Build "Falcor" the 1984 FJ60

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All of the work I recently did to Falcor seemed to work well on my road trip to the snow up Steven's Pass. There is no pinging with 15 degrees of advance and the vac line hooked to the standard location at the distributor. The home brewed distributor recurve works really well. It does make me want to experiment with combo of the silver/silver springs instead of the blue/silver to see if I can get a touch more power at 2k-3k rpms.

The cooling system worked great, no leaks. The fuel pump doesn't spray gas anymore, so that's nice. The suspension is super smooth... I still think it has a bit of a nose down look but I'll let the rear springs break-in a bit more before I toss some larger shackles on the front or maybe swap to a thicker add-a-leaf.
 
Pulled the passenger side front door lock cylinder out so I could get the key code. I'm headed to the dealer to get new keys cut tomorrow to see if my worn and copied keys are the issue with my finicky locks.

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I'm also going to pick up the Koito headlight assembly to install in Falcor. I really like my Hella Vision Plus with Hikari ultra bulbs. The combo of them with my fog lights is more than enough light slightly better than my Tundra... but my recent trip up Steven's Pass showed me LEDs don't melt the snow off the headlights.

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A new key cut at my local Toyota dealership using my key code works marvelously in my locks and solved the janky key wiggling required to unlock my doors. Check out the differences in the picture below. The parts counterperson at my local dealer tells me that there are two types of key cutting machines and that my old key was cut using the "other" type of machine which creates keys that may not work as well in Toyotas.

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And while this picture clearly sucks, you can see the old key on the bottom has bumps where there shouldn't be any, which caused it to not turn smoothly in the lock cylinders.
 
I also installed the 7" Koito lamp assemblies and will see how these perform. Based on what I see with my eyes they appear to be dimmer but that might be deceiving. The actual light being thrown to the road may be placed in a more useable manner. At minimum they'll melt the snow that I'll be driving through soon.

Old:
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New:
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New Halogen Koito Lights:

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Old Hella LED Lights:

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My eyes agree with the Lux meter readings and say the halogen Koito lamps are not as bright as my Hellas with LED bulbs. However quality (usable) light being thrown on to a road, vs light meter readings taken from 8" in front of the lamp are two different things. I'll see how they perform and report back. At just under $60 the Koito set up is a bargain. The relay harness, zip ties and lamps are VERY high quality compared to what I've been able to source. I wish I knew about these earlier!

EDIT - after talking with Crashnburn80 from the Tacoma World forum he shared an email with me illustrating why I thought the LED lights were brighter, however their focus was not at all what the regular halogen bulbs create. I'm looking forward to doing a little project with him around these 7" round lights we all use so we can find the brightest option that best fits our individual needs.
 
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I'll see how they perform and report back. At just under $60 the Koito set up is a bargain. The relay harness, zip ties and lamps are VERY high quality compared to what I've been able to source. I wish I knew about these earlier!

Just put these in my 60 as well and was surprised how well they performed for the price
 
Just put these in my 60 as well and was surprised how well they performed for the price

I agree, the headlight assemblies are very nice and the relay/fuse harness is worth the price on it's own. I'm going to see how the stock bulbs perform and then I plan on following the advice of crashnburn80 from the Tacoma World site - The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID) - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

The first post is kept up to date, he tests out bulbs as they are introduced to the market and updates that 1st post.

Based on his recent testing, I plan on trying these... Amazon product ASIN B08KGH3JK8
My curiosity is this... Do the newer LED light bulbs really not work as well in these 7" round headlight assemblies like Crashnburn80 reports?

Since I have the bulbs I may try to find a dark place and do a little testing on my own.
 
The Koito H4's are a huge upgrade from the stock incandescent bulbs. In your case, you just swapped from Hella H4's to Koito H4's, so not really much of an upgrade...maybe more of a downgrade? I recently put LED's in my son's 100 series (despite the naysayers warning that I wouldn't like them) and guess what? I LOVE THEM. If you want to try LED's in the Koito housings, I say do it and let us know what you find out. I will say this, though...it takes a little trial and error with the LED bulbs to get them oriented correctly to throw the light where you want it.
 
The Koito H4's are a huge upgrade from the stock incandescent bulbs. In your case, you just swapped from Hella H4's to Koito H4's, so not really much of an upgrade...maybe more of a downgrade? I recently put LED's in my son's 100 series (despite the naysayers warning that I wouldn't like them) and guess what? I LOVE THEM. If you want to try LED's in the Koito housings, I say do it and let us know what you find out. I will say this, though...it takes a little trial and error with the LED bulbs to get them oriented correctly to throw the light where you want it.

Hey Dave!

I found some really good info here... Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/ The guy really is an amazing resource of info.

I experimented with a few different LED bulbs which were listed as the brightest available from www.bulbfacts.com, which is a wonderful resource by the way, but my biggest issue was that because the LED bulbs put out light on only one side vs 360 degrees from a halogen bulb, there were dark spots inside my reflectors which translated in to bright spots and dark spots in different areas of the beam pattern.

