THE 50

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:42 pm

Well, i have been keeping this quiet. (Almost had to pay Lilpig to keep it quiet too :wink:

)

I have a strange and un-natural fasination with the little LJ50's. I think its the 33hp of two stroke goodness they were gifted with when they left the assembly line.

So anyway, they are pretty hard to get hold of in any sort of reasonable state, and if you were lucky enough to find one, then you sure as hell aren't going to want to take it off road to any great extent.

So i decided that as there are plenty around that are full of rust, running good know's what under the hood and sitting in hedges because you can't get parts for them, that i just had to have one. Well, three actually.

So i started with this a few weeks ago:

Pretty ain't she.

Next i grabbed this for the cage and some replacement panels and what ever else i could use:

And then i convinced Lilpig to go halves in this:

Turns out that it does not fit the application Lilpig wanted it for, so i get even more good bits

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:59 pm

A bit more hunting round and i had my self two engines and gearbox's.

This is the motor that came with the green one:

Was a runner, compression, bores, rings and bearings seem good. Was sitting outside for a while in the, si had a bit of water in it, but luckily bugger all, and it hadn't been in there long. Pulled the intake manifold off and gave the crank a good clean out and splashed some oil round.

Its missing a fair bit of ancillary stuff though.

Motor and box number two:

Not a runner, has a blown head gasket apparently. Thats ok, i'll pull the ancillary gear off, and throw it on the other one for the mean time.
Everythings there, alternator, carb, oil pump, cables, starter motor, clutch, just about everything.

mroffroader · Post by **mroffroader** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:04 pm

i like them they look pretty cool and there something different to the 413 that everyone has.........so what you making with all this

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:09 pm

So the other week i got slack and decided to take some annual leave.

Started with the wire brush on the angle grinder removing bog. Fark, there was over 15mm of the stuff in places. Bloody rust holes like you have never seen. At this stage i was wondering just what i was getting my self into

New floor pans required too :lol:

I gave up on that and pulled the cage out of the other wreck, and cut a few panels off

That was FUN

mudchuka · Post by **mudchuka** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:14 pm

that looks like a lot of work, have fun.

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:17 pm

Its starting to take shape.

Cut the back end off the body i am going to use, and cut off the rusty panels and welded on the ones from the doner body. I really need to get some helpwith my welding skills :lol:

Worst part so far is that the front body mounts are rotten beyond repair, so i need to get creative and replace them when i replace the floor pans. Thats next on the list :roll:

I hate fixing rust, thats why i'm doing it first. Then its on to the mechanical stuff. Sweeeeeeeeet.

mroffroader · Post by **mroffroader** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:24 pm

haha welcome to the world of owning old suzuki's :roll:

...so wat are you making out of all of it?

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:35 pm

Bit of performance design for the engine:

Yep, tuned expansion chamber, should start to stop the overlap from about 1500 to 2000 rpm making a good broad power band for off road use

mroffroader · Post by **mroffroader** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:37 pm

yes........yes.........yes...........very nice BUT WAT ARE YUR PLANS FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :evil:

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:40 pm

While the rest of all this is going on, i am keeping my eyes open for this:

Its the gear selector assembly that mounts to the transmission tunnel. So if anyone knows of one, lemme know

Also short of a radiator

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:50 pm

mroffroader wrote:yes........yes.........yes...........very nice BUT WAT ARE YUR PLANS FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Drive it???

Dunno, just another toy. Nothin to special. Just a trailer truck.

Trayback with cage, standard engine and running gear. Nuthin special. No lexus V8, no super charger, no 39" boggers.

Justa LJ50 running the standard 550cc two stroke engine, four speed box, SAT's, and a welded rear diff. Fun Fun Fun!!!

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 8:18 pm

nice db..

keep the pics coming..

startin to take shape.. with a 2 stroke aye?

crack up..

Shane · Post by **Shane** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:50 pm

DieselBoy wrote:Its starting to take shape.

Cut the back end off the body i am going to use, and cut off the rusty panels and welded on the ones from the doner body. I really need to get some helpwith my welding skills

Is that the starter motor under the front

tied to the red ribbon :shock:

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:51 pm

hell of a ground anchor.. :lol:

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:53 pm

DieselBoy wrote:While the rest of all this is going on, i am keeping my eyes open for this:

Its the gear selector assembly that mounts to the transmission tunnel. So if anyone knows of one, lemme know

Also short of a radiator

hmm that almost looks familiar looks kind of similar to the shifter in my other project

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:56 pm

actually now i think about it the shifter in my little suzuki attaches to the linkage underneath the ball

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:56 pm

Quite possibly could be the same Merc. You got time to confirm that??
Would widen my search for a match if it was

Otherwise i might try adapt one from a Charade or Suzuki Alto or something else that has a four speed remote shifter set up.

nzhunter · Post by **nzhunter** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:02 pm

Hey Pete,
Only just looked at this, looks awesome.
Yeh i managed to pick up an LJ50 a while ago off the neighbour with rollcage, disc brake conversion, back cut off and deck made, toyota 4k engine and 5spd box (power to weight ratio AWESOME!!). Just blew the clutch so need to do that. and needs alot of welding work. So watchin this carefully. If youve got a few spare parts hangin round. eg body parts (mines rusty as) I mite come get them off ya. Mines been sitting in the hay shed for quite a while now......

