Woody (12 Viewers)

[dbbowen]

for the smell... once you get all the dead rat and rat poop and weird sticky stuff from under the carpet out. Wipe it down with bleach. Then put 1-2 very wide shallow pans of the strongest vinegar you can get and set it in the car (maximize the surface area of the vinegar). Roll every window up and leave it for two days. Then remove it and roll the windows down and air it out for a few days and all the smells will be gone.

If for some reason the smells are still there, the Ozone machine really works wonders. Ive turned disgusting smoker/rotten liquid under carpet cars into daily drivers this way with great success.

 

[majdomo]

for the smell... once you get all the dead rat and rat poop and weird sticky stuff from under the carpet out. Wipe it down with bleach. Then put 1-2 very wide shallow pans of the strongest vinegar you can get and set it in the car (maximize the surface area of the vinegar). Roll every window up and leave it for two days. Then remove it and roll the windows down and air it out for a few days and all the smells will be gone.

If for some reason the smells are still there, the Ozone machine really works wonders. Ive turned disgusting smoker/rotten liquid under carpet cars into daily drivers this way with great success.

Thanks. I hit everything that was touching "stuff" with some enzyme cleaner, same stuff you use for pets. I will try the vinegar approach if there's anything left. I am hesitant to use the ozone generator for now, as I understand it might wreck or embrittle the plastics and vinyls with too much exposure.

 

[red66toy]

Awesome find! Hopefully wiring is ok despite the mount infestation?

 

[dbbowen]

Thanks. I hit everything that was touching "stuff" with some enzyme cleaner, same stuff you use for pets. I will try the vinegar approach if there's anything left. I am hesitant to use the ozone generator for now, as I understand it might wreck or embrittle the plastics and vinyls with too much exposure.

totally understand that. The vinegar bomb thing works really well. kinda smells crazy in there the first day or so but the vinegar smell goes away and all of the musty smell goes away with it

 

[majdomo]

Awesome find! Hopefully wiring is ok despite the mount infestation?

About 99% fine. They chewed up one of the backup light wires on the passenger side, a handful of wires in the engine bay that have since been repaired. Nothing that'll keep it from running, from what I can tell.

What I don't know is how much grossness is in the HVAC fan. I should pull it before firing that up and getting a face-full of.. stuff.

 

[zeeklafreek]

About 99% fine. They chewed up one of the backup light wires on the passenger side, a handful of wires in the engine bay that have since been repaired. Nothing that'll keep it from running, from what I can tell.

What I don't know is how much grossness is in the HVAC fan. I should pull it before firing that up and getting a face-full of.. stuff.

This. While driving Betty Blue on her first trip on the Autobahn from Wuppertal back to Munich, I switched on the fan and slotted through the vents and ended up covering myself and wifey with a pretty fair amount of 'vent stuff' that had accumulated over 5 years of sitting. Thankfully, no dead mice.

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

WOW!! great find. Looks like my previous fj60 I had. that interior looks great.

 

[majdomo]

Welp - more mouse nests. That discolored spot on the back of the headliner? Yeah. I had to cut it open above the driver's rear quarter window and gut it of all the turds and nesting stuff. No bodies, but still.

Damn. Really did not want to have to do a headliner. Did one on my BMW and it was a terrible job. This is only twice as big. Ugh.

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Welp - more mouse nests. That discolored spot on the back of the headliner? Yeah. I had to cut it open above the driver's rear quarter window and gut it of all the turds and nesting stuff. No bodies, but still.

Damn. Really did not want to have to do a headliner. Did one on my BMW and it was a terrible job. This is only twice as big. Ugh.

yuk!! this past week working in Kernville I had the opportunity to bring home two cars. I turned them down 1 was cause they where never none op and 2 because they where full of rats nest. pretty disgusting dealing with all that. who knows what kind of wires or stuff they chewed up under the dashes.
I feel for you. they could be anywhere in that rig.

 

[majdomo]

yuk!! this past week working in Kernville I had the opportunity to bring home two cars. I turned them down 1 was cause they where never none op and 2 because they where full of rats nest. pretty disgusting dealing with all that. who knows what kind of wires or stuff they chewed up under the dashes.
I feel for you. they could be anywhere in that rig.

The non-non-op is a problem that can get expensive quick. Best to walk from that for sure.

The hope is that's the end of it. I don't think I got quite all of it out, but if it knocks out the stink and I can manage to get it smogged and registered, I can figure out what's next. The bones are still really good, I've dealt with way worse.

 

[CruiserTrash]

@Spike Strip I agree: I've never found an HIC that works. And that means the flapper in the air intake tube is set to be pulling hot air 100% of the time. No bueno! I have it disconnected but I like that Isuzu valve idea.

@majdomo This truck is a great score. You nailed it: GREAT bones. FYI, I don't think the early trucks had a clear coat, I believe they were single stage paint. I might be wrong though. In any case, the paint looks great. It'll be interesting to see what's under those fender flares though ... were they put on to hide something?

 

[Spike Strip]

@Spike Strip I agree: I've never found an HIC that works. And that means the flapper in the air intake tube is set to be pulling hot air 100% of the time. No bueno! I have it disconnected but I like that Isuzu valve idea.

Yes, I forgot about that - That's what started me down the HIC rabbit hole, the flap in the Air Cleaner snout wouldn't close when engine was warmed up. The nature of those Toyota HICs is when they fail, the vacuum to the HAI (Hot Air Intake) flap is always on, so the flap never drops. Clearly not optimal. This is something every FJ60 owner should check. It probably impacts smog tests, too.

I originally just put a BB in the line, to disable it, so flap was always down, cuz in CA the vac tube to HAI must be connected AND MUST APPEAR FUNCTIONAL to pass visual smog. But now that it does work, it does help with cold morning warm ups, probably more so in colder areas. Very rarely here does it get below 40/50 degrees F so I really wasn't worried much about that part of it. More import for me was the HIC function.

 

[majdomo]

@majdomo This truck is a great score. You nailed it: GREAT bones. FYI, I don't think the early trucks had a clear coat, I believe they were single stage paint. I might be wrong though. In any case, the paint looks great. It'll be interesting to see what's under those fender flares though ... were they put on to hide something?

The fender flares may have been a dealer option? They are screwed into the bottom of the fenders but done well, and they are still good and pliable. They also play nice with the mudflaps, so I'm not in any real hurry to take them off. The inside of the wheel wells are all super dry, same as the rest of the body and frame.

Am looking at maybe getting some OEM rear sliding windows, which could go in with a new headliner down the road, but not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze. I saw you and @red66toy had a thread going on them some time back, any insight would be great!

A funny cruiser observation - on the 80 series people look for poverty packs that don't have rear sliders, on 60s we go overseas to get sliders. Makes total sense.