RJ70 Build Thread.

[doyle61]

So engine wise will you get it all running nicely while it's in the car and do a straight transfer or will you take it out of the car and have it running on the ground before putting it RJ and tune it when you have the transfer finished?

 

[Ben]

I'm thinking I'd like to careful remove the engine with the complete wiring loom, get it on a stand in my garage and then slowly start removing bits I don't need and get it wired up out of the car.
It would be nice if I didn't have to do too much electrical work once it's fitted.

It's going to be a bit of a learning curve but I've got plenty of time to do this project in so I won't have to rush it and there is heaps of information out there about how to do it, so I'm confident I can do it.

I need the guy to come and pick up the old engine I've sold though first as I need the space for the new engine.

I'm saving up for the adaptor kit now and will probably go with the Marks Adaptors one at just under $2k.

Once the engine is in im going to buy a load of mandrel bent 2.5" stainless exhaust bends and tubing and design and build my own exhaust system.

Then I'm thinking I want to get some 32 or 33" x 10.5 BFG all terrains for it and I might also drop the suspension back to standard height.

 

[rguid]

Looks great

 

[kzj78]

I find this a little hard to believe. KZ-TE in standard trim puts out 97kW, 287N.m. The 1UZ puts out 191Kw, 353n.m. If your KZ-TE is "leaving them for dead in a race" then they are not doubt very poor conversions that were done... Not to mention the fact that the 1UZ (pre 1994) is capable of being pushed well past the 500bhp range with a little FI love.

Ben, what year is the donor? I think you need a twin turbo setup...

OK when reading over what I wrote it sounds over the top. To rephrase in a race my truck will beet them up to 100k . The lj70 has the 1uz mated to the cruiser box with 4.8 diffs and 33 inch tyres.
The surf with 1uz is mated to factory Lexus auto with surf transfer on the rear that has 4.3 diffs and 33inch tyres. Maybe it is how they are they set up but I just think the 1uz is slightly over rated. Anyway again good luck with the build Ben

 

[Ben]

 

[AndyCook]

Can't wait to see that engine roaring I RJ

 

[Ben]

Me either Andy!

Rear Bar/Bumper.

RJ came with a tube rear bar.







It also came with a towbar.





The rear bar mounted with mounts each side of the chassis rails, in the same position as the towbar.



I wanted both the rear bar and the towbar, so decided I would have to combine the 2.

Removed the rear bar.





Got the towbar in position.





Its obviously designed to fit around a standard rear bumper so was hanging very low and too far out the back of the car.





It was also designed to have the standard rear bumper mounting brackets between the chassis and it.



So I needed to modify the towbar.

Cut 2 of the brackets off.





To move the towbar up higher so it would sit snugly under the chassis cross member I needed to cut the towbar brackets down.







After holding the towbar back up I decided I needed to cut these plates off the end of the tow bar and weld on my own.

Cut some 8mm plate and clamped 2 pieces together and got them clamped in position on the drill press.





76mm hole saw next.





A bit of trimming with the angle grinder.





I now had the 2 chassis mounting plates.



Bolted them on.





Cut the old brackets off the towbar and got it in position.





There was a slight 3mm gap between the towbar and brackets but that was good as it would allow me to get full root penetration with my TIG welds.



Tack welded the towbar to the brackets then took the whole thing off and got it on the bench to do my root pass.





I then got it bolted back on ready to mount the tube to it.



Took the tube rear bar outside and cut the 3mm plate off the ends.







Fitted the tube rear bar to the mounts bolted to the chassis and tack welded it in place.



Then got it on the bench to fully weld it.









Found a towing electrics socket, mounting bracket.



Cut and bent it.



Welded it to the towbar.



Mounted the bar back on the car.







A piece of folded checker plate came with the car for the rear bar which fills the gap nicely between the rear bar and the back of the car.

I will either power coat it black and bolt it on or get a piece of 2mm steel checker plate and weld that on instead.







