New 80 owner, head gasket, and build...

[bsmart82]

So I sold my daily driver to save money on a car payment and bought a money pit. I picked up a '93 Land Cruiser, about 200k miles, everything leaked, it needed a ton of work, but none of it I can't repair myself. It had a new radiator and a rebuilt transmission. I turn wrenches for a Toyota dealer, so I save on labor doing it myself and get parts at employee price. I bought a giant box of parts, about $1500 worth, to rebuild the front axle, reseal the engine, and replaced old or corroded parts. Before I could dig into it, the head gasket blew after about a month of owning. I pulled the head to find that the coolant was rarely serviced and the engine basically was corroding away. My machinist was able to save the head, and the block was decent, so hopefully it will stay sealed for a few miles. So I resealed the entire engine minus the rear main, and replaced most of the aluminum on the engine, and all hoses. It's back on the road as of Saturday after being down for 3 weeks, mostly waiting on the machine work. Since I got it I have had tint done, and have front seat leather waiting to be installed. Future plans are to rebuild the front axle, 2" lift and 33's, bumpers, roof rack, and next will be a custom exhaust.

These are when I bought it.

After I got it home.

Pulled the head like this, it's easier to disassemble after it's out.

This is all of the emmisions junk that was removed and will not go back in.

Change your coolant very often!

 

[bsmart82]

Pair delete plates made from 1/8" aluminum flat stock.

Intake cleaned and assembled minus solenoids, egr block off plate installed.

Head back from the machine shop, welded up in a few spots, should seal fine.

Had valve job, resurface, and valve clearance adjusted.

Pistons cleaned with B12.

New chain and guides.

Cleaned and resealed timing cover.

Head back on.

Cams in, pic is messed up.

I cleaned up the harness and replaced the brittle injector connectors.

All done.

I had the head off in under 4 hours working at a slow to moderate pace. I had it back on and running in about 6 hours. I spent 2 days cleaning parts and bolts, lol.

 

[timer00]

Nice truck... good thing your a Toyota mechanic hehe.

good luck with it

 

[bsmart82]

Thanks.

I also had a rear window that would not work from the master switch. I completely disassembled the switch and sanded the contacts and applied some grease to the rockers and it works great now.

 

[bsmart82]

Removed the mud guards today, fender flares are next, along with front seat leather and rear heater box removal(already bypasses lines). I will also be building a custom exhaust system soon, relocating my O2 sensors to the exhaust manifolds, and doing a front axle rebuild.

 

[1973Guppie]

god I wish I could just toss smog stuff, sigh.......

 

[bsmart82]

Installed some Pioneer speakers, the stockers were junk. I also rewired the Sony radio and removed the factory amplifier. I have a bunch of small parts to replace that finally came in, battery hold down, cap and rotor, some hoses, and some other stuff. Waiting on seat foam and then I will have the new leather installed.

 

[blkprj80]

Your work looks great! I'm interested to know how you got that whole wiring harness out though. I'm in the process right now, and I still haven't figured out how to pull the wires that go back along the top/DS of the tranny. The rest I believe I have disconnected, but there appear to be at least two bundles that head rearward that don't seem to have a convenient connector anywhere near where I want them to. When I look up from underneath, I see that some factory genius put a ty-rap waaaay up there where I can't reach it.
Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[bsmart82]

Thanks, I am a Toyo tech and did the HG at work so I could use my lift and have all easy access to all of my tools. There are 4 main connectors above the starter that disconnect all of the rearward wiring to the transmission. I used the drivers side wheel opening to access them. All I had to pull through the intake manifold opening was about 12 inches of harness and the main connectors and all the sensor connectors at the head. I did have to disconnect one of the o2 sensor harnesses and pull it over the trans and out through the intake also. My 93 harness may be different than yours though.

 

[Kernal]

bsmart82: Great job. You mentioned the machine shop welded the head, was that for cracks? Did the machine shop use Toyota shims to adjust the valves?

 

[bsmart82]

The welding was for the pitting near the fire ring so it would seal with the new gasket. They usually grind the tip of the valves to adjust the clearance. It was $60 for them to do it vs. me doing it and having to buy and wait for shims.

 

[blkprj80]

Thanks for the info. Yes, I'm afraid my harness is not quite as easy as yours. Hopefully someone else reads this and chimes in to confirm or deny this.
I'm working on this in my somewhat tight shop, but at least it's cool in here. <checks thermo, sees it's 102.9 outside > I don't have a lift, but I can get her up a ways on jack stands. I've already got the little rubber flap removed from the back of the lower inside fender. Lots more to see that way for sure.
This is the almost the last piece of my puzzle. I still need to make an adapter so I can use the banjo fitting to drain the fuel that's been in there for 6 months +. Hopefully I can find a place to drive the fuel pump from a DC power supply to drain most of that old gas out of there.
Keep up the good work...
Jim

Here's a snapshot of where I'm at, up to the minute:

 

[bsmart82]

Finally got all of my seat foam in, now just waiting on leather. I replaced the drivers door weatherstrip, and the other doors are on back order. Yesterday I had the exhaust done, cat delete, and Flowmaster 50 series. I broke the tailgate handle Sunday, so I replaced it today and installed some door edge guard on the tailgate. Later today I am going to install my custom throttle cable bracket to support it where the charcoal canister used to be, and remove the down pipe heat shields since they rattle badly and wrap the pipes with exhaust wrap.

 

[pezpon]

Would you give me the part number for the rear door handle.. Where did you buy it....?

 

[Banana sauce]

X2 need that part #

 

[bsmart82]

69212-60030 for the handle which is an updated part number and requires a new screw 90149-50064, got both from the Toyota dealer I work at. The old screw had a tapered head, so if yours is flat, then you don't need it.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

Wow. It's beyond pm...major internal surgery. It's looking good and you will be proud of your work.

On the rear door handle, same part for 1996? I don't remember a screw on mine, but it's been a while since mine broke.

 

[bsmart82]

Not sure about the handle, but I would guess they are all the same.

 

[bsmart82]

I made and installed a bracket to bolt to the battery tray and hold the throttle bracket I reused from the charcoal canister. I also finished wiring some lights I installed on the front bumper. I only installed these since I had them from a few years ago and were never used. Eventually I asm going to build bumpers with integrated lights. I am going to convert these to hid for now to get some more light from them. I wired them up on a 30a relay and used the oem accessory switch. Leather is in and will be installed soon as well as some dome leds.

 

[klinetime574]

Good work man!