TL;DR I have decided to sell my 89 FJ62.
Long explanation
Ive had it 13ish years, was my daily driver until Covid. The transmission went out and I went on the manual swap journey. I found a 4 speed manual and all related parts out of an 86, and did the work myself. Got it back on the road before I hooked up the transfer casein is still not hooked up. Everyone is right, these trucks need the manual transmission. the 4 speed is fine for around town, but the 5 speed would definitely be a plus on the highway.
Decided to start a little interior restoration. Swapped front seats for BMW 3 series manual seats. Pulled the carpets out and found some rust holes in the front of the rear wheel wells. Went on a journey of not finding anyone that wants to do any rust remediation. Still can't find anyone. Have had many shops tell me to just patch with fiberglass and get the carpets back in. I really can't do that to this truck, I think it deserves better.
Anyway, it has been sitting basically since covid. It gets driven very rarely, maybe every other month. Longest drive since the swap is about 5 miles. Ended up buying a battery as it would have to be jumped every time I tried to drive it, that how infrequently it moves. 2 months ago, I couldn't get it to start for the first time ever. The fuel had gone bad. Had the tank drained, fuel system flushed out and it started right up. Changed oil and flushed coolant as it had been mostly sitting for 5 years. Drove it twice and a coolant hose split. Had that replaced. Drove it twice ran fine and then today it will not start again.
I don't think I have the bandwidth at this point to keep this up so I need to move it on to someone that is looking for a project.
Aside from the holes that need to be patched, it looks fairly good. I would have notes left on it constantly with offers. I think this definitely needs someone that wants to put the work into it to get it back into daily driving shape. No idea what that would mean. When the transmission went out, everything worked in the truck. Windows went up and down, locks worked, AC worked. It drove well. At this point the windows are really slow, to the point of I just don't roll them down. Locks still work. But the truck has been sitting and I know stuff happens from disuse
What I have done since I swapped the transmission
New Starter
New LED headlights from TorFab
4Runner wiper swap
New 2" lift from Ironman
New 33x9.5 Kenda RT
Currently has 251k miles
If anyone in the Atlanta area wants to look at it and give me some advice on how to price it fairly I would appreciate it. I honestly have no idea.
Here are some pictures of what it has looked like over the years.
Long explanation
Ive had it 13ish years, was my daily driver until Covid. The transmission went out and I went on the manual swap journey. I found a 4 speed manual and all related parts out of an 86, and did the work myself. Got it back on the road before I hooked up the transfer casein is still not hooked up. Everyone is right, these trucks need the manual transmission. the 4 speed is fine for around town, but the 5 speed would definitely be a plus on the highway.
Decided to start a little interior restoration. Swapped front seats for BMW 3 series manual seats. Pulled the carpets out and found some rust holes in the front of the rear wheel wells. Went on a journey of not finding anyone that wants to do any rust remediation. Still can't find anyone. Have had many shops tell me to just patch with fiberglass and get the carpets back in. I really can't do that to this truck, I think it deserves better.
Anyway, it has been sitting basically since covid. It gets driven very rarely, maybe every other month. Longest drive since the swap is about 5 miles. Ended up buying a battery as it would have to be jumped every time I tried to drive it, that how infrequently it moves. 2 months ago, I couldn't get it to start for the first time ever. The fuel had gone bad. Had the tank drained, fuel system flushed out and it started right up. Changed oil and flushed coolant as it had been mostly sitting for 5 years. Drove it twice and a coolant hose split. Had that replaced. Drove it twice ran fine and then today it will not start again.
I don't think I have the bandwidth at this point to keep this up so I need to move it on to someone that is looking for a project.
Aside from the holes that need to be patched, it looks fairly good. I would have notes left on it constantly with offers. I think this definitely needs someone that wants to put the work into it to get it back into daily driving shape. No idea what that would mean. When the transmission went out, everything worked in the truck. Windows went up and down, locks worked, AC worked. It drove well. At this point the windows are really slow, to the point of I just don't roll them down. Locks still work. But the truck has been sitting and I know stuff happens from disuse
What I have done since I swapped the transmission
New Starter
New LED headlights from TorFab
4Runner wiper swap
New 2" lift from Ironman
New 33x9.5 Kenda RT
Currently has 251k miles
If anyone in the Atlanta area wants to look at it and give me some advice on how to price it fairly I would appreciate it. I honestly have no idea.
Here are some pictures of what it has looked like over the years.
