New member, new 60 project (1 Viewer)

[eknomf]

Hi everyone, I have been lurking on here for a while, and finally have a project worthy of starting a thread. I plan to join the VICruisers club once I have a cruiser that will make it down from Nanaimo for a meeting...

I got a bj60 about a year ago and have driven and 4x4ed it since. It has the typical rust (frame almost broken in half...), and has had a few close encounters with trees since I got it. Because of this I started looking for a better body to put the running gear into, which I found down in Washington about a month ago and picked up last week.

The new body is a 2 owner 85 fj60 that is is nice shape except for a bit of faded paint and a blown 2h. It is almost totally rust free, with a little spot behind the drivers rear wheel and some on the drivers door. It also came with a new set of 31 bfg ats, which is a nice bonus.

The donor bj60 has 410k, a 3b that runs nicely, 410 gears, 255/85r16 toyo mts. I am still undecided on if I will swap the bigger tires and lower gears over.

My plans for the swap are:
-Do a bit of work on the bj engine, tranny and tcase including cam bearings, seals, clutch, tcase rebuild
-Swap in the bj wiring harness
-Paint the frame, etc and seal off the holes in the frame that allow dirt in
-Retain the AC system - I will have to source are build a bracket for the compressor
-Get it back on the road asap - hoping to be able to drive it this summer

If anyone has any advice on the process let me know. I am planning to document it here, as I have not documented my previous projects and wish I had.

Any questions on importing, etc I can answer as well. It was a very simple process.

BJ60:


New FJ60


The worst of the rust:

So far I have had one day to work on it, and I have the front clip removed and the motor nearly out of the FJ. I am hoping to finish pulling the engine this weekend and start pulling out the wiring harness.

 

[Toshi38]

I'd be careful about plugging frame holes... that tends to result in the frame getting crap in it somehow and the crap not getting out...

Its better to keep it easy to clean out in my opinion although many people do like to seal things up.

 

[seapotato]

good looking 60!

you even managed to find one that isn't poo brown...


( also good to see another person who isn't a malahat-phobic victorian on here )

I'm in chemainus, if you need any help with stuff.


For the engine questions, check out jzilla's thread in the diesel section. I forget what it's called, but he did a number on a 3b, turned out really nice.

cheers,

Ryan

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Welcome!

Lots of good advise available on the forum.

Nice FJ for the swap as well. Seapotato is on the money..... check jzilla's thread he covers everything on his journey. Jzilla is a Coastal Cruiser member so hes not really that far away.

Don't listen to Ryan (that dude in Chemanius) he's nutz and will just tell you to extend the shackles or something.

Is that Adam's old BJ60?

Cam

 

[seapotato]

Welcome!


Don't listen to Ryan (that dude in Chemanius) he's nutz and will just tell you to extend the shackles or something.


Cam

From the guy who thinks body lifts are so cool they deserve a place of honour near the beginning of his 8 paragraph signature

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

From the guy who thinks body lifts are so cool they deserve a place of honour near the beginning of his 8 paragraph signature

helps keep the "Question on your set-up" PM's to a dull roar.

If the OP is going to post here he might as well get used to the hijacking early.

 

[eknomf]

Do you guys find it easier to pull the engine/tranny/tcase as one unit or seperate them in the truck? I am out of town for work this week, figuring out how to tackle a few items this weekend.

Yeah it is Adams old 60 - had some good times with it but I think the washboard roads out to bamfield and around port alice finished off the frame. I have looked through Jzillas thread extensively and it is a nice reference. Hopefully I can get this truck to the point he has gotten his someday.

 

[ForealBoreal]

From the guy who thinks body lifts are so cool they deserve a place of honour near the beginning of his 8 paragraph signature

AHAHAHAHAH, oh you too.

OP. Looking forward to the thread!

 

[Toshi38]

Do you guys find it easier to pull the engine/tranny/tcase as one unit or seperate them in the truck? I am out of town for work this week, figuring out how to tackle a few items this weekend.

Yeah it is Adams old 60 - had some good times with it but I think the washboard roads out to bamfield and around port alice finished off the frame. I have looked through Jzillas thread extensively and it is a nice reference. Hopefully I can get this truck to the point he has gotten his someday.

