iwan's hdj81

[Iwan]

Im Enjoying this.... Crack on Iwan!

Cheers mate! It's a bit like an adventure really. Been a good way to learn and essentially a way to keep the mind occupied. I basically really like the truck and haven't seen one with the JDM originality quite like it recently.. it has it's problems and some rust issues.

By the way of it's appearance it is worth attention and look forward in getting some use out of it. I'm sure with a good few hours of work as with your 12v it will hit the road again!

Have the valves out of it and have been cleaning up the head. Quite surprised this morning to wake up to 3 inches of snow here and it's November the 9th! Was strange how the leaves are on the trees, never seen that before!

Exhaust valves are in (dire) need of grinding in and if they're loose in the guide.

The fsm says to check the springs for squareness and if they're 2mm out to renew. Found out that in the north south axis they're square and the other axis are not so square! Something is telling me that you shouldn't trust the odometer on an import! Lol

Had a hell of a good load in the back of my 81 today! 20 x 25kg bags of coal and a 19kg gas cylinder! Drove as normal and looked like it had a heavy trailer on the back! Snow driving and when the lsd kicked in it liked to drive straight! A bit light on the front to say the least!

 

[Higgy]

I need a kick in the Arse sometimes to get me motivated.. Iv got my 12v Engine sat on its Mounts Ready to come out, All the bolts are undone all the pipes and cables are off It just needs Yanking out..... And posts like these give me that Kick to get it sorted... Iv been working on the 12v But i always find an excuse to fiddle with something else...So keep Posting, I need the Inspiration, "Crack on Chap!"

 

[chapel gate]

Something is telling me that you shouldn't trust the odometer on an import! Lol

They have a reputation for being clocked..

 

[Iwan]

Not so cruiser content but as the wood work job is very slow with about 10% growth.... you have to make a living!Lol!

Quite a funny story.. a guy I know bought this mercedes e320 v6 on a 07 plate with a leaking oil cooler and the offer for the job was given to 3 local mechanics! I'm the 4th one offered the job because 2 out of the 3 said that " Iwan took his gearbox appart on his truck, so if he can take his gearbox appart and it works... then He's the man to do it!" lol

I've since done a hell of a lot of research on this job this early week and what I've found invaluable is youtube videos of guy's who post the procedure with guidance of the procedure. Hat's off for people who share!

So after starting at this yesterday morning... I have got through to the bottom of the valley should I say lol!

Faulty oil seals are to fault and a hell of a lot of work to clean this up before lifting out the oil cooler...

An interesting fact about egr's from looking at this.... the right hand side gets the egr feed... and the left hand side bank is nice and clean! Tells a story really! Interesting!

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi that looks a big job you have got on the go good look with it but it is not a cruiser hope you r well.

 

[Iwan]

Hi that looks a big job you have got on the go good look with it but it is not a cruiser hope you r well.

Aye Tony it's not a cruiser but this job's payin a bit better than my cruiser shop lol!

You've gotta feed the brain with a technical task that's a challenge and will give satisfaction when completed!

Hope you well mate? Will give you a shout soon bud!

 

[Iwan]

I managed to get the job done and must say I absolutely enjoyed this job!

These are a really lovely sounding engine and to my surprise in comparison from walking around the corner of my house to listening to my 1kz 70 warming up, it sounded like a compressor was running! Lol

I'm planning to put an advert on ebay to get another job in as I quite like the aspect of the job annnd the M B service centre charge between 1700 to 2500 for the job! So I wreckon there's there's scope to get an income in!

Back on the 80 soon!

 

[Higgy]

My mate wont buy anything else, Hes always had the Merc Estate with that 3.2 in it.. And your right it is a lovely Sounding engine, And a pretty reliable one too... Well done Mate! good job!

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi one top job keep them comeing thanks for the pics.

 

[frank rabbets]

That looks a bit modern and complicated. Back in the day I overheated my V8 Range Rover engine pulling a lorry up a hill in the snow. I had the electric fan on a manual switch and had forgotten to turn it on. Did not run very well after the pull. I started work the same morning and had both 'heads off by 11.00 a.m. Both were slightly warped with a slight trough down their centres. Being made of very soft aluminium I decided to use a block of wood and 90 grade paper and got them true pretty quickly. Then I fitted them back with a new gasket, the standard one with the crinkle, and got it all back together by 5.00 p.m. Bit of a dry mouth on the start up but compressions were all good a 175/180 and after a rigorous test drive no water loss or steam from the exhaust so plenty of time to retire to the pub and share stories on car repairs. Those simple practical days were amazingly enjoyable but sadly gone.

 

[Iwan]

My mate wont buy anything else, Hes always had the Merc Estate with that 3.2 in it.. And your right it is a lovely Sounding engine, And a pretty reliable one too... Well done Mate! good job!

Thanks man!

Hi one top job keep them comeing thanks for the pics.

That looks a bit modern and complicated. Back in the day I overheated my V8 Range Rover engine pulling a lorry up a hill in the snow. I had the electric fan on a manual switch and had forgotten to turn it on. Did not run very well after the pull. I started work the same morning and had both 'heads off by 11.00 a.m. Both were slightly warped with a slight trough down their centres. Being made of very soft aluminium I decided to use a block of wood and 90 grade paper and got them true pretty quickly. Then I fitted them back with a new gasket, the standard one with the crinkle, and got it all back together by 5.00 p.m. Bit of a dry mouth on the start up but compressions were all good a 175/180 and after a rigorous test drive no water loss or steam from the exhaust so plenty of time to retire to the pub and share stories on car repairs. Those simple practical days were amazingly enjoyable but sadly gone.

