Build "Falcor" the 1984 FJ60

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Finished the carpet and cleaned up the tailgate.
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Acetone and some spray paint have given it new life.

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77CruiserDog said:
I got some time in Falcor yesterday. I drove it around to run a bunch of errands, one of which was to the local Toyota dealer. Here's what I learned.

It still diesels like a mofo when shut down warm. I ordered a City Racer aftermarket desmogged carb to replace the Weber, if anyone wants the Weber PM me. It's a good carb, just want to go back to factory and this is a good excuse.

I went to adjust the timing only to find the slot that the distributor bolt hold down goes through was broken by someone along the way. I was still able to adjust it and put the chunk of slot back in when snugging it down. With both vac lines disconnected at roughly 750rpm it had 18 degrees of timing. I took it down to 10 degrees.... it still diesels when shut down warm. I'm hoping the carb may fix

Here’s the chunk…
View attachment 2800448


The intake/exhaust manifold gasket is wasted. I ordered a Remflex, that worked well on my 40. Not super excited about that job but it shouldn't be too hard.

Toyota is going to give me a new gas tank and some seatbelts under a recall... so that's cool. I asked about getting a clutch and rear main done while it's in there and he quoted me $3900.... no thanks. I can do it with all factory parts for about 1/6th of that and it gives me an excuse to buy a nicer jack with a trans holder.

A good chunk of the exhaust from the cat back is rusted out really badly. The best muffler shop in my area for custom exhaust, Muffler King in Kirkland is now under new ownership. They quoted me $1900 for new exhaust. :rofl: I'm still laughing about that. When I told them that I did my 40 there for $400 they said they "stick by their quote". I'm super bummed, this place WAS amazing. I guess I'll need to find a new place or get the parts from the dealer here and do it with factory parts. I did a quick search and including the cat and muffler it will be less than $600 in parts. I thought the dealership was supposed to be the expensive option.

I took some time to rewrap the winch cable with a little drag on it. This took all of the kinks out of the cable and gave me a chance to test out the winch. It
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Which dealership is doing your fuel tank replacement?
 
KeilOver said:
Which dealership is doing your fuel tank replacement?
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I went to the Toyota dealer in Kirkland, but they reached back out after my visit and told me that since Toyota no longer makes parts for the seat belt recall that Toyota needs to offer to buy back my vehicle before they can order the parts for the gas tank recall. So at this point I'm waiting for that buy back letter. Did you get your tank replaced?
 
In the Pacific Northwest it's dark and rainy a lot of the time. Good headlights make a huge difference.

Not all H4 LED bulbs are created equal. I learned this on my drive home from our Deception Pass adventure. Dark, rainy, windy and bad traffic, not an ideal time to figure out your headlights suck.

As you may have seen above, I upgraded the headlight housing to Hella Vision Plus and then grabbed some "highly rated" LED H4 bulbs to put in them. They worked, I aimed them and didn't think much of it... until that drive, and then I thought about it constantly. As we were driving home I kept thinking they seemed dim... well they aren't just dim, they suck.

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I did some research and found a supposedly independent organization that tests LED headlight bulbs. www.bulbfacts.com After researching what they found, I ordered two new sets... one for Falcor and one for Scout. Two different brands, Auxbeam and Hikari which Bulbfacts lists as their top performers in the $75 range.

Unsurprisingly, the ones I bought a month ago with 6500+ amazing ratings on Amazon landed towards the very bottom of their test results list in usable light output.

Once I get them installed, I'll post up some comparison photos.
 
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Headlight bulbs replaced and what a huge difference! These new LEDs are approximately 270% brighter according to bulbfacts.com.

Below is a comparison picture. The drivers side bulb is the new much brighter LED and the passenger side bulb is the "favorite" LED I found on Amazon.

On the left there is nice focused hotspot where you can't even see the mortar lines in the brick wall. On the right light is thrown everywhere, no focus. Additionally, the amount of light thrown above the cut off is no bueno.

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Clearly, my driveway isn’t level, however my lights are aimed properly.

I drove around last night in the storm we're having here in the Pacific NW, aside from my janky wiper linkage, I could see perfectly.
 
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Swapped out the shackles for stock length.
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It sits about an inch lower all the way around but it doesn’t wander as much.

I also removed the rear spring pads, rear spring hats, an incorrectly positioned 4 degree shim and one leaf out of the rear spring pack.

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Still rides like a skateboard. I was hoping all that work would soften up the springs a touch.

I might look at getting different springs after I drive it a bit more.
 
