[ThePog]

So I have been having what I thought was an issue but turned out to be my own stupidity...

A few days ago I did a big mission around town, I checked the coolant level the next day, sweet as. Then I did a wee jaunt later that day to show it off to my uncle who was visiting, when I checked it a bit later it needed a cup of coolant.

Filled it, did a mission all the way into town the next day and checked it before a 10 minute drive the next morning, all good. When I am back from the 10 mins drive the overflow is full and spilling on the ground.
I had been topping it up so naturally the overflow would get fuller, but it was weird.

I thought it might have something to do with the overflow position and tube length so I did a cheeky mod to check this which allowed me to monitor the coolant and give a bit of gravity assist;

Because I could see what was happening I soon realised that it takes quite a lot of time for the engine to cool enough to suck it all back. I had been waiting half an hour or so to check the levels after the short trips, but it has taken something like 4-5 hrs to suck most of it back after a 20 min drive. So actually it was me introducing the air when I cracked the cap. What a dumb bugger.

For some reason I had only ever checked it the day after when I had done a long drive, obviously giving it enough time to suck it back. Clearly this skewed the results and created a problem where there wasn't one. Doh!

Anyway with the earlier rad change there is enough room to put the tank just in front of the engine, and at a more reasonable distance and height. I reckon I'll do that today.

 

[ThePog]

I mounted that expansion tank somewhere convenient. Went for a drive and all seems to be behaving.

I also made some racks to carry long things, did the rear a few days ago and sorted the front out today. I'll get those zinc arc sprayed I imagine;

Might make the rear clamp on rather than ratcheted, you have to properly crank it up to prevent it from rocking a little....

 

[Knuckles]

Love the DIY gutter clamp for the roof rack. Great idea.
Edit: got any close up photos of how it works?

 

[ThePog]

Love the DIY gutter clamp for the roof rack. Great idea.
Edit: got any close up photos of how it works?

Here you go;

There will be a rubber edging to stop chafing but it's a pretty robust way of doing it.

 

[Knuckles]

Here you go;

There will be a rubber edging to stop chafing but it's a pretty robust way of doing it.

Looks great, pretty simple too. Nice.

 

[ThePog]

In my relentless quest to get the cooling to the point where I don't have to worry about it, and in the belief that increasing cooling capacity is always a win, I took a wee plunge and ordered a Davies Craig water pump and accessories. I fitted it up as an auxiliary pump by the rad outlet. This took a minor amount of modding to the pipework;

It maybe sits higher in the system than I would like, but it probably doesn't matter too much as long as there is coolant. It's well protected and it was pretty low impact to mount it.
I got a mechanical adjustable temp switch with the kit and put that at the thermostat outlet for max sensitivity, plus I drilled a couple of 3mm holes in the thermostat to allow some flow if the pump is on and the thermostat is closed, as recommended by Davies Craig.

I mounted the adjusty thing where I could access it from inside the cab, you might be able to make it out in the darkness;

I have set it make the small fan and the pump come on simultaneously when the thermostat outlet gets to 50 or 60ish deg. Previously the small fan went as soon as the key was on, so this is a nice improvement.

The pump means that the engine water pump is not having to work harder to push the coolant along those long pipes, I was kindof worried about that and this eases my mind.

I took it into town this morning and it definitely improves the response time of the cooling, this means the big fan cycles less and for less time. This is good.

I did another quick pie run at lunchtime and when I parked to up in the shed quite a lot of coolant was pissing out in the pump area, but this turned out to be just a loose hose clamp... Whew.

That's all probably.

 

[Foo]

In my relentless quest to get the cooling to the point where I don't have to worry about it, and in the belief that increasing cooling capacity is always a win, I took a wee plunge and ordered a Davies Craig water pump and accessories. I fitted it up as an auxiliary pump by the rad outlet. This took a minor amount of modding to the pipework;

It maybe sits higher in the system than I would like, but it probably doesn't matter too much as long as there is coolant. It's well protected and it was pretty low impact to mount it.
I got a mechanical adjustable temp switch with the kit and put that at the thermostat outlet for max sensitivity, plus I drilled a couple of 3mm holes in the thermostat to allow some flow if the pump is on and the thermostat is closed, as recommended by Davies Craig.

