My Dream Vehicle - 83 Land Cruiser

[igotthetime]

I'm new to this forum but not new to Toyotas - I have an 83 long bed pickup that my parents bought when they got married and I rebuilt the engine on it several years ago. For years I've been wanting a 4WD Toyota - and really wanted a Land Crusier, but thought I'd never find one at a price I was willing to pay. My boyfriend found this one on Craigslist in January. It is absolutely my dream car and I am diving in! I've gotten a lot of good help out of the forum so far, so thanks to everyone and I will try to keep posted on my progress.

 

[igotthetime]

First priority was to get the heat working, which I did by flushing the heater core and the whole coolant system. It was really gunky, and I'm not satisfied with how much residue is still in the system, but the heat blows hot. Replaced the valve to heater core hose with a 90 degree elbow, because the PO had just bent a piece of hose and it was kinked. Also put in a thermostat because there was none.

 

[igotthetime]

Then I replaced the manifold gasket with a Remflex gasket to try to fix and exhaust leak. It has headers, and they don't have the little inset shape that the air intake manifold has, so they aren't leveling up properly. The PO stacked washers and cut bolts to length, I assume to try to fix this. I got a new set of bolts from Toyota and cut some washers in half to try to fill the gap on the intake manifold to make it level up with the header. Seems to be working so far. Didn't take an "after picture" - will get one of those today.

 

[igotthetime]

The last thing I planned to do before leaving it alone and just driving it for awhile was fix the parking brake, but that took me down a rabbit hole. When I took off the brake drums, I found broken, corroded, and siezed parking brake hardware.

 

[igotthetime]

The brake shoes were cracked on one side, so I decided to replace brake drums, shoes, and all hardware.
Jeeps are s*** lol

 

[igotthetime]

And same thing on the front. Calipers had cracked piston boots so I got new pads and rotors and calipers. The huge amount of grease around the front knuckles was something I wanted to look into - but not necessarily right away. Decided to go ahead and tackle it. Thanks to folks on this forum for pointing me to Cruiser Outfitters for that kit.

 

[igotthetime]

Cleaned it all up real good and put it back together.

 

[igotthetime]

Hoping to drive it around for a few weeks before I dive into anything else. It's spent enough time up on blocks for now.

 

[kevin in okinawa]

you're doing great so far!

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Good work. How's the rust?

 

[diesellibrarian]

Looks like that 60 is in good hands! Congrats and welcome!

 

[Hokie LX]

Nice job so far. I also bought a somewhat rough 60 back in Nov 2021 that essentially needed everything and I worked my way through redoing it all. Keep up the good work!

 

[John Staton]

nice...Brown was not made that long. I am a little partial to the brown ones. I need to rebuild my knuckles, but not confident enough to do it yet. I think if I go get a quote to get them done it will build my confidence.

 

[igotthetime]

nice...Brown was not made that long. I am a little partial to the brown ones. I need to rebuild my knuckles, but not confident enough to do it yet. I think if I go get a quote to get them done it will build my confidence.
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Wow! One day I hope mine looks like that It really wasn't a bad job. Time consuming because how much everything had to be cleaned up, but not a bad job.

 

[igotthetime]

Good work. How's the rust?

There's definitely some rust...but totally worth fixing after I get some of the mechanical stuff fixed up.

 

[sschruff]

Nice and off to an incredible start! Congrats & enjoy. . .

 

[igotthetime]

With new gasket

 

[Hokie LX]

There's definitely some rust...but totally worth fixing after I get some of the mechanical stuff fixed up.

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I currently have the roof skin off of my 60 to fix the roof rust that looked similar to yours (not quite as bad). I also addressed the mechanical items on my truck before addressing the rust. Keep an eye on my build thread for details on the roof rust. I'll likely also be posting a separate thread.

Also, being in NC, head over to our clubhouse and introduce yourself. We are one of the most active clubs in the country.

NC- Olde North State Cruisers

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[gray rider]

Hey Igotthetime,
Welcome to a great website!

 

[igotthetime]

I currently have the roof skin off of my 60 to fix the roof rust that looked similar to yours (not quite as bad). I also addressed the mechanical items on my truck before addressing the rust. Keep an eye on my build thread for details on the roof rust. I'll likely also be posting a separate thread.

Finally got around to reading your thread - incredible job on the roof rust!