12HT-swapped 1988 HJ60 in Melbourne

[AussieHJ6X]

From what you have said, I think your gauge and thermostat are working as they should. In cold weather mine barely moves - with coolant temps around 82-84, but towing my boat with aircond on in mid 40 degree heat in the north west of Western Australia the gauge will move up to the middle and Coplant temp is around 100degrees celcius…

Hmm interesting. Although even in summer it was barely rising above the bottom of the gauge.

I just assumed that the gauge showing so low meant SOMETHING was funny. I know the stock gauge is considered pretty unreliable, but I’d like it to at least work as intended, even if that still means it’s a vague approximation

 

[AussieHJ6X]

After a month of being busy moving house and travelling, some minor progress!

Busted old shocks off

Shiny new shocks on

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Any tips on cleaning the lower latch for the barn door? My LHS barn door was having trouble closing, and the latch is pretty gunked up. Got it off the car with no issues, but not sure where to go from here, as it doesn’t seem to easily disassemble further

I was thinking soak it in detergent/degreaser, scrub it with a brush the best I can, dry it, spray with WD40, spray with dry lube, put it back on

Any better solutions or things I need to be careful of?

 

[AussieHJ6X]

It also looks like there was some sort of foam gasket between the latch assembly and the door which has now completely disintegrated. Any suggestions for replacing this?

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I cleaned it in petrol with some fine gun brushes, let it dry then greased the internals with MP grease on a fine paintbrush. To be safe, I would take the plastic snaps off, but I think the plastic is pretty robust and I had no reactions to a quick dip in petrol.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

You can buy sheets of foam and cut yourself a new gasket. I got some from AliExpress. All the door locks and stays have similar gaskets.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

View attachment 4043594

View attachment 4043595

Any tips on cleaning the lower latch for the barn door? My LHS barn door was having trouble closing, and the latch is pretty gunked up. Got it off the car with no issues, but not sure where to go from here, as it doesn’t seem to easily disassemble further

I was thinking soak it in detergent/degreaser, scrub it with a brush the best I can, dry it, spray with WD40, spray with dry lube, put it back on

Any better solutions or things I need to be careful of?

Diesel/ATF works also. Let soak do its thing

 

[AussieHJ6X]

I cleaned it in petrol with some fine gun brushes, let it dry then greased the internals with MP grease on a fine paintbrush. To be safe, I would take the plastic snaps off, but I think the plastic is pretty robust and I had no reactions to a quick dip in petrol.

I’d be more worried about damaging the plastic snaps by trying to remove them than I would be by whatever I clean them with

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I just found this picture from when I was disassembling my rear door. The seal strip appears to be about 15 mm wide (cf. the 6 mm holes) and is on three sides of the lock.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

I just found this picture from when I was disassembling my rear door. The seal strip appears to be about 15 mm wide (cf. the 6 mm holes) and is on three sides of the lock.View attachment 4043659

That’s useful, thanks. I found some adhesive-back foam I had lying around that’s roughly the same width, hoping that’ll do the job

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Have got a bit of mission creep happening…

Decided to pull everything apart, clean and re-lube all the door components, and fix a couple of little rust spots while I’m at it

 

[AussieHJ6X]

It’s been almost a month since I’ve had the chance to work on the car between work, being away for holidays, and weekends that are either windy and raining or blisteringly hot, but finally made a bit more progress today

Treated the rust and cleaned up some damaged paint and glue spots

Bit of body filler to eliminate some dents I couldn’t hammer out. The condition of the inside of the door makes me think a PO stored tools or something in the back which would bump into it.

Have never done any body work before, so it’s a bit nerve wracking, but I’m optimistic

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

It’s been almost a month since I’ve had the chance to work on the car between work, being away for holidays, and weekends that are either windy and raining or blisteringly hot, but finally made a bit more progress today

Treated the rust and cleaned up some damaged paint and glue spots
View attachment 4065071

Bit of body filler to eliminate some dents I couldn’t hammer out. The condition of the inside of the door makes me think a PO stored tools or something in the back which would bump into it.
View attachment 4065073

Have never done any body work before, so it’s a bit nerve wracking, but I’m optimistic

The dent next to the handle area is the classic closing the left door onto the right door dent. Remember there are two types of filler (broadly); the heavy stuff for filling dents and a fine skim filler/sanding sealer to get a smooth surface. It's best to apply filler to a primed surface.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

A couple of little after work jobs today.

