LJ70 Build Thread!

[clivehorridge]

Just spotted this and I'm really tempted!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PZJ70-SW...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35d823b4c4

OH DEAR....

 

[Ben]

I want the aircon for LJ!

 

[clivehorridge]

I want the aircon for LJ!

... and the rest? maybe another "alternative power-source" project?

 

[Ben]

Sell it off for parts, I'd easily make my money back!

If I had land/my own place I'd buy it and just stick it in a shed for the next 10 years by which time LJ will be in need of a new body I dare say!

 

[clivehorridge]

It doesn't look in bad nick really Ben... it's a good way to get a full AC kit though...

 

[Ben]

Yes + according to Toyo Diy it would definitely fit, where as the aircon setup out of a 76/79 series which is what I have been thinking of getting, might not fit.

Obviously I would also need a 1KZ-T/1KZ-TE aircon pump but thats easy enough.

I'm thinking before I get the auto electrician at work to completely re-wire LJ I should fit aircon.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Interesting... Heavy Land Cruiser.... I think the P engine is interesting as well.

 

[Iwan]

Interesting... Heavy Land Cruiser.... I think the P engine is interesting as well.

Prescisely Ed!! Real deal 70 series! If that was available in the UK, I would ditch my light duty lj70 in a flash!

That has so much potential to make great towing truck. Plenty of room under the hood to fit the H series of engines!

Wonder how much it would cost to ship back to the UK???

 

[Ben]

Update time.........................



There were a few gaps between the 2mm steel and the arch where I had cut slightly too much out. It was too much to weld up and I was happy that it had been welded in enough places + bolted through the inner guard so will be strong enough.







I was going to use Tiger seal.



But it had gone off in the tubes.

So I bought some stikaflex.













I also sealed round the inside between the tube and the 2mm steel.







I did lots more filling.



I removed the handle off the rear door and found it full of Lincomb sand!











I removed the scuttle panel.





As I wanted to sand down and put more filler on below the windscreen as it had never been perfect since I did it in a rush just over a year ago.











That was LJ last weekend.

Work next..................................

I had to make some Suzuki bash guards.





I cut some alluminium on the guillotine.



Used the bandsaw next.



Marked them.



Bent them.



Cut the brace pieces.



I needed to use the Foronius welder to weld the braces on.



These are what ARB switched to a few years ago from MIG welders, as they can weld steel with virtually no splatter.

I set it up with the material thickness.



I had a practice on some scrap.









I started welding the braces on.







But it had penetrated through the other side badly.



So I did a bit more practicing after adjusting the machine.





And this time got virtually no penetration through the other side.



Got them all done.



These are the new Suzuki winch bumpers weve designed. The idea being to have bolt on ends as shipping on normal bumpers was ridiculously expensive due to the length.





The bench in my welding bay was completely unsuitable!

It wasnt big enough, the 3mm steel top was all buckled and distorted from being welded on and it was too low.





I explained this to my boss and he said I could build a new one.

My technical drawing.



Cut some 50mm box section that has a nice thick 5mm wall.



Started welding it all together.



2 frames built.



I needed to weld on the next pieces and as always with something like this distortion is an issue. As I wanted the pieces I was welding on to be square in both directions I had to constantly check them as I welded and work out where to weld next knowing that the metal would pull over towards the side being welded.



I then turned it over and welded it to the other frame.







I dragged the old bench out.





I could then move the new bench in to position.



As I designed it to have the foronius welder at one end, my tool box could now go against the back wall giving me more floor space and room in the welding bay and making it much easier to get to and use the foronious, which I'm hoping to set up for steel as I've heard such great things about them.







Ive order a piece of steel 10mm thick for the top. Should be ready Monday, I hate to think how heavy it will be at 2.5m x 900mm.

I also wanted to put a sheet of steel on the other bench.



So I cut a strip off the edge of a sheet of 3mm.







Next I wanted to add a shelf to the bottom of the new bench.









I cut some steel next to close off the gap between the shelf and the floor as often when you drop things they bounce under the bench if their left open.



Screwed it on.



The shelf I want to use for storing projects I'm currently working on.





I made some more guards.











We fitted some of the 25mm wider than standard 80 series flares that weve had made to my bosses 80.







They left a gap on the rear ones noticeable when the door(s) is open.



So I made cardboard templates and then made some alluminium strips to fill the gaps.









I then sent them to be powdercoated black.

I had a customers Jimny in that wasnt driving well and it was suspected the castor was out so I had to fit castor correction bushes.









I also changed the bosh on the chassis end to drop it down and forwards slightly.





And my last job of the week was assembling Sierra tube door kits to go with all the doors I built.





Back to LJ..........................

I filled over the now dry stikaflex.













I borrowed some wheels from work.





The idea being these would make it much easier to spray LJ, particularly the roof.



Had to use a piece of wood to get the jack back out as it wouldnt go low enough.







The seam sealer I used on the roof gutters 18 months ago hadnt worked very well.





