Builds Grey Gardens FJ62LG-PNEA: An idiots guide to resurrecting a high mileage FJ62

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Flawless. I think this 62 will my greatest gas engine cruiser to date.

I can already tell it’s gonna run better than my 2F. And that’s been over 88mph
 
Plot twist. The more it runs the better it gets. Still needs a valve adjustment but right now, it hot starts perfectly.
 
Plot twist. The more it runs the better it gets. Still needs a valve adjustment but right now, it hot starts perfectly.
Wait... so you just read the manual and everything fell into place??? What change did you make?
 
Nothing. The symptoms are telling my my cold start injector wiring or sensor are broken.

But also, this engine was completely locked up 700 miles ago due to carbon build up. Lifters stuck in place.

I’m going to just do an Italian tuneup and beat the crud out of it for a while before I dig deeper
 
Due to a recent series of increasingly stupid events and wastes of time, I'll have this car step into a bit of daily Driving for my wife. That was the goal all along, but things have changed.

Her TDI Jetta may be completely dead, and if it isn't....she wants to get rid of it regardless. I had covid and a car failed on me in the same week. Sad.

So I'm going to prep the 62 for at least temporary daily duties while I find a nice 100 series (Ideally LX470, 2003 and up)

I haven't washed this truck in over a year. Now that it's finally at my place (note to self, a 62 auto to manual swap doesn't take two weekends, I'm sorry)

So, before I go getting all nasty under the truck...I wanted something nice to look at. I did a quick undercarriage wash with the rolling pressure washer dolly and did a quick wash and clay bar. The foam cannon makes this so quick.

I'm going to have to start the same process I did with my 60. Thankfully, this is mostly done. I need some odd's and ends in parts and I'll start driving this around until my trust level is high enough

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A whole mess of parts for the engine bay refresh coming soon from @ToyotaMatt

I'm going to replace all the thermostat sensors, pigtails, clean the intake manifold/desmog and inspect/insulate the wiring harness under the plenum.Maybe some other fanciness. Not sure.

I was going to pull the head and just refresh all that, but there is no need to take it down yet. It's all fine (It's not, but I need to meter my frustration.)
 
Due to a recent series of increasingly stupid events and wastes of time, I'll have this car step into a bit of daily Driving for my wife. That was the goal all along, but things have changed.

Her TDI Jetta may be completely dead, and if it isn't....she wants to get rid of it regardless. I had covid and a car failed on me in the same week. Sad.

So I'm going to prep the 62 for at least temporary daily duties while I find a nice 100 series (Ideally LX470, 2003 and up)

I haven't washed this truck in over a year. Now that it's finally at my place (note to self, a 62 auto to manual swap doesn't take two weekends, I'm sorry)

So, before I go getting all nasty under the truck...I wanted something nice to look at. I did a quick undercarriage wash with the rolling pressure washer dolly and did a quick wash and clay bar. The foam cannon makes this so quick.

I'm going to have to start the same process I did with my 60. Thankfully, this is mostly done. I need some odd's and ends in parts and I'll start driving this around until my trust level is high enough

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What happened to the TDI?
 
Shut down on the freeway. No restart.

Being that it’s a vw, it could be a sensor, a relay or the whole engine. Don’t know.
 
BEW. We've had zero of the problems that most people say plague these. No camshaft wear or injector problems.

I use Pentosin HP2 specific oil and OEM filters, I'm religious about maintenance and all the emission stuff is deleted.

I bet its a crank sensor or a relay 109. Regardless I'm ready for 100 series (more her than me, I love this little diesel but its time to move on).

This all makes me love my 60 more and more. The 62 is growing on me.

On a 62 note, I did the cheap amazon 194 LED in green on the dash. A huge improvement.

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This is the New / Current FAA Cockpit & USCG wheel house night-time illumination Color Temperature Spectrum ..

