Sark's Abandoned FJ60 Build

[sark]

I've spent most of my time in the 70-series section, with my JDM HZJ73. Recently, I've also imported an HDJ81, "Pearl". This time, I've stumbled upon an FJ60, sitting abandoned by it's previous owner. It's clean (for New England standards), and it's up for adoption...

Of all color's it could be, it's blue. Seems like it was meant to be.

June of 1986 FJ60(LG-KA), 2F / 4-speed H42, 8B2 blue.

I guess I'm starting a little cruiser family.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Nice.

 

[sark]

A little more background:

This FJ60 has been abandoned, but it's a bit of a "storage-wars" raffle win. Dead battery, interior disassembled, but swapped from an '87, random boxes of junk in the back, a squirrel family living in the hood insulator, a carburetor misbehaving... and needing a little love.

The good:
- New OEM full exhaust
- NGK spark plugs and wires
- Seemingly stock and unabused
- Relatively low rust damage for being in New England
- Comes with an old "in the box" set of Warn locking hubs from SOR

The bad:
- Disassembled and disgusting interior, front to back
- Carburetor issues
- Dead battery
- Unknown maintenance history
- Needs a lot of time and parts

The long-term plan:
- Generally restore
- Potentially 1HZ/H55F swap
- Potentially coil-convert
- Lift, tires, etc.
- Use it

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Nice!

 

[sark]

My main priorities at the moment are to give it a full cleaning, and get it to start and run reliably.

I wanted to start with cleaning, since the interior was disassembled and I'd need a seat to sit on if I wanted to drive it anyways. Interior is horribly dirty, but in good condition. Dead bugs, a mouse, squirrels in the hood insulator collecting debris and decorating the engine bay with acorns... Poop pellets throughout...

Fed the local dumpster with junk from the back:

Removed the hood insulator and did an initial shop-vac of the engine bay and interior. Still needs to be heavily scrubbed:

Took inventory of rust:

- Roof has flaking, RR
- Rain guards are surprisingly clean
- Small spots on rear wheel wells
- Passenger footwell:

 

[sark]

As for the carburetor, it's been pulled and inspected so far. I have a rebuild kit from @cruiseroutfit, and I plan to reassemble it soon. The only thing that's presented itself concerning the engine is that it has a fuel supply issue. Carb rebuild should fix it, but we'll see. I only really need it to run reliably enough so that I can pull it in and out of the garage with the lift to keep working on it.

 

[GarrettS]

Seat covers make it Look like E.T. and his buddy are piloting your new UFOJ60.

Nice find!

 

[sark]

First big win for the 60.

I rebuilt the carburetor... Reinstalled it, attached the various hoses, accelerator linkage, choke cable and linkage, and swapped in a new battery... And she fired right up! Such a good feeling after putting in a lot of thought and effort to get it fixed. This is a huge checkpoint - now I can make more progress by pulling it into the shop.

I did a victory lap around the yard, but forgot to take any photos.

 

[SteveH]

How'd you end up with such a clean FJ60 in New England? Was it stored inside most of its life?

 

[sark]

How'd you end up with such a clean FJ60 in New England? Was it stored inside most of its life?

no idea, was just a random find. Got lucky for sure...

 

[sark]

Luck comes and goes it seems. Pictures of inside cylinder #2 of the 2F:

 

[sark]

Overdue for some updates on the 60:

Continued pulling parts. Interior basically empty. The drivers seat is held in place with 1 bolt . Engine bay is now missing most of the emissions components. Lots of a little things here and there that are being discovered by disassembling and cleaning.

- Major slack on the A/C belt, which ended up being due to a missing A/C idler pulley
- Lots of rubber pieces falling apart due to age.
- Lots of vacuum hoses not hooked up correctly as far as I can tell, based off the emissions manual
- Front grille and other trim pieces removed

If anyone is interested in 2F emissions parts, I've got some hot out of the oven!

