That's pretty much where I am with Land Cruisers, but I will say that the 80 series with the 1FZ is well engineered, not quite the level of FJ60/2F ease of maintenance but close.
Build Welcome home Matilda - faded like your favorite pair of jeans
- Thread starter CruiserTrash
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- Thread starter
- #582
The thought has crossed my mind ... a "luxury" daily that's decent in the snow is appealing. 80 pricing seems so inflated though. In my opinion the 100 Series is the best deal going right now. They are popping up for sale around her regularly for $4000-6000 - obviously not all of them, but many of them are in that price range. The ads always say something like "power steering leaks and the driver seat is torn" or "needs brakes". They're typically 200k+ miles, but it's dry here and the stuff in that price range is not rusted out. That's a LOT of vehicle for the money. Working on an EFI V8 in a tight engine bay is intimidating for me though.
But I bought the 4wd Tercel as a winter beater, so no 100s for me. Not any time soon anyway.
Hey, I ordered up your brackets a couple weeks ago and I'm about to get started on this project. Where did you get your JIS hardware? What size and how many do I need to get for this job?
Thanks
- Thread starter
- #585
I used some stuff so had on hand for the lower holes in the bracket. I don’t have the info in front of me right now but I think they’re M8. The upper single hole is got the bolt that comes with the belts.
Measure the diameter of the lower two holes and get bolts long enough to go through the bracket, through the pinch weld, and have plenty of threads hanging out the back. You’ll need to account for any washers and lock washers (a good idea) that you’ll need. Thread pitch doesn’t matter as long as you get the right nut.
Belmetric is a good place to get JIS stuff, but you can accomplish all this with hardware from Ace hardware or wherever if you don’t mind a 13mm bolt head instead of a 12 or 14 (like JIS would be). Make sure the bolts are hardened/high strength - obviously needed for this kind of application.
Like I said it’s a DIY project haha.
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- Thread starter
- #586
Recent work:
Finally got the second rear seatbelt in, on the driver side. This one required more cutting to fit the big wire harness through, as well as my 6awg power cable for auxiliary crap. I ended up covering the red cable with plastic split loom for protection.
Cameo by the Tercel above. Won’t pass emissions (yet) so it lives in the shop. I really haven’t spent any time on it.
The white trim piece below the window changed shape from 82 going into 83. With my truck being an 82, the outline around the seat latch didn’t match with the brown retractor covers. @joesfj40 sent me some of the later white trim pieces so I got those installed.
I’ve been having two more pertinent issues lately: first a sticky throttle that won’t release if I’m at WOT, and occasional bouts of lean stumbles while cruising down the road.
The sticky throttle got resolved today. Apparently the throttle linkage rod got bent and was rubbing on the return spring at the carb. It wasn’t doing this 6 weeks ago, so it apparently got bent around that time. No clue how it could do this under normal operation in the engine bay. Here’s the rub, literally:
Here’s after bending it back (and then some, just to be safe):
Here shows good clearance with the spring:
With respect to the above photo, I would step on the pedal and the part of the rod that hangs down would rub on the spring and then get caught. How would that part of the rod deform?
I’ve narrowed down the second problem, the lean stumble at cruise, to the primary circuit on the carb. If the truck is idling or if go WOT and open the secondary there’s no stumble. All of this data is from watching my air:fuel gauge. The issue happens almost every day, sometimes all day long and sometimes only one trip, so it’s been pretty random. It only happens at steady throttle held between 25-75%. Fuel pump was new in July and tests good. Float bowl always has enough fuel, I rebuilt the carb last year, fuel tank was new two years ago, and the fuel filter gets changed regularly (and is always pretty clean).
I was thinking it might be a piece of crud in the bow that gets stuck in the primary jet on occasion, but then why wouldn’t it get stuck in the secondary jet- or even ingested through the secondary? I’m thinking the issue is the fuel cut solenoid system. I checked the vacuum switch and it’s good. The FCS passes the click test but that doesn’t mean it operates 100%. The other piece of that system is the emissions computer, so I’m going to send a spare one to @Engineer8000. Worst case is that mine is fine and I have a known good one to stick on the shelf. These parts aren’t getting easier to find anyway.
