Builds “The Dude”: New Owner w/ Basket Case FJ60

[js0k]

Picked up some 33x10.5s. I think I’m going to run some OME CS004X’s with stock shackles and stock height shocks until I get the rest of the truck sorted out, at which point I’ll go greaseable shackles and bilsteins. This, of course, will depend on the condition of the parts currently on the truck.

Anyone have some OME lift springs to spare?

 

[js0k]

Well boys, I think cylinder 6 has a problem.

Pulled the plugs, they all look good.

Cranked numerous times with plugs out, no coolant came out of the cylinders.

Compression tested, and results were stellar! Besides cylinder 6, but it still wasn’t bad.

While putting plugs back in, I cranked it cylinder by cylinder. Once the first few plugs were in and the cardboard was still dry, I decided to skip to cylinder 6. Voila, the Vesuvius moment.

Maybe I didn’t drill the head alignment dowel relief deep enough at the back of the head? Or somehow screwed up some other aspect? I like those ideas a lot better than the block being cracked. I guess we’ll see when I pull the head, unless anyone has any other ideas?

 

[js0k]

I think I fixed it.

No more pressure in the cooling system.

Pulled the head bolt that clamps the corner with the alignment dowel.

It was covered in coolant.

Put Permatex #2 on it as you do for bolts that go into water jackets.

Slipped a washer that measured about 66thou on it.

Torqued to 100ft lbs, and the problem is gone. Might do the one on the other side of the rear of the head for good meausure if this problem comes back, but for now I’m calling it a victory.

 

[js0k]

Vid of its first run, coolant bubbling and all!



Retorqued the head bolts and it seems like it helped. Have a couple other things to try before reporting back, those might happen next week.

That’s better

 

[js0k]

The dude moved under it’s own power today! Forwards and backwards 5 feet is still moving... waiting til muffler is here and installed before I drive too terribly far.

Got the choke and what I thought should’ve been the temp sensor wire hooked up, and bled the clutch slave and power steering last night. Need more ATF but the steering is almost there. Temp gauge still doesn’t register.

Need to get some real coolant temp and oil pressure solutions (harbor freight gauges for now with a BSPT to NPT adapter for oil?), and check the drum brake that’s parking brake bellcrank I disconnected before I actually try to drive it.

Spent 30mins on cosmetics tonight. Some moronic previous owner got a wild hair and rattle canned random parts of the truck white, most notably the whole nose.

Once that is all back to beige, I’m going to sand, prime, paint and install the grille and Toyota emblem. I’m gonna guess it fell victim to the same guy, who sprayed the grille black and emblem red. Here’s how those look after an easy-off treatment.

Then I’ll install the front bumper, wash, cut, buff, and polish it and it’ll be cosmetically done until I get some lift springs.

 

[js0k]

Not on the rug, man!

Took the dude out on its maiden voyage today! Just around the neighborhood.

Drove great, started easily, no leaks were visible when I stopped and idled, pulled to 3k smoothly, temp gauge read good, heat blew hot, then when I stopped at home it dieseled for a solid minute while spewing coolant everywhere. Lol

I have some ideas about the dieseling. Maybe the throttle is staying slightly open (when I pull back on the gas pedal idle lowers)? Or I need to tune the carb (obviously, haven’t touched it or the timing yet). Or I took too much off of the head (nooooo).

As far as the coolant situation goes, hopefully that’s just a side effect of getting the air out of the heater or something. I won’t have time to look into whether or not the pressurization is back tonight.

Big progress though! Wayyy more excited to daily this thing now.

 

[HemiAlex]

The burping issue isn’t uncommon. You probably just passed a large air bubble. Let it idle with a funnel fill on it for about 30 mins with the heat on. Keep watch in the coolant. It will take several heat cycles to get it all out.

 

[js0k]

Just nailed down 2 potential causes of the dieseling.

I was told one potential cause is the idle cut solenoid. While idling, I unplugged it. Nothing happened, kept idling great. Either the solenoid is bad or I need to re-wire it for the desmog (green wire mod, keyed ign power and ground on carb body?).

Topped off coolant and drove around the block. Still ran great. Got up to temp but maybe not all the way, shut off and it started dieseling. I noticed that pulling up on the gas pedal lowers the idle a little bit. I pulled up on the gas pedal a tad with my foot and the dieseling stopped immediately. Did this three times and it killed it every time. I think my throttle is just stuck open a bit and a carb tune will take care of it.

There were some drips from the heater hose that goes over the valve cover but nothing crazy that would indicate that the coolant system pressurization is back.

 

[js0k]

Spent a few minutes goofing around with the dude tonight.

Pulled and plugged vac advance line and set timing to the 7 degree BB. Idle rose to about 900.

Played with the 3 idle screws (of course I got the one I actually needed last), before deciding to attempt to tune the carb.

Turned the mixture screw mostly in then out 1.5 turns, got up to temp and started playing.

Unscrewed until idle rose and then started kinda dying (don’t know for sure, the tach I had hooked up didn’t really work. Realized while typing this that I had the tachs “light” wire hooked up to ground instead of the ground wire...). Next, I brought idle down to ~700 with the idle speed screw. Then I messed with idle mix screw again.

This time, I screwed it way out, until it was bouncing around in the socket, then way in, and it didn’t really make a difference. Is something wrong with that?

I then brought it back to ~700 with the speed screw, and turned the key off. For the first time, it didn’t diesel when I shut it off at operating temp. It also drank a funnel or so of coolant during the tuning process.

