I am yet again bringing you a Head-gasket rebuild thread (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 13, 2016
Threads
13
Messages
394
Location
Thompson-Nicola BC
Hello all, Just wanted to start off with a little history of myself and cruiser world, first fell in love with these lovely things back when i was in the 9th grade of high school and my best friends dad who is now a close friend of mine as well @Squash picked us up in his second 80s which was a 1990 HDJ81, this thing was worked straight from japan 6inch whack lift.. no DC drive shaft or castor correction at all... sway bars never heard of them.. but it was locked and had that sweet diesel purrr haha.

Anyways fast forward some years 17 year old me and I was finally in a position to get my first FZJ80! let me say holy sh*t she was rough but heck i loved her to the moon and back and still do! shes a 1994 white i was the 5th owner and she had 420,000km on the clock when i got it, an interesting African man sold me her just before he was about to ship it too south America. I was moving out west with my friend i mentioned before in 2 weeks and need it to pass the rigorous Ontario safety check we have and tow all my gear across the country. I think i got it for 6K at the time and the doors were rooted, the floor drivers site was full Fred Flinstone with a massive hole, she leaked oil, had no coolant in the radiator and hummed loudly at 80Kmh. But whatever it run and drove and it was a trick 80 and I was young and dumb... still am somewhat haha. We got to work on her, we had some fiberglass / expoxy experience from the snowboard and whitewater kayak world.. so we canoe fiberglassed and spray foamed the doors, little black paint and vola shes good, I patched a little homedepot steel plate in the drivers side and sealed it up with some silicon if i remember correctly.

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Anyways she was an amazing truck, rad leaked like a siv for the first few years and shes driven me across the country a few times and countless other offroad trips days down forest service roads and such and was my one and only daily driver. Ironically I think around 6 years later and the green truck in the back of the last picture is my new 80 daily driver.

I could type for hours about this truck and experiences I've had with her but nobody wants a novel on here!
 
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A little more on the new truck. She is a 1997 1FZ again but at least its supercharged... great truck has done me well so far, had some tell-tale signs over the last few months... around 230miles on her and heck its a blessing as im not busy with work right now cause the world is on hold and i can bike to work when needed. Thankful for the wife not falling into the cruiser rabbit hole and driving something nice and new! So tearing into it! Parts to start off, getting them in canada is such a pain in the rear.... i think i waited almost 3 weeks for a bunch of stuff, thankful for all our helpful US vendors who ship to Canada you guys are amazing! I fell a little bit down the while your in there rabbit hole but whatever i feel its justified as next big trip plan is artic ocean and dont want stuff breaking up there...

Im not sure how many hours into it i am now but thank god for the FSM and @OTRAMM youtube channel! been dwindling away at it during the evening hours and planning to finish up early November if all goes to plan! Head is off to machine shop this morning as well as valve cover and oil cooler to get jet washed, fingers crossed on a good head! I plan to update this thread with any findings I have while throwing this all back together and they'll be plenty of pictures haha

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Here are a few pictures of the new 1997, sits on a slee 4inch and has some other bells and whistles...
 
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The heater hose crossing over the valve cover for the throttle body was so brittle it was cracking in half with the slightest pressure! good thing im changing it and caught it now!
 
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What almost 2500$ CAD of toyota parts looks like! alot of it is for head gasket but alot is just other things i needed....



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We were equally excited about this goody box showing up.. me because I have a weird love for Toyota parts and the wife because this means ill have a running car again soon... hopefully haha
 
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Packing up the head and shipping off to machinists as there isn't any shops in my small town that do that kind of work! hoping to hear from him today or tomorrow!
 
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Wondering what people found best to use when trying to clean up the pistons of carbon build up... been trying seafoam at the moment and no luck... also timing chain moved a little and I think it lost mesh with the lower gear is this a cause for concern?

Cheers!
 
I just had my head gasket replaced by my trusty local mechanic, at 202k miles. But that's not why I'm responding... Could you tell us a little more about your trailer? How long is the canoe on there, and what do you think would be the max canoe length for this setup. Also curious about the TTT. A couple more detailed pics of the trailer would be great!
 
