The Lemon Gelato Journey - Build Thread (2 Viewers)

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Got with a bodyshop this week for a couple estimates. They said for a complete doors off, windows out respray will be "every bit of $12k if not more". The paint they use carries a lifetime warranty and I plan on keeping the truck for at least that long so I'll bite the bullet. While I get some other things payed off and start putting away money for that I'm going to have them weld up the three holes in the trunk floor, the two drain holes on the tops of the rear wheel wells and coat the wheel wells to prevent rust. Want this done to give my LC and better chance of surviving until I can get the respray done.

In the interest of getting more info out there for others to compare prices, I was quoted $546.85 to weld up the five holes in my trunk. Four of them are about dime sized and the fifth is almost the size of a nickel. I'll upload a photo later. The shop told me if I can strip the factory sound deadener myself before coming in that it could help us both out and probably save me some money. This price includes doing all of the prep, welding and sealing afterwards from the underside. For an extra $137 they'll coat the wheel wells. Going to get all of this done, the wheel well coating especially, I want to keep what's nice in the shape that it's in.

I'm also going to have the shop repair/repaint the dash I got from the donor fj62.
 
Been a busy holiday season so far so progress has slowed down on the cruiser. The back window was the last one to get its tint removed. Unfortunately the previous owner double tinted the window and it wasn't coming off even with the steamer. Ended up dragging a razor blade across the entire window and shredding the defroster lines. I've looked into a couple solutions and I believe I can fix it, if not, I'll just get another OEM window from a different cruiser.

While the rear window was out I repaired some body rust that had developed under the window seal.
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This area was wet when I removed the original seal, glad I addressed it before it got worse. This is the only real body rust right now and I'm trying to keep it that way. Sanded it down and painted over it to hold me over until I can get a full respray.

I also finally got that body shop quote I mentioned earlier. They're going to weld shut all of the holes in the trunk that the previous owner drilled, the two holes in the tops of the wheel wells as well as coat all four wheel wells so they stay rust free. To speed up the work and hopefully lower the cost I removed all of the OEM sound deadening in the trunk with some dry ice. A five pound block was more than enough to do this area and I'll need more when I get around to doing the rest of the car.

Before
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After one side was done.
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And all finished
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For anyone doing this later, the smaller you can make the dry ice pieces, the better. Let them sit for about 15 minutes and then start hitting it with a mallet. Next steps are to order some sound deadening material to cover this back up once I get it back and then the carpet kit from another user on the forum. I was quoted $12k for a doors/trim off respray in the factory 033 Toyota white and that comes with a lifetime guarantee on the paint. For now the paint and body are solid so I think I'll work on getting the interior how I want it and addressing any mechanical issues that come up along the way. My passenger side reverse light is out for some reason so I've got that short I've got to chase down but nothing else that's pressing. I've got a pretty good roadmap of what I want to do and how to do it, just a matter of getting it all done.
 
@TheEngineer I've been interested in the Frost Fighter kit - my PO put stickers all over the inside of the rear window and removing them peeled up the defrost lines [insert eye roll here]. If you go that route I'd love to see how it turns out.
 
@TheEngineer I've been interested in the Frost Fighter kit - my PO put stickers all over the inside of the rear window and removing them peeled up the defrost lines [insert eye roll here]. If you go that route I'd love to see how it turns out.

That's the same one I was looking at. I'll eventually get it but with how warm this Virginia weather has been lately I'm not in a rush. Their kit looks like it uses our style connectors which is a bonus.
 
Tracked down an high pitched whine to my transmission. It sounds like the throw-out bearing is resting on the clutch springs. For the past couple weeks I've heard a creaking when I push the clutch pedal in and thought nothing of it since I didn't notice any performance changes. Hoping it is just an new slave cylinder that will fix it so I've got one ordered that should be here in a few days.

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Got all of the holes patched in the rear. Body shop put some white sealant over the tops.

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To give an idea of what I'm cleaning up while I do all of this. It's dry clay and way too much dog hair. Need to make sure all of this is gone before I put down the sound deadener. The spaces on either side of the trunk floor where the water bladder and gas tank fill neck sit are both filled with the dirt/fur. I've pulled out fistfuls and there's still more.

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Goo-gone and rust converter spray prep in the rear. Some of it was surface rust, the rest of it was caked on dirt that came off with a ton of elbow grease.

