Hi everyone!
(Mods, if this isn't the right place for this post, can you kindly tow it to the right location, and accept my apologies?)
Name's Rich. I live in Vancouver, BC.
Picked up an '84 FJ60 (US-spec, not Canadian-spec) a few months back and just yesterday took delivery of it - it had been sitting at a friend's yard on Vancouver Island for months waiting for me to have some extra space for it.
So I just sold a couple other cars (old Porsche 944 and an '08 M3) and finally had some space to bring her home. Picked it up and drove it back.
Here are some pics to start, and I'll comment some more after.
She's blue. Been repainted (poorly) from the original slightly darker blue. Bottom, as you can see, has been coated in POR-15 to slow the inevitable cancer.
Drove pretty well, especially for over 250,000 miles. The occasionally shimmy/wobble/shake at around 55 which comes and goes, and the infamous (at least according to the FAQ?) steering clunk - but only when turning left. Other than a massive exhaust leak, that is.
Got it home, took it to the local muffler shop first thing to get the exhaust looked at. Got underneath it, it might as well not have had a muffler at all.
Got them to slap on something quiet, as it had a glasspack installed already, and as I'm getting older, I don't much care for loud exhausts anymore.
You can see in the pic below how the rust has taken hold on the bottom of the gate and the rear bumper:
New muffler installed. You can see the surface rust all over the underside... and one of the rear drums weeping a bit. Brake fluid level isn't changing though, so I'm guessing it's very minor:
After that, I took it out on a longer drive - figured I'd get to know her a bit more, see how she drives in comparison to my last SUV-type truck, a 99 XJ I had about 7 years ago. (Pic below, just 'cause):
I planned on doing all the basic tuneup stuff to it today, as I have no idea when it was done last. Drove out to my local parts guy, picked up the usual: plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter, fuel filter. Grabbed a set of Hella 7" e-codes (which I read while lurking the past week or so were a half decent choice) as well.
Forgot to get new belts... and boy, I wish I had.
Drive it about 30 miles out and then make my way back home, and about 20 miles on the way, I notice the charge light come on... "that's odd, still got power, still got stereo, everything seems to be working..." Pull off the highway and park it, and immediately notice what I thought was smoke. Nope, it was steam.
WP belt snapped, and whacked the Alternator belt, causing it to jump off at the same time.
Everything got a good bath when (in my brilliance) decided to pop the rad cap off slowly to vent some more heat. Bad idea. At least I had access to water to fill it back up.
Whoops.
The busted belt:
Call up AAA (okay, well, the Canadian equivalent), and being a holiday weekend up here, the wait for a tow is going to be a while (no tools in the truck + no spare belts = not going to drive it home and chance cooking the HG).
Tow shows up, gets me home:
Drive it into the garage, go get me some belts.
Get new belts installed (can I say that I really like how easy it was to adjust the alternator and smog pump to get the belts on? At least compared to some other cars I've owned.), and she fires right up.
At least that's out of the way.
(Above: Everything ready to go.)
Skip the cap/rotor/plugs/wires for today as I couldn't find my spark plug socket.
Change the fuel filter, the one in there looks like it's many years old.
Found an old tube of AutoSol polish in the bottom of my toolbox, figured I'd see how the chrome cleaned up... quite well actually. Also removed that awfully-placed two-way radio antenna from the bumper:
Got the E-codes installed, man, what a difference. Mangled the driver's side trim ring dealing with disintegrated/stripped screws, and the headlight bezel itself will need replacing now after I dealt with a PO using a giant wood screw to hold it in place that had rusted out... requiring me to break the mount to get it off.
Left it at that for now. Lots more to take care of before I start moving forward:
1. Track down a not-insignificant oil leak. Looks like maybe filter housing. We'll see. Everything under there has so much gunk and oil and sludge build up it looks like a refinery.
2. Repair/Replace driver's side headlight bezel and ring.
3. Rear hatch won't shut - latch won't engage. Need to find me a replacement.
4. Finish the tuneup bits.
So with that being said, I've read the majority of the FAQ, but still have some questions:
1. As a BMW guy for years, I'm used to having access to sites like realOEM.com in order to track down part numbers and such. Is there a Toyota equivalent??
2. How can I determine my build month?
3. Any decent VIN decoders available online?
4. What are my best sources online for finding new OEM parts? Besides places like eBay and RockAuto, I mean.
5. Best place(s) to find used parts? Anyone got a functioning rear hatch latch or headlight bits? Let me know.
Future plans:
1. Fully assess the rust situation. If it's really bad, I'll just drive it as-is until it's just me and a drivetrain rolling down the highway.
2. Upgrade suspension. Old Man Emu still the best choice? Maybe a very mild lift?
3. Find me a front bumper that I can mount a winch to in order to keep myself out of trouble.
4. Install a proper two-way radio/antenna.
5. Install some aux lighting.
6. Anything else I should do?
And since I've come this far, some of my other fleet:
My wife's summer car I built for her:
My "fun" car, 1990 BMW 535 with 490 rwhp turbo build:
My 944 I just sold a couple weeks ago:
My M3 that I sold last week:
My other toy, 1991 Japanese-spec LHD M5:
I'm sure I'm missing something. Oh right, the other V12:
Anyway, I'd very much appreciate if someone would help out with some of the Q's I have above. Not afraid to turn a wrench, change a HG, do whatever. I tend to stay away from suspension and bodywork though, I prefer to leave that to the pros.
Looking forward to having a lot of fun with my FJ60 and having another capable off-road vehicle again.
Thanks!
