Builds An HJ61 followed me home to Texas

[bottombracket]

Of course Grant, age 11, asked if he could drive it next. Here he is on his maiden voyage in a Land Cruiser...and he picked a pretty cool rig to start on. I think he did pretty good for a kid who can barely reach the pedals. He made it to third gear, and is ready for more. Lots more.

 

[bottombracket]

 

[bottombracket]

Nate didn’t waste any time getting into his designated spot.

 

[bottombracket]

So now it moves under its own power, but I still have a ton to do. I found my transmission harness, of course it up on the shelf behind a bunch of crap. It is damn hard to put all those connections on when the transmission and transfer case are in place. I can’t get the tach sender or oil pressure gauge to work. I’m sure that’s probably just a bad ground. I have to bolt up the T case linkage, and put on the front driveshaft.

The power steering pump is groaning and probably is full of air, so I’ll get the truck up on the lift and move it lock to lock a few times.

I’ve got a coolant leak somewhere from the front end, and I see at least one hose clamp that is a little drippy, so I will look at that again. I just hope it’s not the four bolts on the water pump, because that would be a pain in the buttocks to get to. I’d probably have to take the fan clutch off to get to it. Luckily, I cut the radiator shroud in half so that is a big bonus.

The AC condenser is beat to hell, and I don’t think it is available anymore. I picked up one for an FJ62, but the lines don’t appear to be compatible right off the bat. I’ll do a little digging around. The one for an FJ60 looks like it might be a closer fit. I’ll go through and make sure all the o-rings are upgraded to R134a, and I have a new Denso dryer and expansion valve.

Stainlesstrays.com has just been restocked with 60 series trays, so I will pick up two of them. The battery trays that are currently in the truck are a previous owner jobby job made of bent diamond plate aluminum. They could stand a little upgrading.

I already but the bullet and picked up a new set of JW speaker headlights. They are amazing.

I’ve got to pick up a boost gauge and wire in that and the EGT probe. I should probably put in a stereo while I am digging around under the dash. Currently I just listen to the 12HT growl.

That is most of the rest of what I need to do for the truck, but all in all, today was a huge leap forwards.

 

[bottombracket]

And one more thing: the lost shifter seat.

So I pulled the drain plug off the h55 and stuck my iPhone up against it, trying to find that stupid thing in the bottom of the tranny. Nothing. I looked again from the top. Also, nothing.

Then I got the bright idea to take the shop vac, put the hose on the air outlet, and blow pressurized air in from the top and out through the drain plug. Grant held the hose onto the shift tower, while I climbed under the truck. We blew a tornado of air out of that sucker, blowing oil droplets all over the floor past the rear axle. But no shifter seat. That forking thing can get chewed up and spit out. It drives my OCD crazy, but it is what it is.

 

[davegonz]

LOL! I'm going to mess with your OCD every time I'm in your truck.

"Galen, do you hear that sound?"

 

[bottombracket]

Dave, do you know what it actually sounds like inside my head when I’m driving?

Here’s a sample:

What’s that smell?
You can never smell your own truck.
It’s probably not me.
Is that brakes?
Did I check the oil?
Oh, that smell was definitely the truck that just blew by me blowing a ton of blue smoke.
When I hit the brakes it shudders a little.
Did I tighten my caliper bolts?
Are my rotors true?
Maybe I need air in the tires.
No, it brakes fine.
What was that clunk when I shifted?
Synchros?
It’s never done that before.
I don’t want to pull the transmission.
Do I have a spare main seal?
Now it’s not doing it.
It’s fine.

Maybe I need a radio so I don’t hear all the voices!

 

[JDMStanNTopSoft]

Of course Grant, age 11, asked if he could drive it next. Here he is on his maiden voyage in a Land Cruiser...and he picked a pretty cool rig to start on. I think he did pretty good for a kid who can barely reach the pedals. He made it to third gear, and is ready for more. Lots more.

View attachment 2503886View attachment 2503887

Great thread! And nice steering !

 

[bottombracket]

@4060seriesnut your wheel is coming! It’s not on there yet.