Back to work.....................

I needed to weld the towbar rear mounts on next.



Bolted in position.





Clamped them to the towbar.



Tack welded them in position.



Then got the bar back on the bench to fully weld them.











I needed to put a second pass over the root welds that I did to attach the 8mm plates to the towbar.

Root pass.





Hot pass over the top.





Cut and drilled some 6mm plate.





Bolted to the chassis.





Tack welded the bracket to the rear bar/towbar then removed it and got it on the bench to fully weld it.



LED lights.



Cut, drilled and welded on some tabs for them.





Lights bolted in place.



Rear bar back on the car.









The lights can be adjusted to shine on the tow hitch, trailer.



Or turned out more to light up the sides of the track.



The towbar will allow me to tow my trailer and motorbike.



Or it can be used as a recovery point.



And thats the rear bar/towbar build so far. I will get the whole thing shot blasted and powdercoated once the new engine is in and running.

The new mirrors turned up.



Ive had a bit of interest in parts from the engine donor Lexus and I really needed to get the boot open.

Tried everything but in the end a big crowbar and the trusty high lift jack saved the day.





Found a 6th alloy wheel.



And the original tool kit, first aid kit, valet kit and blanket.



It would of been a really nice, high end car in its day. Shame its ended up getting abused so badly, but oh well. That engine should go great in my project RJ.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Are you going to run 7pin round on RJ then rather than 7pin flat?

 

[StarCruiser]

That's it. I'm throwing my welder away and going to sulk in the corner!

 

[doyle61]

Really liking that rear set-up lad. Don't usually like round bar bumpers but that just looks right. I've been trying to locate a rear tow bar like that for ages now. Actually I tried getting one for my hilux surf years ago bit couldn't find one. Any idea of a supplier in Ireland or UK by any chance?
I'd say if you made the likes of them as a nixer you'd clean up. Reading the different forms lads are complaining about the quality of bumpers etc these days and if you made them on an order basis in your own time you'd have que's going down the street

 

[Gary820]

That's some really really good welding mate. Bumper looks great.

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Going to fit the new heater matrix this morning and get the dash back in.

The old 2lt got picked up yesterday so this week I will pull the Lexus lump out.

Hoping to finish modifying the bullbar this week then the rear bar and bull bar will be ready for shot blasting and powder coating.

Finally found a source for the 4 horizontal switches I need for Winch Power, Winch In/Out, Driving Lights and Rear Lights. Found a company in the US of A who posts to Australia.

Are you going to run 7pin round on RJ then rather than 7pin flat?

Yes, 7 pin round.

Really liking that rear set-up lad. Don't usually like round bar bumpers but that just looks right. I've been trying to locate a rear tow bar like that for ages now. Actually I tried getting one for my hilux surf years ago bit couldn't find one. Any idea of a supplier in Ireland or UK by any chance?
I'd say if you made the likes of them as a nixer you'd clean up. Reading the different forms lads are complaining about the quality of bumpers etc these days and if you made them on an order basis in your own time you'd have que's going down the street

Thanks Doyle.

Not sure about a UK supplier I'm afraid. Very common over here though.
Now I'm not at Piranha anymore and dont have access to the correct size box section, I might buy one of these when I build/modify the new rear bar for LJ, which I touched on a bit in my last post on that thread.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/A-TOW-HI...053792?hash=item568be256a0:g:luEAAOSwqfNXlaI8

 

[Rusty Bottoms]

Hey Ben, I've just been catching up on your posts - coming along well! I got mine through the MOT with two small bits to weld for the rear seatbelts, everything else structurally is solid and the motor is running really well now.
I have to say your welds are perfect and absolutely put mine to shame! I tend to do little spot welds so the metal doesn't heat up, so they look pretty messy (my handy excuse!).

