1982 FJ43 - my ‘replacement’ build (15 Viewers)

[mdsims]

Awesome day. Truly. Quick chat with @cruisermatt set the day off right. Swapped in the new brake master, plumbed in the lines. Bench bled and was shocked at how much air the master held. Replaced some of the rotten fuel lines and realized I was road-ready. Figured I’d drive around town tomorrow, but wife pushed me forward. So stoked!

Those little faces sealed the deal. Today was a great day.

 

[firemanj92]

Looks like right around Seven Hills?

 

[mdsims]

Looks like right around Seven Hills?

Close! I’m more over toward the canyons.

 

[mdsims]

Now that I’m reasonably road worthy, I spent some time today cleaning everything up. Checked torques, slapped on the front shocks, replaced some more fuel lines, etc. Drivetrain is fairly noisy, particularly the transmission, and I suspected fluids were old/low. I dropped the trans skid and changed the gear oil on the transmission and transfer case. Nasty stuff in there. Transmission was a brown soup, with a good dose of glitter. Transfer was just dark and stinky. Makes me think the rear output seal on the transmission is intact. Both drain plugs covered in metal dust. Lucky me.

Also appears as though the split case is the original for the rig, code 2F1970 or 2F4970…so June 1982 which lines up perfectly with the vin build month.

Anyway, both are now refilled with 90w GL-4, and I added Toyota allen drain plugs to make life easier on future me.

Some funny finds. Transfer fill plug. Took a cold chisel and ultimately a pipe wrench to spin it off. Was already hopelessly wallowed out when I bought it. Transmission fill plug had a large nut welded to it, quite nicely I’d say. That one is a keeper!

Engine oil was decent looking. Held off on changing that as I need to drop and replace the pan soon. Reached back out to Valley Hybrids, I think a Land Cruiser spa day is in order and I’ll let the pros handle some of the engine checking work. Looking like that will happen come September.

Anyway, all buttoned back up as of now. I should have some time to take a bit longer of a drive this weekend. At least downtown for some fuel and coffee.

 

[mdsims]

Out with the old, faded and cracked. In with the new. Thanks @matzell for the new lock set, feels good having an ignition that isn’t operable by screwdriver! Column cover and hardware sourced from yoshiparts.

Looks too new.

 

[mdsims]

Finished replacing most of the soft fuel lines. Bit of a chore. Still need a better solution for the engine hard line.

Checked some other small stuff off the list. Resealed the cowl vent with the city racer gasket and copious amounts of weatherstripping adhesive. Also added some rtv under the two nuts on top and threw in the city racer late model drain hoses and grommets. Easy install and looks great.

Headlights never worked. Pulled the switch, some oddball aftermarket (oddly marked with U.S.A.) with the factory knob attached. Ordered up a new switch for this vehicle, which is just a 4-wire switch. Cleaned up the wiring a little, got it sorted. The fuse panel on this thing is a time bomb. Many of the inputs are all just bridged with soldier. That’s now decently high on my list.

Replaced the aftermarket bumperettes with some new Toyota ones from the parts pile, along with new bolts. Most of the captive nuts were long gone.

Few other small things, can’t recall.

 

[mdsims]

Oh yeah, replaced the battery terminals with some more stout pieces, and cleaned that up a bit. I need to get a new battery tray, one that shifts the battery toward the firewall an inch or so. The negative terminal is 3/4” from the hard line coming off the PS pump. Negative so technically fine enough, but not ideal. Also, the current tray was hacked to fit a larger battery, and whatever South American battery that’s in it is also too tall for the hold down straps. So yeah, a little bit of battery adjacent work is needed next. Thinking: new tray and hold down brackets, new big cables, maybe new battery. I’ll probably do all that when I hook up the Koito H4 headlight kit and relays and make a single project out of it.

 

[mdsims]

Was always planning on getting the rig running myself and then taking it over to Georg’s shop for a thorough inspection. I made an appointment for a heavy tune up and cooling system refresh and few other things. Took the day off work and decided to drive it the 60 miles instead of trailering it.

Well, made it most of the way there yesterday before this happened. Was running a little hot climbing the Altamont and dropping into Tracy. Made it to Lathrop but the temps weren’t dropping so I pulled over and sure enough, was spewing rust soup out of the overflow. Ironic in that I was making the trip for exactly that reason, but not surprising.

Called AAA for the last bit of the trip. Was also having some odd carb issues a few miles before I pulled over, turns out the idle solenoid wire came unplugged.

Here’s one from a more pleasant part of the drive.

Delivered to Valley Hybrids yesterday, and the guys started tearing into it this morning. Fix it list is long, stoked to get some professional help with the larger items.

 

[SteveH]

You've done great work on this truck and have posted excellent photos. And you didn't whine about an SA rig - you just dove into the mess and fixed it. Nice job! And you have to have a 'highway breakdown story' along the way - we all do.