I recently got this FJ62 as a replacement vehicle for my wife. Long story short (maybe, I have been known to go off on tangents) my wife used to drive a 2000 Focus I have had since college. Last winter a guy ran a stop sign in town and totaled her car, luckily everyone was okay. So I spent some time looking around and doing research for a replacement vehicle. She wanted one with more ground clearance (we live in the snow capital of the US) automatic locks, windows and more room for the growing family, what she wanted was a Subaru. After looking at the budget we decided we did not want a car I was going to have make payments on and since we live 300 mi from a city I wanted something I can work on without having to take in so someone can hook it up to a computer. So started the 5 month long search, whenever I went to the Anchorage I usually tried to have a a few viewings lined up on either LCs, K5 Blazers, old school broncos or Grand Wagoneers. She did not like any of them from the photos on the internet but I knew if I could get her in one he song would change. After finding this site back in May I was pretty much sold on at LC. Just seeing the community support that was out there for this vehicle and the love I knew this was going to be it. (and it reminds me of my FJ Cruiser, but that’s a story for another day) So about he same time my head was still spinning from buying a house I got this FJ62, my wife calls her “Ingrid.”
Please excuse the poor phone pictures.
I thought I had more....
Now I had ulterior motives for wanting something like this as well. I have wanted a project car for years, and being up here and 1 car short and away from a source of supply for a classic car I decided this 62 just might fill my want as well. So now that the house is closer to how I want it I am getting a chance to start working on Ingrid.
Fluid changes, check!
Bulb changes, check! (added the LED dome light and cargo light and the dash. I will try to get some pictures of the dash up soon, things went a little off track)
A buddy gave me these 4 lights free, so I decided I would take them and fix them all up and mount them on the 62. I was planning on a Rigid LED light bar like I have on my Silverado… but free is free!
While I was at it the brush guard was rusting and flaking paint. It had flaked off before and someone just painted over it and the stickers that were on it before… So with the help of an angle grinder with a wire wheel and sand paper I took it all down to bare metal. Once down I used a rust converter to get anything I had missed, then painted it up with Napa’s Dupli-color bedliner. Did I mention if I can get it from NAPA, Radio Shack or the local hardware store it’s the internet of or a 300mi drive?
I got the lights and brushguard Prepped. Primed and Painted, mounted them up and wired… that’s when I discovered I needed an FSM. I thought I was going to be slick and wire the relay 85 power from the lamp and 86 for ground through the switch on my dash. That way when I turned my brights on and off the extra lights would go on and off too… nope I guess that’s how they are wired too with the switch on the ground side so they always have power the moment you turn on your normal headlights. Lessons learned, I will figure this one out.
While I was in Anchorage at one point I decided for Xmas I will get my wife a new radio. The LCD screen on the aftermarket radio that was in there did not work when I bought it. That and my wife likes to talk on the phone when driving in and out of town, usually to her mother. So the one I got had a wired mic for a blue tooth hands free phone. While buying it thought hey it already has an aftermarket radio I won’t need the harness adapter (this was before I really looked at the hack jobs of what some POs had done). So it turns out when someone installed this radio the cut the factory harness, they cut the factory harness…. They cut the factory harness… $14 and a week later I have both the factory harness and the one to plug into it. I am a fan of heat shrink and solder so here is a pic of me having fun doing that.
Anything to keep the wires in place...
After I got it all set up and ready I made the first call on the system and blew the right front speaker… and as the PO had removed the left front speaker saying “the alarm system was behind it and it took up too much room and the speaker kept falling out because it stuck out too far,” sound was now an issue. Luckily my buddy was just about to sell his car and it had all 6.5 Infinity speakers he installed last year. He told me if I removed them and installed the ones of the LC doing all the labor I could have the speakers free. So of course I jumped on that, that’s when I found that when the wired up the tweeters for the door panels the used regular speaker wire you would use on your hi-fi at home…
The engine odometer is around 280,000 with the original engine and to my knowledge it has not had a rebuild yet. The tranny was changed out about 30,000 mi ago with one that had 120,000 ish from the POs parts rig. So I know I have rebuild or replace in my future, along with rust… I really wish I had someone local to give me a good accounting of whether its going to be worth saving this frame. There is a fair amount of surface rust but nothing that really goes through… yet. This rig was brought up from WA. a few years ago according to the POs documentation and he was using it to commute.
