Refurb of the ol' FJ62 GXL 3F H55F

[AussieCruiser62]

Truck’s in fantastic shape for the adventures I’d imagine you could have in that area of the world. 62 dash, choke cable, h55, LSD...

It’s a sweet ride. You don’t have cable lockers do you?
- From the other WA.

Thanks a lot mate. Yeah, she's pretty sweet...came from a rural farming area over in New South Wales (the opposite side of Oz to where I live) so being away from the coastal air, and no snow or ice in winter, so no salt put on roads, she's extremely rust free for her age.

No cable lockers I'm afraid, just the rear lsd. But she does well and gets me everywhere I wanna go. Or did, I should say, she hasn't been licensed and on the road for a couple of years. I've only recently retrieved her from the shed at my Dad's place, now I'm chipping away at the work that needs to be done to pass roadworthy inspection.

I also reside on the 'Dark Side'...that's right, Land Rover Territory....please, nobody shoot me
I currently have this white '99 P38 Rangie : 4.0 all aluminium v8 running on sequential lpg vapour injection, ZF 4HP22 4 speed auto with locking torque converter, fully functional original height adjustable electronic air suspension, 4 wheel electronic traction control etc etc...I just love em, I've previously had 3 series 1 v8 Discovery's over the years, and don't worry, I ain't afraid to take em out bush and scratch em up!

But I'm not a snob...I always help out the Nissans and Tojos when they get stuck
I had the dark green P38 a few years ago...

 

[AussieCruiser62]

Oops, I think the 62 got jealous of me talking about Landy's and snuck in there!
This will really get me in trouble....

 

[AussieCruiser62]

Anyway....back on topic...
The 62 has only a little bit of surface rust at the very front of the chassis rails...

And honestly, thats it, the rest of the chassis, wheel arch wells, underbody, lower fender areas etc, are in mint condition.

 

[AussieCruiser62]

 

[AussieCruiser62]

I decided to bust out the 5" angle grinder today and do the fan shroud mod.
The engine would take 10 minutes to warm up to operating temp, even in warm weather, so I was wondering if it even had a thermostat in it, or it's stuck open or whatever...and ya know you're gonna find a few suprises when you open up a 31 y/o cooling system....but hey, at least none of the bolts broke.

.

 

[AussieCruiser62]

As you can see, I cut it so that 4 mounting holes remain on the bottom section, so that half will remain in place and be nice and secure. Is that how most of y'all do it?
When I reinstall the top section, there's obviously the 2 top bolts, and I'm gonna use a self drilling tek screw on both sides, roughly where the red mark is. The radiator side frames are plenty solid and thick enough, and I've got some 316 s/steel 8 guage tek screws...well flash So for maintenance, it's quick and easy to remove.
Ran out of daylight today, so I'll give em a quick whizz with a wire wheel and paint em up tomorrow.

 

[AussieCruiser62]

I'm gonna replace both the thermostat housing and water outlet housing, and of course fit a new t'stat and the 3 gaskets. But for the meantime, I did a bit of a dodgy in order to button it all back up.

That polishes up quite nice eh! I was just mucking around, hit it with a bit of compound on my buffing wheel, now that thermostat housing is the shiniest thing on the whole car

 

[AussieCruiser62]

The top hose was just long enough to reach the shortened housing spigot!

 

[cruiserpilot]

The top hose was just long enough to reach the shortened housing spigot!

So what’s the difference between the nickel anti seize and the copper stuff that I use?
That cleaned up nice, but I’d strongly recommend a better clamp than the old factory
spring clamp on that short stub. I drive 12000 kms to the Artic Ocean and back last summer
and the only failure I had was a clamp just like that one. I was in Tuktoyaktuk and there isn’t a hardware store there to go to. I had to go fish around in a bin at a local trucking company for a replacement.
Get a good screw clamp at least until you have a longer inlet to work with.

 

[AussieCruiser62]

So what’s the difference between the nickel anti seize and the copper stuff that I use?
That cleaned up nice, but I’d strongly recommend a better clamp than the old factory
spring clamp on that short stub. I drive 12000 kms to the Artic Ocean and back last summer
and the only failure I had was a clamp just like that one. I was in Tuktoyaktuk and there isn’t a hardware store there to go to. I had to go fish around in a bin at a local trucking company for a replacement.
Get a good screw clamp at least until you have a longer inlet to work with.

