nakman's 60 build

[nakman]

Been having a good time working on the 60, so figured I'd document some of the highlights on a build thread here. I bought Art's 60 in 2019 when he moved to Cincinatti and offered the club a bro deal on the truck. Here's the for sale thread: https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/threads/1987-fj60-h55-6500.26725/ I think Art owned it about 15 years total... first half of that he wheeled it, took it to Moab, etc., second half of that it sat in a storage lot. That kinda happens to us when we get kids.. the 100 series tends to get the nod most days, while the trail rig gets passed over, and such was the case here. Art was driving the 100 pretty much exclusively, the 60 kinda out of sight out of mind. It was fairly described to me as a "project that shouldn't be too much of a project," the price was fair, so I bought it.

The truck came with old tires that hold air, a bolt-on front hoop bumper, welded-on tube sliders, and a monster lift front shackle reversal. Also a lock right in the back. Not my favorites, but nothing that couldn't be undone. Best part is the fairly new H55f 5-speed, and the body is straight for the most part, one good scrape in the passenger rear quarter panel, all I could see though was a blank canvas and what it could be... I took it home and emptied its contents into my parts shed, cleaned it out a little, took a few more pictures...

My next move was to change the oil and try to get it to idle. Bruce @60wag has a bunch of 2F experience so he came over one day for some diagnostics, we found the base of the distributor was cracked next to the bolt that holds it in place, so promptly replaced that. Also fiddled with the idle screws, we got it to idle ok but it still ran pretty crappy. Oh good time to mention that the 60 had almost a second 60 tucked inside of it- boxes and boxes of little bits that Art had collected from other scrap trucks. This continues to provide value... I got rid of some of the extra seats but still have a ton of interior and engine parts.

Anyway I dedided then to make an appointment at Classic Cruisers in Poncha Springs... mainly because good tech help on the front range here is tough to get availability on, and I also figured if this 60 was a total lemon that Classic Cruisers would be a good place to leave it. I unboled that front hoop deal figuring I'd do a real front bumper someday, and to make more room for engine work, and a few weeks later Bruce followed me to Classic Cruisers, where the 60 would wait for 2-3 months until they could sneak it in.

 

[nakman]

I think it's about September now, and the guys at Classic Cruisers performed a complete de-smog and carb rebuid, also buttoned up a few other things that needed fixing. In short the truck runs pretty good now, has low compression but it's fairly even across all 6 cylinders. it's a tired old 2F that will not win many races, but will also likely putter along for another 20 years in this state. So I've got a running Cruiser, can decide later what to do about the engine. Next hurdle was registration, which I was able to do fairly easily as I own a place in Park County. Here's the 60 parked at its south park residence...

So I've had the 60 for about 6 months now, and put about 2 tanks of gas through it. In case I didn't mention before I hate Lock Rights... so my very next move is to pull that thing. Lucky for me good buddy @jps8460 Jackson lives only about 10 blocks away, and he's got more diff experience (and spare parts) than most of us put together... he was kind enough to swing by one night to help me get the old spider gears & c-clips back in place. I took a picture for some reason, really not much to see though:

I bought an ARB Locker from @treerootCO last year, which is still in the box in my shed. I want to get used to picking lines & wheeling this truck open first before I put that in, plus with the compressor & diff rebuild that's a pretty big expense so a good one to wait on.

I installed a Cruiser Corps dash pad to cover up the cracked dash. Transferred the dashboard Jesus that Art had on there to the new dash. Also got the stereo working, Art your Grateful Dead CD is still in there for the next time you're out here. Next move then is what every normal person would do, time to get out and wheel the thing. I ran Kingston Peak with @Mendocino & family, actually Jeff's son Jake did most of the driving. We bounced around all day and had a great time.

this is a good perspective of that shackle reversal...

 

[nakman]

I work quite a bit with Mike of Bump-it Offroad. He hadn't yet made any 60 series armor, but agreed there's probably a market for it, so agreed to use my 60 as the test subject. He is also almost perpetually backlogged with 100/200 stuff, so another one of those "bring it up here and I'll get to it when I can" timelines. Well I really didn't need the distraction at home anyway, so figured ok cool go park it at his place for a while. This is now November of 2019 iirc... fast forward to August 2020 and just like that, I had new sliders, front & rear bumpers. Mike also cut off the shackle reversal and bolted on some front spring hangers (I bought from Classic Cruisers) for me, also chopped off the old sliders to make room for the new. I am pretty happy with how the bumpers and sliders turned out, much improved from what it was... in back I went for 2 swing-outs, no real plan for the second but I figure I'll make a bike rack or jerry can holder for that someday. I also did wings up the sides, mainly because I want to install my side ladder on this truck. The rear would probably look better without those wings, but it's still pretty nice I think.

