Building my 93 FZJ80. (1 Viewer)

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Feb 10, 2013
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Adding to the tons of build threads đź‘Ť

I bought this green 1993 FZJ80 a year ago for $4k out in Vegas. It has 288k miles, triple locked, was repainted and super dirty inside. Not sure how many owners its had. The PO said he had a shop do the head gasket and rebuild the transmission. It shifts and drove super smooth. It passed CA smog and I parked it in my garage. At the price it was offered I couldn't pass it up, especially considering what cruisers are going for these days.

truck.jpg


Known issues to fix:

1. Power seats don't move. They get power and want to move which leads me to believe the plastic gears are broken. I ordered replacement gears from Gamiviti
2. The tailgate does not close flush. It has a clean title but its had to have been hit or something. This is low on my list of things to worry about right now.
3. The key wont go in the key holes on the doors. Only way to lock the doors is with the key fob which works sometimes and sometimes doesn't and sets off the alarm. I plan on removing the alarm completely and hopefully the key holes are just gunked up otherwise I'll have to get new cylinders.
4. The seats are torn up so new upholstery is needed.
5. The timing is messed up and the distributor is at its max adjustment. See my thread here There will be more about this in follow up post.
6. The master cylinder is leaking.
7. There is a parasitic drain.
8. Needs a knuckle rebuild
9. Tons more I'm sure I've yet to find.

My future goals are to get it lifted, on 35s, armored up, regeared all the fun stuff. But I gotta get it mechanically sound first. I'm not rich and work a ton so my updates will probably be slow compared to other build threads. But hopefully some of the things I document will help others.
 
So like I mentioned above when I bought the truck and took it to get smogged it passed first time. Only issue was the guy told me my timing was at 0TDC. Stock is supposed to be 3BTDC. I am allowed +/- 3 in CA so I passed with it at 0. But I wanted it to be in spec so when I got home I tried to fix it.

So I warmed the cruiser up, had it in neutral, AC off and E1 and TE1 jumped (confirmed with blinking CEL.) When I put my timing light on it showed 0TDC. So I go to adjust the distributor and find that its at its max adjustment. It can not be rotated any further in the correct direction. I made a thread here on mud that went multiple pages with nothing getting fixed. The consensus was either my harmonic balancer was broke or timing chain/cams were installed wrong when PO did head gasket.

So naturally this led me to pulling the engine out of the car for a complete rebuild because I don't trust any of the work the PO did and as I pulled things apart it made me even happier that I did.

PXL_20220721_211114820.jpg


Taking the engine out took me probably 8 working hours over a 3 day period. Wasn't really hard at all. I know people have a really hard time with the top two bell housing bolts. To get to those I removed the motor mounts and let the engine drop a couple inches. Then I bought these swivel head wrenches from amazon and was easily able to reach them from up top. No dropping the transmission or anything crazy required.

For tearing down the engine I followed OTRAMM's videos on Youtube

While tearing down the engine I discovered the PO hacked up my wiring harness. Instead of replacing broken connectors they just hardwired things together. Honestly there are a lot of wires that weren't even going to things. Electrical is the one thing I'm not very confident on so I am most likely going to look for a good used harness vs trying to fix their mess.
PXL_20220730_175515718.jpg


Here you can see where they just wired directly into a sensor.
PXL_20220721_205018499.jpg


and here you can see they just left these wires broke off.
PXL_20220721_205027903.jpg
 
So going further on the engine tear down I found a lot of cases where the PO used a bolt where there was originally a stud and used studs in a few places that originally had bolts. I would be lying if I said I've never done the same but the plan is to replace everything with correct bolts and studs when it comes time to put things back together.

I also noticed they either extremely over torqued multiple things or years of heat and grime just made some things near impossible to get off. Main example was the flex plate. Those bolts would not budge even with long breaker bars and applying heat. Eventually the bolts were completely rounded and I was to the point of considering cutting them off. I went out and bought a bolt extractor socket set from home depot and luckily those worked.

Next I got the head off. Here is a look at the head gasket and cylinders. For those of you more knowledgeable please chime in and left me know how the cylinder walls look.
PXL_20220730_164137928.jpg


#6 cylinder
PXL_20220730_164126705.jpg


Here is my timing chain. Looks like it was installed wrong because I believe the black chain to the bottom right should be indexed with the dot on the sprocket right?
PXL_20220730_164154041.jpg
 
That's pretty much where I am at right now. On my next days off the goal is to get the oil pans off and timing chain cover off. Then I gotta find a shop for head work, clean parts and start ordering gaskets and replacement parts.
 
