Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

Ugh, I need to do this.

 

I think it would have been a game changer on making beaver creek remotely enjoyable for us manual guys.

Also I entered to try to be in the calendar this year if anyone who pops in here wants to check it out ha

2023 TacomaWorld Calendar Submission - 1st Gen Tacomas

 

Awesome pics! He looks like he loves it!! My son was on the bike at 4 and the crf50 on 6th bday. Started with balance bike down long smooth hills. That worked well. Especially if he's riding a KTM!

Welds look good. You mig a lot like me. On those flatter beads, if you tilt the torch up towards the direction you are going it will round them off more. Im still trying to get the angle I like the most.

 

You mean push instead of pull right? Isn't the negative affect of that being less penetration?

And yeah he hasn't grasped the "sitting down" part on the bike yet, usually is walking on the frame top tube, which is why I started going out with him. I want him to see me sit on mine and get the concept haha. I took him out again last night and started getting him more comfortable wearing his helmet.

I actually got some work done on the truck last night which was cool. My bed lights have been slowly failing so I replaced them with another set from Super Bright LED's that actually have barrel connectors so if it happens again it will be super easy to swap. Definitely good to have for lights that are constantly in the elements.

These were the output of them half failed. Not bad for failing lights, but no where near where they used to be.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Half replaced:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And fully replaced:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Compared to when I first installed the old lights at full brightness:

 

I push right to left like I tig. I have ground off brackets that were pulled and pushed and they all seem to be the same strength. Pulling mig is hard for me cause I can't see where im going. Plus, I saw some of the best mig welders who do that crazy tig looking welds on Trophy truck parts both pushed so if it works for them it works for me.

He will get it. still young. I wish I was doing lights. I just spent like $300 on a bunch of an fittings and like half work. sucks.

 

I mean for the stuff we do I am sure it's strong enough. I think when I learned MIG I focused on all the "strongest" methods but we aren't welding structural buildings or pipe and shit. I'll try the other way and see how I like it.

This is the final version of the tire changer, pretty happy with it.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I got the new tire on in 5 mins, old tire fought me though.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Also took the Wife and kiddo out for a rip in the Pines to enjoy the fall colors.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

Been a while since I popped in here. Hammer Run was a goddamn blast. Bike performed flawlessly.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I thought I would have home field advantage being that it was in south jersey... and I couldn't have been more wrong. It beat the fuck out of me, a total of 196 miles over 2 days. Single track so tight you would be busting bars on both sides. Probably the most physically demanding I have accomplished so far in my life, and that's up there with hiking a 14'er and the one Spartan super I did back in the day. Was super satisfying to finish though.

I took the next two weeks off to focus on the family/house stuff but I am itching to dig into shit again. Mostly trying to catch up on all the neglect from the past couple months. I took my son out again just to get out of the house.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I jumped the front end hard enough to completely bottom out the passenger side, and I think something hit the compressor bolts in the upper fender. I also got home and realized that my one marker was barely hanging on. Turns out I destroyed all the plastic welds on the grill.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I rewelded them as best as I could and I have a hot stapler on the way to reinforce the joints even more. I think if I want to keep beating on the truck in the go fast stuff I need to get better at fixing this stuff.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I have some reverse light issues I need to dig into, I have the new misalignments coming from @TMFF to go with the CV swap that I have been ignoring since July, I think I need to finally swap the AC idler pulley (the pines sugar sand water is not kind to this) and I discovered the passenger side shock is potentially leaking so maybe it's already time for a rebuild. That or something has loosened up. I think I only have maybe 10k on the fronts?

Another issue popped up recently that has me concerned is a stuttering that happens either in very low (think lugging) rpm's or very high RPM's when cold. Was thinking maybe I should change the plugs/wires/vacuum hoses and valve cover gaskets that have been collecting dust for a couple years. No check engine light yet though.

 

Been doing stuff and things.

took it to the pines one last time for a while with the kiddo. Rode my bike while he rode his and @JLink and the fam joined up a bit too.




Not it’s under the knife for some much needed maintenance.

 

Risky business going into that KTM dealer!

 

They have stacyc's there and every time we are there I point to the 12" one and tell him it's going to be his one day already haha.

I wanted to write down a list of all the shit I'm addressing while the truck is down for my mental clarity.

Starting at the motor:
Replacing valve cover gaskets, half moons, and cam seals, and plug seals.
Replacing injectors
Replacing FPR
Replacing fuel line under the plenum
Replacing the coolant hoses under the plenum
Replacing 3 coils and new wires
Replacing the spark plugs
Replacing pcv valve
Replacing all vacuum lines with the silicone kit I have had for 3+ years now
Clean MAF
Clean throttle body
Clean plenums

Outside of that at the motor:
Replacing the AC idler AGAIN. Got an OEM unit this time.

Bang and smash the skids for reinstallation. (Going to start planning my tube skid concept too)
Swap the fluid in the front diff with all the pines trips lately.

