Restoration of BMW R69s engine

[C-Bag]

These interruptions are the reality.

No truer words were ever spoken. I‘ve tried to explain it to my best half that I never can go from step A to step B directly. It feels like I go from A, back around to Z then work my way backwards to B. If it’s not repairing or modifying a machine or tool, it’s something else. In the shops I worked in most times you didn’t repair something you tossed it and hoped it got replaced. It is nice to have the time and wherewithal to fix something instead.

My dad had a ‘74 Landcruiser. It was 4 wheel drum, no disc. It was a tough and rugged beast and was basically like brand new with only 40kmi on it. But it always felt like a collection of parts moving in the same direction I guess because it had no sound proofing and the top and doors rattled like natives beating on a drum when going down the road. The thing used to scare the old man because every time you jammed on the breaks you never knew which way it was going to pull before it settled down. This was particularly scary because they used to pull a 16’ RV trailer all over with it. I thought it was because it was so short wheel base. Even meticulously adjusting the brakes didn’t help.

I was in the final year of my auto degree at college and could do special jobs so I brought it in to see if I could find out the problem. At first my teacher was mad at me because when I pulled of the drums everything looked new with little wear on the massive brake shoes and drums. But on closer inspection I noticed everything looked like it had been dipped in cosmolene. Except for shoe surfaces, but the backing plates, the hardware, even the back of the shoes had that thick grease. So I pulled everything off and cleaned it and found pretty deep grooves in the backing plates where the shoes had rubbed and ground them flat. Put everything back together and for the first time ever you could hit the brakes and it would stop straight without any pulls. Everybody, even my shop teacher was happy.

 

[malmac]

No truer words were ever spoken. I‘ve tried to explain it to my best half that I never can go from step A to step B directly. It feels like I go from A, back around to Z then work my way backwards to B. If it’s not repairing or modifying a machine or tool, it’s something else. In the shops I worked in most times you didn’t repair something you tossed it and hoped it got replaced. It is nice to have the time and wherewithal to fix something instead.

My dad had a ‘74 Landcruiser. It was 4 wheel drum, no disc. It was a tough and rugged beast and was basically like brand new with only 40kmi on it. But it always felt like a collection of parts moving in the same direction I guess because it had no sound proofing and the top and doors rattled like natives beating on a drum when going down the road. The thing used to scare the old man because every time you jammed on the breaks you never knew which way it was going to pull before it settled down. This was particularly scary because they used to pull a 16’ RV trailer all over with it. I thought it was because it was so short wheel base. Even meticulously adjusting the brakes didn’t help.

I was in the final year of my auto degree at college and could do special jobs so I brought it in to see if I could find out the problem. At first my teacher was mad at me because when I pulled of the drums everything looked new with little wear on the massive brake shoes and drums. But on closer inspection I noticed everything looked like it had been dipped in cosmolene. Except for shoe surfaces, but the backing plates, the hardware, even the back of the shoes had that thick grease. So I pulled everything off and cleaned it and found pretty deep grooves in the backing plates where the shoes had rubbed and ground them flat. Put everything back together and for the first time ever you could hit the brakes and it would stop straight without any pulls. Everybody, even my shop teacher was happy.

I didnt know you got to enjoy Landcruisers in the US.
Admittedly ours is rather new in an old fashioned way.
But it does the job real nice.
Here we are on our most recent trip out Western Queensland.
Great to hear your experience with those Landcruiser brakes.

Mal

 

[C-Bag]

Oh yeah. Until it came along the standard was the old Willey’s Jeep. If you could hang on and were careful about it’s high center of gravity, it would go anywhere. The originals like dad‘s have gotten kinda rare because like the old VW’s the hot rodders got hold of them and chopped them up. My brother had such with a V8 in it and loaned to a dummy and he rolled it down a hill. To its credit he drove it out of the gulley and home, but there was not a straight piece on it after that. Many of the old ones suffered that fate. The old stock straight 6 while not a power house had tons of low end torque which was quite useful for rock crawling. Dad’s looked exactly like this.