So when yours is ready a lj50 day play sound good?? :lol:

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 6:14 pm

Thought you had that green one from Tauranga??? :lol:

Yeah, i should have a few spare body bits floating round by the end of it

I would be keen to have a look at your one and get some more ideas.........

lilpigzuk · Post by **lilpigzuk** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:32 pm

Wicked Pete, very

Got to get a shot of it next to the pootrol for a size comparison :lol:

JTop · Post by **JTop** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:19 pm

My father trialed 1 of these when they were new. The trick then was to bore it out to take outboard pistons, this increased capacity to about 630cc
He also had an Escourt LSD adapted into the rear diff head, but whilst the big bore made quite a power increase I was never sure how much improvement he got from the LSD
J Top

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:25 pm

Interesing Jtop. Might have to get ya to have atlk to your old man and find out what pistons he used. Plan is too build up the other engine i have, and just make one go for the mean time

ToYoda · Post by **ToYoda** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:42 pm

Out board pistons... mean...why stop there...its probably light enough to float..

mroffroader · Post by **mroffroader** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 6:31 am

ToYoda wrote:Out board pistons... mean...why stop there...its probably light enough to float..

yea i agree....carry on the theme and put a propellor out the back :lol:

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:30 am

Naaah

Had read that a 750cc block from a suzuki outboard fitted :shock:

550cc is plenty to turn a set of Centipedes. Should go well with a different carb and the expansion chamber tuned to give it a good power band

Trouble is it will probably sound like an old trail bike :lol:

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 5:28 pm

Trouble is it will probably sound like an old trail bike

that just means it will have character

DieselBoy · Post by **DieselBoy** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:29 pm

I've had to postpone work on the body and chassis as i have to wait untill after christmas to pick up the blue LJ from Lilpigzuks place. I think i am going to use that chassis, and the rest of the panels i need for mine are hopefully on that body. I'm waiting untill i have them side by side at least, before i go cuttng and chopping and regret it when i get the other one :lol:

In the mean time, i decided to start building a motor.

I'm pretty happy with the condition of the one that came with the green rig, sure it was minus a few important bits, but that all came attached to this motor:

Thought i may as well have a look inside and see what sorta a state it was in. I knew it had a blown head gasket, so the risk was that worse case scenario (sp??) water would have been sitting in the crank all this time and it would be carnage, but most likely one or two of the bores could ba damaged. It did turn over ok though.

I pulled the head off for a look see:

I could see hone marks through the exhaust ports, and the rings looked in great shape, so i was hopefull. But alas:

No.3

No.1 (note the scoreing on the bore from carbon getting picked up by the rings as they pass the exhaust port)

Bit disapointing but hey, the pistons look ok for spares, and the bores will stand a rebore with out drama and were not rusty from the leaking head gasket, so a good spare block. Cyclinder head is in good shape, so more spares :cool:

Couldn't see where the head gasket was leaking though. Its a mystery

I turned the motor over a few times by hand, and it just so happened there was a gap between songs on the CD i was listening to and i noticed a growl as i was rotating the crank. I rushed over and turned the stereo off. Yepp, that was an ugly sounding noise coming from what could be the rear main bearing.

I was going to use the inlet manifold off this engine for the good one i am building so i wipped that off and had a look.

I was greeted by this:

Yuk. Definately been an internal water leak from some where :shock:

On closer inspection, i was correct, the rear main was shot. the water sitting in the crank of No. 3 had corroded the rear main bearing. Ah well. More spares i guess :lol:

The rest are fine though:

At least i now know i can build a runing motor to start with out of the two of them.

An aside to all of this, i had to go meet a forest warden today at work out on the West Coast. I got talking to him and he was telling me all about is project Chev. I mentioned the LJ to him and how i was looking for a complete vehicle with the orginal engine still in it as i was in need of quite a few small mecanical parts, the body condition wasn't an issue. He cracked a huge smile and said he new of three in various states of decay, and was sure one of them was still standard. The guy that had it offered it to him to take of his hands a couple of months ago and as far as he knew it was still sitting there.

Whats the chances of that?? :cool:

So maybe, just maybe, i might have hit the jackpot

(excuse the pic quality, its a temporary replacement camera for the one that got stolen)

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:40 pm

its almost like they are an unwanted item db...? :wink:

kiddin fella..

uncanny what pops up when ya get chattin.. must have been a few of them around originally then...?

so ya gonna get her back to a stock original condition or add a few 'mods' on?

MATT4U · Post by **MATT4U** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:13 pm

whats up with this, looks like its floating

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:14 pm

thats how light the zuk's are! :lol:

pssst.. (the chain) :wink: