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LJ70 Build Thread!

Happy Christmas and happy New year to yourself and family Ben. The new house looks lovely but I don't envy you with the rats lol.

Thanks mate. :thumbup:

I hate rats, but I havent seen any live ones yet but there is at least 5 dead ones in there and it smells of rat piss! :doh:

You’ve an interesting plot there Ben, I’m sure you’ll make the best of it.

Shame there weren’t a few barn-finds amongst that lot :lol:

The rats will dissapear once you get the place cleaned up. What is with folks who want to litter the place up with junk? Its one thing I’ve never understood.

Merry Christmas to you and your family, our daughter got us up at 4:00am this morning so excited that Santa had come.

It’s blowing a hooley, -3C and snowing ATM.... :lol:

I dont know but theres junk and scrap metal everywhere! :thumbdown:

The old couple who lived here built the house 40 years ago and lived here ever since.

I've found a couple of cool pieces, but most of it will be getting weighed in! :twocents-twocents:

Ben,you are making a great start,with the old cement sheet garage be careful it hasn’t got asbestos in it as council regulations on its removal And disposal
May be tough.inNZ mention the word asbestos it can cost you.
It sure seems to be a nice section with a good outlook.Cheers pat

Thanks mate. :thumbup:

We had a survey done before we bought the place which included asbestos testing and it came back as containing non! :dance:

But I'm still going to remove it carefully wearing a respirator and disposable suit, just encase. :icon-biggrin:

Yeah the view is stunning and will only get better once those sheds and a few more trees come down. :thumbup:

You’ve clearly chosen well with that house Ben. It’ll be interesting to see what you make of it in the coming years. Looks like a good plot, good versatile access, potential and a view. Great start.

Hope you’ve had a good Christmas.
Best wishes from Rich and Lynn.

Thanks mate. :thumbup:

We're really happy with it. Lots of potential to become a great home! :clap:
 
I hope you've all had a nice Christmas and New Year.

I've been busy working away on the house. :icon-twisted:

Stripped all the tin sheets off one of the sheds.

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And then knocked it down.

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I dismantled the steel framed one next.

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Picked up a chainsaw attachment on a long pole.

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And gave the apple tree a good hair cut.

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The garden was now looking a lot better.

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Next I bought a new, second hand shed off my work mate for $200.

Its 4 meters x 3 meters.

It wont stay in this position permanently and will get moved to the bottom of the garden once I've finished terracing it all.

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With that shed erected it meant I could put the things I'd been storing in the single garage in the new shed.

And could finally demolish this horrible thing.

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First I had to remove the wood shed from the back of it.

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And then I got to work on the garage.

To remove all the cement sheets and bag it all up on the trailer ready for disposal took 3 hours.

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Next I removed the tin sheets off the roof.

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Then the roof timbers.

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Then finally the walls came down.

My intention had been to keep this hardwood structure and reassemble it down the bottom of the garden but sadly it couldnt be saved.

Some of the timbers were rotten and others split and cracked, so in the end it just had to be dismantled and the wood harvested for building projects where possible and the rest will heat the house in winter.

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The concrete slab from the old garage will make a perfect loading ramp for the big trucks to tip the few hundred cubic meters of dirt I will need when I start terracing the garden.

Until then it is making a great outdoor area for eating and drinking while admiring the view over the valley.

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It was during one of these evening drinking sessions that I realised one vital ingredient was missing from the garage, as having to keep going up the stairs to the house for more cold beer was becoming a pain.........

A fridge!

Bec was also after a freezer so she can do big cook ups and cook all her meals for the month.

So I jumped on Gumtree and found a fridge and freezer for the bargain price of $50! :dance:

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The fridge is a little tatty but for $20 I really cant complain.

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It fits nicely under the work bench.

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And was soon stocked up with my favourite NZ beer from Aldi.

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The freezer is a quality Australian made one from the days before planned obsoletion.

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The current kitchen in the house is the original one from when the house was built 40 years ago, even the lino on the floor is original.

And its tiny and horrible. :thumbdown:

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The sink is tiny and there is no dishwasher. :icon-evil:

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And we have less than a meter of counter top to work on. :crazy:

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As we simply cant live with this tiny horrible kitchen we need to replace it, but once we put the big extension on the back the kitchen will be on the back of the house so whatever we do now only needs to last a year or 2.

So rather than investing in a new kitchen we found a decent second hand one for $800 including sink, taps, 3 month old oven, hob and extractor. :shifty:

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Which I'm getting this weekend.

