Builds Grumble Deluxe

[Rugy]

Deep Cove , North Vancouver ehh ?

Very nice build and thanks for sharing.

As I read your thread on the build it's sort of ironic as I picked a 87 60 series from LA last year that was/is 100% rust free.
Brought it up through US Customs after having sent the required documents 3 days prior to getting to the border .
Tense time with the US customs as we were there less than 15 minutes before they close. 15:00 was closing time.
The 60 is now getting a diesel HDT-1 with a 5 speed from a 90 HDJ 81 donor. Long range tank from Man A Fre as well.
My motor mounts are from Georg for the swap and met up with him at the Mogfest in Sheridan Oregon last year.
If your back up visiting your folks PM me as I have been friends with your dad since 79.
Take care,
Mike R

 

[repentsinner]

@Rugy: Mike, good to hear from you. Dad mentioned that you were working on a 60 build, definitely will stop by to check it out next time I'm up. Jealous of your 1HD-T, if you find any more of those let me know

 

[repentsinner]

Catching up on some recent work..

Installed some reverse lights into the rear bumper, once I get it all wired in it'll be brighter facing backwards than what my headlights currently throw. Should help keep me from backing over the edge of a cliff in the middle of the night: reverse indicators just weren't cutting it

Started by re-drawing the template because the one that came with the light was crap and didn't have any locators for any of the rest of the holes (nor was it properly square due to bad photocopy). Good excuse to learn more CAD.

The bumper chucked up on a fantastic old Rockwell drill press in the shop. Got a carbide tipped 3" hole saw from Greenlee to start off, worked great but took forever through the 0.2in/5mm of plate steel that this thing is made of. Sorry about all of the steel shavings BDG

Re-shaping the holes to match the template went relatively quickly with a carbide spiral burr and air die grinder.

 

[repentsinner]

Part of the bumper replaces a rear crossmember so we ended up using ratchet straps between a post and a forklift to pull the frame apart again so we could get it back in. Only realized this was why it was so hard to get the bumper off after the frame snapped 1/2" closer together after the bumper popped out when taking things apart.

Test fit lamp housings, the logos were terribly printed and came right off with acetone Aside from that Baja Designs are probably the best of the aftermarket LED lights at the moment.

8600 lumens out the back and time for dinner Will have to put a dimmer in so I can use these for setting up camp etc as well.

 

[repentsinner]

What goes better with a new windshield in LA's rainy season than new J-hook style wiper arms and fresh wiper blades? (Thanks @beno!) How about realizing that the wiper switch changed from '84 to '86 without changing the physical harness connector, so only intermittent speed works?

Still the best 60 mod for ~$100.

Guess it's a good thing I saved that old steering column..

 

[AussieHJCruza]

Hey @repentsinner - those stickers came in and they look good!

 

[stayalert]

Sweet stuff!…On your tranny tunnel/shift lever opening - does that sheet metal <> tranny case gap (tiny) provide enough space for movement?? I guess it must or you'd have fixed it but I would think you'd need much more room….Just curious!

 

[repentsinner]

@AussieHJCruza: Awesome, thanks! I found the page in the FSM with the brackets I need, time to start a help-me-ID-these-parts thread

@stayalert: yeah I drove for a while with a cardboard template and then with just the sheet metal installed and watched the transmission case move around and just kept nibbling out more to give it room. Maybe if I slam something hard and move the trans mounts and body mounts to full flex it'll hit/rub, but for now it seems great.

 

[repentsinner]

Little preview of a side project I've been working on here, made some plates to delete the ashtray and cubby in the dash and replace them with a custom air temp thermometer and slew of aux switches. Still need to get the plate laser engraved, but it's turning out great so far.

Once I get the design and finish dialed in I might make a couple of sets and offer them up on the forums here if I can figure out how to do that. I can probably make the faces blank and you can drill your own holes, or put some 4-6 M12 flatted cutouts for toggle switches in and then you just need to label it up with a laser or decal.

 

[tgadd]

Rear bumper looks good. Those lights are crazy bright also

 

[repentsinner]

Note to self (and Google) so I can figure things out easier next time it quits: In 24V Canadian spec HJ60s, the headlight system doesn't quite follow the FSM (or conventional FJ60 wisdom of being a ground-switched circuit).

There is a "relay" in the driver side kick panel that takes 24V in as well as switch information from the steering column, and generates 4x 12V circuits which are then fused at 10A each in the fuse box before going to the R/L high/low beams. It also possibly references the 12V split in the battery bank, but I'm not sure exactly how this works yet.

If both high & low beam headlights quit working, check this relay / DC-DC converter combo magic box (Toyota PN 85926-60010, long since discontinued it appears) and bang on it until it starts working again.

Recommend to future self to disregard Transport Canada's inane requirement for 12VDC headlights and delete this whole mess with a 24VDC headlight bulb and relay kit which you already have on hand and have just been too lazy to install

 

[repentsinner]

Some pics from the mountains and desert this week, including buried over the axles in the snow (finally discovered what heavy vehicle + narrow tires are not good for and how the dash has finally mostly come together after many years

Can recommend the RUD grip chains in any case, they worked great until they weren't touching anything. I should have caught a video of all 4 wheels spinning in place, but was more concerned with getting myself unstuck - didn't see anyone for 24hr+ that day..

 

[repentsinner]

Death Valley is always gorgeous, and March is the time to go to avoid the scorching heat.. This year was a superbloom as well, so remarkably colorful with living things for a change. Highly recommend getting out there if you're even remotely close to the area, lots of fun wheeling and exploring to be had.

 

[repentsinner]

Some random updates:

I started fabricating a rear bench seat delete which replaces it with a storage area and lie-flat deck out to 80" from the tailgate to fit a twin XL mattress. Prototype is in and I got some dimensions nailed down, then OnShape changed their free plan and no longer offer private documents so now I'm off to see if I can use one of the SolidWorks licenses from work over the weekend.

Managed to replace the rear hatch latch as it was popping loose every 30 minutes or so on anything marginally rough, and making the most annoying squeaking sound ever.

And recently the gasket between the timing gear case and the block has blown a leak which sprays oil into the space behind the radiator fan which then helpfully distributes it evenly everywhere in the engine compartment Guess I'm down for the count during the best overlanding season in SoCal while I get that taken care of..

 

[repentsinner]

Decided to attempt fixing the leak myself as I haven't had much luck finding a Cruiser shop in SoCal that'll touch diesels. So far I've managed to get the pushrods and valve lifters out, next up is pulling pulleys and gears.

Note to future self: you'll have to remove the throttle cable bracket from the firewall to get the 12th pushrod out, and at least on this franken60 it's not a welded in nut on the back side, so be prepared to go in via the access hole to retrieve the nut when it falls off. It is mind boggling how much needs to be taken apart to get at a gasket on the front of the block

 

[repentsinner]

Finally found some time to dig in and complete the timing case gasket repair. This has to be the messiest thing I've dealt with in a while.

Disassembly notes:

* Uncle T sure knows how to make a thing inaccessible. I can't believe the level of collateral disassembly required to get to this gasket.
* The new Milwaukee mid-torque brushless impact wrench (P/N 2861-20) is remarkably stout for it's size. Even so, it barely fits between the crank pulley and the non-removable section of the front clip. I highly recommend this tool, and I'd recommend getting the hog ring version over the detent pin which is a pain in the ass to deal with.
* I wish Uncle T put some separator tabs near the alignment pins on the various timing gear case parts. It was a hell of a time trying to get rusted pins out from corroded holes. Putting some small tabs that could have been pried on would have made a huge difference in disassembly. I wire wheel'd and reamed out the mates as well as applied a generous coat of anti-seize on the reassembly in hopes that it'll come apart more smoothly next time.
* The front fascia below the grill needs to come off to get the cam shaft all the way out. Of course. As does a driver side transmission mount to get to all of the oil pan bolts, but the transmission mount can't be fully removed without removing the exhaust down pipe. At least there's only one bolt there that is fully stuck, and the mount will swivel enough on the bolt to get the pan off.
* You'll probably need to build some crank timing gear puller bolts from allthread and coupling nuts as M8 bolts >100mm or whatever they needed to be are impossible to find, at least in the US. I thought the allthread was going to tear pulling the crank gear off, but it remarkably held.
* How the hell did the old baked-on paper gaskets get so hard? They seemed harder than the aluminum they were stuck to, and getting them off with a carbide scraper and wire brush was a painstaking and time consuming process. I didn't find anything that would really soften them.
* The solvent based degreaser in an aerosol can works so much better than the water-based stuff. I wish I'd hosed down the whole thing in solvent before getting started. Continual cleaning throughout the process also took a good chunk of time.
* While you're this deep, might as well rebuild the oil pump with new gears. You'll hopefully never have another chance.
* The injection pump doesn't need to come off to remove the timing gear case, the case will pull away from the front of the pump.
* I discovered Gloveworks - HD, Disposable, Powder Free, 8 mil, XLarge, Green mid-way through this project, and I'm a convert. They're green so you can tell when they're greasy, they're thick and indestructable for a disposable glove, the texturing provides a decent grip, and they fit relatively well. I kind of want a dispenser built into the center console now..

View attachment 1542285

 

[repentsinner]

Gaskets being scraped... and a side project, build an LED work light so I can see what I'm doing.

 

[repentsinner]

Some minor scoring on the inside of the oil pump plate, and some pitting and wear on the oil pump gears. I've never had great oil pressure in this thing, but I'm not sure if that's due to the additional tap off to the turbo or something else. Rebuilt the pump with new gears while I was in there, but the pressure seems the same after anyway. Maybe my overpressure relief valve needs to be re-calibrated?

 

[repentsinner]

Whoever had the oil pan off last put way too much RTV on when reassembling, took forever to scrape it out of the stiffening grooves

After I cleaned all of the spilled oil off I noticed how rusty some of these pieces were, so off to sand blast and re-finish with 2K epoxy and a clear coat to make clean up easier in the future.

Note to self- mask off the interior before the sand blast next time, took forever to rinse out all of the media dust from underneath the pan baffles..

 

[repentsinner]

Reassembly notes:

* Spoil yourself, and buy whatever new hardware is still available. It will cost less and be less frustrating than trying to clean the old stuff.
* Go through all the parts that need cleaning and refinishing, and do this before starting re-assembly. Nothing takes the flow out of reassembly like having to stop for a day to prep and refinish a part.
* Note that the FSM suggests to reassemble the timing gear case with a number of bolts that doesn't take into account the PS pump mount. You have (hopefully) not lost bolts when you only come up with n-1 on each stage because the PS pump that goes last will account for the last three bolts. Bag and tag everything! Also how the hell are you supposed to get a torque wrench onto that bolt that comes in to the back of the PS pump? There's no clearance to the rest of the motor mount.
* It is possible to make all of the match marks line up on the timing gears. Huzzah!
* Why the heck does the FSM not give lengths for all of the different bolts used here? They label them as A-D by size, but don't say what the sizes are. Makes it a bit of a pain to figure out what's what if you didn't label things fully when disassembling.