I pulled my engine/trans when I did my swap (I put a 3B+h55 into an FJ40 that had a 2F + 4speed before)

I put them all in as one unit. Makes it easier to line up mounts and such in my opinion... An engine balancer will make this job MUCH easier .. if you don't have one get a ratchet strap from the engine crane to someplace near the back of the engine/trans so you can tilt it back and forth... as I said... an Engine balancer thing is very handy.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Good to see someone from Nanaimo on this forum....

Welcome...


Rob

 

[eknomf]

I was able to start working on it about 530 last night and got the gas engine/tranny/tcase out (anyone need any parts?). The ratchet strap advice was useful, I hoisted it too close to the front and had trouble getting the tcase over the bumper and frame. First time I have pulled an engine, and it was easier than expected.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

My two pennies worth......

Leave the harness and use a switch for the glow, wire in the edic its quite simple.


But it is yur project and pulling the harness is the right way of ding this conversion from a purist point of view(this comment in no way refers to Ryan) LOL.

 

[eknomf]

I removed the harness this morning, it came out pretty easily except for the aftermarket cruise control. Some of the stereo wiring was a mess, so I'm glad I wet this route so I can clean it up a bit. Was going to prep the front of the frame for a coat of paint, but it started raining so the next step will be pulling apart the bj60.


Harness

Dash with harness removed

 

[hellbent40]

wow... were did the frame end up breaking... that sucks dude...
looks like your going to be busy for awhile...

 

[eknomf]

It never ended up breaking, but it has some stress fractures right above the rear wheels. I wanted to preempt it breaking though. I also had an incident with a tree that ended up messing up the d-pillar. I was originally debating repairing the rust and body damage, but I decided that it would be faster, cheaper, and easier to do the swap then repair the rust on the bj. I am in a rental house and not really setup for fabricating and running power tools.

Yesterday I got the dash pulled on the BJ60, and this week I am planning to get the engine and wiring out of the bj60 and also hopefully swap the motor mounts.

Does anyone have any suggestions on soundproofing the firewall? I was thinking of pulling the stock insulation out of the bj60 and doubling it up in the fj.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Good work!

Some guys have had luck with "closed cell foam" 3/8 I believe. Available at home depot.

Dynamat is also good but more $$.

 

[seapotato]

Yeah I've used that home despot underlay closed cell foam.

Works ok for the price, but probably not as well as some of the fancier products.

I've often contemplated getting some dynamat, or the "quiet crap" that the cruiser crap guy sells, but then I cheap out.

The trouble is finding a cheaper product that won't hold water...

Eventually, I'll probably just go deaf and the problem will go away.

 

[eknomf]

I've been thinking about the sound deadening and I am going to double up the stock material as it is already cut to fit. Last night I got distracted by garden duty after work, but I was able to free up the harness from the BJ and start stripping accessories from the engine bay. When possible I have been bolting things directly to the fenders of the fj after removal so I don't forget where they attach. Tonight I am hoping to get the 3b preped for removal and the harness out. As I want to keep the functioning air conditioning, it looks like I will have to strip the AC wiring from the FJ harness.

I've got to get down to Radd Cruisers later this week so I can get all the parts to start the maintenance on the 3b this weekend. I think almost every seal is leaking on the 3b and everything under the hood has a nice coating of oil. It will be nice to no longer leave a trail everywhere I go...

 

[eknomf]

Friday night I was able to pull the wiring harness out of the bj60, and yesterday I got the engine and tranny out. I had a bit of a mishap with the crane though and ended up breaking a piece on the oil filter housing - anyone have a spare housing around?

Broken thread on the filter housing:

 

[eknomf]

I have not had much time to work on the truck lately due to work, and had three days set aside this weekend and today but then caught a nasty flu last friday (right before a week of vacation). I have also been awaiting parts to tear into my engine.

How much play in the input shaft is acceptable on an h55f, and is it difficult to replace the input bearing? Mine has a lot of play... (I am pretty sure I know the answer-that the amount I have will have to be acceptable and it is probably easier to source a replacement transmission than replace the bearing)

The tranny shifts fine and doesnt pop out of gear, but makes a bit of a noise in third at lower rpms. I am guessing that the best course of action is to not open it up and just run it.