ROTM: 1988 BJ-62T aka “The Zombie Apocalypse Wagon” (2 Viewers)

[alpinecowboy]

Welcome and thanks. I’m stoked and appreciative to have the opportunity to shine a little light on my rig. Like all of you, IH8MUD has been a source of ideas and inspiration for me over the years, and I’m just glad that I was able to finish this project before any new ideas came my way that would have delayed completion...

Specs:
100% baselined & rebuilt rust free/darn near perfect Diesel 60.
Chassis: Early 1988 FJ-62 Wagon; born and raised in Florida. Garage kept.
Engine: Toyota 3B Diesel + Garrett/Mercedes T3 Turbocharger (from 1981 BJ-60)
Transmission: H41 4-speed (from 1982 New Zealand BJ-42) + H42 transfer-case
Suspension: Complete Old Man Emu (Aussie built!) heavy suspension kit
Dual-batteries
Air Conditioning (ice cold... so nice)
33x12.50 MTA’s
Blacked out and dechromed trim
WagonGear tailgate + side panel storage panels
WagonGear full weatherstripping package (all 4 doors + rear hatch)
HJ61 Overhead Altimeter+Lights+Thermometer
Aussie-style OEM rear sliding cargo windows
Fully soundproofed with QuietCrap and MMC Acoustic foam

Next three pics:
1) Aussie style sliders
2) Lifted, locked and loaded
3) Rust free and straight as an arrow...

 

[alpinecowboy]

El Toro is my 5th Land Cruiser and 3rd 60-series Wagon. When I first bought her she was called the Family Wagon and had just completed a full conversion from Gas to Diesel alongside a full baseline and rebuild at the hands of fellow ‘Mudder Mel Lowe and the rest of the gang at North Florida Cruiserheads.

I had been on the hunt for a diesel 60-series for a little while when I found this one and had honestly almost given up finding a good one that was US street legal. My wishlist had seemed simple: Toyota Diesel, stick, well-maintained and ZERO rust... as some of you know: that last one can make it hard to find a set of wheels...

Luckily, Mel Lowe had been working the conversion/resto/rebuild for a little over a year at that point and was wrestling with selling the completed project: enter me. I had to do a little convincing to get Mel to part with her, but after lots of assurances that the rig was going to a good home and fellow cruiser head he agreed to the sale.

Next three pics:
1) The two original donor cruisers - diesel is the red one
2) “Steady.... Steady.....”
3) As I got her.

 

[sk8salomon]

well done! what did you do with the old double tube front bumper? any wheelin' with your gem?

 

[alpinecowboy]

As mentioned above, Mel Lowe went out of his way to baseline the rig as he converted it to diesel - carefully rebuilding components as he worked is way methodologically through the build. His goal was to make the rig 100% safe and dependable as a daily driver for his wife and then newly forming family. As a relatively new father myself that was exactly what I needed - this was going to be my daily driver and I needed it to be 100% solid.

When the dust finally settled on the build, Mel had replaced or rebuilt every major component on the vehicle. Beyond that, he painstakingly worked to keep the entire rig TEQ throughout... This was also huge for me, especially as a long-term LC driver. It’s one thing when someone rebuilds with NAPA... it’s something else when every part they put on is Toyota Original Equipment. Pumps, compressors, tie-rods, you name it... good as new.

next three:
1) OEM parts porn (transfer case rebuild in this instance)
2) Did I mention she is 100% rust free?! (not to rub it in to my friends in Canada!)
3) Lookin’ Dealership new right after the Diesel conversion was complete

 

[alpinecowboy]

Sk8 - I know it's lame but no, she hasn't been off-road. I've spent so much time working her that I've hated to get her beat up. "Too nice too wheel" is a phrase I've heard a couple of times... that wasn't the original intent but it just ended up that way.

My 80 is now not-so-stock (lifted, wagongeared and setup for camping) so it has seen all the wheeling to spare this one the abuse...

 

[sk8salomon]

Sk8 - "Too nice too wheel" is a phrase I've heard a couple of times... QUOTE]

yep, i dropped that line on my ROTM about 3 years ago so you got me! looks like a perfect truck man, take care of it. nice haircut

edit- tell mel lowe to come to Chattanooga and make me a pizza

 

[kling-on]

Cool and super clean...