I mounted the adjusty thing where I could access it from inside the cab, you might be able to make it out in the darkness;

I have set it make the small fan and the pump come on simultaneously when the thermostat outlet gets to 50 or 60ish deg. Previously the small fan went as soon as the key was on, so this is a nice improvement.

The pump means that the engine water pump is not having to work harder to push the coolant along those long pipes, I was kindof worried about that and this eases my mind.

I took it into town this morning and it definitely improves the response time of the cooling, this means the big fan cycles less and for less time. This is good.

I did another quick pie run at lunchtime and when I parked to up in the shed quite a lot of coolant was pissing out in the pump area, but this turned out to be just a loose hose clamp... Whew.

That's all probably.

Why couldn't you install another cooler in between the radiator and the block? Cooling is always going to be dependent on the cooling area and no amount of fans can compensate for finned area for air to flow through. This is why, some trucks that have smaller radiator sizes for the same engine compacity suffer in hot weather.

Foo

 

[ThePog]

Why couldn't you install another cooler in between the radiator and the block? Cooling is always going to be dependent on the cooling area and no amount of fans can compensate for finned area for air to flow through. This is why, some trucks that have smaller radiator sizes for the same engine compacity suffer in hot weather.

Foo

Well I was basically happy with the cooling, after all it is essentially a td42t with a td42t radiator which should be enough for the job. However it was taking a wee bit of time for the thermofan to drop the temp after cutting in, probably due to the longer flow path. This potentially/probably wasn't an actual issue but that combined with the extra load on the water pump decided me. Coolant flow is also a factor in the cooling system, the more flow means more capacity to transfer heat, more delta T. As you say, it's no substitute for fin area, but it definitely helps.

I had thought about a secondary radiator, but that was always going to be if I couldn't make the current setup work for me. I will run things for a while and see how it goes before I get too carried away.

 

[ThePog]

Righto, a quick update.
I have been dailying the **** out of this, basically all is well. Coolant levels are rock solid, it doesn't drip random fluids, it handles well, it goes and sounds like a truck. It is a genuine pleasure to drive it, I hopped back into the townace on Friday and it was a disappointment. The big truck is really good in comparison.

A few things have come up though.
I discovered that my modified porta power crane pump was really not up to the job, mostly cos when you lifted heavy things it would piss hydraulic fluid out of its sealed orifices. So I bought this for a fiddy from matey down the road, looks way more legit, moves it way faster too.

The other crane issue is that the truck leans over hard lifting heavy loads, so I bought a high lift jack that will be a useful support during lifting operations and add legitimacy to the 4x4 legend that is ThePog.
Here it is tucked away under the back seat;

Now we come to the main issue, that there is a bit of a clatter from the engine at 2000rpm. This is unfortunate as this is exactly the engine revs at 100km/h and it is quite noticable with no sound deadening in the cab. This could be many things but I have a strong suspicion it is injector knock/fuel ratio issues. This is also where the egt's start rising more than expected and the big fan starts cycling.
The pump in there has no boost compensation so I reckon that is the root of the problem. I got a price to rebuild my spare pump with the compensator attached, this was the thick end of $1500 smackers, and it's a bit hard to hide those sort of numbers from my wife.

So I managed to source a new pump, it still has the seal over the fuel screw so probably hasn't been dicked with. Theoretically this should be pretty bang on to match my setup. It also turns out it is an 11mm pump so even better. I'll get it checked first but even if it needs work it is a better base to start from.

And this is the label;

Id number is VE6/11F2000RNP159

I found this incredibly useful bit of info;

'Example:
V E 4 / 9 F 2400 L 12
V: Distributor injection pump
E: Axial piston high pressure pump or R: radial piston high pressure pump
2-6: Number of high pressure outlets
8-12: Pump plunger diameter in mm.
F: Mechanical governor or E: Electric actuator mechanism or M: high pressure solenoid valve.
2400: Upper pump nominal speed (half of engine rpm)
L: Counter clockwise or R: Clockwise (view toward pump drive)
12: Type code.'

I'll sort that soon.
That is all.

 

[dan ahern]

Awesome build! 👌

 

[ThePog]

The Dynafari continues to do the things it does amazingly well, in particular looking absolutely banging from every angle, and moving all sorts of **** about the place with aplomb.

I took it to the Nelson swap meet and sold sod all, but talked myself hoarse with all the questions about it, so that was fun.

