb 101 info and see if there’s anything obvious. GL. Paul

 

[MadMace]

She’s Alive!!

Well, kinda feel like a dum-dum. I couldn’t get past the fact that it seemed like she was getting too much throttle (i.e. throttle plate too open) so I took the carb off and screwed the throttle adjustment screw all the way out so I could close the throttle plate as much as possible. It was barely screwed in originally so I figured it was closing all the way. WRONG!! These Carter throttles are sensitive.

 

[middlecalf]

Have you checked the gap at idle of the throttle plate and the bore? There should be specs on that for the YF in Carter lit. If it’s too great ………….

Ha you posted as I was pontficating.

SWEET, ITS RUNNING. And that sounds pretty good! Great job!

Smokin’

 

[HAMBURGLAR11]

glad to hear she fired! lets hear her purr

 

[MadMace]

Well, unpleasant surprise tonight. We have been degreasing as we go. Getting the steering in order is a top priority. As we were degreasing the steering box and surrounding area, found this. Looks like the steering box bracket broke and somebody bugger welded it back together. Certainly am not comfortable driving with it as is.

Plan is to grind off the rivets and bolt a new one on.

Does anybody have a period correct manual steering bracket?

 

[65swb45]

I do Dean.

 

[MadMace]

I do Dean.

Thank you Mark! I’ll give you a call at your shop tomorrow.

 

[middlecalf]

So that would be an interesting story I suppose about how that got broken. Seems like a pretty hefty part to break from a steering jam-up of sorts thing, something else in the steering chain would give before that (??). Is this common Mark @65swb45 ?