I definitely plan on taking off those patches and redoing them myself. I'm totally curious as to whether it was cracked under there or not. If it turns out to be bent, I'll see what I can do about getting it onto a frame bench.
The bow you see in the first pic is due to the bed not being bolted onto the frame, and it was sitting at an odd angle. I've got the bed on there now and it is indeed straight (or at least it is to my untrained eye).
I *think* that is an EDIC. It's the fuel cutoff solenoid, whatever the real name is supposed to be.
All I know is that when you energize the solenoid, the lever pulls back (or is supposed to). I also understand that there are three positions: off/on/start. do they have detents when I pull the lever by hand, or no? I don't feel any... I'm assuming the EPC will show if mine *should* have an EDIC, or if it was later added on mine. With the state of the wiring here, I'm not yet brave enough to hook up a battery to see if that unit actuates the arm. I think I'll jerry rig something up with my 12V power supply to see if it actuates or not. Since it is only one wire, I assume that it's a modulated voltage to actuate it between off/run/start, but I don't really know. I've got a FSM for the FJ/BJ series, and I don't offhand remember if it includes the HJ. I'll have to check when I go up to the shop later today. I'm sure it will have that info (if it includes H series trucks)
I also have discovered something peculiar. The door locks work great to engage the locks. They do not work well to unlock. I locked myself inside it for about a half hour while I fiddled with the linkages to get it to unlock. d'oh!
The brake booster gets it's vacuum straight from the intake manifold on this truck, is that adequate? I don't think I'll do more than rebild the stock brakes (discs on the front and drums rear), but it seems a bit odd for a diesel to simply tap into the intake manifold. I know my 2LT-E (and many other Toyota diesels) use a vacuum pump on the alternator, but my 2LT-E is obviously turbocharged...
It's amazing what I've learned just by comparing my dad's FJ to this one. Toyota really does use an efficient manufacturing system.
Dan