Today the lean stumble didn’t act up at all, first time in a while. If it does tomorrow I’m going to follow @HemiAlex procedures and disable it via the coil tach sensor. That’ll show me if my hunch on the FCS system is correct.
Finally got the second rear seatbelt in, on the driver side. This one required more cutting to fit the big wire harness through, as well as my 6awg power cable for auxiliary crap. I ended up covering the red cable with plastic split loom for protection.
Cameo by the Tercel above. Won’t pass emissions (yet) so it lives in the shop. I really haven’t spent any time on it.
The white trim piece below the window changed shape from 82 going into 83. With my truck being an 82, the outline around the seat latch didn’t match with the brown retractor covers. @joesfj40 sent me some of the later white trim pieces so I got those installed.
I’ve been having two more pertinent issues lately: first a sticky throttle that won’t release if I’m at WOT, and occasional bouts of lean stumbles while cruising down the road.
The sticky throttle got resolved today. Apparently the throttle linkage rod got bent and was rubbing on the return spring at the carb. It wasn’t doing this 6 weeks ago, so it apparently got bent around that time. No clue how it could do this under normal operation in the engine bay. Here’s the rub, literally:
Here’s after bending it back (and then some, just to be safe):
Here shows good clearance with the spring:
With respect to the above photo, I would step on the pedal and the part of the rod that hangs down would rub on the spring and then get caught. How would that part of the rod deform?
I’ve narrowed down the second problem, the lean stumble at cruise, to the primary circuit on the carb. If the truck is idling or if go WOT and open the secondary there’s no stumble. All of this data is from watching my air:fuel gauge. The issue happens almost every day, sometimes all day long and sometimes only one trip, so it’s been pretty random. It only happens at steady throttle held between 25-75%. Fuel pump was new in July and tests good. Float bowl always has enough fuel, I rebuilt the carb last year, fuel tank was new two years ago, and the fuel filter gets changed regularly (and is always pretty clean).
I was thinking it might be a piece of crud in the bow that gets stuck in the primary jet on occasion, but then why wouldn’t it get stuck in the secondary jet- or even ingested through the secondary? I’m thinking the issue is the fuel cut solenoid system. I checked the vacuum switch and it’s good. The FCS passes the click test but that doesn’t mean it operates 100%. The other piece of that system is the emissions computer, so I’m going to send a spare one to @Engineer8000. Worst case is that mine is fine and I have a known good one to stick on the shelf. These parts aren’t getting easier to find anyway.
Today the lean stumble didn’t act up at all, first time in a while. If it does tomorrow I’m going to follow @HemiAlex procedures and disable it via the coil tach sensor. That’ll show me if my hunch on the FCS system is correct.
- Thread starter
- #587
Another issue … since I’ve had this truck, it’s hard to get going in cold weather. Only happens when the engine temps come down to ambient temp and it’s less than about 50 degrees outside. It has to sit for 6+ hours for the problem to occur. Even parking the truck for 3-4 hours leaves the internal temp high enough that the issue won’t happen.
It starts up fine with the choke out and one pump. But then it immediately misfires, and bad - the engine and the whole truck shake violently. I have to keep my foot on the gas to keep it alive. Vacuum is super low and it wants to idle around 300-400rpm (hence foot on the gas to keep rpms higher). Too much choke and it dies even with my foot keeping the rpms up, choke has to stay about halfway. Around 2-3 minutes something happens where the engine kind of magically “comes online”. This happens rapidly, over the course of 2-3 seconds. After that I can take my foot off the gas and pull the choke all the way out. It’ll idle normally (1200-1300rpm) no problem. No misfires, no shaking. It’s very sudden when it magically comes online. Funny side note: the Tercel does this same thing. And it does it exactly like this.
