Build 1987 FJ60 Expedition Build

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Hey dude it's Chris coming at you from Fiji! Rig is looking bad ass man love the new interior! That clean up/sound deaden job seems totally worth it
Also still don't know how I broke the gauge but glad you fixed it haha
Now we need the tint!!
I'm back Wednesday afternoon see you sometime soon bro
 
GENTLEMEN!!
THE CRUISER IS NOW AIR CONDITIONED!!!!!!
R134a converted and blowing ICE cold
 
Nice!
 
AC is gods greatest gift to the world.
 
Czech your spelling...
 
Did a couple cool little mods today.
#1 - grab handle for drivers side so I don't destroy my new seat dragging myself in all the time.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1437575821.565645.webp

Step 1- burn holes in headliner
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1437575852.866067.webp

Step 2- 6mm Nutcerts
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1437575893.682751.webp

DONE

then I mocked up a prototype for a shift knob idea I had
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1437575936.387633.webp


Oh. And I added an "oh S***" bar from a 62 to the passenger side.
 
Hey guys. So Im currently working on a hot water system for my truck. After taking my truck to Tahoe for CRUISER GOLD RUSH, I had a really cool idea for a hot water system.

I need a new radiator, so Im getting one custom made by Champion.
Its all aluminum with an attached oil cooler that i dont need for my transmission.

So heres the plan-
I get a 12 gallon tough plastic food-grade water tank designed for RV's or boats. The tank fits up under the body between the rear driveshaft, and spare tire, just infront of the rear axle to allow for flex etc.

I run a filling line up into the rear bumper, then a "high pressure" line from the tank, to a 12volt pump, to the oil cooler. Then an out line from the oil cooler back to the tank. This is the closed loop.

Then I put a T valve in front of the pump, and run a line to the rear bumper with a quick disconnect coupling.

So when Im driving to camp or to go surfing etc. I flip on the pump from the cab and let the water recirculate for a while so it heats up.
Then I get to camp or whatever, switch the valve, and BOOM. pressure-fed warm/hot water! and food grade too.... so I can cook, shower, do dishes or whatever with it!


Ill post many pictures.
 
Another question: after my wheeling trip, my rear axle diff breather appears well coated in oil. Any idea why this is?

Oh. And i got my custom TURBO decals on:

IMG_2234-1.webp
IMG_2235.webp
IMG_2236.webp
 
Back from college! Thought Id do some work on the rig. When I went to fire up the truck (itd been sitting for a while) the battery was dead. It turns out that the fan that automatically keeps my inverter cool had been drawing down the battery a little at a time without daily driving.
So I added a battery shutoff. Its simple and works great. I now have a simple kill-switch also.

Other things to do this week:
-New Aluminum Radiator Install
-New T-stat housing gasket
 
Finally got a chance to put in my new radiator.

My parents drove my truck while I was at school, drove it through some flooded parts of our town, and got some salt water on my components. I hosed off the entire undercarriage and it was fine, but the engine bay definitely saw some corrosion. I took the opportunity to pull the radiator and wire-wheel/sand blast and re-paint some parts that got rusted. Luckily theres no serious rust, its all just surface corrosion and light surface rust, but for me.... it was almost a travesty. Anyway. Its all in now and looking much better.

Here is the old radiator


Some of the corrosion and surface rust I was talking about


This is the engine pre-cleanup


Post-cleanup


At this point I hit some roadblocks. Champion didnt do the best job of testing their radiators in a truck, and it really showed. For one thing, the studs werent threaded in a common toyota thread. We didnt have anything in the whole shop that would fit the studs, nor did the hardware store. It turns out they are some metric extra-fine thread. (we didnt even have a tap for the thread size in our 200 piece set).

So I re-threaded ever single stud to 3/8's fine. It was really close and didnt take much. Unfortunately champion did a s*** job of tac welding the studs, and a lot of the welds broke and had to be properly welded. I was pretty underwhelmed with that portion of the project. But eventually it all came together.





 
Great work on the engine bay. Next winter i am going to clean up my engine bay.

I didnt have any issues installing my champion radiator.I guess they don't make them all the same. But at the pricepoint, It is worth a bit of elbow grease
 
I did another little mod today : Armored my radiator hose.
It sounds odd but it turned out great.
Basically, with the new radiator, the outlet hose is moved more towards the center of the radiator, and the hose came in contact with the power steering belt and pulley.

There was so much contact that I had to trim off almost an inch and a half of the original outlet hose to get a quarter inch of clearance between the belt and the hose.

To give myself a little extra insurance, I cut a thin piece of aluminum sheet, cut off any corners or edges, taped the rim, and hose clamped it on.


Here is the piece mock-fit to the inlet hose to show how it works.


Here it is in its final place. It doesnt look like it, but there is over a quarter inch between the pulley and the plate. It shouldnt rub at all.
 
I found something of interest that is a little.... disappointing
While working on my truck the other night, it was dead silent. I could hear this tiny little gurgle or hiss, just barely audible.

I leaned over to my AC compressor and it was a little louder. Just a tiny little escape of gas. I couldnt pin-point the leak, but today i did. I saw a tiny bubble near the compressor clutch wheel.....

Im afraid I may need a new compressor someday. But for now, almost 4 months after filling the AC, it still blows ice cold. With 134, I figure Ill have to completely drain the system almost 20 times before it equates to the cost of a new compressor.......

Does anyone know if the 2F compressors are common to the 12HT? I dont know much about the AC compressor compatibility.

 
KeepCruzin said:
Does anyone know if the 2F compressors are common to the 12HT? I dont know much about the AC compressor compatibility.
Click to expand...

We got a new compressor on our 12HT. I don't remember exactly what it came from, but it was common to some flavor of 4-Runner IIRC.

CDan might remember. I know Dad bought it from him.

Dan
 
Looking good dude and still jealous of the diesel. Strange that Champion screwed up so badly with the radiator, did you do the welding yourself or did you take to someone?
 
gregnash said:
Looking good dude and still jealous of the diesel. Strange that Champion screwed up so badly with the radiator, did you do the welding yourself or did you take to someone?
Click to expand...
We have a fabricator at our shop and he just put 3 new tacs on the studs that broke off. We had all the mig gear and stuff.
 
The cruiser took its first real body damage yesterday. I was all packed up and ready to drive home from college, and the cruiser was parked in my college parking lot. I got a call from the PD, and they told me someone had hit my car in the parking lot.
Sorry if the pictures are terrible. It was 10:30 at night.





The front bumper took almost all the impact. And her car was so messed up they had to tow it. It wouldnt even start. The cruiser didnt take too much damage, the biggest dent is in the rear quarter panel. The front fender also got a bit messed up, and the bumper might be toast.

Will update with fixes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom