Builds The Rushing Turdle

[roadstr6]

Oh yeah. I knew about it. Price was right though and I had already found a replacement trans before I ponied up the cash to buy. I used the trans issue as leverage for bringing the price down on what otherwise seems to be an above average 60...at least for around here.

 

[roadstr6]

I've been steadily working on the cruisers in the evenings for the last few weeks. I've been focusing heavily on the Crockpot. Flushed the rad with muriatic acid and finally got the carb dialed in with the secondary actually working for the first time since I've owned it.

I have been driving the Turdle some. It has become apparent to me that the brakes need attention. It won't stop. I couldn't skid a tire if my life depended on it. I had to make a panic stop the other day, almost T-boning a Hyundai who flew around the traffic circle as I was trying to merge in. I suspect the booster needs to be replaced. I have sourced an early 90's 4Runner booster and I will give that a try. If the master needs to be replaced, I'll do that as well. I'll try just the booster first.

I ordered sets of three point retractible belts for front and rear from Seatbeltplanet. Those should be in this week. I am also upfitting the rear seat back with headrests from a scrap pair of front seats. More on that later.

Fixed the inop choke cable. As is usually the case, the cable had pulled free from the little brass cylinder inside the pull switch. I resoldered it and it seems to be working fine now.

The PO had a new windshield put in. Whoever did the windshield did a horrible job. They did not tuck the headliner material behind the rubber seal as they should have and on top of that the windshield leaked! I got that all sorted out so no more leaks and the headliner is tucked in as it should be.

More to come, including pics. Stay tuned!

 

[gregnash]

Brakes not functioning properly can be multiple things.... I thought my booster was gone when I first got my truck (PO told me it was failing) and replaced only to find out it was my master cylinder. If the booster is gone/going you will have a high and hard pedal. Look at the FSMs to diagnose and go from there. Bleed your brakes well (look for the procedure but I believe that on the 60 is it LR/RR/LF/RF) and make sure that your MC is working properly and the brake shoes/pads are not having issues. I have gone through and reworked everything and while I may not be able to lock up my tires I can stop and stop hard.

 

[roadstr6]

I am converting to three point belts for the rear seat. Also, the winders are broken on both front belts so I ordered up four belts. Waiting for those to hit the doorstep any day now. As part of the upgrade I wanted to add headrests to the rear bench. 62's have them but the 60's did not get them. Most folks doing this upgrade will just swap in a seat back from a 62. I couldn't find one so I decided to go renegade and modify my 60 seat to accept headrests. My buddy Rafael @Roxx provided me with a set of roached out front seats from a 62.

 

[roadstr6]

As you can see, I have cut out the seat frame section that has the keepers for the headrest tubes. A little more cutting got me to here.

 

[roadstr6]

The 62 seats and headrests were gray. The Turdle interior is a beautiful brown so gray would just not do. I found some brown vinyl spray paint and painted the headrests and tubes.

 

[roadstr6]

Next task was stripping the upholstery down to the frame and welding in the new parts.

 

[roadstr6]

Finally, recover the seats and slide in the headrests. I didn't have any hog rings or HR pliers so I picked these up on Amazon for $12. They worked great! Seat is covered and ready to install.

 

[roadstr6]

Brakes not functioning properly can be multiple things.... I thought my booster was gone when I first got my truck (PO told me it was failing) and replaced only to find out it was my master cylinder.

Dammit! Same here. I had the high, hard pedal and had to assume the problem was the booster. I replaced it with the 4Runner booster last night and no change. I have a new master cylinder clamped in my vise right now, bench bled and ready to go in tonight. Ugh!

 

[klinetime574]

Whoa, nice work on the seat, never would have thought that to be possible, but here you are done-did-it. How close of a match is that brown vinyl paint? Looks like it might be a touch on the light side, but it could just be the camera/etc.

 

[roadstr6]

The match is not great. It is very hard to find brown vinyl spray. Blacks and grays are available at most regular parts stores. I had to order the brown and you're right, it is lighter than the fronts. Think of peanut brittle vs. milk chocolate with the new spray being more peanut brittle. It's the best I could do. If I am able to snag a pair of brown front headrests from a wrecked 60, I'll swap them later.

 

[NCFJ]

The truck is looking great Dave. Good job on the headrests, looks real clean

 

[lcgeek]

Can you come over and do mine?

Nice job!

 

[joyRidaz]

@roadtstr6 - check out the color match on @lcgeek 's tuffy. Was thinking this might be an easy fun and cheap project if u need a small victory

I've found this Rustoleum in color DK Brown to be a very close match for interior brown.


I painted a Tuffy Console with it that turned out ok. The lighting in the photo might make it look lighter but in actuality it is real close match.

 

[joyRidaz]

Are you considering doing the rear shoulder belts? I'd love to see that, I too want to do the rear headrests and have always liked the idea of rear shoulder belts.

 

[roadstr6]

George, Thanks for the tip on the color match for the Tuffy. That looks nice. I might have to give that a try!

I am doing 3 point belts for the rear. Belts should be on my doorstep Monday. I'll start hacking at it early next week. Will take pics. It would be a much cleaner install if I had access to the 62 interior panels that cover the belt and retractor but I don't. It may end up looking like Fido's rectum but I can promise you it will be functional no matter what.

 

[roadstr6]

I installed four new retractable three point belts this week. Seatbelt planet had a custom template just for the 60 series 'cruisers. I ordered up a full set in dark brown. Install was a direct bolt-in for the front. The rears required a little more work due to the 60's not having rear shoulder belts from the factory. I did luck out on the top pivot mounting point. All 60's have a hole behind the fabric where the belt mounts. Only a few had captive nuts behind the hole. Mine just happened to be one of those! On to the install pics.

 

[St Joe Crusier]

Dave,

Where did you get the tire rack?

Tomorrow I'll have to take a picture of my paint and post it to see if it's to far gone compared to what you did with
your paint.....

You have done a great job with your rig.....

Steve

 

[roadstr6]

Steve,

I built the tire rack with some 1" square tubing, a 3/4" section of pipe and some 1.5" flat stock. All materials came from the local Home Depot. There is a thread on this forum that provides a template to build one exactly like this. I can't take credit for the idea, only the execution.

 

[roadstr6]

The rear seat belts were not quite as easy as the fronts. I re-used the latch side mounting points and just removed the old latches and bolted in the new ones. The upper "pivot" mount was very simple as well due to the existing hole in my pillar being threaded. If yours is not threaded (most aren't) you will spend quite a bit of time and effort trying to fish a nut up into the pillar from behind and attempt to either glue it in place or somehow hold it there long enough to thread in the pivot bolt from the front. The lower part of the belt required drilling into the fender well. I chose a spot near the seat back hinge due to the metal there being twice as thick. Simple fender washer behind the bolt and cinch everything up tight. Mounting the retractor gave me the most trouble and the driver side was more difficult than the passenger side due to the rear wiring harness passing directly over the preferred mounting point. I had to remove a plastic bump-out that was intended to accomodate the wiring. Removing the plastic allowed me to mount the retractor flush to the wall but the extra vinyl that once covered it sort of bunched up when I tightened everything down.