Builds Cara the white '84 FJ60! (1 Viewer)

[kenavt]

Since we last joined our heroes, the big exciting update is that the hood mounting bolts stripped and some complex surgery had to be done. I'm very fortunate to have a friend good at welding and grinding, need to learn how to do that soon! More details here (Hood binding on cowl - not sure how to adjust/fix - '84 FJ60 - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/hood-binding-on-cowl-not-sure-how-to-adjust-fix-84-fj60.1261187/#post-14023999).

I've also adjusted the timing with a Harbor Freight light for my first time ever (was initially at 18deg advance instead of 7!), and then adjusted the idle speed for ~700rpm. Thanks @CruiserTrash for all the help over IG, that was really nice of you and great

Took the truck for its (first) smog test and failed visual immediately... apparently I have a non-CARB approved cat that's over 10 years old, a few hoses are cracked and not attached properly, and the guy clearly didn't want to bother to really do an inspection because he quickly failed me and moved on.

So I spent Sunday replacing (almost) all of the vacuum lines! It seems like the classic source for vacuum lines is McMasterCarr from this post (Vacum hose for a 2f, how much and what size. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/vacum-hose-for-a-2f-how-much-and-what-size.714780/#post-9747050), but those parts cost $120. I bought 45 feet of Gates 20741 (3mm) for <$30 and 10 feet of Gates 20744 (6mm). The 3mm hose is a snug fit but for the price can't argue too much. Took me 3-4 hours for the whole job, the BVSV hoses off the thermostat and the four carb hoses by the AI rail were the worst by far. The rest was straightforward, just had to put on music and push through it.

Here's some fresh Cruiser spaghetti from the oven:

The Gates 20741 seems like it might be a bit tight... the hose changes color a tiny bit on the metal fittings (lightens up). On the website its listed as 3mm hose but on the reel I bought it was listed as 2.8mm... maybe this will be a problem in the future. I didn't break any plastic fittings so happy with that.

I also re-attached the front fascia and bumper so it looks normal again! For the first time since December. Seeing it sitting in the driveway all put together feels really good

Getting a new catalytic converter today and will hopefully give it another shot tomorrow or the day after!

 

[CruiserTrash]

@kenavt just make sure you twist those tight vacuum lines to break the seal before removing, and push rather than pull them.

An old cat, if it has a pre-CARB era date stamp or serial number, I’d hang onto it. That’s gold because you can’t get them anymore. Even if you can test smog fine without a cat, you need one for visual, so it’s REALLY good to have that. I’m not advocating running the truck “dirty” - get it tuned up and tested maybe by a private shop - but there’s utility in have the shell of an old cat when new ones cost $1000.

 

[kenavt]

@kenavt just make sure you twist those tight vacuum lines to break the seal before removing, and push rather than pull them.

An old cat, if it has a pre-CARB era date stamp or serial number, I’d hang onto it. That’s gold because you can’t get them anymore. Even if you can test smog fine without a cat, you need one for visual, so it’s REALLY good to have that. I’m not advocating running the truck “dirty” - get it tuned up and tested maybe by a private shop - but there’s utility in have the shell of an old cat when new ones cost $1000.

Oh interesting, ok. What is the value of having an old one in that case?

 

[CruiserTrash]

Oh interesting, ok. What is the value of having an old one in that case?

You can knock out only the plugged baffles and run it. Or gut the whole thing. It will pass visual and won’t cost $1000. As long as the techs get a visual on the cat and the tailpipe sniffs good ….

 

[kenavt]

I passed smog and got license tags today!

Got a new cat Monday... sheesh it is expensive, it was $950+ with parts and labor. Apparently the price of cats has tripled in the last six months. I paid $765 for this 80905 Walker Pre-OBDII my muffler shop recommended, but... @BenjaminCA pointed out that I could have saved $200 buying it myself online from Walmart versus the shop supplying it. Oh well.

