jhynesrockmtn
SILVER Star
Well done. I need more lights!!We added a little bit too and took our grand daughter out tonight to look at Christmas lights. View attachment 3782133View attachment 3782132
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Well done. I need more lights!!We added a little bit too and took our grand daughter out tonight to look at Christmas lights. View attachment 3782133View attachment 3782132
8(!) windows with Ford 8-lug axles! 'Crazy Eights' will need a V8, too...Threw the bed on it for the first time since this project has begun. It’s shoved in the corner of my small garage, so I can still work on it this winter and the wife get in and out.
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You are a bad influence. Fortunately my stables are full.![]()
1969 FJ55 for sale by owner - Tucson, AZ - craigslist
1969 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55 running good. Modifications from original: 1973 Chevy police cruiser 350 engine, Muncie 4 speed close ratio transmission, power steering, front bucket seats, custom...tucson.craigslist.org
You can park it over here for a few years…You are a bad influence. Fortunately my stables are full.
8(!) windows with Ford 8-lug axles! 'Crazy Eights' will need a V8, too...![]()
Akin to pb4ugo's comment, did you check the the head for flatness? Where did you get those unique spark plugs, with the triangular grounding strap? Those are non-Toyota valves, a 'positive'-type valve stem seal, as opposed to a 'deflector' (runs with the valves) don't press on the valve guides for a dome-piston type cylinder head, iiac - maybe you have aftermarket valve guides as well?@pb4ugo was absolutely right, nailed it! I blew the head gasket! Not sure why I thought it was the valves, maybe because I know they aren't Toyota, but they are still fine. Great info too about when you have no compression on 2 consecutive cylinders it is likely the gasket, I had not thought of that. And the way this one failed, there was no water in the oil and visa versa, it was directly between cylinders 2 and 3.
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The only problem I saw when I took this apart is likely the reason that the gasket blew. The Intake Valve Stem Seal on cylinder 2 was riding on the valve stem, up and down, no longer stuck to the head at all. This was likely letting a lot of oil into cylinder 2... so I think that would have increased the pressure and blown the gasket? Well, the valve stem seals were non-Toyota, so off they go and 12 new (expensive) Toyota valve stem seals replace them.
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CityRacer has the OEM head gasket for half the price of Toyota right now!
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And here is the shiny new goodness in place
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I quit around dark yesterday and still need to bolt back on the manifolds and accessories, but the new gasket is in and the head is on and torqued, as well as the pushrods and rocker assembly. It's not easy lifting that head straight out over the block and lowering it back into place nice and easy! But the rest will wait till next weekend, had to come back to work for a break, and so I could post on MUDYa'll have a great day!
I didn't think to do that this time, but I checked it when I put it together 3 years ago. I just cleaned every surface with a razor blade and scrubbed it all down with alcohol, then made a mess with compressed air, then scrubbed some more with the blade and more with the alcohol, rinse and repeat. I am hoping the oil coming into that cylinder is the root of the problem, but I guess I will find out.Did you check the deck for flatness? Especially where it blew?
Those plugs are E3 "DiamondFire" plugs, and I have not really run them. They were available from the local O'Reilly Auto and I needed something quick just to troubleshoot the issue, which I initially thought was just a miss-fire. I have been running the OE Denso U-Groove plugs this whole time. I'll clean those up and keep them, and then order a new set of them, but in the meantime maybe I will run these E3s and see if they are any good. For the stem seals on this head (forgive me if I am ignorant of some correct terminology) you press them onto the head above the spring seat. I carefully used a socket to fit around the seal and engage against the little rim at the bottom, and a rubber mallet to press them onto the head. You can feel when they bottom-out and are in place. The valve guides are original to the head as far as I know, and the aftermarket "Sealed Power" valves are identical to the Toyota ones that they replaced. To summarize, really, some of this gets over my ability and tool collection, but I have a go at it regardless LOLAkin to pb4ugo's comment, did you check the the head for flatness? Where did you get those unique spark plugs, with the triangular grounding strap? Those are non-Toyota valves, a 'positive'-type valve stem seal, as opposed to a 'deflector' (runs with the valves) don't press on the valve guides for a dome-piston type cylinder head, iiac - maybe you have aftermarket valve guides as well?
I hope that I didn't shake your confidence.Those plugs are E3 "DiamondFire" plugs, and I have not really run them. They were available from the local O'Reilly Auto and I needed something quick just to troubleshoot the issue, which I initially thought was just a miss-fire. I have been running the OE Denso U-Groove plugs this whole time. I'll clean those up and keep them, and then order a new set of them, but in the meantime maybe I will run these E3s and see if they are any good. For the stem seals on this head (forgive me if I am ignorant of some correct terminology) you press them onto the head above the spring seat. I carefully used a socket to fit around the seal and engage against the little rim at the bottom, and a rubber mallet to press them onto the head. You can feel when they bottom-out and are in place. The valve guides are original to the head as far as I know, and the aftermarket "Sealed Power" valves are identical to the Toyota ones that they replaced. To summarize, really, some of this gets over my ability and tool collection, but I have a go at it regardless LOL![]()
Oh no sir, I appreciate all questions and feedback because I love learning more about my 40! I hope one day to have a nice shop with even nicer tools inside it, but for now I am typically crawling around in the dirt and cursing the sweetgum balls that unfailingly end up jabbing me between my shoulder blades! LOL You are right about the E3 plugs being hard to gap, in fact per the E3 literature they say that you just flat out do not set the gap and that it isn't adjustable. We'll just have to see how they do. When I was assembling last time, around December of 2020, I did use the square to check for flatness on the head and deck, and I even got a little fancy with some snap-gauges and dial calipers to test the cylinders and journals etc.. This time around, I am just glad it wasn't more serious than a head gasket and I am putting it back together quickly to get it back on the road... maybe not the wisest way to go, but I will be back to Cruisin and grinnin in short orderI hope that I didn't shake your confidence.
A straight-edge (like you find on a combination-square) and set of feeler-gauges is used by a shade-tree mechanic to test for flatness. In the machine shop, a dial-indicator can be run over the entire head or block, using a milling machine - it tests more than an arbitrary line, but rather gathers data from an entire plane.
I know nothing about those E3 diamond fire plugs, but, they look hard to gap, and maybe they reach in the head a bit far? I use Autolite 65, and NGK BPR5ES, primarily. I have a set of Denso U-groove, but, I dislike cleaning the U-feature.
My '75 heads employ deflector-type seals. My '82 head uses positive-type seals. The difference is that the chamfer on the '75 valve guides won't allow you to press-on a positive-type seal. A positive-type seal can be installed on any head, according to Mud. However, it just runs up and down with the valve if you have the older-type valve guides.
Not to encourage bad-practices, but you did what I would do. There is a world of difference between wise and optimization. I think that you took a path of wisdom, fixing what is broken.This time around, I am just glad it wasn't more serious than a head gasket and I am putting it back together quickly to get it back on the road... maybe not the wisest way to go, but I will be back to Cruisin and grinnin in short order.