RMP&O's 1984 FJ60, v8, lockers and more!

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I spent yesterday in the dunes with the Cruiser. My first impression is this truck is heavy! Yet, it does have the power to move it pretty well in soft sand with 10psi in the tires. I weighed the truck on the way home this moring. With some camping gear and about a 1/2 tank of fuel it is 5200lbs! Rear axle is 2700lbs and front is 2500lbs. Funny but my Taco was almost exactly the same. Working the truck hard in the dunes it will get hot, I expected that. A friend I was hanging out with over the weekend says I need to get a better shroud. He had a built 350 in his buggy and went through all the cooling dramas. He said until he had the right shroud it would just not run cool 24/7. He looked at my shroud and pointed out what is wrong with it. So, a new shroud is now on my list!

Here are pictures from yesterday...

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My dog likes the Cruiser!
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The Kaymar bumper sticks out farther than I like, yet it is fairly stout. I think I will keep it since I don't plan to do much hardcore wheeling in this truck. The Cruiser does well in the sand, I could have ran 5psi but it was doing alright with 10. I was running in 4-high, 4-low and had the lockers engauged a bunch. I also used the Ranger box a few times off-road. Everything works well! My only problem yesterday was a couple exhaust manifold bolts coming loose. That took about 30 seconds to fix. Oh and tire rub is farthest inside lower corner of the fenders in front and a touch on the inside wheel wells in the rear. That is all there is even with these leaf springs. A little bit of trimming in the front and about 1/4" more offset on the rims would cure it 100%.

One truck we were with last night got stuck in the bottem of a rather large bowl, he lost 4wd due to a broken u-joint in front prop shaft. About dark we gave up on getting it out that night. The Cruiser hauled 5 people, my dog and gear back to camp in the dark! ;)

Working on putting together some videos right now...

:cheers:
 
WTF wheres the ram jet whistle? I think you got a lemon....

Looking at your air filter and I dont see the IAT sensor on there. Did you find another spot for it? Looks like youre running a K&N filter.... Heres a shot of where mine is and why Im having a hard time finding an air filter. I found one on the net that would fit but would love to find one locally that I can mod if needed.

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WTF wheres the ram jet whistle? I think you got a lemon....

Looking at your air filter and I dont see the IAT sensor on there. Did you find another spot for it? Looks like youre running a K&N filter.... Heres a shot of where mine is and why Im having a hard time finding an air filter. I found one on the net that would fit but would love to find one locally that I can mod if needed.

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WTF is right! An FJ60 with a Ramjet a lemon!? :lol:

It actually does have the whistle it is just very quiet. Reading a Ramjet forum for hours last night it seems some people dislike the whistle, doesn't bother me though. Last week when we were working on the truck we noticed it kind of looks like somebody did some porting on the TB. Perhaps if they did go to town on it with a dremel it was to get rid of the whistle? I could take a picture to verify if indeed it has been ported at the TB.

The truck is on MEFI-3 not the 4. I am a newb to the Ramjet but my understanding is no IAT sensor on the air filter until the MEFI-4. I was thinking upgrade to the MEFI-4 but after talking to OBD Diagnostics they seem to say no need to do that. Most of what I have read so far tells me some benifits are to be had with the MEFI-4, such as imporved mileage. The engine runs good, no real probs now other then getting a bit hot off-roading. There is a slight idle dip when you come to a stop, it drops to about 500rpms and then bounces back up to 600-700rpms. Doesn't really bother me though and so far has not been a problem. It also doesn't happen 24/7. I am still learning about the engine and how to make it better. I would love to see some better mpg, read last night some guys are getting as good as 30mpg!! :hhmm:

I am getting some hits on one exhaust pipe from front diff when it compresses. That has got to be fixed. I am thinking once new suspension goes in and I work out stopping rub it will cure this. I am planning to lower bumps if needed to stop the rub which should also stop the diff contacting the exhaust. Once this is solved I am looking to get some new headers, long tubes it is possible to fit them. Also correct size on the dumps and on the exhaust. The engine could definately sound better and also breath a bit better with a right exhaust set up. What are you running on yours? Happy with it??

I should mention, when we tested comrpession last week we got exactly 125psi on every cylinder and I mean exactly on all 8! While that is not as high as I would like there is not even a single pound difference between any of the cylinders so that is pretty nice. This is a Colorado FJ60. So they must have passed or tried to pass SMOG. I need to check it again but it looks like timing is set at 5 not 10 as per specs. Plugs also looked like it is running a bit lean. I am thinking the POs may have set timing to 5 in order to get it lean and to pass SMOG, what is your thoughts? No SMOG here in Wyoming so none of it matters to me other then knowing what has gone on with the engine in the past. THe timing being off can certainly make it run hotter then normal although as I have said it is running cool with the new t-stat except off-road. It also doesn't sputter or miss at all, runs very smooth.

As far as air filter. I am not fan of a front mount that sits right above the fan. In fact I think it is no good on a 4wd. This I plan to change. I am thinking a custom air box all sealed up, probably an aluminum tigged one. Then run a snorkel, also custom. Again from what I have read the engine likes cold air to the intake, what engine doesn't! So a snorkel should really help that. Not to mention keep the filter cleaner and help to water proof the motor more. The ECM is fully water proof as I am sure you know. Dizzy like most Chevy v8s with a dizzy is way in the back of the engine so pretty well protected. Ar filter is really all I see that needs some work to get the engine a bit more water resistant. I don't plan to do any deep fording but do plan to protect the engine from water splashing and such up onto the air filter.

OH and BTW, your motor doesn't look perfectly straight in the engine bay either. In fact it looks just like mine, a touch crooked. Is that normal when fitting a Ramjet into an FJ60? Or maybe I am just seeing things!?
 
did you hace the chance to run back again the factory 60 series air filter box ? then mod the outlet to run something like 3" hose to the intake ?
 
I was gonna try running one of those apollo? air filter cans hooked up to my snorkel... Snorkel is on there already so Id just have to find a new spot for the washer fluid container and route some pipe.

I called the chet dealer today and a new gm perf parts filter is 150$! And thats without the sensor bung so Id be drilling into the new filter.. Kinda silly. I could weld a bung into the proposed intake tubing for the sensor..

Never noticed the crooked motor before, Ill check later but the pic may be a little off. Proffitts did mine.

Ill take a vid of my whistle when I get a chance.

D
 
Traced an odd noise Wednesday night to the rear drive shaft. The double cardan joint was history. Oddly enough, I had checked it before but I think because the tranny was in gear it didn't show the slop in the joint. Once the tranny was in nuetral you could move the shaft nearly a 1/2" due to slop in the joint!

Had the drive shaft out in about 15 minutes. Then jumped on the phone and made arrangements to get it rebuilt. For me that is 100 miles away. Very impressed with the service for my rear drive shaft. If you live in Jackson, WY you can ship anything to/from Idaho Falls, Idaho (of reasonable size/weight) via Go-Fer It. They picked up the drive shaft at my house and dropped it off in Idaho Falls at the drive shaft shop for $20, same day delivery! In about 24hrs the shaft was not only picked up but also fully rebuilt and ready to be shipped back to me. That is a very fast turn around time!

I used Page Drive Shaft in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The double cardan joint in the shaft was nearly broken in two pieces. Cost was $145 to fully rebuild it and balance the shaft. Not bad I would say. Unfortunately, since the shaft was not done until 2pm on a Friday I won't get it back until Monday. If it had all happened mid-week it would have been less then 48hrs from pick up to rebuild to drop off back at my house. Considering the drive shaft shop is 100 miles from me I would say that is super fast from door to door! Total shipping is $40 for both ways!

Excited to put it back in on Monday and take the Cruiser for a drive....

Some other things are in the works for the FJ60. Suspension is in the works and I have got some goodies I will pick up in Denver in 2-3 weeks, not posting much about that until the junk is in my driveway. Will be doing new motor mounts in the next 2-4 weeks. Oh and I just got some Ford shock towers yesterday, for free!

:cheers:
 
Got the drive shaft back today....wow what a friggin' difference! It is like a whole new truck!! No vibrations which I had thought were engine mounts, no funky noises and it is all good! The Cruiser drives awesome now, very smooth. Stoked!! :D

The drive shaft was balanced, sand blasted, painted, rebuilt, new zerks and greased. Plus door to door delievery all for $185.
 
I love seeing new 60 guys on here, like myself, trying to figure out what we want to do/fix next. The 60 is the only mistress my wife could tolerate and I still get grief about it. I am about to start a 5.3 conversion on my rig but have already started all the "little" things. did the soundproofing a couple of weekends ago. Found the best solution to that, don't buy all the expensive stuff. go to the building supply stor and get you some peel-n-seel roofing. It adheres on one side and has aluminum on the other. Made a huge difference in all of the noises that you get. The other was the hood supports. THere are several threads on here that can guide you through that.

Good luck and have fun with your new rig! Looks great!
 
I love seeing new 60 guys on here, like myself, trying to figure out what we want to do/fix next. The 60 is the only mistress my wife could tolerate and I still get grief about it. I am about to start a 5.3 conversion on my rig but have already started all the "little" things. did the soundproofing a couple of weekends ago. Found the best solution to that, don't buy all the expensive stuff. go to the building supply stor and get you some peel-n-seel roofing. It adheres on one side and has aluminum on the other. Made a huge difference in all of the noises that you get. The other was the hood supports. THere are several threads on here that can guide you through that.

Good luck and have fun with your new rig! Looks great!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions! My hood has the caulking/silicone mod to stop any vibes, it works! ;)
 
Few things in the works for the Cruiser.

I talked to a tinner (sheet metal guy) yesterday who may be able to build me a new fan shroud. While cooling seems way more under control then when I got the truck it is still running hot under certain conditions. Such as; off-roading, stop and go in traffic when it is warm out and climbing up passes on the pavement. I think fan shroud should fix it. I spoke with a guy from Ron Davis (they make the MAF rad in the Cruiser) and after describing my shroud they definately think it needs to be replaced. If the tinner I talked to can't do the shroud how I want I got another number for a guy who may be able to do it.

Also talked to Bob at OBD Diagnostics yesterday. Bob programs many many MEFI controllers (ECMs). He says he has done hundreds of Ramjet ECMs. He sounds like he really knows a lot about this motor. I found my way to Bob at OBD Diagnostics because I was exploring upgrading to the MEFI-4, it is supposed to provide smoother running, a bit more power, better mileage and so forth. Bob says no need at all to do that, he can program my MEFI-3 to work as good if not better then the MEFI-4. His cost to do it is $200 and turn around time is one day, not bad I thought and worth a try before spending $700-800 on the MEFI-4. So next week I am pulling my ECM and sending it off to Bob to program. Will report back as to how that goes.

:cheers:
 
Well, just spent 20mins chatting with a guy here in town who had an FJ60 with a Ramjet. I am skipping messing with the shroud for now....going to slap a Tarus electric fan on it this afternoon and see how it goes. Cost is $85 for the fan & shroud brand new. This is cheap so will try this and hopefully it will fix all probs.

Update soon!
 
I went to Denver this last weekend and picked up a new Cruiser!! I also picked up a set of new OME leaves!! I got all this from the guy I traded with and I am happy to say he is a real stand up guy!! He gave me all this stuff for free so I am feeling much better now about the trade. I have to do a bunch of work I had not really wanted to do or had planned on doing but that is ok. In the end I will have one sweet Cruiser that is exactly what I want.

Pictures of the trucks!

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New OME leaves!

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damage to the roof on my FJ60. It is hard to get ths to show up in pictures and I can't get a good shot of the wavy roof, just this dent. The dent is worse then it looks in the picture, it has deforemed the window frame area too.

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You can see here the not so great repairs to this area of the roof, rain gutter lines do not match up.

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rust bubbles showing up on my FJ60

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rust showing up in the body seams

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door rust

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Like I say it is hard to see in pictures the rust and poor repairs to the body on my FJ60. You can see some bondo in a few places though, it may be thin but it is still there. There is paint that was not sprayed on well, runs in various locations on the truck. You can also see where body seams are seperating and rust is starting to show there in a number of places on the truck. This is all fixable but I am kind of anal when it comes to a trucks body, I want it clean and rust free! Since this FJ60 has had body work, paint and some bondo laid down I just don't want to mess around with fixing it up.

So I got this 1988 FJ62 that has factory paint and is super clean!

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I plan to use all the FJ62 interior stuff. This gives me the p/w, p/l & p/m plus lets me finish off the grey interior conversion. I also get a locking glove box! The steering wheel in the 88 FJ62 is also in better shape then the one in the FJ60 now. Other then the dash pad the dash is in great shape. I plan to just buy a new dash pad.

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I already started pulling off the chrome on the rain gutters. It looks great and super clean!