Here’s the kicker… this happened with two motors (original and rebuilt), three carbs (one original/unknown, two rebuilt), two different manifold sets (neither cracked), and two dizzies (original and Jim C rebuild). It’s acted this way both smogged and desmogged. There aren’t many common denominators left in the engine bay after all that.
Choke breaker BVSV, fuel cut system, computer. That’s all that I can think of that remains since when I got the truck. The BVSV tested good but that was several years ago. There might be a VTV or two that’s original but I’ve tested those and they’re good.
So is this ALSO an emissions computer problem? The only temp-dependent input for the computer - since this is clearly a temperature dependent issue - is for the catalytic converter. I think so anyway.
I would really love anybody’s wild theories on this one. It’s winter again and it’s doing it every day, yet again. I’d really like to make it go away.
It starts up fine with the choke out and one pump. But then it immediately misfires, and bad - the engine and the whole truck shake violently. I have to keep my foot on the gas to keep it alive. Vacuum is super low and it wants to idle around 300-400rpm (hence foot on the gas to keep rpms higher). Too much choke and it dies even with my foot keeping the rpms up, choke has to stay about halfway. Around 2-3 minutes something happens where the engine kind of magically “comes online”. This happens rapidly, over the course of 2-3 seconds. After that I can take my foot off the gas and pull the choke all the way out. It’ll idle normally (1200-1300rpm) no problem. No misfires, no shaking. It’s very sudden when it magically comes online. Funny side note: the Tercel does this same thing. And it does it exactly like this.
Here’s the kicker… this happened with two motors (original and rebuilt), three carbs (one original/unknown, two rebuilt), two different manifold sets (neither cracked), and two dizzies (original and Jim C rebuild). It’s acted this way both smogged and desmogged. There aren’t many common denominators left in the engine bay after all that.
Choke breaker BVSV, fuel cut system, computer. That’s all that I can think of that remains since when I got the truck. The BVSV tested good but that was several years ago. There might be a VTV or two that’s original but I’ve tested those and they’re good.
So is this ALSO an emissions computer problem? The only temp-dependent input for the computer - since this is clearly a temperature dependent issue - is for the catalytic converter. I think so anyway.
I would really love anybody’s wild theories on this one. It’s winter again and it’s doing it every day, yet again. I’d really like to make it go away.
RevISK
SILVER Star
Wonder if it has anything to do with metal expanding?
Or your muffler bearings are too tight.
Or your muffler bearings are too tight.
- Thread starter
- #589
Obviously u’s not the muffler bearings Ian. My best guess is that it’s the blinker cam inductors.
- Thread starter
- #590
Some minor footnotes:
My Emissions FSM was falling apart, so I used a binding machine at work and did this:
I rolled 175,000 miles yesterday too. That’s 51,000 miles I’ve put on Matilda under my ownership. 8000 miles on the rebuilt 2F.
Sticky throttle is for sure solved … but the lean stumble hasn’t come back yet so maybe they’re related. Truck ran great all day. @HemiAlex FYI.
My Emissions FSM was falling apart, so I used a binding machine at work and did this:
I rolled 175,000 miles yesterday too. That’s 51,000 miles I’ve put on Matilda under my ownership. 8000 miles on the rebuilt 2F.
Sticky throttle is for sure solved … but the lean stumble hasn’t come back yet so maybe they’re related. Truck ran great all day. @HemiAlex FYI.
4runner2FJ60
SILVER Star
Great write up. Only down side to all those miles is the trips to the pump! I think the 5.7 actually gets better mileage than my 60 
- Thread starter
- #592
Haha, so true. I don't even want to do the $ math. And yeah, anything gets better fuel economy than a 2F ... but some bubblegum and duct tape can trail fix a 2F, so there's that.Great write up. Only down side to all those miles is the trips to the pump! I think the 5.7 actually gets better mileage than my 60
I'm excited to see how this goes.
My 200 gets 18-19 regularly. It’s a great truck but it’s not a 60 (I’m special)
- Thread starter
- #595
Finally got around to installing the headrests in the back. Sounds simple. Isn’t.
