Builds Just bought my first 60 Series...my 1986 FJ60 Build (4 Viewers)

[yotadude520]

My pursuit for a 60 series has never been easy.

Ever since I was 16 I've wanted a 40 series or a 60 series. What can I say - I'm a sucker for round headlights and slow 6 cylinders. I've tried multiple times to get my hands on one here locally and for some reason or another me owning a 60 series was never in the cards. I've been fortunate enough to own a slew of other vintage Toyotas (as evidenced by all my build threads on here) and can't help but think if I did own a 60 when I was younger I probably would've traded it for something else I thought was cooler. I'm 28 now, and while my mental maturity is a bit questionable at times I think 60's are pretty damn cool.

I actually tried to acquire this exact 60 series about four years ago. I had taken a wrong turn in my neighborhood and lo and behold this 60 was just sitting in the front yard. Lucky for me the owner was out and we got to talking and I offered him my 1990 4Runner in trade for it. He looked at the 4Runner and decided it wasn't for him.

When I got the itch to buy a 60 he was the first person that I was a nuisance to. I knocked on the door and was greeted by his wife who actually remembered me from my first attempt. She told me he'd give me a call and he finally did a week later. He wasn't sure he wanted to sell it but after another week of mulling it over he decided he would let it go.

The original owner was a herpetologist who took it on his adventures and then sold it to the gentleman I purchased it from in 2005. He did a SOA swap with OME lift springs and a high steer kit along with some other mods and wheeled it. It was parked in 2013 when it the suspension overextended and broke the front driveshaft and passenger shock mount. It has sat ever since with the idea of swapping a 2H diesel in place of the 2F. Those dreams never happened and now I am the new custodian of this FJ60.

It's in really good shape, with no real rust issues - there's some signs of surface rust here and there but considering how easily these turn into swiss cheese I'd go as far to say it's mint. She's a bit tall for my liking and it needs to fit in my garage, so the SOA and the roof rack might have to go. My plans are to get this back down to earth on 33's, slap in a H55F and fuel injection. Like I said I'm a sucker for slow 6 cylinders but after rocking my 2007 Subaru Outback for three months I'm now a speed demon. I plan to make this a relatively practical daily driver, and that means being able to keep up with the jabronis on the freeway if I need to.

Enough blabbering, here's some pics I snapped today:

Immediate plans to get it driving:

• Have gas tank cleaned
• Replace fuel lines & fuel pickup
• Replace fuel pump (possibly)
• Replace battery
• Reweld broken shock mount
• Replace front driveshaft
• New tires
• Potential axle swap to get rid of the SOA

That's quite a list just to get her roadworthy, but I'm hoping by next weekend I'll at least be able to move it around the neighborhood. It does start and run just fine off of a gas can, so once I can get fuel reliably to the carb I should be in business to get it moving. Hopefully I should be able to get it to stop too..

I officially take possession of it on Saturday once I get some roller tires onto it and will keep ya'll updated.

Happy to finally be a part of the ever exclusive 60 club!

 

[cruisermatt]

Have you checked to see if it’s still eligible for the tank recall?

 

[Godwin]

The original owner was a herpetologist who took it on his adventures

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Do you know who the herpetologist was?

 

[Tennessee80]

My pursuit for a 60 series has never been easy.

Ever since I was 16 I've wanted a 40 series or a 60 series. What can I say - I'm a sucker for round headlights and slow 6 cylinders. I've tried multiple times to get my hands on one here locally and for some reason or another me owning a 60 series was never in the cards. I've been fortunate enough to own a slew of other vintage Toyotas (as evidenced by all my build threads on here) and can't help but think if I did own a 60 when I was younger I probably would've traded it for something else I thought was cooler. I'm 28 now, and while my mental maturity is a bit questionable at times I think 60's are pretty damn cool.

I actually tried to acquire this exact 60 series about four years ago. I had taken a wrong turn in my neighborhood and lo and behold this 60 was just sitting in the front yard. Lucky for me the owner was out and we got to talking and I offered him my 1990 4Runner in trade for it. He looked at the 4Runner and decided it wasn't for him.

When I got the itch to buy a 60 he was the first person that I was a nuisance to. I knocked on the door and was greeted by his wife who actually remembered me from my first attempt. She told me he'd give me a call and he finally did a week later. He wasn't sure he wanted to sell it but after another week of mulling it over he decided he would let it go.

The original owner was a herpetologist who took it on his adventures and then sold it to the gentleman I purchased it from in 2005. He did a SOA swap with OME lift springs and a high steer kit along with some other mods and wheeled it. It was parked in 2013 when it the suspension overextended and broke the front driveshaft and passenger shock mount. It has sat ever since with the idea of swapping a 2H diesel in place of the 2F. Those dreams never happened and now I am the new custodian of this FJ60.

