Builds Two 62s Become One - Build Thread

[diesellibrarian]

Other things I've checked off the list:

• Brake master cylinder installed
• Oil cooler coolant hose replaced
• Rear hatch and liftgate installed and adjusted
• Front brake lines connected
• Rear brake return line plugged (because LSPV deletion):

• Exhaust installed:

Also installed a new battery and put some fuel in the tank! Tried to start it yesterday but could not get the fuel pump to run. Did a bit of testing, and it looks like a bad ground at the pump, but ran out of time to do further testing. Still, it's exciting to be at the point where I am ready to fire this thing up for the first time in who knows how many years??

 

[open country]

For me, the choice was easy. I always wanted a beige 60.

This isn't a concours show car, so a garage paint job is fine by me. My total investment in paint and sprayer is under $500 (+ who knows how many hours of sanding), which is a tenth of the price of even a mediocre respray at a local paint shop. Plus...it's kind of fun!

Same ideology here and will one day garage paint mine - could you post your setup? Apologies if I missed it earlier in the thread.

 

[kirvesmies]

@diesellibrarian , hey bud, ckeck your in-box

 

[diesellibrarian]

@diesellibrarian , hey bud, ckeck your in-box

Pleasure doing business with you, sir.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Some pretty exciting stuff happened this weekend, including the truck's long-awaited first start!

But first, some boring but important stuff: rad hose replacement. I swapped out the old, crusty rad hoses in favour of a brand new kit from Terrain Tamer. Replacing these is a pain in the arse, but I figure it's easier to do in a heated garage than in the rain on the side of a trail somewhere. Here's a couple pics for good measure:

New bypass hose. Installing this one entailed removing a ton of stuff from the thermostat housing area.

Upper rad hose:

Plus whatever this hose is called. I deleted my A/C a while ago, which made replacing this hose much easier. There's no way to access it with the A/C compressor in place. Still a miserable and messy job, though.

 

[diesellibrarian]

So, with the new hoses installed, I filled with fresh coolant and set about starting the thing. The first problem I encountered was no fuel pressure. Confirmed proper functioning of the main EFI relay and circuit opening relay. Basically, the main relay sends juice to the circuit opening relay, which sends juice to the pump. Strong 12v at both, but only ~5v at the pump. After some testing, I determined that it was a bad ground at the pump that was causing the pump not to run. Tied in a new ground and the pump came to life.

So then I had fuel pressure, but still no start. Tested coil: resistances not in spec. Swapped in a spare coil/igniter that tested good, still no start. Pulled the distributor cap and checked the air gaps per FSM - all within spec. Swapped on my spare cap, rotor, and wires, still no spark. Finally, out of ideas, I swapped in my spare ECU, and got a tiny cough out of the thing. Spark! It was smooth sailing from that point. After a couple of rough starts, it finally settled into an idle at about 1000 rpm (high, I know) and I let it get up to temperature. Oil pressure looks good, and it seems to be charging. So yeah, all pretty exciting stuff! This engine was an unknown quantity. The last time it ran (as far as I know) was about 8 years ago. I was able to spin it by hand, and I knew there was (some) compression in all 6, but that's really all I knew about it.

Anyway, here's a short video of its first stable idle:



Next step is to run some new brake lines to the rear brakes!

 

[kirvesmies]

Pleasure doing business with you, sir.

i concur, it certainly was.

 

[kirvesmies]

So, with the new hoses installed, I filled with fresh coolant and set about starting the thing. The first problem I encountered was no fuel pressure. Confirmed proper functioning of the main EFI relay and circuit opening relay. Basically, the main relay sends juice to the circuit opening relay, which sends juice to the pump. Strong 12v at both, but only ~5v at the pump. After some testing, I determined that it was a bad ground at the pump that was causing the pump not to run. Tied in a new ground and the pump came to life.

So then I had fuel pressure, but still no start. Tested coil: resistances not in spec. Swapped in a spare coil/igniter that tested good, still no start. Pulled the distributor cap and checked the air gaps per FSM - all within spec. Swapped on my spare cap, rotor, and wires, still no spark. Finally, out of ideas, I swapped in my spare ECU, and got a tiny cough out of the thing. Spark! It was smooth sailing from that point. After a couple of rough starts, it finally settled into an idle at about 1000 rpm (high, I know) and I let it get up to temperature. Oil pressure looks good, and it seems to be charging. So yeah, all pretty exciting stuff! This engine was an unknown quantity. The last time it ran (as far as I know) was about 8 years ago. I was able to spin it by hand, and I knew there was (some) compression in all 6, but that's really all I knew about it.

