Meet Lucille - A '74 Crusty Back Road Cruiser - Turbo 3RZ W56 Swapped

[Lucille]

I repeated the other side over the weekend and installed the new tie-rod ends and did a half-ass tape measure alignment. Took it for a test drive and no more death wobble with the new wheels and tires on. Drivers rear still has a wobble to it (i think the shaft is bent or the bearing is out) but this rear will be getting swapped for the fj60 one i have.

I did have to install some spacers up front for the wheels to clear the calipers. I would have had to do that anyways to match the width of the 60 rear once its installed. In the pic below i also have some spacers on the rear to get an idea of what it will look like.

New water pump and thermostat went in over the weekend as well. During the drive, it didnt completely overheat. I still think its not running cool enough though. Hoses were real hard with pressure and the radiator was very hot to the touch. Plus i now have a leak that i didnt have previously. I think its the radiator as im pretty sure i broke the drain plug trying to drain out some of the coolant for the water pump swap. Time to order a new one. Im thinking a cheap ebay aluminum one for now.

 

[Lucille]

New radiator came in yesterday. It was the $130 one from EBAY. Welds looked nice.

And installed

I also received a nice used set of emblems for the side aprons from Wadesters here on the board. The patina of the emblems matched almost perfectly. Its amazing how something so small can make a big impact on looks.

New Holley 2300 carb is delayed a little and should come in on monday. So far, the new radiator already holds more water than the last one so hopefully this will solve my cooling problems.

 

[fireball]

Lookin' good!

I wouldn't trust that spare tire though

 

[Lucille]

Lookin' good!

I wouldn't trust that spare tire though

haha yeah. I just put the rim on there to see if it would indeed bolt up. Its held on with a single hand tight lug nut. I have another factory original wheel that i plan to put on there once i find a cheap matching tire.

 

[Lucille]

Didnt do too much over the weekend. I cleaned off the old perches and prepped the FJ62 rear end to be swapped in this week. Also started on the passenger seat mounts.

The mounts were cut off with a cut-off wheel and were cleaned up for re-use. the FJ62 sway bar mounts were also deleted. As you can see, the diff needs a re-seal.

 

[Lucille]

Also just relaxed and enjoyed the beat down the Astros put on the Blue Jays on Saturday. Lucille made for a good spot to prop up the feet and have a few brews.

New carb is set to be delivered today. Hope that fixes the issue with fuel dumping into the intake and ultimately out the exhaust. Im going to change my oil because i believe some gas washed down the cylinders into the oil. The dipstick isnt too overfull so it wasnt too much.

 

[Lucille]

I must be awful at rebuilding carbs, because the new Holley carb is awesome. really woke up the engine and has quick start up, crisp throttle response, and a smooth idle right out of the box. Took it for a nice test drive after install and it was great. Engine didnt overheat as well with the new aluminum radiator so i hope thats all behind me.

New vs Old Holley

Once i took it for a drive, i put it back on the lift to start on the rear end swap. Old rear is out. Just need to cut off the perches to swap onto the fj62 rear. If youve never done this before (like me), note that the fj62 perches are much wider than the fj40 perches. You will need the fj60/62 plates to mount the axle or like i pan on doing is to use the fj40 perches on the fj62 housing. Also note that the shock mounts are integrated into the FJ40 perches and are NOT included in the 60/62 perches. I guess they are part of the plates as there are no shock mounts on the axle itself. Ill plasma these off this evening.

 

[Lucille]

Yesterday evening i got everything lined up and burned in the 40 perches on the 60 axle. Bolted up the new shocks and installed a new brake hose for the rear. Bled the brakes front and rear and got all the old nasty fluid out of the lines. I am waiting on a new set of u-bolts to come in from Amazon, then she will be back on all fours....or so i thought. I get to more of that in a second. Now onto a couple pics:

Burned in nice and hot

One thing i did have to do was swap the 40 flange from the 3rd to the 62 3rd. The driveshaft pattern was different and smaller on the 62. If the pattern lined up, i would have just drilled them out to fit the larger 40 bolts, but it just wouldnt work.

 

[Lucille]

So apparently i have three riveted original wheels and one that is the welded variety. I went to slap on the rear wheels yesterday to check out the extra width of the 62 and the first wheel went on just fine (the welded one). When i went to throw the other side on, the riveted wheel would not clear the drum. I guess i just got lucky in which wheel i picked up first. So now i have a dilemma on how to remedy the situation. The wheel has nice new powdercoat, but i already started the grinding process on the back of the wheel, in hopes that i can shave enough off to slide it over the drum. I got pissed at it last night so i stopped before i did too much.

So in my head, my solution is to take a little off the back of the wheel, and to put the cruiser in 1st gear while its on the lift and use a flap disk to take a little off the drum. It should be thick enough to take some material off and still be fine. Does anyone know how much material needs to be removed? Its pretty close.

