Build Last of the BJs: 1989 BJ60 restoration, 15B-T swap

[Eurasiaoverland]

Yes it does seem to be a quiet an improvement from the 3b engines. Even the vacuum pump system is a big upgrade in my opinion, since you no longer have the failure points of an oil feed and return to a difficult to source vacuum pump alternator. I have installed a 15bf in my 40 and recently acquired a 15bft and 15bfte.

View attachment 3463543

both the 15bft and 15bfte are megacruiser engines so appear to be in great condition and the correct sumps, they even still had toyota red coolant in them.
View attachment 3463544View attachment 3463545

I'm committed to the B engines I suppose you can say at least for this 40 series. I machined the 15bf block for an oil return with the intention of turbocharging it but now have the 15bft in hand and a decision had to be made.

Yes, I saw your posts on the 15B swap FB group about the two engines you received. I wanted to order a 15B-FT from Nurik back in 2021 but couldn't sort the logistics for shipping to Brunei. I recognise that huge Megacruiser air intake from my 15B-T. Nice job there on the 40, looks pretty much like it belongs there. Could you tell me where that upper thermostat housing is from?

 

[roma042987]

Yes, I saw your posts on the 15B swap FB group about the two engines you received. I wanted to order a 15B-FT from Nurik back in 2021 but couldn't sort the logistics for shipping to Brunei. I recognise that huge Megacruiser air intake from my 15B-T. Nice job there on the 40, looks pretty much like it belongs there. Could you tell me where that upper thermostat housing is from?

It is the original 15bf housing, I just threaded, the hole and plugged it, then grinded the neck off. It is basically the same neck as on my 3bii and my old 3b from a 70 series.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

It is the original 15bf housing, I just threaded, the hole and plugged it, then grinded the neck off. It is basically the same neck as on my 3bii and my old 3b from a 70 series.

View attachment 3463568View attachment 3463569

I looked at the picture more closely and saw the plug in there - nice idea! You could even put a union in there for a turbo coolant return line. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 1

Moving temporarily away from engines, on to the steering box. The steering box is, as far as I can think, the only mechanical assembly on the car I have not dismantled. Time to rectify that. I can't remember if it leaked or not, but it looks a bit crusty around the input shaft seal and deserves a reseal in my opinion.

The previous owner had recently replaced the steering box . People here generally don't change fluids other than engine oil, so steering boxes are often sloppy and maxxed-out on free-play adjustment on high mileage vehicles. From memory the steering had the correct amount of free-play and the adjuster screw was wound right out. All the bolts were also in original yellow passivate. It's possible that I have a low mileage box from a well mainained Japanese half-cut, but I was suspicious. I had visions of local mechanics welding up worn plunger nut and cross shaft teeth and shaping them with a file. Time to go in!

The only difficult step in the strip-down is removing the Pitman arm. From extensive MUD reading, this pretty much required the Snap-on CJ119B puller, impact gun (borrowed), hammer, and/or oxy torch (not available).

After some rounds of rattling and hammering, the arm finally relented and snapped back (I left the big cross shaft nut on to avoid damaging the threads) in a puff of iron oxide dust. Excellent tool! It put so much pressure on the arm that it actually left an impression on the back side of the yoke area. I wouldn't normally use a rattle gun on a puller, but this thing is tough!

I could also finally hammer out the annoying '555' ball stud from a non-genuine drag link (relay rod) end.

It should be easy, with the side cover removed, to screw in the adjuster bolt and drive the cover off. This cover however would not move due to rust, and I did not want to chew up the end of the bolt or strip the threads in the side cover. I needed to give the cross shaft a few good taps to free the cover - you can see the rust which was causing it to stick.

The cross shaft took some tapping to get past the bearings (I should have tried to clean some rust off first, though it is hard to reach inside the housing) but when out, no horrors with the teeth - they look to have normal light wear. You can see from the seal, snap ring and seal rings the brown dirt/rust/ATF mix which coats the steering box. I am going to dip the end of the shaft into the electrolysis tank to clean off the rust, it looks bad but is pretty superficial I think.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 2

The box comes apart very easily after the cross shaft is out.

The power piston teeth look very good.

Very minor scuffing on the inside of the piston housing - no gouges.

Someone has already made matchmarks between the lock nut and the adjuster plug, but I will have a go at making the three SSTs and re-setting the pre-load with a 0-9 Nm torque wrench.