In the mean time I made a start removing the horrible old lino on the floor.

After 40 years it had completely worn through in places revealing the masonite (hardboard) underneath.

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It came up easy enough.

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Revealing more beautiful Australian hardwood floor boards underneath. :dance:

I will sand them down and varnish them to match the rest of the house.

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I spent half a day in the loft yesterday, reinforcing the roof with lots more timber so that I can remove the wall separating the kitchen and lounge.

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My plan is to take that wall out and have the 900mm wide breakfast bar/peninsula section along where the wall was, with a row of cupboards and appliances on the opposite wall.

It should make both rooms even lighter and will mean the wood burner and aircon in the lounge will now also heat and cool the kitchen.

Also we will be able to watch the kids and TV while cooking! :icon-cool:

Eventually though when we build the extension on the back, the wall will have to go back up so that the lounge and kitchen can become the new 4th and 5th bedrooms. :icon-biggrin:

Going to get the kitchen fitted next weekend and then I need to get cracking with the 50+ meters of 1 meter high retaining walls so I can start getting dirt tipped and get the garden terracing done.

The top terrace will be a 170 square meter lawn for the kids and dog to play on.

The next terrace will be for all the fruit trees and veggie patch and then the bottom terrace will have sheds and green houses on it. :icon-cool:
 
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I hope you've all had a nice Christmas and New Year.

I've been busy working away on the house. :icon-twisted:

Stripped all the tin sheets off one of the sheds.

View attachment 152865

View attachment 152867

View attachment 152868

And then knocked it down.

View attachment 152869

I dismantled the steel framed one next.

View attachment 152872

View attachment 152871

Picked up a chainsaw attachment on a long pole.

View attachment 152873

View attachment 152874

And gave the apple tree a good hair cut.

View attachment 152875

The garden was now looking a lot better.

View attachment 152876

View attachment 152877

View attachment 152878

Next I bought a new, second hand shed off my work mate for $200.

Its 4 meters x 3 meters.

It wont stay in this position permanently and will get moved to the bottom of the garden once I've finished terracing it all.

View attachment 152879

View attachment 152880

With that shed erected it meant I could put the things I'd been storing in the single garage in the new shed.

And could finally demolish this horrible thing.

View attachment 152881

First I had to remove the wood shed from the back of it.

View attachment 152882

View attachment 152883

And then I got to work on the garage.

To remove all the cement sheets and bag it all up on the trailer ready for disposal took 3 hours.

View attachment 152884

Next I removed the tin sheets off the roof.

View attachment 152885

View attachment 152886

Then the roof timbers.

View attachment 152887

Then finally the walls came down.

My intention had been to keep this hardwood structure and reassemble it down the bottom of the garden but sadly it couldnt be saved.

Some of the timbers were rotten and others split and cracked, so in the end it just had to be dismantled and the wood harvested for building projects where possible and the rest will heat the house in winter.

View attachment 152888

View attachment 152889

View attachment 152890

View attachment 152891

The concrete slab from the old garage will make a perfect loading ramp for the big trucks to tip the few hundred cubic meters of dirt I will need when I start terracing the garden.

Until then it is making a great outdoor area for eating and drinking while admiring the view over the valley.

View attachment 152892

View attachment 152893

It was during one of these evening drinking sessions that I realised one vital ingredient was missing from the garage, as having to keep going up the stairs to the house for more cold beer was becoming a pain.........

A fridge!

Bec was also after a freezer so she can do big cook ups and cook all her meals for the month.

So I jumped on Gumtree and found a fridge and freezer for the bargain price of $50! :dance:

View attachment 152894

The fridge is a little tatty but for $20 I really cant complain.

View attachment 152895

It fits nicely under the work bench.

View attachment 152896

And was soon stocked up with my favourite NZ beer from Aldi.

View attachment 152897

View attachment 152898

The freezer is a quality Australian made one from the days before planned obsoletion.

View attachment 152899

View attachment 152900

The current kitchen in the house is the original one from when the house was built 40 years ago, even the lino on the floor is original.

And its tiny and horrible. :thumbdown:

View attachment 152904

The sink is tiny and there is no dishwasher. :icon-evil:

View attachment 152905

And we have less than a meter of counter top to work on. :crazy:

View attachment 152906

As we simply cant live with this tiny horrible kitchen we need to replace it, but once we put the big extension on the back the kitchen will be on the back of the house so whatever we do now only needs to last a year or 2.

