12HT-swapped 1988 HJ60 in Melbourne

[AussieHJ6X]

So progress has been pretty slow as life has gotten in the way. It’s a blessing and a curse when your cruiser isn’t your daily driver.

I’ve split my fan shroud

Painted it and a few brackets

Repainted the crossover lettering

Got some pipes, bolts, and rear door latches electroplated

And tapped my exhaust manifold for an EGT gauge

Everything is ready to put back together once I properly clean off the old gasket material and do a few paint touchups on the frame

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Also new front body mounts because the old ones were shot (“while I’m there…”)

(Still need to tighten them, I know)

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Starting to look a bit more like a 12HT!

Two questions that I could not find the answers to in the FSM:

I put in a new gasket when I re-attached the exhaust to the downpipe (I should say I put in a gasket - PO or whoever did their exhaust left it out). What’s the torque specs for these nuts and is the gasket meant to crush so the downpipe flange is flush with the exhaust flange, or is there meant to be a gap?

Which vacuum hose for the air filter sensor connects to which part of the airbox? I had this problem last time I took the airbox off, so I really just need to label the hoses…

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Also, hot tip: bolt the PCV to the crossover pipe and then put it all in as a completed assembly. The FSM says re-install the PCV pipe last, but it’s a pain in the ass to get to those bolts once the crossover is on

 

[Lucky1386]

Looking solid. I assume the exhaust you just need to tighten until it's good'n tight

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Speaking of awkward bolts… the alternator tensioning bolt is very annoying to get to when you have an AC compressor

 

[AussieHJ6X]

New water pump, fan clutch, and belts on

 

[AussieHJ6X]

And that’s me done for the day. All that’s left to do is install the new radiator, fill it with coolant, and then REALLY hope that I didn’t mess anything up and it all works when I turn the key…

Bonus pic: using your girlfriend’s vintage Toyota to help you fix your vintage Toyota

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Starting to look a bit more like a 12HT!

View attachment 4141274


Two questions that I could not find the answers to in the FSM:

View attachment 4141276
I put in a new gasket when I re-attached the exhaust to the downpipe (I should say I put in a gasket - PO or whoever did their exhaust left it out). What’s the torque specs for these nuts and is the gasket meant to crush so the downpipe flange is flush with the exhaust flange, or is there meant to be a gap?


View attachment 4141278

Which vacuum hose for the air filter sensor connects to which part of the airbox? I had this problem last time I took the airbox off, so I really just need to label the hoses…

The exhaust flanges don't need to meet, you'll find they just bend at the edges if you over-tighten them. The gasket only needs to be snug between the two, there's not really that much pressure in the pipe.

For the air filter warning switch, the hose coming from the side where the wiring harness plug goes in goes to the downstream side (in the output pipe) and the side facing the engine goes to the flat part of the lid.

I would get rid of those nasty screw clamps and use genuine spring clamps. If the hose leaks with the original clamp, the hose and/or pipe need replacing.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

The exhaust flanges don't need to meet, you'll find the just bend at the edges if you over-tighten them. The gasket unlu needs to be snug between the two, there's not really that much pressure in the pipe.

For the air filter warning switch, the hose coming from the side where the wiring harness plug goes in goes to the downstream side (in the output pipe) and the side facing the engine goes to the flat part of the lid.

Thank you very much!

I would get rid of those nasty screw clamps and use genuine spring clamps. If the hose leaks with the original clamp, the hose and/or pipe need replacing.

Slowly replacing the cheapo clamps the PO used as I go, everything I’ve put back on has used the original Toyota clamps

 

[AussieHJ6X]

“All that’s left to do is install the new radiator” turned out to be tempting fate, that was a complete pain in the ass.

The aftermarket radiator I got needed a bit of modification to fit - part of its frame was catching on the ends of the bolts which fasten the radiator bracket to the body. Solved this with a bit of nerve-wracking hacksaw work

Second problem was that somebody had swapped out the top mounting bolts for shorter ones and used skinnier bushes, so my new bushes wouldn’t compress enough for the nut to bite. Even though the old bushes were pretty average, I just reused them. To swap the bolts out I’d need to remove the AC condenser and the fasters on that are so rusty that I’m leaving that job until I do an AC system refresh before summer

Third problem was that the welded nuts on the radiator for the fan shroud are the same on both sides, whereas the holes in the fan shroud are offset on one side. This was a quick and easy fix with a drill

And after all that, it’s in!

Battery is charging overnight and then tomorrow it’s time to fire her up

 

[duncanrm]

Battery is charging overnight and then tomorrow it’s time to fire her up

Engine bay is looking good!

 

[AussieHJ6X]

‘Tomorrow’ was optimistic. Between rain, winter meaning it’s dark at 5pm, and helping a friend with the rear brakes on their Hiace, I haven’t got around to actually turning the key until today.

Success! Everything is running beautifully, with no belt squeals or leaks (once I remembered to close the block drain).

The only issue was that it wouldn’t turn OFF, which stressed me out a little until I realised that I’d forgotten to re-connect the vacuum line to the shutoff valve

 

[AussieHJ6X]

It’s just got water in it for the moment while I made sure nothing leaked, but now comes the eternal question of coolant. I’ve read through most of the threads on here, and some people swear by Toyota red, while others say that any old green coolant from your local auto store will be fine.

