Builds Greetings from Seattle...Fixing up "Blue Guy"

[red66toy]

Hello everyone! This is my first post since I sold my FJ40 back in 2006. Still miss it a lot. A lot has changed, moved, entered graduate school, fell in love with a woman who owns a 1988 FJ62! I knew it was meant to be, hahahaha.
So now we have "Blue guy". The poor guy has been sitting for the past year out in the elements and its time to clean him up. Upon first inspection I found that the right front shock had come off the mount! I asked my GF about it and she never noticed. She was just used to the bad steering. hahaha. So that is first on the list. We also ordered the upgraded wiring harness from wired wagon. Currently hunting down the bosch headlight housings. After that we are going to do a total redo of the interior. The carpet is NASTY and the drivers seat has a nice gangster lean to it. We need to make the back more dog proof than the current carpet setup. Fun times and projects ahead!
Happy to be back!

Updates:
First off thanks to @beno @reevesci @NookShneer @boozewz @Godwin @Landpimp @mel lowe @cruiserdan @4Cruisers @Locked79 @orangefj45 @torfab @Kleatus @gt7058a and many others for parts, help, advice and putting up with some of my crazy ideas.

So I have decided to make this my build thread and try and consolidate all my work to date. I have been posting most of my stuff in random threads so it will be good to have it all in one place. A lot of stuff has been happening since first posting this. First and foremost a lot of my attention and $$ has been going to acquiring as many parts from Toyota before they disappear. This cruiser is part of the family for the long haul so we are fully invested in the platform. I thank @OGBeno a lot for all of his help with this and putting up with my MANY emails and questions. Sorry Onur!

The overall goal of this project is to make a family vehicle for camping and adventures. So a mild build off road wise.
Projects completed:
New Tough Dog suspension from @reevesci
Rebuilt 60 series FF rear end
New paint job and some minor rust repair
Replace cargo panel trim
New wheels and tires
Transmission cooler
Refurbish and install cargo slider windows
Install new seatbelts (79series in the front and 80 series in the back!)
Refreshed the HVAC foam

List of stuff done so far not in exact order:
Replaced the shocks with Bilstein 4600's
Installed Wired Wagon upgraded headlight system and a second auxiliary block for seat power and heat... and other goodies later. Wire layout is temporary:

Stripped the interior floor and added Cruiser Crap sound deadening, foam and then mass loaded vinly in the summer heat (not the best call):

I restored the rear heater unit with a new resister and new OEM motor. Installed power BMW front seats using brackets from @torfab , heat seat wiring figured out but not fully installed until the complete interior redo project begins:
Heating BMW seats (using BMW parts)

Got my fusible links restored by @Coolerman who did an impeccable job.
Before:

After:

Resealed the gutters:

Then proceeded to test them out with an amazing new roof rack from Trail Tailor @reevesci

Currently teaming up with @NookShneer and @Rob Faucett to refurbish some sliding cargo windows for our 60s. Almost done and more to come on that later!

More updates in the posts below-->>>

 

[NEFJ60]

Welcome back. Looks like a good platform to start from!

 

[cruiserpilot]

Typical LandCruiser owner, gets a girl and posts a pic of the truck! Does she have a boat too? HaHa! Nice rig, welcome back.

 

[drillduty]

Sweet rig! Lets see some interior pics! Welcome back.

 

[Major Nelson]

Looks like a great rig to start with....x2 on pictures, need to see A LOT more! Great to see another 60/62 around the Seattle area!

 

[red66toy]

Typical LandCruiser owner, gets a girl and posts a pic of the truck! Does she have a boat too? HaHa! Nice rig, welcome back.

She did have a boat! Gone now though.
The interior is being aired out, it smells moldy....I am not sure if there is a leak somewhere. Hopefully nothing too bad. I am not familiar with the 60 series. Is there a vent or piece of weather stripping that is prone to letting in water as it gets old?
Definitely more pics to come!

 

[cruiserpilot]

Its a bit of a pain in the a..., but sometimes crap piles up around the air intake for the heater above the cowl and firewall.
If you unbolt the wiper motor, pull it out, then get a flashlight and look to the left and see if the metal screen is piled high with
leaves, pine needles and stuff. If it is, stick a vacuum nozzle in there and clean it out. Mine was leaking there just cause of all the crap
piled up.

 

[Neils4him]

New to the forum too, bought an 89' FJ62 back in August. We call her "Big Blue." Not too far south from you, down in Gig Harbor.

 

[red66toy]

Its a bit of a pain in the a..., but sometimes crap piles up around the air intake for the heater above the cowl and firewall.
If you unbolt the wiper motor, pull it out, then get a flashlight and look to the left and see if the metal screen is piled high with
leaves, pine needles and stuff. If it is, stick a vacuum nozzle in there and clean it out. Mine was leaking there just cause of all the crap
piled up.

Great, we will check that out! It was covered in leaves, sticks and moss so I am sure there is a bunch of stuff crammed in there. What about those vents at the back, on the side. Do those ever cause problems?

 

[red66toy]

New to the forum too, bought an 89' FJ62 back in August. We call her "Big Blue." Not too far south from you, down in Gig Harbor.

