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IT BEGINS [1990 SWB Trooper Project]

137K views 103 replies 11 participants last post by  aidan7777 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi, long time lurker here! This forum has gotten me out of a jam more times than i can count. Wiring diagrams, workshop manuals, and all sorts of general tips and tricks on the care and feeding of these rather enigmatic horseless carriages have allowed me to keep mine from being melted down into washing machines for quite a while, so i figured i'd pay my dues by making my first post the start of a project thread! :D

I'll start off with a bit of introduction. My name is Aidan, I'm 18 years old as of the time of writing, I live in Australia, and this is the car that taught me just how bloody cool older machines can be, as well as how much of an albatross they can be around your neck.

Throughout this thread, I will document my progress in restoring this car back into good conditon, my opinions and grievances on different design choices made in its construction, and every useful discovery that i may make about it. (like how late model first gens share a lot of parts with the better known TF rodeo, or that a bit of corrosion on the little orange diode box underneath the dash can stop your engine from running more than a couple seconds)

I'll be using 'port' and 'starboard' to describe the opposing sides of the car, because the 'drivers side' is different here in australia, and because it too is a hole in the[you have heard the rest of this joke before]

Here's my story.

It all started when I was 13, my parents had just moved up to a rural property accessible only by a couple of rather treacherous dirt roads, and we were on the lookout for a good 4x4 that could get us up to the shops if the rain, snow, or any other kind of disturbance made our road untraversable via front wheel drive. being the little car nut of the household, my dad had me help him research what kind of car we'd be buying.

Initially i was set on looking for a little suzuki samurai(sierra in AU), but my dad had doubts about owning something that was built during his rock n' roll days, and the seller we were trying to contact didn't even bother to answer his bloody phone. :x

And then during a subsequent search for a more 'usual' brand, i found this thing. rebuilt engine, current registration, nice amount of ride height, only 384,000 kilometres on the clock, Dad and i thought nothing could possibly go wrong.

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Damn it
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This is now what's left of it, an end result of something that started in november 2018, long after my parents had separated. my dad was in a bad financial state, and he lived too close to the supermarket to warrant paying through the nose for registration and fuel for this thing every year, so we decided he'd hand it over to me the day the registration expired (i loved the thing to death and hated seeing how the salty atmosphere at his place was dissolving it like a soluble asprin). and it's been sitting in my endshed's naughty corner ever since. :(

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(Portside wheel well)

Possibly not an entirely unjustified situation, considering the many problems i have to fix.

Both footwells have undergone a 'flintstones conversion', It drips oil front and back(possibly because my bad PCV valve f'ed up the half moon seals), the radiator started leaking coolant after we neglected to add antifreeze, and it froze (what are the odds), the drip rails are mostly made out of bondo, the steering box leaks :evil:, the front starboard brake caliper was seized up so bad i had to take an angle grinder to the guide pins to get it off, the front brake lines show cracks if you bend them tight, the handbrake doesn't work very well because my rear pads are worn far past the groove, my rotors look like they belong on top of a record player, the bottoms of both my fenders have rotten away from dirt packing behind them, i did a dodgy paintjob when i was 'fixing' some of the rust with bondo to get it past rego for one last time, and i didn't prep my surfaces(which is why it looks the way it does), it doesn't idle properly(bad IAC), the previous owners have left a lot of wiring which they've ever so thoughtfully spliced into different colours along their lengths, the differential makes whirring noises, synchromesh on first gear is completely gone(to the point i don't know if the MUA-5 ever had it in the first place), and fifth gear makes a really cool cooing sound for as long as you're in it.

Gonna be one hell of a first car.

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See below for some more shock horror!
 
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#28 ·
@hessmess
You won't regret that purchase. They are a very nicely made set of screwdrivers. You fit one of those suckers into ANY of those JIS screws, and you'll find they just do NOT want to cam out. I guarantee you'll be impressed!

@Enemigo
I'm running .030(0.8mm) at the moment, My welder's a Rossi 280E(yes, chinese ebay special, but it's capable of doing the job properly with a very good duty cycle, just replace the ground clamp), and i've got 240 volts at the wall --standard mains voltage in australia. Welds just fine on a couple of practice pieces butted right together, though. so i'm thinking it might be more a fitup issue. and since i don't have a proper scriber or a guard for my die grinder (5 inch rat tail isn't a precision instrument) i'm gonna be fighting with that all the way.

@giusedtobe
Simple, I just went on the wild goose chase of my life for it. I took an old exhaust manifold stud with me to every shop in town, and the only place i could find replacements was (oh so surprisingly) an exhaust and muffler shop! You might have better luck measuring it up and ordering it online. it's an M8 thread on both ends, so you might be able to find something that way.