Following.
 
Today took the oil pans and timing cover off. The PO must have used a whole bottle of RTV per oil pan because both were ridiculous to get off. The internals on the block look fine to my untrained eye and everything looks pretty clean. Now that everything is apart I am going to call some shops about head work tomorrow and order the gasket kits I need. So probably wont be any big updates for a bit till I get the head back and start putting things together.

While I wait for that the plan is to clean the block and clean the engine bay.

PXL_20220802_220454787.jpg


PXL_20220802_220505986.jpg
 
List of parts ordered. This is just the first round of parts ordering and is primarily for the engine. There are still some hoses and other things I need but I'm not in a hurry so I can order as I go.
Most the parts were ordered from partsouq and Salinas Toyota which had better prices on a few things like the spark plug wires and had some things in stock that partsouq did not.

411166036​
GASKET KIT ENGINE1
1354066011​
TENSIONER ASSY, CHAIN, NO.11
1350666010​
CHAIN SUB-ASSY1
1355966011​
SLIPPER, CHAIN TENSIONER1
1352366020​
GEAR OR SPROCKET, CAMSHAFT TIMING1
1352166020​
GEAR OR SPROCKET, CRANKSHAFT TIMING1
9091002111​
BOLT(FOR CYLINDER HEAD SET)14
9020112222​
WASHER, PLATE(FOR CYLINDER HEAD SET)14
1132866020​
GASKET, TIMING GEAR OR CHAIN COVER1
9672124022​
RING, O (FOR DIAPHRAGM CYLINDER)1
9676124042​
RING, O1
9012610006​
BOLT, STUD(FOR MANIFOLD TO CYLINDER HEAD)4
9017910070​
NUT4
9017910128​
NUT13
9011610169​
BOLT, STUD(FOR EXHAUST MANIFOLD TO CYLINDER HEAD)13
9955510200​
HOSE(FOR WATER BY-PASS PIPE NO.4)1
1626766020​
HOSE, WATER BY-PASS, NO.31
1626166040​
HOSE, WATER BY-PASS, NO.11
1626466021​
HOSE, WATER BY-PASS, NO.21
1657166030​
HOSE, RADIATOR, NO.11
1657266021​
HOSE, RADIATOR, NO.21
1657366010​
HOSE, RADIATOR, NO.31
8724060140​
VALVE ASSY, HEATER WATER1
2329141010​
INSULATOR, INJECTOR VIBRATION6
2227166010​
GASKET, THROTTLE BODY1
9048024015​
GROMMET, CHECK VALVE1
4477360150​
HOSE, UNION TO CHECK VALVE1
9099992003​
HOSE,VACUUM6
9091603117​
THERMOSTAT1
1634666020​
GASKET, THERMOSTAT1
9030129006​
RING, O(FOR WATER BY-PASS OUTLET)3
1226166021​
HOSE, VENTILATION1
1226266021​
HOSE, VENTILATION, NO.21
9048018001​
GROMMET(FOR VENTILATION SYSTEM)1
1912766020​
PACKING, DUST PROOF1
1910261240​
ROTOR SUB-ASSY, DISTRIBUTOR1
1236117011​
INSULATOR, ENGINE MOUNTING, FRONT2
9091009129​
COCK ASSY, DRAIN(FOR WATER INLET HOUSING)1
4529235050​
SEAL, MAIN SHAFT LOWER DUST1
9091711022​
FILTER ASSY, GAS1
9010512244​
BOLT, HEXAGON(FOR DRIVE PLATE SETTING)10
2328075010​
REGULATOR ASSY, FUEL PRESSURE1
9533406010​
HOSE, FUEL
1​
9091302096​
SEAL OR RING, O(FOR VALVE STEM OIL)12
9091302105​
SEAL OR RING, O(FOR VALVE STEM OIL)12
9030107001
6​
RING
O(FOR FUEL INJECTOR); O(FOR FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR); O(FOR PULSATION DAMPER).
1355266010
1​
GASKET(FOR CHAIN TENSIONER)
9030109002
1​
Fuel Injection Pressure Regulator O-Ring
9091921557
1​
Spark Plug Wire Set
1910166010
1​
Distributor Cap
1220435040
1​
PCV Valve
4473028010
1​
Power Brake Booster Check Valve
9048013005
6​
Fuel Injector Seal
 
a bit late to the party. Good work! ;)

