87 FJ60 - "Willie" "The Beast" Build Thread (1 Viewer)

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There is! Thanks for asking.

My wife is taking the kids out of town in 10 days. I'll have the house, and more importantly the garage, all to myself for a week.
I've been assembling parts and lining up work.

First off, I'll pull the seats and take them over to a local upholsterer on the Monday. After going through the all the swatches with them, we settled on this material (which arrived yesterday!) - Spradling GRAND PRIX GPX9466 GRAPHITE Automotive Vinyl - DecorativeFabricsDirect.com
The driver's door card will also get this material up top, as that's the only one that needs it. I believe the material is pretty close to an exact match. If not, I may have to get all the door cards done. anywho...

Once the seats are out and dropped off, I'll be pulling the carpet and installing the brand new carpet provided by @dnp . I believe it arrives today.

I also have the saginaw upgrade kit from George so I'll be doing that during "Wrench Week"
Lastly, i purchased a nice variable speed buffer to really shine up the outside.

Not sure how much money I've spent to date of the $4k, but it's definitely adding up.

Much more pics to come, maybe in my long anticipated (by me anyway) build thread.

I can't wait!
 
I couldn't resist taking a peek under the carpet to see what i'll be getting myself into with regards to pulling that and getting it all cleaned up. I keep hearing about dry ice, wire wheels, hidden rust, etc. I thought mine would be pretty clean as it was a southern California rig before making it's way to Texas for a couple of years before I found it and brought it to SWCO. Even with my high expectations, I was pleasantly surprised to see how clean it is.

Should make for a straightforward swap of the old for the new.

under the carpet in back left.jpg
under the carpet in back right.jpg
 
Update - wrench week is officially underway and I've spent all I'm going to spend (yeah, right) for the moment.
My budget ended up going to the following -

  • ih8mud silver membership (best money spent on this project, by far! - thanks to all those that have contributed, from selling me great stuff, to provide excellent threads and advice, and for motivating the hell out of me!)
  • 4 window regulators and some window rubber
  • CarFax - I'm the third owner. 2nd owner was grandson of the first owner. Nice to have a carfax on hand.
  • OEM Tailight lenses and left turn indicator lense
  • Power Steering Saginaw kit from @georg - it's very nice
  • Saginaw Pump from O'reilly (fits like a glove, it looks)
  • Ignition switch to fix a problem starting. Ended up cleaning and tightening all the starter/battery/ignition switches and didn't need ignition switch (somebody want one?)
  • Rear Seat shoulder belts, of the non-retractable variety. Looks like they'll bolt right in as behind the b-pillar cloth is what feels like a threaded bolt hole. We'll find out. non-retractable is okay for me, as i'm just using them to better secure car seats.
  • Harbor Freight - variable speed buffer/polisher and all the wax stuff. figure it's the last time to really work on getting that blown out clear coat looking good. (I'll let others be the judge at the unveiling)
  • Upholstery from decorativefabricsdirect.com . Easy to work with, less money and the sent samples. Went with a dark graphite vinyl that matched the dash, door cards, etc.. Seats are at the shop as I type! The local shop went through several swatch books to find the right color, and then didn't care where i sourced it. I love keeping it local when i can!
  • Seats at local shop. Reasonably priced and very helpful with tips and tricks for laying down the carpet. Plus some additional jute at $5 a yard.
  • Sound deadener for the doors and to go under the jute layers and carpet.
  • New carpet from David @dnp! It looks great and I can't wait to get it in.
  • Rebuilt carb from from Jason at Trail Tailor (supposed to arrive today!)
  • All new vacuum lines from McMaster.
  • Gambling in Vega - $350! (D'OH!), was really hoping to parlay that $350 into a 4BT swap, but it was not in the cards - literally!
  • EGR down tube gasket, the tube was actually loose. getting that tightened up should help immensely on the deceleration popping.Gasket for leaky transfer case. one less leak (hopefully).

I still have some tucked away for a possible FJ80 steering box upgrade and other items that pop up. Pictures to follow.
 
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old vs. new carpet. Pictures don't it justice as to the quality between the two. My existing carpet was in pretty good shape, but faded, stained, worn, etc.. This pic does show how exact the shapes match. Install scheduled for all day sesh on Saturday.

old v new.jpg
 
It will be going in this. Not too much jute stuck to the bottom of the truck, so that's good. Should clean up nice. Only found $.35 and a roach (the good kind) under the old carpet.