Worm gear with the rear ball bearing and front needle roller bearing, thrust plate and seal rings. I have new teflon rings for the work gear but I'm not sure if I will change them.

Lock nut, adjuster and the input shaft oil seal (the one that usually leaks I think) which I knocked out with a 17 mm socket.

Should be a straightforward job to remove rust, repaint and reassemble the box with new seals.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 3

First to servicing the cross shaft. The cross-shaft thrust bolt (which adjusts free-play) was wound well out when I got the car, and the teeth on the cross shaft and power piston look good.

The cross shaft got a session in the electrolysis tank.

And after some gentle scrubbing and polishing with 1500 grit paper, it came out looking a lot better. I really love electrolysis - little effort, no nasty chemicals, no solvents, virtually cost free, and great results.

Although the free-play in the steering felt fine, the thrust bolt in the inboard end of the cross shaft felt loose. The staked lock nut could move (by the arc of the punched 'tabs' within the machined slots of the cross shaft). With the nut slightly un-wound, the end-float felt well out of spec (0.03 - 0.05 mm) though I did not bother to measure it to be honest.

Unstaking the lock nut was quite a job - luckily I had this great Japanese punch/chisel. I spotted it in a local hardware shop and immediately bought it, as I recognised it from the 60 Series FSM (for staking the differential pinion nut if I remember correctly). It would have been hard to precisely un-stake the lock nut without collateral damage to the shaft I think, without such a punch.

The nut got butchered, but not so much as a nick in the cross shaft. I made this SST from a cheapo spanner and an old M10 nut. It's is not really needed to remove the lock nut, but will definitely be useful when setting the end float on the new bolt.

I would have imagined that the bolt would wear against the cross shaft, but it looks like it wears where it meets the lock nut. This must be a first - the cheap parts have worn out instead of the damn expensive ones!

I started to think about this and don't remember seeing any of the steering box rebuild threads/videos tackling this bolt. If the clearance between bolt and shaft is too much, there will always be too much free-play in the steering I think. Also, the cross shaft will be free to move laterally and I imagine this would increase wear over time.

EO

 

[bj70bc]

impessive work!

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering column rebuild 1

I was wrong about the steering box - the steering column is in fact the only mechanical part of the original vehicle which I have not dismantled. It never seemed like an interesting thing to dismantle and I figured it would just need cleaning - but I was wrong!

Tilt and rigid type steering column - the first time the key had been in the ignition for three years or so, I believe.

I made a bit of a mess of the security bolt (or 'broken bolt' as the FSM calls it) but I managed to cut aslot in it at last and loosen it with a screwdriver.

The steering column felt quite notchy and made a dry bearing noise when turned - the upper steering column bearing was covered in sticky, hardened grease which was like wax or tar - I had to dig out the ends of the snap ring before I could get any tool onto it.

All disassembled. The steering column centre bearing, which sits in the back side of the aluminium steering column upper bracket/ignition barrel housing was in a similar state to the upper bearing, but had a very sloppy inner race. Both bearings are so loose that I wonder if the races are only snug on the balls when the bearings are pressed onto the shaft and held in place by snap rings. Two new NSK bearings and a new snap ring on order.

The lower steering column bearing, which sits in a housing bolted steering column hole cover on the bulkhead, felt fine, but I'll order a new one anyhow. I could only find genuine versions of this bearing - or generic bearings for the same price.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering column rebuild 2

I'll be rebuilding the steering column from top to bottom.

We'll start with the main steering shaft and the steering column upper bracket, both of which have cleaned up very nicely. And we have new NSK upper and centre steering column bearings which are identical (as far as I can see) to the originals.

The upper bearing taps easily into the steering column housing with a 32 mm socket. The bearing has some sort of plastic shield and ball carrier on one side, which faces out of the housing. The bearing needs to be greased before installation.

I installed the centre bearing onto the main steering shaft by tapping gently with a small pin punch on the inner race.

The plastic collar then slides onto the shaft to cover the exposed inside-facing side of the bearing (which came pre-packed with grease, though I added a little more). Onto this, the spring is tensioned between the plastic collar and the inside of the steering column housing. I've greased the steering lock pin in the steering column housing, and also the steering lock cut-outs in the steering shaft.