Went to get tested this morning at a different shop, and passed tailpipe and EVAP with flying colors! But they failed me on visual inspection for the tiniest thing... I am missing my hot air tube from the bottom of the air cleaner (and the accompanying heat shield/elbow that bolts into the exhaust manifold). @Racer65 hooked me up with the tube (Hot Air Tube for '75 to '87 Land Cruiser FJ40 FJ60 - https://www.cityracerllc.com/products/hot-air-tube-for-75-to-87-land-cruiser-fj40-fj60) and informed me that heat shield/elbow is unobtanium. Turns out I had the elbow from disassembly months ago but the heat shield is long gone - I had torn it apart/disintegrated it in disassembly.

I returned to the smog shop and they looked me over for visual, quickly did tailpipe and EVAP, and Cara was good! Ran to AAA on the way home and I've never been so happy to have license tags in my life.

My tailpipe emissions look quite good too. I'm surprised how low my NO is, might be worth looking into later (and adding to my list of small things to iron out). But for now, celebration! And new tires/rims by the end of the week... these tires are dangerously old. Looking to go with 33"s.

 

[Racer65]

I passed smog and got license tags today!

Got a new cat Monday... sheesh it is expensive, it was $950+ with parts and labor. Apparently the price of cats has tripled in the last six months. I paid $765 for this 80905 Walker Pre-OBDII my muffler shop recommended, but... @BenjaminCA pointed out that I could have saved $200 buying it myself online from Walmart versus the shop supplying it. Oh well.

Went to get tested this morning at a different shop, and passed tailpipe and EVAP with flying colors! But they failed me on visual inspection for the tiniest thing... I am missing my hot air tube from the bottom of the air cleaner (and the accompanying heat shield/elbow that bolts into the exhaust manifold). @Racer65 hooked me up with the tube (Hot Air Tube for '75 to '87 Land Cruiser FJ40 FJ60 - https://www.cityracerllc.com/products/hot-air-tube-for-75-to-87-land-cruiser-fj40-fj60) and informed me that heat shield/elbow is unobtanium. Turns out I had the elbow from disassembly months ago but the heat shield is long gone - I had torn it apart/disintegrated it in disassembly.

I returned to the smog shop and they looked me over for visual, quickly did tailpipe and EVAP, and Cara was good! Ran to AAA on the way home and I've never been so happy to have license tags in my life.

View attachment 2774389

My tailpipe emissions look quite good too. I'm surprised how low my NO is, might be worth looking into later (and adding to my list of small things to iron out). But for now, celebration! And new tires/rims by the end of the week... these tires are dangerously old. Looking to go with 33"s.

It was good to see you yesterday. Cats are expensive these days because there are tons of thieves stealing it to extract the minerals out of it (news link). It's absolutely crazy in our area. I recently had this happen to my Honda, and the whole car got totaled by insurance due to the astronomical cost to replace the cat and associated pipes that were cut away. If you plan to park anywhere around San Francisco, I suggest you look into buying some kind of protective gear for the cat!

 

[kenavt]

It was good to see you yesterday. Cats are expensive these days because there are tons of thieves stealing it to extract the minerals out of it (news link). It's absolutely crazy in our area. I recently had this happen to my Honda, and the whole car got totaled by insurance due to the astronomical cost to replace the cat and associated pipes that were cut away. If you plan to park anywhere around San Francisco, I suggest you look into buying some kind of protective gear for the cat!

Wow, that is wild that happened to your Honda! My hope is that with an old truck like mine, its cat is much less valuable then for more modern Hondas and Toyotas which are anecdotally what get hit... but I'm feeling really paranoid about it now since I expect I'll be in SF a bit

 

[kenavt]

It's been a quiet two weeks due to travel and other projects going on. But next on the docket is sorting out lots of small issues (like finishing putting the interior back together), and new wheels and tires. Any opinions or thoughts on the below are appreciated, this is just what's running through my mind before I buy things probably before the end of the month. Picture at the bottom is the current look with stock 235/75r15.

