Builds Beater FJ60 Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[k12kuburban]

I’ve always been a 60-Series fan, but @HemiAlex really got me hooked when he let me drive his FJ60 last year!

Since then, I’ve been searching for an ‘85-87 due to the easier H55 swap, and finally decided to pull the trigger on an ‘86 FJ60 with 224,000 miles. It’s got lots of bondo, but the frame is solid. Should be a fun off-road beater/adventure rig.

I’ve had it for a couple of months now, and have finally started doing some work. I went in a bit of a weird order, since I briefly lost motivation on this FJ60, and decided a facelift would help persuade me to get it going. I was able to find a decent set of headlight bezels, a grill, and a homemade Canada special winch bumper from a local enthusiast. I was also able to get a lot of interior bits I needed.

I found a much nicer dash, and was able to cobble a nice drivers seat using a used drivers seat and a nice passenger seat bottom. I also got to learn about the differences in seat rails and even the seat belt latch from my ‘86 to the donor ‘83(?).

Finally, to finish up the interior, an amazon special bluetooth radio and some used MTX Audio speakers and Mercedes W123 speaker covers from my 240D.

Now that I’m motivated, it’s finally time to get back to some mechanical work it’s in need of. I have some 33x10.50R15 BFG KO2’s waiting to go on, and am going to be doing a valve adjustment and pushrod cover gasket soon. I have ordered a city racer carb and a Man A Fre desmog Kit.

Future plans include:
OME Lift
H55 swap & rebuild tcase
Front end rebuild
Some sort of rear bumper
Lots of small things
Holley Sniper or a diesel swap down the line.

Some inspiration:

 

[HemiAlex]

Less typing, more wrenching.

 

[k12kuburban]

It's been a few months since an update, but a lot has happened! First thing I did was replace the pushrod cover gasket and installed the 33x10.50 BFG K02's. I bought a new FJ40 steelie to use as a spare, but I found out one of my wheels was badly bent. Fortunately, @HemiAlex helped me get a good OEM factory wheel from a local friend! I still haven't gotten the chance to mount the tire on that. While changing the tires, I found out one of my rear wheel cylinders is leaking, as well as the water pump. Added to the list!

I drove home and proceeded with a valve adjustment/valve cover gasket and an oil change. I then began removing the SMOG equipment as well as the cooling system. Surprisingly, all the SMOG & EGR components came apart without much trouble! While removing the SMOG equipment and carburetor, I found a broken carburetor insulator and a missing intake/exhaust manifold nut and bolt. Cripes! Well, I know it has an exhaust leak from the manifold gasket, so might as well change that! when I dug into the cooling system, one of the thermostat housing bolts broke, and the thermostat housing BVSV threads stripped. I went to remove the battery to gain a bit more access next to the radiator and discovered my battery tray was rust chips held together with the rubberized paint! Time to order parts!

I purchased a stainlesstrays.com battery tray, which is seriously beautiful!

 

[k12kuburban]

For the intake/exhaust manifold:

-Remflex Intake/Exhaust manifold gasket set
-Cruiser Outfitters Heat Riser block-off plate
-Intake/Exhaust manifold went to a machine shop to be skimmed flat, as well as have the heat riser flap deleted
-OEM Hardware from Toyota
-90119-10393 (2) Small bolt
-90119-12003 (4) Large bolt

-90170-12211 (2) Nut

-90201-12004 (2) Washer for nuts

-New Carburetor insulator

For the cooling system:

-Aisin Water Pump

-Aisin Thermostat/Thermostat Gasket set

-At the time, CityRacer was out of stock of thermostat housing kits, so I ended up purchasing a lower thermostat housing without BVSV ports from Australia, as well as a Toyota upper thermostat housing and bolts.

-Upper/lower radiator hoses, oil cooler hoses, heater hoses. I decided to delete the rear heater, as it is a liability, and not very necessary here in south Texas.

-Aisin Fan Clutch

 

[k12kuburban]

Additionally, I ended up purchasing a Jim C/ TLC Performance SMOG pump delete pulley, as I like that it uses the original Toyota hardware. I ordered silicone vacuum hoses as well as caps from McMaster Carr.

I used this opportunity to also replace all the fuel hoses under the hood, the fuel filter, and power steering low pressure hoses. I removed the oil galley plug to tap and plug it, and replaced the spark plugs with some fresh copper NGK’s.

With the desmog, I went ahead and did the green wire mod and grounded the carb fan wire.

With the recommendation from Alex and @js0k, I tuned the mixture screw to 7 turns out. Finally got it fired up, and it purred like a kitten! Without an exhaust leak!!! Huzzah! It was nice to finally cruise around in the cruiser today with cold a/c to boot!

 

[HemiAlex]

I kinda like the MAD MAX looking bumper.

 

[k12kuburban]

I kinda like the MAD MAX looking bumper.

I really like how the bumper stays tucked so closely to the body.

decided to take a peak under the bondo on the rear passenger fender. not as bad as it could’ve been

Since this has some holes already, I went ahead and pulled out the slide Hammer and went to town. Got it looking a bit nicer. Makes me want to try and get an actual auto body slide hammer set.

After on the left, and before on the right

 

[HemiAlex]

I’ve seen worse. I’d get it to bare metal and get as many of the dents popped out with basic body tools.

You’ve got free trail damage. You’re ready for a trip to the mountains.

 

[k12kuburban]

That’s my plan for now! Hopefully I can find a friend with an auto body puller set I can borrow.

 

[js0k]

For that little corner it would probably be easier to do a skin graft, I’ll trade this corner for your hitch? Lol

 

[k12kuburban]

For that little corner it would probably be easier to do a skin graft, I’ll trade this corner for your hitch? Lol

View attachment 2356606

A very tempting offer. I actually need both corners. Or, how about helping me out a bit with the rear shock crossmember? Haha.

 

[k12kuburban]

Finally got to install my Logan’s Metal Products bumper! Had to fight to get most of the old bolts off.

Little bit of rust on the rear crossmember for me to fix in the future.

One of these days I’ll have to swing by and meet @js0k and the dude and drop off his new hitch!

Much improved! Drove about 30 minutes to town, idled with a/c on for about 3 hours, and drove home. The truck did great!

Next big things on the list:
Fix the rear shock crossmember - I’ve reached out to trail tailor about this.
OME lift - II’ll be reaching out to Cruiser Outfitters

 

[js0k]

Excellent, hopefully I’ll have time this weekend to finish dicing up the red 60 and see if the shock x member is salvageable!