Fruition and Frustration: FZJ80 Build (1 Viewer)

[RC51]

Hello folks,

This is Daniel. I acquired my 96 FZJ80 with 230k miles this spring, and it has been a labour of love and frustration ever since.

Here she is on a recent trip:




A little bit about myself. I am starting law school in September, and as a gift to myself I bought this 80 series as a project. The goal is to get her to a 90% state of completion by September and she will be my trusty daily driver and camping rig for the next 3 or 4 years. Luckily I have plenty of time as I left my job in May and I am in the process of building her up. Oh yeah, this is my 1st car, one that I bought myself with my own money anyways. And besides some oil changes, I was completely clueless about mechanics and repairs.

 

[RC51]

Below are the stuff I've done from April to to Today:

April:

Inspection by a family friend mechanic:



Coolant Flush...it was mainly to get the heater core unclogged. On my way 8 hour drive home from the PO's house, my water bottle actually froze! I only made it because my genius girlfriend insisted on buying a heated blanket for me before I dropped her off at the 2 hour mark of the trip!

All pretty normal stuff....until I noticed the carpets under my foot was kinda wet....

Oh yeah, the PO said this truck only had a tiny bit of rust on the doors...hmmm lol. When I pulled back the carpet my jaw was pretty much on the floor seeing the amount of rust it had. That was the low point of my ownership, I just felt totally sick.

 

[RC51]

May:

Here is the culprit:

 

[RC51]

 

[RC51]

Yep^ That is the inner fender hanger rust issue. Common to Canadian and Aussie trucks. There are videos on YouTube explaining why this happens and how to fix it.

I was absolutely devastated...here I had spent a good chunk of change and bought a rusty truck with rusted seatbelt anchor and floor...But atleast the frame was solid.

I wasn't going to give up on her. I still had a good 4 month before September. Hence pretty much all of May of spent on addressing the rusted floor, fender, and hanger...

Oh yeah, I had to also learn to work with metals, weld, and how to take off the inner and outer fenders! But before any of that can take place I had to take the interior apart:





After it was all prepped, I started to take the fenders apart. It seems like Aussies mostly got the rust on the right side of the truck, which meant there wasn't that many parts to take off. For LHD folks, there was ALOT of parts to take off. Removal and documentation took about 4 days! I know I work slow...

And then the cutting started! It was insanely stressful because I had never done anything like this before. AND the fuel lines were RIGHT there in the middle of some of the cuts. But I had some very solid friends that came out to help me out, they also taught me how to weld, and lended me their welding equipment. All I had to acquire was the mig gas! Sweet!

 

[RC51]

Rust proofed myself as well...A huge blog of Por15 got on my face as I was doing the underside of the panel. Luckily I was able to get that bit off in time. My arm though, was not so well cared for, during the next two weeks people kept asking if I got a sleeve tattoo lol.

 

[RC51]

Oh yeah since the interior was out, I also added some sound deadening and CCF to help with the NVH!

I think this was the 2nd last day before this part of the project was complete. I was actually kinda getting emotional having came this far from knowing nothing to welding a car! Some folks around me kept doubting my ability to tackle this challenge, and it was a great feeling to prove them wrong.

June:

A bird friend

 

[RC51]

There are a few other things the I didn't get pictures of what I've done:

New power steering pump and hydraulic fluid

New throttle cable (the old one was sticking at 3000RPM!)

Trunk struts

Rear locker actuator, the previous one was toast

New oils

New Thermostat

New Radiator Cap

New Toyota Red Coolant

New seat gears

However, a problem that has plagued me through the ownership...it is that the truck sometimes overheats when its hot outside, and the fluid bubbles....twice now the coolant shot out of the reservoir!

I only switched from pink coolant to Toyota Red yesterday, and my heater isn't working so I suspect there is still alot of air trapped in the system. I am also very worried that this is an HG issue, as the radiator/overflow tank seem to bubble abit after I park. However, I did an exhaust gas chemical test recently and the it detected no exhaust chemicals in the coolant, the truck does not burn coolant, and there is no milky foam in the oil. So the next step for the rest of the month is to get the cooling of the truck under control and get some definitive answers if I need to replace the HG or even the head.



Over the next 2.5 month I hope to get the following done:

Overheat/HG issue	ONGOING: going to try replacing the fan clutch, my broken shroud, burp on a loading ramp, and a compression test! I am done to open up the head but would rather not do this for no reason.
Roof rack delete kit from WitsEnd	Back ordered
Engine Tune Up	Need to install parts
AC System - Full replacement of all parts	Waiting on parts
Swivel Ball Rebuild	Left swivel ball is getting super milky
PS Cooler DIY Upgrade	Need to source a cooler
EGR Blockoff Plate	Yep....need to order parts from Witsend
PHH	Waiting for parts
PCV Valve Kit	Need to do more research on this one
Some small rust spots

So yep...all in all its been a fun experience! But this cooling thing is starting to remind of when I first spotted the wet carpet experience, but I guess we will see how it goes.

 

[BILT4ME]

What thermostat did you install and did you get it oriented correctly?

Did you use a garden hose to flush both directions on the heater core hoses?

 

[RC51]

What thermostat did you install and did you get it oriented correctly?

Did you use a garden hose to flush both directions on the heater core hoses?

OEM thermostat, with the ding dong at 12'o clock...

Yep did the garden hose flush two ways. The last time I had the heater issue I had to find a truck loading ramp to fully burp it. Hopefully I can get some more coolant in this way this time. But I feel like there are still more underlying issues causing this.

 

[KC masterpiece]

Did you change the rad cap?

I had issues with boiling coolant I could not sort out. Turns out the rad cap was bad and would not allow the system to pressurize.

 

[RC51]

Did you change the rad cap?

I had issues with boiling coolant I could not sort out. Turns out the rad cap was bad and would not allow the system to pressurize.

Yes, new OEM rad cap was put on yesterday. I suppose there could be a micro leak some where in the system, if its not the cap?

 

[ppc]

Do you get a good strong roar from the fan at cold startup? If not have you replaced the fan clutch or changed the viscous fluid in your existing clutch?

 

[RC51]

To you get a good strong roar from the fan at cold startup? If not have you replaced the fan clutch or changed the viscous fluid in your existing clutch?

I don't hear a whoosh or roar sound at start up, which I think may be a contributing factor to the over heating. My fan barely spins when the car is parked, like 1/2 a rotation at max if I give'er. Does that mean the bearings inside the fan clutch is bad?

 

[ppc]

Should get a roar when the engine sits overnight. If just trying to spin the fan by hand 1/2 of a revolution sounds about right but still may not lockup sufficiently while running hot confirmed by no roar.

 

[RC51]

Should get a roar when the engine sits overnight. If just trying to spin the fan by hand 1/2 of a revolution sounds about right but still may not lockup sufficiently while running hot confirmed by no roar.

Thanks for confirming...FC is coming tomorrow! Would changing the fan oil in a new fan clutch be over kill?

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Get a test kit from big box store to do a HG leak test

 

[ppc]

Thanks for confirming...FC is coming tomorrow! Would changing the fan oil in a new fan clutch be over kill?

Might be if you are just running in Canadian summers. Certainly would not be needed in the other three seasons.

 

[RC51]

Get a test kit from big box store to do a HG leak test

Did a chemical exhaust leak test, the one where it goes into the rad fill hole to test for exhaust gas, result was negative!

 

[RC51]

Might be if you are just running in Canadian summers. Certainly would not be needed in the other three seasons.

found a video of the whoosh sound, def do not hear it on my truck.