Look for a set with a yellow chromate conversion coating on it. it'll give it a little more of a fighting chance against the tinworm. And if you can't thread the thing all the way in by hand, i'd suggest chasing the threads with an M8 tap, if you have one on hand.

I had a similar quest when i was looking for a replacement fill bolt for my transmission after i'd gotten the old one off with a cold chisel.. all the auto parts stores either had nothing at all, or the complete wrong sized bolt for my requirements, and after hours of driving all around town, i finally found the perfect one at a BOLT SHOP! Imagine the odds of that..
 
#29 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well.. This has gone topsy turvy rather quick.

I started by undoing those hub nuts, and removing the assemblies from the knuckles. Easy enough. even though i think it's as awfully designed as the rest of the front running gear.

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Outer wheel bearings felt fine when i spun them in their races, and the rollers didn't look all too bad(their standard designation is 32008XJ. take that to the bearing shop and you'll save yourself from the markups that come when things get called 'auto parts'.).
I couldn't get the inners out to inspect, though. the seal on the back was in the way, and i didn't want to risk ruining it by taking it out with my rudimentary tools.

Although, i did find a couple of worrying things.

The first was this discolouration around the inner end of the knuckle shaft, which looks to me like the inboard bearing's race has been skating across it. :( I really hope i'm wrong.
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And the second was the way both of the inner seals were sitting.
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Why are they like this? Is it because somebody installed them incorrectly? or is it some kind of weird design feature i'm not familliar with? This car has so many strange and stupid design choices that i'm forced to doubt myself on this one.

And these aren't even the last of my maladies!

I want to take the CV shafts out because their boots have holes in them, and because i want to drop the front diff the whole way so i can re-seal my upper oil pan. and to do that, i have to take out the knuckle.

It'd be an easy job if the ball joints weren't siezed in place! I managed to get the tie rod end out, but this upper ball joint feels like it's been on since the fall of the berlin wall..
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I took all the bolts out(which wasn't easy, because some genius designer decided non-captive nuts were the best option some 30 years ago), and i've been hammering and hammering and hammering to absolutely no avail. there's no room at all in there to get enough swing on the joint itself and break that rusted taper lock free, and penetrating oil might as well be wishful thinking in a can. I actually considered cutting the upper ball joint in half with the rat tail grinder and just buying a new one, but i quickly quashed those wicked thoughts, because i know better than to put a cutting wheel through something that's under tension. (that's how you get those really cool 20-stitch scars and missing fingers)

I've even managed to put my lower ball joint in a rather unfortunate position, as the torsion bar puts this whole assembly under spring tension at all times.
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Wish me luck in lining these bolts up ever again.

So this leads me to ask you guys for a little advice. is there a special tool i can buy that'll get me out of this predicament? A lot of ball joint pullers look like they won't even fit in such a tight spot.
 

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#30 ·
HI Aidan,

This is an impressive project you are taking on my friend.! Reading yours I decided to start with the rust issues of mine SWB 1992: the wheel arches (all back and front) are full of rust and I think the back floor is as well.( I cannot take the carpet out as the bolts attached to the floor holding the back seat are so rusted that have become one with the floor!!) I'll post updates one I manage to take them out!!

I think you are a brave man!! I though mine was pretty rusted away but yours my friend is from another level all together!! But your welding skills are much better than mine surely. I only weld with stick all my life and can't afford a MIG one!

All troopers with welding skills: Can I weld with stick or is a no go?? (I'm a farmer don't do bodywork in tractors!!!)

Anyway, this is your post and I'm looking forward to reading your further posts soon!! Good luck!
 
#31 ·
My welding skills are looking a little shabby at the moment, but i'll find my way through somehow. fitup happens to be crazy important in panelwork, as it looks.

Personally, i wouldn't dare weld 1mm sheetmetal with a stick. Sure, the 1/16 rods can do a lot, but making those individual tack welds along a seam with a stick can't be a fun experience, especially not at low current. (they don't call it stick welding for nothing..)

MIG seems to be the go-to for this job, My bodywork teacher told me that TIG warps the panels a whole lot less, but it's got both a steeper learning curve and entry price.

And about your bolts.. I say you oughta lay a tarp over that carpet, grab your angle grinder, and go to war! 1992 SWB is car worth keeping with how rare these variants are getting.
 
#32 · (Edited by Moderator)
After accidentally hitting myself in the knee with a hammer, summoning up copious amounts of herculean strength, and using red hot swearing in lieu of an oxyacetylene torch. i finally got all these awful taper lock ball joints out!

