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FZJ80R from Devon

Richard Turner

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Sep 25, 2017
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I have had my truck a couple of weeks now and done a few repairs and improvements, will keep a log of them here! I don't really know what I want the truck to end up like except that it will be reliable and a nice thing to use and drive.

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First repair was the oil pressure gauge, it seemed to work only over bumps, traced it to a fractured wire just behind the connection. It is a special connector so had to peel it apart and re crimp it, added some solder too for good luck. Works well now.

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Next thing was some floor mats, although it came with original floor mats clean enough to eat a sandwich off, really they won't last 10 seconds if I get in with oil on my boots so used them as templates to cut the offcut of an offcut I used for the hallway floor. So now have nice oak floor in the cruiser. Fitted a Mole Valley Farmers seat cover to the drivers seat, (very good fit) matches the leather colour well and should save on wear.

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It is hard work lifting stuff clear of the tailgate to keep oil from the carpet, so removed the carpet from the backboard and used it as a template for some aluminium coated pvc sheet. It is a funny material it's a bit like perspex but with aluminium veneer, very light and strong but also flexible. Panel bonded it onto the backboard to use the original fastening popper system, went over it with 120grit to give a brushed look and hide scratches and fitted the edging trim from the carpet on the top edge.

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I sold my van today so all the stuff that lived nicely in racking in the back has to find a home in the cruiser, it all fitted nicely, got an old scrap trampoline net which is very good as it is tough and has eyelets all the way round, put these through the rear headrest and it protects the back seat and gives a nice cover mat if you need to fold the seats down and load on them too. I would lile a better system but this will do for over the winter until I decide what I want or what works etc.

I started taking the tow bar off as it was rusty and I thought it would be easier to do on the bench, but one bolt sheared and 2 started spinning so I ended up having to gas off the bolts, which led to the removal of the crumbled bumper. Need to get this sorted so picked up an I beam today which should fit round the chassis rails, intending to fit a receiver hitch type setup, not sure how it will pan out yet but will have a play around.

Thanks for reading and interested to hear of receiver hitch and bumper making advice.
 
So the Tow Bar is gone now, I could re fit it as the brackets are removable from the inner chassis rails and could have new captive nuts welded to them but going to do something a bit different.

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This is the standard rear cross member outer part, the captive nuts behind the holes have completely rusted away, and there are 2 big dents in it, the n/s chassis rail is pulled over to the o/S slightly.

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On the way to work picked up some steel from Dyfed Steels, went in on a whim asking for an I beam with 114mm internal gap, they looked at me a bit funny and said yes actually a 127mm beam has that height. Got 3 metres of it for £28, just about fitted in the truck with the seats folded down.

After work started cutting and as I cut the cross member the n/S chassis rail sprang back into place which was nice.

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The steel of the cross member is very hard steel, ended up using 4 thin discs on the 5inch grinder and one flap disc to remove the welds. It makes an awful lot of dust so you want your dust mask on for sure!

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Where my fingers are there is a flat part on the inner cross member, that is how far in it needs to be cut flush to as the cross member sits ever so slightly lower than the chassis rails. I cut it off bit by bit by trial and error but if you cut it level with the bottom of the chassis rails and as far back as this flatter part it would be a lot quicker.

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The upper part of the cross member doesn't actually have to be removed it could be cut flush with the furthest part back of the chassis rails, this would also be a lot quicker. I cut the beam to 155cm but 149 cm would be fine also. I don't want an overhang in the corners as I want some give in them so will fit the bumperettes, the cruiser is a big vehicle to move around so don't want to catch a corner on my garage and knock it down or something! That's as far as I got took 3 hours, 5inch grinder, 4 thin disc one flap disc and £28 for the steel.
 
Looking good Richard, I like the way you're just cracking on with it!

If you build a square receiver into it, just make sure it's well-braced diagonally, either with a triangular plate or some hefty diagonal strip to form triangles each side.
Nice work:thumbup:
 
Hopefully should discourage tailgaters!

Managed to get metal in my eye, for a couple of nights thought it was just a bit of grit that would come out in my sleep as usual, but on the 3rd day had to take a trip to see the eye nurse with her needle to hook the piece of Toyota out of my eyeball and clean up the rust ring with some kind of special brush. Not sure how it happened as was wearing all the correct gear, think it is due to the grinder (new supposedly safer Bosch with difficult to operate trigger and huge motor cooling fan) blowing all the swarf around. Not to worry.

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This is how I was planning to fit the reciever tube, I was thinking to cut a section out of the bottom of the I beam and weld the tube in place of the removed section. Sorry about the rubbish sketch! Red lines are welds. The I beam will be welded to the chassis rails and also to the cross member in behind. The reciever tube will also be welded to the cross member as it will partially pass through it.

Not sure if it will need any further strengthening as it is basically the same as the tow bar it replaced except welded to the crossmember additional.

