Builds Where it all began... an FJ62 story

[dogcruiser]

I will say that there are some things that I find myself needing that I don’t have in the 62, which may ultimately lead me to listing her for sale…

I find myself wishing I had a truck… lately it would be very useful.

I am making this 2 hrs and 40 min trip back and forth to our cabin a bunch, and while the 62 handles it very well, its 100% Toyota drivetrain (3FE and H55) is kinda slow. And that’s not a surprising thing with 145 hp from the factory …

I’d love to LS swap this guy… but in its current form, it’s just too nice of a version of Toyota parts to do that, I think… I feel like I’d be better off finding a situation where there was a 60/62 with no drivetrain if I were to do that…

We’ll see… may be listing it in the Classifieds… plus I have 3 x FJ40s that need my attention!

If that’s the direction I go… and if anyone’s in the market for a Toyota through and through (except for the sweet BMW seats) FJ62 with everything working and ZERO rust… Hit me up!!

I feel you there. I wonder often times if I should keep mine or sell it. Yours is a really nice truck. I saw it at Matt’s shop and have been following the thread. It should fetch a premium. And I agree that after all that work you should LS swap a different truck. The extra HP would really be nice to have

 

[jesus888]

Are those new old stock??

No… they’re the aftermarket grill and bezels that used to cost $300 and now are in short supply/high demand so they cost like $1125 at SOR… and new old stock is $1500… so I found ReliK Garage selling the aftermarket for ~$600 and just bit…

 

[jesus888]

I feel you there. I wonder often times if I should keep mine or sell it. Yours is a really nice truck. I saw it at Matt’s shop and have been following the thread. It should fetch a premium. And I agree that after all that work you should LS swap a different truck. The extra HP would really be nice to have

Yeah… it’s a tough choice to make… and I agree about the premium, but how much premium? Who knows… they certainly aren’t making rust free 62s anymore, and there’s a lot to be said for buying a turnkey, hop in and drive it 150 miles, kinda rig… she’s with me at the cabin this weekend and every time I drive her, the thought of selling her doesn’t make sense… but I guess everything has a price!

 

[jesus888]

Another glamour shot because why not?

 

[jpsfj60]

What is the asking price for this 62??

 

[jesus888]

What is the asking price for this 62??

Sent you a text bud…

 

[cruisermatt]

This thing looking

Wish I could afford to buy this one.

 

[jesus888]

Doing some small stuff to tidy her up just a bit more...

• Installing the New OEM dashpad that I purchased from Toyota
• Adjusting the valves to clean up some of the chatter...
• I get a bubbling sound of gas after a long trip (no effect on drivability, just hate the sound it makes) - replaced the gas cap, didn't help, so gonna check out the charcoal canister, and see if something's blocked...
• Replacing the 3 x OEM rubber exhaust mounts... the 3 I had were all broken and figured, let's go ahead and do it...
• Replacing the rear bumperettes (one got scraped by a car changing lanes and then he just drove off - not gonna catch him in my 62 )

She's kinda for sale, but not really, but kinda... meaning I'd sell her for the right price but she's so close to being the perfect version of a Toyota drivetrain, the basically new interior, and ZERO rust... that it's gonna take a pretty penny... I had the complex stuff done with the pros (@cruisermatt ) and the time-intensive, easy/medium stuff done by myself and @SkeeLo22 , as well as a spreadsheet with every penny spent on her in parts and the labor with the pros... and it's not cheap to have a sorted 62 that can shuttle back and forth 300 miles on a semi-weekly basis, and do it with confidence.

Like I said... if I were to do it again, I'd probably drop an LS in a 60/62... but not this one... it's just too clean and ALL TOYOTA...

 

[jesus888]

She’s finally going under the knife.

First stop… replace the dash with OEM goodness and take a look at the speedo cable and figure out why it’s not quite making contact with the speedometer…

 

[jesus888]

Also some very minor blemishes on the new OEM dash but miles better than the cracked dash… also appears we gotta cut the dash a bit to fit the side vents…

 

[jesus888]

And she’s in….

 

[jesus888]

Next is the bumperettes… we’ll come back to the speedometer in a bit before we put all of that back together…

Here’s some before shots… the driver side got damaged when ass-hat decided to change lanes behind me and scrubbed me on the way over… as mentioned before, I didn’t bother attempting to catch him in this shiny cinder block so I just ordered up a pair to replace/refresh both sides…

Before…

 

[jesus888]

During… and yes we’ll do a bit of bending-back on that driver side…

 

[jesus888]

And finished. Driver still slightly tweaked but much better and hey… the rig is 34 years old and I have NEVER wanted it to look perfect… just BETTER…

 

[jesus888]

The rest of the work was rotating the tires and adjusting the valves… the charcoal canister replacement is on order…

I gotta say though, apparently my initial attempt at adjusting the valves was $&?@… because once my buddy Brandon finished with it, OMG WHAT A DIFFERENCE…

No more clatter, engine runs like butter, it’s still a 3FE but it’s running like the best version… people always say “have you adjusted the valves” for just about everything, and I gotta say, I see why. HUGE DIFFERENCE.

 

[dogcruiser]

I know I'm due for a valve adjustment as well, but I've never done it before. I'm guessing my first attempt will be about as successful as yours
Cutting those holes for the side vent had me sweating for a minute. The last thing I wanted to do was take a razor knife to that brand new dash!

How much was the new charcoal canister and where did you get it?

 

[jesus888]

I know I'm due for a valve adjustment as well, but I've never done it before. I'm guessing my first attempt will be about as successful as yours
Cutting those holes for the side vent had me sweating for a minute. The last thing I wanted to do was take a razor knife to that brand new dash!

How much was the new charcoal canister and where did you get it?

The dash made me pucker too… I will say that the new dashes had plastic as the skeleton while the original dash had metal so things have changed a bit in 34 years.

Valve adjustment, depending on who you ask, is simple or left to the experts. I tried, and while I thought I followed the thorough instructions found in a lot of mud threads, I apparently failed pretty badly. My mechanic told me some of the valves were sooooo out… so while I’m sure I’ll give it another shot at some point, I’m super happy he did em this time.

Far as the charcoal canister, the OEM ones are NLA, so I’m ordering this one found in another thread and following this write up for the most part…

Post in thread 'The Lemon Gelato Journey - Build Thread'
The Lemon Gelato Journey - Build Thread - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/the-lemon-gelato-journey-build-thread.1265771/post-14298083

 

[jesus888]

Something shiny finally showed up in the mail this weekend

Also continue to put miles on this girl and she just gives it back in smiles… running like butter…

 

[jesus888]

Also to note when I was getting an alignment recently… my mechanic told me it’s not worth messing with because my Tie rod ends had play in em…

I was confused because I had replaced the TREs with the CCOT kit a few thousand miles prior… but sure enough he showed me exactly the play in the TREs.

I called CCOT and asked if they had ever had anyone mention this and they said nope, so no real interest in replacing or warrantying or anything, which I guess I can’t blame em…

But the fact remained, my new TREs have play in em… so I decided to make sure and purchase the 555 kit from @cruiseroutfit

They’ll be going on this week hopefully. And we’ll see if that alignment goes a little better.

 

[jesus888]

Following @Redwood 's thread along with some water STILL coming in at my A-pillar... and I'm convinced it's not my new-ish windshield as that's been sealed up 2 times since originally putting it in... I think it's time to do my weather stripping and start planning for my rain gutters... but in the meantime, let's get some stuff ordered from City Racer...