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Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:41 am
by nstevic01
This project has been a long time in the making. Ever since I first saw Twister, I fell in love with full size jeeps, especially the J10. A couple of years back, I managed to pick up the Dorothy 2 from Universal Studios Florida - https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t ... ht=twister..., since then I have been desperately trying to track down the actual J10 from the show at Universal. I went through ALOT of people connected to prop management and a handful of park employees. Nobody seems to know where this truck went. It has never been spotted on the back lot, which lead alot of people to believe it was scrapped. So, 2 years of searching and I came up empty handed for the Universal one.

While trying to find the Universal one, I constantly searched eBay, Craigslist, FB Marketplace, and FSJ forums to try and find the right one. Let me tell you, these trucks are so far and few between that you cannot get picky. You have to take the best example that you can afford and go from there. Since the Jeep truck has more or less had the same body for the entire 26 year run, it helped with the search. The only major change in the actual body was the brow, which can be found on the trucks up until '79 I believe. As far as I can tell, 4 trucks were used for filming, ranging from '78 - '84. One of them was used to hit the bridge and be dropped upside down, one of them was for the ditch run and to be dropped upside down, and possibly 2 hero trucks. Between the 4 of them, it covers most variations in design.

The 2 Hero trucks were an 80’s model Honcho. One ended up in the TN Star Cars museum and one ended up in private hands:
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The ditch run truck is the model with the brow, the wraparound turn signals, and the larger wheels and tires, they dropped this one upside down first (in terms of seen in movie), this one was a pre 80s Honcho:
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The Bridge truck, also with brow, which was also dropped upside down. This truck has the standard steel wheels and smaller tires, the non-wrapping turn signals in the front, and a manual transmission. This one was dropped second possibly. This one was a pre 80s standard truck.
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You can see in this one, that 2 trucks were in fact dropped upside down. The wheels and even the level of dirt coverage is different.
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When looking for the truck, I wanted to have as many original parts as possible. So, the criteria were as follows:
- Post 80’s build for the non-brow look. I’m aiming for a hero truck build.
- Needs to have the flat front brush guard, the ones on the Golden Eagle models and earlier Honchos were “V” shaped. They are incredibly hard to find in the used market.
- Needs to have the Roll/Light bar. Also hard to find, and very rarely comes up for sale.
- Needs to be an original Honcho. These had the “wide track” look and the Warn locking hubs like the hero truck. Not a deal breaker, but it will save me money on swapping axles and a lift.
- Manual or Auto doesn’t matter. The transmissions are interchangeable.
- Needs to have the split seat design, preferably the black Laredo interior like the hero.
- Needs to have a solid rear window, although this is easily interchangeable.
- Needs to have a rear cargo light in the bed. VERY hard to find….

During the search, I found that J10s seem to either be out west, or up north. Western trucks are more ideal due to little rust, but there seemed to be an abundance of them up north. I was able to find maybe 5 J10’s over 2 years that were for sale in Florida. They were either long beds, which are not screen accurate, or they were literally piles of parts. I had one promising lead out in Bell, but that one turned out to be more work than it was worth. Guy wanted $4200 for it and it didn’t even run. Out of state was literally the only way this was going to happen. One state, Texas, seems to have quite a few J10s in various conditions. Ranging from fully restored to project truck. I managed to find one right outside of Dallas, seemed to be the best combination of things that I needed to start. He sent me many HD pictures and a couple of HD videos of the truck running and driving around the neighborhood. It was a Honcho, had the brush guard, light bar, locking hubs and split seat. He also said the A/C worked, which was a plus. Finding a factory A/C is pretty hard for these trucks. It was right in my price range, so I made arrangements to fly out to Texas and drive it back.

