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Joined
May 10, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
29
Location
Sacramento, CA
Howdy Mud,
I'm back in the cruiser world!
Around 2008 I bought a 69FJ40 out of a barn for 6k in Placerville. I got it running with a lot of advice from here (could not locate my old account to resurrect) some parts from @orangefj45, @Pighead in Sacramento, & username Luddite something? Put about 4k into it, Drove that thing for a year and sold it sometime around 2010 for 10k to get something I could daily on the highway.

Oh... Regrets.

Long story short, I've missed tinkering on these things. I searched for a while to find a decent version of an 80, couldn't find anything I liked. Started looking at 60's, found a lot of very rusty examples & found this 1983 down in Bakersfield, CA a couple weeks ago. It isn't perfect but the price was decent, the previous owner was friendly, he used it as a daily & I was able to convince my girlfriends dad to make the 5 hour trip from Sacramento to pick it up w/me.
We were initially planning on trailering it back but the PO said "I'm not just saying this, but, you could drive it back no problem" so... I did.

Enter the 83Landy, Christa (gf) had it named before I went to pick it up. I told her I wasn't sure "The Landy" was appropriate due to the even rustier counterpart but it stuck.

Existing:
Suspension:
Going into this I knew the suspension was sleepy, it has a shackle lift w/what I think are stock springs. Front end Linkage is... "loose"
Rust: It's got a little rust around the rain gutters and a little on the A pillars & couple spots around the windshield which need to be addressed as soon as possible. The rockers are solid.
Body: typical dings and some unfortunate small dents but nothing that can't be massaged. Needs bumpers.
Interior: blown out. Needs new carpet, seats need to be redone, center console is broken, steering wheel needs repaired or replaced, headliner is toast. Dash is not cracked though...
Engine: original 2F is in it w/265k on the odo, it's been rebuilt approx. 30k miles ago... it runs strong.
Trans: original 4spd manual, h42? PO says it was rebuilt w/the 2f about 30k ago.
Carb: has an aftermarket carb but PO gave me the stock one.
Exhaust: it has some... unfortunately it has the dump under the drivers seat missing muffler mod.
Smog: mostly intact.
AC: Seems present, needs checked and charged.
Glass: Windshield is cracked and drivers rear cargo window as well.
Wheels/Tires: 30x9.5 - no comment.

Plans:
I want this to be a clean safe daily I can use around town and also load up and take it camping/mountain biking... I'll DIY what I can and get help w/whatever I can't.

Going to start w/easy stuff:
1) Maintenance:
New fluids everywhere, visit to the muffler shop.
2) More Maintenance: Check ignition, rebuild stock carb.
3) Even More Maintenance: Investigate & address Power Steering fluid leak.
4) Rust & Body: Tom, GFs dad, has a buddy who has a body shop who is known for doing great work "but he's slow" - working on getting on his waiting list to address the rust, dents & dings but knowing "he's slow" will work on what I can in the meantime. I tentatively plan to address the major issues, have him blend the repairs into the original paint use the truck & wait to see if anything else pops up and if not do a full spray later down the road.
5) Suspension: Trying to decide on suspension, I want to lift it but trying to decipher the options: Light, Medium, Heavy? I want it to sit mostly level, don't mind a the rear a tiny bit higher when empty to be level when loaded but also don't want the stinkbug. Don't mind a firm ride, I'm used to driving a giant heavy 4wd Van.
5a) Wheel/Tire: Tentative goal is to fit 33x10.5 on a 40 replica steelie - maybe a similar aluminum version...
6) Interior: Start acquiring interior pieces, carpet from @dnp, need to find decent seats fabric/foam, headliner, repair some panels if possible, etc. but want to get the bodywork/rust sorted...
6a) Glass: repair as needed
7) Expected unexpected things...
8) Repeat 7
9) What else?


For what's on the market, I really couldn't find anything under 10k. Units under 15k were in varying degrees of quality and the fine specimens were near or over 20k+ as you know.

I probably still overpaid for this unit but, it's a start & it's not too bad according to the market.
Paid $8,800

Here's a pic - Will add more pics as soon as I can get away from work for a few mins during the day.

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Nice rig.
Keep posting pics of your progress.
 
Got the Exhaust fixed for now sounds/smells a lot better but I suspect the manifold gasket or the gasket at the collector might be at least partially blown out.
Looks like she's got a little lean here.
Ordered a LOT of things over the past couple of days - I'll update as they get installed/replaced!
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Last weekend we started on the suspension. Got all of the springs swapped out with the HFS kit. Mangled a couple of the pins so ordered from Toyota and waiting for one of them and that will be wrapped up! Looking forward to taking it for a drive. It sits nice and level now / will post some final measurements of before lift, after lift & after tires eventually.

