Barn-Find Ressurection..............1984 FJ1100

[fnlyafjat51]

What a find !!! Nice works, and very detail oriented. It's making me chomp at the bit to get mine, and get started on it. Can't wait. Hopefully next weekend.
I can see I'm going to like it around here. 

[Sabre093]

Going to watch this Thread...Wow awesome Work!

[Firehawk068]

I set up my work table to get started on the carburetors, so that I could lay everything out in neat order as it gets disassembled.

Since I couldn't move any of the moveable bits, I just removed the Diaphragm caps, the springs, and fuel bowls.



Since I don't have access to an Ultrasonic Cleaner that's large enough for a whole rack of carbs, I improvised.
Some of you may laugh at me................but hey, I use what I have most of the time.

My small, cordless Sander uses Velcro-Sanding Pads, so I attached some Velcro strips to the bottom of a storage bin.



It's just large enough for a rack of carbs.
Before separating and stripping the carb bodies, I wanted to remove the bulk of the 20-years of gummy varnish. (or at least loosen it)
Since the Fuel Bowls have a tiny passage in them, I put those in as well.



I used a mixture of 25% Simple Green, and 75% HOT (just off the stove-boiling) water.



I had the carbs in there for a little over an hour. During that time they got about 45 minutes of agitation from the vibrating bath. (the battery pack would last about 15 minutes at a time. I had 2 battery packs to switch out and charge)
Before the bath, the slides would not move (I didn't try to push them out by force) and the butterflies would not budge.



Two of the slides came out in the bath. The other two pushed right out after. The butterflies would now rotate freely. 

Next came more disassembly and cleaning.



After the initial bath, the choke plungers were still stuck. I didn't want to risk damaging them by trying to yank them out.
My Pressure-Washer also has a Steam-Gun with a fairly tiny nozzle.
Using Distilled-water, I applied the hot steam into the choke passages. This quickly loosened the sticky gum, and the choke plungers pulled right out.
I also used the steam into all the rest of the internal passages to loosen any gummy residue inside.







I made sure to keep everything organized neatly in line (1-through-4), so all the pieces would go back into the carb body they came out of.



I recently purchased an Ultrasonic Cleaner from Harbor-Freight (more on this later) for this project.  It is the larger of the two that they sell, and is large enough for (2) individual carb bodies to fit in (just, but you have to flip them over for complete cleaning) It does have a built-in heater, so I didn't have to heat the water as much before filling.
I wanted to see just how much dirt would come out of (1) of these carbs.

I used a mixture of 25% Simple Green HD (the purple stuff this time. it's safer on aluminum), and 75% water.



I took the number-two carb body and soaked it in the ultrasonic bath for an hour on each side, resetting the timer every 10 minutes. (this particular model only lets you run the agitator-transducer for 8-minutes at a time...........Cheap!)

Quite a bit of internal material came out!



After a clean, hot-water rinse and a blow-dry with compressed air, it is looking super clean!





The one on the left hadn't gone through the Ultrasonic Cleaner yet. The one on the right is the one I just finished.
Quite a difference! 



Over the next several hours into the evening, I was able to rotate the rest of the carb bodies through the same two-hour ultrasonic bath.



More to come...........................

[camo]

love the sander bath.....im gonne call it a sub sonic bath.

[andyoutandabout]

Classic tinkering Al.

[Firehawk068]

The following morning, the rebuild kit for the rear master cylinder showed up.

I cleaned, and re-assembled it.
Mounted it back on the FJ, then flushed and bled the system with fresh fluid.









It was at this moment in time, as I was about to cycle a bunch of the smaller carb parts through the Ultrasonic Cleaner, that I realized it wouldn't turn on..............
So, I made the journey back to Harbor-Freight with my receipt to exchange it.
Get the new one home. Add cleaning solution. Turn it on........................ It works for about 5 seconds, then I hear a distinct clunk inside the machine as it stops "Humming" 
Emptied it, and took the bottom cover off. The vibrator Transducer had detached itself from the bottom of the tank (it appeared to be epoxied on)
I put everything back in the box, and made the journey back to Harbor-freight to return it (this time to get my money back)
Do yourselves a favor..............If you are ever considering buying one of these...............Don't! 

I put all the small brass parts in a jar of carb cleaner, and used my mini-sander strapped to the side of it for about 15 minutes.
Then let them soak for about an hour, then another 15 minutes of sander.
They came out clean.
I blew compressed air through them all, and verified all the tiny little holes were clean and clear.