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This was a horrible job. The ball joint separator i bought didn't even fit anything on the car. (clearly it was made for regular passenger vehicles, not 4 wheel drives.)
I had to take the lowers and tie rod ends out with the pitman arm puller i bought alongside it, and the uppers had to be taken out with that old trick of hitting both sides of the bottom of the taper with a couple hammers, making sure to strike at the exact same time.

I don't like these taper locks at all. yes, tapers are cheap to make, and they affix very positively, and they're very repeatable and accurate. I've spent many many hours behind lathes, I know just how nice complementary tapers are.

But the trouble is, taper tooling is actually taken care of.
You engage and disengage them frequently, you put them back in their protective sleeves when you're done with them, you keep them clean, you make sure they're free of chips and other debris before you lock them in, and you DON'T subject your tailstock to dust, mud, dirt, brake dust, and salt spray!

Ball joints on the other hand have NONE of these luxuries. they're installed once, left in there to stew for about 10 or 13 years, water and other electrolytes worm their way into the taper, and they sieze up tight, just waiting to give the next guy an awful, awful time.. :evil:

I really hate these torsion bars, too. They put the whole assembly under spring tension that you repeatedly have to take up with your jack, and they ride like crap. Usually i really like how this car feels a lot more "1975" than it does 1990(i actually do think the all brown interior with the tweed door cards and seats is very cool), but this would be a big big exception.

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While i was doing my due diligence in inspecting all the running gear while i had everything apart, i found that a lot of stuff is in pretty poor shape.

All my CV boots are rotten, so i'm gonna have to take the CV axles out and figure out if i'm gonna bring them to a mechanic, or buy the CV boot clamp tool and replacement parts and do the whole thing myself.(got a bad feeling they might quote me a price like i'd brought it in on a car, not as loose parts.)

My upper ball joints are packed full of detritus and don't move easily, and the rest of my ball joints and tie rod ends have damaged or torn boots. some of them still feel alright, but a few kilometers on a dusty road, and they'll be ground into nothing.
On the bright side, perhaps some freer moving ball joints might aid the awful ride quality. Shocks aren't looking too good either.

Might need to change a couple wheel seals, too. sourcing those is gonna be reeeeal easy..
This thing's lucky it happened to be so fun to drive. You give me an engine that immediately picks up the pace when you push the pedal, and some cool boxy styling, and i'll put up with all sorts of horrible stuff. (and besides, there are probably less than 500 of these things left in australia!)

I do have some good news, though. I managed to get this sucker loose with just my breakout bar!
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Steering box leaks like a sieve, gotta get it out of the car to change all the seals. can't get my pitman arm puller in position with all the crap in the way, but i suppose pulling off a pitman arm'll be less of a horrible process on a bench, anyway. (the spline on the end of the sector shaft's also been soaking in power steering fluid for a long time now, so hopefully that should help me out!)

I'm just praying all the oils this car has been leaking over the years haven't destroyed my wishbone bushings.. and to think all of this is just so i can change a couple oil pan seals!

Why can't we be friends? :(
 

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#34 ·
aidan7777 said:
View attachment 2
This was a horrible job. The ball joint separator i bought didn't even fit anything on the car.

I don't like these taper locks at all. yes, tapers are cheap to make, and they affix very positively, and they're very repeatable and accurate. I've spent many many hours behind lathes, I know just how nice complementary tapers are.
Wish I knew about this BEFORE you started this part of the job. For future reference, to separate the upper ball joints ("taper joint"), loosen or remove the nut. Get a good - say 5 lb sledge hammer, and give the steering knuckle a couple of whacks downward where the flat spot is above the ball joint. They usually pop right out with about 2 or 3 whacks, and often after only one.
Lower ball joints: Loosen / remove the nut, put that 5 lb hammer on one side of the knuckle (where the joint goes in) and smack the other side of the knuckle with a big hammer. This works for steering linkage ball joints too. On the Pitman, you're pretty much stuck with needing a Pitman arm puller. Dennis
 
#35 ·
@Enemigo
Yup! :D This thing's a menace, but that's why i love it so.
To Isuzu's credit, the trooper isn't a very big car. Getting all these rather heavy duty looking drivetrain components positioned up front was going to end up like this in the first place.

@DSUZU
Thank you very much for the advice! I'm going to have to try that the next time i encounter this job.
Usually i'm quite gun-shy with large hammers.. i always worry they're going to rebound and ruin some delicate part that's nearby, or bend the thing i'm hitting, but it looks to be like they're far more necessary than i thought for cars this old. I feel bad for people in the rust belt!

Lowers and tie rod ends came out pretty easy with my pitman arm puller, though. and plenty of hammering got me the rest of the way home. The other side actually went a lot smoother when i figured out what i was in for. i took the upper ball joints out first, and the spring tension worked in my favor to crack the taper loose.