I’d love some feedback from the other Aussies here as to what they use. I see the appeal of using Toyota red, I like sticking with OEM where possible, but my only concern is not being able to get any to top-up while I’m out bush. I don’t really want to carry 15L of coolant with me…

The maintenance manual just says “use a good brand of ethylene-glycol base coolant”, so I’m assuming anything that’s readily available and designed for older engines should be fine?

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I.m not in Australia, but I use red. In case of needing to top up/refill the whole system (unlikely) in the bush, just use water. Don't buy the pre-mix stuff, buy the concentrate and carry a litre or two with you for top ups.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Trying to diagnose why my rear dome light isn't working. PO had installed a crappy LED light which was non-functional, so I got my hands on a genuine luggage room dome light to replace it with, but I'm running into problems wiring it in. Neither of the two wires that ran to the LED light had 12v, and digging a bit further I realised that they'd spliced new wires in behind the LHS tail light, which I need to investigate a bit more. I'm slightly confused by the wiring diagram though. I'm assuming my problem is that their new wiring isn't tied into the R-B wire that runs back to the relays, but I'm also puzzled by the courtesy switch on the wiring diagram. Do barn door 60s have a courtesy switch in the rear doors? Or is the luggage room dome light manual operation only?

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

The courtesy light feed is redundant on the barn door model. From memory, the R-B wire plugs into a single-terminal connector on the main loom running down the LH side of the vehicle, close to where the LH tail light plugs in. If that all looks fine, have a look at the connections at the large bus connector behind the LH front kick panel.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

Pulled off the tail light. The RB connector had been cut.

The non-functional LED was (formerly) powered by two new wires that ran from somewhere at the front of the vehicle and had been sloppily spliced multiple times. Neither of them have 12V at this point. I haven't traced them back all the way yet as I think I might need to pull the drawers to do that, so I'll save that for another day.

If I provide constant 12V to the RB wire going into the light, it works properly with the switch in the 'ON' position, but not in 'DOOR' (as expected, if the barn door models don't have a courtesy switch). So that's a good start!

However, there is no voltage coming from the RB wire behind the tail light that has been cut. No configuration of plugging this into the dome light turns the light on - I tried attaching it to both plugs on the light, in every switch position, with the doors open, with the headlights on... And it doesn't show any voltage when I test it with a multimeter. I'm assuming that in a properly-functional loom, this RB wire should have constant 12V?

So there must be a continuity issue in this part of the circuit somewhere, and I don't believe the Australian spec HJ60 has any of those 3 relays mentioned on the wiring diagram (dim-dip, running light, rear fog light), so presumably just simply a lose or corroded connection. All of my other interior lights work as expected, so the fault must be between where this RB wire splits off from the interior light circuit and where it terminates.

I assume this is why the PO cut this wire and added in a new 12V source rather than trying to repair it. I COULD do the same thing, but I'd rather pull out the now non-functional new wiring and repair the RB wire on the original lighting harness. Could someone who is familiar with how the loom is routed please give me a tip on the best place to start looking? (Aside from Eurasiaoverland's suggestion of the connections behind the LHS kick panel, which I'm going to check out now)

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

The routing is from the fuse box across the front of the vehicle (behind the dashboard), down behind the kick panel, then along the floor under the edge of the carpet. It then runs up the rear wheel well and goes into the rear quarter in the base of the C pillar. Near here two wires go out to the fuel tank sender. It then runs along the bottom of the rear quarter (under the little plate for the jack) to the tail light. Easiest thing would be to find the R-B wire (there may be more than one, check for the single blue paint dash running along the wire) at the bus connector behind the kick panel and look for continuity from there to the cut wire end.

 

[AussieHJ6X]

So, first off the good news. Eurasiaoverland was spot on the money - I found that the female spade connector for the R-B wire had popped out the back of the plug behind the LHS kick panel.

Poked it back in, and we have light! Still need to repair the section of the harness from the plug behind the taillights to the luggage room light and remove the PO's dodgy wiring, but that should be simple enough now that I've got that working.


Now for the bad news... When I went to remove the kick panel, I noticed that the carpet in the footwell was pretty wet. I pulled it back to see the one thing you never want to see on these old rigs...

It looks bad, but thankfully it only seems to have affected the 'top' layer of the floor? I scraped it back in the spots it seemed worst, and there's a perfectly good layer of steel underneath, so it SHOULD be a simple enough fix by drying it out, removing as much rust as I can, applying a rust converter and re-painting.

The next step was to find the leak that was causing this. We had a fair bit of rain last week, so even a small leak could have meant a lot of water came in. Out came the garden hose, and I got spraying.

Culprit 1 was the 1/4 window seals. They were leaking slightly, and the door seal seemed to be letting a bit of water in too.

I hoped that was it, and water had just been wicking further up the floor, but I soon noticed another drip point

This is probably the biggest issue. It seems to be coming from the seam at the bottom of the A-pillar where the cowl drains are located.

When I was spraying water into the cowl, I noticed that the RHS was draining far more than the LHS (where the leak is), so I suspect the drain on that side might also be blocked. Looks like it's time to remove my fender!