Builds Evolution of a Land Cruiser: My 80's build thread (1 Viewer)

[jeremymeehan]

SEAN'S / HUSTON FABRICATION REAR BUMPER

It's here! Man what an awesome bumper. This has to be one of the coolest things I've bought. Like everybody says, it's a work of art. Everything is very well thought out and put together and sturdy. I love how rock-solid the swing outs are. Huge thanks to Sean for continuing to build these for the community. He's a great guy to deal with.

The bumper will be left bare steel. When I get the time, I'll be polishing it up then slapping on some clear coat. I've never been a fan of black armor because you lose all the awesome detail that makes up the bumpers. I still need to order a new rim and get a spare tire mounted. I'll probably run the factory spare just so it doesn't look empty. The issue will be seeing if it all fits in my garage since I don't feel comfortable leaving this thing in the driveway with all the money I've put into it.

I also need to figure out the license plate lighting. That's TBD. Bolting this thing up was pretty difficult since access to the bolts inside the frame is very limited. Had to use some tape on a wrench and get creative.

First step was to cut off the factory cross member. Also removed the factory tire carrier.

Here's what was left of the cross member

The monster crate you get from Sean, picked up at a local freight terminal

And it's installed! Did this all by myself so it took me a few hours. I'm in love

That bumper is HOT!

 

[jcardona1]

Played around with the spare tire yesterday

 

[TYM4FUN]

Nice!

 

[jcardona1]

Nice!

Thanks! Oh and a follow up about the jack...I don't think there's another way to mount it. You can't flip it down and it sits too close to the tailgate to slide the lift point upwards. It really isn't bad though. It just depends at what angle you view the taillight from the rear...

The other option would be to have him mount the jack vertically like in his earlier version. But I'm not sure how a 60" jack would fit in this position

 

[TYM4FUN]

Cool, thanks.

 

[jcardona1]

And here's a version with the tire on the driver side. I think a 60" jack would stick out too far though. This is an earlier version too. I think in the new version that jack would go from left to right

 

[Yota truck nut]

you are doing a great job on the cruiser!! keep up the good work!

 

[jcardona1]

^ Thanks!

And a mini-update on the head. Talked to the machine shop last week and they mentioned the exhaust valve guides were a few thousandths out of spec. Said they didn't need to be replaced but it could help with oil consumption and slight smoking at idle. So I had them proceed with swapping them out. Will run an extra $120 for parts and labor and should hopefully be done this week.

 

[93yotasr5]

Damn dude that rear bumper looks sick!!! Can't wait to see it in person!!
What machine shop did you end up using?

 

[jcardona1]

Damn dude that rear bumper looks sick!!! Can't wait to see it in person!!
What machine shop did you end up using?

Thanks man, it sure is! It's killing me just watching it sit in the garage. I ended up going with Parrish Automotive in North Highlands. Seems like a great group of guys there. And they were almost half the price of Dels! Dels wanted $800 for the head job and valve adjustment. The same thing at Parrish was $465

 

[93yotasr5]

I've heard good things about those guys!!!
Hope she's back on the road soon!!!

 

[jcardona1]

REAR BUMPER MISC PARTS

Played around with adding some accessories to the rear bumper, mainly the second LED pod I'll use as a reverse/camping light. I don't own a welder nor know how to weld hence the Erector Set look. Don't judge, at least it's height adjustable Here's how it looks behind the stock spare. Should give me enough room for a 35/37" spare eventually.

I also want to figure out how to carry my Fiskars shovel on the rear bumper since I don't plan on having a roof rack anytime soon. Used some u-bolt clamps. It's very sturdy, but looks kinda bleh. Anybody have some better ideas for attaching this thing to the rear bumper? I don't really see any other place to mount it...won't fit with the jack on the other side.

Kinda close...

And since it was difficult to get a consistent bare steel finish, I've chosen to stick with a stainless colored spray paint finish. Here's a quick sample. Too bad it didn't clean up as nice as the AOE front bumper.

