Build Thread 1982 tan fj60 "Bam Bam" (1 Viewer)

[caladin]

I'm starting a build thread for my project called Bam Bam,
questions will still be in a seperate thread, but updatey type stuff will be here.

Thanks,

Eric-

 

[caladin]

Short list of what I've done so far, if you want pics let me know, so far most of it is pretty boring

Flush the tar-nation out of the coolant system,
Replace radio with bluetooth model
Fix driver door speaker wiring so it worked
Replace headlights with LED & Harness
Fix winch electrical problems, so that winch actually works
Wind new steel cable on winch, add hook and stopper
Fix radio electrical problem
Remove upper therm stat housing to find nasty concretions and a damage upper housing.
Replace dome slight front and rear with LED
Remove ash tray and replace with 5 slot Carling rocker switch bezel(generic amazon equivalent DOES NOT Fit, cracked my ashtray bezel)
install switches and usb/volt meters in same
Replace battery b in 2 battery system with working battery
Replace front and rear wipers with Rainex wipers
Wash and detail in and out.
Cut welded in gun racks out of back area
cover grommet holes in rear hatch that are letting in water (*water is still getting in...)
Start swapping dash lights to LED

I'm trying to do something small every week night, and tackle larger issue on weekends.

Outstanding Major issue, preventing it from being any fun
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Small Crack in head gasket causing over heat
Possible concretion of coolant channels in block
Gas tank that was flushed, but clogs up if run past idle (fuel sock was added, i think it's getting covered with crud., otherwise it's the carb all crudded up)
massively leaking transfer case front output shaft seal

 

[SteveH]

You certainly have a lot of 'tar-nation' in your cooling system. Wow.

 

[caladin]

Upper thermostat housing

Upper thermo housing

Got new housing, going to install it, need to take the head off and check the internal cooling passages

Put vinegar straight on it, no bubbles at all, so what ever it is, it's not Texas hard water lime deposits.. Trucks been in Texas its whole life.

 

[SteveH]

On problem I had with a rusty block (stored for many years) is that after I installed it in my truck, all the rust particles clogged my radiator, and the truck would overheat on the freeway. Beware of this happening with that engine. If you need a new radiator, I would make SURE that block is a lot cleaner than it appears to be.

 

[caladin]

Need to get a radiator, taking off the brush guard. Too hard trying to work around it.

Last 4 bolts are
Carriage bolts that of course are spinning, hate to grind a slot in them, but that's my plan for tomorrow

 

[Perovich]

That cooling system, holy cow... glad to see it's going to get some well-needed love. Looks good!

 

[caladin]

I got the a few more things done than above, and then paused cause of the cold and kinda never got back to it. She sat for around 2 years.

I got the AC mostly resurrected, by throwing money at it.

I'm having the circuit breaker issue, tried a modern 30a circuit breaker instead of a fuse, and the wires got -Super hot-. So I'm going to try the fuse swap next, but I'm pretty sure, no matter what I'm going to have to replace the blower. I'd like to rebuild the old one, but don't have a source for brushes. I could probably muddle my way through the rest.

but if i just run the AC one notch below high (extra-medium) the breaker doesn't blow, so I have AC, after a fashion. Good enough to get it driving in Texas.

The truck got some work done in 2010 way before I bought it, and then basically sat in a field for 10 years, because of an unsolvable over heating issue. Lots of issues to fix because of that.

I have liquid head gasket in it now. It's not a pretty fix, but the over heating seems solved, till it goes out again.
The leak was all top end, no coolant in the oil, so liquid head gasket was a reasonable gamble. It's good enough to figure out all the other problems.

In the last 2-3 years, the furthest I've driven it is the corner gas station (about 2 weeks ago), so It'll hold for a bit. if it goes again, I'll limp it home and learn how to do it right. Right now I'm focused on all the other things that is wrong with it.

I put in an electronic battery controller that keeps the batteries separate and charged, but if you can't start switches to the spare battery. Better than the old Boat switch.
I fixed all the stuff you saw above and a few more,
I cracked the radiator so I swapped to a 3 or 4 core aluminum one (I can't remember)
Split the fan shroud.
The truck got a recall gas tank like less than 100 miles before it was parked, but it was parked with no gas in it, so the pickup tube had a hole, and the fule level sender was frozen up , got both of those replaced, (it took alot more work to diagnose it than that sounds like) but i have the ability to use my whole gas tank, not just the upper third, and i now have a functional gas gauge. (YES!)
I did some wiring work, that I need to finish. swappede unwanted spots to switches. So lots of switches now, most of which are blank plates.

In the process of swapping to stainless battery trays, because I have a thing for stainless.
I cut the obnoxious rifle rack that took up the whole back cargo area of the truck, i need to go back and get the stubs out.

But once I fix the hyper flash issue, (just because LED vendor lied to me) I'll be ready to take her on the road for trips around town.
She's 2wd only because the front output seal was shot, I got it replaced so the xfer case holds oil, but the bearing is shot too, so I need to take it to get rebuilt.

But the cool thing is, I'm excited about working on her again, and getting a little bit done each night again. I'm super stoked about Ac+fuel+flash, as that's my driver her line.

Thanks,

E-

 

[caladin]

Replaced blower and fans resister with denso from toyota Matt, and now my ac breaker doesn't pop any more!

Putting in a tuffy console and a magnetic kill switch.

Edit, still pops on a really hot Texas day after about 20 min on max fan.

 

[caladin]

Installed a tuffy center console.
Details:
Fj 60 tuffy console install - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fj-60-tuffy-console-install.1298003/