I cleaned the idle-mixture needle screws by hand and brush, as well as the slides and needles by hand.

Using the new SS-screw and o-ring kit, and the new inlet needle/seats supplied by Randy, I assembled the carbs.









I verified that the choke valves, the slides, and butterflies all operated freely as they should.



I lubed the lower throttle cables, and installed them back on the carb rack.
I then set the idle-mixture screws using the "Fingernail" method, and did my best "Bench-sync" of the butterflies by using my calibrated eye-ball measuring tool..............



I set these aside, feeling confident that they are as clean as they could possibly be, and ready for use.

I then moved on to the valve clearance check.
Removed the cam-cover, and was immediately struck by the cleanliness of the inside of this low-mileage engine!





This is the point where I encountered another set-back......................
I searched..........and searched...............and searched........
I could not find my feeler gauges for doing valve checks. Where the heck did I put those? 
I found my ring of feeler gauges, but it was missing all the smallest ones that one would use for valve clearances..........
DANG!   After losing more wrench-time to searching, I decided it would be best to go out and purchase a new set..............So I did.

First round of measuring done..................I used inches, as that's what I'm used to.
I was hoping that with only 8300 miles on the bike, there wouldn't be many adjustments needed..............
Turns out HALF of them were out of spec.



I made a phone call to Lee C. (Yes, the legendary Lee C.) to ask to borrow his valve bucket hold-down tool.
He generously offered to bring it by the following morning........
With that in mind, I went to the tool cabinet to get out my digital micrometer (I use it to measure the shims in case the markings have been wore off, or are mis-marked) and check that I have a good battery for it.
I opened the box, and what do I find?.........................
I find that I had stashed my valve-check feeler gauges in with the micrometer the last time I had done mine..................DOH!  At least now I have two sets.......



More tomorrow.............................

[PaulG]

DOH!  At least now I have two sets.......

Phew!  It's good to feel I'm not alone.... along with my 2 OEM choke cables.... 2 tap & die sets .... 2 cans or tubes of just about everything .... 

[Firehawk068]

The next morning Lee C. shows up with the tool for me to borrow.
We spent some time chatting and catching up.
He was also curious about this low-mileage '84, so we spent a few minutes looking it over.
I had previously promised him the next time he came over I would show him my Rifles, so we spent some time talking about guns, hunting, and looking over my long-gun collection.

When it was time for him to go, I made my way back out to the garage and the FJ once again.

Started by removing and taking measurement of all the shims in those positions that were out of spec.







After a bunch of math, I figured out what shims were needed, and what shims I had to work with.
I also figured out that taking measurements in inches, then converting them to metric, and back again was a waste of time. My feeler gauges have both readings on them, so at this point I decided to just stick to metric measurements.



I moved around the shims that I could move, and checked my own stash of shims for spares that I could use. (turns out I only had one that was useful)
Did the recalculating, and it turns out that it needed exactly 2 shims that I didn't have.



I called to let Bob know what was needed.
He did some calling around, but nobody had the sizes we needed.
I also did some calling around. I checked with Lee. I checked with Barry. I also called around to some Toyota and Honda dealers, as well as a bunch of engine and cylinder head machine shops. There were a couple people that had the 265 shim, but absolutely no one in town had a 260 shim..........None!
The decision was made to just order them from Randy and we would wait for them.....................................DARN! I was getting excited for the bike, and was hoping to have it running by the following day............

I still had some other things that I could finish up on the bike in the meantime.

I removed the carb intake boots to replace the O-rings on those.





Gave the boots and the heat-shield a good washing.



The engine mounting surface cleaned up nicely using a rag soaked with brake-cleaner.



Using the new O-rings, I mounted the items back on the engine.





At this time, I mounted the rack of carbs back on the engine.
I made sure to route all the hoses down behind the engine in their proper location.



I also cleaned the air-box, and reinstalled that as well.





I washed the dust off the cam cover, and set it on top just to keep anything from accidentally falling in there until the shims arrive.



I unfolded the new gasket out of the package, and laid it out on the bench, and installed the new grommets on the bolts.



Drained the oil, and put the new cartridge filter on.



Lubed the upper throttle cables, and the choke cable.



