Part 1, Greetings from Colombia.
I bought this FJ62 in late January this year, A japanese version with ambulance (Barn) doors model 1989. As you can see, car´s body was acceptable. However, my real intentions with the car were restoration to original condition of a standard version (G trim).
The specs of the car at the purchase time were:
Model: FJ62
Year: 1989
Engine: 3F
Trans: H55
Suspension: Lifted
Tires: Federal Couragia 35/12.5/R20
Now. I´ll gonna show you my own story of adventures and mishaps during the restoration process.
My car´s philosophy is "original is better", so I wasn´t happy at all with the aspect of the car; the monstruous tires and rims, the "ARB Wannabe" bumpers and the bicolor tone of the body, amongst other things, bothered me a lot. Nevertheless, I bought the car because the body was ok to restoration and the engine was aparently ok and no evidence of significant rust, the price wasn´t a bargain but was ok (About U$5000).
My goal was (still is) restore the car to this condition:
As soon I had the car in my hands the first step was to remove the big wheels. The ride was horrible and after a short drive my back was in pain and my ears buzzing because of the noise. I found some original steel rims (non splitted) from a FJ40/60s, the vendor offered me a combo incluiding the rims with a showcase tires Bridgestone 205/75/R16, that tire size is commonly used in the FJ40s here, hence I Bought them.
But...
The car still had the lifted suspension of the rims size 20, now the car looked even worst than before. I put some provisional emblems because the car doesn´t had it at the time of the purchase. With the new tires the ride improved a lot, but still I found it uncomfortable, the noise levels were still unbeareable also.
Next, I removed some leafs of the front and rear springs, the results:
Nothing noticeable, the car still looked lifted and unproportioned amongst the body and wheels size.
The exhaust pipe as you can see in the picture above was modificated for the previous owner in order to make room to the size 20 wheels, The modificated pipe was one of the main culprits of the unbearable car noise.
On the other hand, the fuel comsuption was awful and the engine had jerkings during idle, lack of power was notorious.
The previous owner had the car in a small town in the mountains about 8600ft ASL. I live at 3900ft ASL, so a tune up and a carburetor inspection was mandatory. The gaskets of the carburetor was broken and the smell to gasoline when the hood was open were terrible. The sparking plugs were burned and covered with carbon, I changed and fix the necessary.
The ignition also was a pain in the neck, it needed to pump the gas a lot of times in order to start the car, battery was in poor condition and was replaced but still the ignition had problems. Finally we found the answer: the solenoid in the starter was fried. it was rebuilded and the ignition finally was ok.
Next post: More problemas on the way
I bought this FJ62 in late January this year, A japanese version with ambulance (Barn) doors model 1989. As you can see, car´s body was acceptable. However, my real intentions with the car were restoration to original condition of a standard version (G trim).
The specs of the car at the purchase time were:
Model: FJ62
Year: 1989
Engine: 3F
Trans: H55
Suspension: Lifted
Tires: Federal Couragia 35/12.5/R20
Now. I´ll gonna show you my own story of adventures and mishaps during the restoration process.
My car´s philosophy is "original is better", so I wasn´t happy at all with the aspect of the car; the monstruous tires and rims, the "ARB Wannabe" bumpers and the bicolor tone of the body, amongst other things, bothered me a lot. Nevertheless, I bought the car because the body was ok to restoration and the engine was aparently ok and no evidence of significant rust, the price wasn´t a bargain but was ok (About U$5000).
My goal was (still is) restore the car to this condition:
As soon I had the car in my hands the first step was to remove the big wheels. The ride was horrible and after a short drive my back was in pain and my ears buzzing because of the noise. I found some original steel rims (non splitted) from a FJ40/60s, the vendor offered me a combo incluiding the rims with a showcase tires Bridgestone 205/75/R16, that tire size is commonly used in the FJ40s here, hence I Bought them.
But...
The car still had the lifted suspension of the rims size 20, now the car looked even worst than before. I put some provisional emblems because the car doesn´t had it at the time of the purchase. With the new tires the ride improved a lot, but still I found it uncomfortable, the noise levels were still unbeareable also.
Next, I removed some leafs of the front and rear springs, the results:
Nothing noticeable, the car still looked lifted and unproportioned amongst the body and wheels size.
The exhaust pipe as you can see in the picture above was modificated for the previous owner in order to make room to the size 20 wheels, The modificated pipe was one of the main culprits of the unbearable car noise.
On the other hand, the fuel comsuption was awful and the engine had jerkings during idle, lack of power was notorious.
The previous owner had the car in a small town in the mountains about 8600ft ASL. I live at 3900ft ASL, so a tune up and a carburetor inspection was mandatory. The gaskets of the carburetor was broken and the smell to gasoline when the hood was open were terrible. The sparking plugs were burned and covered with carbon, I changed and fix the necessary.
The ignition also was a pain in the neck, it needed to pump the gas a lot of times in order to start the car, battery was in poor condition and was replaced but still the ignition had problems. Finally we found the answer: the solenoid in the starter was fried. it was rebuilded and the ignition finally was ok.
Next post: More problemas on the way
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