Builds Poverty packin’: 1992 HZJ80 in Texas

[KennyBob]

I ordered some OEM M16 x 1.5 bolts to fit the panhard rod from Toyota, but the local dealer won’t have them for several days. No one in town had a good substitute in metric, not even the local bolt and hardware specialty shop.

Turns out 5/8” is a near perfect match for 16mm....

Thanks to @davegonz for the ratchet strap trick to shift the axle and frame closer together.

Now, the slow speed braking death wobble is gone, but the truck pulls to the right when the brakes are applied. Time to inspect the braking system. Also, it will need a tire rod end refresh. I’ve already called @orangefj45 and parts are on the way.

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Cooling system: still in the bottom 20%!

Not sure if you solved the pulling to the right problem already, but my issue was I had a caliper sticking.

Truck's looking great. Keep up the good work.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

It was great seeing you all again my friend, I am always in my happy place hanging with the Austin Cruiser buddies

Man I alway miss out when your in town. My on going 70 series need list is still growing.

 

[bottombracket]

Cim, that’s totally my fault. The week got really busy and I meant to send out emails and texts to everyone, and I just ran out of time and missed you. I’ll do better next time.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Cim, that’s totally my fault. The week got really busy and I meant to send out emails and texts to everyone, and I just ran out of time and missed you. I’ll do better next time.

No worries. My week was busy as well and had to work all weekend.

 

[DieselEd]

Welcome in the HZJ department. I drive pretty much the same machine. Thats a serious truck. Congratulations!

 

[hoser]

Should I just go to Lowe’s and get some plastic sheet and glue it down with RTV?

Search "Butyl Rubber Sealant Tape."

 

[GeoRoss]

Search "Butyl Rubber Sealant Tape."

Yep!

This is the stuff you want. It is surprisingly useful in sealing things up in a no-permanent way. I'm pretty sure I got some at O'Reilly's.

 

[bottombracket]

@Kernal just informed me that the vapor barriers are available OEM. A set has been ordered. Vinyl butyl rope is next on the list.

Thanks guys.

 

[tampacruiser95]

This truck is awesome! I love my 200 but I miss my 80.

 

[cbmontgo]

Absolutely beautiful 80. Just stumbled upon your thread and enjoyed the read.

 

[bottombracket]

Breaking brakes:

So with the intermittent pulling to the right I figured I had a sticky caliper. I started buying OEM brake parts, grabbed brake lines and bits from @NLXTACY, a knuckle rebuild kit from @orangefj45, and kept driving the 80 daily. I was planning to have a shop BIRFday and knock out everything at once, and was hoping the truck would limp along until I could make a solid weekend of wrench time appear.
Driving to work on Monday morning I heard the unmistakable sound of metal grating on metal when I tried to stop. Fark.

I got out of work early and pulled the front wheel off.

Metal on metal, rotor trashed. Luckily I had a new one to throw on. Buttoned up the hub trying to get it back on the road that night, and then found this:

3 out of 4 pistons completely rusted solid.

I saddled up Barney the purple FJ40 and headed back to the house.

 

[bottombracket]

Figures. The only other running vehicle I had was 42 years old, and it poured rain all day Tuesday.

I ordered calipers from Napa (semi-loaded Eclipse remans) and got the barn cleaned up and the 80 wrangled inside Tuesday.
Got the calipers today and with @Unoman ‘s help, got the new brakes bled and the truck driveable. It was MUCH harder to bleed than expected- literally had to repeat the bleed process 4 times per side. Finally I got decent pedal, though a little bit squishy, and got the truck back on the road.

I’ll rebleed them in a couple of days once the pads settle. I will have to do the knuckles comprehensively in a couple of weeks.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Figures. The only other running vehicle I had was 42 years old, and it poured rain all day Tuesday.

I ordered calipers from Napa (semi-loaded Eclipse remans) and got the barn cleaned up and the 80 wrangled inside Tuesday.
Got the calipers today and with @Unoman ‘s help, got the new brakes bled and the truck driveable. It was MUCH harder to bleed than expected- literally had to repeat the bleed process 4 times per side. Finally I got decent pedal, though a little bit squishy, and got the truck back on the road.

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I’ll rebleed them in a couple of days once the pads settle. I will have to do the knuckles comprehensively in a couple of weeks.

Nice!

 

[bottombracket]

Happy to report that after letting the pads bed in for a couple of days, braking is excellent and pedal feel is pretty darn good. I don’t feel the need to re-bleed right now. Soon, I’m going to replace all the soft brake lines with stainless and do a comprehensive knuckle/front and rear axle refresh. I’m pretty sure the brakes will be just fine until then.

 

[OGBeno]

Stainless= total waste of money.

 

[OGBeno]

Looking forward to seeing what youve done to this rig since Joeri owed it.

 

[bottombracket]

Depending on how fast or slow I am, you may see as many as four new door panels on it instead of just two. Putting in new regulators, new window run, new door seals just like the other side.

The new regulator and door run makes a massive difference in rolling the windows up and down manually.

 

[bottombracket]

Getting better at double sided sticky tape and vapor barrier

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Looking forward to seeing what youve done to this rig since Joeri owed it.

Do you see it before Joe put his touches on it?

 

[bottombracket]

I saw a couple pictures. Feel free to post its
origin story if you have any images.

Annelise (6) helped me put the door card on.

Done. 3 out of 4 doors updated. This should decrease the rattle immensely.