The steering shaft sub-assembly then pushes into the bearing in the steering column housing, but it will only go in this far by hand. This is a long way off exposing the snap-ring groove in the steering shaft which completes the assembly. I can push the centre bearing up into the housing, but the spring tension pushes it straight back out before I can tap the inner race of the upper bearing down the shaft. I will need to make a very simple SST to finish this off.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering column rebuild 3

Here is my 'SST'; just a 50.5 mm long piece of 3/4" stainless steel water pipe. This fits over the steering shaft and acts upon the inner race of the upper bearing.

I got the steering wheel onto the splines of the shaft, then tightened a nut on the threads to draw the shaft up into the steering wheel. As it does this, the centre bearing is drawn up into the steering column houing. I had an aluminium transmission drain washer on the steering-wheel end of my SST to protect the steering wheel boss.

By chance, the aluminium washer locked onto the taper of the steering shaft, keeping tension on the spring and keeping the bearings in place. I had to use a little puller to get the washer off, but as soon as I did so, the spring tension pushed the bearings back out of the housing.

On the next attempt, I placed the new snap ring on the shaft using snap ring pliers and drove it down into its groove on the steering shaft by the action of tightening the steering wheel nut. This time when I pulled off the aluminium washer, everything stayed in place. I tapped the snap ring a few times with a pin punch to ensure it was fully home. Job done.

With that, the main steering shaft assembly is completed - no more graunchy steering. This is ready to build up into the upper steering column bracket and tilt head assembly.

EO

 

[simonliew]

jusr read the whole thread,very impressive rebuild with minimum tools,i know its hard to buy tools in asia when i was growing up,l grew up in the town Limband,next to brunei,i was just there oct,2022,visited kuala lumpur,kuching,limbang,koto kinabalu.
also what a rare find,a 60 series in good shape,i always want to buy a 60 or 80 in KK and travel all over sarawak and sabah.......
have you been to limbang,lots of good food there and good value for exchange rate,my brother have a HZJ80 in limbang and if you like durian,he has a durian farm there.....
simon

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

jusr read the whole thread,very impressive rebuild with minimum tools,i know its hard to buy tools in asia when i was growing up,l grew up in the town Limband,next to brunei,i was just there oct,2022,visited kuala lumpur,kuching,limbang,koto kinabalu.
also what a rare find,a 60 series in good shape,i always want to buy a 60 or 80 in KK and travel all over sarawak and sabah.......
have you been to limbang,lots of good food there and good value for exchange rate,my brother have a HZJ80 in limbang and if you like durian,he has a durian farm there.....
simon

Hi Simon

Thanks for reading. I've not yet been to Limbang yet; since the Temburong Bridge was completed the road to KK starts at Labu now, so no need for the Limbang diversion. But I would like to visit and see the 'other side'. Once the 60 is up and running I would indeed love to tour more of Borneo!

A BJ60 in good condition is definitely a rarity... this one was owned by a local gentleman (also a Liew) from new and had never been off-road. He seemed also to have found decent mechanics who were not too destructive. The transmission and driveline were mostly worn out, but the body is pretty good, and it should go very well with the 15B-T in.

I can't imagine swapping the climate here for that of Winnipeg!

Hopefully down the line I can share some touring pictures on this thread... but still a long way to go.

Cheers

EO

 

[simonliew]

Hmmmm
i might know the gentlement as i still have relatives all over sarawak n sabah...

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering column rebuild 4

The universal join in the upper steering shaft feels fine, so I am not going to touch it.

The universal joint at the lower end of the No.1 intermediate shaft feels fine, but give it is 34 years old I am going to take it out to regrease it, or replace it if there is any wear. Of the three steering joints, this is the only one which is replaceable according to the Factory Service Manual. It is also the only joint you can buy as a part from Toyota: 04371-10011. The join comes out with 12 mm and 22 mm sockets. Once you have one bearing cap out, thanks to there being no chamfer on egdes of the bearing cap, it's very difficult to get the opposing bearing cap back in the yoke to press it out.

Unfortunately, there is pitting on one of the spider bearing journals, so this joint will be replaced.

The lower most universal joint, between the No.2 and No.1 intermediate shafts is loose with a tiny bit of free-play and needs to be replaced. However, the shaft assembly is out of production and the joint is not considered a serviceable part. Thankfully, GMB and Toyo both make replacements, part number ST1639. These universal joints are held in by stakes on the yokes around the bearing caps. Removal is destructive as the oil seals will not fit into the yokes when compressed against the bearing cap.

