Having brakes... as Martha Stewart would say "it's a good thing..." I hope the Gremlin master works. Glad I was able to help with the fitting even though it turned out to be the wrong master anyway

I was wore out by mid day yesterday, I left early and got home a little after 12. I told the wife I was going to take a nap but maybe 45 minutes later the phone rang & woke me up. It was a guy wanting to buy a couple of items I had on marketplace. So I got up to meet him. He wanted silicon radiator hoses for 64-68 Mustang and alternator bracket for 66 Mustang with thermactor. The thing is, he can't use either! He told me he had a 1940 Ford truck with a 302 in it, unsure of year. I explained what I know, that the 260 and 289 generally have the lower radiator hose on the passenger side, but that Ford changed that when they introducted the 302 and used a different water pump that has the lower hose on drivers side. I even held up the hoses in mock mounting position and said "see if the outlet is HERE it lines up perfectly, but if the outlet is HERE it's all cattywompas". He just shook his head and said "for the price you're asking I'll take 'em anyway and if I have to cut 'em to make 'em fit so be it!". lol. The alternator bracket is made for cars with California emissions, the air injector pump sits on top and the alternator sits on bottom. You only need this car if you live in a state that requires you to have all the emissions equipment for your vehicle regardless of age, and in that year emissions were not national yet, so the bracket is really only needed for someone from California. Plus it mounts to the water pump which as mentioned above, was different from the 289 to the later 302. So I got a feeling that's not going to line up right for him either. But a basic Ford alternator mounting kit brand new is probably only $15 so why bother buying an old one from me for $10 that might not work? But he still wanted it.

I've got just about everything I need to do the intake manifold swap on the Mustang. Just waiting on carburetor insulator gasket that I forgot to order earlier. Everything else is new and ready to go. Randy says since I helped him on his Mustang a couple of times he would like to come help me on the intake swap. Can always use an extra hand when slowly setting it down in place to make sure it goes on straight and doesn't move around before the bolts go in.

Norman asked me today if I can come by some time this week with my welder to help him repair some shifter mounting thing on his Dune Buggy. I told him I'm not too good of a welder but I can give it a shot. He said what he needs welded will be hidden by a face place so doesn't matter if my weld is ugly as long as it does a good job of holding a nut in place that he can screw down in to. I will have to tell Andre that Norman has a Dune Buggy, that might spurn him to get on his Rail project. Which I think is the same thing? Why do some call it a "Rail" and others call it a "Dune Buggy"? Just a tubular frame with VW engine regardless right.

Since the worst of pollen season is over, I have been doing a little cleanup in the garage tonight. What started as "sweep & mop" has quickly turned into "spring cleaning" as I keep finding things I don't need and making a pile to bring to the swap meet in Benson next Saturday. I found this starter on my shelf, it's a high torque mini starter for Jeep 4.0. My friend Frank gave it to me (along with a trailer FULL of stuff) when he moved from Angier out to the mountains. He wanted to go off-grid and live in a camper while building himself a small 30x30 cabin, so he had to severely cut back on all the stuff he had hoarded over the years. Do you have a vehicle that could use this starter?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/281690939923

About the trailer color, I bought a gallon of red farm & implement paint a year or so ago, thinking I would use it on the trailer. I did open it and use some to paint the bed floor of my F150, but surely there's 3/4 of a gallon left maybe more. I also asked Andre thinking for sure he would go with a bright color, but he said black. So that has me worried. If red is too gaudy for Andre then maybe I should stick with black. I don't know. There's pro's and con's. The black doesn't show as much scratches and wear as red would. The red might be considered kind of "custom" and not appeal to every possible buyer, in the case of me ever having to sell it at some point down the road. But it's different from what everybody else has. Most have black, and a few have aluminum, but don't see red very often.

 

Got all 4 struts installed on the wagon. Thankfully the sway bar links weren't too crusty and came off fairly easily. Everything else went smoothly. It's like night and day. I can't believe how bad the old ones were. Took it for a shake down run after installation. Then drove it to Raleigh yesterday for a race. Cadillac smooth and quiet. And now I can go back to railing corners without concern the tires would bottom out in the wheel wells.

Also got some more done on the Yamaha. Pulled the petcock and cleaned the tank and a few other misc. items. Still waiting on a new gas cap, grips and an air filter then she's ready to rip. On to the next project. Which might be a two stroke stand up jet ski.

Saturday afternoon, my neighbors walked over to fish off my dock. I suggested we take the boat out. Spent the afternoon on the water.