If that doesnt work, i guess my only other option is to buy a new welded wheel from Toyota or Ebay and have it powdercoated to match and swap the tire over. Fun stuff.

 

[Lucille]

So I ordered two new welded wheels from Toyota parts deal .com. $180 shipped. Not bad I guess. I had to order two because the only welded one I have is beyond bent to s***. I was thinking it was the axle shaft the entire time. Nope. Center is bent. Once they come in, I’ll get them coated to match. It’s only money right?

In the meantime, im working on mounting the passenger seat.

 

[pigmony]

Probably should have bought 3 to have a welded spare. It's only money.

Also, see this thread: ToyotaPartsDeal.com

 

[Lucille]

Probably should have bought 3 to have a welded spare. It's only money.

Also, see this thread: ToyotaPartsDeal.com

Yeah, but both of the welded ones i have are bent. Should have just bought 4 i guess.

I have ordered stuff from them for years and havent had an issue. Didnt read that thread though.

 

[pigmony]

Oh, I thought you had 3 riveted wheels and one welded.

If I understand correctly, they don't actually have their own inventory and order from Toyota dealerships. Most of the time that works out well. Once in a while it goes poorly. When it goes poorly, they can be a bit difficult to work with since the issues don't come from them directly.

 

[Lucille]

Oh, I thought you had 3 riveted wheels and one welded.

If I understand correctly, they don't actually have their own inventory and order from Toyota dealerships. Most of the time that works out well. Once in a while it goes poorly. When it goes poorly, they can be a bit difficult to work with since the issues don't come from them directly.

I called my local toyota dealership prior to ordering from them but they were unable to get their hands on any wheels.

I have 3 riveted and 2 welded (only one of which is coated). I checked both on the balance machine yesterday and both are bent.

 

[pigmony]

What a bummer. With riveted wheels on the front and welded on the back, you're going to have a bit of a time when you need to rotate tires. These trucks always seem to find ways to soak a little more money or time out of us. Yesterday I discovered that my fiberglass top isn't sealed anymore when I took a corner and got splashed with rainwater. It's always something.

 

[Lucille]

What a bummer. With riveted wheels on the front and welded on the back, you're going to have a bit of a time when you need to rotate tires. These trucks always seem to find ways to soak a little more money or time out of us. Yesterday I discovered that my fiberglass top isn't sealed anymore when I took a corner and got splashed with rainwater. It's always something.

I dont plan on using this as a DD and with as little miles i plan on putting on this, im not too concerned. But i will probably be cussing myself when the time comes.

 

[Lucille]

As you have seen from the previous pics, the previous owner was kind enough to turn my rear tailgate into a BBQ grille. I took some time yesterday to start correcting their misguided efforts.

A couple pics of the previous iteration. As you can see its expanded metal in an angle iron framing that stuck up past the body ~1" for some reason.

I used the plasma cutter (My favorite tool in the shop) to cut the expanded metal flush with the bottom piece of angle.

I used a small piece of angle i had lying around to mimic the rail that the body has from the factory. As you can see, i am using the center piece out of an old mini truck tailgate to fill in the center.

Fully welded in and ground smooth. Ill fill in the gaps with some sheet metal i have and try my hand at some body work to smooth out the metal finishing. It doesn't have to be perfect, because the body of Lucille is far from it.

Ill try to wrap it up this week.

 

[Lucille]

Did a little troubleshooting on the electrical issues im having. I pulled the fuse panel and cleaned the contacts with a copper brush on a drill. No improvement to the blinkers or the gauges.

Problems im having:
1. Blinkers do not blink, but flashers do (Im going to take apart the flasher box and clean it up)
2. Oil, water temp, and fuel gauges do not move or work at all. All new sending units were installed yesterday with no improvment. Im thinking its a common power issue or ground issue since all 3 dont work at all. The amp gauge does move though.

I pulled the cluster and found no noticeable issues. Any way bench test the gauges while they are in the cluster?

My Amp gauge ticks and draws down if the lights are on or if the flasher flash. Does this mean my alternator isnt charging?

All the wiring looks good behind the cluster as well. I do have two loose wires not connected to anything on the drivers side. They are two female ends and look like they go to the flasher box but there arent any more connectors. Is ther a separate flasher for the blinkers to does everything run through the same box?

I also picked up this new (to me) ornament for the front end. A working Warn 8274.

 

[cbmontgo]

Really enjoying your build.

I am quite partial to the Super Swampers as well.

 

[Lucille]

Really enjoying your build.

I am quite partial to the Super Swampers as well.

Beautiful 40. What plate did you use to mount your 8274? Is that simply welded to the factory bumper or is there anything behind it and tied into the frame?