Scraped the old stuff out.





The gutter needed straightening slightly in a few spots.





Gutters cleaned ready for rust killing.









I went and bought the paint this week. I was going to go for two pack but speaking to the very helpful lady in the paint shop she advised me not to for a few reasons but the main reason was how bad that stuff is for your health!

So I got some enamel.



My boss very kindly said I could borrow a gas heater for the weekend as its now the middle of winter and a bit cold for spraying cars really.



Lots more filling, sanding, filling, sanding and so on...........................





I found this tool useful for getting the filler nice and straight and flat.









I picked up some more stikaflex for the gutters.





Rust killed and ready for the stikaflex.











I wanted to re-fit the piece of glass in the passenger door to give me something to stick the masking tape to.



I cleaned the linkage up and gave it a grease up.



A little job that I wanted to do before the respray was to relocate the side repeater lower down the guard as it was behind where the snorkel sits.



I removed the plastic inserts that the side repeater screws into.





Out with the cardboard.





Step drills are perfect for thin sheet material as it doesnt grab and twist like a normal drill bit. We use them all the time when fitting snorkels.





Marked it.









With the side repeater in position I could drill through the mounting holes.



I could then open them up enough for the plastic inserts to fit.





I did lots more filling and sanding then got LJ outside.





I needed to clean the dust up.





Blew all the dust off LJ.



I dug my big tarp out which I havent used since leaving the UK.



And started building a makeshift spray booth.







Masking tape and newspapers next.

















I then gave the whole truck a good wipe over with rags dipped in thinners to remove any dust, dirt or grease.







Almost ready for paint.



Set the heater up.





Mixed up the primer.



And gave it 4 coats.



On the pic below you can just about make out a dent on the bonnet. This is the only dent on the whole truck that I havent tried to fill. This dent happened in the accident and is a constant reminder for me whilst sat in the drivers seat what can happen when you become complacent and arnt concentrating!







Tomorrow I will sand the whole truck down with wet n dry paper and get the coats of enamel on.

 

[Ben]

Prescisely Ed!! Real deal 70 series! If that was available in the UK, I would ditch my light duty lj70 in a flash!

That has so much potential to make great towing truck. Plenty of room under the hood to fit the H series of engines!

Wonder how much it would cost to ship back to the UK???

Stop tempting me!

Would be awesome with a 24v fitted!

Would need converting to coil suspension though.

 

[clivehorridge]

Brilliant Ben, good luck with the finish after spraying, fingers crossed, eh!

 

[Gary820]

Going to look great with some colour on

 

[Tom-KZJ70]

Little tip a mate of mine does to keep the dust down when your spraying, wet the floor with water.

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi Ben top job looking good. tonytoyota

 

[Edward Moyse]

Amazing work Ben - can't wait to see LJ with some paint on!

I don't have any time right now, but I definitely want to rust-kill and paint my truck. Since I've never painted a car before, I'm following this thread with interest!

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Another long day but finally LJ is blue again!

Unfortunately so am I!

I wore a descent mask for the fumes but didnt wear a disposable suit or gloves so I now look like a smurf!

God knows what all the sexy girls at the gym tomorrow morning will think!

Little tip a mate of mine does to keep the dust down when your spraying, wet the floor with water.

Did that for the top coat and it worked well at keeping dust off the wet paint Tom.

Amazing work Ben - can't wait to see LJ with some paint on!

I don't have any time right now, but I definitely want to rust-kill and paint my truck. Since I've never painted a car before, I'm following this thread with interest!

Thanks mate.

I don't think its too difficult to do but its very very time consuming! I must have spent 20-30 hours filling and sanding!

 

[clivehorridge]

I don't believe it's blue....

 

[Blown80]

Yes, c'mon Smurf, up with the pix or it didn't happen. (And what Clive's waving)

 

[Doodle]

Sikaflex should be perfect on those arches - it's the same stuff I use to seal the AMG split rims on my Merc so stands up well to movement and temp changes.

 

[Ben]

Update time...........................

Sunday morning the primer was nice and dry on LJ.







I needed to prime the fuel flap and scuttle panel.



A few spots needed sanding.







Sanded the scuttle panel and fuel flap.



I set the heater up.



Mixed some filler.











Sanded it down.



Mixed some primer.







Gave it a few more coats.





The primer dried very quickly as it was 30 degrees inside garage with the heater on full blast.



The primer left a texture like sand.



Next I needed to rub the whole car down with wet n dry paper.



This was very satisfying as it was very easy to get a glass like finish.







The water needed changing quite frequently.









I gave the whole car a wipe over with thinners.







Top coat next.

It needed a really good stir.

To pour the paint into the gun the paint shop gave me some spare lids so I could put 2 holes in them and use them for pouring the paint.

I did very light coats as I didnt want to get any runs.

Started with the roof.

I poured bucket loads of water on the floor to keep the dust down.

I just about the third coat on as the sun was going down.

