LJ70 Build Thread!

[Blown80]

Great work yet again Ben. Good enough to cross a desert in.

 

[Ben]

Thanks Chris.

Cant wait to test drive it tomorrow!

 

[clivehorridge]

Great stuff Ben, nice bit of machining there.

Good luck tomorrow...

 

[sae70]

Wow Just spent an hour looking through those last two pages

 

[clivehorridge]

Wow Just spent an hour looking through those last two pages

Now you'll need to update your signature Steven...

 

[Shaun]

Good work Ben ! This thread is always a great inspiration !


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[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Update coming.

 

[Edward Moyse]

It's always an inspiration true, but after looking at all the work Ben did repainting LJ, I'm looking and mine and thinking ... "It's not THAT bad! It can probably last another year. Or two." ;-)


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[Ben]

I got LJ out this morning.



As the garage needed a good clean up.



A few hours later it was looking much better.



Got LJ back in.





Had a few more bits to refit.



I also had to refit all the door rubbers.



The inside is quite dusty and will need a good clean out before the drawer system can go back in.





I also want to make a new center console out of alluminium.



I'm also thinking of making some rear door cards out of alluminium with cubby boxes in the rear quarter panels for storage.



Got everything refitted to the back doors.



Rear bumper next.







I still need to come up with a solution to my latch issues, I'm going to have a look at the latches on the Kaymar rear bars and might use one of those instead.



Until then I will leave the swing away wheel arm off.



So the spare will have to live in the back until then.



Put a cable tie through the latch for now to keep it from rattling.



Refitted the front door cards.



Fitted a new steering damper next, after changing the rubbers which were split from being removed using a ball joint separator..



Genuine Toyota one.





I then found it was hitting the spring mount on full lock.





So I removed the wheel.



And trimmed the edge off it with the angle grinder.



But it still wasnt enough.



I thought about extending the other mounting bracket out but it would have needed to be about 4-5"further back which would be a lot of leverage so I think I will remount it in front of the diff, going from the arm on the steering box to the chassis.



So I took it back off.





I needed to fit some mud flaps.



I hoped the magnets I'd bought would be strong enough so I drilled and bolted them to the rubber.













Apart from the fact it looked shit the magnets were no where near strong enough.

I've thought of a better solution that should work well and look good, it will also be quick and easy to remove for when I go off road. Just need to cut and weld some steel at work.

So to allow me to test drive LJ I just teck screwed the rubber in place for now. This also looked terrible but if it means I dont get done by the police then so be it.





So the test drive.............................

First thing I found was I'd bolted the steering wheel on 1/4 of a turn out.



It drove well and I found a road full of speed bumps which were good to hit at different speeds to see how the new springs and shocks soaked it up.



After a few k's of that I headed for the freeway for some high speed testing.





It drove well.

Sadly it was too late in the day to head off road, but I will head to Toolangi next Saturday and make a day of it.

So I headed home.

 

[Ben]

It's always an inspiration true, but after looking at all the work Ben did repainting LJ, I'm looking and mine and thinking ... "It's not THAT bad! It can probably last another year. Or two." ;-)


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Thanks Edward.

It was a huge job and took a lot longer than I'd have liked but it needed doing and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

 

[Blown80]

Superb result Ben, you must be pretty proud of yourself. And with heaps of time to spare really and enough time to do a few test runs.
That steering damper position is a bugger, but if you fit it up front you can get some brackets which bolt on via u-bolts to both the drag link and Panhard rod so they still essentially travel up and down together through wheel travel from articulation and therefor only does its job under steering knocks and resultant input to the steering wheel. If you bolt it to the chassis to drag link, you may find your steering feel is affected from off road travel and wheel travel. Just worth considering.
But the refreshing of LJ has really been great to watch. Congrats.

 

[Gary820]

Great work, good news it drives well and hopefully off road will be just as good.

 

[Chas]

Terrific job there Ben and those wheel arch extensions look the dogs.

 

[warrenpfo]

Great update Ben. Did you clear coat after the blue or was it not required??

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

No wasnt necessary Warren.

 

[fridayman]

Hi Ben. Did you use a face mask / respirator when you were spraying? I'm starting to plan my re-spray and would prefer 2K - will probably get a full face (maybe air fed) respirator. I once sprayed some items in a closed shed with 2K out of a rattle can and didn't use any respirator at all - not nice! My eyes stopped scratching and blurring after a couple of days, and my voice eventually came back after about 2 weeks. Lesson learnt.

What size compressor do you have? And what size nozzles did you use for the primer and top coats?

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi Ben good job there must be sum job you can not do see you seen on the 19 tonytoyota

 

[Trevor]

Nicely done Ben, LJ is beginning to remind me of Triggers Broom I wondered if drilling through the magnets is what's made them less strong, those are usually very grippy as a rule. Won't be long now before Toyota sign you up for their Engineering team, top work mate.

 

[Ben]

Hi Ben. Did you use a face mask / respirator when you were spraying? I'm starting to plan my re-spray and would prefer 2K - will probably get a full face (maybe air fed) respirator. I once sprayed some items in a closed shed with 2K out of a rattle can and didn't use any respirator at all - not nice! My eyes stopped scratching and blurring after a couple of days, and my voice eventually came back after about 2 weeks. Lesson learnt.

What size compressor do you have? And what size nozzles did you use for the primer and top coats?

Yes I used a respirator with proper cartridge filters designed for paint and dust.

I was originally going to use 2 pack but after talking to the lady in the paint shop I soon changed my mind about that, although I'm not sure she would even have sold it me as I'd told her I wasnt going to be using a proper spray booth.

It really is evil shit and very bad for your health!!!

It needs to be used in a proper spray booth where the toxic fumes are extracted. The poisonous fumes/chemicals are absorbed through any exposed skin and in particular the eyes.

The compressor is a 50 litre one, not sure what size nozzles, I just used what was already on the gun.

Hi Ben good job there must be sum job you can not do see you seen on the 19 tonytoyota

Thanks Tony.

See you on the 19th mate, cant wait to see everyone at Lincomb, will be an awesome weekend!

 

[Ben]

Nicely done Ben, LJ is beginning to remind me of Triggers Broom I wondered if drilling through the magnets is what's made them less strong, those are usually very grippy as a rule. Won't be long now before Toyota sign you up for their Engineering team, top work mate.

Thanks Trev.



The magnets came pre-drilled, I just bolted them on.

Think I've got a better solution anyway, just about to head out now and do a few hours!