Fun, Fun & More Fun.

So at this point I'm waiting for parts, scraping head gasket off the block & general cleaning. There is lots to do still like pull off the oil cooler, install water pump & lower hoses. I did get help from a neighbor to get the hood off WOW! That made a big difference. I'm really looking forward to getting this back together I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Here some pics.

 Now that I have the HG off you can see better where the failure is... actually both rear water ports faild.

I also got the oil cooler off. Not bad for 18 years of service.

One more thing I did was relocate the VSV.

Below is OEM location. I believe this was my original P0401 problem.

Blow head gasket update.

GOOD NEWS...

The head was checked out by the machine shop & came back with a clean bill of health. It was jet washed & found to be straight. It only needed to be decked .008" to clean it up.

As for the other stuff I have been chugging away at gasket removal, clean up &  rerouting the wiring harness.

Most of the heater hoses have come in & now that I now how much material came off the head I can order the valve grind kit, head bolts & gasket set.

Pulling off the head of the LX450.

Pulling off the head of the LX has been a grueling adventure so far. I want to stay positive here, but it has not been fun at all. All I can say is God willing this thing will be good for another 100K after the while I'm here stuff is replaced. ie new water pump, belts, hoses etc.

Here is some pics of what I got so far. I will be giving a better detail as it goes back together. Stay tuned...

Here is a sequence of the tear down...

 Oops there it is a text book #6 water jacket failer.

I have found a dry cracked vacuum hose that might be part of my P0401 restricted EGR problem.

I made the crazy decision to start a wiring harness reroute to be able to remove the lower intake off & get the wire away from the hot EGR pipe.

I don't have a pic of a before but here is one from another rig so you can see why I moved the wiring.

That's all for now...

Slow, But Sure...

I was able to drain & see the rad fluid, it doesn't look bad & doesn't look good either. No milky though.I also removed the throttle body.I only got 8 bolts off the upper intake, WOW THAT WAS FUN! It took 3' of exstention to get them from the underside. I have no clue how I'm going to get those back up in there & torqued?

A Blown Head Gasket...

I haven't posted this, but I have been chasing some P0401 EGR problems & some other hidden issues that finally surfaced resulting in a diagnosis of a blown head gasket in cylinder #6. This is a textbook failure for these 80 series vehicles around the 175,000 mile mark. I did get it hot climbing a big hill in Hollister & I belive it has slowly been failing since. Last week it over heated on the 7 minute trip home from work & thought it was the fan clutch that went out. I got a new one in & realize the LX was 1 gallon plus down on radiator fluid. At this time I couldn't understand where it all went... I'm not a great diagnostic trouble shooter, so at this point I didn’t realize it was going out the tailpipe yet through the blown head gasket. It was only yesterday when I went to my friends house that he was able to figure it out & explain to me the series of events that lead to this point.

I'm pretty bummed.

I will be replacing the HG myself & will be posting the progress... Stay tuned.

Stretched Fj40s

Here some of the best streached 40s. I will do my best to list in wb lenght.

Just having fun with a dream, I call it ~FJ40X~

Let me tell you about the Toyota J4 body, it is the most versatile body for moding because of its straight body lines,  it can become just about anything you want it to be with little body work. Toyota themself's made many versions from the short trucks to long troop carriers & many inbetween. The J45 came in a truck & wagon style called a troop carrier, most call them a troopy. All these versions are almost practically bolt up to to make changes from a single cab truck to a troop caring wagon. It's all about what happens behind the "A" pillar or the door post, samething. These are all in a two door of corse. (Toyota did make a four door called a Toyopet Fj45LV). These rigs are preaching the 50 year mark & are hard to find let alone purchase at a very high cost & then cut them up. It's better to get a US spec Fj40 & mod that.

I have been wanting a J4 body style Cruiser for some time now. The idea of having a 4 door version is pretty daunting at best with all the sheet metal work. I have seen several rigs that are very close to what I want. It's all about the top, just changing the top makes a huge difference in apearence. This version can have doors add later. So, here they are basically they are streachted 40s and or cut & bobbed troopy. How ever you want to call it, but I call it ~FJ40X~. X for extra. Hard top or soft top versions are below. Also below is some qiick scribling from my phone & a old school drawing. Enjoy, because I'm just having fun with a dream.