Builds Skreddy Bought an 87 FJ60

[Skreddy]

Once I cut the plumbers strap off, the muffler fell off the inlet pipe. Pretty easy to get out after that

.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

If you thought it had style before…..


I added some dirt cheap “saddle blanket” seat covers because the seats are super hot when it sits in the parking lot at 95 degrees. Not as bright in person. They’ve done the trick.

And thanks, I’m happy with how’s it’s turned out.
View attachment 3415758

Cool work!!! Where did you source “saddle blanket” seat covera

 

[Skreddy]

Cool work!!! Where did you source “saddle blanket” seat covera

I got it off this obscure website. Called Amazon…. Ha.
They are these ones. They are thin but I have the Cool Cruisers vinyl covers and they are hot AF, even through the blanket covers. They fit pretty well though and are holding up. I’ve got 10k miles in the driver side cover.

https://a.co/d/7s9UJPl

 

[Skreddy]

Spent the last few days elk hunting. Was cold down low and up to 18” of snow on the sides of the road up high. I had to dig myself out twice when I got off the road to try to park or turn around. Otherwise the tractor performed awesome. I had 4 wheel chains but never put them on. Everyone I came across commented how well the 60 did and it seemed pretty effortless. I was continually running across guys in 4 wheel chains in decked out jeeps and tacomas that were stuck or decided not to go further and we just motored on by. The Kenda Klevars do well on compact snow and not bad in 12-18” of heavy fluffy snow. I was really torn when I sold my 04 4Runner but have had no regrets since deciding to daily a 60.

I think my mileage got a little better with the new exhaust too.

Wasn’t stuck in this pic. Stopped to make lunch and a whisky lemonade….

 

[Skreddy]

I have been slowly losing coolant since I got this one running. Spent some time earlier chasing all these little coolant leaks. Well, even though I’ve got all the little leaks fixed I’ve still gone through a small amount of coolant. Since my hunting trip, I’m going through a lot of coolant; used 2 gallons in that 400 mile round trip and used a gallon in the couple weeks since daily driving.
I had the head machined and checked for cracks when I first got it but I’ve always had a sneaky suspicion the head has a crack in the combustion chamber somewhere. This morning I had some time before work so, motivated by @Roastchestnuts recent post, I used one of those head gasket checking fluid tools. Says let it warm up, etc but within a minute the fluid turned yellow meaning cracked head or bad head gasket.
I’ll keep topping it off and driving it for a bit but I think I found my first project for the new shop. I have everything for a 2FE conversion so I have some decisions to make.

 

[Roastchestnuts]

I have been slowly losing coolant since I got this one running. Spent some time earlier chasing all these little coolant leaks. Well, even though I’ve got all the little leaks fixed I’ve still gone through a small amount of coolant. Since my hunting trip, I’m going through a lot of coolant; used 2 gallons in that 400 mile round trip and used a gallon in the couple weeks since daily driving.
I had the head machined and checked for cracks when I first got it but I’ve always had a sneaky suspicion the head has a crack in the combustion chamber somewhere. This morning I had some time before work so, motivated by @Roastchestnuts recent post, I used one of those head gasket checking fluid tools. Says let it warm up, etc but within a minute the fluid turned yellow meaning cracked head or bad head gasket.
I’ll keep topping it off and driving it for a bit but I think I found my first project for the new shop. I have everything for a 2FE conversion so I have some decisions to make.

View attachment 3791265

Nice you joined the headgasket club! Sorry man. Mine changed really quick too. I am actually really excited/anxious to see if its obvious. Also really looking forward to put the new machined head on mine. I know the head I am picking up had some good machine work done. should be fresh compared to my head. I am pulling the head this weekend.

