Builds 1960 FJ28L - Project Lara (2 Viewers)

[Living in the Past]

Too much important info in there for me to procrastinate! It's pretty amazing how much info is in these manuals, no excuse anymore not to get this restoration right I guess? Although unfortunately there's no 28L body/coach information in there, but I didn't figure there would be

Those look the same. Beautiful condition too! If you’re willing to part with them let me know. Otherwise I’m thinking I may have to find some easier to locate motors for an old Scout or something and just hope that someday I find the correct set and swap them in.
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Not looking to start parting out any 25s. #14 is the most complete FJ25 I have ever come across. Just too bad someone put a tarp over it up in Oregon then let it leak thru and rust out the floor. Probably time to pull the floor from another cruiser that matches the ribs and pay someone to install it. Know of any good body shops that would do it?

 

[scoobiedubes]

Not looking to start parting out any 25s. #14 is the most complete FJ25 I have ever come across. Just too bad someone put a tarp over it up in Oregon then let it leak thru and rust out the floor. Probably time to pull the floor from another cruiser that matches the ribs and pay someone to install it. Know of any good body shops that would do it?

Ashamed to say this is my first rodeo with any body shop at all so I’m learning as I go! My neighbor is good friends with the owner at finishing touch, who has a great rep in the valley but are also very expensive I’m sure.

Now that you have the parts manual you can see what vehicle certain parts originated from and be able to search for two seperate vehicles to find certain parts ... if your looking and only shows the 25 or 28 it’s kinda stuck to the one car (land cruiser) because you can’t see subsequent vehicles it came on after

28L would be your truck originated that part ... and you do not know if that part was used on subsequent different vehicles
But... a lot of times it’s a help

See here: Early Toyota Parts Numbering System ETPNS

This is extremely helpful. Thank you!

 

[JMasi]

Pulled the vacuum wiper motors off today - they look pretty different from each other. Is one original and one not?

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there is a guy in the Facebook Toyota Land Cruiser Marketplace group that had some... you might want to look there also....

 

[JMasi]

@scoobiedubes

 

[scoobiedubes]

@scoobiedubes

Thanks I just created an account to Email him. All these years avoiding Facebook and it’s a land cruiser that brings me in!!

EDIT: already sold. And his pricing was fake. Guy sounds pretty shady. Said the pricing was to draw people in and then he would sell it for much more.

 

[Living in the Past]

Thanks I just created an account to Email him. All these years avoiding Facebook and it’s a land cruiser that brings me in!!

EDIT: already sold. And his pricing was fake. Guy sounds pretty shady. Said the pricing was to draw people in and then he would sell it for much more.

I noticed the lever to turn them on and off is different. The shaft the wiper arm attaches to seems a lot shorter. Seen some early photos or possibly art work with wipers on the bottom. Possibly from some other version or some other vehicle completely.

 

[scoobiedubes]

I noticed the lever to turn them on and off is different. The shaft the wiper arm attaches to seems a lot shorter. Seen some early photos or possibly art work with wipers on the bottom. Possibly from some other version or some other vehicle completely.

Good eye! It is a little different. I have a feeling this is a part I won’t have when the rest of this build is finished, and I’ll just somehow stumble across a second one a decade from now. Hopefully by then I won’t have misplaced the other one.

 

[Bear]

"All these years avoiding Facebook...his pricing was fake. Guy sounds pretty shady."

And, "Possibly from some other version or some other vehicle completely."

And there you have it !

He probably wanted Western Union payment as well.

 

[Living in the Past]

Good eye! It is a little different. I have a feeling this is a part I won’t have when the rest of this build is finished, and I’ll just somehow stumble across a second one a decade from now. Hopefully by then I won’t have misplaced the other one.

Think that little different would prevent it from working unless the FJ28 windshield frame is thinner that a FJ25. You would probably need to make a custom shaft to work. The spring loaded wiper arm needs to extend away from the windshield frame to work correctly. Not a Fan of FB either. I clicked on the link but didn't see any pricing. What was his fake price he was using to lure people in? Do you know what they sold for?

 

[scoobiedubes]

Think that little different would prevent it from working unless the FJ28 windshield frame is thinner that a FJ25. You would probably need to make a custom shaft to work. The spring loaded wiper arm needs to extend away from the windshield frame to work correctly. Not a Fan of FB either. I clicked on the link but didn't see any pricing. What was his fake price he was using to lure people in? Do you know what they sold for?

I don’t know what the pictured NOS set sold for but he said he still had one used single motor that he wanted $900 for! And when I said the one on Facebook was listed as $125 for the set he said “come on you know I wouldn’t sell those for that, it was just to see who was interested then I would give them the real price”. Shady shady

 

[Bear]

I certainly hope that jerk doesn't join or already has joined Mud with his crooked marketing plans.

Keep him on Facebook and the other platforms where dishonesty flourishes.

 

[Living in the Past]

I don’t know what the pictured NOS set sold for but he said he still had one used single motor that he wanted $900 for! And when I said the one on Facebook was listed as $125 for the set he said “come on you know I wouldn’t sell those for that, it was just to see who was interested then I would give them the real price”. Shady shady

Someone pulled this scam on Mud and got reported I'm sure they would be quickly banded. $900 for a vacuum wiper at those prices I could recoup what #14 cost me for a pair of wipers and wiper arm. Too be honest have no idea of current prices on rare parts. Most everything thing is sold there private messages. What fair to both buyer and seller is hard to know. Easier to just hang onto them. Selling non rare items on Craigslist is working better for me.