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I took connecting flights out to Dallas, and the owner picked me up. Gave the truck a once over, making sure all of the lighting worked on the exterior. Upon inspection of the interior, found that the wiper switch was broken. Not a huge deal, I was just hoping that it wouldn’t rain on the way home. Tried to turn on the A/C, but nothing happened. The guy at this point says that the switch can be finicky, I play with it for a good 5 mins, nothing. At least the external vents and windows work, so I won’t be totally dying on the way home. Everything else looked good, tires looked brand new, although the owner did mention it needed new ones do to the age. None of the gauges worked…fuel, oil pressure, coolant temp, nothing. Things were not really looking up, but I was 1200 miles from home and I was committed at this point. We did the paperwork, shook hands, and I took off….then disaster.

I literally made it a block from his home before hearing a very loud metallic thud… I turn off the truck and get out, fully expecting to see that I dropped the muffler. Wrong. The freaking driveshaft fell off the rear differential. The retaining bracket for the universal joint was loose and the bolts worked themselves out. The caps on the u-joint had fallen off, and with it the needle bearings. There was no re-using it. I called the guy up and he pulled me back to his driveway. Needless to say, there was an awkward moment occurring… The truck drove perfectly fine in the videos that he made for me, answering specific questions while driving so I knew that it was not previously recorded.

The guy was totally nice about it, drove me to the parts store, paid for the parts, got me lunch, and then helped me to install the part. It took the better part of 6 hours using basic caveman tools, which aggravated me because I can swap a u-joint in my shop in about 15 mins using my press. But no, we had hammers and a bench vice. Once the new u-joint was in, I was on my way. Took some back roads to the local Walmart and stocked up on road trip supplies. Picked up a tool kit, some coolant, duct and electrical tape, a phone mount and charger, some snacks, and a gas can. Stopped in at the gas station, topped off the truck, filled the can and I was on my way.

Once on the highway, I managed to get the truck past 40mph for the first time…anything above 40 and the truck shook violently. Great. So, I proceed to drive 45-50mph for the next 3 hours. By this time, it’s dark, the freaking headlights are pointed at the ground. They turn on, but do not illuminate the road. I pull off to adjust them…the damn adjusters are broken. My wife convinces me to stop at a hotel since it was close to midnight at this point. Wake up early, eat, fill up with gas and Im back on the road doing 45. I get about an hour out, and finally decide to pull into a shop to get the wheels balanced. They proceed to tell me that it will be at least 2 hours… ugh. At this point I am already 24 hours behind schedule, what’s 2 more. I have them inspect the driveway fix of the u-joint and do a general once over to make sure nothing else will surprise me.
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So they pull me back there and go over everything:
Tires – 9 years old….the belts are starting to separate. They will make it to Florida, but they need to be replaced. They balanced the hell out of them to make my ride a little more tolerable.
Rear Differential – Leaking oil out of the pinion seal… we can’t have this. Last thing I need is for the rear end to lock up due to non-lubrication. I have them fix this.
Rear Driveshaft – Driveway fix is good, but the second u-joint on the shaft is bad and shows a lot of play. I have them replace this as well.

All in, 3 hours later, about $560 for something that would have cost me $50, at best, in parts and a weekend of work. I’m pissed at this point. I get back on the road and everything is going well. I can get up to 70-75 without any issues.

I stop off in Louisiana, bridge and bayou area, just hole in the wall gas stations every 30 miles or so. I fill up with gas and notice a large black puddle under the motor…. BEEP. How long was I driving like this? When the hell did the leak start? It was about 100 miles from the garage I just had work done, Im wondering if the tech maybe loosened something and forgot to tighten it again. I wipe everything down and watch where it’s coming from. Rear main seal, front crank seal, oil pan, oil pump, oil pressure sender, oil drain plug. What in the hell??

I go inside the gas station, buy a can of stop leak and about 8 quarts of oil. I put the stop leak in, top off the oil, with the plan to stop in 50 miles to check the level. I get about 50 miles and pull in to a gas station. Only lost about ½ a quart. Top it off and go another 50 miles. This time the oil level was fine, but the damn thing was still leaking. At this point I stop every 50 miles to check the oil, and every 100 to fill up with gas. I manage to get about 150 miles from home before it starts losing oil again, but I have enough to keep me topped off to get home.