For tires... I'm pretty open here. I want a rubber overdrive for my H42, so I was looking at doing 33s, but then am now worried that'll be too much, so thinking about 31s. I am also on stock suspension so with 33s I assume I'll rub at full flex. So thinking about something like 33x10.5r15 KO2s, 255/85r16 KM3s

For wheels, I really dislike how my current ones look, partially the color and partially how the openings are shaped. Moving to 16" seems like a better idea for futureproofing... but also I like the tire selection better in 15. I really just want a set of cheap black steelies (15" or 16") and NOT to run spacers, but finding some with the right backspacing (3.5-3.75") seems impossible. None available publicly, reached out to ProComp support... none. I'm looking at 70-series wheels (42601-60262-03), although they're quite a bit more then I want to spend.

I think my most likely option at this point is trying to rattle-can my current rims (save some money and try out black) and get 31x10.5 or 33x10.5 KO2s. Depending on whether I want more rubber overdrive and some rubbing at full flex, or save $200 for a set of five and have some overdrive and less (no?) rubbing. And then keep my eyes open for cheap 15 or 16" black steelies (with correct backspacing) and make a bigger change then.

At some point I want to do an OME 2" lift (so then the 33s would be fine) but that might not be this year... might not do much offroading until then though... so maybe I can get by... decisions decisions.

 

[CruiserTrash]

@kenavt Those wheels are badass in an 80s, period correct sort of way! Question: do you NEED tires right away? Are those bald or dry rotting? If not I vote for doing the suspension work first. If the current suspension is original you'll make a huge leap in ride quality and be prepared for 33s down the road. Then you aren't trying to fight the stock height while buying new wheels and tires. Somewhere there is a thread for "wheels that fit" in the 60 section that gets updates pretty regularly - you could ask around in there if you're hellbent on doing that stuff first.

 

[kenavt]

I listed a ton of parts to sell in the classifieds left over from my swap! To help with these tires and eventual suspension overhaul. For Sale - SF Bay Area, CA: Selling off FJ60 2F engine accessories - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/sf-bay-area-ca-selling-off-fj60-2f-engine-accessories.1264042/

@kenavt Those wheels are badass in an 80s, period correct sort of way! Question: do you NEED tires right away? Are those bald or dry rotting? If not I vote for doing the suspension work first. If the current suspension is original you'll make a huge leap in ride quality and be prepared for 33s down the road. Then you aren't trying to fight the stock height while buying new wheels and tires. Somewhere there is a thread for "wheels that fit" in the 60 section that gets updates pretty regularly - you could ask around in there if you're hellbent on doing that stuff first.

The wheels are slowly growing on me... and I'm coming around to wanting 33x10.5 K02s which only come in 15" anyway. So I think I'll try to primer and paint them black and see how that goes.

The tires are 10 years old and have cracks... they aren't bald or rotting, but they do make me uncomfortable. The suspension isn't original (I see a few yellow Monroe branded parts) but is stock ride height I think. I also don't have the time for the suspension work at the moment (and won't for at least a month... at which point I lose my garage space), so getting the tires felt like a good nice next step. As I do more research though... I can see that you're right that wheels should be done first.

I've spent a lot of time browsing that "wheels that fit" section but finding black steelies 16" with the right backspacing seems to be a problem for everyone . I also reached out to Pro Comp customer support, they didn't have anything for me.

 

[CruiserTrash]

@kenavt I have black 16" steelies on mine that fit but I got them used and the seller couldn't remember what they were. I can send photos.

 

[kenavt]

Lots of things the last few weeks. But first things first... ticked over 175k miles! And averaging 13 mpg over the last 300 miles, which I'm quite happy with. Seems like things are running... A-OK.

• Went to flush my transmission and transfer case gear oil... only to find gear oil flood out of my transmission and my transfer case down 400mL (and I had filled it up not too long ago). Ordered @shipmag's equalizing hose (12.5" length for my stock H41 and split transfer case) and finally finished installing it yesterday, I think it looks good!

