LJ70 Build Thread!

[Ben]

Ha, little helper will be usefull in a few years time

Can you do anything about that carport roof ? A hinged flap or something so you don't need to take rack off each time.

I can't fit my hilux into my garage, even with stuff off the roof it Is 1cm too high
I have been thinking of building a carport next to garage, but there is a 5m x 2.5m shed in the way, I don't want to take the shed down, wondering if I can drag it to a new position to one side if I empty it...without wrecking it

Yeah I cant wait until hes old enough to help me with stuff!

Sadly I cant do anything about the car port height issue as its the bottom of one of the trusses that is too low.

If we bought the place I would pull the whole car port down and raise it by a foot!

geez Ben,I thought you would struggle with the weight of the containers.
You better buy a truck for the next shift.Good luck mate.

I never want to move again mate, its been the hardest move yet!

Well Ben, think of the gym fees you’ve saved

Good to see Sam in on the action, even though he was sleeping on-the-job

With the pit, you might get away with using the aqua-vac thingy, if you check it on a regular basis. But, if it fills more rapidly, an electric submersible will do the job in a jiffy, and (here at least) they are very reasonably priced. You’d only need a small capacity one for the volume you have there. The integral sump will help a lot to speed up drying out, because you’ll get the water level lower than if was just a flat level floor.

Pity about the height deficiency, you’ll think of something, that’s for certain!

It’s suggested that moving house is more stressful than a divorce, and I’ve experienced both, so clearly, you’re passed the worst of it mate, job well done

Yes a submersible pump will be getting purchased shortly. Their so cheap I would be crazy not to. Thanks mate, it certainly was stressful especially with a baby!

Ben I really enjoyed reading and seeing photos about the move down. Love that you moved into your new garage quarters so quick!!!

Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it.

Excellent stuff and interesting to follow. Where did you move to?

Thanks mate.

After 2 years living in Queensland we decided we preferred life in Melbourne so moved back.

Glad you've completed the move without too many troubles Ben. It did look like hell of a lot of work though! Pretty shitty for the previous tenants (or owners?) to dump all of their rubbish in the pit though. Did you ask them to sort it out for you or just get on with cleaning up their mess?

Thanks mate.

We're only renting and I didnt want to ask about clearing the pit out encase they said no.

Maybe it was a legal requirement/insurance requirement that it had to be filled in.

I actually almost abandoned the whole project half way through filling the first trailer, as not only was it hard dirty work, but I've got access to a hoist at work that I can use. The only reason I kept going is so I can build the 3" stainless steel mandrel bent exhaust system on LJ and really take my time with it and a pit will just make it so much easier!

Sam is the spit of you Ben.......
Getting that pit sorted is going to be a major plus for you in the future lad. Now that it's empty and clean if I were you I'd get my hands on a pump and fit it in semi permanently encase the pit floods in the winter. It would take a long time to vacume a lot of water out where as a pump would have you sorted in no time at all. That workshop is every man's dream....... I'm jealous lol. Looking forward to lj70 being completed now

Thanks mate.

Poor bugger has certainly inherited my looks!

Yeah I will definitely get a pump mate.

It is a great space and will make finishing LJ so much easier.

Same here, Mini me.
Thing is, I can also see Bec in him too.
I reckon he'll be taking after his pop. Might even out-fabricate him when the time comes.

He is my replacement so I really hope he does become better than me!

I really hope he will be interested in doing boy things and making and fixing things, if so I will teach him everything I know!

I would love for him to be driving and welding by 12!

 

[Ben]

So after the pressure washing the pit was nice and clean!





Then we had a huge storm over night and the pit got a tiny bit of water in it.



What I found interesting was which areas of concrete were wet as that showed where it had seeped in.

A bit on one side.



And a bit in the corner.



If we were staying here long term I would look at waterproofing it all.

But as I only want to be here a year at most (we need to escape renting and frustratingly we had finally saved up enough of a deposit in QLD for a 3-4 bedroom house and then we moved back to Melbourne where the same house will cost us $100-$200k more, its set us back a bit.)