So rather than investing in a new kitchen we found a decent second hand one for $800 including sink, taps, 3 month old oven, hob and extractor. :shifty:

View attachment 152913

View attachment 152914

View attachment 152915

Which I'm getting this weekend.

In the mean time I made a start removing the horrible old lino on the floor.

After 40 years it had completely worn through in places revealing the masonite (hardboard) underneath.

View attachment 152910

It came up easy enough.

View attachment 152911

Revealing more beautiful Australian hardwood floor boards underneath. :dance:

I will sand them down and varnish them to match the rest of the house.

View attachment 152912

I spent half a day in the loft yesterday, reinforcing the roof with lots more timber so that I can remove the wall separating the kitchen and lounge.

View attachment 152909

View attachment 152901 View attachment 152903

My plan is to take that wall out and have the 900mm wide breakfast bar/peninsula section along where the wall was, with a row of cupboards and appliances on the opposite wall.

It should make both rooms even lighter and will mean the wood burner and aircon in the lounge will now also heat and cool the kitchen.

Also we will be able to watch the kids and TV while cooking! :icon-cool:

Eventually though when we build the extension on the back, the wall will have to go back up so that the lounge and kitchen can become the new 4th and 5th bedrooms. :icon-biggrin:

Going to get the kitchen fitted next weekend and then I need to get cracking with the 50+ meters of 1 meter high retaining walls so I can start getting dirt tipped and get the garden terracing done.

The top terrace will be a 170 square meter lawn for the kids and dog to play on.

The next terrace will be for all the fruit trees and veggie patch and then the bottom terrace will have sheds and green houses on it. :icon-cool:

Ha, ha, I wondered how long it would take before you started demolitions, and you were even quicker than I thought Ben :lol:

Are you terracing right across the full width of the property and constructing steps, or will you be having sloping walkways between terraces?

My patch is on a hill and I’ve tried to avoid too much ‘construction’ to keep it as natural as possible. I’ve grown an aversion to big areas of concrete. However, I dont have the sheds and workshops that you plan to build, so I can keep the old orchard feel of the place to an extent.

Looking really good, and you do have a great view there. :dance:
 
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Nice one Ben. There’s nothing like the drive that comes from moving into ones own place and getting it habitable. It’s a shame we had to stop and have been living with a kitchen pretty similar to yours for the last 11 years. I wish I still had your drive and energy. :lol:
 
Thanks guys. :thumbup:

We've been in our own home 1 month today! :icon-cool:

Are you terracing right across the full width of the property and constructing steps, or will you be having sloping walkways between terraces?

I will show you. ;)

This is the floor plan that was on the brochure when we bought the house.

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Its weird that they decided to build the house on such a funny angle.

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So the extension will finish square with the block of land to really make the most of the views.

An extension of that size will give me a 4 car garage below! :dance:

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The driveway will extend all the way to the bottom of the garden and then turn to the left to the sheds and green houses.

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Then there will be 2 retaining walls running almost the full width of the garden, so I will end up with 3 level areas of land. The top lawn area one wont have steps or a path leading down to the next one, that next one will be accessed from either the driveway running down on the right or from the bottom terrace where the sheds are.

The top terrace will basically be a big lawn area where the kids can play, then the second one will be where all the fruit trees and veggie patches are and the bottom one will be for sheds and green houses.

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I did a rough drawing with some dimensions on but its not to scale and has a few mistakes.

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This is a pic I took from the bottom of the garden looking up.

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Things have been taking shape inside the house.

I picked up the kitchen.

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And so it was finally time to take down that wall! :icon-twisted:

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The new kitchen cupboards started going in.

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The floor would need patching as in Australia it used to be common to lay the floor boards up to internal walls, rather than just floor boarding the entire house and then adding the internal stud walls over the top like we would do in Europe.

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The old pantry needed stripping out next.

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I knew it was going to be tight and its a little bit too tight, so I will remove the plasterboard and line it with 3mm MDF instead, that extra 18mm of clearance will make all the difference.

This fridge is a 40 year old Australian made fridge and one day I'm going to re-clad the doors in stainless steel and add more modern handles. I suspect this thing will last forever, unlike modern fridges which are designed to last 5 years and then fail and need replacing!

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I'd almost ran out of time but there was one thing I'd been dying to get rid of, ever since auction day when we signed the paperwork underneath it and the estate agent banged his head on it....................

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This hideous thing!

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So thats stage one.

The next stage is to rip out the sink and cooker and fit all the new stuff up to the tall pantry cupboard.

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Then I can patch all the walls and ceiling, tile and then paint.