• Bolted in my front driveshaft after I removed it when doing the engine swap. I went back and forth on hardware... ended up ordering hardware from my local Toyota dealer because I was worried about getting the exact right bolts with the right shank length and got massively ripped off. If I hadn't been in a rush I would have just ordered them. Last time I"m paying >$4/ea bolt and nut when list price is $2 and that's definitely overpriced. And then when I gently call them on it, they get angry at me. Not going back to Toyota Sunnyvale again.
  • Toyota PNs are 90105-11014 for bolts, 90179-11005 for nuts, 90201-11013 for washers. I think they may be M10-1.00 hardware, they definitely aren't M10-1.25.
  • But this does mean I locked the hubs and drove around in 4WD high and low for the first time in 13 months! yippee!
• Finished re-assembling the instrument panel minus the ashtray and radio... need to find fun things to plug those holes.
• Drove 150-miles round trip to Valley Hybrids to drop off some parts and my old 2F block... second time coming by @orangefj45's shop and I always love seeing all of the rigs and such. Ever heard of a rear-engined FJ60?

• For wheels and tires, decided to keep the fun '80s retro 15" rims (although might paint them black at some point). Got 31x10.5r15 KO2s just installed after seeing a bunch at Valley Hybrids and I love it. The 31" just fill the wheel wells so much better, and the knobby tires are the right look versus the car tires I had before. Just need to sort out some more issues and then get them really dirty!

• Popped an exhaust leak during a 60-mile drive last night... truck sounds louder (and more badass) then a 18-wheeler, but its quite annoying. Pinned it down to the exhaust-manifold-to-downpipe-studs-and-nuts getting loose. Going to go in and locktite it later.

A long list of things to work on and solve... my clutch is still wonky, a few electrical things aren't working, and my carb fan wire isn't hooked up (unclear of the wiring there). But my @Ophir hand throttle just arrived in the mail, that'll make cruising on the highway so much nicer!

 

[kenavt]

More stuff...

• Fixed my big exhaust leak (make sure to use flange nuts on the manifold-to-downpipe studs, not normal nuts, and torque them up nicely!).
• Tried to install my hand throttle, but as soon as I tried using it on the highway it popped out of the pedal bracket... securing it with a zip-tie appears to do the trick. Have only tried it for a few miles but it really only works on flat ground.
• Discovered my 15A fuse was missing for my taillights and gauge cluster lights (I think I might have bumped it out when I was taking my instrument panel apart and then lost it). Bought a bunch of new fuses and swapped them in.
• Biggest of all... drove ~120 miles round trip to buy an old Con-ferr roof rack from Ugly Dwarf, who I can't seem to tag. (Ugly Dwarf - https://forum.ih8mud.com/members/ugly-dwarf.75796/) Thanks Steve! I really like the old basket-style roof racks, although I wish this one was longer... but this'll work for now, and it was a good deal.

Between the roof rack and new tires... I'm liking how things are visually coming together. A rear bumper and OME lift will eventually be in my future, but I'm happy with this setup for now.

 

[kenavt]

It's only been a month since I last posted here, but a lot has happened - both with the truck, and my personal life. Did some travel and then moved back up to San Francisco and now no longer have access to my own garage... street parking is the way, at least for right now. Occasionally you hear about FJ60 and FJ40 thefts in San Francisco (most famously Adam Savage's FJ40 in the same neighborhood I used to live in); hoping that my peeling clearcoat, visible rust, and steering club are enough.

Lots of exciting stuff happened with the truck, though! I moved up from San Jose to San Francisco (~50 miles) using entirely and only the FJ60 with the Con-ferr roof rack and an Allen bike rack I picked up off Craigslist. Great stress test for really putting the new engine and everything else through its paces, ended up being almost 500 miles in a week. Of course things started going wrong though... but not necessarily what I would have guessed.

Here's the truck all loaded up, sitting low in the rear, looking ready for a trip! Loaded up this heavily it didn't feel that great on the road... combination of the weight and the extra drag from the roof rack items I think.

