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I think it's 20 messages you need for PM. One to go.
It's very satisfying to see you doing things properly and thoroughly. Waiting to see how you tackle the rust.
 
Nice seeing you on the forum Graham. Lots of knowledge on the forum, will definitely be helpful in your build! I see you are from Botswana, definitely will be planning a trip through the Kgalagadi, here from Cape Town. :grin: I need to finish my cruiser and get it up to a proper standard for such an undertaking!
 
Hi Jasper,

Is it the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park you're planning to go to or further into CKGR and beyond? Where ever you go in Botswana, it's a beautiful part of the world, vast open spaces, very few people and such incredible wildlife! I've got a soft spot for up north in the delta/chobe area. If you're going to KTP then please be extra vigilant as there have been a few incidents involving leopard and lion coming into campsites because arrogant, ignorant, stupid people have been putting food out to bring animals in for photographs. There are stories online of people ruining it for others and forcing wildlife officials to close sites and shoot problem animals.

I grew up in BW and have been lucky enough to do a few bushtrips. Make sure you get campsites/lodges booked ahead, do some research into the best ones, Botswana has become a victim of it's own success and it means that us "normal" people get squeezed out.

SWAMBO and I hired a hilux in Jo'burg last year from Bushtrackers to do a Botswana loop (joburg, madikwe, nata, kasane, linyanti, savuti, Maun, gabs, joburg). https://www.flickr.com/gp/38386404@N00/6003R4

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Great trip but be aware of the possibility that Bots has not sorted it's roads out since we were there in 2018, if you go further north (Esp. Nata to Kasane and Motopi to Maun), there are more holes than tar with the catastrophic Chinese built roads. Also avoid being on the road near end of the month (dangerous driving, far worse than SA)... Not sure of your overall route but another tip would be to try one of the smaller border posts rather than going through Lobatse or Gabs (you also avoid all the traffic in Gabs). We used Sikwane/Derdepoort when we came out of the Northern Madikwe transit road gate. The smaller border posts are usually much friendlier and quieter. If you hit Tlokweng/Kopfontein at the wrong time you can be there for hours!

What cruiser are you working on? Are you planning bigger trip?

Cheers,

G
 
Wow, That looks like it was an amazing trip! Thank you for all the tips, I will remember them for when I plan my trip!
I will be coming from the South(Cape Town, Beaufort West, Kimberley, Mahikeng,Gabs ) I must still research the trip inside Botswana, But I want to do a trip similar to yours in the greener northern parts of Botswana.

I have a 1993 Land Cruiser Prado LJ78 EX wide with an drastic engine conversion, with some loose ends, I think the original owner just lived with, I guess. I have quite a list of things that I still need to sort out that all stems from the engine conversion and the age of the vehicle.
 
I think it's 20 messages you need for PM. One to go.
It's very satisfying to see you doing things properly and thoroughly. Waiting to see how you tackle the rust.

Yeah, the rust is bugging me. So many different ways of doing it (like the "what's the best oil" debate!). Ideally I'd demount the body and have it stripped back properly, powdercoated/painted/sealed etc. Don't have the budget to outsource nor the space, skills, tools or time for DIY. So the most likely path is to get the holes patched, then mechanically remove the worst rust, pressure wash then dinitrol. Happy to be persuaded away from dinitrol but it seems well rated...
 
Missed this thread starting, so catching up, good progress made, keep on updating us
 
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Wow, That looks like it was an amazing trip! Thank you for all the tips, I will remember them for when I plan my trip!
I will be coming from the South(Cape Town, Beaufort West, Kimberley, Mahikeng,Gabs ) I must still research the trip inside Botswana, But I want to do a trip similar to yours in the greener northern parts of Botswana.

I have a 1993 Land Cruiser Prado LJ78 EX wide with an drastic engine conversion, with some loose ends, I think the original owner just lived with, I guess. I have quite a list of things that I still need to sort out that all stems from the engine conversion and the age of the vehicle.

Happy to help if you need any Bots info. What engine has your truck had swapped in? I'm sure there must be a long list of gremlins! Hope you find them all. Always good to have a reliable truck in the bush... Very few good places to get things fixed in Botswana. When I win the lottery, I'm going to build a Nissan patrol with a duramax V8 and buy a LC79 V8 and go live in the bush... Then I'll be happy...!
 
Well Graham, all i can say is well done, your doing a great job. I have recently done all the same to my LC100 and still have things to do. Just as a foot note the sump pan probably has been changed as they rot to a point where they leak. Its caused primarily i think by the sponge padding that Toyota fitted around various parts of the sump that doesn't dry after being soaked by salty wet roads .. Keep up the the good work. Graham (yes another one)
 
Well Graham, all i can say is well done, your doing a great job. I have recently done all the same to my LC100 and still have things to do. Just as a foot note the sump pan probably has been changed as they rot to a point where they leak. Its caused primarily i think by the sponge padding that Toyota fitted around various parts of the sump that doesn't dry after being soaked by salty wet roads .. Keep up the the good work. Graham (yes another one)

Hi Graham,

Thank you kindly! I'm doing my best within a fairly constrained budget (and driveway)... Probably, arguably, doing a lot of stuff that doesn't need doing but it's all important learning and future-proofing. Feels pretty good to rejuvenate a vehicle that I'm sure someone would've just scrapped soon.

