Intake Elbow

Engine runs on air and fuel. The Air enters the airbox, goes through air filter, then goes to turbo. Turbo is an air-pump which sucks air in and jets it out the other side. The far side of the turbo is a tube that runs across the top of the engine, it rounds a corner and heads down into the engine intake.

Air cleaner is the source of the air, its the big black thing on the front left.

The turbo is forcing air into the tubing that runs between the turbo and the intake and that means pressure.

See the tube that leads air acorss the top of the motor to the intake elbow.

The pressure causes the engine to consume more air, which means it can consume more fuel and that means it can make more power.

Mister Turbo is what the air cleaner feeds into. You can see the same side as the air cleaner input leads across the motor to the intake. The other side of the turbo is driven by the exhaust.

The corner leading to the intake is known as the Intake Elbow, its an original part made from rubber, and its a failure point for the 3B when a turbo is installed. It was designed to support a little suction, but not a bunch of positive pressure, so it eventually fails.

Here’s the intake elbow, reinforced with black electrical tape…

Lots of stories on ih8mud about needing to repair the elbow with endless applications of duct tape. Sure enough, mine has been repaired and looks to be leaking. Might be because it was fixed with strands of electrical tape? Leaking means turbo isn’t working as well as it should.

View of the intake elbow with context.

So… seems like a good idea to get a better intake elbow. Choices are:
– Silicone Tubing – that stuff is expensive high temperature tubing
– Radiator Hose! It can also handle the moderate temperatures and pressures without an issue.

Napa looked up a compatible part for me, $15, part number NBH9348.

To Spray and Protect

Being the owner of a canadian land cruiser thats been sitting for a year in that rust-causing canadian air, I really want to get it treated with something so it doesn’t rust.

Then under the car this weekend I found a small spot of rust behind the rear driver’s side wheel, so now I have some actual rust repair too do, not just a simple spray job.

I picked up a gallon of fluid film from Grainger on monday morning. $42. My neighbor has a compressor, I just need access to a paint gun with 515 tip. And a wand. I need a wand to spray the stuff into those hundreds of hard to reach places. Today I went looking for Aspho, a rust treatment, basically phosphoric acid. At Westco auto body supply they had a 75% solution called Rust-Mort for $18, but they strongly recommended por15. Hmm. I’ve heard the prep is difficult but they had a tiny can for $8. I’ll give it a shot next weekend. Need to clean off all oil before applying.

I also picked up a reusable tyvek suit on closeout for $5 and a box of nitrile gloves. And a can of rustoleum super zinc galvanizing spray paint. What could go wrong with that? I’ll use it when the por15 runs out.

O.M.G. – Plates!

Saturday I woke to find a text message on my phone. Seller was feeling “ripped off” because it had cost him $500 to change his US dollars into canadian. Given that the two currencies are at parity this left me with a loss for words. He paid more than 5% to change money? Where was he? A race track? A casino? The gist of the message was that because it had cost him so much to change money he didn’t want to spend $30 to pay to have the registration re-printed.

I’d texted him the day after I bought the car, asking him to mail the top part of the form that the vehicle ownership certificate had come from. He’d said he’d do it, now more than a week later he’s telling me he can’t. Or he can’t without more money. Sort of feels like being held hostage but still I feel sorry for him if he lost $500 of my money to a stupid bank. Gah. Still angers me. In seattle there are all sorts of places that will change us dollars to canadian for a fee of between 4 and 6 percent. I ignore them and go to the Wells Fargo Forex Desk where they will sell currency at the bank’s commercial rate for a $25-$100 fixed fee. I would be surprised if there wasn’t a similar place in Vancouver, but I guess you need to know to look. I assumed he’d be savvy to changing money since he lives so close to the border.

I tell seller not to worry, don’t spend any money, I’ll happily pay if that is required but I’m sure the requirement is a misunderstanding.

Monday morning bright and early I reappear at BelRed Auto License. Truck is driving particularly well after changing out 13 liters of nasty gear oil with 13 liters of the finest synthetic.

BelRed Auto is a private office that handles state licensing. They are the people who gave me my temporary plate on the day after I got the car, and the ones that said I needed the top half of the form. I show up, take a ticket and wait in line. When called I ask if they are sure that I need the top half of the paper because it won’t be so easy to get. I mention that it seems odd to me that washington is requiring something that is contrary to the law in british columbia. The certificate I have is the proof. How can washington require a portion of a document that is supposed to be kept by the other party? The desk clerk tells me she is sure and if I can’t get the paper I will need to apply for a lost title, which takes two years, costs lots of money and requires a state patrol inspection! I am fuming but thank her.

I go to washington state licensing web site and find a questions number. After 5 attempts to get through I am put into the wait line, 15 minutes of terrible Muzak and I get to speak with a real person: “Mary”. After hearing my story and speaking with her supervisor who says the certificate is sufficient we work out the steps that I should follow:

1. Go back to BelRed Auto Licensing fully armed with all paperwork and ask to speak with Supervisor.
2. Entreat supervisor to call his supervisor for advice, they have a phone number for situations like this.
3. Permission should be granted and plates issued.
4. If this doesn’t work, go try a different Licensing office!
5. Or, just drive to the County Auditor in seattle who knows the rules and will issue the plates.