I expect to have to do a lot more fine tuning, but I’ll drive it like this tomorrow morning, see how it holds up, and go from there. Will probably set high idle (to 1,800?) tomorrow morning because I definitely messed that setting up before I found the right screw.

Being able to drive it around, get it up to temp, and shut it off without any ill side-effects is the goal tomorrow. Might even fill er up at the neighborhood gas station to see if the fuel gauge works.

 

[js0k]

Runs like dream on the new “tune” but might idle a little low once warm... and I think I found the source of my only leaks, hose from valve to heater and lower water pipe.

Next time I give it a tune-up I think I’ll have my vac gauge and tach hooked up and do it a lot more scientifically. Last nights attempt was a mess but it still fixed the dieseling and got it running so smoothly I can’t even hear it idle...




My lower water pipe is super rusty, so I think I’ll order a new OEM one and get that over with, before it really goes and strands me on the way to big bend or something.

I went out of my way to get the rear heater back (engine came with it already plugged), but now that coolant is in it and I’m looking at all of these old hoses @HemiAlex is definitely right saying it’s a failure point. And being in Texas, it’s not worth replacing all of those hoses. I’m just going to go straight to the front heater exit with my new 5/8 bypass hose, and put the plug back in the pipe coming off of the head.

One more slight concern I had was the PS pulley wobbling. Was able to tighten it a little bit. Probably needs more.

Also, when I spray brake kleen at my home-made intake manifold EGR block off plate (that just has a 90deg barb threaded into it), the engine dies. Might be a vac leak there

 

[js0k]

Made some progress on the dude today.

(Obligatory foam pic from yesterday, can’t tell it’s rusty!):

Found out why my PS pulley wobbles. Going to track down a new key tomorrow. Keyway and shaft look fine, pulley still looks true which is nice.

Spent hours sanding the white paint off of the hood. Now I just have a little left on the front fenders and rear wheel wells. Not going to bother with the part under the grille.

Got my front bumper on today. A PO welded some tubing into the frame rail to mount a horrible homemade bumper. I had to drill through it to mount some stock bumper brackets. 4 out of 8 holes ain’t bad, the front holes are gone because they cut the frame. Feels sturdy enough.

Got the grille pretty clean and decided not to paint it. Keeping the, uhh, “patina” that was left under a POs rattle can job. I did a rattle can job of my own on the Toyota badge, sure beats spending $100+ on a new one. Here’s a before/after with a pic from the dude’s Facebook marketplace listing.

 

[js0k]

I also installed the AC compressor and belt. I’m going to retrofit it with 134 valves, fill with PAG46, pull and clean the EVAP box and install a new expansion valve, replace the drier and every O-ring I see, vacuum then fill with approx 26oz of the finest Walmart refrigerant with my harbor freight manifold gauge set. Never fails.

 

[mattressking]

Great job, I like what you’re doing here, Keep it up!

 

[js0k]

Great job, I like what you’re doing here, Keep it up!

Thanks man, I’m super excited to start dailying it!

 

[js0k]

The dude is now insured!

Deleted rear heater and replaced the last old heater hose. Top pic is it bleeding with a funnel in the rad.

Picked up a new OEM PS Pulley key- and it still wobbles. I think I need to tighten it more, hopefully the bearing isn’t bad. Should I pick one up at rockauto?

Picked up some PAG46 to fill the AC compressor with. That would’ve been a good thing to do BEFORE I installed it haha. Will probably have to remove it to properly drain and refill.

One more little thing I need to do before it becomes a daily is replacing the door locks. Too old for my Yota dealer to pull up a key code w/ VIN and the local locksmiths hours perfectly coincide with the hours I work. Just gonna rockauto a pair. Then figure out the hatch key

 

[js0k]

Inspected today, getting plates tomorrow.

Drove around a little bit and filled up the gas tank, fuel gauge works!

Made some observations:

PS Pulley still wobbles.

Idle is still too low.

Trans doesn’t want to downshift. Especially not into first.

PS/Alt belt slightly rubs front nut of MAF smog pump delete pulley.

Alternator seems weak. Under 12v when idling, 12v when driving. Haven’t put a multimeter on it since I initially installed (was weak then too) but I’ll probably pick up a new one.

A front locking hub won’t go to “free”.

Has a vac leak at my homemade EGR delete plate on the intake. Seems like it needs to be tightened, hopefully won’t strip the intake mani.

That’s all I can think of for now. Getting there!

 

[js0k]

First day of daily driving in the books. Made it to work and back without a fuss! So smooth and quiet, a little different than dailying a straight piped 12 valve Cummins!

I’m going to adjust the clutch pedal and slave and fill the trans with new juice, then see how she does on the highway. I also need to finish sanding the white paint off!

 

[AussieCruiser62]

The Dude lives! Looking great, congrats on bringing another classic back to life
Rather than pulling the a/c compressor to ad oil, once you have the system all buttoned up, you could vac it out, and use the vacuum to suck oil in through the lp port...that is if you have a hose with a ball valve on the end, that's what I do..hth.

 

[js0k]

The Dude lives! Looking great, congrats on bringing another classic back to life
Rather than pulling the a/c compressor to ad oil, once you have the system all buttoned up, you could vac it out, and use the vacuum to suck oil in through the lp port...that is if you have a hose with a ball valve on the end, that's what I do..hth.

Thanks man, I appreciate it! I’ll have to look into if that method is in the realm of my capabilities, if not the compressor is only a few bolts away from coming out again.

 

[AussieCruiser62]

Thanks man, I appreciate it! I’ll have to look into if that method is in the realm of my capabilities, if not the compressor is only a few bolts away from coming out again.

No problemo mate!