Next up is removing the CV shafts, dropping the front diff, and getting that oil pan off!
 
#36 ·
Hi Aidan,

Can't wait for your next post!! bTw, where did you get teh steering box seals from?? Or are u still looking?

Seems your Isuzu will be done in no time!! I took holidays from mine for the weekend. It was that or torch it!!

Please keep us posted!! Great thread!
 
#37 ·
I had a long post started yesterday and I hit the wrong button and lost it all, and I can't remember what I was going on about anyway.
If you have a NAPA there, there was a post some time ago about someone who used a seal that didn't show for an Isuzu. I am talking about the steering box. He didn't rebuild it, just replaced that shaft seal and years later is was still holding. Seems most rebuilds don't seem to last to long for some reason. The Napa part number was NPS 7419.
Keep up the good work!
 
#39 · (Edited by Moderator)
SO.. HOW WAS YOUR DAY, EVERYBODY?

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This happened because i was trying to remove the DOJ case connected to the long end of the diff(not knowing it had a big long axle stuck to it), while it was still up on a jack, while the catch tray was still under it, while it was still full of oil..
(in other words because i am an idiot)

It came down off the jack, smashed my plastic catch tray, and power steering fluid and awful smelling diff oil went all over my driveway.

Apparently differentials are very heavy..

My tape deck then started to play "In the flesh" by pink floyd(followed by waiting for the worms, stop, and the trial) the minute i stepped away to look at what i had done. I still don't know if it was sympathizing with me, or mocking me.
Whatever, i like pink floyd.

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Lots of brakleen, petrol, and pressure washing later..
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Oil pan is coming out tomorrow, will also make a writeup of all the work i've been doing over the past few days + that. have practically disassembled the whole front suspension to both give myself the best chance of clearing the pickup tube when i drop the pan, and allow me to service a few key components.

Mistakes were made.
 

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#40 · (Edited by Moderator)
This post is going to be a bit lighter on the pictures than i otherwise would've wanted it to be. It was either me being too busy to remember to take them, or my hands being too greasy to lay on a camera.
But otherwise, here's a summary of all the work i've been doing over the past few days.

You remember what i said about that power steering fluid making my job a little easier?
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It didn't

Turns out these pitman arm pullers are more ball joint pullers than anything else.. no truth in advertising, i suppose..

That wasn't even the last of my woes, either. upon further inspection, I found out that my clutch slave cylinder was leaking, that my front differential might have some kind of leak (could be gasket, could be pinion seal, might not even be leaking in the first place. very hard to tell when everything else is leaking like a sieve). and i found out that i could grab a hold of my front propshaft's spline and wiggle it a fair bit(splines aren't supposed to do that)

But i'd be damned if i was gonna be beat by some little piece of cast iron. so i decided to do it one-up and take it out along with the rest of its comrades.
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This thing was a pig to get off. i had to unbolt it to take the steering shaft off (it has some slack in it that lets you slide it back when you undo the clamp, probably should've done so first in hindsight). then put one of the bolts back on to remove the lines(AWFUL job with how little space i had to work with), then take the bolt back out and wrestle the whole thing out. Doesn't really matter much to me. it's one less thing in the way of my oilpan, and i have a full ball joint kit coming in the mail, anyway.
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By the way, @Protozeus. I've had a seal kit sitting next to me for the past month, Here's a picture i took. (also includes my new radiator and brake caliper slide pins)
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I got both this and the radiator by searching for parts for an isuzu rodeo, NOT a trooper. More specifically a TF rodeo (1988-1998 i believe) as they have the same engine, steering box, and a lot of the same suspension components as the first gen trooper(cant be certain about this with pre 1988, chime in if you own one and can confirm this for your model). Cost me about 80 bucks for the seal kit, but check rockauto, they might have one for cheaper like they usually do.
(EDIT 17/02/2021, The TF rodeo and the trooper do NOT share a radiator! The only reason a rodeo radiator was in my car was because the last guy drilled some 'custom' mounting holes in the bracket that i had to copy.)

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Took out the CV axles. Portside came out with just a nice sharp pull after i'd cut off the.. plastic zip tie holding on the boot.. :angry7: it was missing the circular clip to detain the bearing balls, while the starboard required me to fish through the grease to find where the ends on the clip met, and take it off with a flathead screwdriver.
The service manual actually encourages you to use a flathead here. the clip doesn't have very much tension in it at all, and it's rounded, so you can get the blade under it nice and easy. It's not just being cheap.

(Continued in next post..)
 

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#41 · (Edited by Moderator)
I then took out the 4 bolts holding up the differential + DOJ cases (or 'soup cans'), and began to lower it down. Tightening these before loosening seemed to help break them free.
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(don't worry about my jack placement. i repositioned it very soon after i took these pictures. don't know why i was trying to jostle it loose from its mounts with the jack instead of a hammer, though.)
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Starboard DOJ case + bracket removed.