New battery hold down clamp and replaced aftermarket 13mm bolts with Toyota 12mm bolts. Not a big deal, but it annoyed me when I randomly had to change sockets midway through a job.

Replaced the garden hose the PO had used for the coolant overflow with an OEM hose and clamps

New wiper cover, arms (from an 80 series), and fresh OEM blades

The longer arm + longer blade combo means they slightly touch the window seal at the top, so if I can't fix that by adjusting the at rest angle of the arm, I might need to get a slightly shorter blade

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Next little job is replacing my extremely rusty horn which sounds awful with the Toyota PREMIUM HORN

 

[POPO AGIE]

With the exhaust on the RS of a FJ40 how are you routing the exhaust to clear the front drive shaft?

My R2.8 has the same issue with the turbo outlet above the front drive shaft. I am running 3" and installed an adapter on the turbo down pipe and with the flex joint the next joint for the 90 will be close to the suspension and the drive shaft. I am thinking of moving the flex joint farther down stream and cutting the drop of the first 90 and run parallel with the oil pan and then cross under the pan ahead of the sump and then 90 back along the LS above the skid plate like I did with the exhaust when running a header on the 2F or 155F.

Any suggestions?

 

[Thechief86]

With the exhaust on the RS of a FJ40 how are you routing the exhaust to clear the front drive shaft?

My R2.8 has the same issue with the turbo outlet above the front drive shaft. I am running 3" and installed an adapter on the turbo down pipe and with the flex joint the next joint for the 90 will be close to the suspension and the drive shaft. I am thinking of moving the flex joint farther down stream and cutting the drop of the first 90 and run parallel with the oil pan and then cross under the pan ahead of the sump and then 90 back along the LS above the skid plate like I did with the exhaust when running a header on the 2F or 155F.

Any suggestions?

My 4bt is mounted far enough forward that I ran the exhaust off the turbo behind the head, over the bell housing and down, then followed the stock fj60 exhaust path with 3" pipe. My rig may have been quieter inside if I had routed it a different way, but it worked with the pieces of pipe I had from the donor truck, and didn't cost anything. The noise doesn't really bother me 50k miles later. I'm used to it now.

 

[POPO AGIE]

My 4bt is mounted far enough forward that I ran the exhaust off the turbo behind the head, over the bell housing and down, then followed the stock fj60 exhaust path with 3" pipe. My rig may have been quieter inside if I had routed it a different way, but it worked with the pieces of pipe I had from the donor truck, and didn't cost anything. The noise doesn't really bother me 50k miles later. I'm used to it now.

I haven't done any pipe fitting a very long time other than plumbing. Today it put the front drive shaft in to see what I was really working with and then used a 2' level and held against the V-clamp flange on the turbo down pipe and the took measurements to see how much room I had to the pinion bearing on the front differential and then did the math so I had clearance under the pan and above the differential pinion bearing. Cut the first 90 and put the flange on it and it was snug enough to clamp to the turbo down pipe and then measured the length of the flex joint and then took a horizontal measurement from the elbow and cut the next elbow that will cross under the oil pan. Dropped the parts off at the shop to get the flanges welded on.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Finally tackling the slight radiator leak. Glad I decided to pull the rad rather than just whack some JB Weld on there, because the fins are literally crumbling when touched and there’s a fair bit of corrosion

Gonna get some quotes for getting it re-cored, or I’ll just get a replacement. The OEM rad is long OOP, what’s the best aftermarket copper brass one available in Australia? I’ve seen the Jayrad one around (and I think that’s what this one is?)

While the rad is out I’m planning on doing thermostat, water pump, new gaskets, hoses, clamps, belts, and replacing any rusted hardware. Also trying the split fan shroud mod.

Any other ‘while you’re there’ jobs I should do while I’ve got the front end apart?

 

[POPO AGIE]

I used a direct replacement 4 core for my 40 from Champion but don't know if they have one for the FJ60.