New GMB ST1639 joint alongside the original. The joints are available here. The quality of the GMB joint looks good, but the spider is not through-bored like the genuine joint. Without a grease nipple, I wonder if there is any point in having grease inside the spider housing. I believe it is usually the grease seals which fail.

For size comparison - the spider joints of 04371-10011 (this one new) and the lower steering shaft joint.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Engine de-rusting

Back to the 'new' engine briefly - and the significant rust inside the coolant passages, especially in the head. I was worried that the rust might be bad enough to impair cooling (probably overthinking) and that flakes of crap would block my radiator.

Looking very nasty in there. Note the core plug in the head - this is looking upwards from the front of the head where the lower thermostat hosuing bolts on.

I made two blanking plates for the water pump ports out of 2.5 mm steel, and a snorkel of sorts for the thermostat housing port where I could fill it up and burp out gas. All sealed to the engine with penty of silicone. I lifted the front of the engine with the crane and filled it with citric acid that I found - of all places - sold in a baby shop across the border in Miri where it is apparently used as a bathroom cleaner! I put 450 grams of citric acid powder into something like 4 litres of water (the capacity of the engine).

After three days in our 30 ºC climate I drained out the acid, a sticky greeny-black liquid (blue bucket). I then attached a hosepipe to the snorkel and flushed it through with water for a minute and followed that with a hot (weakish) solution of 'alkaline degreaser' which is ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and lye - very effective. After 10 minutes I drained that - red bucket.

I prised off my sealing plates and had a look inside. This is the same view as the top picture - very happy with that! The core plug looks pretty much new (albeit with no electroplating any longer).

This is looking into the cylinder block water jacket.

Job done.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 4

I bought all the seals and O-rings which would usually come in the steering box rebuild kit individually as this worked out much cheaper. The ony tricky part were the hose union saets which for 1987+ 60 Series' are not individually listed. Mine were not looking so good and there was corrosion in the port around the seats, so I wanted to replace them.

The 60 Series' has an inexplicably comples array of pressure port seats:
Early 60 Series (80-83) - 90410-06030 which Toyota have kindly discontinued
Mid years (84-87) - 90410-06006 which are still available
Late 60 Series (87-89) - Toyota for some reason decided not to list these as separate parts, even though they are included in the rebuild kit.
70 and 80 Series crusiers from 1990 onwards got another seat, 90410-06005 which is still available

The above picture shows, left to right, 90410-06005, the old 1989 seats, and 90410-06006. I chose to run with 90410-06006 as the seat will be the same height from the bottom of the machined port, but I think 90410-06005 would also be fine.

You've really got to wonder who came up with two or three iterations of the same thing...

Overall width and the size of the internal hole are the same on all three.

Tapped home with a smooth brass punch.

And a new oil seal in the rear adjuster plug.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 5

(Back after a long break from the thread, having been concentrating on getting the primer coat on the body, work and a new acquisition for the build)

With the steering box externals painted, time to start the rebuild. First, the gear housing seals:

The needle roller bearings for the cross shaft are fine, so I did not touch them. First seal is a large O ring, and the teflon ring which sits inside it.

Then a metal spacer washer:

Circlip:

And finally the dust seal.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 6

Now on to the valve housing:

Add the new O-ring:

Teflon ring:

The washer which acts as a race for the front bearing:

And needle roller bearing.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 7

Now to add the power steering control valve. I had new teflon seals but after close inspection with an eye glass, I decided they looked fine and left them in place.

Insert the valve into the valve housing and add the thin O-ring:

Add the caged ball bearing:

Then thread on the adjuster plug with its new oil seal. I made an SST from a 32 mm socket, a piece of stainless steel pipe, and two needle rollers from a worn out propeller shaft UJ. Although you could easily thread the plug on by hand, later stage (where the bearing pre-load is set) require fine adjustment.

Completed valve housing:

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Steering box rebuild 8

Now the power piston, which gets a new O-ring:

Then a new teflon ring, which I tried (in vain... see below) to snug down against the new O-ring with small cable ties:

Next step is to add the 33 ball bearings to the power piston when it is on the worm shaft of the control valve. I followed the FSM and got it right third time. Once the power piston is fully home against the valve housing, with all the balls in the power piston bores, the ball guide with its 11 balls is pushed in. As per the FSM, a dab of MP grease holds the balls in place:

Torque the retainer screws to 2.9 Nm:

Now the whole valve assembly is complete, ready to go into the gear housing:

EO