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Basic CAD work to make sure my patches fit nice and snug.

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Made use of the mid 60's/70 degree weather we've had. Got the trunk floor done in a couple of hours and I still need to do the rear quarter walls to consider this part done. If anyone knows a way to get the stock sound deadening off the quarters I'd love to hear it. Some of it is still on there nicely, other patches are barely holding on and its kind of a pain to scrape it off in tiny chunks.

Going to vacuum out the sides and cover what I can in rust reformer just to be safe. Once that's done I'll have to put mat down there too.
 
Decided to change my spark plugs since it's too cold to do sound deadening work. I probably won't be able to do the rest of it until mid-march because of outdoor temps. Engine runs much smoother and quieter now.

Since progress has grinded to a halt on the interior work due to weather I'll write out my plans so far.

Interior Floor
  1. Starting from the rear forward. Seal holes and prep trunk floor for sound deadening
  2. Remove stock deadener from this area. (Only the passenger side rear quarter is left)
  3. Apply new deadener to cargo floors and rear quarters with seam tape on floor
  4. Apply rust reformer to rear seat back and base. (find a new seat base cover because mine is missing)
  5. Remove interior seats, carpet and stock sound deadening on the floors
  6. Apply new deadener to these areas (80m Kilmat and 150m MLV on top)
  7. Prep and install new carpet
  8. Re-install seats
Dash
  1. Acquire FJ62 dash components needed for the swap
  2. Rehab said components because the truck they were pulled from was in rougher shape than the pictures let on
  3. Decide on dash finish (either refinish in the original grey or wrap in black leather with no padding)
  4. Repaint stock gauges while they're out
  5. Swap dash lights to LED
  6. Replace HVAC components and re-seal the joints with new foam
  7. Replace stock sound deadening on firewall
  8. Install
General
  1. Need to get new seatbelts all around for sure. Going with the shoulder belts for the rear. All in black.
  2. The seat belt cover panels I got for the front when I grabbed the FJ62 dash are so thin that I'm planning on getting the Trail Tailor panels instead. I can see why the stock units crack. (If someone wants a good set in grey, let me know and we can work something out).
  3. I wanted BMW seats but since I've gotten the truck the old school headrest shape has grown on me. Might get a set of Recaros instead. Less wiring involved too.
  4. Switching to black leather where the dark brown leather is on the door panels and rear seats. The brown pattern will also be switched out for another pattern. (Think similar to what Icon 4x4 does).
  5. I need a double DIN headunit for the new dash and need to decide on what/where speakers I want to run.
 
Charcoal Canister Replacement

Toyota has discontinued our charcoal canisters and the most widely used replacement piece is the ACDelco 215-153. You can find one here. Signs that your isn't working properly are pressurized gas tanks with air rushing out when the gas cap is removed, rough idle on startup, needing to feather the throttle on startup (cold weather is the exception) and running rich.

This piece is responsible for a few things. It serves as a vent for the fuel bowl in your carburetor, it regulates pressure in your gas tank, and it prevents condensation build-up in your tank. If enough condensation builds up in your tank your fuel will contain trace amounts of water. Over time you can foul your injectors and spark plugs if this does not get fixed. This is mostly a collection of information and photos I've found on the forum, most of which can be found here, with some added details. Their photos are better than mine and I don't see the point in adding duplicates.

To remove the OEM cannister you'll need:
  • 8mm socket
  • 10mm socket
  • 12mm socket
  • Extensions are nice to have but not necessary. I used a 1/4in ratchet and about 12" of extensions due to space constraints.
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This is what you'll see on the passenger side of your engine. Red box is what is being removed. The blue circle is one of two 10mm bolts that need to be removed to loosen the mounting bracket for the OEM cannister, the other is directly below it. The green circle shows the location of one out of four 12mm bolts that I needed to remove to take the mounting brackets out of the vehicle. The replacement cannister is larger than our OEM units and I couldn't make it work with the brackets in place. There is also a 10mm bolt that holds some lines to the cannister mounting bracket that will need to be removed. You can remount those lines to the uprights that held the cannister mounting bracket in place.


IMG-1625.jpg

The last item holding your cannister in the vehicle are two 8mm bolts on the bottom that vent the tank to the atmosphere. It was easier for me to unbolt this fitting because the line connecting to the atmospheric vent was as hard as a rock. It's easiest to unbolt this from the under the truck using a couple extensions.