Yeah, I know, I'm not a fan of those spring OEM clamps either, but is no matter coz the truck is off the road, currently unlicensed. I'll sort all that out when I get new housings and hoses etc.
I honestly don't know what, if any, real difference there is between nickel and copper anti-seize, maybe nickel has a higher temp threshold. I've just always used nickel, coz that is all we used in the Navy on our steam turbine propulsion systems back in the day. The main turbine superheated steam ran at 850 deg F, so that's good enough for me! I'm sure the copper based stuff is just as good in our applications

 

[Seth S]

So what’s the difference between the nickel anti seize and the copper stuff that I use?
That cleaned up nice, but I’d strongly recommend a better clamp than the old factory
spring clamp on that short stub. I drive 12000 kms to the Artic Ocean and back last summer
and the only failure I had was a clamp just like that one. I was in Tuktoyaktuk and there isn’t a hardware store there to go to. I had to go fish around in a bin at a local trucking company for a replacement.
Get a good screw clamp at least until you have a longer inlet to work with.

Well according to the Google:

 

[cruiserpilot]

Clear as MUD!

 

[AussieCruiser62]

Well according to the Google:

View attachment 2207421

View attachment 2207422

Cheers for that Seth, kinda what I figured....so I think the copper grade should be just fine for our rigs, hopefully most of us don't let our trucks quite get up to 1800 F

 

[Seth S]

I looked again and realized that the silver stuff that is most common is the aluminum based anti-sieze and it has a slightly lower temp rating than the copper. The copper is supposed to be electrically conductive which makes sense. I don't know that I have ever seen Nickel based offered for sale.

 

[AussieCruiser62]

Yeah, the nickel stuff is roughly around twice the price of copper, a lot of places may not stock it due the inventory cost of having a slower moving item sitting on the shelf.
In the marine industry (I'm a marine technician and fabricator/welder) it's the only stuff I've ever used...nothing but the best for ol' 62!!

 

[cruiserpilot]

Ok, I went to the Loctite website since I was curious. There are essentially 5 types they create.
If I was being more careful, I’d go with their Marine Grade as it has no metals and is apparently
designed to reduce galvanic corrosion in marine application. So in my mind, since your thermostat
housing is aluminum and we all use steel bolts. So does this make sense? I’ll still stick with my
copper for all normal bolts and stuff. But this marine might be better served with the bits of
cast aluminum etc. everywhere else.

LOCTITE LB 8023

Black, metal-free, brush top lubricant and anti-seize made from graphite, calcium, boron nitride and rust inhibitors. ABS approved.

www.henkel-adhesives.com

 

[AussieCruiser62]

Well, there ya go, I wasn't aware they made a marine grade one. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to use it on any aluminium housings etc, though it might be a bit of overkill-I'm just thinking out loud in regards to the cost of buying another bottle of anti seize. Looks like it's available in tubes, 1 tube would probably last the home mechanic a lifetime!

 

[cruiserpilot]

I just looked at the housing on my 13BT, not as bad as yours but in need
of a clean up. I think I’ll see about the marine stuff tomorrow for cost. As you said,
get a tub and it will last a lifetime

 

[Skellibert]

I am down Rocky way, just a bit south of you, and although my old truck doesn't get every day use, it does get regular use. (Out today actually - not off-road though).
If you see a "tan" coloured highroof with an old school roof rack, that's me.
For your interest, it is a 1985 fj62 round headlights (Sort of a fj60 and a half - it has lots of left over bits from the 60, and some of the new bits from the 62. For instance: square dash, small mirrors, round lights = 60; 3F, LSD, gearbox = 62)
If I see a Rover driver waving madly at me, I will assume it is you.
Do you work in Freo somewhere or in the Henderson industrial area?
I know a couple of guys who used to work at Austal as boilermakers.

Dave.

 

[Silveredition]

Great to see another on Mud from WA! I am down near Bunbury - dark grey Raptor Lined HJ61! Keen to watch your progress!