Then when i had the jack almost lowered to the floor, i tried to pick the diff up off the jack, realised i'd far underestimated how heavy it was, and that's what lead to..
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THE DIFF DISASTER!!!

I wish i had some kitty litter to throw over this whole thing when it all happened, would've prevented me from spreading it even further with the damned pressure washer. but i don't have a cat. so what i had to do was move all of my tools out of the way, clean them up, tip the rest of the diff oil into what was left of my drain pan. (if you look closely you'll see the huge crack in it), and start trying to clean this thing up with my solvents and my pressure washer.

The concrete was still wet in the morning, and there were still patches of oil left in the place i'd be putting my fuzzy head to unbolt the oilpan. so i had to formulate a new plan..
There was a bottle of tile & grout cleaner in my shed, and seeing as it was acid based, i decided i'd give it a try and put some of it it straight out of the bottle onto the oil stains(undiluted), scrubbed it all nice and vigorously with a metal wire brush, then rinsed it off with the pressure washer. and it actually ended up working really well! The area i scrubbed ended up being cleaner than the rest of the concrete.
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I'll try actually diluting it when it comes time to clean the rest of this up. Very happy with the results, would highly recommend tile & grout cleaner for anybody else with a similar situation.

Of course, i had to keep myself busy somehow, so while i was waiting for all the water to dry, i decided i'd take my lower control arms off to both make it easier to put my diff and steering mechanisms back into the car after all my work is done, AND inspect the bushings. so i started by taking out the front and back fasteners holding in the bushing pins(which was easy with my trusty breakout bar). and then i came to the 17mm nuts affixing the torsion bar to the control arm to complete the job, and i ran into a bit of a problem..

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The bolt i'm pointing at gives you absolutely no room at all to put a breakout bar on its nut unless you have the thing on a hoist, and you can't feed it from the other side, because there's an exhaust manifold in the way.

So i took a step back to engage in a bit of problem solving, and came up with a very nice solution to this predicament!
First, i put a jack under the control arm, and raised it so it took up the weight of the car. This put the torsion bar under spring tension, and prevented it from absorbing my energy.
Second, i took a 17mm spanner, put the ring end around the stubborn bolt, then i took out the sledgehammer. I couldn't get a good swing with the limited space i had, so what i did was i held it like a spear, and thrust the top of the head into the box end until it cracked the nut loose!

(Continued in next post)
 

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#42 · (Edited by Moderator)
I then gave the casing of the torsion bar coupler a few taps to loosen it up, and pushed it back onto the torsion bar's spline with the claw end of the hammer. it came along shockingly easily for something which was last bolted down during the bush administration.
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Then i just gave the bushing pin a tap with a hammer, pulled it out, and wiggled the control arm loose. And then i found out why this car was so scary when it was on the road!
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All of my bushings here are DESTROYED. Starboard one has even been attacked by the power steering fluid, i could rip bits of it off like it was some kind of gel..
(dont worry about the vise grips. that line was bad to start with. showed cracks when i bent it tight.)
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But it's not all bad news, for THIS brand new set of polyurethane bushings has been sitting in a bag inside the center console ever since my family bought the car in 2014!
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Dad and i always wondered what these were for. man, oh man, am i feeling lucky!

I did find one thing that does concern me, though.
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I can see the teeth of the flywheel through this hole, as well as a few threaded holes where the inspection cover should go. there used to be a big piece of foam resting around here right on top of the crossmember, and i removed that because i thought it was useless.

Turns out, this has been open for dust, water, and other detritus to waltz right in for quite a few kilometres now. is there a place i can buy a new inspection cover? or am i just going to have to make one out of my sheetmetal stock?

Either way, i'll be soldiering back on with this project very soon.

P.S
Since i have all the suspension apart, do you guys think i should paint the components while i'm at it?
 

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#44 ·
I just can't help myself, I have to paint it if I have it apart. And no I don't usually prep it
properly either. Looks good for little bit anyway.
 
#45 · (Edited by Moderator)
Quick update on my current progress!

I've removed the dipstick tube and the lower oil pan. Here's a couple pictures of how far the pickup tube sticks out, just incase anybody else reading this might be pondering doing this job themselves.
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My bottom oil pan had a little sludge in it. but nothing i couldn't clean up with some brakleen and some rags. Guess that's because i haven't been changing my oil hot enough, but the valvetrain is squeaky clean when you lift off the rocker cover, so this engine can't have been neglected too badly. (especially considering the rebuild it allegedly had some 20,000 kilometers ago. it's currently sitting at 405,000)

If you mainly use 1/2 inch drive like me, you will need to take the oil filter off to remove this bolt.
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I like 1/2 inch because it has the widest range of sockets, but it definitely has its problems in these cramped engine bays.