 

[JMasi]

I don’t know what the pictured NOS set sold for but he said he still had one used single motor that he wanted $900 for! And when I said the one on Facebook was listed as $125 for the set he said “come on you know I wouldn’t sell those for that, it was just to see who was interested then I would give them the real price”. Shady shady

sorry about that, I didn’t know. he seems to have lots of parts published. I doubt somebody would buy from him if he acts like that.

 

[scoobiedubes]

sorry about that, I didn’t know. he seems to have lots of parts published. I doubt somebody would buy from him if he acts like that.

Not your fault I appreciate any lead I can get! Trying to do my best to make this restoration as complete as I can, but some parts are more challenging than others. It’s still early in the process though. Haven’t even completely disassembled the body yet.

 

[scoobiedubes]

@JohnnyC posted some amazing photos he found of the original FJ28VA that drove all the way from Alaska to the tip of south america - link here. Had never seen these photos before and they are really probably the most helpful set of photos of a Gifu-built FJ28 that I've seen. Here's some thoughts:

• I think I have to go with pink now for the color right? Kidding...
• This one was purpose built for an overlanding trip, but as Johnny noted it had two gas tanks. I don't think Lara ever had two, but one of the photos I think makes me believe that perhaps the rear tank fill was covered in leather rather than steel? The cover in Lara is crudely homemade, so this is probably my only clue as to what that should have looked like.
• I don't know how to feel about the seating in this thing. It looks really different than the other couple of stock photos I had seen which looked more like the 45LV inside. Did they use the 25 seats because they put the extra gas tank up front? Also being a 2 door they needed a different configuration. The rear seat looks especially odd (though you can only see the back of it).
• The VA had a radio (!) and a clamshell heater. I was really hoping to talk myself into not needing a clamshell heater because of the difficulty to source, but we will see. Both of these are likely to be "options" added for the special purpose of this VA.
• My suspicion that the door hardware was the same as the 45LV is confirmed
• Rear bumper looks identical to the 45LV which is good since we've already made one of those
• I need some 25 wheels!
• Front bumper I think is original, looks very close at least.
• Awesome photos of the jail bars in the back, but those "handle bars" just inside the doors are just weird - I can't imagine that was how it came from the factory, but we will look for mounting holes. I also think the jail bar mounting hardware looks very similar to the VW Bus hardware which is readily available.
• No headliner?? but a dome light. I'm not sure how that works. Lara definitely has metal seams running side to side that the wooden bows were mounted on.
• That interior rear view mirror doesn't look like one i've ever seen?
• Definitely had the bug catcher windows and they do indeed look identical to the 45LV's
• Door cards don't look to be upholstered, but those "pouches" are kind of fun
• Does appear to have both the dash-mounted turn signal switch for the winkers (so they must have been electric) as well as the column mounted switch I suppose for the signal markers up front?
• That license plate lamp sure does look original, as confirmed by the 28 manual as well. Going to have to get that thing fixed up.
• Signal lights up front look the same as what I have already.
• Tail lights are a lot different than I expected, these might be a bit difficult to fab/source.
• Has the front bumper mounted fog lights
• Really hard to tell but the photo with the passenger door open seems to show the electric wiper motors?
• That ambulance door hardware setup looks pretty tricky. It appears to have the same door hardware on the driver side as the front doors have, but hard to know what the other ambulance door looks like because it appears to have its own interior door handle.
• What's that rectangular bracket next to the interior door handles up front?
• Has a cowl insulator I think?

I'm sure I'll notice more the more I look at the pictures.

 

[whitey45]

Looks like the pass seat tilts forward for rear access, makes sense being a 2 door. 4 door would not have that funky lower mounting, but still pretty cool to see these pics. @JohnnyC has been unearthing cruiser pics here for years!

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

Electric wiper was an option on 20 series land cruiser. Mine came with electric wipers from factory. It’s also listed in parts manual. I have seen electric wipers on a FJ28 picture posted by you In this thread. (One of the picture in post #3)

Also the same picture will explain odd front seat set up. It seems Toyota didn’t change them for RHD versions.

 

[JohnnyC]

I credit all the cruiser wack jobs like me who originally posted the pics lol

I still can’t believe I hadn’t thought about this truck earlier

If you zoom into the door cards it looks like they were painted over ... a vinyl tweed pattern can be seen on it

At first I thought painted steel panel... but after looking closely I see it clearly... very odd to see actually

You would have thought being vinyl they painted over? Factory? Wondubg if it had been PO painted over at some point ... even before their adventure

Most likely radio added just before as well... don’t know if that’s a toyota radio ... looks different

Possibly something like a very old Panasonic or better yet a JVC would be interesting to see if it was a jvc and wether it said on it Japanese Victor Company or Japanese Victory Components.... sometime they name changed 50’s maybe afaik

 

[JohnnyC]

I found a vehicle that shared components... early 60’s Toyopet Dyna

 

[scoobiedubes]

I found a vehicle that shared components... early 60’s Toyopet Dyna

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Really interesting, another nice find. That rear seat looks fixed too huh?

so vinyl it is on the door cards.