Sunday, I drove to Raleigh to race my bike. Worked hard for a third place spot.

Already back to work. Where did the weekend go?

John, I like good old black for a trailer. It doesn't show dirt, damage and imperfections like a bright red one. The red one is nice and if you were only towing a show car on sunny days.

Dave, I see you are getting the master worked out. I still can not find those other parts, which included a brand new master from postal jeeps dot net and a few other tid bits. I'll keep looking. It's got to be somewhere.

 

John let me check with my son on that starter as I know he has to replace when is in his Jeep and the flywheel. I know he has a mix match of parts as he swapped in a different transmission and I think that is why what he has does not work the way it should. How much would you want for it as I am gathering parts for it as time / money allow me too.

On the trailer I say red but I have not been know to follow the norm. Hell with 2 AMC's in the garage, a 80's Ford pick up and now a DJ5 Jeep nope dont follow the norm
When I was looking at new trailers back in the early 80's there were some that were red. I think black paint is cheap, look that is what Mr. Ford used on the T's, and why it is used on trailers.

James, sounds like you had a busy weekend between the struts, bike and the race and got a little fishing in too.
Now you back to work to relax right

Saturday had to tow the club trailer to Zebulon, just under 40 miles, for a cruise that the group wanted to use our sound system and was easier to take the trailer then pull everything out and load it into my truck, if it would all fit?
That was an all day 8am to 2pm event so by the time I got home I was done for the day other than running to the parts store for the master.
Yesterday we had a tarp pulling party at my house. During a storm the trap ripped and could not be fixed to use that I park the club trailer under.
So the club bought a 20'x30' heavy mill flat tarp and a bunch of members showed up to pull it back over the frame work that was repaired weeks ago. With alll the hands it was done in no time.

Before everyone showed up I cut the grass in most of the yard where it needed it and then loaded the trailer behind the tractor to move the tarp and tools from my garage to the area where the tarp would be pulled.
When done I loaded the trialer back up drove to my garage unloaded it and when I went to start it back up the oil light did not go out, the motor had a higher RPM at idle than normal.
I gave it throttle and the light did not go out but idle did come down but I shut it off to start checking things.
Oil level was good as was the coolant level in the radiator but the overflow was a little low and was toped up.
I have been hearing a little tapping noise like the lifters need adjusting, I have everything for a full service, but with this oil light and the noise I think it is a bearing
I need to see where the oil sender is and put a gauge on it to see if it has pressure or not and go from there but I am thinking it may need a motor.
I have had it since 2015 when I moved down here and it was used, a 2000 year model IIRC, the hours on it are like 1300 or maybe another 0?
I seen a carb model of mine, I have fuel injection and all the hydraulics, on FB MP for not too much. Maybe buy it and swap that motor onto mine to use till I can get a motor for mine.
Oh mine also has a 60" deck, takes 3+ hours to cut my yard, most are 52" decks and no hydraulics other than the deck. The fun begins not!
Jeep may need to sit a little till I get a mower
Dave ----

 

James that is great news on the struts on the 3rd placement! You make good points about the black not showing everything. Red will show every scratch.

Dave I will give it to you for free if he can use it. If not I will put it on my table at the swap meet with $20 written on it. That is bad news on the tractor, I hope that it doesn't need a new motor. And good point on the red, it's different and it looks good.

So I am back where I started! Some positives about red some negatives. The frame does have some imperfections where it was bent and I pounded it back and some cases heated with a torch, certainly not perfectly straight and flat. Although most of those bad areas are around the wheels and would be hidden by the fender.

 

I just texted my son to see if it will work or not. I know he told me what parts needed for starter and flywheel to play nice together but that was a long time ago and I CRS
I just checked my notes he said would work and a 92 - 95 4.0 starter is what would work with the same years flywheel for the transmission he has in the YJ Jeep.
Your starter when we looked it up was for 1999 to 2002 4.0 and different Jeep models than what the 92-95 starter that are for the open cab jeeps.
It looks like it will not work with his set up. He has upgraded the transmission and at the time did not know the flywheel / starter needed to be changed.
Thanks so it looks like you are asking $20 for it

You said you have red paint and if still good and being I am cheap I would use it. Red I dont think will show any of the bad things.
People will see a shinny red trailer and go

On the tractor it has 1375.4 hours on it and think I remember it having like 900+ hours when I bought it in 2015
I just started Googling about the motor and just a quick look I see "repower" using a different motor like a Briggs so need to look more into this motor thing.
I see FB MP has one for 2k they say runs and cuts grass and has a 60" deck like mine. Thinking if I buy it I can use it to cut the grass and then figure what to do for a motor.
Either way I know it will not be cheap and forget a new one I would need to take out a 5 year loan as they get crazy money for something like mine.
Dave ----

 

Well then it sounds like the starter will be out on my table at the swap meet. Maybe it will find a new home.