Unless you want to weld, a 60 rear seat back won’t take headrests. The 62 seat back has metal pieces welded to the frame that you put plastic inserts in, and then you can put the headrests in. Like so:
I acquired a 62 seat back from a local buddy in the spring. Upholstery was different of course, so I planned on swapping mine over. Stripped it down and the seat frame itself was super rusty, they all are.
Back from sandblasting in April, along with some parts for the engine rebuild.
Got it primed & painted, then it sat until today.
Really the main work at this stage is upholstery- take my seat out, remove fabric, put the fabric on this new seat frame. How hard can it be? Well, the construction is totally different for one. Older seats have thin padding and springs. Newer seats are all padding, no springs. Old seat frame:
I used the newer padding since it occupies all the space inside the seat. The thin stuff wouldn’t be enough to fill the fabric, and there’s no way to move the springs from the old frame to the new one (without welding). Another issue: the horizontal line in the seat that’s sort of “tucked” in a little bit? Those are fastened internally to the seat. See this thin rod?
And the slit in the padding?
Well there’s a metal bar attached by fabric on the inside of the upholstery that attaches through the padding to the metal bar. On the older upholstery the fabric with the rod is MUCH shorter than on the new upholstery… won’t reach through the padding to the metal rod. Old, fabric with metal rod is light blue.
Newer:
You can see my solution. Make up the distance with a bent up cotter pin, then hog ring from the cotter pin to the metal rod. It was still a huge pain in the ass, not a lot of room to work. My hog ring pliers didn’t fit so needle nose pliers it was.
Continued->
Unless you want to weld, a 60 rear seat back won’t take headrests. The 62 seat back has metal pieces welded to the frame that you put plastic inserts in, and then you can put the headrests in. Like so:
I acquired a 62 seat back from a local buddy in the spring. Upholstery was different of course, so I planned on swapping mine over. Stripped it down and the seat frame itself was super rusty, they all are.
Back from sandblasting in April, along with some parts for the engine rebuild.
Got it primed & painted, then it sat until today.
Really the main work at this stage is upholstery- take my seat out, remove fabric, put the fabric on this new seat frame. How hard can it be? Well, the construction is totally different for one. Older seats have thin padding and springs. Newer seats are all padding, no springs. Old seat frame:
I used the newer padding since it occupies all the space inside the seat. The thin stuff wouldn’t be enough to fill the fabric, and there’s no way to move the springs from the old frame to the new one (without welding). Another issue: the horizontal line in the seat that’s sort of “tucked” in a little bit? Those are fastened internally to the seat. See this thin rod?
And the slit in the padding?
Well there’s a metal bar attached by fabric on the inside of the upholstery that attaches through the padding to the metal bar. On the older upholstery the fabric with the rod is MUCH shorter than on the new upholstery… won’t reach through the padding to the metal rod. Old, fabric with metal rod is light blue.
Newer:
You can see my solution. Make up the distance with a bent up cotter pin, then hog ring from the cotter pin to the metal rod. It was still a huge pain in the ass, not a lot of room to work. My hog ring pliers didn’t fit so needle nose pliers it was.
Continued->
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- Thread starter
- #596
Getting in there was tough, but the cotter pin idea worked. You really have to have the fabric as far into the slot in the padding as far as you can. Every 1/4” makes your life easier.
After that, it’s a zillion hog rings around the perimeter. Not too bad, just make sure the upholstery isn’t getting off centered. Next was punching holes in the top edge for the plastic headrest receivers. Leave a couple hot rings off so you can eyeball where the metal brackets are inside. Push the plastic receivers through the upholstery, get them in the hole of the metal bracket, push until it clips. And then finish hog ringin’. Reassemble the latch hardware. Oops, I left out the fact that there’s a rod inside running left to right - get that in before sealing it up. It connects the latch on the left and right, so when you lift one lever the other one lifts too. I added a little grease on the moving parts at the edge. There’s also some thin padding glued to the frame to prevent recent the rod from rattling. Sorry, no photos of any of this.
