40's only run 2010

[AFA FJ40]

man...that canon works well, eh? NICE PICS!!!!!

Canon?!?! I think the pic of Martin and his Dad is from his camera. Most of the rest are mine I believe....

Actually it was a Nikon D700 with mostly a 70-200mm 2.8f VR lens, the other lens was a 28-200 3.5f for the wide angles.

Color and sharpness were set on the camera, what Martin got from me was right out of the camera...don't know if he processed them or not.
Rui

 

[Hulk]

Actually it was a Nikon D700 with mostly a 70-200mm 2.8f VR lens, the other lens was a 28-200 3.5f for the wide angles.

Color and sharpness were set on the camera, what Martin got from me was right out of the camera...don't know if he processed them or not.
Rui

I was pretty sure that you were shooting a Nikon D700, same as you were last year.

Have you adjusted the Color Mode in the camera? I don't have my D200 in front of me, but I seem to recall there were 3 Color Modes, labeled I, II, and III. On the D200, there is also Color Saturation and Tone Compensation settings. I'm betting the D700 has similar settings. What are yours set at? I'd love to try to reproduce some of your images.

The 70-200mm 2.8f VR lens is a super sweet lens (wish I had one!), but I bet I still wouldn't get those rich images without some color setting adjustments.

 

[MDH33]

I should have stated that more clearly I guess. Pics are not mine, I just posted them. (and no post processing). Thanks again Rui!

I didn't even get a chance to use my new camera on the run, but I sure was glad others got such good pics.

Regarding the vapor lock issue; I'm not sure. I ran those hills no problem two weeks ago (and last year), but this time I vapor locked. I usually run high octane, but that day I ran 85... Only difference I can think of. I feel like my carb and 2F are running great and haven't had any issues lately.

 

[Rzeppa]

Could be. On the other hand it was a relatively cool day, especially on top of the passes it was down right cold. We were all pretty much using the same type of fuel, why then did many of the mechnically pumped, carbbed vehicles never skip a beat?

Several of the "vapor lock" issues I saw appeared to actually be engines loading up from being too rich. That could be due to a carb needing rebuilt, floats too high, sea level jets at high elevation, ignition timing not set for high elevation, etc. All of those things are amplified at elevation and we were running between 11,000 and 12,600 most of the day.

There was no question that Bob (blue topless rig with repeated idling problems) had fuel starvation. He had an odd, but effective way of fixing it. He would put his glove over the air horn as if it were a choke while his buddy cranked the engine over. When it would catch, he would take it off, it would start to stall, he'd put it back on, repeat until it would run without the glove. He claimed the vacuum of choking the air horn would "pull" the fuel into the carb. I would speculate that he used that method instead of the regular choke because with the regular choke, the vacuum breaker opens the butterfly as soon as the engine catches, which in his case would have made it stall.

I think he had some kind of carb issue. The carb looked like it had been recently rebuilt, and the pump was nearly-new kyosan-denki from a parts store. It is unknown whether the pump may have been faulty, or the fellow had some kind of other fault (filter?). Except the thing ran fine when he didn't have to idle on an incline for very long. I kind of kept him close to me in case I needed to strap him up the hill. In fact I offered a strap several times but he didn't want it.

I thought it was interesting that the guy with Multi-port injection on his V8 was also having fuel delivery issues, but that may have been a faulty pump. My understanding is that multi-port requires higher pressure than TBI.

In any case, the items Randy mentions at the end of his post are frequently contributors to problems, and are certainly exacerbated at high elevations. Again, the definition of boiling is the temperature at which the liquid's vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure. Thus, as you gain elevation, the temperature at which the liquid boils becomes lower and lower. And to make it worse, on an incline you lower the ambient pressure in the plumbing between the tank and the pump because it has to "suck uphill", so the boiling point of the fuel is lower on an incline than on the level.

 

[84cruzer]

Good stuff everyone! .................. Really jealous.

 

[AFA FJ40]

I was pretty sure that you were shooting a Nikon D700, same as you were last year.