The paint can has been sealed since I last used it, and I picked it up and shook it by hand and it's still liquid. So it should be good. It's a gallon size and 3/4 full maybe more.

How many horsepower is your tractor? Even going with a Briggs, if it is lets say 18 horse, you're looking at a grand or more. Of course like you said to replace it with something new that has the same functions would be crazy expensive.

I haven't gotten much done in the last couple of days. My grandson came over Sunday and spending time playing with him I did not get any work done. Then Monday I had some errands to run, by the time I got home I could have gotten some work done, either on the dash for the parts truck, or maybe more sanding grinding painting on the car trailer, but for some reason I was just wiped out. Not enough sleep. So I sat in my chair and dozed off until dinner time. But I will say I have gotten a little done here & there as far as cleaning the garage goes. So it hasn't been a total waste.

 

It is a 22 hp, 2 cylinder, Kawasaki liquid cooled, fuel injection motor.
The 425 is same motor but a carb, mine a 445 has FI and the 455 is a 3 cylinder diesel.
I did a really quick look with Google on the web and a repower is a B&S air cooled carb, think 23 hp, I would have to redo the fuel system as it has a in tank pump and that would be about $2500
I dont really want to go that route but they say it is a bolt in and have a help line if I run into problems.

If I wanted to go with the same motor, Kawi FD620 that I dont think they make new, rebuilt less core charge is $4000 plus shipping off Ebay but dont know if I trust going that way?
I may stop at John Deere for S&G to see what they get but I know I should be sitting down.
I still need to check with a gauge to see is maybe the sender went bad, would be nice. YouTube said the senders like to leak but I never had that problem.
The early engines had plastic oil pump drive gears but mine is after hat and should have metal one but if I get no oil PSI I will pull the front of the motor to check but it also did not act like what normally happens when the plastic gears go bad.

I do see a 425 on FB MP for $2000, runs and cuts, looks to need a seat out in Mebane so looking at that option to use till I can get mine running again?
Now out to work on the DJ I want the brakes working by days end!
Dave ----

 

Dave, any update on the DJ brakes? I see your dilemma on the tractor engine, no matter how you go it is a serious expense. The question is which is the better bang-for-the-buck and last the longest.

I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday, but I did disconnect and remove the wiring for the solenoid, alternator, and voltage regulator. I moved the solenoid & regulator over to the blue truck and wired up the alternator as it had been on the parts truck. By then it was a little warm out and my back was hurting from being hunched over, so I moved on to working on my Mustang intake setup.

I dropped the lid by accident, fell face down onto the cement in the carport. The powdercoat is tougher than paint but it's not indestructible and I did get some little ****** in the edges.

Several of these road-rash marks all around the edges.

The main body of the air cleaner leaves a little to be desired. I understand that powder can't get into all the nooks & crannies, but it doesn't appear he even took the snorkel off. I would have thought he would remove it and powdercoat separately. Now I know for next time, I have to completely disassemble it all. I masked off what I could and brushed on some rustoleum blue, I don't think it's noticeable at all and at least that will stop it from being bare metal and turning rusty which definitely WOULD be noticeable.

 

The DJ has brakes!
I got out to the garage about 7am and hit it hard as I wanted the brake to be done in case I have to move it to get the tractor in.
The rears were a PITA between the Ebrake parts and the door being in the way as it covers part of the wheel opening.
I started to freak out as I thought I lost a spring or 2 as they were all apart and dragging the drop light cord knocked them around but found it hiding under a jack stand.

When I went to mount the master that fitting I changed needed to be changed back and the lines re-bent back where they were to fit this master.
Where the push rod fit over the pin on the pedal was worn down so had to pull the pedal, make a bushing and used a little JB Weld to fix the pin so there was no more play.

With everything in place it was time to bleed the system. Did you use my power bleeder as it looked like it was never used.
I can tell you it works great as long as it has fluid in it. Got to the last wheel and just about to stop when I got a lot of air out and did not stop
Yep container was empty so run to the parts store to get more and an oil gauge & line kit for the tractor.
Went back around to all the wheels and the pedal feels great cant wait to go for a test drive.