All in all it looks like it was cared for over the years and worked on with the best of intentions. I know that what I will be doing and hopefully not messing it up too much along the way.
and for a current look....
I look forward to working on this more and the future, and thanks in advance for any help and suggestions along the way!
PS soon I plan I getting my camera out and I will get a picture of the dash lighting. I was going for something different that the wife would like... but took an odd turn.
Please excuse the poor phone pictures.
I thought I had more....
Now I had ulterior motives for wanting something like this as well. I have wanted a project car for years, and being up here and 1 car short and away from a source of supply for a classic car I decided this 62 just might fill my want as well. So now that the house is closer to how I want it I am getting a chance to start working on Ingrid.
Fluid changes, check!
Bulb changes, check! (added the LED dome light and cargo light and the dash. I will try to get some pictures of the dash up soon, things went a little off track)
A buddy gave me these 4 lights free, so I decided I would take them and fix them all up and mount them on the 62. I was planning on a Rigid LED light bar like I have on my Silverado… but free is free!
While I was at it the brush guard was rusting and flaking paint. It had flaked off before and someone just painted over it and the stickers that were on it before… So with the help of an angle grinder with a wire wheel and sand paper I took it all down to bare metal. Once down I used a rust converter to get anything I had missed, then painted it up with Napa’s Dupli-color bedliner. Did I mention if I can get it from NAPA, Radio Shack or the local hardware store it’s the internet of or a 300mi drive?
I got the lights and brushguard Prepped. Primed and Painted, mounted them up and wired… that’s when I discovered I needed an FSM. I thought I was going to be slick and wire the relay 85 power from the lamp and 86 for ground through the switch on my dash. That way when I turned my brights on and off the extra lights would go on and off too… nope I guess that’s how they are wired too with the switch on the ground side so they always have power the moment you turn on your normal headlights. Lessons learned, I will figure this one out.
While I was in Anchorage at one point I decided for Xmas I will get my wife a new radio. The LCD screen on the aftermarket radio that was in there did not work when I bought it. That and my wife likes to talk on the phone when driving in and out of town, usually to her mother. So the one I got had a wired mic for a blue tooth hands free phone. While buying it thought hey it already has an aftermarket radio I won’t need the harness adapter (this was before I really looked at the hack jobs of what some POs had done). So it turns out when someone installed this radio the cut the factory harness, they cut the factory harness…. They cut the factory harness… $14 and a week later I have both the factory harness and the one to plug into it. I am a fan of heat shrink and solder so here is a pic of me having fun doing that.
Anything to keep the wires in place...
After I got it all set up and ready I made the first call on the system and blew the right front speaker… and as the PO had removed the left front speaker saying “the alarm system was behind it and it took up too much room and the speaker kept falling out because it stuck out too far,” sound was now an issue. Luckily my buddy was just about to sell his car and it had all 6.5 Infinity speakers he installed last year. He told me if I removed them and installed the ones of the LC doing all the labor I could have the speakers free. So of course I jumped on that, that’s when I found that when the wired up the tweeters for the door panels the used regular speaker wire you would use on your hi-fi at home…
The engine odometer is around 280,000 with the original engine and to my knowledge it has not had a rebuild yet. The tranny was changed out about 30,000 mi ago with one that had 120,000 ish from the POs parts rig. So I know I have rebuild or replace in my future, along with rust… I really wish I had someone local to give me a good accounting of whether its going to be worth saving this frame. There is a fair amount of surface rust but nothing that really goes through… yet. This rig was brought up from WA. a few years ago according to the POs documentation and he was using it to commute.
All in all it looks like it was cared for over the years and worked on with the best of intentions. I know that what I will be doing and hopefully not messing it up too much along the way.
and for a current look....
I look forward to working on this more and the future, and thanks in advance for any help and suggestions along the way!
PS soon I plan I getting my camera out and I will get a picture of the dash lighting. I was going for something different that the wife would like... but took an odd turn.
Welcome to the madness!
