Clean one owner (1 Viewer)

[archie73]

Nice find. Anytime you score a 45 pickup it's a good day. Whitey beat me too it.........Nice bobbed long to short bed.

Yeah, so the bed…

I don’t know where it’s gonna go just yet. The bob is kinda ugly. I mean it’s probably solid. Part of me says the cleanest way to bob it a little more to get into cleaner metal.

 

[middlecalf]

Like that, plus you’ll have more exit angle if you go wheeler.

 

[wdukes]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
I see this and it inspires me to do something like this myself. Maybe get your hands on an affordable donor....say maybe an fj60. Axles, motor, drivetrain, even bucket seats. That cab is pretty nice, once you get past that bobbed bed. I am not too far from you. You are welcome anytime.

 

[archie73]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
I see this and it inspires me to do something like this myself. Maybe get your hands on an affordable donor....say maybe an fj60. Axles, motor, drivetrain, even bucket seats. That cab is pretty nice, once you get past that bobbed bed. I am not too far from you. You are welcome anytime.

Like all good impulse buys, I bought two landcruisers. @wdukes sold me a donor fj60 to accompany the unicorn. The wagon
suffers from frame rot, so it’s a donor.

Likely parts to migrate:

• axles,
• driveshafts
• steering box/linkage
• transfer case

Other possibles include:

• Springs- if I stay SOA
• Engine and transmission- this depends on the health of the engine mostly. As yet to be determined.
• Column and steering wheel- not sure how I feel yet.

So thank you Dukes for feeding the addiction. My wife has a different sentiment on the 60, so that may need to get stripped sooner than later.

 

[sneaky]

That seat belt latch is genius!
I was going to suggest an 80 series chassis as a donor, but looks like you have it covered.

 

[archie73]

Here’s the cool part of cruisers is they are your own. Make it yours whatever that is. Seatbelt tailgate latch is cool as s*** just for coming up with the idea. I would have went with the simple hasp latch and screwdriver trick personally. This truck although not perfect for one aspect is a perfect canvas to make it your own. Ls/auto/80 axles what ever you feel fits and is within reach have fun with it. After all it’s just some metal,rubber and wires but of all else it’s yours so build it how you want.
Can’t wait to do the next heart transplant on my green 45. It will be on engine number 4 of its life but first time away from a 1f and 3 spd

I don’t see anyway of not making this my own- there’s just not enough left to do anything else. I just need to come up with a budget (lie) to tell the boss.

 

[archie73]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
I see this and it inspires me to do something like this myself. Maybe get your hands on an affordable donor....say maybe an fj60. Axles, motor, drivetrain, even bucket seats. That cab is pretty nice, once you get past that bobbed bed. I am not too far from you. You are welcome anytime.

I see the 45 everyday. It’s patiently awaiting its turn.

In the mean time I’m trying to baseline the 60 to determine what I want and don’t want. In this frame of mind I drug it over to work to poke at from time to time. I’ve got a couple car nuts I work with and we egg each other on for lost causes. This truck is likely one those, sorta. It was last tagged in ‘04. It’s rough.

Drained the oil (I’ve seen worse) and filled it with diesel. Next I needed to spin the engine to “wash it out.” Initially the starter was super slow, even with a giant plugin jump box. Thought maybe the ac compressor was frozen and fiddle with it to little effect. Next I pulled the spark plugs and it was a new animal. Starter sounded like it was singing. So I’ve got compression. Drained the diesel and filled it with cheap oil.

I plugged the coil back in and cleaned the rats nest out of the air cleaner. (I had already had pulled the hood liner off- it was a special treat). Gas line to the carb was pulled off and ran a line into a catch jug. Poured some gas in the carb and cranked. Full choke. Fired on the second try. I was bit surprised.
Now I needed a fuel tank cleaning. Drained it. It skinks. Added back an oxiclean mixture and let it sit. Filled the suction and return lines with carb cleaner and blew compressed air into them. Each gave a satisfying “thunk” when it expelled the clog. Did the same for the carb and feed line. Drained the tank and it started clear, only to finish with a dark Carmel liquid. Flushed it clean with some fresh water and hooked the air blower into the fill line until no more water came out. Promptly put the plug back in and added 5 gal of fresh gas in to stop flash rusting. To be safe we ran fresh gas through the old inline filter into the catch jug until it came out clear. Swapped the filter and hooked the lines all up. Fired her back up and let it idle for a bit. Only idles on full-3/4 choke, but it runs.

Next time its adventures with Dot 3 fluid…

 

[archie73]

Brakes and clutch work and some impromptu carb work. Both master cylinders were dry. Poured some fluid in and pumped them. Nada. I guess we’ll have to do a proper bleed…

Brakes went fine, with the exception of passenger front- it’s sticky. Maybe it’ll get better with time/ maybe it won’t. While I was under there I noted the front driveshaft has a bad ujoint and more slop then I like in the pinion rotation. Other wise cursory inspection was good. None of that is a deal breaker, but it’s of note.

Clutch bleed didn’t change anything. I was checking the slave out when I found all the fluid. It was in the rod boot. Luckily we were on the lift so it’s pretty painless to get it off. The piston was exactly outed, it looked more like weld spatter in the bore- weird, but true. Tried one from a 66 FST, but no go. Ordered new one. Wait.

Thing is we wanted to drive it!! For two reasons:

1. We wanted to try some Seafoam to try and help the idle out. I’ve never used it, but was advised to do it away from work- preferably a deserted parking lot.
2. I mean what’s the fun in getting an engine running if you can’t drive it. Right?
3. Besides the exhaust note of a blown donut gasket is exhilarating!!!

So with out a clutch I put it in gear and started the engine. When speed is needed 2H is fine, but cautious maneuvers dictate 4L. It worked pretty well. Not flawless but it got the job done. I want to commend the engineers on the gear reduction starter. You can really move things thing with just the starter!!

Once in the deserted parking lot I did some (large) donuts in the gravel lot- for science. You understand.

Then we waited for the prescribed cloud of smoke from the engine cleaner. Never really materialized. It did foul the filter and the screen in the carb. Swapped in another clear filter and started in the carb.

I should mention it was cool overcast day. What better day to see what this carb looked like on the inside? Really made me miss the hood in the 40, I usual fold it up to the windshield. Lots of room. We were careful and possibly methodical( that’s a lot of black spaghetti in there). We only dropped the metering rod(?) in the engine bay once. Then we blasted the screen from the backside with carb cleaner and mopped the debris from the bowl. Oh yeah it started sprinkling- I guess the hood isn’t so bad after all.

Got it started on full choke and took it back to work. With the truck in motion, speed shifting was possible. I didn’t want to go past second though for fear of the unproven brakes. Best part of the drive back was I was able to drive at zero choke. It didn’t exactly scream, but it didn’t die either. Take the win!!!

 

[clrussell]

Following along.

 

[archie73]

Following along.

You’re gonna need a lot of beers and popcorn, this is going to be a slow crawl… The repairs to the 40 keep stacking up and finishing the other project vehicle are taking precedent. I did enjoy the brief respite on the 60 though. I was certain I was going to do another LS in the 45 (& still might), but the 2F has surprised me and has me scratching my head. One other complication is I was leaning toward an auto in this build.