Received some new parts today, and the more I take things apart, the more I add to the parts list. The only way forward I can see is to take everything apart and replace as I put it back together. The 2F will likely need a rebuild based on the condition of the cylinders that I can see with the snake camera through the spark plug hole. Have not removed the valve cover yet but I'm sure that day will come.

Received a de-smog parts kit from TLC Performance. Also mid-way through the removal of the radiator+hoses, and other bits around the engine. Was hoping to not go this far, but from what I have seen so far, I'm going to want to. The housing for the thermometer and the connecting hoses were disgusting!

 

[SteveH]

Sounds like a very typical neglected FJ60 - especially the cooling system. Per your 'snake camera' - what model is it? Yours seems to take excellent photos!

 

[sark]

Sounds like a very typical neglected FJ60 - especially the cooling system. Per your 'snake camera' - what model is it? Yours seems to take excellent photos!

I'll check tomorrow and let you know

 

[sark]

Sounds like a very typical neglected FJ60 - especially the cooling system. Per your 'snake camera' - what model is it? Yours seems to take excellent photos!

It's an Autel mv105/108

 

[Michael Hanson]

Overdue for some updates on the 60:

Continued pulling parts. Interior basically empty. The drivers seat is held in place with 1 bolt . Engine bay is now missing most of the emissions components. Lots of a little things here and there that are being discovered by disassembling and cleaning.

- Major slack on the A/C belt, which ended up being due to a missing A/C idler pulley
- Lots of rubber pieces falling apart due to age.
- Lots of vacuum hoses not hooked up correctly as far as I can tell, based off the emissions manual
- Front grille and other trim pieces removed

If anyone is interested in 2F emissions parts, I've got some hot out of the oven!

Received some new parts today, and the more I take things apart, the more I add to the parts list. The only way forward I can see is to take everything apart and replace as I put it back together. The 2F will likely need a rebuild based on the condition of the cylinders that I can see with the snake camera through the spark plug hole. Have not removed the valve cover yet but I'm sure that day will come.

Received a de-smog parts kit from TLC Performance. Also mid-way through the removal of the radiator+hoses, and other bits around the engine. Was hoping to not go this far, but from what I have seen so far, I'm going to want to. The housing for the thermometer and the connecting hoses were disgusting!

 

[Michael Hanson]

Always more work than expected.

 

[sark]

Been busy the past couple weeks ordering parts for de-smogging.

- Removed smog pump, smog cooler and lines, air rail, egr valve, etc.
- McMaster Carr 3mm and 6mm vacuum hoses to correct the spaghetti mess
- EGR intake and exhaust plate kits
- Radiator/thermostat hose kit
- New thermostat housing upper and lower, thermometer, gaskets and bolts
- Intake plugs to fill holes where the air rail was removed
- Idler pulley to replace smog pump location for belt tension
- Tensioner for A/C pump was missing, so I have one now to install

Meanwhile, chocolate milk poured out of the engine oil pan while attempting an oil change, so that was fun.

 

[sark]

This thing's been sitting in my driveway for too long. I finally got around to doing more free labor on it. The idea is to find out what is wrong with it not running well and see where the water was getting into the oil.

First idea was the intake manifold gasket and the head gasket. I got the 2F stripped down to here as of today. I'd like some opinions on how to proceed. The block looks alright, minus the debris. I wanted to get the top end off to check to see if the block was cracked, but I don't see anything majorly wrong it. Ideally, I'd like to clean everything up and put it back together and drive it. Whether or not this 2F is worth putting back together is where I'm at. If I was all alone in this, I would proceed and put it back together with the gasket set I already have.

Cylinders 1-2

Cylinders 3-4

Cylinders 5-6

Any suggestions? What should I use to clean this thing up? I'm guessing soap and water is not the correct method... Anyone have a detailed 2F rebuild thread to point me towards? I've got the manual but it's not the best on the details for someone who has never done anything like this before.