75 Courier: Slow road to a fast "truck"

Well, New brake master cylinder is here, as are new rotors and hoses. Haven't gotten my caliper rebuild kits in the mail yet, but they were like $2 each. So, even if I can't get it done right, I won't lose too much if I have to just buy reman.

My new tires are mounted, but the extra balancer at work wasn't working. Will see If I can use one of the good ones tomorrow.. But, I still put the wheels on all around and went to tool around with some "fast", turn intensive driving. WOW. These tires have so much grip. I pushed pretty hard and the truck felt so in control. Plenty of body roll but that's really it. Super responsive, and I can't wait to daily them around. Steering was a little bit heavier but not terrible, and there was still quite a bit of clearance all around as far as I could tell. I had to take them back off until I can balance them though. On to the pics!

Much more tire looking at it from behind:

Definitely look beefier than before!

I've also begun putting sound deadening in the truck as well. It's really cut down on the sound of the bed clunking around, but until I finish sealing up the exhaust and patch the holes in the floor I don't think it will cut down on road noise/engine sound.

I will be getting a "new" wiper linkage in the mail from Oregon pretty soon hopefully, so lucky that the has all kinds of stuff in stock. Same dude who sold me the brake parts. I've been counting on rain x for a couple weeks now, and luckily it's only rained hard a few times.

On the 2.3T front, I've done a little bit more taking it apart, not much.

Is there supposed to be RTV holding this on? I'm like 98% sure the oil is bad, but I've never dug into one of these before. If anyone knows where to find a turbo rebuild kit, I think I'll need one.

Doug

Needs hit with the lowering stick.

But keep rocking on!

In reply to Dusterbd13:

It definitely needs to go an inch or two lower in front! I really like the way some rake looks, but I don't want to lower it until I can afford to do it right (custom springs). Back burner for now..

Started working some more with the new brakes/hubs and getting ready to go disc in the next ___ period of time. Started by unbolting the rotor from the hub from the 4 bolt holes here. This is a weird setup (to me) as the rotor actually bolts to the back of the hub. Ended up borrowing an electric impact wrench from work that made that possible, as they had been on there for at least 15-20 years without moving (in a field, says the guy I got it all from) and I had no way to secure the hub. Impact made quick work:

Then, Inner wheel bearings will be able to come out, after lightly prying off the wheel seal. I plan to use the wheel bearings again for the sake of cost savings, otherwise now would be the time to replace them.

Glad I got new rotors:

In between, you can do what I (tried) to do and get new wheel studs. Only thing is, the part number at O'Reilly's was wrong! They gave me 1/2"x20 wheel studs, which do NOT fit though the holes in the hubs. I haven't gone back yet so I don't know what the right size is, but that's not it..

Next, wire wheel and then prime and paint all the components you'll be using so they look pretty. If you're like me, you'll get a paint that dries in a much brighter color than expected. I was going for a Navy Blue but I'm okay with how they turned out anyway.

Next up is setting up the new Master cylinder (bonus points for getting one with the old box)

Here's everything broken apart as called for in a disc brake conversion thread on another forum; need to remove the residual pressure valve. I actually had to use my borrowed impact again to get the dang port off, and it took a few times of hitting it for a few seconds. Crazy...

Put it back together without that little rubber gremlin in there and call it good. It's pretty much all ready to go on as soon as I can get the dang calipers rebuilt. I've had some... Issues getting it taken all apart ahead of getting the new seals put in place.

Add to that, I got some really nice brake pads and they didn't come with mounting hardware at all! I was a little peeved by that, but it means that I'll be reusing/buying some new hardware I guess. How the calipers mount, pre-paint (again, weird setup IMO)

Caliper bracket bolts to the backing plate which sits behind the hub on the spindle..

As always, more to come soon. Hoping to get the wheels and tires balanced Monday, and If I can figure out wheel studs I'd love to go ahead and get the new dang wheels on..

I was bored and looked it up, seems a lot of places list 1/2-20 as the size but found something mention 12x1.50 which makes more sense. I dont know the knurl size though sorry, maybe you can knock a stock one out and take it up to the autoparts store. Keep up the good work man,

Oh and as far as turbo rebuild theres a billion options out there, easiest is to get a kit off ebay or whatever for your particular turbo, watch a YouTube video and take your time. It took me maybe an hour my first time. I also advise you seek out a local diesel turbo shop for them yo balance it when your done usually costs about $50 or less and is great insurance keep in mind that bugger spins over 150,000rpm and if it blows catastrophically it sends metal bits in the engine.

Chiodos, you were right on the money. Thank you! Studs are 12x1.50. The local O'Reilly's had 9 in stock, and so far I've got one front hub knocked out. Will pick up the other 3 I need before Friday.

Put my new wheels on yesterday, finally! Don't have extended studs, but got them balanced and was tired of waiting. Should be fine. They ride quite a bit better.. Can you guess why? lol

Stance from head on. I really need to put the oil pan guard thing back on.

Anyway... Is there any way to tell if an oil seal is bad with the turbo off the car? There's quite a bit of oil in the intake housing (like, everywhere) and that makes me nervous. The shaft has very little play.

Also, the fastener on the exhaust end of the shaft is really weird and I don't know how to tackle it if I tear it apart. I'm considering just trying to find a T3 on eBay/in a local junkyard and going for the upgrade, as all the water lines on this turbo are rusted and one is pretty well clogged up with rust.

As far as the truck goes, new calipers will be here tomorrow. I decided I might as well replace wheel bearings while I'm in there so they will be here Friday. I'm aiming to get everything knocked out this weekend for disc brakes, but we'll see.

Doug

My advice I learned the hard way, never ever put on a used turbo regardless what the po said its still "good" without a rebuild unless you want the james bond smoke screen. Also the turbo shaft nut is reverse thread (ask how I learned that one too). But ive got the ebay special t3 with wastegate for $150ish shipped. Hard to go wrong even if it blows, fyi its the .63 exh ar "57 trim" to4e compressor housing, good to a little north of 300hp thats going on pretty much the same motor as that just with volvo written on it.

That said id rebuild the genuine Garrett you got first.

If it was a Garrett/T3 thats what I would do, but it's an Ishi Warner IHI and rebuild kits that show up (non eBay) run close to/above $100. I want to rebuild for exactly the reason you mentioned. Might be worth it to just run an ebay special $wise, I guess!

Edit: Turbo pic:

This build makes me want a turbo mini truck so bad.

I know you just want to get the turbo on it for now but another option is a Holset HX35 and some CFI injectors from a throttle body injected Ford V8 from the 80s. They built engines with two huge injectors to run an entire V8. They will bolt right onto your fuel rail. With those injectors and that turbo and a halfway decent intercooler you'll be making close to 300 at the crank. You should be able to run 20 psi on the stock long block.

classicJackets wrote: Add to that, I got some really nice brake pads and they didn't come with mounting hardware at all! I was a little peeved by that, but it means that I'll be reusing/buying some new hardware I guess. How the calipers mount, pre-paint (again, weird setup IMO) Caliper bracket bolts to the backing plate which sits behind the hub on the spindle..

Pretty normal for calipers of that vintage. FIAT 124 calipers were similar with wedges and pins. Use a little disc brake grease on the caliper-to-wedge surface.

In reply to Fitzauto:

Carwhisperer, I would do that kind of thing if I knew the truck itself could handle that kind of power. I'm going to try to ease in between 200-250hp and see how it behaves, then I can absolutely consider upgrading to that size and being happy.

Jerry from LA, that's cool to know. Saw a VW van being parted on Craigslist with the same setup and thought it was pretty cool!

Go ginormeous turbo and fuel system now, turn up boost slowly. Grow into it.

Yes Yes Yes!!!! Love these old trucks! I had a little chevy luv that I did some work on but ended up trading it for my current project. I miss it a ton though! I plan on garbing another luv or courier and lowering/wheels/remote blow through turbo on the stock motor just for fun.

Mine had a lot of rust the floor pans were gone and the bed had some bad spots but it was an amazing little truck and I miss it like crazy!

classicJackets wrote: In reply to Fitzauto: Carwhisperer, I would do that kind of thing if I knew the truck itself could handle that kind of power. I'm going to try to ease in between 200-250hp and see how it behaves, then I can absolutely consider upgrading to that size and being happy. Jerry from LA, that's cool to know. Saw a VW van being parted on Craigslist with the same setup and thought it was pretty cool!

I put a Ford 302 in a Rotary pickup. I think it's the same frame. Less hp than I'm proposing but probably quite a bit more torque. Yes, that truck can handle 300hp. The frame is fully boxed, right? Japanese mini truck frames are pretty stout. I put an EFI 5.0 HO in a Mitsubishi mighty max. I loved that little truck. Drove it for 7 years.

It's the same frame. I guess I'm more worried about something in the suspension blowing up, honestly, but if you were able to run a 302 no issues I may be fine. I got some pictures from someone else who has done this swap that I'll post up tonight, it will be nice to have something to go on.

I'm just going to start by getting a front sump oil pan and pick up from the local junkyard. With any luck I'll be able to grab that in the next week or two, then I can really be on the hunt for a turbo. I think I'll have some time before any of this gets realized so I do have a little (lot) more time to plan. I don't see this going above 250hp for a while if ever, It's a DD and at best will see some autox.

Yeah the ebay special turbo would suit you very well, would spool way better than a holset but still able to make 300 if you wanted. Skip cfi injectors yeah they are big but they are OLD and likely to leak/ or just piss fuel.

The frame should be fine these trucks have good frames but cheap sheet metal which is why you don't see many left. Can't wait to see the turbo motor go in and see how the plumbing works out.

In reply to Skervey:

What wheels are those? That seems like a lot of dish for steelies.

In reply to chiodos: If you have any recommendations of stores on EBay to buy from, I'm listening. Probably won't buy for a while as I still need to get the truck watertight first. The injectors have already been upgraded to the brown tops so they should be good for a little while longer.

Skervey, I just bought the intercooler from the stock thundrebird so that hopefully I can avoid spending for a FMIC setup at first. It should keep the plumbing pretty clean if I can keep it low enough to avoid the hood, which may not end up happening.

Here are some pics of another guy I found who had done the 2.3t swap into his Courier. NOT MINE:

(Yes that's an intercooler facing down in front. I would be too nervous of stuff hitting it to do it that way)

Very cool and yes the intercooler that far off the ground is a bit of a worry but most intercoolers sit right behind a plastic bumper ready to be the first thing to get smashed. I guess a intercoolers life is a hard life.

ssswitch- those are stock chevy wheels from a 2008 truck or van. I scored them for $50 for a set with tire pressure sensors (still have the sensors if anyone needs one for there GM) They fit well and I had a shop fit the smallest tire I could onto it! 205/40r17 the tires did have some stretch to fir the 7.5" wheels witch looked funny but that was just so I could fit the smallest tire on there to keep the truck low.

If you ever see parts in the Charlotte area let me know I can help grab them for you.

The stock IHI doesnt become a bottleneck until around 16 psi but i would upgrade too a t3 even if its an older unit off the 84/85 non intercooled turbo coupes. I love these little motors.

Skervey wrote: Very cool and yes the intercooler that far off the ground is a bit of a worry but most intercoolers sit right behind a plastic bumper ready to be the first thing to get smashed. I guess a intercoolers life is a hard life. ssswitch- those are stock chevy wheels from a 2008 truck or van. I scored them for $50 for a set with tire pressure sensors (still have the sensors if anyone needs one for there GM) They fit well and I had a shop fit the smallest tire I could onto it! 205/40r17 the tires did have some stretch to fir the 7.5" wheels witch looked funny but that was just so I could fit the smallest tire on there to keep the truck low. If you ever see parts in the Charlotte area let me know I can help grab them for you.

Are these the wheels?

Skervey wrote: Very cool and yes the intercooler that far off the ground is a bit of a worry but most intercoolers sit right behind a plastic bumper ready to be the first thing to get smashed. I guess a intercoolers life is a hard life. If you ever see parts in the Charlotte area let me know I can help grab them for you.

Thank you, that's a really awesome offer! Likewise, I'll be back in Atlanta in under a month and can try to grab anything that comes up in the area.

Dropstep, didn't realize they were good to go that high. I do plan to grab a T3. Not urgent now, but I'll have to decide whether to do an eBay special or hold out and just get one rebuilt after getting a junkyard/CL "brand name" turbo.

I got a stock T-bird intercooler off another forum and it arrived today. I'm not sure how/if I'll utilize it yet, but I would love to be able to put it in the stock location if there's room under the hood. Here's how it would mount originally.

Wxdude10 wrote:

Are these the wheels?

Yep they are the ones. They are cheap and look good, they bolted right onto my luv but some trucks (I know that nissan hard body for one) you have to open up the center hole to clear the spindle on the front. A good bit of info on the wheels on the hard body web sites. Some people use a whole saw to do that but the best way is on a lath. Should be able to grab a cheap set at a junk yard and respray them and no one will know they are just stock wheels.

Ended up not doing the disc brake thing this past weekend cause my new wheel bearings didn't come in on Friday like they were supposed to. They came in yesterday finally, but I'll be moving the first batch of stuff back to Atlanta this weekend so I'm not sure when I'll have time to get everything on. I think it's definitely going to look good once it gets on there, though!

Also got these from the guy I got the engine from. The stock manifold is awful and was also known to crack from the unsupported turbo weight. These are pretty and should flow well too.

Got the fuel rail off the intake too so that I can get that cleaned up and painted. Will probably replace all the o-rings while I'm at it; one pulled out with an injector and it was pretty hardened.

That's all I got for now, have to start the process of packing everything up and moving it the 3-4 hours back to Atlanta safely.

Edited to add this picture I took, shows off the wheels and makes the truck look better than it is! [URL=http://s1025.photobucket.com/user/laxands13/media/20150718_125533_zpsdcdatqfe.jpg.html][/URL]