At lunch I drive back to BelRed and follow Mary’s steps. The supervisor calls his supervisor. There is some faxing. I get to read the weekly and the stranger. After 35 minutes the supervisor returns and my plates are issued. The application has a memo attached to it with a number in Olympia to call if there are any questions.

Yay!!

Check the glare from the plexiglass! DMV Clerk took this photo of the Happy BJ60 Owner and his New Plates

 

Sure enough, right then and there my plates are handed to me along with a real registration. I carefully check all the numbers and also that vehicle is listed as a Diesel. Sweet!

They take my precious customs document and also my certificate of ownership. The title should arrive in less than 10 weeks.

The Fluids Change and Ye Olde Abusive Previous Owner

I read somewhere that before an old Land Cruiser is sold it is ritually and satanically neglected by its owner. I guess the duration of this process depends. It is also a truism in life that whenever someone gains control of anything, the first phase, the honeymoon, is easy because the previous owner is to blame for everything. So… take the rest of this with a grain of salt.

Land Cruiser in the Garage getting fluid change.

I lost confidence in previous owner after seeing the extremely dirty engine oil, clearly more than a year old. That nasty stuff “informed my decision” to give the rest of the vehicle a flush. This being an old school 4wd, there’s quite a few reservoirs of oil:

• engine oil
• transmission
• transfer case (a second transmission that control selection of 2wd, 4wd and 4wd low)
• rear differential
• front differential

I looked everything up on IH8Mud. Incredible resource! Since I won’t be flooding the drive train with river crossings I can reward the car with the best oils. Honestly this vehicle was designed to consume old school oil, this synthetic stuff is overkill. There would be no issue running the $12/gallon 80w90 from Walmart. Since this vehicle is so new to me I want to experience the best and perhaps improved fuel economy (don’t hold your breath on that one). Later on after the honeymoon I can cheap out and see if there’s a notable difference.

• Engine oil is Rotella T6 5w40 that I had around the house for the motorcycle and Porsche 930. ($21/gallon at walmart).
• Transmission oil is tricky. The H55F transmission has “yellow metal” inside, used for synchronizers and it is corroded by some implementations of the GL5 gear oil spec, something about sulphur. I also read that some implementations don’t corrode yellow metal. From IH8Mud I see happy users running Redline MT90, this is a GL4 spec oil, but synthetic 75w90. Retail is $60/gallon.
• Transfer case is separated from transmission by a seal that often fails. For this reason its a good idea to run the same oil in both places, so I use the same Redline MT90 75w90 gear oil. $60/gallon.
• Differentials are high load and don’t contain yellow metal, they can use the best modern gear oil without a problem. I read high and low and decided on Delvac 75-90. Mostly from recommendations by Porsche race technicians. I see prices from $80/gallon at porsche race shops down to $40/gallon at reasonable places.

I really need to get the transmission done since I can feel the gears spinning on every shift. Am waiting up to a second for the gears to stop before I make the next shift. Where to find redline mt90? There are Redline Distributors, but they don’t sell to the public. There are lots of places that carry Redline motor oil, but no one seems to carry their gear oil. Amazon sells MT90 for $15/quart or $60/gallon. I happen upon “Oil Can Henry’s” in Issaquah. They have the Redline MT90, but don’t sell to the public, only if you get a transmission change. Hmm. How much for a transmission change with MT90? $69.99. How much oil does that include? Up to 5 quarts. Cool! Given that MT90 list price is $15/quart, I’m getting $75 of oil, in my transmission, for $5 cheaper than retail for the oil alone. I won’t question that and head right over. When I arrive and am asked how I can be helped:

“I need 4.9 liters of Redline MT90 in my transmission, how much will that be?” $69.99. Cool! Ok, lead the way sir! I drive into an immaculate engine bay, bustling Cap and Bow Tie Wearing mechanics surround the car. They start checking all fluids. They do this for free, “Its policy”. I realize later that this is a great perk. They have impact tools to free up stubborn fill bolts. I have them to thank for the ease with which my fill bolts later came out when I did the other fluids.

As they’re filling the transmission I ask how much to have the transfer done. “$69.99.” How about the diffs? “69.99 each”. Wow! I guess that’s off the table. A full service for this vehicle would be $70 * 4 == $280. I ask if I might be able to purchase 3 more quarts of MT90 for my transfer case. Uh.. Sure. But we don’t have a container. “How much? $8 a quart.” “Sweet! I’ll go home and get a container. Charge me now.” I’m back in 20 minutes with an old gallon oil container and so have obtained the oil for the transfer case.

Shifting is much improved and transmission is much quieter. I can feel a small amount of gear movement as a shift, but more like my Porsche now and not a problem at all.

I decide I need all the new fluids before replacing any fluids at home. No point cleaning up twice. So where to find the diff fluid?

