cps432
SILVER Star
I’m running a 100% aluminum radiator. Champion brand 3 row. It works really great, but maybe runs a little cooler than the OEM brass unit. Maybe painting the aluminum black would have been worth while.
Abandoned 84 FJ60 gets some love, and a 4bt! (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Thechief86
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #62
I think a little cooler might be a good thing for me, as I hope to wheel at Moab with this rig in the next couple of years.
cps432
SILVER Star
If it goes too cool for too long you’ll build up sludge. But who’s counting at 280,000+ miles?
- Thread starter
- #64
You know, I pulled the valve cover to free up some stuck lifters, and at 388k miles, there really wasn't much sludge in this engine, and the oil looked pretty clean when I first checked it. Once we tried starting it though, water in the engine mixed in and milkshaked the oil before we got it running.
After flushing the engine out with clean oil, the new oil stayed pretty nice, at least for the 30 minutes or so I had it running.
I'm really thinking (hoping) I may be able to depend on this engine for a little while before having to rebuild it!
cps432
SILVER Star
388K? Yeah that baby is just getting broken in! But seriously, I’ve seen people running the 2F in the 500K club. In fact there’s someone on the forum here who makes Toyota badges for different mile stones. I need a 300K badge very soon.
cps432
SILVER Star
Unofficial Toyota High Mileage Badges.
To purchase easier - Toyota/Lexus High Mileage Club - https://3b59c7.myshopify.com/ -I will always answer the email listed here as well to send out a invoice to avoid paying website costs. Tends to be cheaper too without all their fees. We've all thought about it. I have dreamed of it. Decided...
forum.ih8mud.com
- Thread starter
- #67
So tomorrow and Thursday I plan to clean the 60 out and remove the seats and carpets, and do everything I possibly can to clean and sanitize the inside of the thing. Once I have the radiator/engine sorted out, I'll probably start cleaning the outside, and working on fixing dents, as I have a few. Once I'm satisfied with that, I'm thinking about a low budget DIY paint job, as close to the original color as I can manage.
I am very tempted to do a spray on bedliner on the entire vehicle, colormatched to the original blue. I have a friend who can help me do a really tidy job of this, and we have done several vehicles this way, including my old Jeep XJ.
I realize that once done, it is permanent, and impossible to remove, etc. But other than hurting potential resale value to a purist, I can't really think of any reason to not do it.
I plan to lift and wheel this thing eventually, and I'm selling my Jeep with plans for the 60 to replace it. Backwoods Pinstriping of conventional coatings is inevitable, but a rubberized coating will hold up better.
The bedliner job would take me a weekend and less than $1000 as well. Good paint would be much more, even if I did it myself.
I am very tempted to do a spray on bedliner on the entire vehicle, colormatched to the original blue. I have a friend who can help me do a really tidy job of this, and we have done several vehicles this way, including my old Jeep XJ.
I realize that once done, it is permanent, and impossible to remove, etc. But other than hurting potential resale value to a purist, I can't really think of any reason to not do it.
I plan to lift and wheel this thing eventually, and I'm selling my Jeep with plans for the 60 to replace it. Backwoods Pinstriping of conventional coatings is inevitable, but a rubberized coating will hold up better.
The bedliner job would take me a weekend and less than $1000 as well. Good paint would be much more, even if I did it myself.
I would try cleaning up the original paint as much as possible first.
- Thread starter
- #69
I will try a good wash, but at the very least, I will have to do something to the roof. It basically has no paint left on it, and is pretty evenly covered in surface rust. If left alone, it will only get worse.
The hood isn't much better. It is worn down nearly to the original primer.
I'd bet this damage was from an overzealous PO that kept the thing spotless and shiny for as long as he could, and polished all the paint off the damn thing, lol.
my truck is similar but not so much rust yet. Mine is all from sun damage....years of life sitting outside in the Southwest has cooked the paint right down to the primer or bare metal i some places. For now I keep the truck in the garage and keep the surface clean. I'll have to do some level of paint spray in the future. You could pop your hood off sand it to bare metal, prime and paint. Do the same with the roof and even with a basic paint job help protect any further degredation until you are ready to do something more aggressive..
But other than hurting potential resale value to a purist, I can't really think of any reason to not do it.
