Build South Texas 97 - New to me

[South Texas 97]

Pax side looks like it has an attack of Monkey pox, I suspect heat from the Cat/exhaust system which is underneath.

I started with the flat area in the bed and wheel well area, and as the plastic side panels had to come off anyway, I added some additional sound deadening inside as well as covering the wheel wells. It looks a little rough, but no-one will see it....

Finding all the holes was a bit of a challenge, I used two methods.
1/ turn the new carpet upside down and put the old one on top of it and use a pen to mark the locations. this generally worked, although I had to enlarge some holes.
2/ Better method was to lay out the old carpet on the garage floor and use that as a guide for the new carpet installed loosely in the truck. Then use an awl to poke around in the general area and cut it out with the carpet in place.

Did quite a bit of test fitting and adjusting to get it to fit - this was good practice for the front section which is a lot more complex.

With the back section in place, time to move to the front.
I used the Kilmat on the front section.

 

[South Texas 97]

The new carpet comes with all the bumps and curves of the original and has a 1mm (1/16) rubber backing. However, it is not cut at all for the center consol.
I figured the two key elements for alignment were the rib that goes across the truck where the front seats are bolted in, the transmission tunnel hump, and one more is the curve where the back seats are bolted to the body.
I made one big 'strategic' cut to back to the handbrake down the center of the tunnel.
Found a couple of the seat bolt holes on both sides and bolted those in place with some big washers to stop things moving around.
With that fixed, I started the nerve racking process of cutting away the carpet around the gearshift and up under the footwells. I had a couple of screwups where I cut away more than I should have, and it was a PITA to put back. The rubber/siliconized backing on the carpet does not seem to like any type of glues that I tried. Ended up stitching along the edge very carefully using a heavy duty thread.

With the carpet in place, I then cut the underlayment to fit around the various bolts and slots on the floor, and after removing the bolts slide the underlayment under the carpet.

With the underlayment and carpet in place and held in place with bolts and washers, there was the final trim of the carpet against the plastic covers for the wiring channel. This really is a very well made truck. I had a small staple gun that I used to put a couple of staples after cutting the carpet to fit this channel exactly.

Reassembly
Bless Mr Toyoda, every single piece of plastic trim is clearly marked L and R. Of course before I found this, I did try to put the left vertical door cover on the right side.....

Knowing my luck with plastic trim tabs, I ordered a bag of 50 new plastic tabs, and have used about 20 so far.
Well, this is the almost final result, Front Pax side is done.
Started with this one to get my hand in before doing the Drivers side.

Total time so far, probably around 20 hours. (I am a slow learner!)
The good thing is if anything goes wrong with the interior on the trail, I will know how to fix it......

Before installing the rear seats, I cut an access panel for the Fuel Pump, which I will be changing out next.

 

[TYM4FUN]

Nice work.

 

[South Texas 97]

On to something perhaps a little more useful - Changing out the Fuel Filter and the fuel pump.
The truck has some 330K miles and in an effort to make it as reliable thought it best to change these out.

After crawling around underneath and looking a where the various hoses come from the gas tank and then up to where the fuel filter is, I decided that it was not necessary to pull the front left wheel, by laying on my back under the truck, I was able to see the fuel filter and decided to attack that first.
17mm 12 point box end wrench for the banjo bolts and a 12 mm socket for the hold down bolts. I made sure I could get to the hold down bolts with a long extension and cracked them loose just to know they would turn.

Took the cover of the fuel pump under/behind the rear pax seats, and after a good cleaning, unplugged the harness and tried to start the truck. It coughed once and died.
this gets rid of any fuel pressure in the lines.

Cracked the Banjo bolts on the front and rear of the fuel filter. They are VERY tight, but immediately come loose. There was a bit of gas drip out, but probably no more than an ounce or so.
I did discover that by undoing the Coil pack from the shock mount, and putting it to one side, I had much better access to the inlet side of the filter. Everything else I did from underneath the truck inside the frame rails, and occasionally reaching through from the outside of the frame rail.
These photos are a bit disorienting, as they are taken from underneath the truck looking up.
This is the inlet side of the old filter and behind the hose are the two 12 mm hold down bolts.

The engine side bolt is quite hidden, but looking up from underneath is quite accessible with a bunch of socket extension (20 inches or more)

A trick I read on the forum was to cut the engine side mount into a slot, which means the bolt could be loosely installed and then the new filter slots into this bolt. It worked like a charm. What is interesting, is the "IN" side of the filter is actually towards the front of the truck, and the "OUT" is at the back and goes directly up to the fuel system on the engine. It only seems backwards, but is correct.

