BigMike's Big Project

[FATB0Y]

School IS more important 

[FATB0Y]

Mike D who's car in your avatar

[Mike D]

A car off auto trader that i was dreamin about bet ya don't know what it is 

[kneedownnate]

Kinda looks like an old Lotus maybe???      Nate

[79coyotefrg]

a lotus or really old lamborghini

[FATB0Y]

Is it a Pantera?

[TrackVino]

So this is what you guys do to stir Big Mikes studying?

Actually, I use to be a mechanic at a packing company. One of the sons of one of the owners had a black Pantera he use to drive to High School. I use to service it for him. Its kind of cool, with the engine in back, you just have to be careful when filling the fluids, especially when adding coolant, the radiator is right behind the rear window, so if you spill some, it falls all over the exhaust.

[Mike D]

yeah its a 72 De Tomaso Pantera 

[FATB0Y]

yeah its a 72 De Tomaso Pantera

Dam I'm good. I new that B-cuz it's one of my favorite carz

[ksto]

sweet wish it was mine

[GrimReaper]

yeah its a 72 De Tomaso Pantera 

Guy named "Guy" lived in Marietta GA where I am at. He was a De Tomaso importer for the eastern US for a long while in the 80's. He managed to get some Long Champs into the US and I managed to get a ride in one. http://www.panteraclub.com/longcham.htm Might be a dozen in the US.

While looking for those pictures I found reference to about 4 of them in the US. One is in TX and was converted into a convertible. It was Mr's De Tomaso's personal car at one time.  As odd as this is The guy who owned it worked for Schlumberger who is a company that makes high end Electronic testing Equipment and their German offices were heavily involed with the development of GSM, TDMA and CDMA wireless technologies (cell phones). I had a class with a Malcolm Oliphant just before the Olympics came to Atlanta that guy would have had to worked with the Malcolm.

Anyway the one I rode in was Black. Also had a couple rides in some Pantera's he had as well. Pretty entertaining cars.

[BigMike]

Hey guys,

Just as a heads up for now, I have no plans on working on my truck until this semester finishes in late May. But, once I go back to full time work in the summer, I plan on spending the month of June working on a 3RZ conversion into Marlin's 1980 Crawler truck. I want to get his truck ready for Rubithon, the last weekend of June. So I'm not sure if I will have any time to work on my suspension before Rubithon, so I may just go to the con with my truck the same way as it is right now, except I'll try to get some bumpers and nerfbars on first..

So I most likely won't have any real updates here until July or so... and just to let you know, I plan on building a low pressure Supercharge system for my engine. I'm thinking either a Toyota SC14 unit or an eaton blower, and I'll just run a pulley ratio to achieve about 5 psi max with a water/alchol injection system. That's gonna be fun   

The truck is running really good. I still have some leak from the rear of the engine and I know its not the pan (as I've resealed it) so I'm sure the rear main seal is leaking. One of these days I'll need to pull the drivetrain out and replace that little bugger.

Hey, has anyone had any problems when switching to a full synthetic engine oil in terms of leaks just "occuring" ? I want to run some Schaeffer's syn oil, but I'm worried that the extra cleaning power will turn my slow oil leak into a niagara falls..

Cya
BigMike

[reklund5]

Mike-

If you already have some "seepage" from the rear main area, I'd suggest not switching to synthetic oil until you get it fixed.  In MY experiences, yes, you will have the niagra falls of oil leaks.



Ryan

Study hard and get thru the semester!  Only a little longer!

[donkeykong]

May is just around the corner buckle down and get thru...Look forward to seeing you at the con....I know I didnt build mine like we talked about, but it will still be nice driving our own trucks not passenger in our dads. Besides you dont thik I am just going to leave it the way I got it...I got to add my own style  

[freds40]

yeah the synthetic will loosen things up more than they already are. Also, given the cost of synthetic, if you're loosing as much as a quart between oil changes, I'd rather pay $1 rather than $5 to replace it.

[BigMike]

The cost issue is a good point, but I was thinking I would go like 7k or 10k miles on the same oil while changing my filter 2 or 3 times, maybe 3k and 6k respectively.