It all started with the bad rainstorm we had in the Bay Area two Sundays ago. My wiper linkage has been largely broken, its so bent that I can't take the old passenger wiper arm off, but it's loose, so it just flops around. Occasionally it jams the driver's side, which still works (and I replaced with a 4Runner part). During that rainstorm that I drove 100 miles in, it jammed itself on the driver's side multiple times, during which I'd pull over to remove it, and then... finally it gave up the ghost and the whole wiper arm flew off on 101 around San Mateo. I laughed for the next five miles... felt like something out of a sitcom If you drove over it, I'm deeply sorry!

The front defogger also wasn't working... my front heater core doesn't seem to be getting hot, I can't get hot air from anywhere, as you can see from the photo.

Then in the next rainstorm we had this week, the driver's side wiper just stopped working and I had to drive home the last five miles with no wipers. Having RainX'd the windshield before the first storm saved me for both... the water beading up was enough for me to be able to see out.

After the first rainstorm, and an hour of driving, I went to get off the interstate and... the brakes went almost straight to the floor, I barely had enough stopping power for the offramp. I've done a couple of half-hour drives and a full-hour drive (in the dry) and it hasn't been that bad since, but it does feel a little bit more spongey then normal. I don't know when they were last flushed and I wonder if water got in the system... course of action here will be to replace the brake lines with steel braided (since I want to b open to a lift in the future anyway) and do a flush.

The last issue that sounds like a sitcom B-plot: my passenger door handle came off halfway through the move. It had been on its last legs when I bought it, and finally gave up the ghost.

So new items to fix...

• Replace wiper linkage... that'll be a fun one
• Figure out why front heater core isn't getting hot (could be header valve, I should probably also burp the coolant system)
• Flush brake fluid and see if that helps with brakes
• Tear into the passenger door for the door handle
• Other then these, the truck mostly ran well! If I cruised above 2500rpm in fourth gear I could see the temperature on the coolant gauge start rising... not sure how much to trust that or not. Sticking at 2300-2400 has been fine. With my 31" tires and H41, that's ~56mph, I'm ok with that for now.

I also got a bunch of help from other MUDers with the clutch issues I've been having. I won't go into detail here (other then that I've learned a lot!) but this thread cracked them all open, thank you so much @GM60 and everyone else: FJ60 new clutch - feeling odd pops through pedal - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fj60-new-clutch-feeling-odd-pops-through-pedal.1266081/#post-14099381

Onward and upward!

 

[CruiserTrash]

Congrats (?) on the move! Hopefully it's greener pastures. I used to love visiting SF when I lived in Eureka, but haven't been there for years - I wonder how much it's changed.

Only help I got is on the heat - check the heater Tee on the firewall (passenger side, up high behind valve cover). Make sure it moves with the cabin heat slider. Good luck man!

 

[ntdb]

I'm gonna steal your thunder but man I'm excited that you're moving to Seattle next year. Can't wait to wrench together.

 

[kenavt]

Thank you @ntdb! It's true, posted it for the IG crew yesterday - I quit my job last week and I'm moving to Seattle in January!! My girlfriend got a good job up there, and I'm looking forward to doing something new professionally. Can't wait to hang out and meet all of the Seattle Cruiserheads!!

This means I've done a lot of moving... had to move from San Jose to SF in October because my lease ran out, and then up the west coast to Seattle next in January! Cara's been putting in overtime moving my stuff around. Really did the 2F engine swap, and getting it through smog in September, just in the nick of time.

As part of this, I'm going to move all of my earthly possessions in Cara and moving up that way! Got an old friend to take time off work and join me, and we're going to make a 3-day road trip out of it, going up US-101 the whole way - 900+ miles! So with my newfound time being unemployed, I'm prepping Cara for the drive up! Lots of small little things to take care of and to do. That'll be the topic of my next post.

 

[kenavt]

Consider this my formal announcement... I am moving to Seattle in the end of January! For a variety of reasons, my girlfriend (who has spent her whole life in CA) and I wanted to try living outside of CA for a change. She got a great new job in Seattle, and I have a bunch of family and friends up there, so it made a lot of sense for us. It's an idea we've had for a long time and it's exciting to get to do it!