Vapor.JPG

1. The vent line to your fuel tank.
2. Purge line
3. Vent Control Valve (VCV)

Canisters.jpg

This is how the old lines will connect to the new charcoal canister. You'll need to combine the outside lines through a tee connector.

Charcoal Canister 1.jpg

And this is how it should look when you're done.

I want to add information in the mounting and line setup. You can make 5/16" fuel line work for all of the connections but you will have to be careful with the VCV. The elbow that joins the valve to the original canister that is most likely too fragile to re-use so keep that in mind. A better size line for the VCV would be 3/8" but a 5/16" can be massaged onto it if you've got strong fingers. I bought five feet (more than enough for mistakes) of 5/16" fuel line and a 3-way brass tee connector rated for fuel as well as some zip ties for mounting. Hose clamps are not necessary here because none of these are high pressure lines.

I used zip ties to keep the cannister snug to the original bracket uprights and if I go back to make it cleaner I'll update this.



 
Charcoal Canister Replacement

Toyota has discontinued our charcoal canisters and the most widely used replacement piece is the ACDelco 215-153. You can find one here. Signs that your isn't working properly are pressurized gas tanks with air rushing out when the gas cap is removed, rough idle on startup, needing to feather the throttle on startup (cold weather is the exception) and running rich.

This piece is responsible for a few things. It serves as a vent for the fuel bowl in your carburetor, it regulates pressure in your gas tank, and it prevents condensation build-up in your tank. If enough condensation builds up in your tank your fuel will contain trace amounts of water. Over time you can foul your injectors and spark plugs if this does not get fixed. This is mostly a collection of information and photos I've found on the forum, most of which can be found here, with some added details. Their photos are better than mine and I don't see the point in adding duplicates.

To remove the OEM cannister you'll need:
  • 8mm socket
  • 10mm socket
  • 12mm socket
  • Extensions are nice to have but not necessary. I used a 1/4in ratchet and about 12" of extensions due to space constraints.
View attachment 2919479
This is what you'll see on the passenger side of your engine. Red box is what is being removed. The blue circle is one of two 10mm bolts that need to be removed to loosen the mounting bracket for the OEM cannister, the other is directly below it. The green circle shows the location of one out of four 12mm bolts that I needed to remove to take the mounting brackets out of the vehicle. The replacement cannister is larger than our OEM units and I couldn't make it work with the brackets in place. There is also a 10mm bolt that holds some lines to the cannister mounting bracket that will need to be removed. You can remount those lines to the uprights that held the cannister mounting bracket in place.


View attachment 2919486
The last item holding your cannister in the vehicle are two 8mm bolts on the bottom that vent the tank to the atmosphere. It was easier for me to unbolt this fitting because the line connecting to the atmospheric vent was as hard as a rock. It's easiest to unbolt this from the under the truck using a couple extensions.


View attachment 2919456
1. The vent line to your fuel tank.
2. Purge line
3. Vent Control Valve (VCV)

View attachment 2919454
This is how the old lines will connect to the new charcoal canister. You'll need to combine the outside lines through a tee connector.

View attachment 2919455
And this is how it should look when you're done.

I want to add information in the mounting and line setup. You can make 5/16" fuel line work for all of the connections but you will have to be careful with the VCV. The elbow that joins the valve to the original canister that is most likely too fragile to re-use so keep that in mind. A better size line for the VCV would be 3/8" but a 5/16" can be massaged onto it if you've got strong fingers. I bought five feet (more than enough for mistakes) of 5/16" fuel line and a 3-way brass tee connector rated for fuel as well as some zip ties for mounting. Hose clamps are not necessary here because none of these are high pressure lines.

I used zip ties to keep the cannister snug to the original bracket uprights and if I go back to make it cleaner I'll update this.



This is the most concise way I've seen this laid out. It's on my list of "I'll get there eventually" items, and this really helps it move up a few spots. Thanks!
 
Rear Grommets

I've had some water buildup in the rear quarters so I've been chasing down any potential leaks. There are four drain holes (two per side) in the cavities on either side of the trunk as well as a grommet where the fuel filler neck passes through the body down to the tank. I had less than a quarter tank of gas left when I made this fix as the fuel entrance into the tank will be open.

