Jimbo's LJ78 'Cruiser

[Jimbo4x4]

Ok then, first up is just a copy and paste from the other place, I'll add to it as I go

Hi all, thought I'd start my own thread and just update it when I get new mods fitted to keep it all together. Enjoy

Sooooo, here is my motor as I bought it:

"Rex" is a 1992 LJ78 Auto with the optional rear difflock and switchable sports shocks. I had to search high and low for this one but eventually found him on e bay and won him for £1910. He was imported over in 1998 from Japanland and the only owner between then and me used it purley to tow his caravan with. The plus side of this meant Rex only got used in summer and despite never getting undersealed he never got any rust. None. At all. Not a single spec. The downside of this was the previous owner obviously thought the sport button in the centre console was just that - it turned it into a sportscar. Erm no, of course not, it just stiffens the shocks but because of his belief he never touched it and the rear springs are very tired from all those years of towing without having enough support from the shocks. I find myself using the sport button just to support the weight of a couple of rear seat passengers more comfortably but nevermind. I'll get some uprated springs (possibly a lift?) sorted eventually.

The first modification was to raise the dixon bate ground anchor to a less performance hindering height. This in turn made the rear fog more vulnerable and also the exhaust. I cut the exhaust back so in the worst case scenario it would push up inside the bumper in the event of grounding out rather than get flattened against it. After completely obliterating the fog lamp I moved the wiring to the off side reverse pod and painted that reverse bulb red. It's done a cracking job!

Anywho, within a month of owning Rex I decided the skinny doughnuts needed replacing. Preferably with big fat ones. There was only ever one type of tyre I was going to fit to this, Cooper Discoverer STTs. Having previously owned two sets on other 4x4s and knowing first hand just how capable off and on the road, not to mention just how damn tough they are, there's no other 4x4 tyre I would ever buy instead. Silverline4x4 had them on offer and I picked up a set of 4 265/75/16s mounted to 16x8 steel rims for £575 delivered.

I was very pleased with the result and after also getting some deep mud mats and seat covers I was (after 3 years out of 4x4 ownership) once again ready to properly offroad

I soon got fed up of loading my surfboards inside and decided that when on roadtrips I was going to need a roofrack to keep bulkier items out of the cab. A short browse through the interweb brought me to Direct4x4, who supplied me with a large aluminium roofrack with a 250kg payload for £160 delivered. This is a short term (read: "2 years or so") solution until I can afford/be bothered to get my own heavy-duty-rear-bumper-come-tubular-safari-rack made up.

After a some fairly vigorous off roading my exhaust started to look a bit tatty. My resident welder (my brother) fixed it up for the MOT and it passed with flying colours, but something definately needed doing about it. Put in a call to Peco exhausts in Rockferry (the same place Duffy sings about - damn that's gonna be in my head all night now!) on the Wirral and I have a custom stainless system sorted for £300. They tested three different designs on the rolling road before going for this one. They've really gone all out in making sure I get the best torque output. It looks great, sounds perfect - just a little bit meatier but not much louder than standard, performs better and best of all my economy has increased by nearly 5mpg! That's not far off an extra 100miles per tank! It splits in three places simply by loosening exhaust clamps so if I damage it off road or while overlanding I can pull the offending part off until I can find a garage. Top lads!

My latest addition to Rex is a Prime Tech rooftent. I had seen these on e bay a while ago and was a bit dubious about them simply because they're half the price of any others. I was holding out 'til I could afford a Howling Moon tent, which can be packed away for up to 4 weeks when wet without getting mouldy, but after speaking to some people on Difflock who have used the Prime Tech tents extensively and have nothing but praise for them I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. When I fitted it to my dads old roofbars from his Isuzu Trooper it was pretty obvious the bars weren't going to put up with the weight of me and my girlfriend at the same time, especially when me and my girlfriend are doing what boys and girls do when they're in bed together. I ended up joing the two bars together with scrap metal we had lying around and sitting one side of the tent on them. For the other side I cut the hoops down a little on the Direct4x4 roofrack and bolted the tent to the back of it. This turned out to be a great idea as it meant I could have the tent and the roofrack on at the same time.

