Opg4759's Posts - NorCal FJs2024-03-29T09:03:37Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opghttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2415473088?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://norcalfjs.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2xp2waldiczcg&xn_auth=no7 months in.tag:norcalfjs.com,2012-01-24:2131553:BlogPost:1644122012-01-24T08:23:52.000Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opg
<p>I've owned the 60 for a little over 7 months now and I still love it. I haven't done much of anything to it yet. I still need to get with Doug to apply to fix to the oil galley plug. If there is one sure way to kill a 2F motor that is it.</p>
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<p>It's looking like I might be getting started sooner than later on the lift as I finally figured out who to talk to in HR and I should be getting almost 6k in employee referral money. So if that comes through there is my lockers, gears,…</p>
<p>I've owned the 60 for a little over 7 months now and I still love it. I haven't done much of anything to it yet. I still need to get with Doug to apply to fix to the oil galley plug. If there is one sure way to kill a 2F motor that is it.</p>
<p></p>
<p>It's looking like I might be getting started sooner than later on the lift as I finally figured out who to talk to in HR and I should be getting almost 6k in employee referral money. So if that comes through there is my lockers, gears, hi-steer kit and the SOA with 37's</p>Today's troubleshooting - Heater Hosestag:norcalfjs.com,2011-07-01:2131553:BlogPost:1316772011-07-01T16:53:04.000Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opg
<p>Now one of the advantages of owning a new rig like the FJC is for a period of time if something breaks it's under warranty and you can just take it to your dealer to have it fixed for free more often that not.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>WIth a 26 year old truck well your problems are your problems.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So over the last couple weeks I've worked on the vacuum lines and have fix most of those still have one valve I need to replace. I've gone through te compression testing with Doug and we are…</p>
<p>Now one of the advantages of owning a new rig like the FJC is for a period of time if something breaks it's under warranty and you can just take it to your dealer to have it fixed for free more often that not.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>WIth a 26 year old truck well your problems are your problems.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So over the last couple weeks I've worked on the vacuum lines and have fix most of those still have one valve I need to replace. I've gone through te compression testing with Doug and we are running some fuel injector cleaner to see if we can clean some of the carbon out and see if it reseats the rings of the 3 & 4 cylinders and bring the compression up since wet testing shows 170psi so that's good. We still have the exhaust leak and a couple oil leaks to look at. And I figured out I had air shocks.</p>
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<p>That being said the 60 is very drivable now compared to what it was when I got it. I am now able to hit my max cruising speed of 65 MPH without the engine starving for fuel and/or air so all is good there. Since I'm trying to run cleaner through the system I've spent a lot of time on the freeways at 3k on the tach to get the engine good and warm. So now we get to where I'm at now. I've noticed a film on the back window and I'll clean it drive and it appears again, so that is a tell-tale sign I'm leaking something. I've noticed my coolant overflow has been empty and I've been putting a bit of distilled water in the radiator to top it off and when I fill the overflow it's emptied after I drive it. My guess is that since I'm putting more pressure into the cooling system by driving it at high RPM it' caused the leak to become apparent.</p>
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<p>So yesterday I finally found the leak it's a stupide 4 inch long heater hose that of course is going to be a pain in the ass to replace due to where it's at, however it needs to be done. The bad part of owning a 26 year old truck is you have to wait for parts.</p>
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<p>Oh well it is just a step in the process of troubleshooting the issues and getting the engine reliable before I move on to the mods. </p>
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<p> </p>Why the rear end felt dead on the 60.tag:norcalfjs.com,2011-06-29:2131553:BlogPost:1313072011-06-29T19:34:43.000Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opg
<p>Well one of the issues with the 60 has been that the rear of the truck feels like it has dead shocks. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I climbed under the 60 yesterday to look for any leaks or other items that might need immediate repair and as I looked back toward the rear shocks I saw some air-lines coming out of them, so I traced them and found the schrader valve which was well hidden and when I pressed on it nadda, nothing, no air. So I pumped a little are in to it and it held thus far no major leaks…</p>
<p>Well one of the issues with the 60 has been that the rear of the truck feels like it has dead shocks. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I climbed under the 60 yesterday to look for any leaks or other items that might need immediate repair and as I looked back toward the rear shocks I saw some air-lines coming out of them, so I traced them and found the schrader valve which was well hidden and when I pressed on it nadda, nothing, no air. So I pumped a little are in to it and it held thus far no major leaks and low and behold the rear end doesn't feel dead anymore. Which is nice since I don't have to spend money on cheap shocks to hold me over until I do the spring over axle. </p>
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<p>So the moral of this entry, when you buy a new to you old school rig you need to look over every square inch to find the brilliant modification the PO has done.</p>
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<p> </p>My journey into the world of the 60 series Land Cruiserstag:norcalfjs.com,2011-06-27:2131553:BlogPost:1308012011-06-27T18:00:00.000Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opg
<p>Well as most people that know me know that I've picked up a 85 FJ60 and since it's not a FJ Cruiser I'm going to use the blog feature we have here on NorCalFJs.com to be the primary site I'm using to document my build. While ih8mud.com might be a better place since this is a 60 I have almost no personal connections to the folks there except for the folks that are here and there and since I'm not getting rid of the FJC so I'm not abandoning the site. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The main reason for using…</p>