I tried orienting them differently but with similar results. And... all reflectors are different so your results may vary with your son's 100... sweet rig by the way.

I have an email out to Crashnburn80 who does all of this testing to see if there is a mini test we can do with the 7" round lights us 40/60 owners use. I think it would be worth while and interesting information.

For now I'm back to the halogens for snow clearing abilities and I am certain that with as much research/testing as Crashnburn80 did that there could be similarities in findings.

I'll post up what I learn if I hear back from him. As you can see by the Tacoma World threads he has posted, he's a busy guy.... luckily he works and lives right down the street from me. I don't know him but I've seen his very recognizable rig a few times, even though he recently went over to the dark side (Jeep).
 
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I moved to an OEM carb from City Racer, this thing is a work of art and solved all of my drivability issues.

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I also replaced the newish aftermarket fuel filter with an OEM filter for good measure.

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After setting the idle using the lean drop method, it drives like a brand new vehicle.

If you don't already know.... City Racer's service is nothing short of perfect and it's one of many reasons why I like ordering from him.
 
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Hey Dave!

I found some really good info here... Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/ The guy really is an amazing resource of info.

I experimented with a few different LED bulbs which were listed as the brightest available from www.bulbfacts.com, which is a wonderful resource by the way, but my biggest issue was that because the LED bulbs put out light on only one side vs 360 degrees from a halogen bulb, there were dark spots inside my reflectors which translated in to bright spots and dark spots in different areas of the beam pattern.

I tried orienting them differently but with similar results. And... all reflectors are different so your results may vary with your son's 100... sweet rig by the way.

I have an email out to Crashnburn80 who does all of this testing to see if there is a mini test we can do with the 7" round lights us 40/60 owners use. I think it would be worth while and interesting information.

For now I'm back to the halogens for snow clearing abilities and I am certain that with as much research/testing as this Crashnburn80 dude did that there could be similarities in findings. .

I'll post up what I learn if I hear back from him. As you can see by the Tacoma World threads he has posted, the dude is a busy guy.... luckily he works and lives right down the street from me. I don't know him but I've seen his very recognizable rig a few times, even though he recently went over to the dark side (Jeep).

Cheers,
Adam

I should add that I'm still going to see if the LED bulbs I picked from the bulbfacts.com website work well in the new Koito housings.... but after I get back from our snowy road trip. :cool:
 
I had a chance to drive Falcor on some errands today, the OEM carb is the way to go in my mind. It drives like a completely different vehicle. I actually need to learn how to drive it again. I no longer need to feather the gas and clutch to get moving, I can just let the clutch out, barely touch the gas and it accelerates smoothly. I also don't need to constantly flog it to keep up with traffic, just drive normal. I'm sure my Fuelly app will show an improvement in my mileage... which was consistently 10mpg with the prior carb.

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I picked up some clips so I can install the driver's side snake blinder and a couple of freshly cut OEM Toyota keys.

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I had a chance to drive Falcor on some errands today, the OEM carb is the way to go in my mind. It drives like a completely different vehicle. I actually need to learn how to drive it again. I no longer need to feather the gas and clutch to get moving, I can just let the clutch out, barely touch the gas and it accelerates smoothly. I also don't need to constantly flog it to keep up with traffic, just drive normal. I'm sure my Fuelly app will show an improvement in my mileage... which was consistently 10mpg with the prior carb.

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I picked up some clips so I can install the driver's side snake blinder and a couple of freshly cut OEM Toyota keys.

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Some would laugh that you improved to 14 mpg. But that's a huge improvement
 
I went to lube my driveline before our road trip tomorrow and found the rear driveshaft's front u-joint zerk fitting broken off inside.... awesome.

I took a T10 Torx bit and lightly tapped it in the hollow hole of the remnants and it grabbed enough to allow me to unscrew what was left of the broken zerk.
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I was amazed to find an exact replacement 6mm 1.0 pitch zerk fitting at my local hardware store.

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Problem solved.
 
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I went to lube my driveline before our road trip tomorrow and found the rear driveshaft's front u-joint zerk fitting broken off inside.... awesome.

I took a T10 Torx bit and lightly tapped it in the hollow hole of the remnants and it grabbed enough to allow me to unscrew what was left of the broken zerk.
View attachment 2868019
I was amazed to find an exact replacement 6mm 1.0 pitch zerk fitting at my local hardware store.

View attachment 2868020

Problem solved.
3 of the zerks on my greasable OME pins broke off. I'm not usually ham-handed on torque specs, but I recently added an inch pound torque wrench to my tool collection. Seems silly considering the torque leeway on nearly every thing on these beasts. It seams that zerks nozzles have a lighter than snug rating. Maybe some blue lock-tight to make up for that unsatisfactory light cinch .
 
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