Anyways, they say the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and I'm off to Cornwall all next week for my birthday when it will all get thoroughly tasted

I'll be sure to report back.

This was last October. All went well on the 1500 mile round trip through Cornwall and back. About 4 hours were spent on various greenlanes round Wales and the Southwest and I only used lanes which were convenient for my overall A to B run The tent got a little condensation do to poor ventilation, I've now found that if I leave a window open a bit then everything stays dry inside.

More coming up

Jim.

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Some pics of Rex from the Cornwall trip:

On the way down on part of Sarn Helen. We made room inside for the surfboards in the end as the truck was over 9' tall and they were eating into the fuel on the faster roads

Strata Florida, just before I lost my front numberplate on a river crossing :

Severn Bridge in sight:

Stopped to admire the view on a hill somewhere in Somerset:

Finally arrived at our first Cornish destination, Widemouth Bay near Bude:

Where the boards came out

Overlooking Widemouth Bay:

Lane near Wainhouse Corner:

Camping in Padstow:

Just John O'Groats to accomplish now lol

Rex on the Fal ferry

One a few wild camps, this one on the way back to Laura's place in Anglesey, in the same place Rob and I camped near a Northern stretch of Sarn Helen. What you can't see in this picture is the 20' wide river 10yards opposite the camp:

Jim.

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Some of my favourites from the big laning trip in December:

And some from the more recent trip out with Gav':

 

[Jimbo4x4]

And a couple of clean ones now that the snorkel is fitted (Thanks Gav)

That's all for now, cheers.
Jim.

 

[adrianr]

Looking really good, great pics too.

 

[Rob]

Nice truck Jim, looks really good with the snorkel. Now when is this lift coming?

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Now when is this lift coming?

Be quiet man, someone might hear you!

Things are a little tight fund-wise at the mo, Laura and I are looking to get a place together and things aren't exactly going smoothly so I think that one will have to go on the backburner for a bit

So only cheap mods for the time being I think That said, it's great to have a truck I can modify rather than repair all the time, things were a little different with my old suzuki

Jim.

 

[ignat]

Looking good Jim

 

[Andrew Prince]

Hey Jim,
Also noticed the slight sagging at the rear there - of your truck that is, before any wise guys comment

Would the OEM springs from an 80 fit in there? I would think the 80 springs are bit heavier duty than the original 70 ones? But I dunno for sure. There must be a few sets of used 80 springs floating around (and are probably a bit softer after being under an 80) Could be a low cost way of getting a small lift. Obviously you'd need to be sure that the 80 springs aren't too big/tall and end up over-extending your shocks.

Just a thought anyway

Cheers,

 

[adrianr]

On your exhaust - have you got stainless clamps on there?

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Hey Jim,
Also noticed the slight sagging at the rear there - of your truck that is, before any wise guys comment

Would the OEM springs from an 80 fit in there? I would think the 80 springs are bit heavier duty than the original 70 ones? But I dunno for sure. There must be a few sets of used 80 springs floating around (and are probably a bit softer after being under an 80) Could be a low cost way of getting a small lift. Obviously you'd need to be sure that the 80 springs aren't too big/tall and end up over-extending your shocks.

Just a thought anyway

Cheers,

Hi Andy, yeah it was pretty loaded up on the Cornwall trip, and it only looks "right" when there's no load in the back whatsoever. Looks about level most of the time. I have thought about fitting 80 springs, and apparently rear ones will fit all round giving about 1-1.5" of lift. Would this over-extend the standard shocks?

On your exhaust - have you got stainless clamps on there?

Just checked, and there's a little bit of surface rust starting to appear on the one directly behind the back wheel, so it would appear not. I'll have to replace them with stainless or treat and paint them before they get too bad or there's no point in having them!

