I was pretty tired on Saturday, so I didn’t get started on replacing the broken window on the FJ80 until after lunch. Following the instructions in the FSM, I removed the carpet support, the inner trim panel, the D-pillar garnish, and the vent trim. The vent trim was affixed with a 5mm threaded stud and a nut, and 2 plastic inserts. The inserts were pretty much stuck fast, and there is no access to their backsides, so prying from the outside was the only option. Needless to say, the plastic ears that hold the insert chips to the back of the trim snapped off. A combination of 17-year-old brittle plastic and barely-adequate structure of the ears conspired to make this trim piece a one-time-use part. Continue reading ‘Revenge of the Glass’
Toyota went and screwed me! Since the time of the first F-series engine, the Land Cruiser oil filter has always been the gigantic Foster’s Lager can-sized 15600-41010, but this year, they discontinued that filter and introduced a new smaller 90915-YZZD3 filter that fits the same threaded spud. The original filter extended in diameter at least a centimeter past the seating o-ring, but the new one ends at the o-ring, so it is significantly smaller. The new filter has all the same quality touches, like the anti-backflow flapper that keeps oil primed in the upper system and super-fine filtering material, but it requires a new SST. I asked Clyde at Toyota Parts, and he said there was no new official Toyota SST. My old filter wrench was an official Toyota part, 09228-44011. I figured that since the new filter was common to all gasoline Land Cruisers and a bunch of larger Toyotas including the V8 models, finding a third-party cap-style wrench would be no problem. Continue reading ‘SK Tools 90216 3-Prong Adjustable Oil Filter Wrench’
I’ve been getting some decent distance on my training rides, but I haven’t really been working on intensity recently. I did a lot of power training and cardiac/pulmonary training before the Whistler MTB trip, and I also ramp up the training before every snowboard season. The climbs on the past few Ditch rides have been kicking my ass, so I decided to throw in some sprints yesterday. I sprinted from one end of WCC to the other, then recovered on the way back. Lather, rinse, repeat. Pain. Pegged heartrate. Woo-hoo! I did that until failure then cruised home to change my oil.
D = 16.51 km (10.26-miles), Vavr = 20.0 km/h (12.4 mph), Vmax = 41.8 km/h (26.0 mph), T = 49-minutes
So this monday everyone pulls out crotchety old man excuses to not do a St. Louis freeride downhill, even though the weather is great. So what do we do instead, we go eat! In fact when the event’s eating, the group becomes even bigger, with six of us converging on McCully Bicycle. The plan is to head to Hide-chan down the street for dinner. CKucky and myself have been there a few times already, and Scat is a well known regular. So much so that he gets showered with bonus freebies from Hide himself. We decide to walk, which is just as well since it’s ridiculously close by, and parking is small.
Hide-chan is located on the corner of S. King and Isenberg, right across from the Moilili Star market, with an unassuming appearance. Tug hard on the door, the spring is strong. Inside is small and bright, seating for around 30 people. A genuine familly run shop, Hide cooks, wife works the front, along with one other guy and occasionally the daughter. 
They’re from Okinawa so the menu is Japanese with a number of Okinawa dishes, most obviously the goya (bittermelon). You’re started with a simple salad of iceberg and some carrot slivers with a shoyu dressing that I find quite yummy. Then you can proceed onto the main course. Many Japanese standards on the menu, along with specials posted up on the walls. You know when people ask, what’s good, and you answer everything? Well, so far everything I’ve tried really has been good that it’s hard to pick. So far I’ve had the eggplant stuffed with pork and katsu styled, the menchi (hamburger) katsu, goya champuru, 
and this time around the special of kisu tempura. The food quality and preparation has been great every time. The tempura is wonderfully light and crisp. Really, if you were served the same thing in dim light, with candles, fancy booths, piped in koto bg music, in laquer boxes, you wouldn’t know the difference. Instead you’ll get a skillfully prepared honest family style Japanese meal at a great price.