On hold for a week until the reciever tube is delivered, will make a template for cutting the ends of the bumper and get the bumperettes cut down, also need to spray rust converter in the chassis rails and sort the rear lip of the o/s/r arch as it is MIA!

Did some work on the wiring in the dash today as the illumination in the upper row of buttons doesn't work (and it was raining)


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Previous alarm install will be fun to remove.

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Cable for missing CD changer removed and roughly laid cable for rear cig lighter also gone. I will put power into the rear but will use a proper battery cable fused.

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Found I had a glove box light bundled in with the alarm wiring

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The feed for the rear cig lighter plug from the ariel up down switch! Technically ok as it runs from the cig fuse but what a rough way to do it. Now gone and repaired.

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Another cable run from the front fuse box to the hazard light switch, I think to cure a short where the cable had rubbed the metalwork of the dashboard just in front of the junction connector. Repaired the short and reconnected wires back to normal.
 
All the scrappy wiring is gone now and repaired back to original. Still waiting for the reciever tube I need to carry on with the bumper so have bolted it on temporily as is.

In the mean time I have been enjoying using the truck, apart from the irritating squeak from the wipers. I checked the pivots when I inspected the truck and they had a little play, so considered trying to spray grease down into them but actually decided to remove them and strip them down and give them a clean, there is a little circlip under where the wiper arm mounts that can be removed, then you can disassemble them. Inside is a nylon bushing that had worn almost through on one side.

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I gave them a clean up, sanded the rust off of the pivots and reversed the bush to the fresh side. Whilst I had them apart decided to drill and tap them with grease points.

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Although I would have to remove the scuttle panel to grease them I think this would only be needed every couple of years or perhaps if I had the scuttle off for another reason it could be done then.

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The grease points are hidden behind the scuttle and the wiper arms. Lovely, smooth and quiet now! 20171005_161705.jpg
 
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Adjusted the handbrake up today, it's much better but I will have to change the shoes and drums as they have had it really. Replaced the rusty wheel nuts with some rear wheel nuts from MR2's which have been and gone. Same style of spigot mount nut but much longer and more chrome.

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Nice work on the wipers. You'll probably find that now they're full of grease and the bushes have been turned, they will perform for another 22 years or so without maintenance.

Your wheels may look a bit scruffy, but if you can or want to afford the money, they will sandblast and re-laquer nicely. there are loads of folks who have done this, with near-new results.
 
Hi Clive, I have been looking out for another set of alloys the same, I really like the shape of them. If I can get another set of wheels I can get one set blasted whilst I still use the truck, my local shot blast place say it will be 5 working days to do my wheels.

Also I would like to change the tyres to something more suitable for off road use, I don't really know what to buy though, the BF goodrich K02 seems good but a set will be pretty expensive compared to a set of remould, also I can't really find remoulds in 275/70/16. So not sure on that at the moment!

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Did one of the 5 areas of rust I need to sort, not very pretty but it will be hidden behind the bumperette and spray flap so won't matter. The other side is not as rusty so will just need one plate at the bottom rather than fully replacing so hopefully can get that one done one evening.
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BFG KO2s are a good all rounder, good road manners, not too noisy, and for light off-road, they will give you good mileage.
I wouldn’t touch a remold with a barge pole TBH. Waste of money IMO. You might be lucky, but I had a set of part worn gifted to me and they literally fell apart, no chance to wear them out, they just fell to bits. Dangerous.
If you need something more aggressive than KO2s, BFG Muds will go anywhere you want. They’re noisier on asphalt, but acceptable, but they’re a bit scatty on asphalt in the wet. They tend to let go under wet emergency braking. I’m running 1/2 worn muds at present, and I’ve just bought a new set for off-road. I guess that says something.
Can’t find KO2s in my preferred size anywhere across Europe, 305/70/16s exist, but nobody can supply them outside the US.
Hey-ho, such is life.
 
Hi Clive, sorry to hear you had a bad experience with remoulds, it is hard to trust anything as important as tyres if you don't have faith in them! Personally though, I have used them an awful lot for trialling and for drifting always with very good results. Never had a tyre fail except in the usual ways tyres fail i.e. hitting a huge stone or piercing the side wall on a sharp rock etc. Kingpin K4S remould were the tyre of choice for trialling as they are very tough, very good grip, and so cheap you could run 2 new sets during a trial, changing halfway to use your first set as spares! They have been removed from the tyre list now as they were causing too much wear to the hills and sections, causing much upset to triallers who had stockpiled.

I use this MR2 turbo for trialling, this is climbing hill 'Excelsior' on the Edinburgh trial.

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For drifting they would give a good even wear down to the canvas with no tread delamimation, it was always old tyres of whatever brand that we found the tread would just tear off in chunks. Like rubber in all automotive use I think when it gets old it's properties seem to fade.