Nice! Gig Harbor is great. Is there a seattle area cruiser meet up?

 

[cruiserpilot]

No, the rear vents should be okay. They allow air to flow through the cabin. On the inside pillar at the back you'll see the outlets.
Pull the carpet back just along the top edge along the firewall. From one side to another, and if you find where it is damp, then directly above might be where it is coming from. Maybe. Water is insidious, and will flow horizontally a long ways. Look at welded seams too.
I jumped to a conclusion you were talking about leaking just up front.
If you pull all the carpet, you might be find some rust leaks around wheel openings in the rear, and check the gaskets around the taillights. Pull the rear panels and look down into the rear rockers for water down there. If there is seam rust in the wheel openings, then it will be wet in there.

 

[red66toy]

No, the rear vents should be okay. They allow air to flow through the cabin. On the inside pillar at the back you'll see the outlets.
Pull the carpet back just along the top edge along the firewall. From one side to another, and if you find where it is damp, then directly above might be where it is coming from. Maybe. Water is insidious, and will flow horizontally a long ways. Look at welded seams too.
I jumped to a conclusion you were talking about leaking just up front.
If you pull all the carpet, you might be find some rust leaks around wheel openings in the rear, and check the gaskets around the taillights. Pull the rear panels and look down into the rear rockers for water down there. If there is seam rust in the wheel openings, then it will be wet in there.

Great, thanks for the advice! There are two rust spots I can see so far. One just below the side rear window seal, the other is up near the gas door. We will definitely have to deal with the rust issue in the future. We want to enjoy it as much as we can before we go down that road.

 

[Sacto60]

Its a bit of a pain in the a..., but sometimes crap piles up around the air intake for the heater above the cowl and firewall.
If you unbolt the wiper motor, pull it out, then get a flashlight and look to the left and see if the metal screen is piled high with
leaves, pine needles and stuff. If it is, stick a vacuum nozzle in there and clean it out. Mine was leaking there just cause of all the crap
piled up.

I unbolted the wiper motor to access the innerds behind the cowl, and it only pulls out an inch or so depending on how I twist and tug. Is there a way to undo the motor entirely, so I can get something in there to get the debris out?

 

[NookShneer]

@red66toy looks like you have a build thread that needs some updating.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

@red66toy looks like you have a build thread that needs some updating.

I was thinking the same thing. Time to play catch up Chase.

J

 

[red66toy]

Bahaha, shoot my original thread has been found out and super out of date. Updates will follow soon. A lot has been done and exciting things to come!

 

[red66toy]

I unbolted the wiper motor to access the innerds behind the cowl, and it only pulls out an inch or so depending on how I twist and tug. Is there a way to undo the motor entirely, so I can get something in there to get the debris out?

So you are going to actually have to unbolt the wiper linkage from the cowl as well. Take off the wiper arms, remove the little black plastic cover plate on the cowl where the arm studs stick through. Once you remove that, you will notice two bolts per wiper stud. Undo those bolts and the wiper linkage should be free. Then you can carefully slide out the motor with the linkage attached and clean out the cowl cavity. Reinstall the motor and linkage in the reverse order when done. It can be a little bit of a pain to get the linkage back in but its not too bad.

 

[hj 60]

I hate landcruiser pain so I did not remove the wiper, only the access plate and with air pressure and vacuum cleaned it all out.
You might remove the rubber floor caps to get water out (if it is soaking) just remove the screws in the plastic door strip to get the carpet rolled up.

Cabin air intake from inside after removing blower motor:

More pictures: hj60.freeforums.org • View topic - HJ60 sick building syndrome, clean up the mess.

 

[red66toy]

One of the big projects that is almost done was first completing the dreaded knuckle job which evolved into also redoing the steering and brake system:
Before:

All new brake parts from Onur:

After:

I used DBA rotors with OEM brake pads

Had the steering box rebuilt and added new tie rod ends as well as replacing the u-joints in the steering shaft:

Learned the hard way about how to properly install a new U-joint in the steering shaft:

Box:

Installed:

 

[red66toy]

Plans for the interior after the rig is painted are to rip apart the dash and completely redo the HVAC system, install seat heat wiring formally, refresh tired window motors with new units (FJ62 Power window motors need replacing. Can I use ones from an old 4runner or will they not work?) install new vinyl flooring from Trail Tailor if it ever gets hot enough in Seattle:

Which will coincide with new b-pillar covers also from Trail Tailor:

New 70 series Seat belts up front and new belts in the back:
New seatbelt alternative using 79-series belts

I refurbished the rear bench seat to get rid of the funk smell:

Electrolysis bath for the frame!

Painted:

Cushions were soaked in the tub for a day with Oxyclean and then sun dried for several days.
New stainless form rods:

Both back and bottom cleaned and reassembled:

plans for the doors are to mimic this look using modified door cards and wipers from a 75 series. I love the more utilitarian look and exposed paint:

Wipers:
70 series inner door window felts
Extra set of door cards waiting to be modified. Going to basically chop the tops off and keep the rest looking stock: