Builds Let's Baseline my new to me 1993 Land Cruiser (4 Viewers)

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Of course homie. I got you . I’m not a grammar nazi, I promise.

I like that vintage snap-on dude. Those fetch big bucks. Who doesn’t love snap-on? I don’t love their prices but I’ve used their tools since I was a young dude in the military and they hold up to our shenanigans; they’re great tools

I’m certain these are first snap on tool I’ve held, let alone used. But I’ve used them a ton over the years, glad they are in my drawer, they were pretty dusty in my dad’s old tools. I’ll just plan on giving them to my grand kids some day.

 

[SteelHunterFJ80]

I heard if you buy enough cheap stuff, they’ll shoot you into space!

But yes…I drank the kool aid of convince, which today ended in hassle.

I got the same torque wrenches in both 3/8 and 1/2 from Amazon an no problem. Even got one for my buddy who I sold my first 80 to. Great wrenches.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Dabbling in “foamsmithing”…
…or yet another reason why my cruiser still has a a bunch of parts yet to be installed. My 8 year old son is losing his mind waiting for the paint to dry and me to stop “adding one more layer” to his Halloween costume.

I just finished moving my father into memory care this week. I’ve got a weekend of moving his belongings out of his assisted living apartment, then hopefully I’ll get to start installing these parts.

I’ve not had the time or focus needed to start opening up the cruiser. As disheartening as that’s been, I did manage to do some tool scrounging at the local junk shops. I found a heap of cool stuff including a set of
old Toyota open wrenches, a spare lug nut wrench, a bunch of KYC/ fuller wrenches, and and old Rodac air rachet, which I disassembled/cleaned/rebuilt over a few glasses of whiskey last week. I was justifying my time on it as A: therapeutic work with my hands, and B: a useful tool for working on the rig…i actually think the time I spent cleaning/fixing will be far more than I actually use this tool. I can’t find a picture, but I’m thinking I may post a photo or two of my recent tool haul at the junk shop..,more to come.

 

[baldilocks]

Looks like little dude will be ready to do battle for candy.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

More Procrastinating….

These are the rewards for my efforts thrifting for used tools the past three weeks in my little city. Obviously the Toyota wrench set is an insane find for people like us, but a set of KTC/ fuller open wrenches was pretty exciting. I have some for the rig, and some for the tool chest. I’m still hunting for sockets…

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Still Procrastinating!

My seek outside 8 man tipi and XL Stove finally came a couple of weeks ago. It’s important to “burn them in” before you take them into the field or you’ll have a helluva time wrestling with the stove pipe. I’ve been wanting to pull the trigger on a hot tent for a very long time. The Seek Outside stuff is pretty nice. It commands a hefty price but it extends my rambling season with my family to year round. We’re planning a trip next month, so I better get my ass in gear with the Cruiser.

 

[baldilocks]

Nice! @Lumpskie

 

[FMC80]

G,
I’ve never used a hot tent and only learned of them in the last couple of years. I’m looking forward to your review; we got rid of all our camping equipment and are starting over. Lots of research and first-hand experiences will help inform our next and hopefully last buy of camping materiel.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

G,
I’ve never used a hot tent and only learned of them in the last couple of years. I’m looking forward to your review; we got rid of all our camping equipment and are starting over. Lots of research and first-hand experiences will help inform our next and hopefully last buy of camping materiel.

Well I’m a highly opinionated and dogmatic wildernesses traveler (or at least on the inter webs with my bully pulpit I am), so you can expect some philosophy of use and probably some lengthy screed on my particular flavor of wilderness systems

 

[Lumpskie]

Still Procrastinating!
View attachment 2833982

My seek outside 8 man tipi and XL Stove finally came a couple of weeks ago. It’s important to “burn them in” before you take them into the field or you’ll have a helluva time wrestling with the stove pipe. I’ve been wanting to pull the trigger on a hot tent for a very long time. The Seek Outside stuff is pretty nice. It commands a hefty price but it extends my rambling season with my family to year round. We’re planning a trip next month, so I better get my ass in gear with the Cruiser.

This is cool. Is that little shelf below your stove so you can add thermal mass? I have a backpacking stove as well and want to put some bigger rocks under it to be warmed while the stove is running. My gear is on the cheaper end, but I love it nonetheless.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

The little shelf is just to raise the stove and make it a bit more stable. I’m hedging my bets with my rowdy eight year old. I can’t save him from the first bad burn, but I do want to prevent him from burning down the effing tent if I can. It’s also apparently useful for warming things up, but that could be marketing hype. I’ll report back on how it does.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Maybe I should rename my thread “Let’s not really Baseline my new to me LC”. Life stays busy and the cruiser continues to wait.

Found some Treasure yesterday. Stopped into my secret used tool store and found this sweet little screwdriver staring up at me. I also found a 2 pairs of TEQ stamped pliers (the one pictured is the rough one) and a brand new lug nut wrench. Sadly no ultra rare Toyota stuff like grease guns, service tools etc. I think these were part of the same set of tools those shiny wrenches were apart of. I think these screw drivers were a part of lots of early tool kits across models, but I like to think these rattled around in somebody’s Land Cruiser exploring and “overlanding” when it was just 4wding and camping.

Team Land Cruiser enablers: my dad’s move to memory care last month has simply taken so much of my free time. My Land Cruiser waits patiently for the shiny new parts. I keep driving it around so it knows I still love it. But hunting down Toyota tools on my way to visit my dad is both a good way to blow off steam over the sadness of watching my pop’s Alzheimer’s march forward, and an ice way to scratch my Toyota itch. Plus it helps when you pay $1.00 each for these old Toyota tools.

P.s. please excuse the photos from inside my Subaru

 

[FMC80]

Sucks to hear about your dad, G. Positive thoughts and vibes headed your way.

Back to tech…what are you going to use with those old/new tools? I don’t remember what you were working on since I’m probably going to be an old man when your baselining is finally done. Hell, by then you’ll have to rebuild the top end am I right? Hahaha. Oh that’s right, you were working on cleaning the gunk out of your engine bay and undersides…did you finish that or are we waiting on an update in 2023?

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Pell, Engine is clean-ish. I did manage to get all the built up sludge off so it should be easier to keep clean on a regular basis now. Cleaning the engine showed that the front main seal is leaking, as well as the oil pump cover gasket (both have been slated for replacement). I also found a leak on the transfer case speed sensor (I think thats what its called) that made that area a grimy mess. There are some trace pockets of grime here and there, but generally I can now use the bottom of the cruiser to pull my self along on my creeper without encountering a hellish grime, but its not show worthy or anything. It should keep the mess down to minimum for the eventual repairs on the docket.

The old toyota tools? Its just for fun. Maybe I'll post them up on the classifieds for those folks reassembling their tool kits for thier old Fj's, or maybe I'll hang on to them because they make me smile. The old metric wrenches and sockets im hunting for are to replace the marginal quality HF wrenches and sockets I've been using thus far. They have worked well enough, and I haven't ruined any bolts because of them (except for a driveshaft bolt). That being said I was trying to source a quality set of tools at thrift store prices for replacements for both the tool box and the tool kit that lives in the Cruiser. Then I kept finding good metric tools at stupid cheep prices so I have kept buying them. I have some duplicates so maybe I'll end up with a set for the cruiser and a set for the tool chest. I haven't bought any premium tools new except for some knipex snap ring pliers, a 24mm socket for the transfer case, and a set of vessel screwdrivers-everything else is 2nd hand or hand me down. But I like treasure hunting at the thrift store and building salvage places.

My dad's old craftsman 3/8 and 1/2 rachets were slipping terribly, so I tore them open and soaked the parts in degreaser. In the end it took a dental pick and lots of patience, but now they function really well. The teeth on the rachet were still in great shape, so a little bit of high quality bike lube oil and now they sound and feel super crisp despite their 1960's vintage. They never got much use as far as I remember. My dad must have gotten them for Christmas or something. While he was a handy guy he never worked on his cars, or repaired appliances. He did do a lot of home carpentry so the wrench turning was at a minimum.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Back to baselining!

Ok I finally got the stars to align and began the cooling system overhaul, which will allow me to chase down the oil leak/s at the front of the engine.

I drained the radiator, pulled the fan and shroud and removed the belts. I also was able to break free the bolt holding the harmonic balencer-the one that’s supposed to be torqed to 304 ft. Lbs with my $15 flea market air impact and my thrifted 30mm impact socket. EZPZ.

I’m currently stalled out de gunking all the grime hiding behind the fan. In it’s current state there's too great a risk of contaminating the oil pump, or water pump with grime. So more cleaning. Let these serve as a before picture. That layer of grime is a reasonable example of what my entire lower engine bay was like. I’m actually thinking I may pull this poor alternator snd clean it up. It’s so grimy.

Oh remember how I was saying how I’d never rounded a bolt with my HF wrenches? Well the nuts holding the fan to the water pump proved me wrong. My extra cream HF long pattern 12mm box wrench started rounding one of the bolts. So I did the sensible thing and stopped. Then I drove yo Hardware Sales (my local hardware store) and picked up a 12mm Wright Tools wrench and a 12mm Urrea Wrench. I drove back home and got the Wright onto the marred nut and I was able to break it free with no more drama. So the moral of the story is that I think the HF wrenches are kind of meh, and it was nice to be able to go to my local hardware store and choose between several decent quality wrenches.

Tomorrow I’ll continue cleaning and drain the oil (and catch a sample for black stone) hopefully take care of the front main seal and the oil pump cover gasket/o-ring. There is a mess of old black fipg smeared all over the engine below the harmonic balancer. I really hoping it’s not something more involved than these two seals. But I want to know what that fipg was trying to solve its making me nervous.

I’m sure I’ll be watching otram’s vidoes tonight again to prep for tomorrow. That guy has been a big help.

Oh one final note, it was extra sweet to use my dad’s old rachets to remove my radiator today. I’m excited to tell him about it when I visit him next week.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Onward!

Oil is drained and a sample is in my blackstone bottle. The pump cover is off, seals are pulled and the dirt is in my shop vac.

The 7 screws holding the cover came off so easily. I tapped a #3 JIS bit I bought from Wits end with a brass hammer. Then I used my little impact driver to back them out. No drama.

Sealing surface on the balancer wheel seems to be ok, no groves I can feel with my thumb nail.

This fipg seems to be along the timing chain cover. I’m really hoping that it was smeared there by the PO/ shop in bend that did all the mediocre work for him in an effort to stop the front main seal leak. The kid told me the rear main seal was leaking, but I think this all may have been coming form these two culprits and getting flung everywhere. I guess there is really no way to know unless I get these two in and finish this round of repairs. If the timing cover is leaking…we’ll that will be a PITA.

If you all have any insight I’d love to hear it.
In the mean time I’ll keep going with my big list.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Here more photos of the fipg goopy mess. Leave it there? Scrape it off? Who knows.

 

[FMC80]

G,

Great work thus far! Your dad's Craftsman tools are probably better than any of my stuff. They don't make them like they used to.

As for the FIPG, I'd be concerned as well but maybe not for the same reasons as you or others. For me, since I'm an amateur wrencher, I'd be concerned about finding something that is way above my technical aptitude.

If the cruiser is not your daily and you can afford to have it down for a potentially long period, then I'd remove the FIPG and see what I'm dealing with. Otherwise, it'd always be on my mind, and I'd be wondering if there's a pending failure lurking while I'm out traveling with my fam.

If you need the cruiser up soonest, then I'd augment that FIPG with more FIPG or comparable products to hopefully mitigate potential failure but this is the last resort and I wouldn't feel good about it.

Not trying to sow doubt, but I think it's already too late for that. Do it, do it, do it...

Pell

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

More progress, but less photos sorry.

• Front main seal is in. I followed Otramm's video advice and used my hands to install, with a light smear of toyota black FIPG..this is a slight deviation from Toyota's spec. Im into it.
• Oil pump o-ring is in and the cover is on.
• New gigantic oil filter is in...I know the pro's & con's have been discussed but its the oil filter I had form my massive Partsouq order and Im gonna use it. Hopefully no drama there
• New oil filler cap (old one is so much beefier but it seems tired)
• new oil level sensor gasket is in )it was so brittle I could barely break it off.
• new water pump and gasket are installed
• new thermostat and gasket are installed

As far as the smeary goo of the FIPG below the main seal, I think it was the PO trying to staunch a leak from the front main seal. If it is indeed leaking from under there FIPG isn't going to solve it. It will require removing the timing cover...which requires removing the cylinder head. Sooo im not up for that this go round. I think I'll wait and see if its still leaking tons of oil. Based on what the state of the truck was in when I bought it, Im hopeful that it is just somebody's dumb attempt to staunch the front main seal. Im happy to wait and see because I cant undertake removing the cylinder head in my home shop 1 car garage. it would be s*** show. I think I'd want to remove the engine (maybe I have to remove the engine to do this) and I just dont have that much space to work with...or maybe im just not that creative. Obviously I'd be steeping into a higher level of cruiser repair with this route too. If the truck needs a HG job then I'll go for it then. Maybe I'll even have a different space at that point.

And those craftsman rachets are pretty sweet. Honestly there are lots of them and other nice old rachets on e-bay (SK, Armstrong, etc) for reasonable prices. Its the Snap-On ones that are silly expensive used. If I thrift up another craftsman set ill send them your way Pell. That way you won't feel left out and I owe you a pineapple in the mail anyhow! I actually had a good time using the old Toyota wrenches I found to get after the oil level sensor bolts. I needed a short 10mm wrench to break them loose and those little KTC Toyota wrenches were just right. The water pump on the other hand was well handled my new trusty 12mm Wright Tools wrench. I'm now going to slowly replace my HF wrenches with these WT ones. I know this is banal non-tech but my personal satisfaction levels were elevated by not damaging my stupid fasteners. I'm looking forward to breaking loose those drive shaft bolts with better tools this go around!

The next items are:

• Spark Plug Gaskets
• new Spark plugs
• New Plug wires
• new Distributor
• valve cover gasket
• PCV valve and hoses
• Heater Controll Valve and hoses
• vacuum lines
• small heater hoses under intake manifold
• Installing New Toyota Radiator

I'm hoping to get it drivable again then tackle:

• Power Steering Reservoir
• F&R Driveshafts (U-Joint replacement and cleaning/lubing Yolk)
• New Powersteering Reservoir and low pressure lines

Anyhow, its been a long time coming and it has felt extra good to do this round of maintenance.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

More Updates:

I had a few hours to work on the cruiser today and I was able to head into hitherto uncharted waters for my mechanical journey. I spent most of my time removing things today, not too much drama, but there were some surprises.

• Removed the throttle body and MAF both of which were pretty oily inside. Throttle body had one hole that was totally plugged, it was pretty scary!
  
• I removed the heater control valve, one of the nipples crumbled when removing the hose, glad i'm doing this. The hose clamps that are used to hold the hoses are no fun. I bungled one, and we will see if I can make it work again or I'll be ordering some from Wits End, or maybe I'll find a constant tension clamp in the appropriate size.
  
• I removed the Valve cover today, I've never done that before. Im not looking forward to retorqing the corner bolt by the EGR.
• I removed the PCV Valve from the Valve cover. Based on the condition of the hose (lots of cracks) I figured the PCV valve grommet would be brittle...and it was! It broke in half and dropped into the PCV valve baffle? (im not sure what its proper name is), but I did manage to fish it out with some small curved forceps. That wasn't the surprise, thought. I decided to take a closer look into that little space and low and behold there was another broken grommet bottom in there. A much older and much more brittle one. That has been in there for god knows how long. I had to break it in half with some neede nose pliers and then fish out the remaining chucks of gasket. So, SURPRISE< leftover grommet extra well done just in time for thanksgiving.
  
  
  
• I started cleaning the top of the valve cover. There was cooked on grease and mud. I keep finding little bits of red dirt and grit that reminds me of Central Oregon. I'd blame myself, but Ive never had it in any real water/ mud...cause IH8MUD...sorry so easy.
• I removed the old spark plug gaskets, they were not at all attached to the valve cover, they stayed on the tubes. A couple were gritty. It seems like the boots on the plug wires didn't fit well, or were never put on well. I need to try and vacuum out the remaining couple of bits of grit, I'd be sad if they made it into my cylinder.
• I removed the spark plugs. I'll post a photo for you all to see how they look later.

I'm thinking I haven't ordered the correct hoses for the various heater valves, or for a couple of short bypass hoses. I have some from Wits End, (little hose kit and the curved hose kit) but just looking at it I seems like there are quite a few more hoses. That being said, most of the hoses I played with were supple. I'll keep 'em coming.