I call around the seattle area. None of the usual places carry delvac. There’s a truck stop 30 miles away that will sell it, but too far and only in gallons. Diffs only hold 2.5 + 3 liters, I need just under 6 quarts. Finally I stumble on Autozone in seattle, they don’t have it but they know of a local oil change place that sells it. I call up the local oil change franchise. Yes they have delvac 75w90 but they don’t have a computer code to sell it to me. I hem and haw, and talk the guy into selling it to me. Again $8 a quart! I need 2.5 liters for the rear diff, 3 for the front. I’ll bring my own container.

I arrive 40 minutes later with a store-bought $2.99 oil receptacle that can hold 12 quarts. Good news, the guy found some old quart containers and filled them for me. Bad news he only had 2.8 liters left. Dang! Thats ok, I can use it in teh rear diff. Deal done I return the oil receptacle to autozone and purchase 3 quarts of Mobile 1 Synthetic S 75w90 Gear Oil. Whatever. Front diff won’t be used much at all, it’s the rear diff and transfer that matter.

At home I move the frankencruiser into the garage so as to work out of the rain. Climb under car to survey and spray powerblaster on the drain and fill plugs. Wow its great having lift on the truck, it’s really comfortable to work on without bothering with any jacks.

Look for socket. Uh oh. What size? I’ve no socket that fits. Socket is needed since drain plugs are recessed.

Again I read IH8Mud and it comes through with an answer. Factory size is apparently 24mm, but there’s strong recommendations to use a 15/16″, which is 0.2mm smaller. Hmm. Interesting. I hit up the local Auto parts store in the unenviable position of needing a single socket. $8 for a 24mm socket, $25 buys me an entire set of hardened black deep impact sockets in standard sizes up to 1″. I already have the metric edition of this set from Performance Tool and they’re the best fitting and most confident sockets I own (though the metric set only goes to 22mm). I go for the $25 full set (Performance Tool SAE Deep Impact 1/2″ Drive: (M590DB)) instead of the overpriced chrome junk, and hope the 15/16″ recommendation is correct.

What you know, 15/16″ is perfect, great tight fit for the soft metal of the plugs. The fill plugs are soft yellow metal, maybe brass and the case is alloy. Very bad if the alloy threads get stripped.

Front Diff:

I change front diff first since I need to reuse the long pointy containers in order to fill the rear diff and transfer. Front diff is milky and overfilled. I don’t know what might cause that. Water contamination? Not really possible to overfill a diff since the fill plug is on the side at the proper level. I’m able to add fluid using the pointy mobile 1 gear oil bottles.

Rear Diff

I carefully pour the Delvac into the mobile 1 containers to fill the rear diff. Again plugs come lose with moderate pressure on a 1 foot ratchet. Rear diff oil is gross! Brown nasty. Also overfilled. More water contamination? I don’t know. Rear diff is easy to add fluids to, only a steel cable that’s slightly in the way.

Nasty brown gear oil from rear diff.

Nasty brown gear oil draining from rear diff.

Nasty rear diff oil coming out of fill hole (overfilled? corrupted with water?)

Transfer case:

I carefully pour my 3 quarts of MT90 into the mobile 1 containers. Transfer fill plug was really snug. Oil Can Henry’s didn’t touch this one. I am unable to gain sufficient force without the ratchet rocking. I’m very careful not to strip the plug. Eventually I set up my floor jack to support the socket, then can reef on handle with both hands. It pops free with just about maximum force.

Training transfer case. Oil was worst of all.

Training transfer case. Oil was worst of all.

Training transfer case. Oil was worst of all.

Training transfer case. Oil was worst of all.

Transfer oil is the worst. Opaque brown and stinky. Transfer fill is out in the open, no issues adding fluid using the pointy bottles.

Summary:

Each of the drain plugs had a magnet inset into it so part of each job was cleaning out the small metal flakes. Fortunately I found nothing big. Also a good idea to feel around inside the drain plug with your finger in case a bolt is lying there. Happily this found nothing.

For each of the plugs I used torque wrench and gave 27-28 foot pounds of force. Didn’t replace gaskets, we’ll see how that goes.

That was three hours under the car changing the fluids. Its dark and cold. Cajole and threaten the family out into the car and out for a victory lap. Hmm! Vehicle likes it. Much smoother and quieter. Put into low and coasted down a steep hill. Wow. Sounds great. No whining from transmission or from the children beside me in the bench seat.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/50283-service-specifications-lubricants-land-cruiser-fj-bj-hj-60-70-series.html

• H55F Transmission: Redline MT90 75w90 Gear Oil, 4.9 liters.
• Transfer case: Redline MT90 75w90 Gear Oil, 2.2 liters.
• Front Diff: GL5 Gear oil, 75w90, 3 liters (I couldn’t get enough Delvac so used mobile 1 synthetic 75w90)
• Rear diff: GL5 Gear oil, 75w90, 2.5 liters. (Delvac 75w90)

For filling oil: on my truck with 2″ lift it was all done using the pointy gear oil bottles, I didn’t spill a drop.

Other stuff you need:

• a GOOD tight strong 15/16″ socket.
• socket wrench (mine’s a foot long and worked fine except for transfer fill)
• Something to support the socket if it doesn’t want to move (like a floor jack)
• Tighten each plug to 27 foot pounds (that’s not much!)
• Drive a little, then check that fluids are still full (in case there’s a burp).

