Finally Back in a 60 series! (1 Viewer)

[CheyenneCruiser]

After selling my white 1983 FJ60 in 2015, I again purchased a 1983 white FJ60 (in worse shape and for way more money than a decade ago) but I just missed it too much not to get another.

The good:
Frame is rust free
Most of the bondo work actually looks half decent
Runs good most of the time
Interior is mint
Barely broken in with 265k

The not so good (and what’s been fixed)
Overheating in stop and go (coolant flush 3x, water pump replacement, fan clutch, new belts, new T stat seems to have fixed)
Massive exhaust leak (remflex gasket seems to have been a decent solution. Used some copper crush washers to account for tri-mil header vs intake size, didn’t work initially so added the washers and some JBweld steel stick around the gasket (don’t judge me until you try it)
Running seriously rich now that the intake gasket isn’t sucking in an extra 500cfm of air into a Weber 38/38 (Fuji carb is in, waiting on the isolator for install)
Nice little shimmy and shake at highway speed (not sure on this one, bearings seemed fine, road force balanced the tires, and removed the front drive shaft (a little wobbly at the double cardan, rebuilding now) and shake still persists. You know those magic hands at the old motels that you’d pop a quarter in? It’s a bit like that, some might say dangerous, I’d say free massage)
So far, I’m loving it again (or will be when it’s not running so rich it’ll foul the plugs in 1 hour flat)

I’ll keep updating as I work through the little issues

Excited to be back on the forum trying to fix things myself with no knowledge, a slight buzz, and a great attitude.

 

[toy_tek]

Looks cool!
Shimmy: could be spring bushings, shocks, alignment, steering component(s), loose hardware.

 

[Beams37]

Agree with @toytek … I would start with new bushings for the leaf springs and shackles. I would also check the tie rod ends. Finally, I would have the wheels and tires balanced. A little bit of weight off on wheels will scare the crap out of you.

 

[CheyenneCruiser]

Update:

City Racer carb is in! Timing set a 7* BTDC, tuned carb using the lean drop method with a digital tach on my multimeter. New fuel filter, etc. if anyone wants a full write up of going from a Weber to a City Racer, let me know and I’ll do my best, pretty simple process though.

Current issue: at low rpm, I’m getting a dead spot that almost feels like a misfire when I accelerate. Currently, I set the high idle to around 850-900 and that seems to have helped.

Current plan: I’ll pick up a vacuum gauge made of the purest Chinesium at Harbor Freight and see if I have some air leaks at the intake or vac lines. If not that, I’ll upsize the current 136 main jets in the city racer to a 147.5 and see if there’s any improvement. Plan on double checking my valve clearance then running a compression test to see if something bigger is at play if all else fails.

If anyone has any suggestions on where else to look, I’d appreciate it.

 

[CheyenneCruiser]

Plot twist, found a killer deal on an electric fuel pump, so I added that and capped off the mechanical in case this newfangled technology goes bad. Vac gauge showed a consistent 19-20psi at 650rpm. Added a regulator at 3psi for consistent fuel delivery. Still have the stumbling at low RPM, doing jets today, replacing ac condenser, checking valves, and verifying vac advance is working, if not, I’ll probably just set the timing hot until I can find where to find a new vac advance, seems like they might be unobtanium.

Seems like power is down as well, so thinking it’s probably timing related now.

 

[CheyenneCruiser]

Hopefully final update on the missing at low RPM/stumbling for those that have similar issues.

Electric fuel pump, new fuel filter - no dice

Verify timing at 7* BTDC - nada

Ended up being one of the following-

City Racer carbs come with 136 (pretty sure, but don't quote me on this) jets. JetsRus sells the same jets that you can get in 145/147.5/150 etc. I went ahead and tossed in a 145 in the primary and a 150 in the secondary. Heads up on changing these out: they're that perfect depth and limited space where none of my 30 bazillion screwdrivers would quite work, so I took and old one and ground it down to have clearance. It's best to have the carb out for this, those jets will absolutely get lost in there and you may need to shake it out like dropping your favorite guitar pick in your Martin. Getting the jet in seemed like it would be harder than it is. The jets are decently deep and can fall, but I took one of those nifty little twist ties from my loaf of bead and put it in the middle of the jet. It had just enough clearance to screw the jet in a couple of threads and pull out without leaving any debris or residue.

As soon as I had the car re-jetted, I took of the vacuum advance and gave it the old what-for with some PB blaster and steel wool. I think rust and debris had built up enough on the carb where it wasn't actuating properly. Gave it the old suck test and Bob's your uncle, it turned out fine.

Once I had both of these done, I started it up and it drives like an absolute top. (may have just been a vacuum leak that I fixed when I took off the carb and put it back on, who knows really, parts are cheap anyway)

As for the condenser, its a solid 5 minute job any I only smashed my good hand twice. Now comes the issue with refrigerant. These old systems run on R12, which is about as rare as hens teeth, let alone finding the vac gauges. Realistically, this leaves you with two options: retrofit for R134a (which will likely require another retrofit in the future with this lovely flammable R1234yf), or hop on the old Facebook marketplace and grab some gauges and a vac pump and toss in some R417C (I lucked out enough to have some laying around, I'll update once (if) I get it working).


Hope this helps someone in the future.

 

[Bryan062087]

Any update on the shaking / shimmy at highway speeds?

 

[CheyenneCruiser]

Any update on the shaking / shimmy at highway speeds?

Currently, I have stopped driving on highways and it has completely corrected the problem.

But seriously, I’m still working on that one. Seemed to be a hair of play in the tie rod and relay rod ends, so I snatched up a kit with all of them for like 90 bucks. Plan is to swap them out when they get in and get a 4 wheel alignment done. If that’s not it, I’ll probably start looking into rebuilding the knuckles and wheel bearings.