So I will just buy a submersible pump and pump any water out.

I've been busy putting some lights up.

One in the Toyota parts shed.





And another 3 in the workshop, taking the total to 8!

You can never have too much light when you're working.



I've been busy servicing the motorbike as that is going to become my daily drive/ride now I'm living only 5 minutes from work.



I finally got LJ through the gates and uncovered.



I pushed a standard bumper on the front to see what it would look like.



I wont be putting a full bull bar on this one like The 78 as I think its a shame to cover up and loose the face of the vehicle, which is kind of what has happened with The 78, but with that being a touring vehicle a bull bar is an essential safety item.



Sadly LJ sustained a little bit of damage during transit.





So a couple of areas to repair but I need to do more painting anyway so I'm not too stressed about the damage.

Bec gave me a hand and between us we pushed it up the slope and into the workshop.



The workshop is a great length as even with LJ in the garage there is 2 meters at the front.





Enough access to climb down into the pit.



And a meter and a half at the back.



Yep its a great space!



Thats where I'm up to at home.

Work.

I've just completed my second week at this awesome place!



My office!



I've been doing a mixture of work on customers 4wd's, work in Seriously Suzi and a little bit of work in the main showroom.

I did some work on a customers Suzuki.



First I made a battery tray and mounted a leisure battery behind the front seats,



I bent up a tray and then welded 2 pieces of box section to the underside to secure it over the transmission tunnel.





Next I made a false floor out of ply and covered it in marine carpet.







The lift up panel was to access an under floor storage area.



It all bolted down using captive nuts in the floor pan and I installed tie down points for the fridge and a space case.



The front I secured with some chunky brackets that I made to pick up on the old rear seat captive nuts.



The next stage was to fit a cargo barrier which was originally designed to fit behind the rear seats, which I had to make some new brackets for.

Then all the stuff could go back in the car.









I did a couple of little jobs for the main show room.

The sales guys wanted a shelf to fit on top of one of the winch display stands, to put recovery points on.

I made a frame out of some scrap bits of steel.



Then folded up some alluminium checker plate for the top.







Next I made a simple alluminium bracket to display one of the new Lightforce LED lights.

Their really nice chunky solid lights, originally designed for the 200 series tailgate to provide light in the back of the car (they fit into cutouts apparently).

I really like them and might use them on my cars.















I made some simple shelf brackets for the Suzuki warehouse which we've been trying to organise and tidy up.





And fitted some of them along one of the walls.



I've also been very busy moving all the used spare parts down to this warehouse from the main factory and showroom, a huge task!

It feels great to be back and my boss is as crazy as ever! (in a good way)

Its going to be amazing to finish the 2 projects I didnt get to finish before I left, the air boat and the Suzuki buggy I was building.

And only working 8-5 Monday to Thursday is the perfect work life balance! Having 3 days off every week means I get to spend lots of time with my family and will give me lots more time to finish my projects and when we finally buy a house to renovate at the end of the year, will give me lots of time to work on that.

I'm itching to get on with LJ and finish that build but first I need to get The 78 finished and trip ready. I need to get the new rear diff and new locker fitted, finish the drawer system, build the cargo barrier and get all the wiring done. But I will detail all that in the LJ78 Build Thread.

More soon.

 

[StarCruiser]

Excellent Ben. It's obvious you love that job and great you could slot straight back in. I can't believe it's 2 years since you were building that tree house!! I think you've achieved about ten times what I have in that time. That's what having goals does. I used to be able to do that.
Moves get harder as we accumulate stuff and it's not until a move that we realise just how much stuff we accumulate. We've done a few moves, had a couple of rented properties and moves between them nearly flattened us. The last one wasn't so bad as we did it over a month.

 

[yota_lj]

Hello Ben!!

It's a pleasure to read you again!

Little Sam is a copy of you incredible (don't tell it to Bec, she will kill me )

New house is pretty good, and I really happy about your new job!

Can't wait always for some update in this post

 

[asheddie]

Hi Ben, I finally caught up on this thread. A lot has happened since I last read your blog.

Congratulations on the birth of your son.

By the sounds of it the move back to Melbourne was a good idea. Nothing worse than working a job you hate.

How's the build coming along? Any more progress? You certainly did a thorough job on the rust repairs.

 

[Pat]

Hi Ben, I finally caught up on this thread. A lot has happened since I last read your blog.

Congratulations on the birth of your son.

By the sounds of it the move back to Melbourne was a good idea. Nothing worse than working a job you hate.

How's the build coming along? Any more progress? You certainly did a thorough job on the rust repairs.

Ben,you must be pretty busy and your news is coming slower,is it pressures of
Family life or just plenty of projects on the go.All the best to you and the family.pat

 

[StarCruiser]

Ben,you must be pretty busy and your news is coming slower,is it pressures of
Family life or just plenty of projects on the go.All the best to you and the family.pat

Addition of one increasingly more lively sprog who’s not yet at the stage of wielding spanners or a tig torch. Give him 3 years and I bet he’ll be helping his dad. Or “helping”.

 

[Ben]

Yeah the baby has certainly affected both spanner time and forum time sadly.

But the main reason I havent updated this thread lately is because I have been so busy building my LJ78 and updating that build thread, which can be found below (if you hadnt seen it Ash )

https://landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/lj78-build-thread.147283/page-17#post-1480282

But I havent forgotten about this thread and have lots of pics to post about all the awesome things I have been doing at Piranha over the last 3 months.

Also now work is nearing completion on The 78 and I have managed to find some much needed cash for LJ, that project will be getting some much needed progress shortly!

My plan is still to get it back on the road this year and ideally within the next 3-4 months.

I just need to order a few grands worth of parts and get stuck into it.

Hoping to update this thread properly in a few weeks when my wife goes to visit her family in Tassie for a few days and I am home alone.

 

[Ben]

OK............

Update time.

Some Piranha work first.

I did a load of work sorting out our Suzuki 4wd parts building, trying to organise everything building shelving and racks.

I built a rack for all the underbody splash guards we make and sell.



Put some shelving up for all the diffs to live on.



And put racks on the sides for CV's and half shafts.



Made and fitted lots of racks for prop shafts.



A rack for grills.



Fitted a load of pallet racking and sorted everything into clearly labeled boxes.





Put up more shelving for cylinder heads.



And tidied the place up a bit.





I helped design and then I built a battery tray to mount a long skinny battery behind the rear seat of a Ford Ranger/Mazda BT50.







Fitted.







Then a few days later we had to do another one, so this time I made 2 so we could send one to our laser cutters to copy.





We added this tube spacer because there are 2 widths of these batteries, a narrower one and a wider one.

So if some one wants to fit the narrower battery they keep this bolt and crush tube in position and if they fit the wider battery they simply discard it.











We got the prototype back this week and it looks great!

Once we have test fitted it and confirmed its OK, it can go into mass production and we can get them electro plated.





I made some slippers/tine extensions for our fork lift to so we can safely lift the air boat down (which I will be working on soon) and so we can safely pick up cars.

They consist of some really thick channel, shaved down to nothing on one end with a piece of solid bar on the other end.




The solid bar hooks behind the end of the forks and locks them on.





They go on on an angle like this.





Then push down and lock behind the end of the fork.

Simple yet effective!





I also made one for moving trailers around with.



Got them powder coated.



Made a rack for them.



And hung them up.



I designed and built a box for our car trailer.



















I folded up, welded and got powder coated some 10 litre jerry can holders to be mounted to a rear bar behind the swing out wheel carrier/20 litre jerry can holders.





Pic limit reached.

More shortly.

 

[Ben]

I had to reinforce a customers standard tie down point on their Suzuki so they could use it as a recovery point and add a recovery point to the other side.

All while keeping the standard bumper.

Standard one I reinforced.







Other side.





All done and bumper back on.