Reinstalling the seat is straightforward, four bolts and two clips. The pivot points welded to the seat frame had plastic sleeves over them that were all torn up. Those are necessary to take up extra space between the pivot on the seat frame and the hole it goes into. I put mine back broken for now until I can get some replacements. It probably something McMaster Carr would have. Put the carpet back, and screw in all 500 screws for the edge trim on the seat that holds the carpet in place. Done!
I need to paint the plastic receivers - they’re blue/gray and they NEED to match my brown interior. But that can wait.
I checked off rear shoulder belts and headrests, so that concludes the safety portion of the program. The back looks like a 62 now, no big deal. Back to whacky stuff soon.
After that, it’s a zillion hog rings around the perimeter. Not too bad, just make sure the upholstery isn’t getting off centered. Next was punching holes in the top edge for the plastic headrest receivers. Leave a couple hot rings off so you can eyeball where the metal brackets are inside. Push the plastic receivers through the upholstery, get them in the hole of the metal bracket, push until it clips. And then finish hog ringin’. Reassemble the latch hardware. Oops, I left out the fact that there’s a rod inside running left to right - get that in before sealing it up. It connects the latch on the left and right, so when you lift one lever the other one lifts too. I added a little grease on the moving parts at the edge. There’s also some thin padding glued to the frame to prevent recent the rod from rattling. Sorry, no photos of any of this.
Reinstalling the seat is straightforward, four bolts and two clips. The pivot points welded to the seat frame had plastic sleeves over them that were all torn up. Those are necessary to take up extra space between the pivot on the seat frame and the hole it goes into. I put mine back broken for now until I can get some replacements. It probably something McMaster Carr would have. Put the carpet back, and screw in all 500 screws for the edge trim on the seat that holds the carpet in place. Done!
I need to paint the plastic receivers - they’re blue/gray and they NEED to match my brown interior. But that can wait.
I checked off rear shoulder belts and headrests, so that concludes the safety portion of the program. The back looks like a 62 now, no big deal. Back to whacky stuff soon.
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Just finished doing all this on my '81 right before Christmas so we could load it up and head to my parents to celebrateand exchage gifts. Was able to use your seat belt brackets to hide the retractors in the C pillar. Thanks for those, they worked great. I just need to track down the C pillar seat belt retractor covers and cargo area trim from an FJ62 as well as some brown head rests. Oh and buy your cargo area panels to match the tailgate panel my wife bought me for Christmas.
- Thread starter
- #598
I love it! Brown interior on a white 60 is super sharp, I don’t know if ai’ve ever seen that before. Yours is super clean too. I think you’d agree the seat belt and head rest jobs are both a bit pain, but worth it for hauling kiddos around.
For the plastic retractor covers, try FJ40GURU here on Mud. It was cheaper to have him send them here from Australia than it was to source from the usual part-out guys here in the states. By like half the price. Still not cheap though.
If you’re looking to get a set of the 62 panels in brown, contact me first. I’m slowly discontinuing the brown panels but I’d do another run if there’s quorum. I need a set for my truck anyway.
Yep. Kind of a pain but definitely worth the effort. I wanted the truck to be as safe as possible for hauling my 2 kids. Plus in my case, something had spilled on the original seat belts and made them smell so bad that the hole truck stunk terrible. No amount of soaking or scrubbing could get the smell out. In fact, I left them soaking in a bucket of soap water for 2 months and everytime I walked by, the stench was awful. Still can't figure out what made them smell like that.
Yes. Put me down for a pair of 62 style cargo side panels in brown.
Thanks for the tip on the retractor covers. I've got a lead on some, but I'll check with @FJ40GURU to see what it would cost from him.
Yes. Put me down for a pair of 62 style cargo side panels in brown.
Thanks for the tip on the retractor covers. I've got a lead on some, but I'll check with @FJ40GURU to see what it would cost from him.