I just had my head gasket replaced by my trusty local mechanic, at 202k miles. But that's not why I'm responding... Could you tell us a little more about your trailer? How long is the canoe on there, and what do you think would be the max canoe length for this setup. Also curious about the TTT. A couple more detailed pics of the trailer would be great!

Sure thing! its a CDN101 military trailer but it isnt actually mine it is @Squash i was just borrowing it as his son and I were going spec fishing and i didn't feel like tossing a canoe on top of my RTT. The thing is trick with built-in parking brakes and it has Toyota rims so you have extra spares everywhere you go! Check out his thread Builds - New Toy 1985 BJ70

Im not sure what TTT stands for but im assuming its to do with the roof top tents? anyways the white one on my truck is a old Magnolia and its fantastic love it to pieces and withstands alot of abuse, heck i spent well over a month and a half living in it this summer alone. The tent on @Squash truck is similar its on gas struts instead of crank to open, its newer and his rack is very custom by some handyman up in anchorage i believe but I'm sure he'll chime in if I'm wrong haha

I dont have too many additional pictures but maybe he'll post a couple for you! the canoe was 15 or 16 feet i believe.. you could go longer it was just getting tight with clearance on turns for the rear swing-out spare tire.

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Sure thing! its a CDN101 military trailer but it isnt actually mine it is @Squash i was just borrowing it as his son and I were going spec fishing and i didn't feel like tossing a canoe on top of my RTT. The thing is trick with built-in parking brakes and it has Toyota rims so you have extra spares everywhere you go! Check out his thread Builds - New Toy 1985 BJ70

Im not sure what TTT stands for but im assuming its to do with the roof top tents? anyways the white one on my truck is a old Magnolia and its fantastic love it to pieces and withstands alot of abuse, heck i spent well over a month and a half living in it this summer alone. The tent on @Squash truck is similar its on gas struts instead of crank to open, its newer and his rack is very custom by some handyman up in anchorage i believe but I'm sure he'll chime in if I'm wrong haha

I dont have too many additional pictures but maybe he'll post a couple for you! the canoe was 15 or 16 feet i believe.. you could go longer it was just getting tight with clearance on turns for the rear swing-out spare tire.

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TTT=Trailer Top Tent. Further back on the rig than a Roof Top Tent. That looks like a lot of canoe sticking out the back but it who I am to argue with actual experience? I love the idea of a low profile tent on top of a trailer, with room for a couple of canoes below.
 
TTT=Trailer Top Tent. Further back on the rig than a Roof Top Tent. That looks like a lot of canoe sticking out the back but it who I am to argue with actual experience? I love the idea of a low profile tent on top of a trailer, with room for a couple of canoes below.

Ahh I see, learn something everyday haha, yeah ton of canoe sticking out back but tied down really well and you have to turn it sideways to fit it in between the stands for the TTT so it's not going anywhere! definitely not room for tow canoes but works well for one! and its a kick a*s trailer at the same time :beer:
 
Re your question, it is a cause for concern. Have you always had it at tdc since the head came off? Did you zip tie the chain to the upper sprocket? If so, you can tell with reasonable confidence that your chain is still right if the notch on the cam sprocket it still pointing straight up with tension on both sides of the chain. If not, you'll need to reset it. Has to be perfect.
Also, the fsm just says to use a gasket scraper for the pistons:meh:
 
Re your question, it is a cause for concern. Have you always had it at tdc since the head came off? Did you zip tie the chain to the upper sprocket? If so, you can tell with reasonable confidence that your chain is still right if the notch on the cam sprocket it still pointing straight up with tension on both sides of the chain. If not, you'll need to reset it. Has to be perfect.
Also, the fsm just says to use a gasket scraper for the pistons:meh:

Thanks 60 Toy Ota, yes the engine hasn't left tdc since i had the head off, top chain is zip tied to the upper sprocket but it snagged the whole thing on my sweater and it moved, the cam sprocket notch is not pointing straight up but it sounds like i should be able to just adjust that when i re-install the head. Do people have any hacks of keeping tension on the upper sprocket while the head is off i was thinking maybe a bungee cord or a small piece of rope to the ceiling but seems like that would seriously get in the way...

