My First Landcruiser Project Journal

[sitesbyjoe]

I also installed a grab bar last night! I ordered from someone on here's brother. It's the older style with the metal bar and leather grip. It was a pain in the butt to get installed! I have to take out the whole glove box, and unscrew the dashboard, remove the ashtray and the little cubby hole above it and even then it was really tough to get my hands in on the left side to get those 2 bolts tightened down.

In the end it feels super solid though so I'm pretty happy. Now my wife has a little help climbing up into the FJ. (she's short)

 

[sitesbyjoe]

I have these 2 little hoses coming on the passenger side of the air cleaner that run down to the distributor which are cracked and even came off after bouncing the truck around on rocks etc. I guess it's time to do the hose replacements!

 

[Homey55]

Good luck on the hose replacements. I'm in the middle of doing mine. There are approximately 367 hoses to replace...I'm on my 4th box of hose clamps and not done with mine. Most of the hoses are not made anymore and you will end up trying to make a few odd-ball hoses work if you plan to replace everything.

I'm kidding on the 367 number, but it feels close to that for me right now. You should go through and replace the water pump, thermostat and fan clutch while you are in there.

 

[sitesbyjoe]

It does seem like 367 hoses! I'll just do them one at a time. The bad ones will be the ones buried under other hoses or parts. Like the one coming off the passenger side of the water pump or the one down below the power steering pump/air pump.

 

[sitesbyjoe]

So I mentioned I was starting on the body work - lots of holes along the bottom - at one point there was some trim down there or something that was removed and never replaced and left to rust:

rust

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

front fender rust!

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

 

[sitesbyjoe]

Looks like the front driver side fender, rear driver side door and the body below it were all dented at one point and then bondo'd heavily. I've got my work cut out for me. Luckily the passenger side is mostly solid.

below drivers side rear door....ewww

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

more rust!

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

 

[sitesbyjoe]

Getting things cleaned up - a guy up the street does metal work and agreed to do some for me once I get all the bondo off. You can see it's pretty thick on the rear door bottom...

rust be gone!

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

driver side door rust - after grinding

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

 

[sitesbyjoe]

Here's the hose that pops off - gonna tape the bugger on and find some replacement hose line ASAP!

this hose

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

 

[sitesbyjoe]

Then I look under the air cleaner while inspecting the hose and see this thing - looks like there's 2 hoses missing!!!

looks like 2 hoses are missing?

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

 

[sitesbyjoe]

And finally, the grab bar!!!

grab bar!!!

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

 

[cruiser enthuiser]

Here's the hose that pops off - gonna tape the bugger on and find some replacement hose line ASAP!

this hose

• sitesbyjoe
• Sep 15, 2015

Time to replace your vacuum lines. Check out this thread for great info on size and quantities. I bought mine from Boostcontroller.com and they worked out well.

Great work on the truck so far. Keep it coming!

-Ed

 

[sitesbyjoe]

I ordered the 3mm and 5mm lines from BoostController - they're really nice! I ordered red and replaced the cracked lines - I'll slowly replace all of them as time permits.

 

[sitesbyjoe]

I also gave the truck it's first oil change since I bought it. It was almost a quart down so I figured what the hey. I never changed my own oil before and it's time to be a big boy. After all that's a big part of why I bought the FJ60...

...Made a huge mess in the garage, but now I've got 2 fresh gallons of Rotella 15w40 Triple Protection in there and a new Wix 51515 filter. Read a lot of good things on here about both.

Next up idle speed adjustment - I'm idling a little low at around 500rpm.

 

[60 toy ota]

Good work! looks like you've learned a ton already, glad to see you taking such good care of it. just one fyi about changing oil, if you over torque the drain plug on the pan you'll deform the sealing surface and you'll pretty much have to get a new pan to get it to not drip. So don't do that.

 

[gregnash]

Looking good dude... I know the feeling that things seem to swing outta hand but while you are learning why not. Oil change is definitely one of the better and more fun things to do. My recommendation is find some ZDDP additive to put in the oil the next time you do a change. Plenty of threads roaming around and today's oils do not offer quite the ZDDP protection that these engines are used to.

Grab handle looks good and I got the same thing (only in grey) from him as well. Need to install mine when I get a chance to take a look at it. Even went and bought some grey 550 paracord to wrap as mine did not have the leather grip. Now I get to learn to do a whip stitch.

 

[sitesbyjoe]

The grab bar install was an adventure. Had to pull out the ashtray, dash payable and little dash pocket to get back there to do the bolts.

Thankfully I had a tiny little socket wrench in the garage.

It's on there really well now. I did end up having to drill out one screw after stripping it out and having to redo another.

Like everything else on the truck I've done, I started off nervous and ended up feeling pretty good at the end.

 

[dkyuss]

Nice progress and very clean interior!

 

[87CRUSR]

Looking very nice. Thorough job.

 

[sitesbyjoe]

Back on the grab bar, mine did have the leather - I ended up cutting all the existing stitches, sanding/painting the bar and my wife helped me restitch it just as it was - thanks wife!

Humorously, she now uses it to get in and out every time!

 

[sitesbyjoe]

My idle speed was low so I got that sorted out: FJ60 Idle Speed Adjustments