I own a 1985 FJ60 2F that for the better part of the last 25 years has been a “seasonal” vehicle used as the primary vehicle at my in-law’s vacation home near Glacier National Park and more recently as my hunting/camping truck in Bloomington, Indiana. As my daughter will earn her license in about 18 months, I would like to convert it to my daily driver. I have three issues that are slowing me down.
I believe the truck spent it’s initial years as a working truck and I believe it had a wench, plow or similar on the front at one point based on some of the additional electronic buttons that were added into the consul. It also spent a lot of it’s 105k miles on dirt roads. The bottom portion of the body was sprayed with a dura/rhino-liner to cut down on damage. Otherwise I believe most everything under the hood is stock.
Overall, the truck is in great shape and runs really well. The interior is very clean, the body has limited rust and it has received regular maintenance. In the last ten year’s she has received: a new starter; fuel pump; distributor, plugs and wires; radiator and hoses; upgrade of the headlamps with the Daniel Stern lens, bulbs and wiring harness kit; fog lamps; tires; powder coated rims and bumpers; and a radio.
I believe that there is a couple of major upgrades I should consider but they raise questions:
Happy New Year Everyone!
- Limited automotive knowledge on my part. I can change the oil and plugs and I swapped out a bad starter but I have never done anything extensive.
- Lack of expertise in the area. I have called a handful of shops in a 200-mile radius and while a lot of people are “interested” I have been less than impressed with their services, e.g. “I would do a complete engine swap”, “This would be a perfect rock crawler”, “I call you back…”
- Cost. I know that some of the upgrades will not be cheap, but I have called shops in Texas, Colorado and Georgia and they all want to see the truck in person before even beginning to give me a ballpark figure and driving 10 hours for an estimate seems silly.
I believe the truck spent it’s initial years as a working truck and I believe it had a wench, plow or similar on the front at one point based on some of the additional electronic buttons that were added into the consul. It also spent a lot of it’s 105k miles on dirt roads. The bottom portion of the body was sprayed with a dura/rhino-liner to cut down on damage. Otherwise I believe most everything under the hood is stock.
Overall, the truck is in great shape and runs really well. The interior is very clean, the body has limited rust and it has received regular maintenance. In the last ten year’s she has received: a new starter; fuel pump; distributor, plugs and wires; radiator and hoses; upgrade of the headlamps with the Daniel Stern lens, bulbs and wiring harness kit; fog lamps; tires; powder coated rims and bumpers; and a radio.
I believe that there is a couple of major upgrades I should consider but they raise questions:
- Make the necessary upgrades to eliminate the manual choke in the hope that she will fire up a bit easier/faster in the winter. Which I hope to be able to figure out on my own, but I am not sure the best way to go about making this happen. Is it as simple as adding in an electric choke or do I need to swap for a full Weber carb?
- Eventually move to a H55F or similar 5 speed transmission although the current four speed is great for around town and makes me drive the posted limit (most of the time). This work I assume I will someone else do but who? Or can I simply order the parts (which ones) and get a mechanic friend to help me swap this out?
- I know I am missing something. I have to be missing something that I should consider doing but what?
- Moving to an XM radio but I think I will need to upgrade the antenna but this, hopefully, would be easy.
- Add in a set of Land Shark Outfitters new Reef Drawers
- A Tuffy Center Console.
- Again, I know I am missing something. I must be missing something that I should consider doing but what?
Happy New Year Everyone!