To do this work you'll need:
  • 10mm socket
  • Extensions
  • Large Phillips Head Scredriver
  • Something to pry with (I used a flathead)
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Fuel filler neck grommet OEM part number. The four plugs you'll need are 90950-01826 and they just pop right in.


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The view you're greeted by when you get under your trunk on the passenger side. You can see how decrepit my fuel filler neck grommet is. There are four 10mm bolts, one on each corner. The rear two only have to be loosened as the skid plate can slide in and out.

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This is the rubber hose that joins the fuel filler neck to your gas tank. A clamp on each side holds it in place and you can either use a Phillips or the 10mm socket. Before removing this make sure the OEM piece is good enough to reuse or have a new part standing by.


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I removed both Phillips round bolts holding the fuel filler neck to the fuel door area as well as the single 10mm bolt holding the neck to the rear quarter support (No photo here because of the 5 picture limit). I wanted to do this to give me some wiggle room to help get the factory rubber connection hose off.

To remove the stock hose after the brackets were loosened, I pulled towards the passenger side, forcing the rubber hose higher onto the fuel neck. The hose should come off the gas tank side fairly easily and then you can get it off of the fuel filler neck.

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Reattach the 10mm bolt holding the neck to the rear quarter support as well as the two Phillips round bolts in the gas cap compartment. This is important so you can make sure the neck is sitting where it's supposed to when you install the new grommet. The replacement grommet will look like it won't fit until you get in on and the side with the small lip faces upwards. Work the lip onto the body, it'll fit but might take awhile to get seated.

To reinstall the connecting hose do the removal in reverse. Check that the hose doesn't have any debris in it before you reinstall it because anything in the hose is going into your gas tank. Start with the filler neck side and then the tank side. To make it easier on myself I folded the hose slightly to help getting it onto the gas tank side. This is why it's important to check if your original hose is in decent shape. I used a flathead to get the last part of the hose over the gas tank fitting.

Reinstall the hose clamps and the skid plate and hope that you attached the hose correctly or you'll be leaking fuel at your next fill up.
 
Great write up, thanks! I need to do this mod more for the filler neck hose.....mine was patched with something red the PO used. Its an endless rabbit hole, but you should consider getting a real deal gas cap! Mine had a cheesy aftermarket locking cap, inside the locked door......fort knox style.....the PO never gave me the key. It was actually hard to get the thing off and not have the plastic pieces fall down into the tank.....at a gas station on empty.

OEM , Cap 77310-12100
 
Great write up, thanks! I need to do this mod more for the filler neck hose.....mine was patched with something red the PO used. Its an endless rabbit hole, but you should consider getting a real deal gas cap! Mine had a cheesy aftermarket locking cap, inside the locked door......fort knox style.....the PO never gave me the key. It was actually hard to get the thing off and not have the plastic pieces fall down into the tank.....at a gas station on empty.

OEM , Cap 77310-12100
To be honest I didn’t even think my cap wasn’t OEM. But now that I know that it’s not it bugs me a little.
 
Nice thread, looking forward to following.
I’ll soon be doing my own soon as my 60 needs fresh love after 10 years of ownership.
Don’t know if I missed it but since you are going to daily it in Va. do you plan to undercoat?
 
View attachment 2919486
The last item holding your cannister in the vehicle are two 8mm bolts on the bottom that vent the tank to the atmosphere. It was easier for me to unbolt this fitting because the line connecting to the atmospheric vent was as hard as a rock. It's easiest to unbolt this from the under the truck using a couple extensions.

Good write-up! I'll add that one thing I learned recently is there's supposed to be a small section of metal tubing that connects to the canister vent hose and loops around into a nearby hole on the frame, so that the canister vents into the frame rail instead of the engine bay.
 
Nice thread, looking forward to following.
I’ll soon be doing my own soon as my 60 needs fresh love after 10 years of ownership.
Don’t know if I missed it but since you are going to daily it in Va. do you plan to undercoat?

Thanks and glad you have you! We rarely get snow here so and I work from home so I'm not too worried about the undercoating. I did have a body shop coat the wheel wells as those are known issues on these regardless of location. Checking under the car at least once a month to monitor the frame and underside of the body.

