Build Cara the white '84 FJ60!

[CruiserTrash]

Brakes are coming onto the horizon for me. Good info on the 80 series MC.

Careful with sealing up too many oil leaks - you'll lose the 60 Series built-in undercarriage protectant feature!

 

[onemanarmy]

Awesome progress!

Where did you source the FJ80 brake master cylinder?

 

[kenavt]

Awesome progress!

Where did you source the FJ80 brake master cylinder?

Picked it up from @orangefj45! I’ll away from the truck for a few days so I can confirm the part number then. But I see a lot of Advics branded master brake cylinders online for FJ80s from various retailers (which is what this was branded on the box, but cast in the metal was Aisin).

 

[orangefj45]

Awesome progress!

Where did you source the FJ80 brake master cylinder?

We use/sell as many OEM components as possible. The master cylinder is Advics/Aisin. We’ve sold & installed hundreds of these. Happy to help if you need one.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids, Cruiser Brothers & Long Range America
Shop 209-475-8808
Sales@valleyhybrids.com

 

[HemiAlex]

I had no idea that you could use that master with disc/drum. Very nice.

I have that one for when I put the 80 axle in, but I may do it sooner.

 

[kenavt]

A buddy and I did the drive up along 101 from San Francisco to Seattle last weekend! 900 miles, 3 days, the truck ran near-flawlessly! Made a couple of fun stops but mostly just drove the whole way. Averaged ~12.5mpg, which is a bit lower then my typical 13+, but I'm ok with that considering that I added hundreds of pounds of load.

Only picked up one issue - 600 miles in, the coolant overflow tank hose to the radiator started loosening off. Seeing the puddle of coolant underneath the truck was worrying, but one additional zip tie and it's still holding up 400 miles later until I can run to an auto parts store and get some generic new hose.

The other thing was that, with all of my possessions, the truck ran very, very low in the rear... which we didn't realize until 200 miles down the road, since we packed it on a slope. It upset the balance of the truck substantially - had some nervous swaying moments going down coastal hills, particularly in central Oregon. These are probably the original leafs (although some PO installed Monroe shocks at the front... who knows how old those are). A suspension overhaul has just jumped up my priority list.

Enjoy some pictures of the drive! Didn't capture as many as I would have liked, but the coastline is so gorgeous - will just have to do it again

 

[kenavt]

So now I'm in Seattle! Hello Seattle Cruiserheads! Can't wait to start meeting you and going up in the mountains

Unfortunately I'm in a holding pattern around my new apartment (staying with friends in the meantime) and trying to keep my head low due to some personal COVID worries. Over the past year I've put together a long list of things I want to do on the truck that were blocked by the engine swap or travel or moving around/bouncing between apartments; I cannot wait get to it and hopefully can start in another week or two. It spans from powertrain work to the interior and exterior (like trying my hand on rust repair)... really can't wait to get started. I'm not currently working either, so I should have a lot of time during the day to spend on this once. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it out of my new apartment, if not, I'll figure out something... expect to see more activity picking up around here.

 

[OSS]

I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it out of my new apartment,

When I lived on a sailboat, working on a car in the public parking lot was forbidden. So I’d drive to someplace quiet in a non residential area and work on my car there.
Yes, I serviced wheel bearings on the side of the road as cars occasionally sped by. Adjusted valves on the side of the road often.

 

[77CruiserDog]

Welcome to Seattle @kenavt !! It would be great to grab a beer and talk cruisers when I'm back in town. @ntdb and @NookShneer can join us if they're around and show us all the cool things they've done to their rigs. Nice work on yours, I'm digging that 80 series brake master, I just replaced mine with a 60 series version. I'm sure they're pretty close to the same but it would be nice to have that larger reservoir.

 

[NookShneer]

Welcome to Seattle @kenavt !! It would be great to grab a beer and talk cruisers when I'm back in town. @ntdb and @NookShneer can join us if they're around and show us all the cool things they've done to their rigs. Nice work on yours, I'm digging that 80 series brake master, I just replaced mine with a 60 series version. I'm sure they're pretty close to the same but it would be nice to have that larger reservoir.

We have a meeting planned next Tuesday 2/8. Come out and meet the whole band. Location is TBD but on the south side of the city. Would dig getting together. @ntdb I think goes “Walk about” I think by then.