Unfortunately, i have run into a couple extra problems that will postpone my removal of the upper oil pan. (feels like i find more and more things wrong the deeper i dig into this car.)
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The first is the bolt in the bottom left corner. I can't get my 1/2 inch drive ratchet in there, nor my tiny 1/4 inch that's only just bigger than the palm of my hand. This is usually where you'd use the ring end of a spanner, but guess what?! My cheap arse spanner set skips over diameters, and 12mm is missing! :evil:

The second is that there's a big crack in my extractors right at this weld seam, so i'm going to have to take the whole works out and weld it right back up. Good time to wire wheel it all back to bare metal, and hit the whole thing with some nice hi-temp exhaust paint.

..I have the sinking feeling that o2 sensor is gonna put up a real fight, though.

I'm going to go tool shopping when my parcels arrive at the post office. I've waiting for both a big order from rockauto, and a new C clamp press set from ebay, figure it's best to make my 30 kilometer drive into town count.

And since @hessmess says he paints this kind of stuff, i figure i'll follow his example and buy me a tin of black enamel from supercheap auto as well. I also got some spare self etch primer hanging around from this 1982 inline-twin air compressor i restored for my dad a few months back, so i'll use that too for a little extra protection.
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This picture was taken at his place while i was still fixing it all up. fresh coat of paint, some new exhaust valves, some nice metal cable glands for the switch, a regulator and 2HP single phase motor from gumtree (original was 3 phase), a little wiring, and i had me one wicked little unit.

Btw, @Protozeus. I'd love to see what you do with your machine! When you get to working on it, go ahead and take a few pictures and post em up on the planet! you might end up giving somebody some insight on their own project!
 

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#46 ·
wow that is a journey that you have commited yourself to. kudos on going that deep into the all the repairs.

as for the steering components, the idler can be purchased in two different ways- you can buy just the idler arm, or the complete arm with the frame mount pivot. some have grease zerks, the cheap parts dont.
buy cheap parts so you can do the job again later :drunken: i bought cheap parts for my trooper to replace worn out oem parts- two years and 30,xxx km later the parts are trashed. i have all new name brand parts as well as the '' hd tie rod upgrade'' to be done here in the future.

yup, if its made in japan, or even china, you NEED jis screwdrivers.

maybe the your mig welder is ''tired'' - my father-in-law had a chinese welder, brand new, but it would always fluctuate on the voltage- he had a repair shop look at it, and the large capacitors inside were shot, they would not store any voltage, or only a fraction of what was needed. cost $900 to fix. name brand miller entry model mig, on sale for $1200.....but the $350 chinese welder was ....well, cheaper... :roll:

over the years i have tried to buy the better tool if there were 2 available at the time- some stuff i go right to the top of the line. i have had many years of using cheap tools , broken tools and scraped knuckles. enough of that.

i have a miiler 110 volt mig, but running it off a 110 volt leg on a 220 plug in- being a 110 unit i can dial it down really low, and actually make a 1/2 inch weld pass no problem on sheetmetal. but then crank it up and weld 1/4 or 3/8 if needed. 8)

for my lower ball joints i set the lca on a jackstand with full body weight on it. then proceeded to use a large c-clamp meant for removing ball-joints. they were tough to get out, but when they did it was a large bang. you could also use a air chisel between the lca and taper, with a forked tapered bit to get the tapered end out.

i spray ''fluid film'' on tapered sockets, then install and torque the components. helps keep water (salt) out of those areas. then anti-sieze on threaded front end parts . makes for an easier wheel alignment, when the adjustable parts arent siezed with rust.
fluid film is often used as a frame spray , to help prevent rust.
 
#47 ·
Hi, 93trooper!

My problem is actually with the pitman arm, not the idler arm. the idler is held on by a taper joint, which i could probably knock out with that puller alone. now, the PITMAN ARM appears to be held on by an interference fit spline, + 30 years of rust because antisieze is an unnecessary BOM cost on the production line. Pitman arm pullers in my recent experience do a pretty good job of removing ball joints and tie rod ends on these cars, but not pitman arms..

I bought myself a rather lovely ball joint kit for 180 bucks that included tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, and an idler arm bearing assembly (but no arm), All of the components are nicely painted, the boots are made of a good rubber and fit well on the shafts, the action feels nice and tight, and EVERY component comes with a zerk fitting. Guess i gotta buy me a grease gun, too. It's 'cozza' brand, which seems to have a good rep around here. but I'll let you know how these guys go in another 30,000 K! :D
Amen to that on the JIS screwdrivers. Vessel's set is a real thing of beauty. put those suckers into cruciforms be they JIS or phillips, and they REFUSE to cam out! They beat the hell out of my old drivers which required herculean force on the handle in order to keep them set.