I have the 4 plug ECU, 16, 22, 28 & 34 pin. If you get stuck on any wiring I can have a look at mine, but it seems you are well on the way! I'd say spend some time on the motor before putting it in, I bought heat wrap for the exhaust manifolds but too tight to wrap them (factory heat shields are still there anyway) so I used the wrap from just above the O2 sensors on back past the external fuel pump and lines to give it a bit of safety from heat soak.

Good luck, will be following! Cheers, R

 

[Ben]

Thanks Rob.

Congrats on the MOT, that must be a relief.

Its hard to make pretty welds when welding rusty thin body work, but
so long as their solid you
can always grind them back before paint.

Thanks mate, I will probably have heaps of questions for you soon.

Engine will be coming out and going on a stand for a month or 2 and anywork that needs doing can be done then.

I will replace the sparkplugs and rebuild the power steering pump and investigate if the alternator is working properly and try and get all the electrics sorted before it goes in.


Are you running the standard manifolds and CAT's?

I rear an interesting theory on one of the facebook pages today regarding over fueling on the 1UZ. The guy was saying that he reckons that the length of wire from the ECU to the 02 sensors was critical and that when people aler that length they increase/decrease resistance and that can make the ECU think its running too lean and so it increases fueling.

 

[Rusty Bottoms]

Hi Ben, Yes I was pretty nervous yesterday - I've spent a lot of money up to this point to have it badly fail an MOT!

I have standard exhaust manifolds, but the ends are chopped and new flanges are modified to fit 3" stainless duals merging into a Y pipe into a big single chamber silencer. It sounds awesome going through the gears!

The O2 sensors are in the original locations (one is set back about 10cm), but I did run jumper wires from the sensor wires at the ECU to try and clear codes 27,29 sub-O2 (the missing rear post-cat O2s). I'll get insurance on it this week hopefully, waiting to get paid, and will run it and see what kind of fuel economy I now get. Should be a great deal better than before! Hoping for 22-23mpg or 7.5 to 7.0 km/l at a slow cruise. Might be pleasantly surprised, who knows!

 

[Rusty Bottoms]

Meant to add I hear that running dual exhaust the whole way kinda kills the beauty of the 1UZFE. Running a Y pipe about 1/3rd to 1/2 way back to a single exit is the way to get that magic sound! I can try and get photos of my setup, the stainless exhaust system is probably the nicest thing underneath.

 

[Ben]

Awesome thanks Rob.

 

[Ben]

So with the old engine now gone and my garage now a bit emptier.



I could start pulling the engine out of the Lexus.

I found the ECU.



Judging by the writing on it its obviously not the original.





The dash took some getting out.





I got it up on stands so I can start disconecting all the bits underneath.



I've also pulled the radiator and aircon condesor out.





The exhaust and CAT's are off. I would prefer not to refit the CAT's if possible.



I had some deliveries today!

The engine temp gauge turned up from China.









It should fit quite nicely in the dash, just needs something to blank off above it.







And the bits I ordered from ToJo also turned up today.



New striker plates to bolt to the B pillars as the ones on RJ were rusty.



New window winders as RJ's were worn out.



And these finish covers, which I didnt think I would be able to find anywhere until I found them by chance on the ToJo website.



According to the Owners Manual the finishing covers would have been supplied in the glovebox of all soft top 70's, but of course most would have been lost long ago, I imagine most owners wouldnt have had a clue what they are for.

They are there to cover the gap that is left when the tops of the doors are unbolted.

Heres what the manaul says.























I do have the original rear windows off RJ, although I will probably never fit them and luckily they already have the cover pieces on the rear doors covering the holes.







I also have an original soft top frame, although like the windows its been badly attacked by tin worm.







I removed the tops of the front doors and the pieces that connect the A pillar and B pillars a few months ago so I could see how it all comes apart and what it looks like with the screen folded down.

So first I unbolted these bits which are held on with 4 x M6 bolts.







Then I could remove the 2 x bolts holding the screen in place.





And fold the screen down.