 

[77CruiserDog]

We have a meeting planned next Tuesday 2/8. Come out and meet the whole band. Location is TBD but on the south side of the city. Would dig getting together. @ntdb I think goes “Walk about” I think by then.

I'd love to go but I'm currently "walk abouting" in Bend Oregon right now until about March or so. I'd totally like to hit one of these meetings though. Beers, Cruisers, maybe find a taco place... sounds like perfection!

 

[kenavt]

Welcome to Seattle @kenavt !! It would be great to grab a beer and talk cruisers when I'm back in town. @ntdb and @NookShneer can join us if they're around and show us all the cool things they've done to their rigs. Nice work on yours, I'm digging that 80 series brake master, I just replaced mine with a 60 series version. I'm sure they're pretty close to the same but it would be nice to have that larger reservoir.

We have a meeting planned next Tuesday 2/8. Come out and meet the whole band. Location is TBD but on the south side of the city. Would dig getting together. @ntdb I think goes “Walk about” I think by then.

I'll be there next Tuesday, can't wait to meet folks! And just got my Seattle Cruiserheads sticker in the mail yesterday too.

 

[77CruiserDog]

I'll be there next Tuesday, can't wait to meet folks! And just got my Seattle Cruiserheads sticker in the mail yesterday too.

*new guy buys a 60, replaces the engine, moves to Seattle, joins the Seattle Cruiser Heads, gets a sticker.... meanwhile dude who lives in Seattle for 30 years has two cruisers and has never been to a Cruiser Heads meeting, nor has a sticker.... I'm a slacker apparently. HA! Nice work Kenavt!!!

 

[NookShneer]

*new guy buys a 60, replaces the engine, moves to Seattle, joins the Seattle Cruiser Heads, gets a sticker.... meanwhile dude who lives in Seattle for 30 years has two cruisers and has never been to a Cruiser Heads meeting, nor has a sticker.... I'm a slacker apparently. HA! Nice work Kenavt!!!

You have some catching up to do..

 

[kenavt]

So I've been putting off making a post because I wanted to feel like I had done some things, and I've had lots of little stuff I wanted to tie up. Since the new year, the truck has been my daily driver and I've put 2200+ miles on it, with just the loose coolant reservoir hose and a couple of self-inflicted issues. I've been moving friends to the airport, picking up furniture for my new apartment, and just relying on it every day. The truck even starts up cold with full choke in sub-40 drizzly weather in just a couple of seconds. I'm really happy and impressed with how the truck has been running, and driving it around every day - a truck that I replaced the whole engine on! myself! - is bringing a smile to my face. It's much more fun driving this around Seattle then the Bay Area, where the 60mph speed limit on highways is generally respected, and there's no need for AC (this time of year anyway).

So onto the little stuff...

• Tuned my carb idle speed screw a little bit with @ntdb... it was running a bit high (900+ rpm), and now is in the 700+ rpm range which I'm much more happy with from a NVH perspective. I swear I'm making a tiny bit more power as well, could just be a placebo.
• Cruiserheads meetup a few weeks ago was great. It was excellent getting to meet some local folks and looking forward to the next one and then mountain drives to come!
• My downpipe-to-exhaust-manifold nuts backed off of their studs... again... sigh (last happened in late September). I had some extra plain nuts lying around so I blue loctite'd them and threw them on; on @js0k's recommendation I picked up some lock washers and plain nuts for when this inevitably happens again.
• Took the Con-ferr roof rack off - it interferes with getting into my new garage spot, I'd love the mpgs back, and I don't have any plans for it anytime soon.
• Put in SuperBrightLEDs 3022-WWHP4-V2 and 3710-WWHP6-V2 for the dome cabin and cargo lights, and pleasantly happy with the color temperature, greater brightness, and less heat. They arrived just as my cabin dome light burned out too. I have the rest of the LEDs for the instrument cluster, but waiting for a time when the truck can sit for a bit and I can have the cluster out. Probably in March.
• My driver's side rear mudflap started falling off, as the plastic rivets that hold the mudflap's mounting bolts on, somehow snapped and ripped out of the bodywork. I just picked up generic M6-1.00mm speednuts (nutserts?) and bolts from Autozone that seems to fit fine, I'll keep an eye on it and see if it pops out any more.