I only used 2 litres, so I will have to get a smaller tin to put the paint otherwise it will go off being in a tin with so much air.

The Toyota paint code.

I needed to leave the paint for 4 hours to become touch dry so I left the heater on full and went in for dinner.

As I was worried about everything going up in flames I put a smoke detector in the garage and opened a window in the house.

I came back out later and moved LJ outside so I could take the tarps down as I couldnt shut the garage door with the tarps up.
I found I couldnt get out of the garage even in low range as I was just turning the steel rims on the concrete so I had to put the rear locker in.

A few pics in daylight the next day.

I started bolting things back on.

I needed to get a longer brake hose due to moving the front axle 50mm forwards.

Took the old one off and took it to my local brake shop and they made me a longer one.

I fully welded the front shock mounts.

A mate had suggested making them even stronger by picking up on the original mounting holes.

So i drilled some more holes in my brackets.

I cut and drilled some 50 x 5mm flat bar.

I cut one of the original bolts into 10mm pieces and marked the center of each.

I clamped a 10mm piece of bolt in the vice and positioned one of the 50 x 5 strips on top and welded through one of the hoes I'd drilled.

Positioned them on the shock mounts so I could mark where the next holes needed drilling.

I brought them home to test fit them.

Marked and center punched where the next holes needed drilling.

Drilled the holes and then tapped them for M6 bolts.

They were then ready for electro plating.

I was concerned about clearance between the bottom coils of the front springs and the bottom shock mount bolt. So I picked up some counter sunk M16 bolts.

I would have liked to have bought an M16 tap and to have taped one side of the mount but they were very expensive so I bought nuts instead.

I marked a section of nut to remove.

Put it in the lathe.

By machining 5mm down on the nuts I could then drill one side of each shock mount hole out to a depth of 5mm for the nuts to sit into.











This morning I made a start fitting all the bits I'd made and sourced.

New brake hose first.

I found the fitting on the metal pipe above the new hose was very rounded and it didnt quite go into te new fiting squarely and the thread stripped on it.

So I removed it.





Kit for making a new one.



Needed to flare each end of the new pipe.











The ARB air line hose had been badly kinked by the stretched brake line.



So I needed to cut the end off and put it back into the fitting on the diff.

The correct way to do this is using a proper cutter as using side cutters or pliers deforms the plastic hose resulting in air leaks.

This is the correct tool.



Has like a knife blade.



Done.



I needed to fit the rock sliders next as they are an integral part of my wheel base stretch mod as they help clamp the brackets in place on the chassis.









I jacked the front of LJ up nice and high so I could fit the front shocks.



Electroplated top mounts.



And bottom shock mount bolts.



I hoped there would be enough room inside the spring for the shock mounting bolt. In hindsight I shouldnt have used 10mm steel for the bottom shock mounts, but that was all I had and I wanted to crack on.



Drilled the hole out to 16mm then used a 25mm drill bit to countersink the bolt head.







I drilled the other side out with the 25mm drill bit to allow the nut to sit into the mount by 5mm.



Bolted on the top mounts.





I needed to fit one of the new shocks.



The tube I used on the roof rack was the perfect size to be a tight fit inside the shock bush with a nice tight 16mm internal size for the M16 bolts, so I cut a piece and pressed it into the bush.



And bolted the shock on.









Other side.



Removed the batteries and one tray.





Used an air drill and long pilot bit to go through the inner guard above the top shock mount.



Then went through the hole from above with a hole saw.







Drilled out the bottom mount to take the countersunk headed bolt and modified nut.





Cut some more tube.



Pressed it in.













Refitted the batteries.



I refitted the scuttle panel.



And snorkel.





During welding the arches I forgot about the bonnet release cable running inside the guard and melted it.



I've ordered a new one but until it arrives I've cut the old cable at the damaged section so atleast I can fit the bonnet catch and still be able to open the bonnet.



Grill and side lights next.



Bullbar.





I had to do some work on the back. Needed to adjust the brake shoes, bleed the brakes and fit the 35"s.





Adjusted the brake shoes for the handbrake and had to change one of the wheel cylinders.





As one of my best mates is now on the other side of the world I couldnt call him to give me a hand to bleed my brakes like I used to.

So I invested in a really good brake bleader. Not cheap but good quality and works great. Should also last a life time and its tax deductible.





wheels back on.



Then I ran out of day.





I'm hoping a few more hours work and LJ will be drivable again.

I'm hoping to go for a test drive tomorrow. Cant wait to see what its like on and off the road!

It should drive a lot better now with the new steering column, new radius arm bushes, new springs and shocks and off road the fact the front axle is now 50mm further forwards should in theory make LJ more stable and less prone to lifting wheels, I'm also hoping it will feel more stable and less twitchy on dirt roads/loose gravel as in the past I've had to go very slowly as it just felt unsafe, where as people in 80's and LWB patrols were flying along!

Fingers crossed the new suspension works ok, I'm hoping I might now get more articulation!

I want to drive Rocky Track at Toolangi tomorrow!