 

[hachirokufan]

I would mount the shovel on the hi lift jack. Trucks looking great

 

[2KCruiser]

Just make sure that pointy end of the shovel doesn't smash your rear window

 

[jcardona1]

Thanks guys! I found this shovel/axe holder for about $40. Looks like it might work. Problem is figuring out where to mount it. Somewhere on the basket maybe? Weld a solid plate in between the bars then attach this mount to it?

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Exterior...gle&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Default

 

[jcardona1]

HEAD IS BACK!

After a 2 week wait the head is finally back from the machine shop with a clean bill of health! She's almost too pretty to put back on, almost Owner at the shop said everything came out perfect. Here's the breakdown of everything done to the head:

- Full testing and cleaning
- Resurfaced 0.007" (7 thousandths)
- Full valve grind and adjustment to be in-spec (grind valves, seats and tip stems)
- New valve stem seals (OEM, which I provided)
- New exhaust valve guides ($120 extra, intake side was in-spec)

Final bill was $590 due to the new valve guides. Great experience dealing with the guys at Parrish Automotive in North Highlands. Highly recommend them.

Now some head pr0n

 

[jtwopark]

that is beautiful! keep it out and use as an art piece...cut a nice piece of glass and priceless!

 

[hachirokufan]

Head work looks good, let us know how it performs. I might keep them in min when I get my rig.

As far as mounting the shovel, have you thought about the bottom on the bumper? Like below the swing outs. Keep the posts coming!

 

[shermantank55]

Thanks guys! I found this shovel/axe holder for about $40. Looks like it might work. Problem is figuring out where to mount it. Somewhere on the basket maybe? Weld a solid plate in between the bars then attach this mount to it?

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Exterior...gle&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Default

I recommend QuickFist clamps. I have my shovel mounted with them on the spare carrier:
http://www.endroad.com/index.php/quick-fist-mounts/quick-fist-clamp.html

 

[jcardona1]

HEAD REASSEMBLY

It's finally time to start the reassembly process! Hopefully it goes a bit quicker this time around. I won't be taking pictures of everything, maybe just a few important items. At this point I'm waiting on a new torque wrench I ordered so I can finish bolting down the head and continuing on with the rest of the parts.

After cleaning the block surface and pistons I set out to clean the head bolt holes. The head bolts are threaded in the M11x1.25 unicorn thread which makes it almost impossible to fine a thread tap at a local store. I purchased it from here: http://www.mscdirect.com/product/04993051

Don't skip this part! My bolt holes were full of crud! Here's an example of what came out of every hole

As mentioned earlier, I chose not to reuse the stock head bolts and because a new set of OEM head bolts would have cost about $180 for a bolt that's basically not reusable, I decided to buy a set of ARP studs for a cheaper price. I went with the Opel V6 kit (item # 209-4702). This comes with 16 studs so you have 2 extra.

The front 2 studs need to be trimmed about 1/4" so they won't interfere with the cam gears. Here's what I trimmed away with a Dremel tool and a cutoff disc. I also slotted the head so I could use a screwdriver to insert/remove. I hope I cut enough. I'll find out when I install the cams!

Wiped the block down with some rubbing alcohol and set the new gasket down. You'll also notice the bit of gray FIPG sealant right behind the timing chain as specified in the FSM.

And here's something that threw me off. The brand new OEM head gasket does not follow the circle shape around the cylinder. My brain can't process why the gasket is "deformed" at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions. This is the same for all cylinders.

This is my first HG job and as a non-engineer, this defies all laws of common sense for me. The Toyota guys obviously know what they're doing but I can't understand why a HG would not seal perfectly around the edge of the cylinder. Wouldn't that just set it up for premature failure? Are all OHC engines setup like this?

And to compare, let's look back at my old HG. Where I thought my old gasket was warped and deformed turns out to look exactly like the new OEM version. Was my gasket even that bad to begin with? Color me confused