Have you adjusted the Color Mode in the camera? I don't have my D200 in front of me, but I seem to recall there were 3 Color Modes, labeled I, II, and III. On the D200, there is also Color Saturation and Tone Compensation settings. I'm betting the D700 has similar settings. What are yours set at? I'd love to try to reproduce some of your images.

The 70-200mm 2.8f VR lens is a super sweet lens (wish I had one!), but I bet I still wouldn't get those rich images without some color setting adjustments.

I will post my settings for the D700, I did tweak it a little bit, the new firmware for the camera made it better for tweaking...might wana check if you have the latest firmware on yours. The 70-200mm VR lens is tack sharp, you can tell on that mountain goat...

I also took a pic that Martin did not post (don't know if he is gona use it) of two marmots on the rocks and in the far background you can see the FJ40's on the trail...it's kinda neat...if Martin is not going to use it I can post it here....

 

[Hulk]

...new firmware for the camera made it better for tweaking...might wana check if you have the latest firmware on yours.

Awesome. Thanks for the tip. I will check it out.

 

[MDH33]

I also took a pic that Martin did not post (don't know if he is gona use it) of two marmots on the rocks and in the far background you can see the FJ40's on the trail...it's kinda neat...if Martin is not going to use it I can post it here....

That IS a great pic. I was hoping to use it in the TT article.

 

[RedCreeper]

I was pretty sure that you were shooting a Nikon D700, same as you were last year.

Have you adjusted the Color Mode in the camera? I don't have my D200 in front of me, but I seem to recall there were 3 Color Modes, labeled I, II, and III. On the D200, there is also Color Saturation and Tone Compensation settings. I'm betting the D700 has similar settings. What are yours set at? I'd love to try to reproduce some of your images.

The 70-200mm 2.8f VR lens is a super sweet lens (wish I had one!), but I bet I still wouldn't get those rich images without some color setting adjustments.

Lenses make a world of difference. You may not think so but they do. Some can be had in the camera or on the puter but you cant make up for sharpness and contrast from the start with the lens. When people ask me what to buy i tell them to get the lower cost body and save for the lenses. the glass is what makes the images not the body or the computer. sure you can play later but better to have an image the is good to start with. When i started shooting weddings and such i had the generic canon usm lenses and they worked great. But later when i got a few L lenses i compared and you can see the difference in the prints. my ¢ .02

nice shots guys.

 

[AFA FJ40]

That IS a great pic. I was hoping to use it in the TT article.

No worries...use it!!! The folks here will just have to wait to see it

 

[TonkaToy]

On the vapor lock thing, I was wondering about the quality and octane of the fuel myself. I only run the higher octane fuels in mine and that's what I was on Saturday too, with no problems at all. What octane were the vapor lock 'victims' using? Would be nice if the fix was as simple as using higher octanes! Is there an additive we could/should use to prevent 'the vapors'?

 

[AFA FJ40]

I use the lowest octane I can find, I ran fine saturday and have been running fine since I have had 40.

 

[Rzeppa]

Regarding the vapor lock issue; I'm not sure. I ran those hills no problem two weeks ago (and last year), but this time I vapor locked. I usually run high octane, but that day I ran 85... Only difference I can think of. I feel like my carb and 2F are running great and haven't had any issues lately.

The higher the octane, the lower the vapor pressure and less likelihood of pre-ignition or vapor lock. I didn't want to hurt people's brains with the long explanation, but I already did. Suffice to say that gasoline formulation is a mixture of different hydrocarbons, generally C4 through C12. The fewer carbons atoms, the lighter and more volatile it is, and more susceptible to vapor lock.

This might be a teaching opportunity: If you are planning a run to high elevations in the summer, it might help to fill up with "premium" to avoid vapor lock.

Obviously the sample size is very small (4 rigs out of 20 had issues, including one with FI), but it might be an interesting experiment if we had all carb'd rigs fill up with premium next year, or our next high elevation run, and see if we have as many vapor lock issues or not.

 

[subzali]

Or all fill up with low grade and see if the problem repeats itself

 

[FJ40zen]

I dug out my carb fan from my toy box and I may also get the intake back on up front to find out if cooler air intake works better. Maybe a combination of these two and higher octane might help.