It's in really good shape, with no real rust issues - there's some signs of surface rust here and there but considering how easily these turn into swiss cheese I'd go as far to say it's mint. She's a bit tall for my liking and it needs to fit in my garage, so the SOA and the roof rack might have to go. My plans are to get this back down to earth on 33's, slap in a H55F and fuel injection. Like I said I'm a sucker for slow 6 cylinders but after rocking my 2007 Subaru Outback for three months I'm now a speed demon. I plan to make this a relatively practical daily driver, and that means being able to keep up with the jabronis on the freeway if I need to.

Enough blabbering, here's some pics I snapped today:

View attachment 3587103
View attachment 3587104
View attachment 3587105

Immediate plans to get it driving:

• Have gas tank cleaned
• Replace fuel lines & fuel pickup
• Replace fuel pump (possibly)
• Replace battery
• Reweld broken shock mount
• Replace front driveshaft
• New tires
• Potential axle swap to get rid of the SOA

That's quite a list just to get her roadworthy, but I'm hoping by next weekend I'll at least be able to move it around the neighborhood. It does start and run just fine off of a gas can, so once I can get fuel reliably to the carb I should be in business to get it moving. Hopefully I should be able to get it to stop too..

I officially take possession of it on Saturday once I get some roller tires onto it and will keep ya'll updated.

Happy to finally be a part of the ever exclusive 60 club!

Clean truck to start the 60 journey with, man!

 

[yotadude520]

Saturday was officially Land Cruiser day. Started the morning helping my boy @Garrissey get his pig closer to driver status, ultimately unsuccessful but we made some great progress, I'm sure he'll drop some deets at some point. He was nice enough to loan me the original deep dish chrome wheels from his piggy to begin what would be a multitude of tire swapping.

The 60 probably hasn't moved in 6 years, and the front 35" tires were both flat. The rear was on a stock sized tire so I wanted to get some 35"s on it all the way around. Luckily for me I was able to rob from them from the 1990 4Runner that I sold to my brother. Drove across town to my buddy's house where it's parked and swapped em out. I kinda dig the look on 33's to be honest which is good because they're going to be on there until I get the SOA/SUA debate figured out. As for 4Runner, we'll get to finishing that 3.4 swap, I promise.

It was a little sketchy swapping the tires on the 60 at first since the dirt wasn't the best platform to jack up on, but I made do and got three out of the four swapped. The drivers side rear was basically brand new so I figured that one can stay on for the time being. It was pretty cool to see it at full height after sitting on those flats for all those years.

With it able to roll it was time to do a driveway rescue on this thing to get it back to my house. First things first I pulled out my phone and called the tow truck. I didn't feel like rolling around in the dirt anymore anyway.

Off she goes - first time it's moved in years. We dropped it off at my house where it became readily apparent that there was no way it was going to fit in the garage, so the roof rack had to go. It looks a lot better without it anyway. With it in my driveway and the roof rack gone it was time to call it a night.

 

[yotadude520]

With the roof rack off I was relieved to see that it fits in the garage but boy is it close. Took some effort pushing it in with the girlfriend at the helm but we were able to get er done.

The previous owner had used this for contracting work at one point and it was full of misc construction supplies. He had cleaned it out prior to the sale but needless to say it was still unequivocally gross, as referenced by the facial expression below:

With a bit of elbow grease and some excellent vacuuming, I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the interior turned out to be. The old seat covers did their job and the seats were pretty much immaculate, minus a small tear in the bottom drivers slide bolster.

I still need to do the back, but am happy with the overall progress cosmetically. Tomorrow I'll start working on fuel system to get this thing moving under it's own power.

 

[yotadude520]

Have you checked to see if it’s still eligible for the tank recall?

I have not but I will be checking with the ole stealership tomorrow

Do you know who the herpetologist was?

I do not unfortunately, I can find out if the previous owner remembers his name. I know he still lives in Tucson. He apparently sold the 60 because he wanted to ride his bike around and felt guilty about it's emissions.

Clean truck to start the 60 journey with, man!

Thanks man, start a build thread on your new one!!

 

[PapaGiamati]

beauty seats. Sweet it already has the sliding rear windows!

Looking forward to following along.

 

[yotadude520]

beauty seats. Sweet it already has the sliding rear windows!

Looking forward to following along.

Thank you!! I'm pumped about the sliding window, he gave me a brand new one for the other side so I'll be installing that at some point.

 

[yotadude520]

I've got a pretty hard deadline set for myself to have this cruiser at least moving by the end of this weekend. With that in mind I hurried home after work with two goals to get me closer to that glorious first drive:

1. Reweld the passenger shock mount
2. Remove the gas tank so that I can have it cleaned

I started with the broken shock mount - luckily for me it was a relatively clean break so seemed pretty straightforward.

I fired up my old Millermatic and glued it back together. It was my first time welding something like this - usually my sub-par welding skills are relegated to building gates or bumpers but I gave it the old college try and while it won't be on any welding porn websites, I got good penetration and it seems solid. Time will tell.

The lighting situation isn't ideal in my garage, so prior to dropping the tank I gathered every lamp I could find.