Suspension:
Grease UCA's and upper ball joint.
Check tolerances at LBJ's
Replace misalignments on the lower coilover mounts to push them further from the CV's
Replace the drivers side CV with the boot that's been torn since Takeover in July.
Reboot and rebuild the removed CV.

Misc:
Figure out why the reverse lights have been intermittent. Going to start at the switch on the case since I just had that off when the transmission was out. Then check under the seat since I tapped into that for the reverse cam not to long ago.
Rotate tires
Touch up armor
Touch up wheel paint
Swap clutch spring and bushings

Fluid film the frame after painting is done.

Hopefully that's it?

 

Probably 8+ hours in at this point with 6 being just cleaning the motor.

Started like this:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And got it looking like this:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

At this point the valley is as good as it's going to get and the area around the lips of the valve covers are clean enough to remove them soon. I noticed when cleaning that some liquid MAY have seeped past the injectors so I plan on hitting the valley with electronic cleaner again, and then removing and cleaning each injector and port one at a time. While they are out I'll vacuum out anything that may have fallen in, and then slap these injectors back in until the valve cover gaskets are swapped and back on. Then I can rebuild the fuel system in what should now be an extremely clean environment.

Thankfully this truck isn't my DD and I work remote so there isn't much rush to get this job done minus trying to give my wife a warm garage to park in. Hoping to be done by end of January the latest.

Oh and the ironic part is that my potential cylinder 3 misfire was from a loose electrical plug on the coil. But I also got pretty drunk cleaning the one night so I couldn't remember if I had loosened that connection or not.

 

That's not a very fun cleaning job, when I installed @Digiratus' supercharger most of the time was spent cleaning that valley before installing new injectors... the rest of the process was fast.

 

Yeah it absolutely has not been enjoyable. Like you said honestly the covers would probably be off already, but that valley threw me for a loop. Not only that but it will get mucked up again the first puddle I hit. But I want to make sure I am able to keep as much crud away from the covers before I dig in, so it's worth the effort.

 

Mine did not have near the oil residue that Mike's does. It was mostly dirt and mud on mine.

Before:


After cleaning:

 

The green injectors are snazzy looking

 

Guess that's what happens when you neglect your leaky valve covers for multiple years but yeah it never stays clean for long when it comes to the mud and dirt. Your plastic wiring harnesses look like they are still in pretty good shape too!

 

Yeah, mine has fairly new valve cover gaskets because the originals had started to make a mess.

I see that your harnesses are wrapped in tape. Is that so they don't fall apart?

 

Yeah I was warned that they get really brittle and fall apart. Mine actually were in pretty decent shape but might as well wrap them up nice and tidy anyway.

I was going to plastic staple the mounting tabs back together but honestly I like @1997tacomav6 's solution on the NAPA clamps more:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-4-v6-damaged-wiring-harness-solution.576633/

Shout out to @ToyRyd04 for letting me know about all this shit since he's been researching the project and going to do it soon too. We've been texting back and forth on the shit I am running into that he may or may not need to deal with too when he digs into his.

 

Alright well this is taking me FAR longer to even get the valve covers off than I expected, but mostly that is because I have been extremely anal with cleanliness. Because of how aggressively I had to clean the valley at the top of the motor I knew that the seals/injector ports was going to end up having gunk around where the injectors seat. The injectors did a great job keeping the majority of water and grime out of the valves/cylinders but the ports still needed cleaning themselves. After discussions with @Speedytech7 in the first gen thread and @ToyRyd04 over a bunch of texts it seemed the best way was to pull the plugs and manually crank each cylinder to the top of the stroke and clean each injector port one at a time. While I did this I used the opportunity to clean any carbon build up (barely any) near the valves themselves.

The process was as follows:

Manually turn the crank for whatever the target cylinder was and use the plug hole to figure out the piston position.
Remove the injector and do a dry wiping/clean of the injector port.
Open up the intake hole for that cylinder and shop vac the intake while simultaneously using my air attachment on the compressor to block the injector port and force air into the valves.
Spray starting fluid into the injector port and intake and wipe away whatever carbon deposits/grime that could not be reached when doing the process dry.
Vacuum/force air again to remove the starting fluid that pooled on the valves.
Wipe the intake again as it has now brought dirty starting fluid back onto the walls if that intake.
Clean injector and put back in/cover that intake hole with a towel and move onto the next one.

Do that to all cylinders and do one final vacuum from the spark plug hole for anything that may have dropped into the cylinder, but really nothing should have.

This shows how grimey the injector ports were:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And clean:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

My cleaning method that worked extremely well:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

You can see the valves look really good considering the mileage.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

THis was the condition of the plugs:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Unknown mileage. I never replaced them in the 10+ years, 100k I've owned the truck.

The next time in the garage I'll finally be pulling the covers off.