 

[AFA FJ40]

I dug out my carb fan from my toy box and I may also get the intake back on up front to find out if cooler air intake works better. Maybe a combination of these two and higher octane might help.

I desmoged my 40 and made sure I kept the sensor for the carb fan. I failed to mention that I still have my carb fan and run low octane fuel...it has been solid for me...maybe if I did not have the fan I might have been in the same boat as the other 4 40's.

 

[066wally]

In the early hours of the trip I too thought I was having vapor lock issues. As the day went on I realized that I was actually having problems with flooding rather than starving. My carb kept "loading up" as Randy called it and I couldn't figure out why, others commented on how it seemed to be running too rich. Whenever I had to stop my engine would stall and I'd crank and crank until it would fire and I could get moving again. As long as I was moving it would run OK.
When I got so frustrated and decided to head for home (the first time) before climbing up to Wise Mountain I decided to fool with the carb a bit. I lowered the float after noticing fuel pouring out of the carb. I hoped that the float was set to high and causing the flooding. I was able to get up to the cabin in one try without stalling out. Once on top and sitting back in line the flooding still happened and I didn't want to try the steep climb to the ridge. I decided I was done and heading back down. Well a little more tweaking and I got it running again. I inadvertently stayed way behind the group and was able to keep moving without problems until I had to stop again.
I ultimately made it back fairly easily to Jefferson since we moved so quickly back. After airing up I tried to get on to 285 and stalled again in front of Martin. Got it started and drove without issue to Conifer for dinner. After dinner, more tweaking, got it running smoth and drove on into Denver. It stalled at every stop I made back to the house once I got into town.
I tore off the float bowl when I got home and checked the needle and seat to see if it was stuck, that was my last hope of trying to figure out what was happening. No luck, the needle moved freely. I replaced it anyway with a new one I had on hand.
After doing some searching of the world wide web I now think that the O-ring around the needle valve wasn't fitting well enough to seal. What I found said that it is a common occurence on vehicles that sit for long periods of time.

I'll run it a little bit this week and see if that solves my problems. Thanks for listening and being patient with me on the trail.

Oh yeah, I'm running a 350 CFM Holley 2300 carb on a 2F. I've got all of the goodies installed in the carb that Downey says will help off road, and I think they do.

Thanks again Martin for planning and pre-runnning the trail. I think we all enjoyed it.

 

[nakman]

Does the carb fan really do that much for you while driving? I had always thought it was more for cooling the carb down after you shut the engine off, that's why it's supposed to run for another minute or so.

And fun video AFA, had to wait until last night at home to watch it, but that camera's pretty impressive.

 

[AFA FJ40]

Does the carb fan really do that much for you while driving? I had always thought it was more for cooling the carb down after you shut the engine off, that's why it's supposed to run for another minute or so.

And fun video AFA, had to wait until last night at home to watch it, but that camera's pretty impressive.

Thanks for kudos on the Vid, it was my first with that cam.

I have an 1982 FJ40, my carb fan runs while I am driving, I can hear it while I'm idling sometimes. When I desmoged the rig, I made sure to keep the sensor that was attached to another piece of desmog equipment, I placed it relatively close to its original location (facing the exhaust manifold). All I can say is that I did not vapor lock on the trail and have never vapor locked, I have used low octane gas since I got the rig in mid 2009, the fan puts out plenty of air directly on the carb...don't know how well it works, but I doubt the Toyota engineers put a fan there just for visual aesthetics, they must have had some data feedback to come up with an idea of putting a carb fan. My 2 cents...

 

[kfuss]

Obviously the sample size is very small (4 rigs out of 20 had issues, including one with FI), but it might be an interesting experiment if we had all carb'd rigs fill up with premium next year, or our next high elevation run, and see if we have as many vapor lock issues or not.

I had a great run.

Thanks Martin, for putting it together. Thanks Randy and Steve for your help on the trail and thanks for all the rigs behind me for your patience.

I know what my vapor lock issues are with the FI, too much heat. I need to reroute my fuel lines to the back of the intake but that costs $$$'s.

Thanks again!!