[79coyotefrg]

wish we could get a drag race befor you go BLOWER

[TacoRunner]

I've been running syn for a year with no problemo.  Then again my main seals aren't leaking.

[toyhatsu]

BigMike,

I hope to be done by the end of the month or the first part of April.  You asked about it in another thread and I didn't want to hijack that one like I got accused of hijacking this one.  I deleted all of my BS posts on this one and just kept those relating to the 3RZ.  I will post in the Reader's Rides forum when I am done.

After months of looking (not very hard) I found the aluminum plug for the new dipstick.  The plug was under oil and dirt next to the drivers side engine mount.  This is for the conversion from the taco to the T100 oil pan.  I didn't get the union driven all the way in yet in the pic.  I have no idea what the bracket on the dipstick tube bolts to but will probably just make a bracket and bolt it to the intake manifold.

Now I have to get that plug out of the oil pan and plug the hole in the front.

[BigMike]

Nice work. I forgot that you were looking for that, I really should have just taken a picture of it or something.. 

Hey, I dont mind at all if you post updates in this thread, its all related to the 3RZ so don't worry about it!

BigMike

[ifssucks]

when i bought my new oip pan they gave me a flat square plug and some screws to plug a hole in the driver side upper middle part of the pan. i was under the impression that that was for the dipstick but looking at this  pic is goes in the block.im confused.

[reklund5]

Mike-

Concerning your thoughts about oil change intervals-  I just got done pulling the heads off a 30,000 mile 2003 Avalon at work today because they were full of sludge.  The owner only changed the oil 4x in 30K miles.  (Thats 7500 mile oil changes!) Now granted they were probably using crappy pennzoil and all, but modern engines (even the 3RZ) are suceptible to oil sludge issues due to tight tolerances and increased operating temperatures.  For what its worth, it's MY OPINION (and that of other Tech's at the dealership) that you can't go wrong with the old 3 month/3000 mile oil change interval, regardless of what oil you use.  Simply changing the filter will NOT stop the sludge from developing.  I know that high-quality synthetic oils don't break down as fast as conventional oil and all, but its so cheap to use a good oil ( I like Valvoline plain-old conventional 10/30, cause it comes outta the pump at work for free...) and a good Toyota filter ( NO FRAM CRAP!) and just change it a little more often. 

I've worked on engines belonging to people who use Amsoil/Shaffers/Mobil1/whatever and go for the extended change interval, and they're definitely not as clean inside as those who change it more often. 

Just my 

Ryan

[toyhatsu]

when i bought my new oip pan they gave me a flat square plug and some screws to plug a hole in the driver side upper middle part of the pan. i was under the impression that that was for the dipstick but looking at this pic is goes in the block.im confused.

I don't know what the hole in the side of the T100 oil is for...an oil heater?  Mine didn't come with the cover and gasket so I made one.  I butchered the mount on the dipstick tube and mounted it to a threaded hole under the intake manifold.

[toyhatsu]

BM,

I did drive it on Friday around the building.  Still don't have a functioning clutch so I started it in Low Low 2WD and 3rd.  I should have a functioning clutch this week and by next I hope to take it in for an emissions test.  A lot of little stuff to do still.

[scheid6996]

thats sick!!

[toyhatsu]

Electrical and plumbing are pretty much done

[86 4runner]

looks awesome

[scheid6996]

SHWING

[Hyena]

Thats a crap load of levers and shifters.  Sick!

[ifssucks]

toyhatsu, looking good man. is that a cool guy tacoma steering column i see?  i just picked up a badass 83 camaro with a bulit 350 so ive been rocking that the last few days. its got a cam, headers, flowmaster exhaust,5 speed ,quadrajet carb. bunch of stuff.  its a good runner. its a t-top z28 with power everything, even seats! good sterio. the only problem is its got some paint flaking. interiors awesome except for the typical cracked dash and 1 rip in the vinal drivers seat.  soon as my mullet is up to shape    ill send a pic through.