Be sure to post it all. I would love to turn mine into a 2fe. looks like your issue is very similar to mine. I only started noticing because mine was pushing coolant out the overflow tank. first noticed it back in september I didnt want to admit that it could be a head issue. mine also seemed intermittent. because it stopped for a little bit. I suspect the cause for mine is either using the cheep itm gasket or that I have some sort of crack in the head. I am not getting coolant oil mix that is noticeable witch is why I did not suspect the head gasket.

 

[Skreddy]

Nice you joined the headgasket club! Sorry man. Mine changed really quick too. I am actually really excited/anxious to see if its obvious. Also really looking forward to put the new machined head on mine. I know the head I am picking up had some good machine work done. should be fresh compared to my head. I am pulling the head this weekend.

Be sure to post it all. I would love to turn mine into a 2fe. looks like your issue is very similar to mine. I only started noticing because mine was pushing coolant out the overflow tank. first noticed it back in september I didnt want to admit that it could be a head issue. mine also seemed intermittent. because it stopped for a little bit. I suspect the cause for mine is either using the cheep itm gasket or that I have some sort of crack in the head. I am not getting coolant oil mix that is noticeable which is why I did not suspect the head gasket.

Mine was slow enough I could just keep an eye on the reservoir and top it off. Then engine would always suck it in as needed. It’s to the point now I can hear the rush of coolant through the heater core when I start it in the morning. Lots of steam but it is in the 20’s when I start it in the morning.

I will be going down the 2FE rabbit hole reading this weekend while at work. I had planned on rebuilding a domed piston 2F I have for my 40 first, then daily driving the 40 while I did the 2FE conversion but I guess I’ll stock up on oil and start daily driving the 40 sooner than anticipated.

 

[DrRock]

if you end up going down the route of a rebuilt head spring for the Chebbie stainless valves. I had those installed on my engine and the added flow really makes a difference vs stock. Added benefit is the stainless valves manage heat much better than the stock carbon steel valves.

 

[Skreddy]

if you end up going down the route of a rebuilt head spring for the Chebbie stainless valves. I had those installed on my engine and the added flow really makes a difference vs stock. Added benefit is the stainless valves manage heat much better than the stock carbon steel valves.

That’s on the list. Delta cam, Chevy stainless valves, 2.5” stainless exhaust, balance rotating assembly. See about boring when I get in there; if a machine hone cleans it up I’ll stay stock. It’s got over 270k miles and the Speedo/odo didn’t work when I’ve got it so we will see.
I don’t think I need a throttle body bore but just depends how long it takes the machine shop and how bored i am at that time….. I’ve got a few other things I want to do on it while it’s down.

 

[Skreddy]

Nothing new really for working on it. But I’ve been topping off coolant and it keeps pushing out the overflow. Last night I used my burp Unnel to fully top it off. Just constantly getting bubbles and can tell when the thermostat closes because the funnel will slowly fill. Then when the t-stat open a big rush of air then suck the funnel down. Added about 1.25 gallons of coolant last night. I’d like to get a few more weeks out of it before I tear it down so I’ll check coolant in a few days and see if that’ll be possible. A lot more smoke/steam than there has been though.

 

[Andrew S]

You're gonna have one or two REALLY clean cylinders when you get that motor apart!

 

[Skreddy]

You're gonna have one or two REALLY clean cylinders when you get that motor apart!

This week I’ll have time to pull the plugs. I haven’t noticed any cleaner than the others before but I suspect I will this time.

 

[Andrew S]

FWIW, I had an '87 pickup (22RE) with a slow coolant leak just like yours, and I drove it almost 100k with no change. One plug always did look different.

 

[schuy2147]

Spent the last few days elk hunting. Was cold down low and up to 18” of snow on the sides of the road up high. I had to dig myself out twice when I got off the road to try to park or turn around. Otherwise the tractor performed awesome. I had 4 wheel chains but never put them on. Everyone I came across commented how well the 60 did and it seemed pretty effortless. I was continually running across guys in 4 wheel chains in decked out jeeps and tacomas that were stuck or decided not to go further and we just motored on by. The Kenda Klevars do well on compact snow and not bad in 12-18” of heavy fluffy snow. I was really torn when I sold my 04 4Runner but have had no regrets since deciding to daily a 60.