 

[nakman]

I bought the complete OME Heavy suspension kit from @cruiseroutfit . I used the springs as a stool in my shed to reach stuff on the top shelf pretty much all summer... so was psyched to get the 60 back and that suspension swapped over. I didn't really take any pictures, maybe after you've done a few suspension swaps the novelty wears off, but lmk if you have any questions about the process. All I can say is holy cow does it ride better now. Part of this was removing some castor shims that were in front, the pinion was up really high and the steering was pretty crazy on the highway. It tracks way better now with all new bits. The only thing I had to purchase a second time was new u-bolts, as I kept the flip kit that was on there, so needed the square bends instead of the rounded bends... Denver Spring will make these for you while you wait, and they're like $10 each.


So now I need new tires. I've accumulated a few sets over the years to that end, but nothing was really clicking there, so I decided to repurpose the 255 80 r17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers that I bought for my GX470's second set. As I hadn't been running those big meats on the GX, they were just stacked in the back yard depretiating, so I bought some new steel 17's and had them mounted. It was then I discovered that Art had installed some 2" wheel spacers in front, to compensate for the lack of backspacing on the 16" rims he had on there... so when I removed those I found my new rims were touching the calipers. I could get them to clear with those 1/4" spacers, but couldn't seem to shake a tire wobble. After new brake rotors, pads, bearing repack, I wound up installing some bolt-on 1" spacers, which solved all of the wobble issues. The front tires still stick out a little, but since they're skinnies it doesn't look that bad. Heck looks pretty good now. Here it is with the new suspension and tires.

 

[nakman]

So next activity then is get out and wheel again. I took it out on the BOWAGW run on Slaughterhouse, got Bruce to come with me, also let him drive half the trail. Jackson @jps8460 also took her up the little hill climb obstacle, gave it a thumbs up... I didn't realize the rpm's could go that low without stalling. Rest of the trail I continued to see what large objects I could idle up and over, man I'm pretty hooked on wheeling the 60 now. I've got a little rubbing in front at full stuff, but I think if I lower the bump stops about 2" it'll fix that. I don't want the truck any higher, that's for sure. pics:

 

[nakman]

That gets us pretty much up to date. I've got a new carpet kit in the shed waiting to be installed, also a new grill, some 62-style mirrors, and a set of 3rd row slider windows that came with the 60 to install. Also a new roof rack to bolt up, even a RTT that I bought for this a couple years ago. Steve @Crash I may be hitting you up for some slider window help in the future here, if I can't figure something out. But all these mods really deserve a clean slate to be mounted to, and the 2-tone home paint job really never did much for me so it needs to go.

So this past weekend I did what most folks would do, and proceeded to remove the tires, bumpers, sliders, seats, carpet, and all the trim and windows. I'm also fixing all of the little dings on the body, repairing the one rust spot on the rear fender, and seeing what I can do about that scratch in the rear quarter panel. Thanks again Jake for coming over on Saturday to help, we made quick work of the bumpers and interior. Some pics... check out that carpet!

 

[nakman]

If anyone sees my wife this week please don't ask her what she thinks of the 60 right now. My hands smell like PB Blaster, our house smells like primer, the garage has that familiar styrene aroma. Plus I never finished the trim in the basement, or the kitchen pantry. The shed is packed with tubs full of 60 parts, outside is a nice pile of take-offs...

Oh and for the record it takes exactly 7 screwdrivers and 2 trim removal tools to properly remove a window. And if you can get a 15yo to come out of his room for a while, a second set of hands makes quick work.

I think I was 30 minutes on the first back window, we did the second one in about 5. Then maybe 10 minutes to pull the hatch window... I'm looking forward to learing the "string thing" when we install that rear hatch window again.

 

[nakman]

I sprinkled a little "rust b gone" on that rear fender, should look ok. Here's a little before and after...

I learned from @bvb that the root cause here is water gets flung up into the fender from the back tire, so the inside of the wheel well gets wet all the time. Solution then is to plug that crack at the bottom, also coat the inside of the fenders. So I sprayed both sides down with brake cleaner first to wash away some dust, then proceeded to empty a can of undercoating onto them. Here's a shot of the passenger side, I will probably do at least one more coat of this stuff just to seal it up really well.