My boss bought a cheap Suzuki Sierra (SJ410) and I'm really annoyed I didnt take any before pics.

Some one had painted it bright purple and badly modified it! It looked terrible and we christened it the purple pig!

It looked like it belonged in a scrap yard.

Anyway.............................

I stripped it down and spent a day building a roll cage for it then a day painting it and reassembling it and then it was ready to sell as a farm/hunting vehicle!

Much better than a quad or ATV/side by side!















I built a false floor for the back of a Subaru and fitted a fridge slide and battery box behind it.

I would rather have carpeted the false floor but the customer didnt want to pay the extra money to make it look a million times better.











I installed some Drifta drawers in the back of a customers 150 series Prado this week.

I was surprised to see that for $2200 they dont even come with the sides cut to the shape of the vehicle.

So that was my job after fitting the main unit, I had to scribe in the plywood sides then carpet them.





These are the bits I had to make.



And carpet.



With those front bits done as well as the bits on top, I fitted the customers fridge slide.



These were the top sections I had to make and carpet.



This side was really tricky to get to to scribe as its so much lower than the top section.



All done.





I thought the pull out table was a nice idea.





I found that with our 2 folders at work I couldnt bend really narrow long boxes as the clamp/fingers got in the way on the proper folders.

And as my boss wanted me to build him 2 alluminium fuel cans for the back of his 200 series, one for chainsaw fuel and one for coleman stove fuel, I decided to make my own sheet metal folder, a bit like the one I made for myself.

I drilled some solid bar out on the lathe and found some suitable copper washers, to use as my hinges.



Cut the ends out of some angle.



Got them in the vice.





And fitted the hinges.







Bent some tube to form a handle that can be used both one handed or 2 handed and welded it on.

And welded the angle to some box section so it can be clamped to a bench.









Made the top clamp.





Drilled through the box section and welded some captive nuts inside.





Created some wing headed bolts and found some springs.



Bolted the top clamp on and tested the folder out!







Pic limit reached. more shortly.

 

[Ben]

I was now able to fold long skinny boxes so I could fold up the alluminium for my bosses fuel cans.





I've welded those bits together but forgot to take a pic.

I will grab one next week.

Frankenzook is still looking great and even made an appearance on an episode of Your4x4 TV show yesterday on the new series (On 7Mate every Saturday at 11:30am).







I've been doing lots of work on the Jimny based tube buggy I've been building.

*I cant post all the pics as there are hundreds, but heres where its up to:

I removed a load of the rear chassis, cutting it off in front of the rear springs.





I butchered the standard bonnet to remove 2 of the 5 grills and moved the headlights in closer together and then shaved the edges down on an angle.







I did lots more tube work.

I've also mounted a twin motor winch to the front as the rad will now be in the back.

The twin motor winch will have 24v fed into from 2x 13" Optima batteries in the back.

The winch should be as quick as..........



















Playing around with rear shocks.





With the new folder I could make the tall skinny fuel tank, complete with sump in the bottom, to ensure the pump keeps getting fuel even on crazy angles.







Baffle.



Hole in the top for standard fuel pump and sender.







Thats all been welded up now, I will get pics next week.

I had my parents come out for 3 weeks to meet their first grandson!

I took them to my bosses farm so they could see the thing I am most proud of, out of everything I've ever designed and built over the years!

The tree house!

Which still looks good 2.5 years on!







Sam is growing up fast and I'm sure it will soon be time to get him a motorbike of his own!





Hes a very happy baby!





OK.....................

Almost done on the work/life update!

Just one more piece of exciting news................

Bec and I are expecting!

Its taken over the recommended 2 years but we finally have a pineapple growing!





Its actually about 10 times the size of that now, that pics is 2-3 weeks old.

I will get another pic soon, but its very exciting!

OK............

Thats it for today!

Now work is almost complete on The 78 project and I can start using that vehicle for trips, the time has come to crack on with LJ!

I've just ordered all the stainless steel 3" mandrel bends, tube, silencer and flanges for the exhaust system and I'm hoping to build that next weekend.