Indeed Frank! These thing's are well fiddly mate! All into alloy with E10's and E12's outward torxs. Low torque settings of 12nm and 20nm respectively! Don't want to overtighten them or they'll open up a world of pain lol!

After disassembly I looked at a threaded part on it and ... wtf threads into there? All becomes apparent when you reassemble lol.. All of the components I removed I placed the bolts back in place in the slot and ran insulation tape around the thread to keep them in place and hand wrote a disassembly in my book then followed it in reverse..

Mercedes a right tight f'ers as the FSM's are kept hidden from general public as I tried to get the manual from them and my IP address was high lighted in red as it wasn't a registered garage! All good tho!

Toyota on the other hand have their FSM available to anyone who wishes to see I believe so, so re affirms that we have a good brand!

 

[Iwan]

Been a while with input to the thread, on page 11 of the 80 forum.

This truck has been a real belter! It's been worked hard and it takes it without any complaint! It's done near 5 years on the job and the mot is due on the 20th of December.

A week ago I sorted out the front brakes and had a good look over the underside.

Today took it to a local fella who has a lorry ramp and gave it a good clean!

After the first underside work was done 5 years back. It is apparent that it needs further attention.

Missed a few bits on the clean up.

Rear of the passenger side inner needs a bit of a life saver..

Here is the worst portion, just in front of the passenger side. It's quite set in and really should of looked at this a year ago! Hind sight is a great sight LOL!

This is the best tool for this job, Any comment's would be appeciated on how bad it actually is! Aand will update with the progress with this tool!!

Could be messy Lol!

 

[Jake the Peg]

I don’t think I’d use the needle gun, its too much for the thin steel and only really takes flaky rust away.. I’d use some dry sharp sand and a Schultz gun to clean the rust away, and it will leave you with clean steel to weld to or paint. Don’t forget the ear plugs and safety glasses!

We are recommended to only use the our needle guns for 15mins/day at work due to damaging vibrations to your hands, yeah right how much can you accomplish in 15 mins

 

[Iwan]

Hey thanks for the good advice Jake. A mate of mine has a small sand blaster so I'll give him a shout!

The needle gun I was planning to just hit where the rust is coming through the underbody covering that i put on over 5 years ago. I shiver to think how it would look now if I didn't add that back then.

Also thinking if there's much "rust creep" under the finish??

 

[Higgy]

I swear by these Iwan, Handy little tool. Silverline Silverstorm 260W POWER FILE BELT SANDER 13mm Electric Sanding Tool | eBay - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club] A pack of 50 belts only about £12 on ebay, Iv done both my 80s with it,( recommend 40 grit belts). Iv got a different model to the one shown The adjustable head is handy, Gets in everywhere...

 

[Chris]

Those needle guns are great. OK not so much on very thin, but on axles etc they are great and you can cover a significant area in a short time. As regards the 15 min exposure, that's true in a work setting where there is repeated exposures but for the home user there's really unlikey to be capilliary damage like you'd see in fettling / indistrial operations etc. Of course be careful, but just saying that OELs for work don't necessarily translate to diy settings.

Damage such as VWF are cumulative diseases where a lifetime of use stacks up. Same goes for chainsaws, drills, jack hammers, angry grinders and so on. All bad news kit when used too much, too often.

 

[Iwan]

Thanks fellas, yes need to be well kitted out to go into this job, both with effective tools and in this day and age relevant ppe i.e breathing apparatus and even cushioned gloves to take some impact out ears and eyes, know the feeling of over use of certain power tools etc..

This truck is no show pony but never was intended to be! It's a very trusty all purpose truck that has handled the tasks that have been demanded from it!

Absolutely love it and no way it needs to be prohibited by rust!! (but it is!)...

 

[Iwan]

So my mot ran out on my favorite truck! December 20th.. just before I took it for a pre mot:- no screen wash, off side front seat belt damaged, rear fog lamp not working, exhaust leak, off side body mount corroded above chassis mount, offside anti roll bar link bush play! Not too bad for 30 year old hard working truck - except for the corrosion!

So took a few good hits with a ball pein hammer, gives a real view of how it's deteriorated!

Decided that the best way to gain access is from the top and as cutting through this amount of floor removal is inadequate!

Poor old lad this 81 needs a lot more than before the disruption with a hammer!

Have now cut away more after spending christmas thinking about it.. today settled on doing the big cutout of the floor!

Have settled on raising the level of the floor in this area for 2 reasons.. 1 To get into thicker less corroded metal + gives decent space to repair the mount with box metal, 2 It's not a passenger carrier and it's registered/insured as a 2 seater commercial viehicle.

So this is the new/unfinished view through the offside rear door! The rhs is currently over length! Job on! It's needed when it's done to deliver the current job!

Need to apologise for my behavior on the "people have spoken" thread.... I dont mean to offend any one, but I'm 1/2 Welsh and 1/2 Scottish so I stand for those 2 countries and not how England thinks it can drag us around like a dog on a chain! Sorry folks!

 

[goodoldboy]

Need to apologise for my behavior on the "people have spoken" thread....

I don't think so mate ,it wasn't a personal dig at anyone

 

[Shayne]

Never apolgize for having an opinion its good to see your doing something positive in the "we all know what we don't want" era . Keep up the good work and woe betide any muppet who says you can't drive old cars any more