OK, I’ll start the ball rolling with a project that should encompass the whole Toyota Tuner community eventually, even if right now, it just looks like yet another beaten up old ‘cruiser. The project will be written in real time, as and when I can fit in working on it, to show the kind of time demands this kind of thing makes on your daily life, both family, work and financial. Some companies have offered to help with components and gear that we can test and review over the course of the build. Other than that, the costs are down to me, so read on….
This is my old 1989 FJ62 Landcruiser that’s been in our family since 2002, pictured in happier times on a photo shoot for agricultural machinery. It was no spring chicken when I bought it, but over the last few years it’s been a great workhorse, carrying or towing a wide variety of loads from sacks of cement, double glazing units, racing cars and a complete bathroom to the usual kids mountain bikes and trips to the dump, plus a large variety of camera and video gear as needed.
Eventually, it’s lack of corosion proofing (it was an import from South Africa at some stage) and a failed MOT test meant that it was parked up. I’m no mechanic or bodywork expert, so I spent a winter watching it get worse, wondering whether to just sell it for spares or actually do something with it. The decision was made for me when I mentioned that I might be ‘getting rid’ to the rest of the family. “You can’t……we’ve had it too long……it’s part of the family”
I had to admit, I had a soft spot for it old girl, especially when I remembered some of the ridiculous things she’d managed, such as pulling a fully laden 10 tonne truck off a muddy traffic island for the police or embarassing a fully tricked up Jeep Cherokee around the local off road course. Plenty of people spend vast sums of money resurecting old Land Rovers, so why not an old ‘Cruiser?
So the question is, “Can someone who has a rough idea what to do, but no real practical experience of panel beating or major overhaul work, not just restore an old FJ62 Landcruiser, but make it better, using tools available from Machine Mart and some borrowed garage space?”
OK, so here’s the plan. My good friend John who has a ’sleepy hollow’ business tucked away restoring old Jags and Healeys has taken me under his wing and offered a corner of his workshop. We took the ‘Cruiser round there and had a good squint at the major issues and talked through a plan and made a list of the principle issues, dividing the jobs into two lists – essentials and desirables.
Essentials is a list of things that either need to be done before it can be submitted for an MOT test or need major attention right now. Desirables falls into two sub categories – a list of little tweaks, additions or not too major things that can be done to update it and another list, more of a wish list really, of stuff that would really make it sing and be a superb tool for many years to come….
Next time I post, I’ll write about the lists, detailing what we’ve found wrong and what the plan is, plus what it’s like to stop looking at it and have the courage to pick up some tools and get stuck in….