Builds Resurrecting a mothballed '86 FJ60

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Looks like your power steering gear box has a typical leak from the side. First thing I ever rebuilt when I bought my truck. Not too hard of a chore. I didn’t touch my adjuster screw at all.
Cool that you can weld! And good to see you getting the kids involved. My son loves his mamas big truck.

 

[Seth_O]

While the paint on the frame was drying I thought I would get started on the cooling system. My list was a little more comprehensive than just replacing the radiator, but that was the start.

I rarely get frustrated with Toyota over design issues, but having to move the AC condenser and drier to get the radiator out? Seriously?

Once I finally got the radiator out, I was rewarded with this discovery.

Missing the p-side radiator mount! This cruiser is the gift that keeps giving....

 

[Seth_O]

My oil cooler was a crusty mess when I bought the cruiser, so since I had the coolant drained, I pulled it to clean it up.

Wire-wheeled it clean, brake cleaner to get all the grease off, then rust-converting primer followed by a top-coat.

Also replaced the lower cooler hose going into the oil cooler, it was a mess.

 

[Seth_O]

Since I'm this far into the system, I'm also replacing the thermostat. When I pulled the top cover I found this:

I'm filling the divots with JB weld tonight, and I'll sand it down tomorrow for the reinstall.

 

[Seth_O]

Looks like your power steering gear box has a typical leak from the side. First thing I ever rebuilt when I bought my truck. Not too hard of a chore. I didn’t touch my adjuster screw at all.
Cool that you can weld! And good to see you getting the kids involved. My son loves his mamas big truck.

Yep, I have a very small/slow seep on the steering box. Someday that will get redone, but it's lower on the priority list right now.

 

[Ian Crawford]

Keep up the good work!

 

[Seth_O]

Haven't posted in a while, but finally was able to get some time in on the cruiser yesterday.

Here's what got done:

• All new hoses
• New thermostat
• New water pump
• New (to me) p-side radiator mount, also cleaned and painted the existing mounts that appeared questionable
• New all-aluminum 3-row radiator
• New grill clips and headlight retainer screws

I also found some surface rust on the fan shroud, frame and body. They all got wire brushed, cleaned and then treated with rust converter.

 

[Seth_O]

I got pretty much everything put back together, but stopped just short of completion as I have to wait for stuff to dry.

The plan tomorrow is to finish assembly, valve adjust, change oil in the front diff and tranny and go for a drive!

 

[Seth_O]

Another productive day today, taking advantage of the holiday.

Pulled the painted AC drier bracket from the garage and got it reinstalled along with the battery and tray. The truck fired right up (with the choke) and I moved it into the garage.

I put son #2 in charge of changing out the diff oil and he did a GREAT job. What we pulled out was black, mungy, and disgusting. Well past time to go.

The valve adjust turned into a right PITA. I knew something was out because I could hear the ticking, so while my son worked on the diff I tore everything down. During the process I found that I couldn't get valves 4 or 6 to adjust correctly. I ended up having to pull all the plugs and move each piston to TDC and then adjust its valves. It turned a 30min job into 2hrs.

I also had one plug wire come apart in my hands. That naturally turned into a drive to the parts store for wires, rotor and cap.

 

[Seth_O]

Once done, I was able to button the top of the engine back up.

That new radiator sure is purdy.

 

[Seth_O]

I took the truck for a drive and it did.....ok.

Frankly I was hoping for a little better performance, but I don't really have anything to baseline it against.

I did notice it really struggles to come up to temp. The needle never got above ~1/4 of the temp gauge and the heater didnt blow very hot air.

I read a couple of posts about folks installing a gasket of some kind on top of their thermostat? My new thermostat did not come with one, and there wasn't one on the old thermostat. Can someone confirm if its needed for an '86? If so, where to source it or measurements?

 

[gt7058a]

There is a gasket. I don’t know measurements, but it’s still available from Toyota. See next post.

 

[gt7058a]

Here's what I put on ours from ToyotaPartsDeal.com

90430-43002 GASKET
[Toyota | Land Cruiser | 1990 | USA | FJ62LG-PNEA] 2.67

16341-61020 GASKET, WATER OUTLET
[Toyota | Land Cruiser | 1990 | USA | FJ62LG-PNEA]
Replaced by: 16341-61030 4.15

90916-03052 THERMOSTAT
[Toyota | Land Cruiser | 1990 | USA | FJ62LG-PNEA] 35.07


Mine has been running right at 1/2 on the temp gauge, so I've been happy with that.

Don't drain the system Marc since you'll only lose maybe 1/2 gal before it stops...Just have a decent sized catch tray underneath since the coolant will spread out a bit while running off the motor.

 

[Seth_O]

Thanks!

 

[Seth_O]

With the help from @gt7058a I ordered that thermostat seal and got it installed today.

I took the truck for a shake down run and it died on me ~1/2 mile into the drive. Then it struggled to start. Turned over just fine, billowed exhaust while it was doing it but didn't want to actually fire. The behavior honestly reminded me of a flooded engine. Ultimately I got it to start again, but had to drive it with the choke on or it would die when the RPM's got below 1000.

Very, very frustrating and I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Seth_O]

My carb cooling fan hasn't ever turned on, so tonight I finally broke down and pulled it out.

Stupid design making you remove a hood bracket to get it out, imho.

I was glad I removed it though, otherwise I wouldn't have found this little gem:

It was a good news/bad news scenario. First the bad news:

The good news is that when I hook the fan directly to 12v it works great.

I don't understand though where the (missing) wire on the sensor is supposed to go? The connector for the fan has both wires and goes into a loom? Anyone know where the sensor wire is supposed to connect?

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Hook a cable (bike brake cable or I used an old choke cable, anything that can withstand high heat) to the sensor in first pic then connect to the third wire from loom that the IFC solenoid (idle fuel cut) which plugs up to the carb. That second pix of the green plug should have its opposing white end (I believe) which is where that cable will finish power the rest of the way to the cooling fan relay thT is in the passenger kick panel. Hope that makes sense?

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

ThaT loom from the IFC usually has a third wire peeking out that is broken. It might be blue or green. I have pixs on my thread but not on my phone. Sorry.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I couldn’t find a shot of the opposing end and it took me once using reg gauge 18 wire to have it fry before swapping to cable to the temp sensor.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

THis is the end it appears your missing thatshould come out of the fan housing.