Things to do better next time:

• Order all fluids ahead of time.
• Buy a pump so fill is easy.
• Order gaskets for everything: http://www.man-a-fre.com/parts_accessories/drainplugs.htm
• Consider allen-keyed replacement plugs http://www.man-a-fre.com/parts_accessories/drainplugs.htm

I was hoping I’d finally have an excuse to buy an electric impact wrench, but everything came apart too easily, next time… next time…

Rust Proofing for the Rustless

Car doesn’t have rust due to the efforts of the previous owner. After vehicle sat for a year in the great white north its got a crust of oxidation over everything. The body paint is covered in salt and there are a few spots round the wheel wells that are already corroding. Really amazing how much this steel likes to rust.

On closer examination I found a few rubber plugs around the car with the words Zibart on them. Zibart is a rustproofing franchise. So maybe not just the efforts of the previous owner? Maybe zibart is the ticket?

Read up on the internets paying close attention to teh folks from the great white north. Seems that hard underbody coatings are suspect unless you can prevent water from reaching behind it. Unlikely on this vehicle without first removing the frame. The alternative is a soft coating. Several contestants in this competition but winner seems to be FluidFilm. Its based on lanolin, so it smells like wool. I purchased a can (expensive at $11) and gave it a go. Can doesn’t go very far but the places I zapped are impressive. It coats the lightly rusted metal and turns it a dark color. The metal stays soft and waxy to the touch. I also gave the door plugs and locks a zap. Stuff doesn’t harden, lubricates down to -40? Apparently a yearly application, especially in high wear areas like the wheel wells. What clinched it I found a deal, I can purchase it at grainger for $42/gallon which is enough to do two large vehicles (I doubt that!). I can borrow a friend’s compressor and I can apply the stuff myself.

The morning after

Wake the next morning feeling Terrible. Under a car in the mud with a grinder, my eyes ache, I’ve burns on my face and forehead. Feel I have had the briefest taste of manual labor in years. Body sore all over, and sort of pissed about the amount of work I needed to do to get the car ready to leave.

There’s also the matter of an old land cruiser in my driveway now, under my care, expecting maintenance…

I do need to go to work, but first thing I need to deal with the Washington State Licensing as the BC Travel Permit is only good until the end of the day. Licensing is good and wonderful, but I need to pay a bunch of money for sales tax, or import tax, or whatever they want to call it. Then they reveal that washington state requires both parts of the BC Insurance Registration form. They can’t actually register the car until they have the second half of that form. Shit. I text the seller, he’ll mail it to me asap.

I get temporary washington plate taped to teh back window, and head to Discount Tire to replace the tires, at least the two rear ones which are missed and dangerously old.

Discount tire is empty and has a reasonable selection. The guy there admits that while my front tires (Michelin ltx at) are too old for them to touch, he thinks they have plenty of life left. There’s quite a range available, from off-road to highway. As this is primarily a highway/snow vehicle I’m looking for a highway tires that can handle the weight. Michelin LTX AS are popular with minivans, quiet, good grip and 80k mile guarantee, I get a pair for the rear. The swap is complex:

• rear wheels are rusty and crappy
• I’ve good shiny wheels in the back with tires that went through a car fire

Discount tire puts the new tires on the shiny wheels. I keep on of the current rear tires on crappy wheel as a spare, and discount tire disposes of the remaining 3 tires. Yes?

Handling of car is greatly improved with same-size tires on the rear.

On way home I stop at Toyota Dealer for my first oil filter and gasket. Parts lady is very helpful, oil filter is $5.50, gasket is $1.25. I decline to purchase a fuel filter for $83 or an air filter for $58.

Oil change is super easy…

• Undo oil fill on engine
• Sit under the vehicle with paper towels at the ready
• undo enormous drain plug and ensure that oil falls into drain pan
• replace drain plug
• using funnel, pour 6.5 quarts of oil into engine (until dip stick reads full), I used rotella t6 5-40 (same stuff as in motorbike and Porsche 930)

Now replace filter. I undo the oil filter sized canister on the side of the engine… wow, its rusty. Been a while since it was changed. Wow, its really on there, need a filter wrench… Whats this… diesel! Shit. I’ve just undone the fuel filter. I screw it back on and go looking for oil filter. Down under the engine, in another honestly convenient location is a huge oil filter, a Mahle OC374. Dang, Toyota parts lady gave me a filter for a Camry or something. Ok, I’ll change the oil filter later.

Start engine and smell diesel. See diesel dripping from fuel filter. I tighten with wrench (a no no according to book) but leak is still there. Shit. Probably the filter gasket is toast.

Look on internets, this is 3b motor, fuel filter is a Napa 3386 (wix 33386). I drive to Napa for the filter. Guy looks up vehicle, his machine says it takes a Napa 3396 (wix 33393). I get the 3386 anyway: $5.50. Also get an oil filter, a Napa 1515 (which is slightly smaller than the Mahle that was on there before).