My MIG welder actually works well when it comes to doing butt welds on practice pieces. All of my blow through problems were more than likely a result of bad fitup, AND/OR a duff ground. The tweco bronze ground clamp pictured earlier is a piece of crap. very little contact patch even after you file down the casting as the jaws are both radiuses, the spring tension gives it hardly any purchase on sheetmetal, both the jaws are loosely held together by a little copper rivet, and the strain relief it comes with for your cable is a joke. I'm going to try clamping the wire to the metal with a C clamp next time i light up, then maybe buy a C clamp style ground clamp somewhere down the line and see how that goes. I know for a fact a fine pitch thread will deliver a MULTITUDE more force than a spring.

A lot of my blow through problems were more than likely caused by the crap fitup for the most part. my portside wheel well's fitup got all ruined when i tacked it in while it was askew.(thick gloves make it impossible to stay dexterous.)
bodywork doesn't tolerate poor fitup well at all as it seems. once you get over a mil and a half of gap, you're in trouble. margin of error might not even be more than a millimeter, either.

900 bucks to replace a few electrolytic capacitors is highway robbery, by the way. get their value and voltage rating, go to digikey, guarantee you'll find the lot of them for less than a hundred worst case.

I've never seen fluid film at the hardware store, but perhaps i should give it a go. My experience in the machine shop tells me i shouldn't put oil on locking tapers. but these guys are detained by a nut, so i guess it shouldn't be so bad.

I've got a little tub of antisieze that's just taking up space in my toolbox. Perhaps i oughta start putting the stuff on all my fasteners that have no critical torque. because with how long i plan on keeping this car, the chances are real good i'm gonna be the 'next guy' i'm making it easy for ! :D

I still feel a little gypped that i never got to see the most significant digit roll over from 3 to 4. but i'll be sure to keep an eagle eye on it next time around!! :twisted:
 
#48 ·
what you need to use to get the steering box arm off is a bearing puller plate and a t-bar or harmonic balancer puller, two bolts and the forcing screw.

or, if the pitman is being replaced, use a zip disc on your rat tail or air die grinder, and cut a slice in the pitman, from the nut up towards the box, across length of the taper, in line with the splines- dont grind thu and hit the splines- then insert a cold chisel in the cut ( make sure chisel doesnt bottom out ! ) and smack it with a hammer, the pitman should crack loose. might need a second relief cut , to get the metal to stretch enough.

i have used that method many times, saves from having lots of fancy tools, and the steering box can stay on the vehicle.

my old boss put a tweco clamp on the mig at work- i dont like it. doesnt stay clamped in place. the 500 amp gator ground i put on there worked fine, but it was too hard for him to use- also had a mag clamp, but at high amp settings it would get terribly hot. light stuff would be ok.

fluid film (wool wax ) is widely used in the marine industry. you can buy it in spray cans, or a 45 gallon drum . my buddy lives on the west coast, and swears by that stuff on all his marine equipment.

i grew up in family ran auto wreckers almost all my life. you would learn how to remove parts without damaging them, with none of the ''proper'' tools. it makes me mad when i see or hear people in a salvage yard wreck something just to get at a certain part.

the work on the chinese welder was only an estimate to fix. the capacitors are the size of pop cans, 8 of them- to make up for an undersized transformer inside. thats why this welder was so big for a 110 unit- it was all capacitor inside !!

keep up the tedious work! it will pay off in the end.
 
#49 ·
Hey, I don't got anything better to do, so you bet i'll keep it up! Having something to do keeps you out of trouble, and keeps you from going nuts. (even if it means getting into trouble, and going nuts!)

Bearing splitter, you say? Sounds like it's worth a shot. They look like they've got a lot more meat on them than that stupid pitman arm BALL JOINT puller i broke, and it'll be handy to keep around just incase i have to pull some delicate cast pulley off a shaft. OR, pray tell, a bearing! :D

Have to agree with you on the idiots who repair things by breaking even more things to get the part they want. It makes you wonder if they realize just how hypocritical they're being.

I suppose getting deep into your own car with these types of problems gives you an appreciation of just how expensive or rare some of those parts might be.
This pitman arm is a good example. I can't find replacement examples ANYWHERE, and even if i could, it's quite a substantial casting, and it has low tolerance features on it such as an interference fit spline, and a locking taper. nothing about that sounds cheap to me.