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The FJ62 has an engine, tranny & t-case which I don't really want. No big deal though as I will pull it all and try to sell. As a bonus I got all the wiring, all body rubber in good shape, good glass all around wich has an old but still decent tint and just a bunch of other stuff. I don't need seats or carpet so plan to pull those and try to sell too. The headliner is in good shape but it is cloth and I want to use vinyl plus may be hard to re-use this headliner.

I have 15 gallons of aircraft paint stripper sitting around from another porject. I also have a bunch of body working stuff like tons of sand paper, rust killer, body sealer, primer, paint and some other stuff. It has all been sitting for over 5yrs so what has not gone bad will get used on this project! I plan to do nearly all this work myself including painting. I have decided to go with a gun metal grey for my color on the truck. It is going to get a full spray inside and out, top and bottom.

I have got to order up new leaf bushings and a MAF shackle reversal kit. Going with the MAF kit for easy on install and also to net 1.5" more of lift in the front. Once the body stuff starts I of course will be needing to buy things, a new dash cap to start. Yet, I plan to do this all for as little cash as possible.

Oh and for reference....I have restored a frame before, never painted a body but I think I can handle it. Here is a few picture of the frame I restored.

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Oh and the Tarus fan should be here today, it ended up running me $165 new, I got quoted wrong. I got the relay for it already so just need a few small wiring items and the actual fan then we can slap it in.
 
Stage 1 complete!!

Pressure washed the entire truck, top to bottom, inside and out. I also cleaned the engine bay and inside the frame. I pulled off all the chrome on the roof rain gutters and pressure washed that too.

All is well! I can't find any rust to speak of in the frame or in the body! I put my finger in the frame rails and it is super clean and still holding factory coatings. This is all very excellent!

I didn't get lucky with the motor, it is toast. Looks like it blew a rod into the oil pan, dizzy is missing too, might be other stuff missing, I didn't look all that close.

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Pressure wash fest!

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Stoked the steering box is there since mine needs a rebuild. Since I now have 2 I can rebuild this one and not have my truck down at the same time.

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Clean, grey and everything is there! I now have a 2-speed rear wiper instead of the earlier single speed one!

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My frame on the FJ60 is nowhere near this rust free back here!

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In this location on my FJ60 frame it is rotten, in one spot the size of your palm I can poke a screw driver through the frame! The FJ62 frame as you can see is perfect!!

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Rear leaf hangers have been cut, no big deal to me, will just replace and possibly weld it on.

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Front RHS wheel well and frame, all looks great to me just greasy...

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Dash and interior all got pressure washed. I am stoked on the FJ62 dash as I like it much more then the FJ60 dash. That is a stock tape deck in there!

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Engine bay all cleaned up, should make pulling the motor not such a dirty job. Lot's of stuff I can use here and lot's of good parts to sell.

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I peeked at the floor boards, they look really good too. The frame has been well protected with a thick coating of roofing tar or similar plus a bunch of grease and oil on it. It had hardly any dirt inside the rails. Overall I am really stoked to have this body and frame plus all the other little bits. Tomorrow I might toss a battery in it to see how the electricals are plus very soon I am going to start taking it all apart. Will put everything in plastic bags and label that and or box it all up keeping things seperate and labeled.
 
Just ordered up from MAF a shackel reversal kit (gives 1.5" lift), OME leaf bushes, new greasable pins and 2" front bump stop drops. This is all I need since I already have the leaves, u-bolts, shocks and rear shackels. Should all be here early to mid-next week. Really looking forward to putting in new suspension!

Got the Taurus fan and have had the heavy duty relay for awhile. Hoping to fit all this by the weekend at the latest.

This weekend I am going to start tearing down the FJ62. Funny but...I was just looking at the paint on it. It is heavily oxidized but still in good enough condition to just wax and go! Not planning to do that though for a number of reasons. While the stock blue isn't to bad color wise I am just not into a blue Cruiser. Also I am planning to use my 84 Cruiser front end to keep the grill and headlights FJ60. Silver and blue would look really bad! :lol:

Oh and have not gotten around to tossing a battery into the FJ62 yet but might do that later today.
 
earlier you mentioned geting 12-13mpg, but now that you know you have a larger tank and tweaked a few things, how is your MPG's now?
 
earlier you mentioned geting 12-13mpg, but now that you know you have a larger tank and tweaked a few things, how is your MPG's now?

Have not checked it since driving home from Idaho. Doubt any imporvements since all we did was tune the truck. Once I send my ECM off to ODB for a flash will check mileage....
 

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