I had to remove the right side high lift jack hat was holding the body up to get to the pedal so I jacked that back up but the right rear was still on the frame?
Took a 4x4 and floor jack and found there are 2 more mounts on the rear bumper beside the 2 outer ones. Because of the rust it pulled apart.
So the next step is the floors / body mounts. WHen I set the body back down on the right the floor pushed back up so something has to be done.
Because of the heat the next few day work may be slow but with the metal John brought over I think I can fix it to be pretty good for a few years.
Dave ----

 

Well Jim the tractor is dead
Because the motor is a Kawasaki the oil sender port is metric and smaller then the 1/8" SAE fittings that come in the kit
I tried a few things to see if I could get the fitting in but no way I could get it in without messing up the port threads.
I started the motor up just to see if I got lucky and no luck, you can hear a rod knock.

Mary said NO! to the used 425, carb where mine is fuel injected (445) but said look for a motor for ours.
I dont think she knows how long this may take to get the motor here and to swap it out? Maybe I should go out and tell the grass & weeds to stop growing till I get a tractor to cut again?
Hunt is on for a Kawasaki FD620D motor

Dont know if I will get out to the Jeep today just too depressed at this point and need to look for the motor.
Dave ----

 

My son found a rebuilt moor, web site not Ebay, for $2400 and once they get the core they knock off up to $650 depending on how bad it would be to rebuild the core.
Had to send an email to see if they have them in stock or they need to build one as there are some little differences between the years so we are on hold for now.

Being I was sweating my *** off just getting measurements and being 90* now the Jeep will have to wait till it cools off.
Tomorrow I have to take Mary to Duke to see a doctor in the morning and thinking by the time we get home it will be killer hot again but we will see.
Dave ----

 

Yes I did use your power bleeder, last year when flushing the brake fluid in my 85 Foxbody. I clamped it to the top using the chains, and then filled my air tank to 10psi and hooked it up. Then released each corner of the system one at a time. Wiped it clean and packed it back away as I found it. Very handy.

$2400 for a rebuilt motor, yikes. Too bad we can't stick the 300 from the parts truck in there

 

I only asked about the bleeder because it did not look like it was uesd. You did a good job of cleaning it back out

Yea 2400 is steep but that is with the core charge so when they gert it back that will be less hope 650 less.
They sent a email that I ned to call them so after the doctor with Mary I will call.
They said aybe id week to send out but still need to talk.
Dave ----

 

Yay. Brakes. No more lighting candles and saying a prayer hoping it will stop.

Shesh, for 2,400 bucks you could buy a new mower. Had no idea mower engines were that expensive.


John, that's a good looking blue air cleaner. What vehicle does it go in?


I thought I was done with the little dirt bike but noticed the bottom of the tank was pretty scuzzy. So I cleaned it out. Need to install the new petcock and run the fuel line and she's ready to rip. Hopefully it will last through the summer. Then I plan on breaking the cases apart and doing the clutch basket and plates, counter shaft seal, sprockets F/R, valve adjustment and timing, and possibly a new stator.

 

The blue air cleaner is the original one from my 66 Mustang. I sandblasted it and repainted it 30+ years ago, it had some rust pitting but I have to say the paint I used back then did the job and protected it well, it never flaked off or got any worse. But I just had it powdercoated by a guy in Clayton and getting ready to put it back on, along with fresh intake manifold and valve covers (the original ones, not dress up ones). As long as I can remember, the snorkel on it was loose and wobbly. I don't know if Ford had used any kind of gasket between the snorkel and housing originally. No memory of there being anything in between, it's been too many years ago since I first took it apart. Well the two "wings" where the screws go will tighten against the housing first leaving a small paper thin gap around the round part which lets it wiggle up & down. Plus, the screws were small compared to the size of the holes. Maybe they were not the original screws, who knows. But I cut some 2 sided tape and formed it around the edge of the opening, you can see the gray peeking through around the edges. Then grabbed a couple of #8 flat washers and bam, just like that, I have a nice firm air cleaner snorkel!


I went ahead and reinstalled the heater core that I had taken out. Since it looks fine and had no leaks, I guess I am better off than buying a new replacement that might require me to cut or modify the housing. To the left is a flapper door, this had a foam covering, I assume for insulation, but it was dry and crumbly and already 75% disintegrated by the time I took the dash off. I need to figure out something good to put on there, to help keep heat where it needs to be and keep cool where it needs to be.