When water gets under the bedliner and rust starts, it will be extra evil. I have seen old trucks that were mostly a bedliner shell holding together rust flakes. Rarely do you get a perfect seal with bedliner around the rain gutters (top and bottom of gutters).
When water gets under the bedliner and rust starts, it will be extra evil. I have seen old trucks that were mostly a bedliner shell holding together rust flakes. Rarely do you get a perfect seal with bedliner around the rain gutters (top and bottom of gutters).
- Thread starter
- #72
This morning I took my radiator to the shop to see if it could be repaired, and the guy quoted me $150 to crimp off and seal 4 fin tubes, and said he couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't fail at a different area later on.
I figured at that price, I'll just order an aluminum one for a few dollars more. In the meantime, I'll spend some time cleaning/removing the interior and seeing what's salvageable. I think for now, my plan will be to adapt some junkyard seats, but I'll remove the covers and foam from the originals (for sanitation reasons) and store the frames in my garage attic for a later date when I may want to re-upholster them, when the goal is more restoration rather than just setting up a backup vehicle/weekend camping rig.
I figured at that price, I'll just order an aluminum one for a few dollars more. In the meantime, I'll spend some time cleaning/removing the interior and seeing what's salvageable. I think for now, my plan will be to adapt some junkyard seats, but I'll remove the covers and foam from the originals (for sanitation reasons) and store the frames in my garage attic for a later date when I may want to re-upholster them, when the goal is more restoration rather than just setting up a backup vehicle/weekend camping rig.
Gretsch
SILVER Star
I got about a year out of my OEM original after it was hot tanked and repaired before it developed a pinhole leak. Replaced with a new CSF and never looked back. HTH.
- Thread starter
- #74
I just ordered a Champion 3 row all aluminum one.
Lifetime warranty and free shipping had it at $250, so half of a new CSF brass one. I think I'll be very happy with it. Also, if one day the 2f isn't viable anymore, it looks like it will have no trouble accommodating a V8 or diesel swap.
I really like the idea of every replacement part being a lifetime item or an upgrade. That path may be more expensive, but maybe will help me keep my dream ride going for many years to come.
Michael B
SILVER Star
Great work! I just read your entire thread. I look forward to seeing you get it back on the road/trails. A couple of things to understand, the stock mechanical fuel pump doesn’t deliver enough pressure for the Webber. That’s why the electric unit is there. The 2F has a habit of cracking heads. That may be where the water is coming from. If the engine needs to be rebuilt there is a mud member in Mississippi that does a terrific job of rebuilding these engines and installing Sniper efi on them as well.
Keep up the good work!
Keep up the good work!
- Thread starter
- #76
Oh man, I sure hope the head isn't cracked!
That would really slow down my progress, lol.
If that is the case, I'll need to find another head, or preferably a lower mileage engine.
It's raining here today, so I didn't get as much done to the interior as I had planned, but I did remove 2 full contractor bags worth of garbage, critter poop, and old yucky clothes.
Through this endeavor, I learned a few things about the PO, and made some assumptions along the way.
I learned that the PO was a disabled veteran, a diabetic, was born in 1959, and was a total slob.
I also think he continued to drive the car loooong after the radiator was damaged, as I found about 20 antifreeze jugs full of straight water, as well as a few empty ones.
I think he must have done quite a few of these jackleg repairs along the way himself, as I found quite a few nice wrenches, screwdrivers, wire nuts, belts, hoses, electrical tape, a couple quarts of Castrol GTX 20W-50, some power steering fluid, a Saginaw steering pump (with TPI billet pulley), and most of the missing heating system components, such as coolant control valves, etc.
I kept any tools, parts, or fluids that I thought I may use in the future.
I'll probably go buy a cheap shop vac later and try to suck up as much cat/dog/racoon/rat hair/feces/bones/teeth as I can before I remove the seats and carpet.
Hopefully when the new radiator gets here I can figure out if the engine will be ok or not.
That cracked head news kinda worries me, except the oil didn't really get milky from driving the thing home, so maybe I got lucky? Anything is possible, but as my late father would say, "if it was rainin nanner puddin I'd catch a bucket of sheeit"!
Lol
Photo is after I removed 2 bags of garbage from the rear cargo area. I already feel better...
