Hello Fellow Cruiser Lovers!!
I am new to the forums here and thought I would share with you the beginning of my quest. I know I will be asking for some help along the way, so I figure it would be good to get to know you all first.
A little about my project.
I have owned her since March 18th 1991. On the day I bought her she had 36k original miles and was a Arizona Vehicle for about 9 years at that time. Prior to and up until 1983 she was in Oklahoma where she was bought new.
I am her 3rd and final owner(not counting my kids who will learn to drive in her) She was pretty much my daily driver until January of 2000 when I was driving my wife my daughter to the store. All of the sudden we heard a loud bang under the hood and the passenger compartment filled with smoke. I pushed in the clutch, pulled over and got the family out of the rig.
The pressure of the explosion blew out the side pushrod cover and bent it outwards. I took it off and straightened it thinking that was all it was. Sadly, it was not as it would not turn over at all.
Fast forward a few years and I get the itch to drive her again, so I buy an engine off ebay that has 290k miles(2f from an 82 fj60), but runs good and burns a quart of oil every 1000 miles.
My plan was to get the engines swapped and drive the tired engine while I rebuild the engine that blew at 96k miles. Sadly, after the swap and adding all the components, I realized that the brakes and brake lines had deteriorated. I replaced the rubber parts of the fuel lines and did the front brakes, but saw that the rear brake lines were bent and needed to be replaced.
At this point I was working 6 days a week and had to put the itch on hold again.
I did however get to start the breakdown of the original engine and saw that one of the bearings froze up on the crank, but suprisingly there was no real damage to the engine as I clutched and pulled over immediately after the pop.
Fast forward again to last week.
I have since moved from California to Arizona and the cruiser has been sitting on my buddies property in California since we moved here in February. About a week before Halloween my friend calls from CA and asks if I was going to run my famous haunted house in the new town and I told him I was. So he goes and grabs our friends trailer and the Cruiser and brings her to me. My friend in CA where it was parked was supposed to put the engine in the back of the cruiser, but he did not. So it is still back there waiting for me.
I want to get her going as soon as I can. I need to make her my daily driver again. My wifes car has only 2 gears (automatic goes into high rev after 2nd) and the engine has about had it. I have a reliable truck that I drive 33 miles to work each way, but I have a feeling that her car is going to die soon.
I was graciously given new rear double door rubber weatherstripping, a new optima battery and my boss is still on the fence about giving me a set of rims and tires that are brand new. I told him I would buy them, but I would need to pay for them out of a few paychecks. I think he wants to put them on ebay no reserve. Weird!!
I will post questions about how to go about doing some of this stuff as it arises.
Well, that is my mini-life story.
I will keep you all posted on how it turns out with pics and vid.
Thanks for looking and reading and I hope to see you all on the trails.
Danny
These pictures were all taken the day after halloween. I have done nothing to her yet at this point, but cry, smile and dream of better trails.
Towards the bottom of these pics I did pull back the carpet that I put down to reveal a very decent looking surface.
These pictures I took this morning after yesterdays progress.
I pulled up the carpet, pulled out the jump seats for my wife to recover, pulled the rubber floormats on the driver and passenger side and chipped up the rubber glue that they use to attach the mats on the driver side, vacuumed as much of the junk and dirt and sand as I could, drained the gas tank, blew out the fuel lines and got rained on and pelted by marble sized hailstones.
I had to put all of the tools I was using inside of her as it went from dry to soaking, dripping and painfully wet in a matter of 2 minutes.
I think I am forgetting something........ OHH YEAH!! I put the battery in, poured a little gas in her throat and fired her up. She started up without hesitation at all.
God I love Toyota Land Cruisers.
Anyway, here are the rest of todays pictures.
So there I am, for now.
I know I have a huge job ahead of me, but it is a labor of love. I am going to try to do this as inexpensive as possible because I am a little bit on the broke side right now. If anyone has any suggestions of how I can save cash on this project, I am all ears.
I will be looking in the classifieds a lot to try to find deals on parts. Does a membership in the TLCA have any benefits?
I need to change the tie rods and I will need a steering knuckle kit with the bearings. I need a new windshield, rear view mirrors and .....??????????
I don't even know where to begin.
Any suggestions??
PS. I will start using a better camera from now on, these were from my phone and they are less than perfect. =)
I am new to the forums here and thought I would share with you the beginning of my quest. I know I will be asking for some help along the way, so I figure it would be good to get to know you all first.