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77CruiserDog said:
Swapped out the shackles for stock length. View attachment 2823912

It sits about an inch lower all the way around but it doesn’t wander as much.

I also removed the rear spring pads, rear spring hats, a 4 degree shim and one leaf out of the rear spring pack.

View attachment 2823916
View attachment 2823917

Still rides like a skateboard. I was hoping that would soften up the springs a touch.

I might look at getting different springs after I drive it a bit more.
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It looks like it sets high enough. You may want to put the 4° shims back in, so hang on to them for a bit.
 
MoaByte said:
It looks like it sets high enough. You may want to put the 4° shims back in, so hang on to them for a bit.
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The 4 degree shims were under the back axle, apparently positioned to help with the driveline angle. However, the driveline angle looks excellent without them.

I just picked up two sets of new 4 degree shims from SOR a few weeks back with some new spring pins to put in the front of both my rigs.

I was going to drive it without them for a while and then toss a set under the front axle to see if I notice an improvement with the bump steer. I could already tell on my post shackle replacement test drive that the bump steer is much better.
 
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77CruiserDog said:
Yeah, the 4 degree shims were under the back axle, I imagine to help with the driveline angle. However, the driveline angle looks excellent as it is, but I just picked up two sets of new 4 degree shims from SOR a few weeks back with some new spring pins.

I was going to drive it for a while and then toss one set under the front axle to see if I notice an improvement with the bump steer. I could tell on my post shackle replacement test drive that the bump steer is virtually gone.... not perfect but much better.

If it does help then I'll likely toss a set under the front axle of Scout as well.
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That's what I was thinking..

Which steering wheel wrap is that? I was thinking about that too.. I just didn't want to waste money on another one I don't like
 
MoaByte said:
That's what I was thinking..

Which steering wheel wrap is that? I was thinking about that too.. I just didn't want to waste money on another one I don't like
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Here you go... Amazon product ASIN B0989F4FFW
It had one wrap already on it, I added two. It's a really nice size now. I used a contrasting thread with a "baseball" stitch on the final layer. It took way longer than I expected but I looks really good.
 
After driving for a few hours in the dark this weekend, I believe I have a lighting set up that rivals my 2020 Tundra.

This is the exact set up I have on both my 60 and 40.

Hella 7" Vision Plus lenses - These work perfect
Amazon product ASIN B001G72SKQ

Hikari H4 bulbs - 270% brighter than a standard Halogen bulb according to bulbfacts.com
Amazon product ASIN B077B3SNJR

OffroadTown LED Fog lights - (edit, these took on moisture, I'm no longer a fan of these lights. Bought some Diode Dynamics that are brighter than 2 suns.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078PMCXXH/?tag=ihco-20


Thorough review of more fog lights than any one person should have by a vehicle design engineer.

www.tacomaworld.com

The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review This is a review of nearly all replacement LED SAE J853 fogs lights for a Tacoma and nearly all LED SAE...
www.tacomaworld.com www.tacomaworld.com

I'll post up a picture of how it looks at night... but in reality pictures are worthless when it comes to how bright lights appear... see link below....
The 921 LED Reverse Light Bulb Study - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-921-led-reverse-light-bulb-study.490137/

This headlight/fog light set up is excellent in terms of brightness, beam shape, doesn't blind oncoming drivers, keeps the looks of my rig pretty much factory and is fairly affordable.
 
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Additionally, after driving Falcor a lot this weekend, I reached out to Cruiser Outfitters. Jason and Chance set me up with an OME light/Medium kit that I will be installing in the coming weeks.

Removing the leaf in the rear and installing factory length shackles did nothing to soften the blows of regular driving. We took it to do a hike this weekend and hit a fairly smooth gravel road doing about 15mph and the moment our tires left the pavement it was unbearable!
 
77CruiserDog said:
Additionally, after driving Falcor a lot this weekend, I reached out to Cruiser Outfitters. Jason and Chance set me up with an OME light/Medium kit that I will be installing in the coming weeks.

Removing the leaf in the rear and installing factory length shackles did nothing to soften the blows of regular driving. We took it to do a hike this weekend and hit a fairly smooth gravel road doing about 15mph and the moment our tires left the pavement it was unbearable!
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My thought on OME is to go heavy/extra heavy and pull the overloads as to it your application. Not often Land Cruisers get lightened.
Their shackles and bushings are top notch and have decent stabilizer, but you could do better with their shocks.
Not that that will solve everything, but you wouldn't go wrong. I'm about to call Kurt for my old Toy pickup for OME because it's the s***.
 
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