I'm about to place a $600 order with Amayama and I'm currently choosing which Haltech ECU to get.

I also need to pick up some more paint and body work supplies so I can finish the body work.

Bec is away for 3 days next weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) So that gives me 3 days to work on LJ.

Once the exhaust is done I'd like to do the body work and finish modifying the fuel tank.

OK........more next week.

 

[Beau]

Jheeeze, feels like you built that tree house just yesterday Ben, where does the time go...

 

[StarCruiser]

Jheeeze, feels like you built that tree house just yesterday Ben, where does the time go...

It really is scary! A lot has happened since though.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I've just caused chaos by getting my 2 year old nephew a balance bike... the message I got from my brother said that nephew wanted to have his breakfast on the bike, ride it in the house and take it to bed... watch out Ben!

 

[StarCruiser]

Fantastic work as usual Ben. Your boss must be about as pleased as you are that you’re back. It’s great that you have a job you love and have been able to come back to.

Congratulations on the pineapple! Lynn and I are very happy for you. Good luck with the birth I believe it can be a bit painful.

 

[clivehorridge]

Great update Ben, all the above really...

It doesn’t seem so long ago you were going to condemn yourself to 5 years down the mines, no wife no family, save your fortune...

Trust me, what you have now is far more valuable than any brimming savings account.

Well done mate, live your life well, and enjoy the rewards, and the pineapple

 

[StarCruiser]

I’d forgotten the mines. Agree with Clive really. Life has a way of steering you in the direction it wants rather than what you think you want.

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Yeah time certainly flies by and I'm sure now were parents it will only go quicker!

My boss is really pleased to have me back Rich!

And I'm really happy to be working there again, its definitely the best job I've ever had and the fact I have every Friday off is truly awesome!

We went to my bosses 40th wedding anniversary recently and after he had given a speech he went round the room giving people the microphone so they could say a few words and say how they knew Alan and Barb, everyone from Piranha pretty much said the same thing.............that its the craziest place they have ever worked but they love it!

Yeah I'm glad I'm not in the mines now..............

Working in QLD earning great money doing a job I hated made me realise money isnt everything and I'd rather have a job I love and be poorer than have a high paid job I hate and coming home everynight to my family is priceless!

A few pics of the developing baby!

 

[Ben]

With my new folder at work I had folded up some alluminium fuel tanks for the back of my bosses 200 series.

1 for chainsaw fuel and 1 for fuel stove fuel.

I TIG welded them together.











Next I needed to work out how best to attach them to the Kaymar rear bar.







I had designed them to fit in the gap between the swing out jerry can holder and the tailgate.





Next I had to come up with a way of mounting them.

I didnt want to have to drill or weld to the Kaymar bar, so I had to think smart.

I cut and bent some more alluminium.



And welded them on.





Test fitted them.







I also added some bottom ones, seen as the top ones had worked so well.




While the cans were a nice snug fit and with them being unable to move forwards or side to side, they need a restraint to hold them down securely in position, yet still be quick and easy to remove.

Bit of head scratching later and this is what I came up with.

Cut, bent and drilled some alluminium.



Welded 2 of the pieces together.



Bolted it on to the Kaymar bar using existing holes.





Bolted on the chunky 8mm thick piece.






The caps with billet alluminium weld in bosses arrived.

$25 each delivered!




Welded the bosses on as well as the other 2 pieces of alluminium.

And this is what I ended up with.













With the cans finished they were ready for powder coating.









Got the 200 in for fitting.





Some pics the next day in day light.















I'm pleased with how they came up and it was a fun challenge designing and building them.

My boss asked me to design and build some steel bash/sump guards for Vitara's as customers had been asking for them, instead of the lighter duty alluminium ones hes sold for many years.

This is the alluminium ones.





And this is my 3mm steel replacement.





I cut and folded some diamond shaped 3mm steel for a brace.





First 4 finished and ready for electro plating.





I dropped those off at the electro platers.

OK.................

Thats the work update.