On a side note one dude crawled right under it for inspection and solemnly informed me that it was illegal due to how I had welded the cross member brackets on, I suggested that the fact it had literally just been certified might be a contraindication of that, but he wasn't having a bar of it. We had to agree to disagree...

Now for the adventures;
I decided to take a punt on that fuel pump and slapped it right in there.

This must be the 70billionth time I have removed that seat and covers.

I timed it up and got it to fire.....

And it fully red lined from the get go. I turned off the key but it turns out the cut off solenoid won't seat when there is all of the fuel pressure keeping it up because the governor is gummed open.

I kept a relatively calm head though, grabbed the 17mm spanner and cracked injectors until it stopped. Yay.

I then wiped the atomized fuel from my face and the inside of the truck and went out into the deck and had a quiet ten minutes of reflection.

Then I unbolted the pump and bolted the old one back on. I started it with much trepidation, however it seems to have handled the fun with no ill effects, phew.

This turned out to be more useful situation than I expected, because when I drove it the clatter was exactly the same but 100rpm further up the rev range. I had timed the pump differently than prior, so this tells me the clatter is almost certainly pump related.

At this point I finally came to terms with how stupidly expensive getting pumps rebuilt was and caved in. I dropped the 11mm pump off to Jake at Marine and Engineering who stripped it and told me it was toast. I then dropped off all the bits of the other pump and a half from my previous escapades and he confirmed they were also toast. He did say the 11mm plunger and the compensator were salvageable, so I told him to just sort it out.

I then frantically sold as much **** as I could in the next two weeks, which fortunately netted me almost exactly what I needed to pay for the rebuild.

So here we sit tonight, with this resplendent bit of kit just waiting to be mounted by yours truly...

I shall update y'all after the weekend.....

 

[xtracabgq]

Such a great looking beast... apart from that big ugly toyota badge
All jokes mate, I'm a ford and nissan man but have actually owned more holdens and toyotas

jim

 

[ThePog]

Such a great looking beast... apart from that big ugly toyota badge
All jokes mate, I'm a ford and nissan man but have actually owned more holdens and toyotas

jim

Ha, I am very fond of both Toyota's and Nissans, so this is a sweet mashup for me...

 

[Haggie]

The Dynafari continues to do the things it does amazingly well, in particular looking absolutely banging from every angle, and moving all sorts of **** about the place with aplomb.

I took it to the Nelson swap meet and sold sod all, but talked myself hoarse with all the questions about it, so that was fun.

On a side note one dude crawled right under it for inspection and solemnly informed me that it was illegal due to how I had welded the cross member brackets on, I suggested that the fact it had literally just been certified might be a contraindication of that, but he wasn't having a bar of it. We had to agree to disagree...

Now for the adventures;
I decided to take a punt on that fuel pump and slapped it right in there.

This must be the 70billionth time I have removed that seat and covers.

I timed it up and got it to fire.....

And it fully red lined from the get go. I turned off the key but it turns out the cut off solenoid won't seat when there is all of the fuel pressure keeping it up because the governor is gummed open.

I kept a relatively calm head though, grabbed the 17mm spanner and cracked injectors until it stopped. Yay.

I then wiped the atomized fuel from my face and the inside of the truck and went out into the deck and had a quiet ten minutes of reflection.

Then I unbolted the pump and bolted the old one back on. I started it with much trepidation, however it seems to have handled the fun with no ill effects, phew.

This turned out to be more useful situation than I expected, because when I drove it the clatter was exactly the same but 100rpm further up the rev range. I had timed the pump differently than prior, so this tells me the clatter is almost certainly pump related.

At this point I finally came to terms with how stupidly expensive getting pumps rebuilt was and caved in. I dropped the 11mm pump off to Jake at Marine and Engineering who stripped it and told me it was toast. I then dropped off all the bits of the other pump and a half from my previous escapades and he confirmed they were also toast. He did say the 11mm plunger and the compensator were salvageable, so I told him to just sort it out.

I then frantically sold as much **** as I could in the next two weeks, which fortunately netted me almost exactly what I needed to pay for the rebuild.

So here we sit tonight, with this resplendent bit of kit just waiting to be mounted by yours truly...

I shall update y'all after the weekend.....

You have not lived until you have had a diesel engine run away from you. Blocking the air intake worked for me when my sons did the same as yours.