FINALLY, back in my driveway!!! This picture shows one of two things, how massive these trucks are, and how jealous my Ecto is getting knowing that she is going to be replaced.
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As of right now, I am in the process of collecting all of the parts I identified.


Interior bits:

What’s on that dash?!?

In shot number one, we see 2 compasses and a camcorder.
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In shot number two, we see one of the compasses, a handheld radio, and the camcorder.
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In shot number three, we see a Nikon SLR camera.
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1. Is a vintage Airguide Scout Marine Compass
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2. Is a vintage Airguide Scotsdale Automobile compass
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3. Is a GE Images CG400 8mm camcorder. This was by far pretty hard to identify, let alone find one for sale. There was one on eBay with a broken body, literally a hole in it. I passed on it, but another one came up for sale recently that I ended up winning. It has some broken hinges and is missing the rubber part, so I ended up buying that first one from eBay as well for parts.
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4. Is a Uniden GMR100 8 Channel radio. I managed to pick up a set of these, that still work!!
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5. Is a Nikon F3. I don’t have one of these yet, but Im not too worried about finding one since they are all over the place on eBay.
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What’s under that dash?!?

Here is a collage of shots from the interior. They are literally blink and you’ll miss it moments in the movie. There were 7 total unique items to identify on and under the dash.
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There is also another CB used in Jo's truck. This one can be seen at the 29:19 mark when they are arguing. This CB is a hell of alot easier to find. It is a Cobra 25LTD Classic with the mic that connects on the side.

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1. Vintage Cobra 4-pin Mic. Picked up one of these on eBay, they are fairly common.
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2. CellularONE branded Motorola SCN2498A Bag Phone. This is the one with the black number pad and White function pad. Scored this on eBay pretty cheap.
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3. This is a Uniden BearTracker BCT-2. Also picked up on eBay for the super cheap price of $37.55 shipped.
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4. Cobra 19 LTD Classic CB Radio. This thing is impossible to find. There is one on eBay that is absolute junk. If anyone has one of these to sell, I will pay you a fair price for it.

5. Vintage KC rocker switches. Also impossible to find. Same deal, if you have a set, I will pay you a fair price.

6. Shaft style Panasonic AM/FM Cassette Deck. Model unknown, but it is very similar to the E330. The main difference is the face plate text.

7. OEM Jeep Quartz Clock. Picked it up on eBay.
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8. OEM Vacuum operated 4WD lockout switch. These are damn near impossible to find…and I mean impossible. I managed to get very lucky and find a decent one on eBay. Had to pay a pretty penny for it too.
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Sooo what about the rest of the interior?!?

Here is another collage of shots from the rest of the interior.
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1. Unknown yellow rain jacket. Still looking for this one.

2. Back of the cellular antenna; I have a couple of leads on this one, will post the model once I confirm.

3. Vintage plastic hooks. Still looking for these.

4. OEM Cargo lamp switch. Picked one of these up on eBay, fairly common, but expensive. Not all of the J series pickups came with a cargo lamp.
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5. Vintage protective glasses. Still trying to find these.

6. Custom Muskogee State College sticker. I will have to recreate these. There are 4 along the tailgate, and one in the back window. I have several good screen grabs from the Blu-ray that will give me a good start.


Alright, alright, enough of the interior. What about those exterior bits?!?

We will start with the front of the truck and work our way back.
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1. OEM Flat brush guard. There are two types, the “V” shaped, and the flat-ish one. The flatter of the two is the screen accurate one.

2. OEM Chrome “Mustache” Muscle Grill. Very hard to find. I have a black “Letter” Muscle Grill, but still looking for the right one.

3. KC Lights, possibly 4x6. The truck in the Star Cars museum in TN shows that it is orange lights under the KC covers. Not sure if those are original. Need to measure the size.

4. 15x10, 10 hole, 4.25” hub bore, 6.5x5 wheels. Several manufacturers made these. Pacer 320c, Unique 96, and Cragar Quick Trick 1. All of which are no longer being manufactured. I did manage to find a nice set of 4 on Facebook Marketplace.
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5. Goodyear Wrangler AT, Size 33/12.5/15 (may also be 35"). These are no longer manufactured unfortunately. The closest that is out there are Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs. The Wrangler AT/S tires are not made in the right size.