Will try and get an LJ update up tomorrow now things are finally moving forward nicely with that project.

 

[Ben]

LJ.

I picked up some roof sections a few months ago to replace the rusty soft top ones.

These ones are off a mid wheel base 70 with the fibreglass roof, so they arnt exactly the same.

The main difference is the soft top ones have gutters spot welded to the sides and the mid wheel base ones dont.

I dont think it will matter as I dont intend to use LJ in bad weather and it will remain an open cab soft top.



They were in very good condition with just a couple of tiny spots of surface rust.



Got them bolted on.





And bolted the fiberglass windscreen surround on that I've decided to use.




I also bolted the standard bumper on that I acquired.



It wont be staying though as I want to build a custom bar for it.





I've found with the pit that after a day of torrential rain it ends up having 2-3 inches of water in the bottom.

So I bought a pump, but it didnt work very well because it was meant to be fully submerged but the sump wasnt low enough for that, so I took it back.



Once I'd got it a bit drier.



I built some duck boards for the bottom.



The pit has already come in useful for bolting things back on underneath.



Like the vacuum hoses for the 4wd high range switch.



It will also be perfect for the 3" mandrel bent, stainless steel exhaust system I'm about to build.

Some of the bits for it arrived last week.



Sadly I couldnt find stainless steel flanges to fit the exhaust manifold on the engine, so I took the CAT's to work to remove the flanges from them.













I tried fixing the radiator where I had welded the filler neck on and melted through the over flow fitting.

I ground out where the fitting had been ready to weld a new one on.





I welded a fitting on but I wasnt happy with it.

So I ordered a much better filler neck, this time a nice chunky piece of engineering, made of billet alluminium and this time with a screw on fitting, so I can weld it on and then just screw the fitting in afterwards. A much better design!







I was thinking of fitting an aftermarket ECU to make wiring the engine easier and was looking at either a South African made Spitronic or an Australian made Haletech one.








But after speaking to Haeltech I realised that even after buying the ECU for $1500+, it wouldnt be plug and play and still require a fair bit of wiring and then it would need to go on a dyno as they only come with a base map loaded on them.

I decided I will try and fit the standard Lexus one and save my money.

I've been doing some more work on the standard LJ70 fuel tank, which I cut an access hole in the top of last year.



I removed the drain plug and boss from the bottom of the tank.





In order to fit the Lexus fuel pump and fuel bowl, I would first need to remove the standard fuel bowl.





I drilled out the spot welds holding it in position but as I couldnt get a drill inside the tank I had to drill straight through the bottom.



The standard one is tiny compared to the Lexus one.



With those items removed I was now able to get the new bowl in position.



This is the flow and return lines where they enter/exit the tank. (obviously this one is broken but I have a spare one to use)



The plan is to use both of those fittings and have the fuel return line return that fuel straight to the fuel bowl in the tank.

The fuel pipe bringing fuel out will be shortened inside the tank and connected to the Lexus pump, so on the outside of the tank it will all look pretty standard.

This is the 2 pipes coming into the bowl, the bigger one is the pickup pipe that will get cut, the return one will stay as it is.



I just needed to cut the very end off the slide to allow it to fit into position properly.



With that cut it fitted perfectly.



The Lexus fuel pump bracket will need to modified to allow me to bolt it inside the tank with the pickup in the fuel bowl.





The fuel tank does have some surface rust on the inside, so the plan is once I have finished modifying it I will sand blast it and then get the entire thing electro plated, then get the outside powder coated.

I picked up some paint supplies, so I can fix the body work up.





I also picked up a bottle of gas for the MIG. My plan is to tack the stainless steel exhaust together with the MIG then take it to work and TIG it in my lunch brakes.



I made a spacer out of 8mm alluminium.



To space the drivers side guard out away from the rad support panel, because the rad support panel came off a rolled vehicle and although it looks pretty straight it is in fact a little bit bent, which didnt become apparent until it was painted and fitted and I went to fit the bonnet.





Pic limit reached, more soon.