Really gets the maximum gleeful monkeys from me. Perhaps the only slight negative would be it’s small, so I wouldn’t be in a rush. As far as I can tell, it’s Hide doing the cooking, and that’s it. Ask Scat, he always pokes his head into the kitchen to say hi. There’s also a sign on wall saying No Alcohol, haven’t asked to mean none at all or it’s BYOB. Would be nice to enjoy a good beer with meal, but it’s no problem going without, the great food more than makes up for that. They close fairly early, 8:30 Mon – Thursday, later on Fri-Sat, and closed on Sunday I believe. Definitely recommended.
I called Clyde at Toyota Parts on Thursday. He said the order would go into Toyota Motor Sales USA for a part pull from the mainland warehouse on Friday. He figured the part would be in on Wednesday. He called me on Monday saying the window had arrived! I picked ut up today.
JT was out sick and Chris was “baking brownies†(is that some kind of euphemism for something?), so they missed this Sunday’s ride. Considering the heavy sweating they had to endure on last week’s ride, this one would have put them over the top. The skies were overcast, and the forecast return of the Easterlies did not come to pass. Dr. Paul joined Jeff, Sara, Ckucke, Root, and me for the humid torment. The Albizia trees were still going off, so my allergies fired up immediately. We did the enhanced loop like last week, but futzed around a little more on the upper Kalanianaole side – mostly climbing up to the view points and backtracking. Nobody wanted to go “down†anything because of the prospect of climbing back up. The cardiac arrest climb was as heinous as usual, but it didn’t feel like I was literally going to die at the top like last time. Root got a service call from his job while we were recovering at the tree. It was that kaiten sushi chain asking, “how come we can’t print?†We dropped back down to the ditch via the flailing fat guy singletrack, and did the inner loop and side loop. Continue reading ‘Sweaty Ride (aka, Poopy Ride)’
Unlike the insides of a PC where all the raw sheetmetal edges are like razor blades, the metal strap that holds the scissors jack into the rear quarter panel of a Chevrolet 3500 van is actually smooth and rounded with a rolled bead on the edge. The plastic wingnut that holds the strap in place however, has a molding flash that easily and quickly shaves the skin off your finger like a wood plane – curled-up ribbon of skin and all! People really freak out when blood is dripping from your hand.
Really - I don’t know what happened. I came back from deliveries at 10:00 or so and it was OK. At noon when we went to get lunch, the window was fully cracked. My only guess is built-up stress (it is nearly 18-years old). If it was caused by someone or by an object, the glass would have come apart and be all over the carpet inside the cabin in little pieces.
I called Clyde at Toyota Parts, and a new one is on the way – probably next Wednesday… In the meantime, there are 4-plies of packing tape holding the tiny crystals together and keeping rain out.
It was overcast on Wednesday, but not threatening rain like on Monday, so I went out for a spin. The eye-candy level was higher than average.  The two weeks off the bike when the weather was bad made last Saturday’s ride punishing, so I wanted to turn in some distance during the week to bring the conditioning back up. I would have kept on riding if I had clear lenses. The Rampage tires climbed slip-free up the Chicken Trail backwards. No problems on the loose leaves or rolly branches. Some kids have put up some pallets in the moonscape area as an airsoft battlefield. I hope I can ride again on Friday…
D = 17.48 km (10.86-miles), Vavr = 18.3 km/h (11.3 mph), Vmax = 42.6 km/h (26.5 mph), T = 57-minutes
Yup – it’s a headset. It steered smoothly on the swoopy level sections at Ditch trail, and survived all the impacts and sideloads in the rock garden without going out of adjustment and without creaking or popping. Other than the initial binding issues stemming from handling issues, it has been solid and trouble-free. It feels more drag-free than the King it replaces, probably due to the lower preload required by the properly-designed colletted top cap.
Stay tuned for future updates.