 

[malmac]

Oh yeah. Until it came along the standard was the old Willey’s Jeep. If you could hang on and were careful about it’s high center of gravity, it would go anywhere. The originals like dad‘s have gotten kinda rare because like the old VW’s the hot rodders got hold of them and chopped them up. My brother had such with a V8 in it and loaned to a dummy and he rolled it down a hill. To its credit he drove it out of the gulley and home, but there was not a straight piece on it after that. Many of the old ones suffered that fate. The old stock straight 6 while not a power house had tons of low end torque which was quite useful for rock crawling. Dad’s looked exactly like this.
View attachment 344583

What a great looking unit.
My wife grew up on a property where they had landcruiser utes and has some interesting stories to tell, like when he mum rolled the Toyota two miles from home and she freaked out and ran the two miles home in panic.
Sort of made it hard for me to convince her we needed a Cruiser.

Cheers


mal

 

[DavidR8]

My dad had a ‘74 Landcruiser. It was 4 wheel drum, no disc. It was a tough and rugged beast and was basically like brand new with only 40kmi on it. But it always felt like a collection of parts moving in the same direction I guess because it had no sound proofing and the top and doors rattled like natives beating on a drum when going down the road. The thing used to scare the old man because every time you jammed on the breaks you never knew which way it was going to pull before it settled down. This was particularly scary because they used to pull a 16’ RV trailer all over with it. I thought it was because it was so short wheel base. Even meticulously adjusting the brakes didn’t help.

This struck a chord with me. I had a colleague who commuted in a vintage Land Rover. Occasionally we'd grab lunch or go to a meeting in it. Reminded me of riding in the box of a dump truck. (don't ask...)... zero suspension compliance, zero upholstery, felt like it had about a 1:2 steering box ratio. Merely thinking about direction change and bang, you've changed lanes. And received a concussion from whacking your head on the door pillar. But it was a gas

 

[Nogoingback]

I didnt know you got to enjoy Landcruisers in the US.

While we used to have the "classic" Landcruiser for many years what passes
for a Landcruiser here is an overstuffed SUV that's supposed to be a luxury car with all wheel drive.
They aren't the same vehicle that's sold in Australia. We visited relatives in Victoria last year and I saw what
you're able to buy: you get the real deal.

I had one of the wagons similar to this.

 

[C-Bag]

Never been in a Land Rover but obviously the Landcruiser was a tip of the hat to that esthetic. All biz, amenities like sound proofing and padding anyplace is for sissy’s. It was a truck. And steered like one. It had no power steering and loose. I felt like a little kid because it had a huge steering wheel. No synchro in 1st gear and stiff shifter. I’m not sure but I think it was 3sp w/transfer case.

It was the biggest tow vehicle we had in the family and I used it to move the 23’ trailer I lived in when I went to aircraft school. Talk about the tail waggin’ the dog! I moved it after school was over from Dinuba to Merced. 4hrs of terror on 99 with the anti sway bar cranked down as hard as I could.

 

[malmac]

This struck a chord with me. I had a colleague who commuted in a vintage Land Rover. Occasionally we'd grab lunch or go to a meeting in it. Reminded me of riding in the box of a dump truck. (don't ask...)... zero suspension compliance, zero upholstery, felt like it had about a 1:2 steering box ratio. Merely thinking about direction change and bang, you've changed lanes. And received a concussion from whacking your head on the door pillar. But it was a gas

Its funny how sleeping in a ditch on a wet night after our vehicle broke down seems to bring more fond memories that many a picnic on a sunny day.
And when one was 20 everything was just more intense than at 60.
Oh well, don't want to get bogged in memory lane without a winch.

Cheers

Mal

 

[Janderso]

Is it something like this one?

View attachment 341474

My god, you have done it sir. You have produced the focus of my childish dreams.
Well done

 

[malmac]

While we used to have the "classic" Landcruiser for many years what passes
for a Landcruiser here is an overstuffed SUV that's supposed to be a luxury car with all wheel drive.
They aren't the same vehicle that's sold in Australia. We visited relatives in Victoria last year and I saw what
you're able to buy: you get the real deal.

I had one of the wagons similar to this.

View attachment 344609

Well I think we are all going a bit soft. A friend who's wife just bought a Suburu has all sorts of beeps going off when driving on the gravel road to their property, because it cant find the white lines or imagines the wheel tracks are white lines, or some such thing. I guess most people who can afford a new 4x4 live on a bitumen road and probably don't really need one that often.


Mal