<p>Well as most people that know me know that I've picked up a 85 FJ60 and since it's not a FJ Cruiser I'm going to use the blog feature we have here on NorCalFJs.com to be the primary site I'm using to document my build. While ih8mud.com might be a better place since this is a 60 I have almost no personal connections to the folks there except for the folks that are here and there and since I'm not getting rid of the FJC so I'm not abandoning the site. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The main reason for using the blog format is to keep my build from hitting the main discussion pages since I want to keep the main discussions focused on FJC topics, however if I do something really cool or need comments I might throw a post there from time to time. I just want to document my build and trials to track my progress and also if any other NorCal'ers or StepCal'ers are looking to go the insane route of buying a 25+ year old wagon they have a place to look at what I've done to gather ideas.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So on to my observations of the devolution of the FJC owner.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I've noticed over the last year or so that there has been a interesting evolution or devolution (DEVO) for FJC owners to starting picking up older rigs like the 60 or 80 and even a few 40s to build. It's not because our FJCs aren't capable they out perform stock most rigs in basic to moderate off-roading. I just think it's the 4wd bug has bitten some of us hard and as FJC owners we want to go further and more extreme without sacrificing the FJC body panels or the dollars it would take to build the FJC to the next level it's just still too new for most of us to outlay the money required. Honestly would you feel comfortable taking your daily driver on the Rubicon or Dusy? While I know the FJC can make the 'Con the chances of visiting your local body and/or glass shop is high. Overall it's not recommended to use a daily driver as a hardcore rig since most of us need to drive to work and when you are waiting on repairs rental cars or hoofing it get's expensive fast.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what you do is pick up a older rig to build on and even there there are a couple ways to go.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Buy somebody's rig that they already invest 10-30k into.</p>
<p><strong>The good</strong> When you buy a rig this way you tend to get it for 50 cents on the dollar, since your buying a rig that all the labor has been already done on the parts bought and generally if it's in running shape it is turnkey and you can go wheel as soon as you drive away.</p>
<p><strong>The bad</strong> Depending on the quality of work by the previous owner(PO) you might have gremlins that you will have to trace for years to come. Plus you can't say it's your build you had no say and if you try to pass it off as your work you can get caught in that lie and you lose creditability.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Overall</strong> This is the cheapest way to get a old school cruiser that is trail ready.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Buy a stock rig that has little to no mods.</p>
<p><strong>The Good</strong> You have a blank canvas to build the rig of your dreams. You don't have to deal with a PO that took short cuts or didn't do something you feel isn't right. You don't have to redo existing mods to make them work for your needs. </p>
<p><strong>The Bad</strong> It's going to cost you money. Do you want air lockers? That is a 2500 dollar investment. Do you want to lift sping under or spring over axle again that's a 1000 - 3000 dollar investment. Engine swap, regear, tranmission swap, crawl box, bumpers, etc it all cost money and then if you can't do the work yourself you need to pay someone to do it and unless you have good friends that know what they are doing it's going to cost you in labor.</p>
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<p><b>Overall</b> This is the more expensive way to go, but if you have the time to invest and the money when you are done (haha) you can honestly say this is your build and there isn't a price you can put on that.</p>
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<p>enough rambling for today.</p>
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<p> </p>2F baselinetag:norcalfjs.com,2011-06-27:2131553:BlogPost:1307062011-06-27T06:10:22.000Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opg
<div><p>Doug and I got to start the baseline on the 2F today by doing the compression testing. Overall not too bad considering it's a 26 year old engine with 230k on it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>1 -165</p>
<p>2 -160</p>
<p>3 -140</p>
<p>4 -130</p>
<p>5 -165</p>
<p>6 -165</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The loss of compression in cylinders 3 &4 seems to be common among the 2F engines. We put a few squirts of oil in and the compression went up to 170 so it was either rings or valves. Once we put the spark plugs…</p>
</div>
<div><p>Doug and I got to start the baseline on the 2F today by doing the compression testing. Overall not too bad considering it's a 26 year old engine with 230k on it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>1 -165</p>
<p>2 -160</p>
<p>3 -140</p>
<p>4 -130</p>
<p>5 -165</p>
<p>6 -165</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The loss of compression in cylinders 3 &4 seems to be common among the 2F engines. We put a few squirts of oil in and the compression went up to 170 so it was either rings or valves. Once we put the spark plugs back in and I fired it up we found it was the bottom end so rings it is which isn't a huge deal since it's a little blow by. We did however discover the known exhaust leak as the engine compartment filled with smoke, so thats the next major thing on the todo list. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Also discovered a broken BVSV valve so that will need to be replaced, it's amazing how a little 2 nipple valve can cost 25 or 75 dollars depending on the temp it opens at. I"m going to replace both just to save the headache. I think I'm also going to start replacing all the vacuum hoses soon just to remove the chance of splitting a old hose since they do get brittle over time.</p>
</div>Picking a Mascottag:norcalfjs.com,2008-11-21:2131553:BlogPost:89872008-11-21T04:59:05.000Zopg4759http://norcalfjs.com/profile/opg
I think we have a mascot for the group and it's not Boss for a change.
I think we have a mascot for the group and it's not Boss for a change.