FJ40 I call Shipwreck

[SuperBuickGuy]

did you know crayons burn like a candle?

[AFFORDILLAC]

Now searching for my 100 count box...

[SuperBuickGuy]

Now searching for my 100 count box...

very good, your distraction is complete.

[SuperBuickGuy]

well, my distraction was compete on Sunday, but back to the grindstone







for those who don't know - welding tip - when you're trying to fill holes or weld super-thin, rusty metal - use everdur welding rod as filler with your mig.

and more little holes in the floor, but those were solved


just one more hole



had I made these floorboards, I would have done them completely different - but I had them and wasn't in the mood to remake them; so it is what it is

next up, start the front hoop of the cage. I plan on using the cage to remove the body

[SuperBuickGuy]

today's purchase

[STINEY]

YES!!

[SuperBuickGuy]

You have no idea how tempted I am to put the Land Rover outside and get the suspension under this.... of course, if I were to do that, my wife might be a bit chagrined since she's expecting the Land Rover to be ready to haul us and her pups to her family's house in Arizona for Thanksgiving... but a chagrined wife isn't a bad thing, is it?

[STINEY]

Chagrined? Is that similar to a Champagned wife? Doesn't sound too bad.....

[DanStokes]

Depends on the consequences of a chagrined wife. Varies with the Bride.

Dan

[Deaf Bob]

Depends if you want to sleep with her, the dogs or fishes...

[SuperBuickGuy]

oh listen to all of you, voice of experience... bah!

anyway, tonight's work - solid, not show

looks solid, eh?

not so much


and another little hole


repairs






no more flintstone floors


of course, next up is the roll cage so I'll be punching holes in those now solid floors...

[SuperBuickGuy]

T350 NP 205 transfer case.


next up find a np 241 so I can do a dual case setup.

[SuperBuickGuy]

well, I pushed the Land Rover outside... apparently the jerk who sent me the motor took the transmission apart at the adapter .... for no apparent reason .... at this point, I don't trust it - and minimum I have to pull the transmission and reseal the case... at worst, I'll be inside a transmission I don't know... needless to say, I'm about to dispute his payment for all of it. The complete motor has already cost me nearly a grand in extras (not including the extra shipping)...

anyway, on to more pedestrian things (and who knows, maybe the 300 tdi will land here and I'll scrap the land rover... okay, maybe I'm just mad and it'll blow over...

after some finagling I pulled the scrap... errr... 2F motor and 3 speed transmission. I hate scrapping it, but I have no room - so I think I'll do the craigslist ad "this week only" and if no nibbles. I need to make a scrap run anyway with the axles

[SuperBuickGuy]

I picked up another motor today... $100.


The guy said it knocked, which is fine, I already have a rotating assembly in the other block.
It wasn't the bottom end

numbers 1st

a 350, vortec, truck


plugs look okay, not good, simply okay... hmmm


this is good, roller cam - after all, while I do want performance, I want stone-cold reliability.


this is what a motor that's been taken care of looks like


whoa whoa whoa... I've seen valves like that before


I think I've found the knock


When I talked to the guy who pulled the motor he said "it didn't knock all the time"... unless you put grease in the oil pan (and I've seen that), a blown bearing knocks all the time - it simply gets louder with rpm


not necessarily good news (spoiler alert, it is good news since there's no rust on the walls)

this looks good


I pulled the main caps later (no pictures) but they're in great shape - so good, that were I to cheap out, I'd simply retorque the caps, put a high-volume oil pump on and call it a day (no copper showing at all).... again, regular oil changes.

However, all is not lollipops - a couple of the lifters seem to be collapsed (maybe more than a couple) - which might have been the cause of the knocking. I bought this motor for the block (though I was surprised at non-4-bolt-mains - frankly that doesn't matter for what I'm doing, so surprise is about all I've got about that), and for all those neat little bits that cost so much to buy (bolts, covers, serpentine set up, oil cooler... etc).... I could have the heads done, and that'd be about $200 after the replace a bunch of valves, plus $150 to cut the seats for positive lock seals and higher lift... but I think I'm going to buy cheap, aluminum heads for the Corvette - and put the Corvette's heads on the Land Cruiser... we'll see, but that's my tentative plan for now.

[SuperBuickGuy]

so here's what I did... I bought aluminum heads, for the Corvette. 2.05/1.60 valve, aluminum heads would actually hurt the performance of the motor in this rig; but the Vortec heads, the ones that are nearly new, have screw in studs already and are machined for a greater-than .500 cam are perfect for this motor. Best of all, I can probably get all or most of my money "back" by selling these two sets of Vortec heads I currently own (I honestly believe anything I build from here on out will be LS, BBC, or BBB).

And Dan, have I mentioned that the transmission I'm using with the '40 is dual bolt pattern? no? still not going to put the Buick in, but it does give me options.