Sprayed the underside & engine bay down w/degreaser and hosed it off w a pressure washer!
Curious if this undercoating is supposed to be 033 White or Grayish - I was surprised to see it not 100% black behind all of the grime. Anyone know!? Have some more cleaning to do followed by some rust prevention etc. It’ll spend the next week drying out in the early summer heat!

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After the pressure washing we did some maintenance stuff:
Oil change
Front/Rear diff oil change
Trans and transfer oil change
Power steering fluid change
Coolant flush and refill
Greased all of the driveline and shackles

Found out the pinion bearing is pretty blown out on my rear diff so ordered that along w a new seal from Toyota. Never had a rear end apart before but Tom has so that’ll be interesting!

The plan for next weekend is to finish the tuneup/Maintenance stuff as well as the suspension and maybe try to get it smogged before tearing the rear end apart. Anything else we should do while in there?

Carpet, seat upholstery, headliner & center console are sitting in my office waiting - don’t want to start on that till I’m done being covered head to toe in grease etc…
Wheels were supposed to “ship” June 1 but idk what’s happening there, covid delays…
Waiting to get tires till the wheels arrive…

Toyota bumpers and end caps came in, my front end is missing the OEM bumper bracket so I gotta get someone to fab something for that and haven’t investigated the rear too much yet because it has some giant hunk of garbage bumper on there. Will just deal w that when the time comes!

Got this OEM shifter knob in to replace the nylock nut the 60 came with - love it lol.

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Overall I’m happy that it’s running okay. Looking forward to wrapping up the tuneup stuff and getting the stock Air Cleaner back on. Hopefully figuring out all of the vacuum routing etc. will smooth out the idle some more!
 
Here’s the rig after lift install. It’s sitting level left to right & I’m assuming the front is going to relax a little w the weight of the 2f…

still need to measure it, the lift didn’t bring it up too much because it had long shackles on it but the ride is definitely better!

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Got the new wheels and tires mounted up yesterday!

these are:
fj40 disk wheels and caps, 15x5.5
BFG 33x10.50 15
Mounted and balanced by mom and pop shop, box shops wouldn’t touch it due to the wheel width.

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If anyone is local to Sacramento and you want some 30x9.5 on these painted aluminum wheels make me an offer…. Set of 4
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I measured from the floor to the outside center bottom of the wheelwell:

Before ——> After lift+tires
Ds rear 33 3/8 ——> 37
Ds front 35 1/4 ——> 39 3/8
Ps front 37 ——-> 39 1/8
Ps rear 34 1/2 ——> 36

Here’s a pic before the center caps!

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got the timing set, fixed some vacuum line routing, started charging the AC & the smog pump locked up! Was gonna take it in to get smogged first thing in the AM :/
Hoping I can pull it and de-vane then reinstall w/out too much trouble…. From what I’ve read it should run the same but I assume it’ll take a little longer to warm up in the cold? I just need it to pass visual.
 
here are some of the bits of vane that self destructed!
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De-vaned, Cleaned up the pump inside and out, greased the bearing, and reinstalled!
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My afternoon opened up today and I was able to get this thing into the smog shop, and it passed! Super stoked, and very surprised!

On to the next project, pinion bearing & the truck is currently suffering from the flat spot issue from 2500-3k rpm so I’ll be trying all of the tips noted in the “classic fj60 stumbling” thread!
Wish us luck!

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Smog results.

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Got into the rear end & decided it would be best for me to take it to someone for a full rebuild…
Will get’er down to Georg as soon as possible!

The gears look to be in good shape for 265k but might as well give it some love.

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De-nerfed…
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the front bumper is gone and the brackets are also missing, the rear “bumper” is welded to the original brackets… started attempting to grind the welds and I’m thinking it may be easier for someone w/a plasma cutter…
My Sacramento friend who is a metal worker is pretty busy, anyone around Sacramento interested in fabbing some front bumper mounts and cutting this rear bumper off?
I have the OEM replacements on hand.
TIA!
 
Last edited:
Valve adjustment complete!
Warmed her up & Used the hot specs.
Haven’t road tested it yet but fixed a couple of incorrect vacuum routings and after adjusting the valves my off idle hesitation is gone.
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Compression tested finally, got ~120 on all cylinders except 1 which read 115, then 120, and is now holding at 130.
I assume this is nothing to worry about.

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Charged the AC, she’s blowing cold now however my idle up system isn’t kicking in. Need to check the wiring to make sure the VSV is getting power & also rebuild the OEM carb and replace whatever aftermarket thing this came with…
We took the old suspension to the dump w/the nerf bars and fixed the filler neck on Tom’s ranger!
Cinco supervised everything!

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