Gutted cruiser.jpg
 
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No rust to speak at ALL on the body, which confirms the old adage "buy the best one you can afford" I did spend more than I wanted to spend on this rig two years ago, but buying a rust-free, documented one-family ownership, low miles CA and TX rig continues to pay me back.

The ONLY rust I found was on the old seat, which had been pulled from another pre-87 60. I wish the PO had pulled the upholstery from this seat and put it on the old seat frame, but that's too much to ask of anybody. Plus, it cleaned up pretty nice with just a little POR15 brand rust prep. This is the before picture. Minimal surface rust
rusty back seat.jpg
 
now, onto the power steering. The old one was a PAIN in the ass to remove. Long-extensions, elbows, breaker bars and patience are what you need. It was nice having @orangefj45 's altered OEM bracket available to refer to. It helped me find the 6 bolts holding this on.

By the way, my step by step for removing the old power steering pump -

  1. Remove Air Cleaner and related hoses when possible to give me some space.
  2. Remove top radiator hose for some more space
  3. Loosen and remove belts (I LOVE the way Toyota engineered the way to loosen and tighten belts with the built in tensioners on the bracket)
  4. Disconnect small power steering line and drain/plug. This was messy.
  5. Unbolt bracket from block in 4 places, then unbolt 2 smaller bolts from smog pump bracket. I thought of removing the smog pump and gutting it, but I really didn't want to add to the project. I'll probably regret that.
  6. Disconnect larger power steering connected line.
  7. PULL!
Sans power steering pulley.jpg
 
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this quiz.
Name two things wrong with this picture - (I'll bet @orangefj45 knows)

whats missing.jpg
 
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The pulley is the correct pulley.
It is on backwards, though. Good eye @4Cruisers. Being on backward is bad.

It is also on BEFORE THE ADAPTER AND BRACKET! THAT is the wrong order.

Good ending to a bad story, but the power steering project has been delayed for a night. I'll just move the interior cleaning up a day.
 
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So. the whole pulley thing. Well, I took my O'Reilly's pump AND the pulley into O'Reilly's so that I could rent the tool needed to press the pulley on. i wanted to make sure I had the right tool.
Well, Robert at O'Reilly's wanted to go the extra mile for me and provide some excellent service. He said "I'll press that pulley on right now so you don't have to deal with it, or rent the tool." Sounded like a good idea at the time.
So he grabs the tool, pulley and pump and I help him ease that pulley right into place. "Sweet." i say to myself.

Well, I get back and get ready to put everything together and find out pretty quickly that the customer mounting parts that @orangefj45 provides can only be put on PRIOR to the pulley being pressed on. You can't get the alan wrenches on the bolts due to the pulley interfering.

The bracket HAS TO BE MOUNTED first, then the pulley, the put the whole contraption back on the block. I'm sure this has been said somewhere before, and the pictures in the "Finally!!!! Saginaw upgrade for 60s" thread shows it mounted before installation, but I was not aware it HAD to be done that way. Well, it does.

So, I go back into O'Reilly's to get them to pull the pulley and rent me the tool so that i can do it correctly. that's when we found out, in Robert's eagerness to assist, we'd mounted the pulley backwards so the lip typically used to latch onto when you need to pull it is on the wrong side. And it won't come off. We try the claw-like puller, but it starts to bend one of the pulley's spokes. So that's a no go. The pulley is NOT coming off.

Well, lucky for me, the pulley has a dorman part number on it. They warrantied both items, even though I didn't purchase the pulley from them give me a new pump and the pulley is ready to picked up today. So it's all going to work out.

Two lessons learned -

1. Pulley has to go on after the bracket is mounted.
2. Make sure the pulley goes on the right way in case you ever have to take it off.

Edit - Third Lesson - Don't let O'Reilly's counter guy help unless you're desperate
 
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In other news, while prepping the interior for the refresh, I finally founds some rust. Someone mentioned that "They ALL have rust, it's just a matter of how much." I was really hoping to prove that person wrong and be the proud owner of a rust-free unicorn, but alas, it was not to be.

The driver's side bulkhead looks to have some rust! OH NO! Not a lot, by any means, but still something I should deal with. I assume that's it due to a plugged drain hole. Any idea where that drain hole is and how to unclog it? I figure I'll just clean that out and then spray some rust-inhibitor/rust converter in the hole where the plug is and call it good.

