1986 Mini Cruiser, a Comedy!

[thewanderlustking]

Murphy strikes again…  I went to finish up the rear brakes and put the axles in. The two bearing lock screws for the right side are missing.  Spent almost 4 hours looking for them. No luck…  Years of wrenching has instilled good habits and I was super careful to stage parts.  But these are nowhere to be found.  Maybe they ended up at the shop when I cleaned up the bearings and drums.  

 

Coming into rainy season again. I need to figure out what model Coleman AC Unit I have, and post that info in the other thread for Linda.  I put one of those moisture trap deals under the table.  Bottom blew out and it leaked everywhere.  Figures.  I HAVE to get the roof/ac leak sorted asap!   

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by thewanderlustking

[thewanderlustking]

FINALLY!!!  I am wrapping up all the "sitting on ramps/jackstands" projects that I have been slowly picking any at.

 

The 4.88 rear is in, axles are in, and differential case is filled up ready to go.  I need to take off the outer right rear wheel and clock it one hand.  I was staring at the geometry on my equalizers, and it should work better flipped on that side to match the rotation direction of the other side.  I think the centrifugal force was causing one side to loosen up.  So if I am right either both sides will stay tight now, or both will loosen up.  LOL!  Good times!

 

I ran late and didn't want to annoy my neighbors by running my impact after 10pm or I would have sorted that out tonight.  So it is still sitting on the jack stands.  There is a break in procedure for the rear end too.  I may let it run for 20 miles unloaded on the stands, and then go drive it for another 20.  

 

I went into details about the brake issues and rear end rebuild in my thread here The Shakedown Drive, I think I actually conned Murphy!!! Or did he pull one over on me??? and some further brake musings in my thread The brake saga continues…  

 

While I was underneath the truck tonight finishing the trans temp sensor install (see the Installing a Temp sensor on an A43D, hot/pressure line? thread) I did notice a curiosity that could contribute to or even completely cause the odd brake issues I have been hunting down.  The levers for the emergency brake end in a short balance bar with the cables attached to either side of this.  It is a little stiff and doesn't seem to "balance" out or turn equally in both directions.  It could cause more pressure to be applied on one side than the other.  I will see if this can be freed up some more tomorrow with PB Blaster and then silicone spray or something.  From the rear it didn't look like this could cause a problem, but when I got right up underneath it and was tugging on things...                 

 

Whatever the case, I should have it back on the ground in the next night or so.  

 

I "think" I have headers and a new exhaust on the way.  I ordered them anyways.  But eBay's tracking system claims the order was canceled by the seller and is returning to them...  It is supposed to arrive wherever it is going Tuesday, so we shall see if it shows up.  Hopefully it was a legit sale and not one of the scam jobs.  The seller account is well established and in good standing though, no red flags there.  

 

I thought I was going to have to weld in new oxygen sensor bungs to the exhaust for my wideband.  The Toyota OEM oxygen sensors have a weird mounting flange and don't screw in like modern sensors do. And the exhaust has a forward location and a second back location.  I went looking for a block off plate, and then looked up the sensor itself.  And was pleasantly surprised with the replacement oxegen sensors solving the flange issue with an adapter plate, instead of a Toyota only specific sensor.  

 

I might still decide to weld in a bung as the location for the front sensor is not even halfway down the cylinder 2 tube.  Not ideal.  I can run dual sensors with MegaSquirt.  But I have never gone down that rabbit hole further to see if I can do an upstream and downstream comparison algorithm and utilize a narrowband for the downstream sensor.  I will have to look into this one!