Return home and install the 3386. Engine has a little priming pump built-in on the side:

• take off old filter, pour fuel into yoghurt container
• rub some motor oil on the new filter’s gasket.
• hand tighten filter to filter mount
• tubing over nipple next to filter mount and into yoghurt container
• open nipple with wrench
• priming hand pump is built into engine about a foot below the filter mount
• pump primer until fuel comes from tubing, keep pumping until all air is out
• close nipple with wrench

After cleaning up I start the engine. Still leaking! I remove filter and take photos of filter mount. It looks good. Feel around… feels good. Hmm. I dunno. Defective filter?

I call Napa and ask him to compare the 3386 and 3393. He says the 3393 has a slightly smaller diameter gasket. Shit. Well, that would do it. Gasket too large won’t seal against the smooth surface.

Back to napa and purchase the 3393. Dang its an inch longer and $10 more: $15.50. At this point I’m sort of shaking my head. Why the heck would the diameters be different?

Sure enough the 3393 seals perfectly. No issue at all except maybe it now extends quite close to the engine now, might be tough to fit a filter wrench on it when its time to remove.

Hopefully doesn’t spend all its time like this.

Back under the car for the last step, the oil filter. Fortunatly the oil filter is MOSTLY right side up so removing it doesn’t pour oil all over everything. Filter looks to hold about a quart! Unscrew and a bit of blackness spills but mostly contained. I fill the new filter with new oil, not quite to teh top, slick a little round the gasket and screw it back on. definite benefit to lifted truck, the maintenance is comfortable!

Start the engine, sounds better, cleaner. Maybe psychological but the engine seems to be waking up from a slumber. Next morning is below zero and car had a much easier time turning over, I credit that to the 5-40 oil. Some people worry that the first number is too low. The first number in oil weight is the cold viscosity (thickness), second number is hot viscosity. Cold oil is naturally very thick, like syrup. It thins with temperature until it has the consistency of alcohol. Having oil that’s thinner when cold has little to do with its ability to protect the motor when warm. When oil is too thick it won’t flow properly on startup. Motor oils with a broad viscosity tend to fall apart sooner, but the shell is proven stuff so no worries there.

Next steps will be air filter, transmission fluid, transfer case fluid, and fluid for both diffs.

Lots of steps to go but vehicle sure looks like it needs it.

So, for reference, my 1984 BJ60 wants:

• wix 33393 fuel filter (napa 3393)
• wix 51515 oil filter (napa 1515)
• wix 52159 air filter (napa 2159)

For motor oil I used Rotella T6 5-40 (which is probably overkill in every way, but should ease start-up).

Hey kid, watch that sugar drink doesn’t spill and stain teh seats!

To the Great White North – Eh

Wake at 6, leave seattle at 7:15.

Interesting vehicle on the way up. Someone likes Scooby Doo:

Someone likes Scooby Doo (Note license plate.)

We missed the exit to Lynden (don’t expect any signs) and had to backtrack to Lynden, Crossing The Border at 9:45. Reached the seller’s place at 10:15am. Arrive, truck is:
– still wearing its monster tires
– has no bumpers
– very tall like a hot wheels

First View

Walk around, the suspension, springs and underside have a light coating of rust, but otherwise it appears very very rustless.

Rusty and no bumpers.

Crawl under, check for play in the drive line, the slip joint, the diff, etc, everything is tight. The Knuckles are clean with a light coating of grease. Really looks ok. Pop hood, engine has a light coating of oxidation, white or red. Its dusty and looks like its been sitting. There is oil leaking from top of valve cover, so new seal is needed. Inside, the panels are removed from the rear for inspection and sure enough, no rust inside anywhere. The classic spots look great.

Engine wise, the pipes and plumbing are a bit of a mess. The turbo plumbing is sort of a joke, using flexible positive pressure tubing for suction.

Engine was run that day so I don’t get to see a cold start, but starts right up into a vibrating diesel idle at about 600rpm.

Out on the highway my impressions:
– it really needs an alignment
– wow the silly big wheels make it hard to accelerate
– too bad no pyro, can’t see what’s happening with exhaust
– no boost so can’t tell if turbo is even working
– heat works but is weak
– it really needs an alignment
– shifts well, good syncros
– seems low on power compared to the 4 speed I drove before, which is odd because I’d expect the turbo with shorter gears to feel stronger. Doesn’t want to rev. Driving with the big wheels it seems ok, easy to maintain 2500rpm and 65mph. Only later realize that those large wheels mean the speedo is reading low, we were probably doing 70-75.

Where’s the bumpers? Oh, they’re in teh back. Wheres the wheels? Oh they’re back there too. Where’s the parts? Oh, they’re at my house, we’ll need to go pick them up. Damn. I’m pretty close to telling him to spend a week or two to get his stuff together, but relent. Ok then, let’s get to work. The seller is game and we start right away with fetching the parts at his nearby place.

My ride’s duty discharged, he heads off to his business in La Conner.

Ouch. He’s got parts in the back of his truck, in a trailer, and inside his garage. We sort through them and get the ones I need.

