After I posted about the ‘new’ car last night, I decided to add yet another category to the site, and blog about it: Â Restoration Projects. Â The Jag (who has yet to be named) isn’t the only restoration I need to do – I also need to get The Beast, a 1967 Toyota Land Cruiser finished (the engine is torn down, and on the stand, but awaiting $500 in parts before re-assembly.)
I thought it might be fun – well, fun for me at least – to blog about the attempts to return this creature back to somewhat similar to it’s original appearance. Â It’s not a HUGE job, really.
But it’s still got a laundry list of things to fix:
- Paint is bad
- All four door handles need fixed (ahem – I use a slim-jim to get into the car at the moment)
- Exhaust leak
- Some oddity with how it drives – it sways at high speeds (probably shocks / struts)
- Headliner falling down
- Some misc interior cleanups
- It sat too long in once place with a tire low, so it’s got a ‘whompwhomp’ when driving
- One of the lug bolts is missing
- Check engine light is on
- Four rust spots need fixed
- Some hail dings
- One or two small dents
- One missing section of bumper on the driver’s side
Despite the laundry list, I drove it home today after replacing the fuel pump. Â I’ll admit a moment of great excitement – I had heard the engine fire up before, but only for a few seconds (basically until the fuel pump couldn’t keep pressure up.) Â This time I fired it up and listened to it run. Â It’s throaty, and needs a bit of a tuneup. Â Looks like someone pulled an O2 sensor then failed to put it back and just faked out the computer. Â *SIGH* Â That’s probably two problems in one – the check engine light, and the exhaust leak.
But he ran, and sounded pretty good! Â No missing, no real problems, and generally sounded pretty close to what that in-line 6 should sound like. Â He drove pretty well for a 21 year old car that doesn’t look like it’s had a sheltered life at all.
The plan for the restoration:
- Fix the paint. Not a new paint job yet – mainly removing the screwed up clear coat, restore the original color, and then a couple coats of wax to seal it up.
- Fix the doors. Â I can’t go around opening the car doors with a slim jim!
- Fix the headliner issue
Those bring the car up to “full time driver” status. Â Short, sweet, inexpensive list, thankfully. Â After that I get into a decision point. Â I could either continue working on it, or, get The Beast From The East up and running – that way, if I have to really tear into the Jag for some reason I’ve got a second drivable vehicle.
Of course, my time isn’t infinite – I’ve got A LOT of work to do these days, so a lot of this stuff will be stuff I figure out and work on between other real, paying projects 🙂 Â But the first run at fixing up the paint a bit, and the door MAY happen tomorrow.
This is gonna be fun! (Yes, I’m insane – I like working on vehicles. Â Working on something and making it pretty again? Â Awesome 🙂
Good stuff, you writing about your car. I have 2 of them, same year, different models. I do have one door handle if you need it. Email me if your interested. If this was last week I could have helped you out with everything you need. I had a 90 XJ6 VDP sitting on jack stands for 3 months until I had the junk man take it away. best of luck, you may have the best time of your life with that XJ.
Cool – I’ll probably get ahold of ya’ about the door handle. I don’t need all four of ’em working at the moment, but ONE working door handle on the drivers side would be VERY convenient 😉