Not So New 1981 FJ60 Build

[Hallout]

I recently bought what I'm hoping will be our family's overlanding rig: a 1981 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60. I used to have a 1991 FJ80, which I liked pretty well, but it was always a "grass is greener on the other side" kind of deal. The 80 was nice, but I really wanted a 60, so I sold the 80 and decided to wait until I could find a 60 that fit my price range and was in decent condition.
The one I landed on is not the prettiest, and as such we've affectionately dubbed it "The Rolling Turd", but it runs and drives well, and the frame is solid, which is a big deal for 60s. I picked it up for $1800, too, which leaves a lot of budget room for any repairs it may need, which so far have been none.
My plans for building it are only moderately grandiose, or so I like to think. When I got it, it was in essentially stock condition, which gives me a nice starting point for building. The first thing that we've done is replaced the tires. The ones that were on it were old, and didn't really hold air, so they needed to go. I put 33x10.50 r15s on it for multiple reasons. I wanted to put the biggest diameter tire I could on it without having rubbing issues, at least on road. I had 33x12.50s on my YJ, and while they were great for the Jeep both functionally and appearance wise, I haven't liked the way the fat tires look on 60s. I'm fine with 35x12.5s on them, but for 33s the 12.5 width just didn't sit well. So I guess the decision cam down to aesthetics in the end.
The next thing to be put on is an OME lift. The leaf springs currently on it are pretty flat, and the shocks were also in need of help. The OME 2.5 inch kit solves that problem, while also giving me the clearance I need to run the 33s off road. That should get here next week. From there, we have a 4PlusProducts winch bumper coming, and I got a Smittybilt 12k winch to mount on it.
Down the road, I'll be getting a rear tire carrier bumper for it, and likely a Gobi style roof rack. The rack is honestly more important than the tire carrier, as space is always at a premium for a family of 4. Lower axle gears and some ARB lockers are also in the future.
Some things that may or may not happen, depending on how we end up using it, are a shackle reversal to get a few extra inches of lift so I can clear 35s, a full floating rear axle conversion as well as disc brakes. Ultimately, we have many plans for how it'll be used, and mod plans may change as the trip plans do.
As a postscript, I'm posting this through the mobile site, so I'll try to get pictures uploaded when I get back to my computer.

 

[smritte]

Nice.
If you haven't found it yet, go to IH8MUD. Everything you wanted to know about cruisers and more.
There's an FJ60 down the street from me, I keep eyeing. It's been sitting for years. When I drive by it, I think....lift, LS3..........sigh. as if I needed more projects.

 

[Hallout]

Nice.
If you haven't found it yet, go to IH8MUD. Everything you wanted to know about cruisers and more.
There's an FJ60 down the street from me, I keep eyeing. It's been sitting for years. When I drive by it, I think....lift, LS3..........sigh. as if I needed more projects.

I love IH8MUD. I've actually got a build thread there, too.

 

[Hallout]

Finally got around to it; here are the pictures I promised. This set is how the FJ60 was when I first got it home. There are some pretty rusty bits on the body, which is to be expected on one of these, but other than some surface rust, the frame is solid. Also the black bars on the tailgate were a factory addition to some early 60 series. They're supposed to keep cargo from sliding back and hitting the rear glass.

 

[Hallout]

And this one is how it looks with the new tires. Loving the pizza cutter look on it.

 

[smritte]

Do you have a plan for the cracked dash and you'r not going to loose the hula girl are you?
I did a dash pad cover on my 80 before it started to crack.

 

[Hallout]

The hula girl is definitely going to stay. I'm not sure about the dash yet, but I may end up replacing it all together. We'll see. It has more pressing issues than the dash for the moment, though.

 

[13ADVXterra]

following

 

[Hallout]

It's been a while since I posted last, as I haven't had much time to do anything with the Rolling Turd. I got her home from getting tires on, and haven't been able to get it to start since. It'll run on starting fluid, and there's fuel up to the fuel filter at least, but it's not getting to the carb. I replaced the fuel pump, hoping that would be the issue, but that hasn't worked, which makes me think the fuel lines may be bad, so I'm going to try replacing them next. I'm also going to go through the vacuum lines, because I noticed several were missing, and those that weren't missing were in sorry condition. Anyone here have any suggestions on what may be causing the fuel issues?

 

[smritte]

Some vehicles have a fuel strainer in the tank. These can clog and or collapse. If there's rust in the tank, it will clog your new filter and can block off the pick up. Drop the tank and check this. It's probably a good idea to replace the short rubber lines coming off your tank at this time.
Fuel lines can rust causing leaks. This is obvious when you inspect them. I'm not saying the fuel lines cant plug, but if you had to replace them due to anything it will be external rust or kinked due to damage. I don't remember if Toyota ran a strainer in the front of the carb like GM did. Look that one up also.
The fact that it runs on WD40 or starting fluid narrows it down to fuel. A side note here, I have had the cheaper fuel pumps not work out of the box on my older vehicles.

EDIT: Add in making sure whatever vents your tank is in good working order. It can be a canister or gas cap. It wont cause a no-start but it will shut off while driving due to the tank being sealed. This is something I would see on older vehicles too. Chek this part also while you drop the tank.

 

[Hallout]

Some vehicles have a fuel strainer in the tank. These can clog and or collapse. If there's rust in the tank, it will clog your new filter and can block off the pick up. Drop the tank and check this. It's probably a good idea to replace the short rubber lines coming off your tank at this time.
Fuel lines can rust causing leaks. This is obvious when you inspect them. I'm not saying the fuel lines cant plug, but if you had to replace them due to anything it will be external rust or kinked due to damage. I don't remember if Toyota ran a strainer in the front of the carb like GM did. Look that one up also.
The fact that it runs on WD40 or starting fluid narrows it down to fuel. A side note here, I have had the cheaper fuel pumps not work out of the box on my older vehicles.

EDIT: Add in making sure whatever vents your tank is in good working order. It can be a canister or gas cap. It wont cause a no-start but it will shut off while driving due to the tank being sealed. This is something I would see on older vehicles too. Chek this part also while you drop the tank.

The tank is brand new, we managed to get Toyota to honor the old recall, even though they hemmed and hawed about it forever. Also, fuel is getting to the fuel filter that's just before the new mechanical fuel pump, and the fuel pump is new oem, so it should, theoretically. The only thing I can think of is that the fuel lines need replacing.

 

[smritte]

My buddy got them to warranty his frame on an 84 pu. I was amazed.
If the tank was replaced, double check the rubber hoses connecting to the hard line while your inspecting. Dropping the tank has always been a part of my vehicle baselining. On one of my trucks, a previous owner had "extended" the lines slightly. They partially kinked when you reinstalled it, The issue didn't surface for a while. Its always the simple things that get us.

There's a 60 series down the street from my house I keep eyeing. It hasn't moved in at least 10 years. This thread has me looking at it when I drive by. I'm hoping it has the Hula Girl option like yours did.

 

[Hallout]

My buddy got them to warranty his frame on an 84 pu. I was amazed.
If the tank was replaced, double check the rubber hoses connecting to the hard line while your inspecting. Dropping the tank has always been a part of my vehicle baselining. On one of my trucks, a previous owner had "extended" the lines slightly. They partially kinked when you reinstalled it, The issue didn't surface for a while. Its always the simple things that get us.

There's a 60 series down the street from my house I keep eyeing. It hasn't moved in at least 10 years. This thread has me looking at it when I drive by. I'm hoping it has the Hula Girl option like yours did.

I've been told the strategy is to just be a pain in the butt for a long time. I went and looked over the fuel lines, and while nothing is kinked, the rubber lines are all very old. I'm starting to think that somewhere along the line, one of them delaminated internally and sent some of that goop up the line and it clogged. I'm going to replace all the rubber fuel line and hope that does it for us.

 

[smritte]

It's been a while for me with carburetors. These things to check are coming to me slowly.

If possible, detach the line to your carb, push a piece of hose over the end and check the flow by trying to start the vehicle. Make sure you disconnect your coil just because. it will only make a couple psi and should have decent flow. If it does, problem is most likely in the carb.

The needle and seat are your fuel flow shut off controlled by the float. If the float sticks or the needle valve sticks you will either have no fuel or it will be flowing out all over (depends if stuck open or closed). Some of the early 80's vehicles also had an electric solenoid on the carb for fuel.

I'm not surprised the rubber fuel lines were not replaced with the tank. I would see things like that in the shop every now and then.

 

[FJ60TX]

Got a similar FJ60 project. Interested in how it turns out and looking for ideas.

 

[Hallout]

Finally got the dang thing running! The fuel line between the fuel pump and the hard line to the carburetor delaminated and grenaded the factory carb. So, after replacing all of the rubber fuel lines, and the carb, I managed to get it to return to life. I went with the Weber over the OEM because they perform better, are easier to tune and rebuild, and they don't have choke cables that constantly break (mine did 3 times). All together, I replaced the fuel pump (original ended up being fine, but since it's in an annoying place to mess with, I'm leaving the new one on and keeping the old as a spare), replaced all the rubber lines and cleaned the hard lines, replaced/swapped the carb, am currently swapping the OEM throttle linkage with a cable (cable gets here Thursday), and replaced the ignition key cylinder. For the last, my daughter lost my keys, and it was cheaper to swap the key cylinder than to get a locksmith to make a new key. The door locks are all bad, anyway, so I'll be replacing them at some point regardless. Also, I got it running, which you can see here:

 

[Hallout]

So it took a while, as I don't really have the right tools for the job, but I got it done. I ended up using a hand saw and a Black and Decker drill, with a vise grip and the roll bar of my CJ-5 to modify the stock throttle linkage plate (? I think that's what it's called, anyway) when a drill press and a band saw would have worked a lot better, and probably been safer. But, no harm done to me, and it finally runs, so I don't really care at this point. I'm just happy it runs. Next up is the OME lift and 4PlusProducts bumper, but first thing to come is moving to our new house.

 

[k9sar]

The hula girl is a great addition :-D

 

[Hallout]

The hula girl is a great addition :-D

I and a lot of others agree with you on that

 

[Hallout]

All right, so I tried to get the OME kit on twice now, and have hit some decent roadblocks with both attempts. The first time I tried, the lugnuts wouldn't come off. Turns out the electric impact wrenches my uncle had were old and tired, so they weren't enough to bust them off. Then, because we were moving to our new house, I had to wait for a bit to try again. Yesterday I was finally able to start working on it, only to discover that the frame has some decent rot. I'm not super sure what to do from here, to be honest. Here's a video of it, and I'll post some pictures in a bit.