 

[nakman]

The color I'm going for is T449 Cadet Blue, from 1970.

This is inspired in part by @Outlander40 Aaron's FJ40 which is painted Heritage Blue, and looks super killer.. also like 15 years ago Hugh & Kelly from Safari Ltd. brought a capri blue FJ62 to Cruise Moab, and I just thought that looked really nice. Cadet is somewhere between the two. The original color of the 60 is silver, with blue interior, so I think the colors will go well together. I found this thread on mud which pretty much sealed the deal on color choice for me https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/poll-dune-biege-or-cadet-blue.1088682/page-3 actually this pic in particular.

So I PM'd him and asked for the paint info, which he graciously gave me. Unfortunately it's from PPG, which is proprietary and not available to NAPA, who I am using for paint, so wasn't much help. But Russel at NAPA here in Broomfield was willing to take a shot matching a printed out picture and a few screen shots on my phone, we did 3 or 4 rattle can trials before landing on what was deemed close enough. It's a tough color, kinda looks grey at night, blue in the day, fingers are crossed it looks good on a 60 I couldn't find any example of this when searching so I may be the first.

That 40 fender is one I bought a few years back from @rckhound Steve, its plan is to get painted 653 Olive then swapped over to the 40 to replace the dented one that's on there now... I think it's been in the attic for 3 or 4 years now. So it got a brief new life as a 60 color test part, but figure once I turn my garage into a paint booth I'll find a way to make it green and finish that job too.

 

[SteveH]

Lots of 60 love here - looks great. I removed the small round rubber plugs in the bottom of the rear quarters on both of my 60 series. If any water gets into the fender (such as around the fuel filler neck), you want that water to drain out on the ground, not slosh around inside the quarter panel, as mine did.

 

[nakman]

Yeah Steve good call on keeping a way to let that water drain out. I'm happy that I just had that one rust area, will probably coat more of that inner fender with the undercoating as that feels really happy right now. Plus it's easy to do when I need a break from the body work. And thanks for chiming in! As I search mud for threads on window trim clips, etc., I keep running into your posts.

 

[Crash]

Big job, Tim, but it’s good to see you getting after it. I hope Art is watching your thread. Glad to help with anything I can, rear slider windows included. The “string”, rope really, method is quick and simple for reinstalling windows.

 

[subzali]

Nice work Tim!

 

[SteveH]

I pried out my side and rear windows the same way (many screwdrivers), and easily reinstalled them with 1/4" clothesline and soapy water. You do need a 2nd person to apply pressure to the glass as you pull the rope. And when you're all done, you just used the screwdrivers to adjust the rubber gasket where it might have gotten hung up along the way. Done with some care, it won't look like you ever did it.

 

[rckhound]

Looking good!

 

[MDH33]

Great to see that 60 getting some love!

Might want to consider pulling the front fenders while you have things disassembled so you can reseal the seams on the cowl/firewall. Common water leak issue with 60's. I'm getting ready to do the same on mine.

 

[nakman]

Martin, are you talking about right under the lower corners of the windshield? I do see a little speck of rust down there...

how hard is it to pull the fender? I see a bunch of seam sealer inside the engine bay, which was making me not want to mess with that.


Also, anyone know a good way to remove overspray from rubber gaskets? Every window and door gasket has grey paint on it from the previous painter... the rubber is all really good still though, so far all I've tried is WD40 and that didn't seem to do anything, except make the paint nice and shiny.

 

[60wag]

Try some acetone. That should loosener up the paint. If that doesn't cut it, move to MEK.

 

[MDH33]

Behind the fenders there are a bunch of seams that are caulked with seam sealer and they tend to dry out and leak. Fenders are kind of a pain to remove, but since you're painting, it would be worth it I think, especially if you've noticed any wet floorboards when it rains.

This thread on MUD and the Toyota Trails article explain it pretty well:

I just wanted to seal a leak... (front fender removal, please help)

Some time ago, I noticed that my front floor boards would get soaked after a heavy rain. Unlike stories I've heard here, mine wasn't due to a leak in the windshield gasket - after investigating with a garden hose, I found that water would enter when applied near the A-pillar/hood/fender gap...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[nakman]

Ok I guess we're doing this. Doesn't look too bad to me, what say ye?

Again I don't know that I've had wet carpet, the carpet I pulled out appeared to have been saturated with coffee a few times but certainly wasn't nasty like it was in a flooded basement or anything. So I will retouch all this area and most likely paint it to match the body... easier than masking right?

also what's the downspout for?