(Mods, if this isn't the right place for this post, can you kindly tow it to the right location, and accept my apologies?)
Name's Rich. I live in Vancouver, BC.
Picked up an '84 FJ60 (US-spec, not Canadian-spec) a few months back and just yesterday took delivery of it - it had been sitting at a friend's yard on Vancouver Island for months waiting for me to have some extra space for it.
So I just sold a couple other cars (old Porsche 944 and an '08 M3) and finally had some space to bring her home. Picked it up and drove it back.
Here are some pics to start, and I'll comment some more after.
She's blue. Been repainted (poorly) from the original slightly darker blue. Bottom, as you can see, has been coated in POR-15 to slow the inevitable cancer.
Drove pretty well, especially for over 250,000 miles. The occasionally shimmy/wobble/shake at around 55 which comes and goes, and the infamous (at least according to the FAQ?) steering clunk - but only when turning left. Other than a massive exhaust leak, that is.
Got it home, took it to the local muffler shop first thing to get the exhaust looked at. Got underneath it, it might as well not have had a muffler at all.
Got them to slap on something quiet, as it had a glasspack installed already, and as I'm getting older, I don't much care for loud exhausts anymore.
You can see in the pic below how the rust has taken hold on the bottom of the gate and the rear bumper:
New muffler installed. You can see the surface rust all over the underside... and one of the rear drums weeping a bit. Brake fluid level isn't changing though, so I'm guessing it's very minor:
After that, I took it out on a longer drive - figured I'd get to know her a bit more, see how she drives in comparison to my last SUV-type truck, a 99 XJ I had about 7 years ago. (Pic below, just 'cause):
I planned on doing all the basic tuneup stuff to it today, as I have no idea when it was done last. Drove out to my local parts guy, picked up the usual: plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter, fuel filter. Grabbed a set of Hella 7" e-codes (which I read while lurking the past week or so were a half decent choice) as well.
Forgot to get new belts... and boy, I wish I had.
Drive it about 30 miles out and then make my way back home, and about 20 miles on the way, I notice the charge light come on... "that's odd, still got power, still got stereo, everything seems to be working..." Pull off the highway and park it, and immediately notice what I thought was smoke. Nope, it was steam.
WP belt snapped, and whacked the Alternator belt, causing it to jump off at the same time.
Everything got a good bath when (in my brilliance) decided to pop the rad cap off slowly to vent some more heat. Bad idea. At least I had access to water to fill it back up.
Whoops.
The busted belt:
Call up AAA (okay, well, the Canadian equivalent), and being a holiday weekend up here, the wait for a tow is going to be a while (no tools in the truck + no spare belts = not going to drive it home and chance cooking the HG).
Tow shows up, gets me home:
Drive it into the garage, go get me some belts.
Get new belts installed (can I say that I really like how easy it was to adjust the alternator and smog pump to get the belts on? At least compared to some other cars I've owned.), and she fires right up.
At least that's out of the way.
(Above: Everything ready to go.)
Skip the cap/rotor/plugs/wires for today as I couldn't find my spark plug socket.
Change the fuel filter, the one in there looks like it's many years old.
Found an old tube of AutoSol polish in the bottom of my toolbox, figured I'd see how the chrome cleaned up... quite well actually. Also removed that awfully-placed two-way radio antenna from the bumper:
Got the E-codes installed, man, what a difference. Mangled the driver's side trim ring dealing with disintegrated/stripped screws, and the headlight bezel itself will need replacing now after I dealt with a PO using a giant wood screw to hold it in place that had rusted out... requiring me to break the mount to get it off.
Left it at that for now. Lots more to take care of before I start moving forward:
1. Track down a not-insignificant oil leak. Looks like maybe filter housing. We'll see. Everything under there has so much gunk and oil and sludge build up it looks like a refinery.
2. Repair/Replace driver's side headlight bezel and ring.
3. Rear hatch won't shut - latch won't engage. Need to find me a replacement.
4. Finish the tuneup bits.
So with that being said, I've read the majority of the FAQ, but still have some questions:
1. As a BMW guy for years, I'm used to having access to sites like realOEM.com in order to track down part numbers and such. Is there a Toyota equivalent??
2. How can I determine my build month?
3. Any decent VIN decoders available online?
4. What are my best sources online for finding new OEM parts? Besides places like eBay and RockAuto, I mean.
5. Best place(s) to find used parts? Anyone got a functioning rear hatch latch or headlight bits? Let me know.
Future plans:
1. Fully assess the rust situation. If it's really bad, I'll just drive it as-is until it's just me and a drivetrain rolling down the highway.
2. Upgrade suspension. Old Man Emu still the best choice? Maybe a very mild lift?
3. Find me a front bumper that I can mount a winch to in order to keep myself out of trouble.
4. Install a proper two-way radio/antenna.
5. Install some aux lighting.
6. Anything else I should do?
And since I've come this far, some of my other fleet:
My wife's summer car I built for her:
My "fun" car, 1990 BMW 535 with 490 rwhp turbo build:
My 944 I just sold a couple weeks ago:
My M3 that I sold last week:
My other toy, 1991 Japanese-spec LHD M5:
I'm sure I'm missing something. Oh right, the other V12:
Anyway, I'd very much appreciate if someone would help out with some of the Q's I have above. Not afraid to turn a wrench, change a HG, do whatever. I tend to stay away from suspension and bodywork though, I prefer to leave that to the pros.
Looking forward to having a lot of fun with my FJ60 and having another capable off-road vehicle again.
Thanks!
Welcome to the slow lane! J
