FJ40 Nut: December 2013

Chemistry 101

So, if you learn nothing else from your introductory chem class you will recall hearing about chemical bonding. Some atoms and molecules can share electrons and form new molecules and basically "become" a new substance. Other times, features of the molecules make them incompatible with other atoms and molecules and a new substance cannot be formed. Think of oil and water. No new substance. But what about scotch and soda? A new, somewhat yummy, new substance is born! Well, that depends upon the scotch, of course.

Well clearly this phenomena was involved in a bad way today when the paint I applied on a few parts simply PEELED OFF the primer!

You see, I've become very fond of a particular paint manufacturer, SEM. I've actually spoken with their technical support, and continue to have great results sticking with only their products. So, when I ran out of my favorite SEM self-etch primer, I should have stopped right there. But NO, I have several other primers, don't I?

(At this point, you already know where this is going, so I'll spare you the gory details...)

Luckily the only parts affected were the pulley and fan on the alternator. I grabbed and wicked buy on ebay last year, purchasing an alternator (looks new but surely it's rebuilt) for about 50% savings. The fan and pulley needed to be pulled off my old unit, and this is why I was painting.

Yes, my unit needed the original fan and pulley

Old Unit (No, I wasn't going to crack it open)

Interesting: This is a Nippondenso unit rebadged by Bosch.

New Unit, pretty!

Cold Galvanizing Primer (I'll come to regret the next 2 hours)
Note the cooling lines also primed awaiting topcoat (shit!)

SEM Black "Chip-Guard" Paint

Bathing in ACETONE to remove all layers
and start over with the painting!!! (later)

Plastic plugs!

There are access holes all over the body that get covered in 'very' custom plugs that are not longer available. I mean even the most reliable sources of parts do not have them. And since they are prone to damage (floor pans!) used ones are likewise rare. I tried some inch-and-a-quarter I found on Ebay but they don't fit. I need four and I have (I think) 1 or 2 of my old ones that I can pretty up. Bumming.

Then, while rifling through one of the dozens of boxes of parts looking for the 5" mounting bolt for the alternator, I came upon a box of miscellaneous relays and switches that were included as "extras" when I purchased one particular part I needed a while back. I never thought to commit to memory (or write down) the contents of the box. But, don't you know, right there in this little box of relays are a few of those plugs! Bonus! They weren't pretty, but cleaning made them acceptable. (Note to self - Keep an inventory the next time you do something as stupid as restoring a car!)

Five large is one more than I need to cover the
access holes for the body mounts. Pretty good condition!

Two smaller rubber plugs for the rocker panels

Running Boards and Heat Shield

I was tinkering with the heat shield today and decided to go ahead and install it. The heat shield is there to protect the cabin from heat from the catalytic converter. Now I no longer have a catalytic converter, but this is an original part that belongs. Furthermore, I had spent quality time restoring the bugger. It would be a shame to let that restoration go to waste. So, under I went, and after some further bending and shaping (and cussing) I finally got it to fit... that is, until I realized that I couldn't get to the mounting bolts for the running boards, which were not yet installed. Drats again!

So, I installed the running boards! Mind you this was a distraction from the main goal of installing the distributor and wiring harness which is needed to get the old girl running. But it was good to get the first body part installed!

Install the support brackets

Teflon tape. I've had this for 20+ years and will miss it
when it's gone. Only a few feet left!

Apply some Teflon tape to the surface that mates with the body.
This is a notoriously bad place for corrosion because grit gets
between the parts and grinds the paint off.

Rub the sticky down good.

Slice an X through the holes

Drive a bolt in and form the threads

Left side installed

Close up of the mount

The dreaded heat shield before installing. Note the wrinkles
from where it was all bent up. Best I could do!

I should be able to straighten that out.

Note the running board to the left, bolts hidden (you can see one)

Gotta go, Santa is almost here! Let's see what should I dream of? Sugar plums? Nah.

Back to the grind!

It's a few days before the BIG holiday and what better way to avoid the malls than to get dirty in the MAN CAVE. I've planned the week off to get back under, over, and beside the Land Cruiser and see if I can make some head-roads toward making this hunk of steel a running truck. Over the past month or so, I've been ticking off some other minor stuff, like adding the lubricants, but next week I want to get'r running!