 

[portcruiser]

So now it moves under its own power, but I still have a ton to do. I found my transmission harness, of course it up on the shelf behind a bunch of crap. It is damn hard to put all those connections on when the transmission and transfer case are in place. I can’t get the tach sender or oil pressure gauge to work. I’m sure that’s probably just a bad ground. I have to bolt up the T case linkage, and put on the front driveshaft.

The power steering pump is groaning and probably is full of air, so I’ll get the truck up on the lift and move it lock to lock a few times.

I’ve got a coolant leak somewhere from the front end, and I see at least one hose clamp that is a little drippy, so I will look at that again. I just hope it’s not the four bolts on the water pump, because that would be a pain in the buttocks to get to. I’d probably have to take the fan clutch off to get to it. Luckily, I cut the radiator shroud in half so that is a big bonus.

The AC condenser is beat to hell, and I don’t think it is available anymore. I picked up one for an FJ62, but the lines don’t appear to be compatible right off the bat. I’ll do a little digging around. The one for an FJ60 looks like it might be a closer fit. I’ll go through and make sure all the o-rings are upgraded to R134a, and I have a new Denso dryer and expansion valve.

Stainlesstrays.com has just been restocked with 60 series trays, so I will pick up two of them. The battery trays that are currently in the truck are a previous owner jobby job made of bent diamond plate aluminum. They could stand a little upgrading.

I already but the bullet and picked up a new set of JW speaker headlights. They are amazing.

I’ve got to pick up a boost gauge and wire in that and the EGT probe. I should probably put in a stereo while I am digging around under the dash. Currently I just listen to the 12HT growl.

That is most of the rest of what I need to do for the truck, but all in all, today was a huge leap forwards.

Hi Bottombracket

My HJ61 is the same year model than yours . AC condenser is NLA , but there are alternatives . Some 4-5 years ago , I bought a new one from a Danish company , Nissens , Condensers , that has them or manufactures them . Bought it through their portuguese importer . Not too expensive , about 130€ . Now I need a new condenser for my 1982 HJ60 , with is completely different from the HJ61 . They already said they could do it . Advice on changing from R12 to R134 . Tear down your compressor and change the inner Orings too , to the viton ones . That the only way my AC worked fine in the HJ61 .

Cheers

 

[bottombracket]

@portcruiser thank you! I will work on sourcing a replacement through Nissens. The website doesn't pull up a Nissens replacement for the OEM 88460-90A15 so I will email them. My truck was already converted to 134a, but I have all new O-rings to replace.

 

[bottombracket]

I got out to the barn today and I just wanted to go for a test drive. I threw the front end back on and bolted the air cleaner in place. Yes, those are zip ties holding on the headlight valances. I couldn’t find the tiny little screws.

Nate was summarily unimpressed.

There was a pretty epic sky in the background. Corgi ears: on point.

I aborted the test drive after a quarter-mile down the road because the oil pressure gauge wasn’t working. I know there’s plenty of oil pressure (see the big old oil leak on the last page from the turbo oil line), but I just didn’t want to chance it. This truck has a ton of power. I really can’t wait to drive it and break this motor in.

I’ll go back and test the sender and the wiring and look for anything I have missed. I know I will have to take everything back apart to do the A/C, but I just felt like getting it on the road again after 2+ years off. Mission accomplished.

 

[JuanJ]

Dave, do you know what it actually sounds like inside my head when I’m driving?

Here’s a sample:

What’s that smell?
You can never smell your own truck.
It’s probably not me.
Is that brakes?
Did I check the oil?
Oh, that smell was definitely the truck that just blew by me blowing a ton of blue smoke.
When I hit the brakes it shudders a little.
Did I tighten my caliper bolts?
Are my rotors true?
Maybe I need air in the tires.
No, it brakes fine.
What was that clunk when I shifted?
Synchros?
It’s never done that before.
I don’t want to pull the transmission.
Do I have a spare main seal?
Now it’s not doing it.
It’s fine.

Maybe I need a radio so I don’t hear all the voices!

Hello,

As is usually the case, I thought I was the only one hearing those voices inside my head.

I feel some relief knowing that I am not alone.