• Spent a week trying to finish installing the last heater control cable/wire that I needed to put in, after getting the M3 bolt from What is this bolt? Interior air ducting edition - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/what-is-this-bolt-interior-air-ducting-edition.1273269/#post-14236762. If you follow me on IG you would have seen all my Story posts about it. Long story short - I couldn't get the clip for the cable to pop into the heater control box (which you can buy new from Toyota 93530-45020). I even tried using a clip from the heater box on a suggestion from a fellow IGer. So after four days of putting my back into it (one day had cramps for my efforts), I Gorilla Glue'd it in, and it works. So finally I can now control heat/not-heat from the control box for the first time in six months. Below is a picture when I applied the glue, it cured within 24 hours and expanded to nicely grip the cable.

• Lastly, did an oil change - I think my first one on an interval that didn't involve swapping the engine! Just put in Rotella 15W-40. Unfortunately after a few days the truck had a larger puddle then normal under it, ironically on my first drive with my girlfriend in months... and it's leaking from the oil drain plug. I never replaced the crush washer and my procedure is generally to torque the oil drain plug rather hard (more then 20 ft-lbs for sure... really not thinking it through). So I mistakenly bought some crush washers for M12, drained the oil again, realized that was the wrong size, biked to O'Reilly's, picked up a new M18-1.5 oil drain plug and washer, and installed it (to realize that it was the same part numbers as what was already in the oil drain plug... guess someone already did this... lol). I just installed it torqued properly to 20 ft-lbs, and think its still dripping a little bit (but less then before). If it's still dripping rather badly, I think I will take it out again, get another new crush washer, and add some RTV. Been doing some reading on the forums about how you can easily deform the area around the oil drain plug because of the geometry Toyota put there to help drain oil... I'm sure that's what I (or a PO) have done.

 

[kenavt]

Anyway, so the truck appears largely sorted, has a bunch of miles on it, and I've finished my move. For the first time in a year and a half, I finally am not putting out fires on it and am able to enjoy it a bit. (Other then that I think some coolant has disappeared out of the reservoir in the last 2k miles, which... I'll start keeping an active eye on).

I'm finally able to turn to what I want to get out of this truck and this build. And I'm split a few ways. I still really want to get an OME 2" lift and 33" tires as many folks have, but those aren't cheap and my garage is tiny and might not be set up to put a truck on stands and work on all four corners. I'm also thinking about building a sleeping platform, getting a rear bumper... all of the fun overlanding stuff. Expect to see some of those things coming in the months ahead.

On the other hand, for long-distance roadtrips, what I've learned is that I would really like AC, something with a higher cruising speed, something more fuel efficient and if I'm driving with my friends, an automatic. So I've put looking at HDJ81s on the backburner, maybe I can bring something over from BC now that I'm up near the border.

 

[js0k]

I just put another exhaust donut on mine.. two nuts were missing

It helps if your exhaust is supported tho… my tailpipe fell off wheeling last year so muffler was just bouncing around. Now that I have that all back we should be fine for a few more months.

 

[NookShneer]

Anyway, so the truck appears largely sorted, has a bunch of miles on it, and I've finished my move. For the first time in a year and a half, I finally am not putting out fires on it and am able to enjoy it a bit. (Other then that I think some coolant has disappeared out of the reservoir in the last 2k miles, which... I'll start keeping an active eye on).

I'm finally able to turn to what I want to get out of this truck and this build. And I'm split a few ways. I still really want to get an OME 2" lift and 33" tires as many folks have, but those aren't cheap and my garage is tiny and might not be set up to put a truck on stands and work on all four corners. I'm also thinking about building a sleeping platform, getting a rear bumper... all of the fun overlanding stuff. Expect to see some of those things coming in the months ahead.

On the other hand, for long-distance roadtrips, what I've learned is that I would really like AC, something with a higher cruising speed, something more fuel efficient and if I'm driving with my friends, an automatic. So I've put looking at HDJ81s on the backburner, maybe I can bring something over from BC now that I'm up near the border.

Drive the truck up to the shop and we can organize a suspension party.

Filling the kegerator is cheaper than paying a shop rate to have them do it.

 

[kenavt]

Drive the truck up to the shop and we can organize a suspension party.

Filling the kegerator is cheaper than paying a shop rate to have them do it.

Abso-freaking-lutely.

 

[Cruiser Cult]

Yep, utilize the local resources. Collectively, we have done this job quite a bit. Beer, fire, sweat, blood, and a crew of guys to help out.