Clobbersaurus: A Documentary (1 Viewer)

[Heckraiser]

Hi Folks!

It's official, my wife thinks I'm a lunatic. I just flew to Phoenix and took two days off work to pick up an ugly beater. But I am happy to say I am finally back in a 60-series. I sold my 1985 FJ60 two years ago partially for financial reasons and partially because it was losing the battle to rust and I am not the person to take on that fight. I have missed it ever since, and after a couple newer 4Runners, I'm glad to drive something that still feels like a truck.

I can't really call this a "build thread" because this sort of fits into the category of "bought, not built" lol. It's a 1988 FJ62 with a 1994 TBI 350, 700r4, full floater rear, ARB lockers front and rear, 4+ bumper with Warn 9.5. And NO RUST!

I'm looking at that all typed out there and it sounds pretty good. But in reality this truck has a lot of issues: random hackjob wiring, ratty interior, motor feels pretty "meh," etc. I can see why the PO had trouble selling it. I feel I paid a little too much, and he probably feels he didn't get enough, so I'll consider that a sign that the price was right.

This will be a weekend wheeler and occasional "I feel like driving a truck today" vehicle.

Plans in no particular order:

-Paint job and rust prevention
-Sliders, rear bumper (maybe some rear quarter guards)
-Mechanical stuff (Lokar shifter SUCKS, gas pedal feels like a brick)
-Tune up and some performance parts for the 350
-Maybe a AAL & longer shackles to tide me over until SOA (the 33's have tons of tread)
-Pretty much the whole interior needs help
-Round headlights
-????

On the drive home from Phoenix (more pictures on page 2):

 

[apollo]

Welcome back! What color would you go with?

 

[Callahan Offroad]

WOO!
Congrats!
I'm in the same boat as you I'll be buying a new (to me) 60 in the summer.
Clobbersaurus is a great name for that rig!
Rear QTR Guards are a good idea, thats where i bashed my last one, right above the tail light. what a terrible place to dent something.

 

[micruz60]

Round headlights! FTW.

 

[Heckraiser]

Welcome back! What color would you go with?

Factory white. The PO's PO randomly primed the cruiser in a nice holstein pattern. But magnet and tapping on the body confirm no bondo. Maybe I should give it a cow paint job

 

[Heckraiser]

Rear QTR Guards are a good idea, thats where i bashed my last one, right above the tail light. what a terrible place to dent something.

Yeah, I had trouble keeping my '85 out of the rocks and it had a 3" lift. This one is on factory suspension, so I definitely want to avoid denting it up. Plus side is it rides great and drives straighter than my '99 with a fresh alignment.

 

[gregnash]

Glad to see you back!!! Gotta love the FJ62 guys that convert the front to 60 roundeyes!!!

 

[Spike Strip]

Nothin' wrong with that truck a few thousand dollars won't fix..

 

[Callahan Offroad]

Yeah, I had trouble keeping my '85 out of the rocks and it had a 3" lift. This one is on factory suspension, so I definitely want to avoid denting it up. Plus side is it rides great and drives straighter than my '99 with a fresh alignment.

Tracking-Straight, from what I hear, is nice. I wouldn't know anything about it though. Even my volvo pulls a little lol.

 

[landcruiserjunky]

Nice!!

 

[allworknoplay]

Heckraiser, Welcome back. I saw that truck for sale locally. I believe that is the same truck I once test drove about two years ago when it was for sale up in Prescott. It ran great, had a couple issues, but definitely a solid truck! Have fun!

Nick

 

[Heckraiser]

Heckraiser, Welcome back. I saw that truck for sale locally. I believe that is the same truck I once test drove about two years ago when it was for sale up in Prescott. It ran great, had a couple issues, but definitely a solid truck! Have fun!

Nick

Yes, apparently this truck has spent much of it's recent life on craigslist. PO only had it for 1 year and was trying to sell it for about half of that (he bought it as a tow rig, oops). Some other MUDders warned me that it had been for sale for a long time. Carfax shows 6 different owners, I am number 7. But I had to promise the that I would keep this one

 

[Heckraiser]

I just ordered about $200 in "tune up" items. Nice stuff too, I went with Pertronix cap & Rotor and Flamethrower D3002 coil and MSD 8.5mm wires. AC Delco spark plugs (cheap and supposedly the best for the 350). I also got a K&N air cleaner and filter lid. I may have to swap these out for the factory air cleaner on trips to Moab since I hear the K&N lets some fine dust through. I have been using tbichips.com as my shopping guide so far.

Hopefully with all that done, I should have a shot at passing emissions! *fingers crossed*

 

[cruisermatt]

I saw this one on eBay awhile back (I think?), I didn't realize it was do built. Cool so far

 

[runbmc]

Not going to share any pictures of this terrible interior of yours? I really like your bumper by the way!

 

[Callahan Offroad]

I just ordered about $200 in "tune up" items. Nice stuff too, I went with Pertronix cap & Rotor and Flamethrower D3002 coil and MSD 8.5mm wires. AC Delco spark plugs (cheap and supposedly the best for the 350). I also got a K&N air cleaner and filter lid. I may have to swap these out for the factory air cleaner on trips to Moab since I hear the K&N lets some fine dust through. I have been using tbichips.com as my shopping guide so far.

Hopefully with all that done, I should have a shot at passing emissions! *fingers crossed*

K&N filters pretty much let everything that isn't a gnat through. We've done some pretty extensive testing in the import racing scene of the K&N filters, and they're pretty much crap.

 

[essar5]

It's sort of amazing how clean your oil is once you throw the K&N filter out. My 22R oil looked as bad or worse than the dirty oil from my 3B at 3K miles. If you want a performance upgrade at the cost of dirty oil and increased wear on your engine, just run without a filter. (But seriously, don't do that).

 

[Heckraiser]

I knew the K&N let some of the smaller stuff through, but I didn't realize it was that bad. Maybe I'll return it.

 

[Callahan Offroad]

Unless I really don't like someone, I usually recommend not using the K&N filters. Have you ever tried AFE? I hear they make some pretty good stuff. That being said, the real "advantage" is the increased diameter and designs of the intakes themselves that come with the K&N kits. You should check out a NAPA Gold filter, they have a ridiculous amount of folds in the filter. Lots of surface area to filter air and pass it through.

 

[Heckraiser]

Got started on the tune-up today. Hit a snag when I realized the HEI coil brackets were riveted to the heat sink on the coil. Didn't have the tools handy to drill out the rivets.


Anyhoo, here's a question for the brain trust: what is the best undercoating method for clean bare metal? I will be chopping my rockers off to make way for sliders (did this on my old 60) and plan to treat the inside area rather than welding in a flat piece to cover everything up. I'm not a great welder, and I'm afraid of burning a hole in the sheet metal. Anyhoo, my plan was POR15, primer, and then either a rubberized undercoat or bedliner or ??? What do you think would work best in the line of fire (pebbles, slush, etc)?