Juan

P. S.: Keep up the good work.

 

[bottombracket]

So after a bunch of texts with @roma042987 and FaceTiming with @davegonz and @CenTXFJ60, I found two problems. One, my 30-year-old oil pressure sender wire harness was super brittle and hanging on my a thread. It broke off in my hands tonight. Fark. Calling @Coolerman...

Second, I stared to have this feeling that maybe the oil pressure gauge never worked. I thought that maybe that was just wishful thinking, and that I was just trying to convince myself because it doesn’t work now.

I couldn’t remember; in general I can’t remember what I did yesterday. So I looked back in the photo archives on my phone.

Here is a screen grab from a startup video 8/3/17, the day I got the truck.

NO OIL PRESSURE GAUGE.

The good news is that I have located a spare cluster, and we will see hopefully later this week if I can swap it out for a working one.

Extra double special thanks to Jimmy for FaceTiming me and crawling around his trucks in the dirt at night with a flashlight, helping me get the tach, reverse lights, and four-wheel-drive switches all hooked up. Everything else works and is ready except this oil pressure gauge.

Still, progressing forwards!

 

[Paco]

No gauge, like as in the needle is gone? Crazy!
When my 61 rolled off the transport (with dead batteries from the boat ride) I did not register any oil pressure at all. It was painful but I didn't drive it a week until I replaced the sending unit and then all was good.

Speaking of cluster is your trip odometer reset stock? I thought they were black and yours looks grey. Mine is broken so am looking to fix or replace if possible.

Your rig is really coming together and looking good!

 

[bottombracket]

@Paco the trip odometer is stock AFAIK.
Since I’m not too proud to showcase my mistakes, here’s another error I made.

The other afternoon I noticed the idle was about 800 even after it warmed up. Factory spec is 650. I turned down the idle screw and the motor definitely didn’t like it. The idle got a little rough and was a little clattery. I let it sit there and idle for about 15 minutes, then shut if off. It wouldn’t restart. I popped the hood and found this:

Even though I had the battery terminals hand tight, the clamps were definitely old and the negative side worked itself loose, arced, and ate half of the negative battery terminal. I have never seen that before. It is definitely time to make some new cables.

And turn the idle back up to where it’s happy.

 

[bottombracket]

On a positive note, @CenTXFJ60 and @fl4031003 came up to the barn to help wrench. Jimmy brought a couple of spare cluster gauges and Monroy disassembled the dash while Jimmy swapped gauges in and out of the cluster.

We also popped in a couple of new 24V bulbs and ta daaaah: working oil pressure gauge! The gauge indeed was the culprit. Look at that oil pressure! All the light bulbs light up!

They also help me drop in a new speedometer cable, which was a bigger pain in the ass than anything else. Seating that grommet under the dash onto the transmission hump took about 45 minutes, same as the rest of the whole procedure!

Thanks to both of them for making the trek up on a school night. Incremental progress.

 

[bottombracket]

I also dropped in the new trays from stainlesstrays.com. They are a work of art, unlike the homemade Spanish trays that came with the truck.

I ordered the wrong battery hold down, and will have to get the correct one to fit the second Odyssey battery. This custom artisanal heirloom pine 1x3 shim will have to do for now. These batteries ain’t gonna wiggle now.

 

[bottombracket]

I was lamenting the fact that I couldn’t find a coolant jar lid and new hose without buying the entire assembly. My 30 year old cap keeps falling off the jar. I looked in one of the many boxes scattered about the barn and lo and behold I found a surprise from @ToyotaMatt. I had forgotten all about it.

Matt’s also on deck to help me rebuild my oil pressure sender harness. Score!

 

[SNLC]

I also dropped in the new trays from stainlesstrays.com. They are a work of art, unlike the homemade Spanish trays that came with the truck.

View attachment 2515091

I ordered the wrong battery hold down, and will have to get the correct one to fit the second Odyssey battery. This custom artisanal heirloom pine 1x3 shim will have to do for now. These batteries ain’t gonna wiggle now.

View attachment 2515092View attachment 2515093

Most places that sell batteries also have a spacer that goes under the battery to fix that issue.

Cheers