I don't really know how the cruiser will cope off road, I am looking forward to using it properly when I have fixed the diff locks and finished my tidying up and Lpg conversion. I have been looking at doing an event called 'the Wessex wander' hopefully the K02 will be suitable as I want to keep the grip on road of the truck as much as possible but not get stuck in general off road use. The more I think about it the more I think I am going to need 2 sets of wheels and tyres!
 
Yep, I’ve always had 2 sets, muds and ATs, General Grabber do a good AT, cheaper than BFG and very similar tyre, IMO. The walls are a bit vulnerable to rocks, their only downside.
 
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The reciever tube and drop hitch are here. Pretty big! I think I am going to add a brace at the inner end of the tube using some of the brackets from the original tow bar.

I bought the tube from a place called Gold RV, they had the drop hitch 2nd hand so got that for half the price which was good.

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Cool.

I still haven’t got around to making or having made, a bespoke bike rack for mine. I want the square receiver tube to angle up vertically to mount transverse channels for about 4 or maybe 5 bikes, but high, at or above rear glass level.

It would be useful if it had a pivot as well, on the angled part at bumper level, to swing it down for loading and door access.

It needs a bit of design input but one day....
 
Hi Clive, saw your ARB bumper on the bumper thread, could you not mount your bike rack on the reciever tube you have on your spare wheel carrier?

I do like your bumper, especially how the spare wheel carrier is integrated into the main body of the bumper and not sat on top, I hope to do similar with mine but using 2 parallel tubes that will fit into the recess of the I beam, I don't think it will be as elegant as the ARB though!

There seems to be no end of accessories you could mount in a reciever tube, here are my 2 favourites:

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For those difficult to open jars whilst camping, and,
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For loading my wife's shopping into the cruiser!
 
Yep, it’s agreat system IMO too.

I could use the high level one, but I’ve got too much wag in that pesky swing-out bearing to use it for a bike-rack.

Best anchored down on the main beam I think, but as I say, it needs thinking through properly.

I want the bikes high to get them out of the rear shunt zone. There’s a few bobs’ worth going on the rack if I sling all 5 up there, so a rear ender would not be welcomed.

And I really should get the wheel carrier pivot fixed again...
 
I did a real bodge on my rims a couple of years ago for Mot and they were as bad if not worse than yours. I just hit them with a wire brush wheel on the drill and used cheap etch primer, silver wheel paint. spent about 30min on each wheel and the difference was, and still is amazing from anywhere over 6 inches away depending on your eye sight! Cost less than a tenner which what I am most happy about. It was only to last a few weeks or until the paint flaked off but its still there. less is more as they say.
 
Managed to get the Cruiser back from my wife (I have still not got round to fixing either of her cars) .

It is still doing around 15/16 mpg but it is doing mostly high speed motorway work.

Did some more on the rear bumper/wheel carrier so I can get the LPG tank mounted.

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The reciever tube is welded into the beam, re did the welds on the wider flange part at the end as they were rough. Tho O/S has been cut back to allow the corner bumper to fit better but I will have to do things differently on the N/S due to the wheel carrier and pivot being there.

To the right of the reciever tube I will mount the trailer sockets and LPG filler, they will be protected by The recess. The reverse sensors will be mounted in tubes and welded on underneath the beam.

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I have used the old tow bar material in behind as further bracing. I decided not to weld the beam on as I want to be able to remove it if needed. So it is bolted with brackets into the chassis and by two bolts clamping it onto the chassis rails. I would like to fit two further brackets though.

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I need to make a cover for the pivot end of the wheel carrier that is removable. The pivot is made of trolley castors, don't know how long they will last but they seem strong, if I push down on the end of the wheel carrier when it is open I can twist the beam slightly! The carrier arm will (may!)?be shorter when I work out where I want the wheel to sit. When the carrier is closed the box is a snug fit into the beam, this is to allow the load of the wheel to be carried by the beam and not the pivot.

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Loads of room for LPG tank!

I have a problem with the radio signal, it is very poor when the engine is running, but perfect when the ignition is on and the engine is off! I have cleaned up all the engine bay earth, and it has had a recent Toyota remanufactured alternator. Not sure how to cure it and it is very irritating!!
 
Check the wire to the radio aerial Rich. Sometimes the aerial gets replaced and a taped joint made in the co ax cable rather than running the wire through. The likely place for this is in the wing. It's also possible it's got damaged/bodged/pulled out the back of the radio.
 
Hi Richard, have had the dash apart and the ariel connection into the Radio seems good, I left the glove box out and shook the cable with the engine running and it makes no difference so hopefully it is between the ariel motor and where it comes though the wing/bulkhead. The ariel motor still works fine which I read is unusual for an 80 so perhaps it has been replaced. It does make a clicking noise at the top and bottom stop, dont know if this is normal? Sometimes if I go round a tight right hand corner the signal becomes clear for a while. The signal was very good when I first got the truck, then as I was servicing it I steam cleaned the engine bay and cleaned and re oiling the ariel mast and it was after that it was worse.
 
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