I plan on cutting the old filter open tomorrow just for fun. Turning the old filter so the inlet side was draining, it looked like coffee grounds. The outlet side was pretty clean, so even though the filter was original, it seemed to be doing it's job!.

The biggest PITA was the crush washers, getting the inside one (nearest the filter) was rather taxing.... I dropped three of them, and found two.
Once the banjos were loosely installed, tightened down the mounting bolts, and then from underneath tightened down the banjo bolts. There was not enough room to get a torque wrench in there, but made sure to get it tight down on the crush washers.

With that done it was time to move on to the Fuel Pump

 

[South Texas 97]

After installing new carpet, I had cut a flap in the carpet. It is underneath the rear pax seat pretty much in the middle of the truck (see previous pics)
My logic was to replace any rubber lines while I was under there. There are three lines, that can be accessed fairly easily from the PAX side rear door, just under the exhaust can, by removing the three 10mm bolts holding heat shield on and sliding it forward a bit.

The two outside lines are low pressure, and the middle is the high pressure line from the pump to the filter.
I almost regret replacing this line, as the line was quite difficult to remove (14mm C wrench and a 20mm for the big nut) I was worried about stripped threads, but it seemed to go together ok. I got the fuel line (1/4inch or 6.2mm) from my local auto parts. It is actually rated as high pressure, but from what I can tell, these are not high pressure lines.

There were a couple of parts that I could not immediately install would need to drop the tank, so will put these parts aside for later.

The gasket had seen better days, but was doing it's job. The tank looked pretty good inside, with minimal rust. Cleaned up the gasket surface as I did not want to drop any trash in the tank, or the scraping tool.

Laying out the pump, pump filter and other bits and pieces, they are all an exact match. The pump parts kit appears to be a universal kit with lots of bits I did not need. Although the pump itself is a DENSO and an exact physical match for the original.

Put it all back together and then put some clean paper towel sheets under each of the connections I had changed ,to monitor for drips on the fuel filter, or lines that were changed out by the tank.
Plugged the fuel pump back in, set the fire extinguisher by the drivers door, and cranked it up. After about 3-5 seconds, truck started and idled just as if nothing happened.
While the engine was idling, did a quick run around and under the truck to see if any of the pressure lines where leaking - everything dry as a bone.
Shut the engine off and put the heat shield back in place, and all the covers.
Total time, about 4 hours, including the time looking for the damned crush washers!.

Will cut the old filter up tomorrow just to see what's what. Should I use my gas axe, or cut off wheel?. Just kidding perhaps.

 

[ppc]

As you have now replaced so much of the fuel system I would suggest that you also replace the fuel pump relay to finish everything off.

 

[South Texas 97]

ppc yes you are right. Will get that on order.
As promised, cut the old fuel filter open. The paper element inside was intact, but the moment I started to take it out, it fell apart. Quite a bit of greasy mud on the ‘IN’ side of the pleats, so it did its job well for 330k miles. I assume this as the PO‘s notes do not show changing it out at all.

 

[clx16]

I kept mine so i could cut it open. I have to fine it now that i have a can opener.

I usually change them on vehicles when i buy them, but not sure how often i should change them after that.

I cut open all of my oil filters and look at them. Trying to think of a clever use for all the filter cans i have now.

 

[South Texas 97]

While changing the hoses on the fuel tank came across the right rear shock, bottom mount missing its bushing.

looking at the top mounts they are all very dry and cracked.

Looked around and found some Rancho RS9000 XL, the adjustable type, for what seems a fair price with some good comments on the forum. So the weekend work was to remove the old shocks one at a time and replace them. I found that by putting the truck up on some wooden blocks that are 4 inches high x 20 long by 12 wide I can slide myself under the truck pretty easily and with a long extension and a breaker bar get the top rear bolts loose and then the bottom shock bolt. I put some penetrating oil the day before, not sure if it helped but it all came apart pretty easily.

I did spend a few minutes cleaning up all the threads before assembling everything. Top bolts were 37ftlb and bottom bolt 47 per the manual.
The from was a little harder, and had to use a vice grip to stop the shock turning on its mount. Pax side was straight forward but drivers side is directly below the brake booster.

New shocks installed and took it for a drive. Much smoother on the road.

Did an oil and filter change, and greased all the driveshaft fittings. Will top up the knuckles tomorrow.

Looks like we are ready for a road trip.

 

[South Texas 97]

Roof rack.
when I got the Truck, the installed roof rack had dented the roof a bit, so removed the rails with some trouble. Several of the bolts had rusted off, so just taped them over and kept going.
this time I sanded down the rusty bits, applied some de-rust, and then touched up with some rust converter spray paint.

applied some elbow grease and a de-rusting gel for an hour or so

then used some aluminum tape to cover the holes until I can get to a proper repair.

then just touched up with some black satin paint so the tape was not all shiny. As you can see, the roof has a lot of clear coat damage, or perhaps it is just “patina”.