Good write-up! I'll add that one thing I learned recently is there's supposed to be a small section of metal tubing that connects to the canister vent hose and loops around into a nearby hole on the frame, so that the canister vents into the frame rail instead of the engine bay.

Thank you! Yeah I decided to leave that frame mounted vent attached. Not too worried about it since nothing else is touching it.
 
Got a new job, moved and made minimal progress since last year. Spent some time enjoying the truck as it is.

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Got a new camera and it's surprisingly better than my iPhone. Pictures have to be downgraded in quality to be posted here but the difference is still noticeable.

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Grill is semi out of focus here but that's a user error. The manual focus on the prime lens is more engaging than letting it auto focus.
 
Plans changed and instead of refreshing the motor and keeping it healthy while daily driving it, I'm planning a swap. Previously, everything I did was outside and had to be finished in a day or two because the 60 was my daily. The new place has a two car garage and there's no need to rush anything so I'll be able to do everything "right". I'm finally able to buy tools that have a dedicated spot instead of carrying everything I need out of the house and back in when I'm done. People that have worked in both scenarios will get it.

Spent months researching motors, reading swap threads and looking at Marketplace. Escalades are plentiful and surprisingly cheap where we are now. Settled on the L92 motor from the 2007-09 model and was fully prepared to buy the entire vehicle and remove what I wanted while selling the rest. Higher mileage examples can be found for around $5k where I am and sellers are often asking $3-4k for the motor itself.

Somehow managed to talk someone down to $2k on a motor only sale instead, rented a u-Haul and did the sketchiest transport job I've ever done. Smallest truck I could get with a ramp because I didn't have a cherry picker at the house yet and needed a large pry bar to get it over the lip.
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Got my engine hoist/stand and broke it down over several weekends. Had to buy the m18 high torque impact to break the crank bolt loose. My poor m12 didn't have enough beans. Word of advice, do not get this engine stand over the cheaper, non-folding version from HF. I had a hell of a time getting this on the stand safely because the stand doesn't fit all the way into the V of the engine hoist. Probably easier with help, a nightmare to do alone on a slanted driveway.

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I don't have many breakdown photos handy but this motor was clearly looked after. None of the rockers, pushrods, lifters nor camshaft had any pitting or excessive wear. Many of the gaskets looked less than 3k miles old and nothing was seized. All good signs on a 267k mile motor that I've never heard run. I don't know of any builds that show LS breakdowns but I can explain the architecture and what to look for if anyone is interested. Most of what I've seen here is junkyard drop-ins.

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Cylinder walls show no gouges and there's no wear patter from the rings near the top of the bore. There's still some visible original cross hatching on the walls of the cylinders which is a good sign. My machinist will have to fill me in on the discoloration on the cylinder walls but I'm not particularly worried.

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Good signs this motor was taken care of. Newer valley cover gasket that normally doesn't get addressed.

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Buttery smooth, no pitting and freely rolling lifters.

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Everything shown here is obviously high mileage based on the coloring but even that oil pan gasket is new.

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Fully broken down as far as I am able. Cam bearings and a couple freeze plugs remain because I don't have the tools to remove them. Next step with this is a couple calls to some LS shops to see if I have the right parts in mind for what I want to do before taking it to the machine shop for some cleaning and clearance work.

Chose this motor because it's a 6.2L aluminum block that is essentially an LS3. Internally, the differences are hollow exhaust valves in the corvette and solid valves in the truck motors. Slightly different compression numbers and camshaft. Externally it has the truck intake, truck accessory drive and that's about it.

The physical casting of the heads as well as the motor are identical to the LS3. For the amount I'll spend on this motor it will cost as much as a crate LS3 but this will make more power. Parts are interchangeable and bolt right on so it makes sense for my use case to get this over something new. Current plan is to go with a corvette accessory drive because it sits tighter to the block and it will give me extra space between the belt and the radiator for either a physically larger fan setup, or a thicker radiator. For the internals, I need to make some calls to see if I actually need the parts in my cart or if they're overkill for my goals.
 
My wife got me some awesome Christmas gifts. Peep the cool flag above my toolbox in the post above, and this awesome painting she had done of the truck. I'll link the artist when I remember their IG tag (https://www.instagram.com/pinstripe_chris/?hl=en) . She also managed to track down a 1984 owner's manual that's in fantastic condition.

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