Underneath the screen on the driverside is a little push switch that turns the power off to the special double pivot windscreen wipers, when the screen is folded down.





So door tops next.



Some of the rubber bungs are visible but the correct door trims arnt fitted so not all of the bolts can be accessed easily unfortunatly.









With the bolts removed the tops of the doors pull up and off.



One bolt holds the end of the rubber seal in position.



And the door top comes off.











My plan is to keep RJ as a sunny weather car and keep the top off it all the time and keep it garaged when its not being driven.

I'm going to make a bikini top for it that will just cover the front 2 seats and that can be easily removed when we want to fold the screen down and remove the door tops. Something I'm keen to do when we take it beach driving!

 

[Ben]

Bullbar & Winch.

When I bought RJ it came as an unfinished project and the previous owner had started modifiying the non winch bullbar to fit a winch.





I like how the bullbar fits the front section of the body perfectly.





Its a nice solid bar and I believe it was an original genuine Toyota accesory and possibly made by ARB like all of Toyotas current genuine bullbars.

I would need to finish modifiying it to take a winch though.



I also got a Superwinch with the project and this again was sold as a genuine Toyota accesory, although it would have been with a newer LandCruiser or Hi-Lux.







I decided to strip and rebuild the Superwinch.



Cleaned all the parts in petrol.





Found all the needle bearings were knackered.





Pressed them all out in the vice with 2 sockets.









Cleaned and painted the winch drum.



Stripped the motor down.



Cleaned and painted the end cap.



Cleaned all the motor parts and reassembled it.











Bolted the motor and drum back together.





Gearbox next.



New needle bearings.





Pressed them in in the vice.



Used plenty of marine grease as I rebuilt the gearbox.



















I already had an old plasma rope spare and I picked up a hawse fairleed.



Back to the bullbar.



The previous owner had already cut in a window in the top to view what the rope is doing on the drum and had marked where he was going to put another cutout in for the free spool lever.







But it still needed the slot cutting behind the fairleedfor the rope to come through.



Bullbar off and ready to begin the alterations.





Dropped the winch in to accurately mark where the slot for the freespool lever needed to be.

















Cut out for the rope next.





Previous owner had started drilling it with a magdrill by the looks of it.



Quick check with the fairleed to ensure I was going to cut it correctly.



Then a few hole saw cuts later.





Might need to trim a bit more out still, but so far so good.











Lots of tabs had been added for lights and aerials and I was keen to loose some of them as I wont be fitting that many lights or in those locations.









Back on the car.





I had cut 4 sets of tabs off, but had left one set on the top bar for now as I hadnt decided at that poitn what I was doing light wise.





Looked much better without all the tabs every where.



I will be leaving the original aerial tab in position though encase I ever decide to fit a UHF radio.



This week I did some more work on the bullbar and had decided the top 2 tabs needed to go, so bullbar back off.



Old tabs.



Cut them off.



New laser cut and cnc folded tabs.



Got the bullbar on the bench.



Clamped the tabs in position.





Made sure they were square to the top of the bullbar.



And tack welded them on.





Removed the clamps and fully welded them.



The cut out in the top had a notch in it from where it had been cut too far with a cutting disc.





Filled that up with weld and ground it down, then turned my attention to the badly welded reinforcing plate in the back ground.



This had been badly welded on to reinforce the bar so a recovery point could be bolted on.



Diegrinder soon had it looking smoother.





The bar is now almost ready to be shot blast and powder coated, the same as the rear bar.

I'm thinking of then fitting just one set of LED driving lights like I have on LJ.

These ones.







Cant decide whether to go silver or black with the bars. I'm thinking black as it will look better initially. But I'm probably going to get RJ resprayed black when I get it done and I'm thinking silver bars and wheels might suit a black car better than black.

I do think it looks smart in black.

 

[Rusty Bottoms]

Looking good! I'll have to get some marine grease, didn't realise it existed, but could use it for loads of parts. You definitely have the fabrication side of things under control!