 

[silvercruiser]

Hey Jim,
Also noticed the slight sagging at the rear there - of your truck that is, before any wise guys comment

Would the OEM springs from an 80 fit in there? I would think the 80 springs are bit heavier duty than the original 70 ones? But I dunno for sure. There must be a few sets of used 80 springs floating around (and are probably a bit softer after being under an 80) Could be a low cost way of getting a small lift. Obviously you'd need to be sure that the 80 springs aren't too big/tall and end up over-extending your shocks.

Just a thought anyway

Cheers,

Hi Andy, yeah it was pretty loaded up on the Cornwall trip, and it only looks "right" when there's no load in the back whatsoever. Looks about level most of the time. I have thought about fitting 80 springs, and apparently rear ones will fit all round giving about 1-1.5" of lift. Would this over-extend the standard shocks?

On your exhaust - have you got stainless clamps on there?

Just checked, and there's a little bit of surface rust starting to appear on the one directly behind the back wheel, so it would appear not. I'll have to replace them with stainless or treat and paint them before they get too bad or there's no point in having them!

Jim they might be stainless but there is different grades and some do still look like they are rusting but it can just be staining or fillings attached from say grinding etc.


Joe

 

[Andrew Prince]

Hi Andy, yeah it was pretty loaded up on the Cornwall trip, and it only looks "right" when there's no load in the back whatsoever. Looks about level most of the time. I have thought about fitting 80 springs, and apparently rear ones will fit all round giving about 1-1.5" of lift. Would this over-extend the standard shocks?

I guess you need to try and measure what the max extension of the shocks is and then see whether the additional lift could cause over-extension. Lowering the bump-stops would reduce the articulation and might be able to keep the extension within range for the shocks.
Dunno whether the 80 front springs would be better? They're a bit shorter but more coils, so probably less likely to sag?

Any input from others?

Cheers,

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Jim they might be stainless but there is different grades and some do still look like they are rusting but it can just be staining or fillings attached from say grinding etc.

hmmm, I know what you mean as I have seen this happen before with stainless, but if these are stainless then they are a very poor grade. That back one could use some penetrating oil to undo it as it is.

Dunno whether the 80 front springs would be better? They're a bit shorter but more coils, so probably less likely to sag?

Thanks for the info! Sounds like I could just put some front springs on the back for now, would have to compare diameter to make sure they'd go in the cups though. It's embarrasing at the moment as whenever I have 3rd row passengers the suspension bottoms out on speedbumps

Now where's Gav got to, I need to ask another favour of him

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The 80 series front and rear springs are different diameters Jim but I have heard of 80 series front springs being used on the rear of 90's so maybe that's what would work for a 78?

 

[Jimbo4x4]

They'd certainly give me a better load rating, my rear axle can't be taking that much more than 500kg most of the time. What's the front of an 80 weigh? Three times that? They'd be great for overlanding

 

[Conrad-BJ70]

Nice truck!

By any chance, do you know from where I can purchase a couple of side-mirrors like yours? They should fit my BJ70...at the moment I got a pair of universal ones, but I'd prefer to have a set of 'original' ones...

 

[Gav Peter]

Here I am Jim... And they're in the lean to on the side of the house when you want them, dampers & all

Great thread too - I hadn't seen your pics from our day out... Must book another one soon

Cheers

 

[Rob]

my rear axle can't be taking that much more than 500kg most of the time. What's the front of an 80 weigh? Three times that?

your probably right, i think the engine weighs close to 400kg on it own. Of the top of my head i think the axle load limits on the 80 are about 1900kg and 1700kg for rear and front respectfully, will confirm this when i go home for lunch.

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Gav, you're a diamond, thanks mate. You definately not wanting them though? Will talk about price etc next I see you

Nice truck!

By any chance, do you know from where I can purchase a couple of side-mirrors like yours? They should fit my BJ70...at the moment I got a pair of universal ones, but I'd prefer to have a set of 'original' ones...

The mirrors on yours look cool! If you want I could pm you my chassis number so you can get some from your toyota dealer. They're electric units though so might be a little pricey.. unfortunately I don't know of anywhere else that sells them. Only other thing I can think of is to keep a lookout for a 70 series being broken on ebay?
HTH

Jim.