6. OEM wraparound turn signal. Picked up a brand new set from 4wheelparts.com.

7. Vintage CIPA mirrors. These are hard to come by. The ones on eBay being sold as new are plastic and did not have the correct rivets on the back.

8. KC 69 Series 6x9 Daylighters. Damn things are no longer manufactured and never come up for sale on the used market. I went through about 5 online sites that said they were available, only to find out they had not updated their website to reflect them being discontinued. There is a close copy of them made by Pro Comp. The Explorer 9002 6x9 lights. I picked up 3 of these on Amazon.
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The back of the truck:

Here is a collage of shots for the items on the back of the truck. I have identified pretty much everything at this point.
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1. Vintage Hustler HQ-27 55” antenna that has been cut down. The giveaway is the middle section. The antenna is mounted on a standard RP-311 3” spring.
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2. OEM Cargo Light. These are INCREDIBLY rare. I managed to score one off of a FSJ group on FB.
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3. Vintage bumble bee yard spinner? At first, I thought this was an antenna topper, but you can clearly see that it is on a stick that is taped to the antenna. The wings on either side spin freely, which led me to believe it was a lawn spinner. I have yet to find one anywhere on the internet. If anyone has a lead or one for sale, let me know. I will pay a fair price for it.
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4. Unknown glass mount cellular antenna. This one is gonna be hard to nail down the exact model. The base is very distinctive, as is the tightness of the coils at the base. I have it narrowed down to 2 models. I may pick up both and see which is the closest.

That's it for the time being. More work to come.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:07 am
by 66stepside
Excellent attention to detail- well done. Plus, the purchase story is epic! Subscribed!

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:26 am
by REDONE
Awesome work! I've no doubt it'll be a sight to see, heck, it looks swell already!

A fellow member and neighbor of mine in Golden, CO also has a twister truck clone. Man is it pretty!

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:42 pm
by nstevic01
Got the Goodyear Duratrac 33/12.5/15 tires put on today. The bed of the truck looks too high, the whole truck is raked forward.
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Turns out, there is a 3” lift block in the rear. Possible on top of 3” lift leaf springs. When I get a chance, I’ll take the blocks out and see how it sits.
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Also started playing with the coloring for the center light. It shows as an amber color in the movie, and KC did make amber lenses for the 69 series daylighters. However, trying to find one is not happening anytime soon. So I picked up some Krylon Stained Glass paint. Surprisingly effective after a few coats. It may be a little to dark, so I will play with how many coats to go with.
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Also got the 4x6” fog lights ordered, as well as the vintage KC light covers for them. More to come.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:23 am
by candymancan
Too bad Bill Paxton died man.. i loved that actor.. And i loved this movie.

I actually love the 2nd gen dodge rams the new new truck he drove and i loved the yellow fsj.

You shoukd sand the yellow light with 2+k grit paper to get the irange peel you put in it from the paint lol but thays just me

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:06 am
by bigun
While it is an iconic rig, all I can say is you have way to much time on your hands or no life!

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:45 am
by fulsizjeep
nstevic01 wrote:<snip>
8. OEM Vacuum operated 4WD lockout switch. These are damn near impossible to find…and I mean impossible. I managed to get very lucky and find a decent one on eBay. Had to pay a pretty penny for it too.
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<snip>

2. OEM Cargo Light. These are INCREDIBLY rare. I managed to score one off of a FSJ group on FB.
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<snip>
Impressive attention to detail! :-bd I've watched that movie more times than I can even count. Good luck on the projects!

On the two items pictured above, do you mind telling us what they cost you? I am just curious because I have one of each that I don't need.