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I did patch the floor as I was sick of yelling at Sam to stop posting toys through the hole. :lol:

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Hes been trying to help with the clean up though.

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So that both LandCruiser's can go on club/historic registration which will cost a lot less and reduce my insurance a lot............................

I bought a cheap daily drive.

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Wow Ben, I like your plans for the extension and garden, but a bit more detail would have been appreciated :laughing-rolling:

The house being on an angle is a bit wierd, but it will make for a more interesting arrangement of the extesion when combined with the original house footprint.

It’s too easy to lay everything out square, you can end up with something very practical, but featureless and uninteresting. You’ve plenty of scope there, to go at.

I’m embarrassed that our extension is now in its 10th year and still not finished, and I think I should delete your post about the progress in the kitchen, before my mrs sees it... ours has been in the planning stage since 2005 when we bought the house :lol:.

Great work as usual mate, press on :thumbup:
 
My wife Margaret and I have been looking at your photos and your plans,we admire your work ethic and am pleased to see Sam starting on the same pathway.Keep up the good work,Profit and then get a bigger land holding.Cheers Pat & Margaret.
 
been reading this thread after finding it again, i first read this when you where doing the body repairs at the farm! At christmas i found it again:smilingimp: it taken me 2 months to read though:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
just want to say what a awsome busy time you have had!! keep it up!

even ended up with me buying a lj70 ;)

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Oh wow now that is nice. Very nice. It’s even in my colour. :clap:
 
been reading this thread after finding it again, i first read this when you where doing the body repairs at the farm! At christmas i found it again:smilingimp: it taken me 2 months to read though:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
just want to say what a awsome busy time you have had!! keep it up!

even ended up with me buying a lj70 ;)

View attachment 153979

Cool, I like that winch bumper... :thumbup:
 
Oh wow now that is nice. Very nice. It’s even in my colour. :clap:
cheers mate taken me a long time one! had to have a defender :whistle:as a off roader for last 4 years till i got hold of a clean 70!:smilingimp: found the 2-LT to be pritty steady compeard with the 300tdi land rover motor! so look into fitting a intercooler and turning the pump up to see if it gives it some more get up and go!

cheers clive! its a AFN bumper fits lovely!
 
been reading this thread after finding it again, i first read this when you where doing the body repairs at the farm! At christmas i found it again:smilingimp: it taken me 2 months to read though:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
just want to say what a awsome busy time you have had!! keep it up!

even ended up with me buying a lj70 ;)

View attachment 153979

Aww wow! :o

Thats a lot of reading! :crazy:

Thanks. :thumbup:

I wish I had more time to come on here and post more but I'm so busy with the house that I havent got much spare time at the moment. :thumbdown:

Thats a beautiful LJ70 you have there! :clap:

Have you considered doing a 1KZ engine swap?

Its definitely the single best modification I ever made to mine! :icon-twisted:

If you're on Facebook get yourself on the Toyota Bundera Australia page, lots of LJ, RJ and KZJ 70 series owners on there. ;)
 
Aww wow! :o

Thats a lot of reading! :crazy:

Thanks. :thumbup:

I wish I had more time to come on here and post more but I'm so busy with the house that I havent got much spare time at the moment. :thumbdown:

Thats a beautiful LJ70 you have there! :clap:

Have you considered doing a 1KZ engine swap?

Its definitely the single best modification I ever made to mine! :icon-twisted:

If you're on Facebook get yourself on the Toyota Bundera Australia page, lots of LJ, RJ and KZJ 70 series owners on there. ;)

cheers ben! well it was big beasty off roader that made me want one so badly! great following your story moving to au! yeah id lke to do the 3l swap to the 1kzt but its trying to find the manual fuel pump engine as they are hard to come by now! ivbeen looking for last couple months for a 4runner the same as you did!
great right up :text-goodpost:

also cheers for advice iv added the face book page
 
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Reactions: Ben
Last time I saw my old 1kzt 4Runner I sold to my mate in 2009, it was sitting rusty in his back yard near Perth (Scotland) I wonder if he still has it.
 
Hi I now of 4 runner with low mileage on it it's £750 let my now if it is a help .
 
Hi I now of 4 runner with low mileage on it it's £750 let my now if it is a help .

hi tony yes id be interested defently! it wont let me PM yet
where are you?
also dose it have the mechanical fuel pump? the 1kzt engine

cheers
 
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Hi it's in Wrexham I have now idea on the fuel pump its got 134 000 on it1kzt engine 3.L .
 
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