Loading bits into the back.

Back to his work we go round back. There’s 10-11 wrecked cars there. One is a 1988 Land Cruiser FJ62G that burned from about 10 inches above the frame. Roof rack melted. Seller says it’s probably from a bad stereo install what with those later cruisers running 24 volts. Its donating its: wheels and bumpers to me. Only thing is, the bumpers are still attached. The fronts come off in about 35 minutes, the rear bumper though… it’s really on there, 10 bolts and none will come free with the force I can apply in the limited space available. I get to spend 5 hours on my back, on wet cardboard, with a grinder cutting the bolts off the bumper and sparks burning my face. Good thing I brought eye protection. This time the seller needs to be back inside doing his work.

Lifting rear for wheel change.

Man… man. Root beer brown beauty is looking pretty good at this point. Well, I did learn an appreciation for the excellent bolts toyota uses to hold its bumpers on.

By 5:30 I’ve cut off the rear bumper and mounted them both onto the FrankenCruiser. I’ve taken off the front sway bar to find the rear sway bar he gave me is actually a front. So I only need one front… Dang I wanted a rear sway bar but now its dark and I still need to get through customs. I mount the wheels, remove the wheels from the hulk and into the back.

Note that the burned hulk where I got the wheels and bumpers is land cruiser donor number 8.

A BJ62G died and now others can live.

Hot fire caused by miswiring stereo into 24volt system.

Can see what seat frames look like without their covers.

Right before we leave for licensing seller notices the left turn signals are stuck on. “That is not right!” He takes off the front turn signal to check for dual filament bulb (classic mistake on Porsche too), but its ok. Next he digs through the wiring in the back and finds a device for working trailer lights. Disconnects it and all is good.

Getting in the car I notice the brake warning light is on. Hmm. Release ebrake it stays on… Hmm. Ask seller. We check brake fluid level, its low… Hmm. He’s under car, I’m pumping pedal, a brake fitting is leaking. Its a new AN12 coupling, was just a little loose. Tightened it no longer leaks. He buys a pint of brake fluid. We check again, no leak.

We head to some private canadian version of licensing and I purchase a BC Transit Permit. At the office they assure me I only am entitled to the bottom half of the insurance paper, the top half belongs to the seller. Transit permit good for 2 days is $41.

Then… I’m off for the border. Its 7:30 and I haven’t eaten lunch or dinner. Its cold and dark, no stereo.

Arrive at US Customs, drive slowly through crash barriers and expensive looking scanners, stop at gatehouse. I gather my folder of papers. Guard asks for my PIN. My PIN? What PIN? Your vehicle PIN! Uh… what? Vin? Yeah sure. I hand him a bundle of papers. He goes through and hands each one back to me. In a hurry. Asks if I’m a USC. A what? USC! USC! Uh? I show him my passport. Citizen? Yeah USC!

Jeese. Whats with the lingo. Strong accent. Hispanic? Clipped. His view of professional but I can’t understand him. Maybe idea is to make the CBP uncomfortable? Some-a-sort-a professional technique, eh? Get me to jump out of truck and run for it? I bet they’ve all sorts of stories.

Anyway, he tells me to park and go inside with the paperwork. Nice building. Much better than an airport. Makes me glad that smoking is rare today. Inside a CBP officer is waiting for me at the counter. I present paperwork which is:
– BC ownership paper
– EPA declaration (exempt)
– NHTSA declaration (excempt)

He goes through it. Asks for keys, for me to take a seat. He goes out and checks car for 4-5 minutes, he flashlights through the piles of old parts in the back. Then he comes in and sits at his PC terminal for 10 minutes. Clicking. Computing Duty. I pay with credit car. Back to desk, more clicking. While I wait the three bored looking guards in the background discuss the prices on bullets, the relative merit of 223 vs 9mm. Prices at walmart… Is this what they really talk about? Or is it on my behalf? Other than their talk the place as quiet as a remote border post.

There’s a memorial to a fallen officer on the wall. Two nuts from Symbionese Liberation Army tried to get back into the US in the 70s, killed a guard here.

Extra shame too as border was much less formal in the 70s. Just to the east of the border crossing are a pair of country roads, Henderson Rd and its canadian equivalent: 0th Avenue. The two small roads are exactly parallel running east west and separated by a ditch and some power lines. This is the border. There’s no wall or fence. Could easily drive the cruiser across. With a subaru I’d need to take it at a diagonal. There are menacing high tech looking camera towers though. Probably wouldn’t make it far these days. But makes me think it’d be pretty easy to get across if you needed to. If you’re desparate enough to shoot police, probably better off just going across yourself instead of worrying about your passport stamp.

Eventually he walks up with the precious form in hand. He graces me with a quick snap, the frankencruiser visible in teh background.

The 7501 is mine! FrankenCruiser visible in the background at Lynden Crossing.

Finally back in the states I head south for home down these dark country highways.

Fill up in the USA:

Long day: filling up near Lynden at 9:30pm.