A little about my project.
I have owned her since March 18th 1991. On the day I bought her she had 36k original miles and was a Arizona Vehicle for about 9 years at that time. Prior to and up until 1983 she was in Oklahoma where she was bought new.
I am her 3rd and final owner(not counting my kids who will learn to drive in her) She was pretty much my daily driver until January of 2000 when I was driving my wife my daughter to the store. All of the sudden we heard a loud bang under the hood and the passenger compartment filled with smoke. I pushed in the clutch, pulled over and got the family out of the rig.
The pressure of the explosion blew out the side pushrod cover and bent it outwards. I took it off and straightened it thinking that was all it was. Sadly, it was not as it would not turn over at all.
Fast forward a few years and I get the itch to drive her again, so I buy an engine off ebay that has 290k miles(2f from an 82 fj60), but runs good and burns a quart of oil every 1000 miles.
My plan was to get the engines swapped and drive the tired engine while I rebuild the engine that blew at 96k miles. Sadly, after the swap and adding all the components, I realized that the brakes and brake lines had deteriorated. I replaced the rubber parts of the fuel lines and did the front brakes, but saw that the rear brake lines were bent and needed to be replaced.
At this point I was working 6 days a week and had to put the itch on hold again.
I did however get to start the breakdown of the original engine and saw that one of the bearings froze up on the crank, but suprisingly there was no real damage to the engine as I clutched and pulled over immediately after the pop.
Fast forward again to last week.
I have since moved from California to Arizona and the cruiser has been sitting on my buddies property in California since we moved here in February. About a week before Halloween my friend calls from CA and asks if I was going to run my famous haunted house in the new town and I told him I was. So he goes and grabs our friends trailer and the Cruiser and brings her to me. My friend in CA where it was parked was supposed to put the engine in the back of the cruiser, but he did not. So it is still back there waiting for me.
I want to get her going as soon as I can. I need to make her my daily driver again. My wifes car has only 2 gears (automatic goes into high rev after 2nd) and the engine has about had it. I have a reliable truck that I drive 33 miles to work each way, but I have a feeling that her car is going to die soon.
I was graciously given new rear double door rubber weatherstripping, a new optima battery and my boss is still on the fence about giving me a set of rims and tires that are brand new. I told him I would buy them, but I would need to pay for them out of a few paychecks. I think he wants to put them on ebay no reserve. Weird!!
I will post questions about how to go about doing some of this stuff as it arises.
Well, that is my mini-life story.
I will keep you all posted on how it turns out with pics and vid.
Thanks for looking and reading and I hope to see you all on the trails.
Danny
These pictures were all taken the day after halloween. I have done nothing to her yet at this point, but cry, smile and dream of better trails.
Towards the bottom of these pics I did pull back the carpet that I put down to reveal a very decent looking surface.
These pictures I took this morning after yesterdays progress.
I pulled up the carpet, pulled out the jump seats for my wife to recover, pulled the rubber floormats on the driver and passenger side and chipped up the rubber glue that they use to attach the mats on the driver side, vacuumed as much of the junk and dirt and sand as I could, drained the gas tank, blew out the fuel lines and got rained on and pelted by marble sized hailstones.
I had to put all of the tools I was using inside of her as it went from dry to soaking, dripping and painfully wet in a matter of 2 minutes.
I think I am forgetting something........ OHH YEAH!! I put the battery in, poured a little gas in her throat and fired her up. She started up without hesitation at all.
God I love Toyota Land Cruisers.
Anyway, here are the rest of todays pictures.
So there I am, for now.
I know I have a huge job ahead of me, but it is a labor of love. I am going to try to do this as inexpensive as possible because I am a little bit on the broke side right now. If anyone has any suggestions of how I can save cash on this project, I am all ears.
I will be looking in the classifieds a lot to try to find deals on parts. Does a membership in the TLCA have any benefits?
I need to change the tie rods and I will need a steering knuckle kit with the bearings. I need a new windshield, rear view mirrors and .....??????????
I don't even know where to begin.
Any suggestions??
PS. I will start using a better camera from now on, these were from my phone and they are less than perfect. =)
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Before you turn over your motor any more be sure to check that you have oil pressure. It looks like you have a fine base to rebuild from. It looks like your rear sill is shot, no surprise there. Check the entire underside for rust very carefully especially if there is undercoat. On the 79 the front floor boards are usually bad along with the rockers and rear corners. Your 40 looks really good in these areas based on your pictures.