On the vacuum switch, are you going to run automatic or manual tranny? If you have already mentioned this, sorry I overlooked it.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:25 am
by berettajeep
Subscribed as well.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:47 am
by merrill77
Cool build. I haven't seen the movie...maybe I will watch it just for the FSJ content :)

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:20 am
by nstevic01
fulsizjeep wrote:
nstevic01 wrote:<snip>
8. OEM Vacuum operated 4WD lockout switch. These are damn near impossible to find…and I mean impossible. I managed to get very lucky and find a decent one on eBay. Had to pay a pretty penny for it too.
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<snip>

2. OEM Cargo Light. These are INCREDIBLY rare. I managed to score one off of a FSJ group on FB.
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<snip>
Impressive attention to detail! :-bd I've watched that movie more times than I can even count. Good luck on the projects!

On the two items pictured above, do you mind telling us what they cost you? I am just curious because I have one of each that I don't need.

On the vacuum switch, are you going to run automatic or manual tranny? If you have already mentioned this, sorry I overlooked it.
The switch ended up costing me about $80 shipped. The light, I actually ended up with 2 of them. One was $25 shipped and the other was $35 shipped.

For the 4wd, I would like to switch it over to vac operated, but I need to wait until I swap the transmission over to auto. Ultimately I may end up seeing if anyone would be interested in just swapping running gear, since the manual is so coveted.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:16 pm
by fulsizjeep
I think the automatic would be most convenient for day to day driving. At least going this direction, you do not already have the front axle vacuum disconnect that comes with 83 & 84 727/229 combos. I am not fond of the pull stick to vacuum shift to 4wd. That pretty much forces you to come to a stop to get in 4wd. The switch I have is from an 88 which is shift on the fly. The 229 can handle that. Thanks for helping me understand what these two items may be worth.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:10 pm
by bigun
merrill77 wrote:Cool build. I haven't seen the movie...maybe I will watch it just for the FSJ content :)
Heathen! :P

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:11 pm
by bigun
fulsizjeep wrote:I think the automatic would be most convenient for day to day driving. At least going this direction, you do not already have the front axle vacuum disconnect that comes with 83 & 84 727/229 combos. I am not fond of the pull stick to vacuum shift to 4wd. That pretty much forces you to come to a stop to get in 4wd. The switch I have is from an 88 which is shift on the fly. The 229 can handle that. Thanks for helping me understand what these two items may be worth.
LOL I figured if anybody had them in their stash it would be you!

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:38 pm
by merrill77
nstevic01 wrote:7. Vintage CIPA mirrors. These are hard to come by. The ones on eBay being sold as new are plastic and did not have the correct rivets on the back.
Those mirrors look pretty good on that Honcho, with the brush guard, wide-track fenders, roll bar and lights. I'm not fond of the set I have on my '77...I'm planning to replace with the smaller OEM mirrors. You may be able to zoom in on the pic below enough to see if it is correct. The drivers mirror glass is not perfect - I haven't tried polishing it. If that looks like what you need, I may be parting with these in a few months.