 

[alpinecowboy]

So that catches you up on what Mel did for her, let’s talk about my contribution.

First, even with a baselined rig there are always odds and ends to chase down and sort out so I spent my first few months chasing the few gremlins out of the system that had evaded Mel Lowe.

After that, my first priority was to “civilize” my diesel 60... and that primarily meant noise control... from the road, from the wind and most importantly from the engine itself. A bit of dampening had been laid down before but that was really just a slice of it. My wife nicknamed it “The Tractor” because it made so much noise on the inside.

After some thought and reading I decided to go with the Nuclear Option: do as much as you can to reduce noise and do it twice anywhere you can. That meant:
1) All new weatherstripping from WagonGear (Pic One - thanks Kevin!)
2) Firewall (passenger+engine comp) to tailgate fully lined in QuietCrap
3) QuietCrap in the doors and side panels (Pic Two- thanks Mark!)
4) Another layer of QuietCrap anywhere I could get it.
5) I topped it off with a couple of inches of heavy acoustic foam from McMaster-Carr (Pic Three - um, thanks Visa?!)
6) Pull and replace all the little trim/interior bolts and screws that have a way of rattling themselves loose over 20+ years!

End result: She is as quiet as a modern diesel pickup (think ’05 or newer F250 Diesel). I think this is important to distinguish for those of you out there looking to reduce sound levels in your rig: be realistic, especially in the case of a diesel.

 

[alpinecowboy]

Kling-on: Gracias mi amigo, you had a hand in making this happen so thanks again!

 

[Dirtgypsy]

As soon as I saw the title of BJ-62 I wondered if this was mel lows old rig. This is absolutely a superb truck and as I can already tell from the post you are a very proud owner! Congrats on a nice one. More cruiser porn please: wagongear stuff, carpets, interior..

Clint

 

[alpinecowboy]

In addition to noise control, I also wanted to “tweak” a few things that just weren’t part of the program for LC’s when this rig rolled off the line.

I wanted to improve the little things that made the truck easier to use and enjoy such as:
Rear hatch struts that stayed open in cold weather (pic 1)
Hood struts that could lift the hood and hold it open (instead of using the bar...) (pic 2)
Sliding rear windows like the 80-series (and non-US 60’s) have (pic 3)
A storage option that didn’t eat up space in my cargo area (next post)

PS - click on the links in my signature below for more reference links to the above (and other!) build components...

 

[alpinecowboy]

Dirtgypsy: Thanks a ton. Yes, this has been a great cruiser... I've been lucky twice to find cruisers that have been well cared for by a series of owners. Makes me want to keep it up so that my 'Cruiser Karma' (to borrow a phrase!) doesn't wane!!

I'll keep posting...

 

[alpinecowboy]

Storage.

The good news is that this part was easy: WagonGear. Simply put, Kevin Rowland does amazing work and his idea to utilize the interior sidepanels and tailgate in the 60 was a stroke of genius.

As soon as I saw his designs I got on his wait list... “Worth the wait” is a phrase that comes to mind.

The WagonGear panels were easy to install and were totally bombproof. Once I had them in place I couldn’t believe how much gear I could stow in my rig out of the way. I transplanted two boxes full of gear, fluids and random crap into my panels and locked them away neatly leaving my cargo area free and open. Aaaaahhhhh.....

Pics speak for themselves (check out WagonGear’s site for more pics of the system in action)

 

[alpinecowboy]

Sk8_ I didn't mean to ignore your question on the old bumper - sorry about that - it was long gone before I ever saw it.

 

[orangefj45]

very clean, well proportioned and built. anybody would be proud to own this rig, including myself.

thumbs up from me!

georg @ valley hybrids

 

[alpinecowboy]

Orange: Thanks a ton for the props, much appreciated.

Now that I had a place to keep all of stuff, it was time to finish cleaning up the interior and tweaking it.

First was the carpet. It was in good condition, but it was cut for an automatic transmission as the truck was an FJ62 originally. Mel had done his best to patch the new holes and cut the old ones, but long term it needed to be right.