I feel the same about my grille, too. All the chrome is peeling off, and there's a few clips that have broken, but with it being mostly intact, I'd feel wrong about scrapping it and making for one less grille that could've gone to someone who needs to replace a broken example. I can weld in captive nuts, i can melt plastic back together with a chisel tipped soldering iron and a zip tie 'filler rod', i can bring it into a chrome shop, or just paint it all black like i've seen on a lot of other troopers.

Make do and mend, i say!
 
#50 · (Edited by Moderator)
Alright. I recieved my tools, and got some good and bad news.

The good news is that my exhaust manifold is off, and ready to repair. The auto parts store didn't have an o2 sensor socket, but i managed to get it off with a pair of mole grips and a hammer! :)
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I also got a nice new brake master cylinder cap from a wrecker. Apparently the 2000 model trooper has the same master cylinder as my 1990.

The bad news unfortunately spans a couple articles further than this.

FIRST OFF, The ball joint press i got off ebay is a complete and total piece of crap.
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(picture of it after it bottomed out the pin of one of my front bushings against the 'cup' on one end..)

The machining is GODAWFUL. The surface finish on the thread is very rough, the bore inside the thread that rotating face slides into is 3 millimeters off center, It has an o ring groove inside it that breaks all the way through to the OD on one part, the cups and inserts are not hardened, the mounting flange on the cup disc is a larger OD than the ID of the non-threaded part of the C clamp(which also isn't squared off on the end), and the casting is barely even finished.

Suffice to say, the 14 year old girl they had at gunpoint on the lathe didn't do a very good job.
I feel pretty pissed off that i spent a hundred bucks on this stupid thing, but hey, all those pieces of steel that came with it might work pretty well as drivers for seals and bearing races, pressing tools for the arbor press, or projectiles for people i don't like.

Least i got a couple of them half out.
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Gonna have to stick a hacksaw blade in there and saw through the metal sleeves if i want to drive it the rest of the way.

Second is relating to my oilpan. I removed every visible bolt, including the 4 on the rear underneath the transmission bellhousing, yet it was behaving like there were still a couple of bolts holding it on. RTV couldn't possibly hold that strong, i thought.
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So i did a little research, and i looked through that missing inspection cover with a nice bright torch, and lo and behold! I found that there are two bolts on the very back of the oil pan that i can ONLY access with the bellhousing out of the way.
I don't think i need to have the transmission all the way off for this, just back a few inches so i can get my extension in there. trouble is that i don't like the idea of balancing 200 kilos of aluminium on a car jack next to my head.
I also only see two motor mounts on either side of the 4ZE1, which indicates to me that this transmission housing is functioning as a structural member.(PLEASE correct me if i'm wrong! i really hope i am!)

Guess i'll have to focus on other parts of this project until i get enough money for a transmission jack.. There's not a lot of local places i can rent them out, and even so, their rates are still pretty expensive.
(and besides. i have the feeling this isn't going to be the last time i will have to take this bellhousing off. the clutch has some obvious signs of wear on it, and my worn synchro and cooing 5th gear are sure to worsen in the future.)

I sure hope this serves as a warning to those of you without engine hoists thinking of taking on this job. If there were a writeup as detailed as this out there before i tried to take this on, i would've balked at it until i at least got some heavy iron to do the job right. The service manual will not help you here, as there's nothing in it pertaining to any of this.

Gee whiz. I'm a lot less composed than when i first started this thread.
 

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#51 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hold the phone! Ignore that previous tirade about needing a transmission jack, I think i've found something here.

While scouring this forum for some kind of information about this oil pan situation, i found a 2010 post by the late. great squatch (god rest his soul) talking about those exact couple of bolts!

He says you can undo the inspection cover(which i dont have), wriggle a skinny extension in the gap between the bellhousing and upper pan, then undo the bolts just like that, so i figured hey, what the hell! and walked back into the shed to give it a try for myself.

I was delighted to see that this side had a little recess cut out into it, so i could slip my 1/4 wobble extension in there complete with a 12mm, and crack the nut loose. Threads on the stud were in such good shape that the ratchet stopped engaging the second i cracked it loose. :x Nothing a nitrile glove couldn't fix.
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However, this side doesn't have much of a recess at all. I can't slide my socket in there on the extension, I can't thread the extension through, then click the socket on there while it's inside because of the wobble extension; nor can i put it in on the bottom edge of the bellhousing, then bring it in from the side, as it's only just 2-3 mil too narrow for the extension's body to fit. I can't lever it back with screwdrivers, and i sure as hell don't want to put a jack on the bottom of the oilpan with both my jackstands sitting so far back, + MY HEAD sitting underneath a nice sharp suspension bushing mount.
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Should i get an extension that doesn't have a wobble head, then try that? or is there some other way of doing this? Things are looking significantly better than they did yesterday.
 

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