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Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:45 pm
by nstevic01
merrill77 wrote:Those mirrors look pretty good on that Honcho, with the brush guard, wide-track fenders, roll bar and lights. I'm not fond of the set I have on my '77...I'm planning to replace with the smaller OEM mirrors. You may be able to zoom in on the pic below enough to see if it is correct. The drivers mirror glass is not perfect - I haven't tried polishing it. If that looks like what you need, I may be parting with these in a few months.
Get me a couple more angled shots, and from the front. They look pretty similar.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 10:02 am
by nstevic01
All right, it has been a while since my last update. Things got a little challenging a few weeks ago when I started resealing the bottom end.
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The kit that I ordered was an Omix-Ada lower end seal kit that included the oil pan gasket, rear main seal, front main seal, oil pump seal, and a few others I wouldn’t be using yet. I get the rear main seal out, only to find that the Omix-Ada seal was too small when putting it in…
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Nobody local had another seal in stock, so I was SOL for that day. To boot, it started raining so I had to make room in the garage for her. I reached out to Advance Auto, and since I had installed the rear main from the kit, I was unable to return it… so $50 down the drain. At least I could use the oil pan gasket… or so I thought. Following the torque specs in the shop manual, it ended up squeezing the pan gasket so hard that it ripped in a couple of locations and squeezed out the side. I had to order a new pan gasket and rear main. About a week later, the new seals arrived. This time I went with Felpro. Perfect match.
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Another crappy thing that happened… I ordered a set of 4x6 Pro Comp 9200’s for the brush guard lights from 4WheelParts. The lights that came, not even close to what was pictured. Hell, the lights were not even close to being 4x6. They were more like 2.5x4.25
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The return process was less than desirable, I brought them back to a local store per corporate. They processed the return, but 5 days later, nothing. Called them up, they said they would resubmit it. 5 days later, nothing. Called them again, this time the person walks back to his admin and they processed it right there on the spot. The next day I had my money. I did manage to find the correct set of Pro Comp 9200’s on eBay. Same BEEPING box….but this time the lights were the right size.
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On the plus side, my vintage red letter KC covers came. 
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AND, I found some pictures of the old KC 69 Series HiLiTES. Aside from being the chrome version and spot instead of spread, the housing and mount is virtually identical to the Pro Comp 9002.
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Other than that, right now Im working on stripping the interior and exterior trim bits to prep her for paint.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 11:32 am
by Stuka
Love the attention to detail.

We actually have another Twister truck here, complete with Dorthy: http://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10630

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 8:11 am
by nstevic01
At this point, I am waiting on funding to arrive for paintwork. Therefore, I decided to tackle some smaller things while waiting.
Starting with the headlight buckets. The reason I wasn’t able to adjust them… The harness must have been the only thing holding them in.
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I looked around for replacements, but all I was able to find are cheap plastic universal ones. So I decided to spend a couple of hours welding up a set of my own. Chances are, they will outlast the truck. Got them mounted and installed the new headlights. The adjusters work beautifully.

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I also decided to find out why the A/C fan switch was twitchy. After opening, it became clear why it wasn’t working that great.
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After some cleanup. Im sure it will work fine now.
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Finding the grill has proven to be a pain, and in the end, I will have to buy a couple of grills just to get the pieces I need. I managed to pick up a final type grill in good shape for a great price. I will be selling or trading the insert for a chrome muscle one. So if any of you want to buy a final type insert, or want to trade for your chrome muscle, let me know.
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Im also on the hunt for black interior pieces.
- Arm rests
- Seat belts with the older Jeep logo
- Power window and door lock controls with harness
- Headliner (although I will probably just recover the one I have with black vinyl)
- Black Carpet
- Laredo seats and center section (I may recover the ones I have, but they are in fantastic shape and I would probably feel bad) Maybe a trade on these?
- Auto steering column, preferably with tilt.
- Hole plug for the old ignition opening

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 8:06 am
by nstevic01
Many updates, but sadly none of them are Twister related. I had stopped work for the last couple of months in order to remodel the garage to a proper workshop. I used Google Sketch Up to model the cabinets I liked and everything else that needed to go in the garage. After settling on a layout I liked, I placed the cabinet order and began to clear out the garage so I could work on the floors, walls, and ceiling. We rented a POD and had it placed in the driveway, our timeline was less than a month because I did not want to pay for more than that. They charge $100 to drop it off, $180 for the month, and then another $100 to pick the empty back up. We had to work quick.

Design:
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Current Garage:
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The ceilings needed the most work; the drywall was literally falling down. We tossed around the idea of just ripping everything down and replacing it, but that would have been too costly and take up more time. We ended up deciding on running .5”x2” wood across the seams to lift the drywall back up. I sealed all the edges with caulking, textured the whole thing, and then painted it. What started as a cheap way to fix it, turned in to something fancy. Took me the better part of 3 days to put up the wood, seal it, texture it, and paint it.

Before:
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After:
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This is the garage before we put everything back in. We re-epoxied the floors, and went with a lighter grey for the walls. The one “white” section on the right we left unpainted since there is tile directly on the other side. I need to put up a sheet of steel and a warning sticker so we never drill into it.