Anyway, here's a short video of its first stable idle:



Next step is to run some new brake lines to the rear brakes!

that's floggin' awesum man. we'll see about mine in a couple of weeks. it's been almost 6 years sitting.

 

[kirvesmies]

@diesellibrarian , quick ?, did you give each cylinder a small shot of some sort of oil prior to cranking that over?

 

[diesellibrarian]

@diesellibrarian , quick ?, did you give each cylinder a small shot of some sort of oil prior to cranking that over?

I did not. I cranked it enough without firing that I figured the oil pump would take care of that.

 

[diesellibrarian]

It feels like things are really moving along with this project, which is great! I'm now working on stuff that always seemed so far off. Now suddenly I'm within spitting distance of driving the thing!

The last major piece I'm missing is brakes, so yesterday I made a new hard line to tie in the rear brakes. I bought a 25' roll of 3/16" copper-nickel brake line from a local store and bent it to shape, adding a flare and fitting at each end. To get the new line to more or less follow the path of the old line, I used the stock line as a guide:

That worked pretty well, as least up to the point where the stock line took a hard right toward the LSPV. Anyway, I shaped as much of it as I could, and then bent the rest to fit once it was on the truck.

Fresh fitting and double flare at the front of the new line:

To mount the brake line to the frame rail, I enlarged some existing holes in the frame and popped in a few nutserts. I decided to run the brake line high on the inner frame rail, to protect it from dents etc. The copper-nickel tubing is really soft and easy to work with, but I'm afraid it might be more prone to damage than the stock steel line. Here's a pic of the line where it kicks out around the cross member and up and over the rear shock mount.

Pretty soon I'm going to run out of things to help me procrastinate on the extensive bodywork I still need to do...

 

[kirvesmies]

I did not. I cranked it enough without firing that I figured the oil pump would take care of that.

i was thinking along the lines of lubing the rings in case they had sorta, you know seized, to the cylinder walls. i dunno, worried for naught maybe

 

[diesellibrarian]

i was thinking along the lines of lubing the rings in case they had sorta, you know seized, to the cylinder walls. i dunno, worried for naught maybe

I was able to spin the engine pretty easily by hand, so I knew that nothing was seized. I spun it by hand a full 360* before putting the starter to it.

 

[kirvesmies]

right on

 

[diesellibrarian]

Finally got the brake system buttoned up with the install of a manual proportioning valve in place of my rusty, crusty LSPV, which I'll be putting in the dustbin (once my truck has passed safety, anyway!).

I decided to mount the Wilwood PV near the master cylinder, using the brake booster mounts to hold the bracket. Again deployed my CAD skills to create the bracket design, which I then cut out of some 18 ga sheet:

Here's the cardboard bracket recreated in steel. I simply folded the steel over in the vice, and then welded up that one little gap:

With the PV mounted to the bracket and the bracket mounted to the brake booster, I reinstalled the master cylinder and set about routing the brake lines. I was able to re-route the stock lower line to the "out" port on the valve, though I did need to change the fitting (the PV uses NPT threads instead of metric), so I had to cut and re-flare it. Then I made a new line from the MC to the "in" port on the PV. This is the final product:

All in all, this job went pretty smoothly, and I'm happy with the location of the proportioning valve. Having said that, I'm no expert on braking systems, so if anyone sees anything I should do differently, please let me know!

 

[kirvesmies]

@diesellibrarian , the eagle has landed

 

[diesellibrarian]

Big day yesterday as the 62 finally moved under its own power! The engine is running well, but the A440F slushbox was an unknown quantity. It was a little tricky getting the right amount of ATF into the transmission, due to the addition of the external cooler. But once I finally got the fluid level dialed in, the thing worked like a dream!

Here's a little video of one of its first runs up the alleyway:

 

[diesellibrarian]

Got the interior all back together. It needs a good steam clean, but all in all the carpet and upholstery is in not bad shape. Door cards provisionally installed. I'll remove them later to install the vapor barrier, but first I wanted to make sure the lock and window mechanisms are working well. I actually had to swap in a new rear driver's side window, as the roller channel had fallen off the bottom of the existing one. That was a pain in the butt, but a worthwhile learning experience.

At this point, there's nothing left on my "to do" list but paint! We're going to turn my buddy's garage into a temporary paint booth and just spray it in situ. Should be fun!

 

[open country]

Are you going to DIY the windshield seal? Staying tuned for that if so.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Are you going to DIY the windshield seal? Staying tuned for that if so.

I'm considering it, for sure. I'm worried about breaking a brand new windshield, but it's one of those things that would really useful to know how to do.