I'm also very excited to get to meet and see everyone up there! A running (sadly true) joke I had with my friends is that I don't know any Cruiser people in the Bay Area besides shop owners; but I already feel like I know a half-dozen people around Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula from Cruiser Instagram. It's going to be fun to actually get to meet up with people in person and do some wheeling!!! (and of course some wrenching... probably a lot of wrenching)

 

[kenavt]

So moving all my stuff in the truck... where we last left our heroes, there were a bunch of things that needed to get sorted. Top of mind was the wipers... I hear in the Pacific Northwest it rains sometimes, and that seemed very important and at the top of my list. My wiper linkage was shot to hell, and ran over to Stockton to get a used one from @orangefj45, and ended up scavenging a wiper motor as well. I read in a couple places here that replacing a linkage was a huge pain, but I didn't find it being too bad - other then that I had a bent wiper arm mount that bending back into place was a pain. This also let me finish doing my mid-90s 4Runner upgrade that I bought the parts two years ago for.

Look at this gross old wiper linkage. Plastic bushings shattered in multiple places - at the motor and the joint!

The wipers work great now, other then that the intermittent setting results in the wipers stopping most of the way down on each cycle... very odd. (regular and high speeds don't have this issue). I think I'll try adjusting the wiper position and see if it helps, but it's pretty annoying. This happened with two different wiper motors I tested; with the third one, it developed after a few days.

Next item: my battery gauge has always said I've had a low voltage (<13V). After seeing @CruiserTrash (I believe) post on IG showing that a cigarette lighter voltmeter gave much higher and more accurate readings (>14V) I picked up one as well with two USB-C ports, and discovered my battery situation is just fine. Additional loads seem to droop the voltage a lot (lights, wiper, charging my phone). Also the luxury of having a phone charger in the car... delightful.

Addressed the brakes by identifying that the brake master cylinder was leaking down the back of the booster. Got an Aisin FJ80 brake cylinder (I believe '90-'92, and I think badged TRW) on @orangefj45's suggestion, bench bled and installed it. The brake feel and power is so, so much better now. I didn't fully realize how spongey they were before - whether because fluid was low, there was a leak, I don't know when the fluid had been changed... night and day difference. The FJ80 part requires bending one hardline ~1inch but otherwise bolts right in.

Also identified why my transfer case has been so aggressively leaking oil... the speedometer seal was broken and it was leaking like crazy from there. The transmission/transfer case seal is still leaking and fluid is going from one to the other, but it could be worse. Took me way too long to realize this, excited to have hopefully stemmed the tide of my truck constantly oiling its undercarriage. This is an old picture but makes the problem look pretty obvious.

A huge thanks to @orangefj45 for some help on all of the above. I can't speak enough good things of the guy (like many other people on this forum). Please patronize Home - CruiserBrothers - https://cruiserbrothers.com and ValleyHybrids – Built to get you Home - http://valleyhybrids.com if you aren't already

Congrats (?) on the move! Hopefully it's greener pastures. I used to love visiting SF when I lived in Eureka, but haven't been there for years - I wonder how much it's changed.

Only help I got is on the heat - check the heater Tee on the firewall (passenger side, up high behind valve cover). Make sure it moves with the cabin heat slider. Good luck man!

I've mostly solved the mystery there! The heater tee/valve is moving just fine. But I never hooked up the bottom-most cable that controls the flap inside of the heater box itself. So no air was actually passing through. I've lost the tiny setscrew that goes into it so... will have to figure out what that is, buy a new one, and try to hook the cable up again. In the meantime I have a screwdriver to actuate the flap if you want to see something pretty funny...

And in video form:



It still doesn't defog well at all. But it at least puts out somewhat warm air when its 45F outside, so it could be worse.

 

[kenavt]

That sums up work from the last month or so... I've also put ~500 miles on the truck in the last 10 days without a hiccup! That knocks out all of the big work I really want to get done before the late January SF -> Seattle drive. I have lots of smaller things I want to get to and pick at (a lot of electrical bugs and annoyances), but I wouldn't call essential for the drive itself.