- prior to the more then rapid on-set of Light Emitting Diode Technology , that is now and is becoming the Global Norm in ALL things that light up and produce a LUMEN of LIGHT in any possible way ..

- The Incandescent USCG was RED

-
FAA was GREEN


- the Diode Emitting Lumens changed the way the HUMAN eyes can recover from lumens greater then the main focusing area at hand ...


- so , this is the single across the board Diodes Emmetted LUMENs Color Temperature Spectrum that the folks who make these decisions , decided on based on what ever Rocket Science they posses .....

- at first i was a bit skeptical as i was thumbing through the Popular Mechanics Paper Print media one day a late last summer ....


- well ...


- i did know that a common BLUE old school OEM Rubber Cap installed over the various Incandescent bulbs inside OLD SKOOL oem toyota radios , and then later the initial BLUE LED's came on the market , were easier on my Human
Eyes During Night time driving , i also have the facts at play of wearing Prescription bi-focal eye wear 24/7 and also have a TAD astigmatism in my right eye ...

- i RAN like a Antelope out of control to test fit ALL 4 new colors , RED , BLUE , GREEN , AMBER , and COOL WHITE

- the RED , AMBER , and COOL white , all are simply STUPID , and non-oem in every way , the cool white was a Suicide Wish to happen during night driving for sure !

-
Green looked DITTO to Alex's above ....

-
blue was too dim for me ......



- but this FAA / USCG JAZZ below here , is the real BLISS moment in my time i will not soon forget ...
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Put a crank sensor in our vw, nothing changed. Dead is dead for now.

Long live the 3FE.
 
To me this truck is unproven. I trust it because of the platform but I have no choice right now.

It was low on fuel, so I went and filled it up. Then I’m just driving around taking pictures and beating it up to get some heat into things.

I’m going to throw an ac compressor on this and start driving it to baseline it.

Right now it’s idling fine, not leaking, not overheating in this feels like of 108* and doesn’t make any noises.

Unsure if it’s an exhaust leak or a valve adjustment noise. I’ll end up going over both. Valve adjustment first.

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Mildly lifted 62s are great and all, but the next one I build will have a stock look, just like Grey Gardens. Tone down the "tractor" a hair, and crank up the "station wagon."

Sweet rig, man!
 
Thanks! I really want a set of the stock leaf springs from Cruisier Outfitters.
Mildly lifted 62s are great and all, but the next one I build will have a stock look, just like Grey Gardens. Tone down the "tractor" a hair, and crank up the "station wagon."

Sweet rig, man
 
To me this truck is unproven. I trust it because of the platform but I have no choice right now.

It was low on fuel, so I went and filled it up. Then I’m just driving around taking pictures and beating it up to get some heat into things.

I’m going to throw an ac compressor on this and start driving it to baseline it.

Right now it’s idling fine, not leaking, not overheating in this feels like of 108* and doesn’t make any noises.

Unsure if it’s an exhaust leak or a valve adjustment noise. I’ll end up going over both. Valve adjustment first.

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I had to go through the I don't trust this because it's unproven and I'm uncertain about this electronic EFI stuff. The 3FE is as solid as a 2F and OEM sensors, ECU, etc. are reliable, but everything in now old. Over the course of 300k+ miles on the 3FE I've only had a few times when it was crippled. EFI main relay died, circuit opening relay died, FPR died. That's about it.
 
To me this truck is unproven. I trust it because of the platform but I have no choice right now.

It was low on fuel, so I went and filled it up. Then I’m just driving around taking pictures and beating it up to get some heat into things.

I’m going to throw an ac compressor on this and start driving it to baseline it.

Right now it’s idling fine, not leaking, not overheating in this feels like of 108* and doesn’t make any noises.

Unsure if it’s an exhaust leak or a valve adjustment noise. I’ll end up going over both. Valve adjustment first.

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I have an aftermarket A/C compressor off my truck, it worked when I pulled it off. It’s yours if you want it.
 

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