 

[South Texas 97]

Well, on to the next adventure. Drive from Houston to Seattle with a stop in Steamboat Springs for a week.
Houston to Amarillo was at 70mph all the way but about 95F. Of course the a/c cut out a few times, but after a heavy rainstorm in Fort Worth it cooled things down a bit. Was getting around 16mpg.from just north of Amarillo we drove at 60mph all the way to Denver Airport to pick up some friends, and we were getting 20mpg.
Forgot to bring my real-time OBD I monitor with me, which was very annoying. With a fully loaded truck and 90+ temps in Denver starting up over I-70 we overheated and as soon as the gauge started to climb we pulled over under a shady overpass to let things cool down.
Remembering an old trick, after the temp dropped back to normal, we headed on our way. If the gauge moved even a little bit of horizontal, we turned on the heater full blast as well as the rear heat on high. Needless to say, we opened all the windows.
Successfully arrived without further issues in Steamboat and had a great week driving around the area. Kremmerling to State Bridge and then up Hwy 131 is a very nice day trip.
Every morning checked coolant, engine oil, and transmission levels. Added a bit of engine oil, perhaps 1/3 of a quart, but everything else was stable. Transmission was checked after warming up and in neutral on flat ground.
After dropping everyone off back in Denver headed back over to Yampa via State Bridge and then took the “Flat Top scenic Byway” 65 miles of pretty well maintained gravel road. Although there is a lot of washboard on the road so the truck sometimes shook like crazy.
About 30 miles out side of Meeker,CO, temperature went up, so I stopped to check, and there was coolant coming out of the radiator about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. It was like a cow pissing on a flat rock. For a reference, a pencil sized stream.
Needless to say, that was it for the day. A number of good folks stopped to ask if I needed help, including a couple of guys in a mid 70’s land cruiser ( guessing the age, from the leaf spring suspension all around.) Very nice guys.
Fortunately there was cell coverage so arranged a flatbed to take me into Glenwood Springs As I figured a bigger town would give more options. Took the shop a day to tell me what I told them, and was blindingly obvious. I need a new radiator. Should be here tomorrow and I will be back on the road.
Pictures of the catastrophic failure will follow tomorrow. I suspect the washboard road vibration shook a previous repair or weak spot loose.

 

[clx16]

I have had pretty decent luck with Napa having denso radiators in stock. I haven't gotten one for an 80 but they have had a surprising number of 80 parts on the shelf so might be worth a try.

 

[FMC80]

Well, on to the next adventure. Drive from Houston to Seattle with a stop in Steamboat Springs for a week.
Houston to Amarillo was at 70mph all the way but about 95F. Of course the a/c cut out a few times, but after a heavy rainstorm in Fort Worth it cooled things down a bit. Was getting around 16mpg.from just north of Amarillo we drove at 60mph all the way to Denver Airport to pick up some friends, and we were getting 20mpg.
Forgot to bring my real-time OBD I monitor with me, which was very annoying. With a fully loaded truck and 90+ temps in Denver starting up over I-70 we overheated and as soon as the gauge started to climb we pulled over under a shady overpass to let things cool down.
Remembering an old trick, after the temp dropped back to normal, we headed on our way. If the gauge moved even a little bit of horizontal, we turned on the heater full blast as well as the rear heat on high. Needless to say, we opened all the windows.
Successfully arrived without further issues in Steamboat and had a great week driving around the area. Kremmerling to State Bridge and then up Hwy 131 is a very nice day trip.
Every morning checked coolant, engine oil, and transmission levels. Added a bit of engine oil, perhaps 1/3 of a quart, but everything else was stable. Transmission was checked after warming up and in neutral on flat ground.
After dropping everyone off back in Denver headed back over to Yampa via State Bridge and then took the “Flat Top scenic Byway” 65 miles of pretty well maintained gravel road. Although there is a lot of washboard on the road so the truck sometimes shook like crazy.
About 30 miles out side of Meeker,CO, temperature went up, so I stopped to check, and there was coolant coming out of the radiator about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. It was like a cow pissing on a flat rock. For a reference, a pencil sized stream.
Needless to say, that was it for the day. A number of good folks stopped to ask if I needed help, including a couple of guys in a mid 70’s land cruiser ( guessing the age, from the leaf spring suspension all around.) Very nice guys.
Fortunately there was cell coverage so arranged a flatbed to take me into Glenwood Springs As I figured a bigger town would give more options. Took the shop a day to tell me what I told them, and was blindingly obvious. I need a new radiator. Should be here tomorrow and I will be back on the road.
Pictures of the catastrophic failure will follow tomorrow. I suspect the washboard road vibration shook a previous repair or weak spot loose.