I weighed tons of different options, especially considering the soundproofing already laid down beneath:
A_ Brand new carpet, custom, laid in locally
B_ Custom cut kit from Australia specifically for FJ/BJ 60 series wagon
C_ Wait for a clean carpet from another rig
D_ Custom install an indoor/outdoor rubber material (for durability and weather proofness)

Strangely, it was C that ruled out when a very low mileage grey 60 ended up getting parted out near me in West Texas. I was totally surprised as I expected it to be thrashed. Instead it was amazing. Full of red, Odessa dust. But otherwise really nice. I was stoked. That made getting the carpet up to speed a piece of cake.

I pulled the full carpet set (front, middle and cargo), thoroughly washed and dried the new carpets and then put them all back in. Wow. Folks, here is a tip for you if you have a free afternoon and are somewhat handy with a wrench and a screwdriver:

- Pull your seats and carpets and take your carpets to the carwash and pressure-wash the hell out of them. Just go for it. Have fun. Use a deep cleaner while you are it - something evil that is made out of citrus and unicorn tears but cuts through anything. You will be amazed at the results, especially if you run floormats.

 

[alpinecowboy]

As you can see in the above picture, I also had some fun with grab-handles. When I was hunting for rear sliding windows (something I had wanted since I was 16 driving the 83 FJ60 my Dad was kind enough to give me...) I came across parts fiche pdf's that showed a ton of grab handles in the HJ61 that weren't installed in mind.

There may be 50 ways to leave your Lover, but there are at least 4 ways to hold on for dear life for each passenger in my truck.

I wondered if there were mounts ready accept these pieces. My headliner is perfect, so I was super hesitant to do anything to her without a little probing. Carefully I felt with my fingers in the areas where the grab handles seemed to be mounted.

Sure enough there were little holes there. Next came the needle.

I put the tiniest needle I could find that was strong enough to put a little leverage on and began to feel for threads. After a little probing and repositioning I caught the distinctive tap-tap-tap of threads. Why not?

With a little help from another 'Mud member (Kinesla - thanks again ) I had two sliders and a set of grab handles pulled from an HJ61 Sahara in Australia. We opted for sea freight so it would be a few months before the parts arrived, but that kept the costs reasonable and made it simple to do.

Once they had arrived it was 10 minutes and a few handles later (driver's side included!) and it was all done!

It has been nice for my kids to have more places to grab getting in and out so I'd say it was well worth it.

Another piece of advice here while I'm at it (it is obvious but worth calling out):
- Look for parts on Ebay motors Australia! There are lots of folks in AUS who will ship to the US and the options abound for the 60 series there in ways that you can only dream of!! SOR is not the only source - you can source great things yourself with just a little digging!!

 

[alpinecowboy]

Next came getting the sliders in. That wouldn't be so easy as I was to learn. I thought that I could rebuild the windows and frames in a weekend and pop them right in. Oh, to be so innocent....

The rebuild probably only took two weekends all together, but getting the right pieces assembled definitely took some doing. It wasn't expensive by any means (which was good) but it was tricky to get it right.

Thank goodness other Mudders had tried it and successfully pulled off the install. Even better= they posted on it so that others could follow!! I want to give my warmest THANK YOU! to anyone who has posted even the smallest (or longest!) how-to here on 'Mud! It's always a relief to use 'search' and find just what you were looking for...

Anyway, back to the story. I rebuilt the windows myself and then had them installed by professionals. It just seemed the smart move and the results are exactly what I would want them to be.

 

[alpinecowboy]

I'll try to get the requisite "Dog's head out the slider window" pic for everyone tomorrow. You'll all love our family dog Rosie no doubt.

 

[alpinecowboy]

After that, I tackled a project I'm still working on: the overhead console install.

"The Wha?" you ask?

Yes, the overhead console install. Again, HJ61's came with toys that the Norte Americanos did not get. One of those is the overhead console with Altimeter, Thermometer and light cluster.

Radd Cruisers up in Canada is the place for odds and ends like this = John is super professional, quick and easy to work with. Awesome dude. He helped me score a fully working overhead console system with all hardware and the temperature sensor arrays to boot.

As you can imagine - the sensor cluster is a huge ugly bunch of wires that needs a home if I want to use the outside temp sensor, but honestly I don't think I do. All I really care about is the map lighting and the gauge space.

So with that, I currently have the console securely mounted and installed. My plan now is to wire up the map lights and pull the alt/temp cluster (it screws right out). In it's place I have two options, both good:
A_ Fabricate an overhead sunglass compartment (super good idea)
B_ Use it as a gauge cluster for Boost, Pyro and ???