To me the cylinder walls look quite good, I would have a trusted engine machinist measure them. I did my rebuild at 372k miles and they looked about the same. When my machinist measured them I was 100% sure he'd say I needed a re-bore. To my absolute joy and amazement he said all I needed was a hone. I did do pistons and rings though. I could have just done rings, but figured, what the heck.:meh:

Weird about the flexplate bolts, I'd guess you were the first in there. Mine came loose with my trusty IR air impact. Then again, I didn't have trouble with the HB bolt either. Go figure? I purchased a new wire harness (yikes! not cheap), Keeping the old one has already paid off for the times I've needed to unplug stuff that wasn't easy to see (02 sensors), I just go to the old harness and look at the connectors to see exactly how they unclip.:wrench:

I'm not sure about you, but I spent a bunch of time cleaning stuff. I found for any nuts, bolts and studs I'd re-use that if I put them in a vice and wire brushed them, they ended up looking like new and would likely torque more accurately.

Have fun with this adventure, I'll give it a :banana::banana: - - ha ha:bang::clap:
 
a bit late to the party. Good work! ;)

To me the cylinder walls look quite good, I would have a trusted engine machinist measure them. I did my rebuild at 372k miles and they looked about the same. When my machinist measured them I was 100% sure he'd say I needed a re-bore. To my absolute joy and amazement he said all I needed was a hone. I did do pistons and rings though. I could have just done rings, but figured, what the heck.:meh:

Weird about the flexplate bolts, I'd guess you were the first in there. Mine came loose with my trusty IR air impact. Then again, I didn't have trouble with the HB bolt either. Go figure? I purchased a new wire harness (yikes! not cheap), Keeping the old one has already paid off for the times I've needed to unplug stuff that wasn't easy to see (02 sensors), I just go to the old harness and look at the connectors to see exactly how they unclip.:wrench:

I'm not sure about you, but I spent a bunch of time cleaning stuff. I found for any nuts, bolts and studs I'd re-use that if I put them in a vice and wire brushed them, they ended up looking like new and would likely torque more accurately.

Have fun with this adventure, I'll give it a :banana::banana: - - ha ha:bang::clap:
I would buy a new harness but they don't make OBD1 harnesses anymore and finding a mint condition used one has been impossible so far.

I'm going to look into a parts washer or like a cleaning tumbler for all the hardware. I'm coming up on days off so cleaning is about the only thing I can do while I wait for parts.
 
I would buy a new harness but they don't make OBD1 harnesses anymore and finding a mint condition used one has been impossible so far.

I'm going to look into a parts washer or like a cleaning tumbler for all the hardware. I'm coming up on days off so cleaning is about the only thing I can do while I wait for parts.
I already had a little old school solvent based parts washer. Really great to have. I have a tumbler for cleaning brass rifle cartridges, I wonder if I could have used that for nuts and bolts? :oops:
I pulled my tranny and TC (per the FSM), Cleaning those two must have taken a dozen hours. And, they weren't at all greasy/oily, just 25 years of baked on dust & dirt. They looked pretty dang good going back in. Mostly, I did the cleaning so handling stuff was more pleasant during re-installation.

Have fun!:beer:
 
Head was dropped off today. They estimated about a week turn around so we shall see. Either way half my parts are held up at customs it seems so there is no rush.
 
Head was dropped off today. They estimated about a week turn around so we shall see. Either way half my parts are held up at customs it seems so there is no rush.
that's odd about customs. I had lots of shipments from both Japan and UAE and most of them were here faster than domestic on-line sources. I think I might have had 1 held in customs, but, I don't think it took too long.
 
that's odd about customs. I had lots of shipments from both Japan and UAE and most of them were here faster than domestic on-line sources. I think I might have had 1 held in customs, but, I don't think it took too long.
Yea the parts I ordered from the US haven't even shipped yet. The FedEx tracking for the held up shipment makes it sound like it was missing an inventory sheet or something. I'm assuming they contacted the seller, I'll give it another day or so and email partsouq and ask them.
 
So I got bad news from the machine shop. He called me in and showed me how whoever did the last head job grinded the valves down to far and unevenly. I need all new valves.

The valve guides where all dented and looks like someone used a screwdriver or something to hammer them in. He stated they also don't even look to be the right kind/size. I need all new guides.

Instead of buying all new parts his suggestion was to find a used head in better condition. His main concern is if the holes the valve guides go in are damaged it would be more in parts and labor than to just buy a non abused head and rebuild it.

Im looking for used heads and at all my other options. My parts are still held up at customs so still no rush. Partsouq included me in the email chain with FedEx but it hasn't got resolved yet.
 

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