My welder shipped!

Should be here March 6th. Sweet!

Plugs, new jack, "thunk," more gunky dirt

Replaced the plugs this morning. All the old ones were pretty horrible looking. So far I love working on this truck- the shocks the other day took me 45 minutes, and the plugs today took 10. Everything is pretty basic. I guess we'll see how I feel when it comes to the body work.

I returned that heap of Husky jack back to HD and made a return trip to Sears to buy a REAL floor jack:



I could probably hand this one down to my kids someday. You get what you pay for.

The steering wheel wrap has been coming apart and leaving my hands sticky for the past few days. I contemplated cutting it off, and figured there were 2 possibilities. 1: The steering wheel is in bad shape, and that's why the PO put the wrap on to begin with. 2: The wrap went on early in the life of the Landcruiser, and there's a shiny wheel waiting to be revealed.



I got lucky. The wheel looks great. It's hard and skinny, and it will be cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but it's solid. I didn't notice any cracks at all.

I spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing the garage this evening, and then backed the truck in and jacked it up. The jack is one of those quick-lift models that only takes one or two pumps to get it to make contact- pretty cool. Not much going on underneath, besides some age-old oil leaks and a lot of gunky dirt. See photos below.





I'm contemplating replacing the engine and transmission mounts. I can hear a scary "thunk" noise beneath the transmission tunnel/in front of the firewall. It sounds like the engine is torquing the mounts and something is making contact with the body. However, I looked around and the mounts don't look horrible. I'd like to see a new mount for comparison. I couldn't find any evidence of anything hitting the body either. Someone suggested I check the spring bushings. They're not in great shape either, but they aren't disintegrated or wobbly loose. So the "thunk" remains a mystery.

Egad!

Think these have EVER been replaced? Sadly, I have to put this one back in so I can drive down to pick up some new ones.

Shocking

Anxious to get under the truck and do some actual "wrenching," I stopped by Home Depot and picked up this aluminum floor jack/jack stand combo I had seen on sale for $75. Word of advice: not worth it. The very first time I jacked up a corner of the truck, the ram seal(s) failed and all the hydraulic fluid bled onto the garage floor. That was it. Toast. So as much as I liked the jack stands, this will go back to HD today. I should have known better than to buy "Husky" tools.



I also stopped by Sears and got a creeper:



And some cheap factory replacement shocks from Advanced Auto Parts. These Monroes were about $16 each. Unfortunately they are yellow (I would have preferred black, or something less flashy), but this should be a budget-conscious improvement to the ride quality. There is at least 100 pounds of dirt on this truck. Performance will probably improve slowly as I scrape all the crap off, if for no other reason than decreased weight.





Cost: 70
Running total: 701

Welder

Made another great purchase. I ordered a MIG welder from Northern Tool and Equipment, the Hobart Handler 140. I couldn't find this anywhere locally, and shipping is free. This is a 115V, 140amp model, so I won't have to run a big 220 extension cord out to the garage. Should suffice for my body panel needs. It should arrive with a free welding cart too!



Cost, including gloves and 5 locking clamps: 499
Running total: 631

Parts order

I made the first parts order today. I ordered a driver's door latch mechanism and hardware, and a gas pedal pad from Cool Cruisers of Texas (CCOT). This should be an easy fix, and I'll get to take the door apart so I'll know what I'm looking at when it comes time for window regulator repair or door seal replacement.

Order cost: 41

I also ordered the Factory Service Manuals from Toyota. There are 3 books: Engine, Chassis, and an Emissions Supplement. Total cost was $91 shipped. For the amount of information in these things, that can't be beat.

Cost: 91
Running total: 132

Emissions

Passed Colorado emissions today with flying colors! I thought for sure it would fail miserably, but then again, I'm not thinking straight due to the CO I've been inhaling.
Goal #1: Complete

The guy at Jerry's Emissions Testing suggested that I was probably sucking exhaust back in through the rear sill (or where it used to be). Anticipating this myself, I had already picked up some garage weatherstripping (it's a big hole) at Home Depot, and used this to patch it up in Jerry's parking lot. What a world of difference. The exhaust smell stays outside the vehicle now.

This photo is below the ambulance doors in the rear, where I was sucking exhaust in.


I got temporary registration today too, so I have until April 14 to get permanent tags. I think I'll go with collector plates, because then I'll never have to get emissions tested again. This way they make you pay 5 years worth of taxes up front, but I think it will be worth it.

First photos

I just brought the Landcruiser home the other night. Anna-Lisa looked a little "surprised" at its condition, but we got into this knowing it would be a project. My buddy Eric took me to pick it up in Conifer, and we had no trouble at all getting back through the hills to Denver. I'm happy as a clam.



The good...




The bad...


And the UGLY.

Goal #1: Pass emissions
Goal #2: Fix exhaust leak/fuel smell (Right now I feel like I'm going to pass out just driving it)
Goal #3: Prevent further rust, fix existing rust

More photos soon.