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Cabinets going in:
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However, before I could finish all of the details, “Jo” decides to misbehave one day on the way home from work. First, it started with some noise from the lifters, almost as if it was low on oil. Checked the dipstick, and it “looked” as if it was about a quart over. It was checked on level ground about 5 times. All came back with this level.

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I took it easy for the rest of the way home. I pulled in to the driveway and took a peak under the truck. Still nothing leaking from the engine, however….
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So maybe it was just the front differential making the noise since the axle was leaking from the passenger side of the tube. Diff oil was everywhere, all over the back of the tire, under the body, on the cross member, everywhere. At this point, I decided to just pull it in the garage and get a bunch of maintenance done.
I drained the oil, since it was due anyway. ONLY 2 QUARTS came out….so it was leaking oil. But from where??? I changed the filter and filled it back up. I started breaking down the front end for the seal change. This was straightforward and went really without issue. Next up, we did the engine mounts, again straightforward and really no issues there. Then we did the transmission mount… I wish I took a picture of it before I tossed it. The rubber was gone, completely gone. The transmission was not even connected to the cross member. I had to ratchet strap the transmission over to get the new mount to line up. Got it all bolted in and thought I was good. I fired it up and pushed the clutch pedal in and:

Ugghhhh. I am assuming since the transmission mount was non-existent that the pilot bearing wore unevenly and literally requires the transmission to be off center to remain quiet. That’s fine, I can live with the noise temporarily.

Come out the next morning and there is a small puddle of oil under the engine. Having degreased the hell out it during the maintenance, the back of the block was coated again. Figuring it was probably valve covers; I pulled it back into the garage for more maintenance. I began to remove the covers and notices the bolts were not even hand tight. They spun easily on removal. I guess that was the source of the leak. I figured I might as well replace the gaskets since I was in there. I had to order them in, but it was same day with the local parts store. I put the new ones in with some RTV and torqued it down to spec starting from the center and working my way out. While I was in there, I took these guys out. Since I could not find a bolt to put back in, I cut the spacer section out, welded up the hole, and bolted them back in.
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I fired it up, and checked for leaks. After running for 5 mins, I called it good and closed up for the night. The next morning I was excited to have it back on the road. I fired it up, checked for leaks again, and left for work. About 3 mins down the road at a stop, I noticed smoke from under the hood. I pull off to investigate and notice the heater hose line was leaking from where I removed it from the heater box. Then looking around, I noticed the headers were smoking pretty bad. I got back in and rushed it home. Got on my motorcycle and took off for work. After work, I fire up the bike to leave, the exhaust starts afterfiring, and the intake is backfiring. Something is wrong. I try riding down the road; it is loud, like gunshots. I limp it home and park it in the garage.

OK, I have to get one of the 2 methods of transportation working again. I pull the truck back into the garage and get some proper light on the engine. The valve covers are leaking again, this time, it is oozing out of the bottom half on to the headers. I pull the covers back off….found the issue:
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Both gaskets had squeezed in on tightening and allowed oil to pour out. I called up Auto Zone and they agreed to warranty the gaskets and ordered me up another set. They had them in that night by the time I got off work. This time, I used Indian Head gasket sealer and let it set up over night. No way they were moving now. I got them bolted back up and it appears I am leak free again. I then focused my attention on the bike, as I still needed transportation. Turns out cylinder 1 was not firing due to a clogged main jet. I cleaned it out and now it runs like a champ.

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At this point, I am waiting for the new clutch to come in. I figured if I have the transmission down, I might as well replace everything while Im in there. It will also give me a chance to see if the rear main seal is leaking again. So that is where Im at right now. Hopefully once all this madness is over, I can get back to the transformation.

Re: Twister Jeep Build

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:37 pm
by Beavis
Nice progress! That's some nice cabinets. I've got home made plywood and 2x4 shelving and workbench. I'm very due to change the valve cover gaskets on my J10, I wonder if the gaskets will look the same.

I like the Daryl Dixon bike! My first bike was a '96 Nighthawk 750. Now that I'm married I am glad to still have my '07 SV650.