Also fixed the right rear turn signal stalk. The owner provided me with a new one.
At some point, someone had cut the original one shorter.........





Double-checked that I had lubed the chain................At this point, I was running out of things that we discussed to do on the bike.



When the bike was dropped off, it came with (2) fuel petcocks. One mounted to the tank, and another used one in the small box of parts that was supplied.
Neither one was useable.
The one that was mounted to the tank already has the fuel nipple loose. (it pulls right out easily) It also would flow all the time, regardless of which position the lever was in.........No good.



The other used one was missing the fuel nipple altogether, and just had a short piece of fuel hose jammed into the hole. It too would flow regardless of where the lever is..............No good.



I called Bob to give him the bad news about the petcocks, and that a new one would need to be sourced.
The decision was made to get a safety-wired one from Randy, and that it would arrive with the needed shims.

This was as far as I could go until those parts arrived..............
Getting this FJ running would have to wait another week, until the following weekend.

I used this down-time to pop a couple questions up to the forum.
Such as : "Is this the proper fuel hose routing for a gravity-feed FJ?"



And : "Is this where this piece goes, that I found laying on the intake boots?"





More to come, as the project comes to a close..............

[FjLee]

Firehawk068 had mentioned to me previously that he was gonna be cleaning up an 84 FJ "barn-find".  Since I own an 84 FJ, I was curious as to what he was gonna be working with, and what he was gonna do.

So I went to see Firehawk068 a.k.a Alan.  The bike did look good, tho a bit tarnished from lack of use.  ...but solid, and mostly OEM.

The second thing that I noticed was that Alan's approach to this project involved a lot of thinking ahead, while his hands were still clean.

As his hands started getting soiled, his methodical and logical steps were very well organized.  It was a pleasure to be able to see, all laid out, his systematic movements, and his attention to detail. 

He also has an impressive layout of tools.....tools of high quality.

When Alan gets finished, the owner of this particular 1984 FJ1100 is gonna have a jewel of a bike, both cosmetically and mechanically!!

My final impression??     Firehawk068  for President of the USA!!

Lee Carkenord    Denver  CO     84 FJ1100

[Firehawk068]

There might be a few exaggerations in there.......................

Could've been more like an organized mess.... 

As far as President goes...............Possibly organize a Rally perhaps................Lead the Country? Not a chance!

[Tor-King]

Alan, I am really enjoying seeing what you are doing.  I am more than ever inspired to get back out to my garage to continue bringing my '86 back to its original glory!

Thank you.  You are doing a great job!
Dean

[Firehawk068]

I just realized that I never finished up this thread.................Sorry, I've had a TON going on around here lately.




The new Safety-wired Petcock and required shims arrived from Randy with no issues.
I picked these items up from JD (the owner) on my lunch-break, as I found out he works right around the corner from me.

I got to work that evening replacing the last two shims, and made a final sheet with all the current measured clearances.



I used a tiny bit of 3M Weatherstrip+Gasket adhesive on the corners, and stuck the new gasket to the cam cover.



Bolted that back on the engine, and used a bit of the same adhesive to glue this piece back into position on the heat-shield.





Re-connected the throttle and choke cables, and connected all the spark-plug wires.
This baby is almost ready!



When I tried to remove the original petcock from the fuel tank, the screws were so stubborn that I had to cut a slot in them to assist in removal.
This certainly wouldn't do to install the new one, so a quick trip to ACE Hardware for some stainless-steel fasteners.



I cleaned the mating surface on the fuel tank really well, and removed a couple burrs that were on there.



Using all new gaskets, installed the new fuel petcock.





At this point, it was getting late. Too late in fact to fire up the bike and run it..........................This would have to wait until the next day.
I was getting really anxious at this point....................So many questions were running through my head!
Is the engine in good shape after sitting for so long?
Were my carburetor cleaning/rebuilding skills, and bench-sync procedures up to par?
Had there been any previous engine damage, or ignition/electrical issue which led to this bike being parked for such a long time?
Will all the brakes/hydraulics work properly?

The suspense was killing me! 

There was only one item left on the bike at this point, and that was "Fill the engine with oil"
I decided to leave this until the following day, so I set the oil container on top of the bike to remind me and called it a night.

[andyoutandabout]

Good oil strategy.
Another Fj back from beyond.
All hail Al

[Bearcat91]

Just started on an 86 that sat since 2003. Following this thread will be VERY helpful!