I have to say being as tall as it is makes for plenty of room underneath to remove the tank

You think I can fit a 35" with the stock spare winch? Probably not. If anyone wants this, feel free to make me an offer!

The only thing I hate in the world more than Amy Schumer are spiders, and boy was this an unpleasant sight for me. Brought back some serious PTSD from the Black Widow nightmare on the 1990 4Runner.

Alas, I trucked on and tried to drain the tank with the drain bolt on the front. This is where my troubles begin as the drain bolt was completely stuck - which means I'm SOL on trying to drain the gas easily.

With my MyGyver hat on, I remembered the PO had an electric fuel pump sitting in the engine bay in case the mechanical ever failed on the trail. I popped it off and with some fuel hose and alligator clips began to siphon the fuel out of the sending unit hole.

That old gas was nasty AF

Now with the tank empty it was much easier to maneuver to try and get it out of the frame. This is where I ran into a second issue - the aftermarket OME shackles made it really hard for the tank to tilt at all since the bolts were in the way. I'm not sure if the PO put them on backwards or what but what resulted was me on my back for 45 minutes pushing the tank up with my legs trying to finagle it out of there. It felt like I was doing an endless Pelaton core workout, but my efforts finally paid off and I got that SOB out of the frame. I dropped it off at the radiator shop today to be cleaned and hope to be picking it up on Friday.

 

[Garrissey]

IH8AmyShumer

 

[BrickRunner]

How are your C-Channels? I know you want to get it running, but it might be a good time to do them with the tank out (I did mine with the tank in).

 

[matmattmatthew]

How are your C-Channels? I know you want to get it running, but it might be a good time to do them with the tank out (I did mine with the tank in).

I'll second that. I'm dropping my tank to do my C-channels, if yours is already out, now is the time!

 

[yotadude520]

How are your C-Channels? I know you want to get it running, but it might be a good time to do them with the tank out (I did mine with the tank in).

I'll be honest, being from AZ my whole life the c channels are a little spooky

What's the mud consensus on this rust? Should I call Cash 4 Clunkers and cut my losses??

 

[BrickRunner]

Heck no! Fix it now or leave it for later, but don't junk it!

Mine looked similar and I don't think it was anywhere near catastrophic failure. Being from the southwest like you (well, SoCal anyway), rust just bothers me so I fixed it. It would have probably lasted many more years as is given it's new environment (away from the beach and in a garage).

 

[yotadude520]

Heck no! Fix it now or leave it for later, but don't junk it!

Mine looked similar and I don't think it was anywhere near catastrophic failure. Being from the southwest like you (well, SoCal anyway), rust just bothers me so I fixed it. It would have probably lasted many more years as a is given it's new environment (away from the beach and in a garage).

Lol I was kidding no calls to Cash 4 Clunkers on this rig! I've got too much to do yet.

Just clean with a wire wheel and POR-15?

 

[BrickRunner]

After wire wheeling, I'd blast it with some ospho. It's liquidy so should seep into the seems and in between the frame and c-channel.

 

[Garrissey]

I am indebted to yotadude for the help he has offered me on my pig, so I called him up yesterday AM to see if there was any projects he was working on for the 60. He was enroute to get parts, and was actually going to install the tank and he was determined to get the rig running. I came over and we started to get the plumbing lines all sorted out, which the gas tank has many. All the hoses were cut, but there was some issues with sizing, so this resulted in another trip to Vato Zone. I was happy to offer a hand in stuffing the tank under the chassis while the straps were bolted in. The trick about these tanks and the bolts from the springs is stuffing one side in, creating a clearance for the rest of the tank to follow suit.

While Will set up all the plumbing for the rear hoses, I went up front and replaced the feeder hose to the fuel filter I ripped off Peaches.

Then it was time to feed the old Dino Juice into this baby and assess whether there were any leaks, which it turns out, the drain plug was not tightened all the way, but that was addressed promptly.

She fired right up relatively quickly. It was sounds so nice and pretty, even though it has not ran in a while. I have this ticking in my rig, likely from an exhaust leak somewhere, but it is absent in this rig. A good running 2F is truly a remarkable sound.

 

[cruisermatt]

Considered posting about the kit but decided to hold tongue.. did it end up not being eligible for the recall?
Don't worry about those C-channels, in Arizona those will look the same that they do now for the rest of all of our lives. Don't waste your time.

Please feel free to reach out if there's anything else you need. We sell all kinds of stuff, suspensions, H55f's, etc

 

[yotadude520]

Considered posting about the kit but decided to hold tongue.. did it end up not being eligible for the recall?
Don't worry about those C-channels, in Arizona those will look the same that they do now for the rest of all of our lives. Don't waste your time.

Please feel free to reach out if there's anything else you need. We sell all kinds of stuff, suspensions, H55f's, etc

I figured it was just generic fuel hose and would be cheaper to buy on my own. Learned a valuable lesson $80+ later lol

This one wasn't eligible for the gas tank recall, guess it was done back in 1991!