Call from the Franken-Seller

Deal was very loose but I think I was very clear that my goal was to stay below $9k. The same day that Root Beer Brown Beauty sold (congrats!), I get a message from Franken-Seller that the price needs to go up by $250, and that those lovely Optima batteries need to be switched for the lead acid batteries in his truck. I can’t blame him for wanting the batteries and I do think it is good that he spent more time to figure the prices, but I’m sorry he had to raise the price. Fact is he’s been getting lots of interest ever since he agreed to sell to me, so a little seller’s regret. Too bad he agreed to it on the phone though… Sigh. Anyway, no sweat, just a little thing in the big picture.

Message today asking if I wanted spare parts. I agreed. Includes extra parts for dash, heater, glass and… sway bars… which are NOT currently installed on the cruiser.

Sway bars are important for tall vehicles, and even more so when they are lifted to even taller. US 60 series cruisers didn’t come with sway bars, and didn’t even have mounts for sway bars on the rear, canadian (or maybe just later canadian) 60s came with front and rear sway bars. These are essential for good highway manners, especially when loaded, and double-especially when the truck has its center of mass raised with lifted suspension. Fortunately the sway bars are easy to install although I’ll need to get some extension links to mount them on this lifted truck. Seems the extensions for 4 corners are readily availabe and will cost about $70.

From reading the land cruiser forums on the internets I am finding an unusual misunderstanding of suspension and the roles of the various components. Even for the internets the memes around land cruiser suspension are very wrong. This is not a case of small discrepencies, but people lifting trucks and throwing out sway bars, then trying to fix by purchasing a different brand of shock. Nowhere have I seen any mention of corner balance, center of mass, or calculations to determine the correct spring/sway/shock rates. I might actually get a chance to do some math here.

FrankenCruiser Part Two

Seller built Frankencruiser for his schoolteacher wife, who rejected it. Car was built as an Alaskan Vacation Vehicle, has 2 1/2 Old Man Emu Springs, Rancho 5000 shocks.

Vehicle as it was originally offered, large wheels and bumper.

Vehicle as it was originally offered, large wheels and bumper.

Only thing I don’t like: chopped rear quarter panels. This is usually done since they trap water and rust so easily. Much easier to just cut them off. Still it does kinda ruin the lines.

Lower end of lift gate has rust. I can’t tell, can you?

Heres the bubbling on underside of lift door. Owner is including a rust free spare.

Seller works at a hot rod shop. Seller’s previous sale on craigslist n-years ago, was of a nice looking Model T Pickup Hot Rod with wide tires and lots of chrome. Seller also reveals he professionally looks at 400+ vehicle a day, in order to source parts for the hot rod shop which deals mostly in Corvettes.

Seller has owned 9+ Land Cruisers, and he built this for himself as a sort of Ultimate. This car was built up from bits of at least 6 other Land Cruisers, including a rare Two Person Front Passenger Seat that seller has had installed in each of his 5 previous Land Cruisers. “Never seen another one. I just thought it was cool.”

Double Passenger Seat

That Two Person Front passenger Seat is cool.Probably it is unsafe outside the city because the middle front passenger only gets a lap belt. Seller has extra seats with correct fabric, his mom worked as an upolsterer and he’d always intended to redo the seat…

Rear view of two person front passenger seat.

Left and right positions in rear have shoulder belts (though they are notoriously difficult to use Toyota belts).

Rear seats have shoulder belts. They should probably get headrests too…

Frame is from a California FJ60, doors from here, lots of interior from a wrecked one, etc. Each part was media blasted to bare metal and then rust treated and epoxied. He’d considered powder coating the frame, but didn’t because it’s so hard to remove if any sort of repair is needed. Personally I’m glad for that, powder coat is notorious for rusting from underneath. Too bad he wasn’t in Seattle, there’s a place that could have Hot Dipped the Entire Frame in Zinc.

Rust just starting on the OME Springs.

Thing needs alignment, seller set it up with no toe so it wants to wander on the freeway, probably I’m going to take it to Fordahl who is someone who can figure out what shock valving this thing should have. Probably he’ll insist on adjustable, but that’s not happening, I’m more hoping along the lines of having some spare Bilsteins rebuilt…

View of a rear wheelwell. Can we see rust forming inside the frame?

If you’re wondering, all Canadian 60 series land cruisers were 12 volt. Otherwise everything electrical is hard to come by cheaply in the States… This one comes with a set of year-old deep cycle marine batteries from Optima (Canadian 60 series all came with 2 batteries to help with cold start).

New pair of deep cycle marine batteries. These are NICE batteries!

The engine is the fabled 3B. Replaceable cylinder sleeves, internal oil spray to the backs of the cylinders, low stress industrial motor renowned for durability. Drive train is Toyota Heavy Duty, used for trucks. This one comes with the H55F five speed.

3B Diesel, but look at that freshly painted engine bay!

I should add: seller is incredibly nice, like pretty much all Canadians. Funny with low-key humor, enjoyed talking with him. Maybe I’m just not used to speaking with people who are smart and know how to be polite.

255k kms! Thats only 158k miles. Check the 600rpm idle.