Have been using a gasket scraper for the pistons but dont want to be to rough on them, looking for a solvent or something that will loosen up the carbon buildup
 
If you zip tied it to the sprocket before you caught your sweater on it you should be fine. I do not think the chain can move on the bottom end, but honestly never tried. As long as you have 3-4 zip ties around it, it usually just flops around until you reinstall the drive gear. The gear pin up top and balancer being set TDC should keep you in sync.

Recommendations if budget allows ...
Re-build or replace the steering pump and low pressure lines now, they will never be more accessible
Change your fuel filer now
Strip the upper and lower intakes and send them to the shop for cleaning with everything else

Also, I made sure every electrical connect had some dielectric grease on it before it went back together.

I've never seen an oil cooler look like that. What is that build up on it?
 
If you zip tied it to the sprocket before you caught your sweater on it you should be fine. I do not think the chain can move on the bottom end, but honestly never tried. As long as you have 3-4 zip ties around it, it usually just flops around until you reinstall the drive gear. The gear pin up top and balancer being set TDC should keep you in sync.

Recommendations if budget allows ...
Re-build or replace the steering pump and low pressure lines now, they will never be more accessible
Change your fuel filer now
Strip the upper and lower intakes and send them to the shop for cleaning with everything else

Also, I made sure every electrical connect had some dielectric grease on it before it went back together.

I've never seen an oil cooler look like that. What is that build up on it?

Thanks for the tips... honestly i sounds like even if it did move on the bottom end ill be able to reposition it again when i have the head back in and installing the camshafts! the upper was zip tied before i ever pulled the head, i caught it while doing some gasket scraping on the block.

budget could allow for the steering pump but i never really thought about that... its just more a matter of time for me now as its been over a month without a car...
So far new parts list includes:
-radiator
-all coolant hoosing (gates green stripe, OEM, silicon for throttle body)
-heater control valve
-supra injectors
-full engine grind kit
-dizzy cap and rotor
-oil pump leak kit from joey
-fuel filter
-new denso spark plugs
-air filter
-silicon intake tubes
-water pump
-themostat
-orange fan clutch from Rick
-fan shroud
-fan
-and some other things im probably missing at the moment

for the intake plenums i was planning on just pressure washing and cleaning myself... i sent the oil cooler and valve cover to the machine shop to get jet washed but shipping the plenums as well wouldve been a much bigger package to ship as theres no machine shop in the town i live

and ive got the dielectric grease on standby! everything will get a nice coating as to not give me any headaches during the approaching winter

oil cooler buildup is rileson headgasket fix and such maybe some bars in there aswell... i used some to get me back home earlier this summer on a big trip and then previous owner has used it a couple time before when he was having radiator problems.... I hate to use it but heck it is a savior sometimes now its just he pain the back to clean it all!
 
I wouldn't stress on getting the piston tops spotless.

Ya i kinda figured that... just want to get the worst of it off but i assume its not going to harm anything being there
Cheers :beer:
 
I wouldn't stress on getting the piston tops spotless.

I've done two head gaskets now and didn't clean the pistons on either one. Too much work for little payoff imo.

Thinking I see a broken front knock sensor in one of the pics as well?
 
I've done two head gaskets now and didn't clean the pistons on either one. Too much work for little payoff imo.

Thinking I see a broken front knock sensor in one of the pics as well?

Good eye haha yup that puppy ruined my night, was the last sensor on the harness and it was putting up such a fight, used a screwdriver for a little extra force and snap!! ahhh.. anyways got a new to me used replacement coming from curiserparts.net as well speak! along with some rust-free heat shields that im hoping to get ceramic coated!
 
So bad news just heard back from the machine shop and just with a feeler gauge, they said they'll have to take of 20thou minium so looks like my head is toast 😔 as i would assume youd be running into timing chain and valve clearance taking that much off on a deck. At this point, I simply cannot afford a new head which seems to run around 1800CAD before tax and shipping. If anyone knows of or has a lead on someone I can contact to source a pre-owned head that would be more than appreciated!! thanks for all help so far everyone!

Cheers :beer:
 

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