The Life & Times of Shasta (86 FJ60 conversion to HJ60)

[ontherxs]

Don't you mean turd? AHHHH, that felt good.

 

[mtweller]

My pants fit better

 

[ontherxs]

So, whilst we wait the shipping of the engine, this weekend I am going to tackle some engine compartment and body restoration. Also, need to finish the rear cargo cover. It's all stained and lacquered just nee to put it back in.

Will take pics. And anyone that wants to have a few beers and lend a hand. Common down....

Side note.. I heard Cars and Coffee was shut down. Can anyone confirm. Might head out their Sat morning if its on.

 

[ontherxs]

X2bazillion Buy a Silver Star and you can edit older posts ... I just checked on this on an older post in another thread ....

^Done

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Hmmmmm, what is this?

 

[ontherxs]

Hmmmmm, what is this?

Ohh Hell yessss. Game on!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

This is what happens when you're fully addicted to land cruisers. Random parts start showing up at your door.

 

[ontherxs]

So as you can see the heart is here. Let's rewind a little and bring you up to speed on the last few weeks of prep work.

First things first.. I'f I'm going to move the engine mounts better learn how to reattach them.

First step was to teach the little one the how the art of metal restoration.

Start with the cross member a part that will remain hidden, mostly.

For those of you that may be concerned during the actual lesson she wore a mask and eye protection.

Cross member sans rust and paint.

And now, looking new.

 

[ontherxs]

Next restoration of the engine bay.

This was the starting point. Many years of nastiness.

Started removing paint with power drill and a paint stripper disk. Worked well but time consuming.

So it appears the front driver side clip has been replaced as you can see white over red. Original color is 033 and it appears these are the only non-original body panels. But... appearances don't get you far here.

Most everything that can be removed has been.

 

[ontherxs]

More paint stripping. This time with some help from a few friends.

Rather than paint the firewall I opted to just clean it really well. The paint was in good shape except the part going into the tunnel. Looks new now.

The is AA-Ron. He decided to take a break and make some cornhole boards.

More paint removal this time by Justin. Having the air compressor was important to keeping the paint dust from clogging the equipment.

Nice an shiny.

 

[ontherxs]

#1 prepping the core support cross member for stripping. You could literaly blow most of the white paint off.

And stripped

Don't forget this little piece. It is a critical support to zip trying your grill on. Because screws, that's so factory

 

[ontherxs]

Time to work on the various heat shields and guards. In this picture you can see the stripping wheel which worked much better than the wire brush wheel. The wire brush wheel was really only good for tight corners.

Thick grease and grime. This is the lower piece of the steering knuckle guard.

This is the shield on the frame behind the steering box. I think this will end up not being used when we move the engine mounts for the 2H. Not sure yet.

All the shields and covers ready for paint. I also made a little backwoods screw jig so I could paint all the screw heads easily.

And now all cleaned and prepped for paint.

 

[ontherxs]

My friend Scott here laying down the first coat of Rustoleum metal primer.

And the other side

Second touch up coat done.

Damn that's bright

 

[ontherxs]

On to the frame. Taking down some rust with the nylon wheel.

Now finished with his corn-hole boards he steps up to paint the frame.

Finished product. Its hard to get a good picture because to the B/W contrast.

 

[ontherxs]

Various angles.

Here she is with all the shields and guards painted and re-installed.

 

[ontherxs]

Before

And after:

 

[ontherxs]

While we're trying to get a free weekend for the 2H install, I worked on another few small projects. 1st up. Hood shock conversion.

This is a very easy very useful conversion. It wasn't that expensive (under $100) all the parts except for nuts and washers were ordered from http://www.essentracomponents.com/ (formerly Reid Supply)

• Qty Item Number Description Price ea
• 2 GAS-125 Fixed-Force Gas Spring $19.26
• 4 GAS-202 Gas Spring Ball Joint End Fitting $3.38
• 4 GAS-301 Gas Spring Ball Stud Mounting Bracket $0.95

I followed the instructions from this thread -> https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/hood-shock-conversion-writeup-with-pics.95168/

Pictures from the modification with commentary.

Step 1. Drill or grind out the existing rivet because you need to reuse the bracket that connects to the hood.

I found the drilling was the easier route

Step 2. Grind/sand off the old paint and surface rust.

Step 3. Repaint the brackets and assemble the balls and sockets to the correct ends of the gas cylinders

 

[ontherxs]

Step 4. Installation of the shocks.

The pictures in the original thread had this bracket re-installed in the same orientation it was with the original lifters. We ended up spinning it the opposite direction from pictured below. This moved the ball joint to a better angle and alignment with the anchor point.

Here is the anchor point. The only place, and the perfect place length wise, that matches on each side. The washers I used probably should have had a larger outside diameter to spread the pressure from the shock. The metal underneath the washer bent very slightly with this smaller washer but its not at risk of breaking so I'll watch it an fix it down the road if becomes an issue.

Here is the right side connected you can see the bracket is swapped pointing the other direction now. Also, my bro helping me.

Now the left side. The first thing I love about is mod is how much further to vertical the hood is held up and with now with no hood support rod to get in the way.

Done. Both sides installed. It works well. These are the 120lb shocks so they lift the hood effortlessly. Also when closed the shocks are at and angle where they are fully closed which has the effect of pulling the hood shut.
Looks like the hood needs to be cleaned this is the first time I've seen it against restored engine bay.

 

[lt1fire]

I like where this is going

 

[roadstr6]

I like where this is going

Agreed. Nice work!


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