- Thread starter
- #77
Out of worry for a cracked head and apparently very limited supply of correct 61040 castings, I just called Headworks of Nashville and got a quote to steam clean, pressure/vacuum check, and rebuild my current head, and the price to do all that is very reasonable at about $350.
The guy seemed confident he could repair the head if cracked, and could include that in the cost if necessary. That's great news! If I decide to go ahead and do the head gasket, I'll take him the head for some peace of mind at that price.
He did say that out of several Land Cruiser heads that he has reworked in the last couple of years, he hasn't actually come across many cracked ones, especially in the later 2F years, and said he believes them to be very robust.
That call made me feel much better, lol.
The guy seemed confident he could repair the head if cracked, and could include that in the cost if necessary. That's great news! If I decide to go ahead and do the head gasket, I'll take him the head for some peace of mind at that price.
He did say that out of several Land Cruiser heads that he has reworked in the last couple of years, he hasn't actually come across many cracked ones, especially in the later 2F years, and said he believes them to be very robust.
That call made me feel much better, lol.
Last edited:
cps432
SILVER Star
I’ve realized that half the things we all do to our cruisers is not out of necessity so much as it’s for peace of mind.
Hey, I'm up in Clarksville and run an FJ55 with a 2F.
On the milky oil thing; 100% of the time I unstick an engine, rebuild an engine, or work on the head, that first oil change comes out milky and sludgy. At first I'd panic, but now I just change the oil and keep an eye on it.
I just assume it's the crap that normally gets loosened up or whatnot after you work on it.
Having just replaced a burnt valve on mine, I can't imagine how the 2F would have issues with cracked heads. That is one big-*ssed hunk of iron.
You have an excellent FJ60, body-wise. As my 55 rusts down around my ears, I envy you.
On the ignition system; I ditched my OEM system in favor of a DUI with Livewires once my ignitor module took a crap. Even used ignitor modules for OEM are hideously expensive. But if it works for now, run it as is.
I run a Champion radiator on my '67 Mustang with '95 full roller 5.0 GT, and it is, indeed, too good at cooling. The bubba fix for that is to put a piece of cardboard over a portion of the radiator, cut just big enough to compensate for the excess cooling. And then cut it down if it gets too hot, or remove it altogether.
I look forward to seeing your updates; maybe we can compare rigs in person, since you are like an hour from my house.
On the milky oil thing; 100% of the time I unstick an engine, rebuild an engine, or work on the head, that first oil change comes out milky and sludgy. At first I'd panic, but now I just change the oil and keep an eye on it.
I just assume it's the crap that normally gets loosened up or whatnot after you work on it.
Having just replaced a burnt valve on mine, I can't imagine how the 2F would have issues with cracked heads. That is one big-*ssed hunk of iron.
You have an excellent FJ60, body-wise. As my 55 rusts down around my ears, I envy you.
On the ignition system; I ditched my OEM system in favor of a DUI with Livewires once my ignitor module took a crap. Even used ignitor modules for OEM are hideously expensive. But if it works for now, run it as is.
I run a Champion radiator on my '67 Mustang with '95 full roller 5.0 GT, and it is, indeed, too good at cooling. The bubba fix for that is to put a piece of cardboard over a portion of the radiator, cut just big enough to compensate for the excess cooling. And then cut it down if it gets too hot, or remove it altogether.
I look forward to seeing your updates; maybe we can compare rigs in person, since you are like an hour from my house.
- Thread starter
- #80
Sounds good, man! I found a cleanish 55 one time in West TN but couldn't get the owner to even consider letting me buy it. That was at least 10 years ago. This 60 was kind of an anomaly, being solid and cheap at the same time. I only acquired it through persistence and luck (good on mine, bad on the owner, as he's dead now).
I've been trying to get this thing for over a year, and it finally paid off, along with making a great friend in the owner of the shop.
Good to hear about the milky oil! I wasn't too worried about it, but one must consider all possible reasons a vehicle was parked when trying to bring it back from the dead.
I would still be happy to have this thing even if there was no saving the 2F, but I'd probably be buying a wrecked Tahoe as well and swapping in the LS drivetrain without much hesitation.
I know myself, though, and know that I love the Cruisers for what they are with the slow ass 2F and the 4 speed, and for their legendary reliability and capability.
This thing already makes me super happy.