I think my mileage got a little better with the new exhaust too.


View attachment 3784214View attachment 3784215
Wasn’t stuck in this pic. Stopped to make lunch and a whisky lemonade….


View attachment 3784217View attachment 3784218

Very cool! What is the plan if/when you tag out? Quarter and stuff in the back?

 

[Skreddy]

Very cool! What is the plan if/when you tag out? Quarter and stuff in the back?

Depends where one would end up. I’ve packed out whole, quartered and deboned. I’ve been lucky enough one year we were able to drag a spike out whole (spike units here pretty much) and get it into my 04 4Runner. Then on the way back to camp we came across a buddy who was walking the road and got one so we tossed it in too. 2 whole (gutted) spikes and 4 guys with bows and packs stuffed in that 4Runner. It was 0 degrees and about 12” snow where we were that trip. Fun times and lots of twisted teas and beers that trip.

But this trip, I saw one the last day we were out right at dusk and no opportunity on it.

 

[Skreddy]

I have been mostly driving my 40 while I wait for some time to look at this 60 but last week I drove it the 25 mile round trip to work and it used a gallon of coolant. In about 3 minutes of idling it had about a cup puddle of coolant under the exhaust.

So it’s in my new shop and today was the day to take some vitals. Plugs didn’t look as clean as I’d have expected for burning coolant but they did look interesting with 3 wetter and 3 drier.

Ok, I know the head’s coming off regardless so let’s pull the valve cover. Oh gawd, there’s coolant in that oil….

Interestingly, dipstick looks like normal oil and isn’t reading full or anything. Ok, compression test: in order 1-6; 170, 130, 140, 140, 130, 170. Ok, those 170’s are high but the rest are fine, maybe 1/6 are the issue. Ok, let’s put 30 psi of air in each cylinder with the valves closed. 1 and 6 leak past the rings as it should, can hear the little hiss into the oil pan area. 2-5 immediately start pushing coolant out the radiator fill once the air is turned on. At this point, I’m assuming cracked head. I’ll have time the next couple days to get it torn down. Good thing I’ve got a couple spare heads.

Engine builder is 4 month wait time then 4 months to go the engine. I’m not waiting that long so I’m hoping to just swap in a good used head and drive it while he can build my spare engine, then I’ll do the 2FE conversion this fall.

 

[Skreddy]

No obvious cracks. Looks like the head gasket delaminated from itself and created a little passage to the adjacent cylinders. Odd it happened on 2 of them and possibly roughly the same time. I’ll get the head checked out again and get it back together.

 

[Andrew S]

Any idea if that's a Toyota head gasket, or something else? Fingers crossed the head is fine, and you can bolt it back on soon.

 

[Skreddy]

Head is cracked on top under valve cover. Explains the milkshake up too but not really any coolant in the oil: must’ve been misting or spraying out there at the freeze plug. So double head gasket failure and a crack.

@Andrew S the head gasket wasn’t a Toyota but an OEM equivalent. I’m not ready to blame this on a bad gasket but is odd how it delaminated in those 2 spots.

 

[Skreddy]

I took both my spare heads in to get surfaced and checked out today so in the meantime, let’s see what we can turn this pile of parts into.

3FE manifolds and 2.5” stainless exhaust. I wanted to do this when I went the 2FE route but since I had to pull the head, I may as well do it now, then one less thing when I build the 2FE later this year.
I know, I know, a few posts up I just redid the exhaust on this one! My project 60 exhaust is rusted right behind the cat to the tailpipe. I’ll swap the current exhaust from this one onto there.
So I’ll set the junk head on the block and get this whipped up this week I hope. Have a couple ski days planned and taking the wife flying tomorrow with no kids for a change. Got to squeeze in cruiser work somewhere in there.