 

[ThePog]

You have not lived until you have had a diesel engine run away from you. Blocking the air intake worked for me when my sons did the same as yours.

Oh man I really needed that sit down afterwards, must be the adrenaline crash ...

 

[BeNos]

just after i rebuilt my motor i went out west for a week of fun in the trol. upon returning i had found the air filter had sucked in and id say dusted the engine. anyway. pulled all the piping off and set about cleaning out the turbo and stuff with a full can of brake clean. hit the key and bam beyond full rpm completely uncontrollable for about 20 seconds. just running on brake cleaner. that was an interesting day........

 

[ThePog]

That pump is in, it runs and no longer pisses black smoke so thats a win. The rattle is still there so that means its the engine, so thats a fail. That means the NA pump is probably better condition than I thought, so I can sell it as a runner, so thats a win.

It took twice as long as I thought it would as I had it 100% back together ready to run up, and as I went up to lunch I had a thought to check if the stop solenoid was 12v or 24v. Guess what? 12v. Sh*t. So out it all came so i could swap it for a 24v one as I couldn't get to it with it sitting in there. Stink.

It isnt quite as lively off the mark as before, probably due to the actually appropriate fuel levels. I will run it for a bit and see if the various wicks will need turning up...

The engine rattle solution is probably a proper rebuild of the spare short block that I have, assuming all is well with it the boys at Mean Machine reckoned about 3k to make it proper with new pistons etc. The head and fuel pump are sorted so those can get bolted on probably.

I parked it out in the sun and took some pics..

 

[CroPatrol]

You made a unique car in the world. How many hours of work did it take? I worked on my car probably more than 2000 hours. I often wonder if it’s easier or to buy a second or new car. I admire your knowledge and persistence.

 

[ThePog]

You made a unique car in the world. How many hours of work did it take? I worked on my car probably more than 2000 hours. I often wonder if it’s easier or to buy a second or new car. I admire your knowledge and persistence.

Thanks for that. I reckon about 2500 to 3000 hrs in it, about 2 years of which were pretty much every evening and weekend. I enjoyed it though, it was a nice change from my normal work.

 

[ThePog]

Right o, new pump update and other shenanigans.

It started to make a bad ticky type sound the first time I boosted it hard, it was also only making about 5psi. I had a look underneath and there was a lot of oily poo all over the place. I went into full panic thinking it had popped something important, but then realised that it was mostly diesel from the pump swapover mixed with oil coming out of the front cover where the speedo sensor sits that had decided to be a leaky bitch. For whatever hydrodynamic reasons that pooey mix ends up on the cross member at the back of the engine.....

I cleaned everything up then made a gasket for the sensor. Then I figured to check the exhaust manifold and it was fully p*ssing soot out everywhere. I pulled it off and took it to Mean Machine who faced the whole thing. This is something I had been intending to do for a while cos it was still mill scale on the face and clearly not sealing well.

This seems to have cured the ticking and the low boost problems. It feels much livelier now however it turns out the spill rail or #1 injector is leaking. I ordered a new spill rail as the most likely suspect, I installed this and all seems well now.

I also entirely u-turned on my hatred of car stereos and installed this;

I had found the rearview dashcam cam visor thingy ok but not actually super useful in my implementation due to reflections etc, plus I discovered that my AM CB probably wasn't that useful for talking to people, everyone seeming to be on VHF. This left the spot clear for a double din touch screeny stereo on special at supercheap.

This also meant a new rear view camera.

I also found and fitted most of the original vinyl with sound deadening still attached. This required cutting some extra holes but it fitted surprisingly well. I need to finish that off though, you can just about see it in the pic up there.

Today I tidied some stereo related things, I thought it might give some of you a laugh;



The red and blue buttons are external volume controls, those were the only two suitable momentaries I had lying around, this is just cos the touchscreen ones are not all that easy to hit when driving.

The top switch by the vent is to switch in the rear view camera cos it was going to be too complicated dropping the 24v reversing signal down to 12v.

The switch below it is a 3 position; up is normal, mid is stereo off regardless of key position, down switches the stereo on regardless of key position.

The hole below that is for one of those two switches that didn't fit after I drilled it.

And I got rid of the digital clock below all that and remounted the usb charging port there on an ally panel, it is all too black to see clearly though...

That is all.