Lubricants

So, about a month ago I purchased 2 gallons of gear oil at NAPA which was, by my calculation, the perfect amount for topping off the transmission, transfer case and rear end. Yeh, they all use the same lube, a pretty basic 80W90 product with the API classification of GL-4. GL-5 is a heck of lot more available, having superseded the GL-4, but NAPA had it (go NAPA!). My calculations didn't allow for a whole lock of spillage in the village, so I employed a helper to prevent too much overfilling. For those of you who care to know but don't, you generally add oil somewhere and wait until if spills out of somewhere else (often the same place). When working alone, it is customary to exceed the absolute minimum amount necessary. That small amount that drips into your bucket or rags is usually insignificant, but here I had only a few ounces to spare. Anyway, it was a good thing I trusted the manual because I used it all!!

The Mystery Part!

There was this curious little cover that I had stripped and painted that just didn't seem to fit anywhere. When taking on a project of this magnitude, you tend to emphasize tagging and bagging, but for body panels and large pieces it is not usually necessary. But here was a cover that I had taken great care to coat with impact protection paint, that clearly went under the truck somewhere. But where? I checked all my documentation and the 100's of photos, but nowhere do I find reference to that cover. Where's Waldo?

I must have searched (altogether) a good 4 hours! But, there the cover sat. Then, one day I was under the chassis admiring my "artwork" when... four threaded holes in the body screamed out to me: "What the heck goes here?". This is when the light came on. Ha! It's the cover that protects the fuel fill, overflow and evaporator lines! I must have removed it before commencing with the photo documenting. Doh! So, here it is:

What? Bondo in the holes?

My paint guy did an awesome job, but it was clear that he was unfamiliar with the FJ40. He straightened out all the little wrinkles and dented sheet metal, and just a few rust holes. But there were many holes that belonged, places where badges, the antenna, side lights and two rear reflectors mounted. After repairing a small area of corrosion on the right rear quarter, he apparently skimmed the area with bondo, closing off two holes into which mounting bolts for the rear reflector went. No problem as the bondo 'oozed into the cavity behind which was a perfect tell-tale to guide my drill. The pics don't show the paint I applied to the exposed raw steel.

60 Degrees means PAINT!

I had found s few parts I neglected to paint in the fall before the weather turned cold, and with a stretch of warmer weather, I set to remedy this. My friend Orlando has a Snap On sand blaster in his shop and he was open to me firing it up (clearly this wasn't his plan, but he is a great guy for doing so), The parts were the bump stops, the e-brake "bucket" where the lever attaches to the cable, and the extension rods for the jack (not shown). The rear stops are two piece.

Note the corrosion resulting from pooling H2O

Wish I had one of these!

Self-etching primer is the key!

Indestructible

Over my heater to cure the paint overnight

Funky shift lever retainer

The shifter is held in place with a collar that locks onto two pins in the tranny tower. It is not clear how to remove it nor install it. You had to be there when I was taking this thing apart (ha!). Even with the assistance of the blogs and my manuals, I played with this bugger for a very long time to get it apart. I think I got lucky. Now, I decide to use the old noggin to get it back together. That's right... a hammer!

The way this works: The collar presses down on a bushing which rests on a spring which presses down on the lever and keeps it firmly locked in place. However it's critical that the collar is locked down by the pins. This is accomplished by two slots in the collar which interlock by pressing down and twisting the collar. The problem is, the collar has a perfectly smooth surface which falls just below the edge of the tower when installing. So, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU GRAB TO TWIST THE SMOOTH COLLAR? One of the pictures shows this predicament. When the going gets tough, the tough get going! So, I think about some way to emply the two flats in the collar (you can see them in the photos). I measure the width between them, then consider some plier or wrench that could be wedged into that space. I search the blogs and I find another nut who made a wrench for this very purpose. The tool was crude and was welded together, so It wasn't something I was doing today. But the concept seemed good. Did I have anything that could do the job? I needed something that could slide over the 3/4" diameter shifter while fitting between the 1.10" spacing of the flats. After a bit of deep thought, I figured this would be some kind of weird PLUMBING fitting, and don't you know I had just that fitting! This is KARMA. It pays to save everything. Jesus, if I live long enough, I'll own (at least) one of everything! The fitting "fits" between the flats and allow me to depress the spring perfectly. Job done in 20 seconds flat.