I'm surprised you continued to run it after having the AC cut off several times during your trip. Are you planning for an OEM replacement?

 

[South Texas 97]

Yes, OEM replacement. I was thinking about the TYC, but the shop said they could source the OEM, I suspect from NAPA.

Why did I not stop when the A/C cut out?. The temperature setting for the a/c cut off is I think designed to remove the load from the engine. I suspect the heavily damped temp gauge is because the engine temperature changes quite a bit depending on load, rpm and perhaps other factors, and Toyota did not want to alarm the driver with a constantly fluctuating gauge. Will keep an eye on things over the next few days, until my scan gauge II arrives. Where I can track temperature changes in real-time.

 

[South Texas 97]

As promised a photo of the radiator failure. The odd thing is this is on the back side of the radiator facing the engine.

I suspect the washboard road vibration might have caused this, although as it is so localized to these few tubes, it is almost like something gouged them.
Back on the road tomorrow. Salt Lake city and the LC museum on Friday if all goes well.

 

[clx16]

that could have been a stick, dense small animal, a small rock flying up hitting the fan.

 

[FMC80]

This is what happens when you run off-the-shelf green stuff instead of tOyoTa rEd.

Excited for you to get back on the road and sightseeing. Sounds like a fun trip ahead.

 

[South Texas 97]

Folks, thanks for the responses. During my drive today, I had time to ponder, and given that is on the engine side of the radiator, this area is well protected from rocks and sticks and such. I suspect the the fan shroud may have been culprit, perhaps I did not hook it in properly at some point, and the washboard road caused it to rub against the tubes in this one spot.
Today drove over a couple of 9k+ mountain passes, with the a/c on, and the temperature gauge stayed flat and the a/c was running cold.
Hindsight being 20/20 I could have changed and not just rebuilt the radiator. Lesson learned.
Glenwood Springs to Tabiona, via Vernal, and the over the mountain from Heber City to Salt Lake City. Fantastic drive over the mountain through Wasatch Forest. very steep road with lots of switchback, although paved all the way.
Unfortunately the LC Museum is moving and not open until 1 Sept, per the website, so a good excuse to come back via SLC.

 

[South Texas 97]

Salt Lake to Pocatello, Challis, Stanley, Lewiston, Dearly, Coeur d’Alene, and then up to Colville, and over to Dulwich, Curlew and then Conconulley, Winthrop and over the North Cascade Loop and via the Mountain Loop Highway into Seattle.

Spent two weeks helping my son paint his house, and then 10 days coming back via SLC and the wonderful Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, and got to meet @CruiserDan. They have done a great job of converting and old foundry building to a state of the art museum for over 100 Cruisers. Well worth the visit!.

Drove over to Ely Nevada and the Great Basin National Park to see some Bristlecone pine trees, several over 3,000 years old and still alive. I should be so lucky. And then back to Texas via Black Canyon of the Gunnison River National Park and along US550, the million dollar highway down through Silverton and Durango.

In Seattle picked up a Scangauge II which gave me piece of mind for my water temperature. My truck is a 97 Land Cruiser and it seems I cannot get the gauge to read the transmission temperature.

Daily checks of all fluid levels with the occasional top up of a few ounces of oil seemed to be all I needed.

Over all 7,700 miles - time for an oil change and a full front end service. On the road, I did notice some oil seepage, looks like from the Distributor. Having previously replaced the external o-ring, looks like the internal o-ring has completely failed.

In the meantime, until I can get to this, will put a diaper and keep an eye on it. There is a post talking about pulling the gear and replacing the internal seal/o-ring, but it is not a documented fix. Will pull it after doing the knuckle rebuild and take a look at how hard it might be. Mr Toyoda is very proud of a new Distributor.

 

[flintknapper]

Spent two weeks helping my son paint his house, and then 10 days coming back via SLC and the wonderful Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, and got to meet @CruiserDan. They have done a great job of converting and old foundry building to a state of the art museum for over 100 Cruisers. Well worth the visit!.

In Seattle picked up a Scangauge II which gave me piece of mind for my water temperature. My truck is a 97 Land Cruiser and it seems I cannot get the gauge to read the transmission temperature.

1. You got to meet a legend.

2. And yes, no trans temp for the 80 series with ScanGauge. On a 100 series there is an 'X' Code for it...but not on the 80 series.

I can tell you that IF your transmission is in good shape and the fluid changed at decent intervals, you don't need to watch the temp anyway. I have an Aux gauge and its a really 'boring' gauge. Temps just don't fluctuate enough to cause any worry and the A343F is a cool running tranny if not abused.