Things I need to worry about:

• Vetted? Owner says they took car up on vacation the other weekend, wife drove it, worked like a champ. Hopefully gets me home without too much hassle.
• Tires? I’ll be needing replacements when I get back to Seattle, but they do need to get me to Seattle.

Any-way. I’ve worked out the deal with him. He’ll take off the fancy desirable BC wheels and tires, the ARB Bumper and US made Warn Winch, and he’ll find stock wheels with legal (but not new!) tires, replace stock bumpers, include a unrusted tailgate, and he’ll sell to me for an appropriate price. Also, I’ll pay $250 to get that front passenger seat redone with his fabric.

I’m driving up on Thursday morning, 2 1/4 hours not including border frisking.

I had almost purchased a bus ticket to Abbotsford (share Shuttle from SeaTac, or some other private connector) but at the last-minute I find my father’s going to be driving up to Bellingham on Thursday, so he’ll deliver me to Abbotsford (including border crossings that might take a total of 2-3 extra hours!). Road trip with my Dad! Gosh, maybe I should call and arrange to be picked up at the border?

Bringing with me:

• Headlamp! (Black Diamond Icon Polar)
• Clear work goggles (To protect from grit while scraping at underside of car)
• Tools (vice grips, screw drivers, adjustable wrenches)
• Semi-Completed EPA and NHTSA forms.
• Semi-Completed Bill Of Sale
• Wads of cash
• Pass-o-port-o

Elephant in the Room – Importing from Canadia?

When porsche stopped importing its 930 in 1980 through 1985, it opened up a weird market for Grey Market Cars. These cars did not meet federal import requirements, so rich cool 80’s people would pay companies to import and modify the cars to be complient with US law, get them tested or somehow approved. This meant changing out the speedometers, welding tubes into the doors, modifying the exhaust so the car could pass emissions, and also apparently a mountain of paperwork. These grey market cars got a very Bad Rap because some were done poorly and not completely legally. Or maybe it was just the american dealers that just slandered them so successfully. I dunno. There were cases where owners got screwed by the importers and later buyers couldn’t register their vehicles. Caveat Emptor.

And then I’ve run into odd ball Fanatikal Lotus Owner who brought in a Lotus Elise Series 1 Piece by Piece and Registered it as a Kit Kar…

So I was pretty impressed when I saw a BJ60 or two for sale on the Seattle Craigslist. These people must be some kinda WiZZards to be able to navigate the ocean of paperwork needed to meet the strict requirements of US Customs, The EPA, and the Various States, not to forget Canadian Customs.

I got your car in this Jar, Eh!

Started to investigate on IH8Mud.com, several huge threads about importing Canadian Land Cruisers to the US of A. There were lots of scary stories, most of which ended successfully but with the warning “Don’t be a fool like Me, Pay A Registered Importer…”

There was even a case of a guy getting a Land Cruiser delivered to California, paying for it with empty assurance of a forthcoming Letter from Toyota, and then not being able to register it, not having any customs paper allowing the vehicle into the country and then having to drive to Canadia to get it re-imported correctly.

I’ve spent the last 3 or 4 nights reading about this issue, and about what is needed to import a BJ60 from Canadia. One thing I noticed… the inqueries and problems involving BJ60s all disappeared around the time they turned 25 years old… Then I read the NHTSA docs, and also the EPA docs, and then spoke on the phone with the folks at the Lynden Crossing about this, so am starting to feel ok about this being possible for an idiot like me.

Here’s my understanding. There are two forms needed to enter the US with a 1984 BJ60:

– NHTSA: Form HS-7 (Rev 05-2006): Declaration Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Equipment Subject to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety, Bumper and Theft Prevention Standards:
I can check box 1, since vehicle is more than 25 years old.

BANG! Done.

– EPA Form 3520-1 (Rev 10-10) Declaration Form Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines Subject to Federal Air Pollution Regulations:
I get to check Code E (bottom of the form):

“Vehicle at least 21 years old and in original unmodified configuration is either exempted or excluded from EPA emission requirements, depending on age. Vehicles at least 21 years old with replacement engines are not eligible for this exemption unless they contain equivalent or newer EPA certified engines.”
Customs may require proof of vehicle age.

BAM! Done with that too.

I also need the original Canadian Registration Paper Signed to me (that makes me the owner). And after I’ve paid Duty of 2.5% of value of car minus my $800 exclusion, I’ll get a paper from customs that says the vehicle is legal to have in the US.

The next step is then: what is needed to satisfy the state of washington? Do I need a temporary trip permit to even drive the car in Washington State? Turns out no:

I went to a Licensing Office today, they said the Canadian Registeration is Valid for me. I have 5 days to submit papers to get it registered. To get a title in my name i need:

• Customs papers declaring that the us gov thinks its ok for this vehicle to be in the states.
• Original Canadian Registration Signed over to me.
• Bill of Sale (completed by seller and myself)

The car is more than 25 years old, so no subject to emissions testing. Its also a Diesel, so not subject to emissions testing. Word on internets, I need to make it very clear that this is a diesel, but that might only matter for newer vehicles.

Then I’ll pay tax on teh car, and someday in teh future I’ll get PLATES! Won’t that be an amazing day…