Driver's side vs. Passenger side

Drivers side bulkhead.jpg


passenger side bulk head.jpg
 
The driver's side bulkhead looks to have some rust! OH NO! Not a lot, by any means, but still something I should deal with. I assume that's it due to a plugged drain hole. Any idea where that drain hole is and how to unclog it? I figure I'll just clean that out and then spray some rust-inhibitor/rust converter in the hole where the plug is and call it good.

Driver's side vs. Passenger side

View attachment 1685857

View attachment 1685858
Crawl under the FJ60 and look outboard of the body mount, there should be a hole with a plastic plug. BTW, thanks for making me go out to the garage to look, I'm missing the plug on the drivers side. Luckily I have a spare.

Here's a diagram:

FJ60 Cowl.png
 
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Thanks. I'm missing a couple of drain plugs in the floor pan by the back seat. Need to find a couple of them.
 
It was a good night last night. Was able to get the pulley from O'Reilly's and their press tool. That worked as expected AFTER I put on the adapter and bracket. Replaced the back studs with two bolts to clean that up and leave room back there. Good suggestion @FJACS .

pump.jpg


Putting it in was MUCH easier than getting it out. I started the bolt on the front of the block first, followed by one of the three on the side of the block. Then I moved to one of the smaller 12MM bolts that connects to the smog pump bracket. Followed by bolts two and three on the side of block and then the last one on the smog pump pulley. Tightening them all up wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Can't say enough about having an 3/8 drive with an elbow and about a 20" inch extension. Used that setup a lot.

Plugging in the fluid lines was straightforward as well. Like it was meant to go there :). Then the belt and putting everything else in there.

I even had time to put the finishing touch on it, the cap adapter that @4wheelfever sells for $7.50. Really nice to keep the TOYODA cap. Make it look even more stock. It felt sacrilegious to tear apart a perfectly good OEM Toyota part to enable the adapter to fit the caps together, but the finished product looks great.

Saginaw Installed.jpg



I also noticed my EGR tube was loose, so the night before I sprayed some PB Blaster on the nuts. Last night they came off real easy. Putting in the new gasket was easy, too. I was looking around to see if I was on candid camera it went so well. Check out the old gasket(s). Completely burned down to the metal.

EGR gaskets.jpg


I put everything else back together, even though I'll be doing the carb and vacuum lines tonight. One job at a time. I then topped of the fluid, jacked up the front to get the wheels off the ground and cranked the wheel full right and full left about 15 times. Never really moaned or squeaked at all. Consider the Power Steering Saginaw Pump upgrade complete!

Overall, a great night of wrenching. Two items done, with no major delays. Right now, I'm only about a half-day behind schedule If I can finish the carb replacement and vacuum line refresh tonight, I'll be right where I want to be.

Time to update the signature!
 
We’ve all been there on that pulley oops. :)
New setup looks sweet. Now that you’ve done that, watch your gear box well. The added power of the Saginaw can cause the old seals in the gear box to finally give up the ghost. You’ll know if the frame rail bump stop or the shock boot starts to look wet. Clean them up well now so it’s easier to spot in a few weeks time. Forgive me if that’s something that was previously upgraded or rebuilt before you, I don’t remember if you’ve mentioned it.

And that rust.... easy!!! Call yourself very lucky.
 
Thanks @NeverGiveUpYota. O'Reilly's was very cool about warrantying everything, even though I didn't get the pulley from them.

I will be keeping an eye on the box. Set aside some funds if that becomes an issue and will upgrade to 80 box if and when that time comes. I'll definitely be cleaning up all the quarts of PS Fluid that have leaked out. Engine Degreaser and Power Washer is in my future on everything below the pump.

I do consider myself very luck on the rust. I've seen some of your work to repair rust, which you've done very well. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that. For this to be the only rust I have, after having gone over everything, I do consider myself very, very lucky in that regard.
 
We’ve all been there on that pulley oops. :)
New setup looks sweet. Now that you’ve done that, watch your gear box well. The added power of the Saginaw can cause the old seals in the gear box to finally give up the ghost. You’ll know if the frame rail bump stop or the shock boot starts to look wet. Clean them up well now so it’s easier to spot in a few weeks time. Forgive me if that’s something that was previously upgraded or rebuilt before you, I don’t remember if you’ve mentioned it.

And that rust.... easy!!! Call yourself very lucky.
x2 on the power steering box going south after upgrading, I got about eight months of upgraded pressure into it before it started leaking at the input seal. Swapped it for a rebuilt box and oh man, the difference is great. Turns are even and no longer wobbly. I don't even know what the term "steering wheel play" refers to anymore! :lol:
 

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