making it work

 I figured if the oil return out the pump was bent, then maybe a straight fitting out of the block might work. The issue is that toyota uses such fine threads I couldn't find a fitting like this that would screw right in. I had to use some kind of adapter but unfortunately that made the whole thing stick out too much and I was still dealing with an awkwardly sharp angle for the hose.

At this point, I said F it and made it work. The kink in the hose doesn't look good and I was a bit nervous that running it like that might build up too much pressure in the pump, but it worked fine and I tested the line by bending it and blowing through and it still had flow.It looks bad but it worked out. 

I ended up finding a Chinese made aftermarket vacuum pump with the correct oil return angle from ebay. I ordered it, but while I waited for it to arrive I drove the Cruiser like this and it was fine.

Found another vacuum pump

 So my brother came through for me and sent me a spare vacuum pump he had. (He also sent me the old o ring it had.) His pump looks the same as my old one except for one minor difference. The tube for the oil return line bends downwards and the one on my old one came straight out. This minor difference made it very difficult to attach the oil return hose, I ended up cutting the hose in an attempt to get it on the pump better but it didn't work out.

In order to replace the hose I had to remove the banjo fitting's barbed end from the crimp. I had to carefully use a grinder to get the crimp off. This was a bit tricky but it worked out.

However Even after replacing the hose, the angle was still too awkward to make it work.

Vacuum Pump snafu

 One of the issues I've been having with this Landcruiser is that she leaks a lot of oil. I noticed excessive amounts were coming from the seam between the back of the alternator and the vacuum pump. The pump is held on by three little bolts, I figured I'd open it up and have a look.

Sure enough, when I got the vacuum pump off I saw what the problem was. There is supposed to be a rubber O-ring that forms the seal between the alternator and the vacuum pump. Looks like when the previous owner replaced the alternator they forget to put this o ring back in. 

I measured the grove to figure out the size of the o ring and then bought a generic one at the parts store. Unfortunately I did not realize that the proper OEM o ring is much thinner then the one I got, and when I tried to tighten the vacuum pump back in I ended up cracking the housing. Bummer. Now I need to replace it. 

555,554

Been driving it to work. Was warming it up in the morning and noticed the odometer said 555,554km.
 

First oil change

First oil change at 555,304km went pretty smooth. Bought myself a big bucket of Shell Rotella 15w-40. Replaced the oil filter with a BaldwinFilters part number: BT221 Also replaced the air filter and fuel filter.   It had a NAPA Gold Fuel Filter 3393, replaced that with a BaldwinFilters BF 7967.  

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/rotella-t4-conventional-diesel-engine-oil-15w40-18-9-l-0287932p.html

Fixed fuel gauge

 Opened up the dash trying to figure out what's up with the fuel gauge. The needle always sits at empty. I ended up running a wire from the gauge on the dash all the way back to the sender unit. When I say the needle jump to full I thought I had fixed it, but it turned out I had just wired my gauge to stay at full all the time. Lol. Eventually I figured out that it was just a bad ground to the sender unit. The Landcruiser has a convenient access hatch in the back floor to get at the sender unit.

Bought the Landcruiser...

 

I had been looking for one of these for a while. A 60 series diesel Landcruiser wagon. I might have over paid a bit considering that it had over 500,000 km on it and a few issues, but the engine seems to run good.  When I went to look at it the batteries were dead and it was not charging, so they had to bump start it. I made a deal with the owner and so they put two new batteries and a new alternator before I bought it.

She's a 1986 with the H2 inline 6 diesel engine and 5 speed manual transmission. It's got a 24 volt electrical system.

 

 

So it has a few issues... One thing I noticed right away on the drive home was that the fuel gauge wasn't working.