Sump pan replacement makes sense. Seems in very good condition considering reputation and age. Doubt there should've been any other reason for a garage to take the pan off other than the old one being porous...! I've taken the sponge padding out of the back end of the sump pan A) to get at the pan bolts and B) cos I couldn't for the life of me work out why Toyota would've put that stuff in there! NVH regs I assume...

I've just finished stripping out the viscous fan coupling, refilled it and put it back together. Will post a few pictures of that... especially that infernal rubber seal...

This year I hope to refurbish/rebuild:
* Front and rear brake calipers (new seals and deep clean - as best I can without a bead-blast cabinet)
* Steering rack (not too indepth, just a tidy up, may need to go deeper into it or pump if knackered)
* Front driveshafts (new birfields/outer CV joints, new boots, full regrease, new circlips)
* Cleaning, derusting and painting a few select parts
* Also systematically removing AHC bits - plenty of Toyota's magical snap-off 10mm bolts...

Getting too cold to do much outside! Thin blood or something from growing up in 40 deg!

Cheers,

GrahamR
 
So... Viscous fan coupling... FYI this is not a "how to"! This is just a "how it turned out"...!

I read up on as many posts as I could on taking these apart and ended up reasonably brain fried...
Dismantled it and found some rather brown looking silicone fluid and not a huge amount of it. Left it to drain, warmed it up, soaked it in brake cleaner, agitated it, soaked it in WD40, more brake cleaner... more draining... Seemingly endless amounts of residue... until finally it was clean...

Bought some 10000 cst silicone oil for RC cars as seems to be (one of ) the norms. Probably too thick for the UK but this truck will eventually get to Africa and will likely see Spain/Portugal/North Africa so it'll be slightly over-cooled if the stuff works and I haven't wrecked the coupling altogether...!

The M6 philips head screws were a nightmare to get out, (no impact screwdriver - couldn't be bothered getting one for just one job and waiting for it to turn up from someone on fleabay). Eventually cracked them all loose. Seal popped out... (so much regret, but it was very grubby). I've since replaced the screws with M6 stainless, allen key head machine screws. 16mm thread length perfect with no washer. May include washers later. Not sure. They're all threadlocked anyway but old washer was captive on old screws.

Much consternation that rubber seal had stretched and I'd have to buy a whole new unit cos I was dim. Tried boiling it, microwaving it, freezing it... Nothing... couldn't get it into the groove without a massive loop of rubber sticking out.

Didn't have much to loose so had some rubber grease from the brake refurb and gave that a go... works perfectly (hopefully no contamination of silicone - but you don't need 42 fingers and a thumb to get it in and stay in) the tackiness of the grease holds the seal in place and you can work it around and compress it ever so slightly as you go which reduces the excess loop until it pops in and stays in... Well chuffed...!

Filled it up, had a 60ml bottle of silicone, used probably about 40ml ish until the outer shell was filled to the bottom of the 4 oval holes. No idea if there is too much... too little... whether it'll last... how it'll perform... but it's back together!

As I said at the beginning... definitely not a how to guide... as it's not proven to work... If anyone has done this refurb on the 100 series in-place of replacement and has testimony that it works I'd be very grateful for some reassurance... or if you see that something is fairly majorly wrong... Please say! I'd prefer to strip it again now rather than later!

Cheers Graham

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Great Knowledge and Info Graham, My self and a few others are in the middle of rebuilds and projects, And there are a Few Threads (Including this one Now) That keep Me Inspired.. Im in the middle of an old 12v 80 Build, Some days i need all the help i can get... So Crack on! Very impressive stuff mate..:thumbup:
 
Great Knowledge and Info Graham, My self and a few others are in the middle of rebuilds and projects, And there are a Few Threads (Including this one Now) That keep Me Inspired.. Im in the middle of an old 12v 80 Build, Some days i need all the help i can get... So Crack on! Very impressive stuff mate..:thumbup:

Thank you very manys @Higgy, this forum has saved my backside a few times recently, great bunch of peoples on here and if this thread can help in any way it's a debt repaid!

Will keep posting progress and findings. It's going to end up big and cumbersome but hopefully a picture here and comment there will enable others to dive into a build, resolve an issue or not make the same mistakes!

Good luck with your build!

Cheers,

Graham
 
Never seen a viscous fan rebuild but there you go, if the local breakers ever run our of them I know what to do lol. As A side note isn't there a weakness in the earlt 4speed auto boxes, a porcelain washer if I remember? There is a chassis number cut off from when they were redesigned but I'm not a 100series owner. If you are going for ultra reliability it may be worth checking
 
Never seen a viscous fan rebuild but there you go, if the local breakers ever run our of them I know what to do lol. As A side note isn't there a weakness in the earlt 4speed auto boxes, a porcelain washer if I remember? There is a chassis number cut off from when they were redesigned but I'm not a 100series owner. If you are going for ultra reliability it may be worth checking

I shall investigate... Mines May 2002... Fingers crossed its not affected! Thanks for the heads up...
 
Dodged a bullet me thinks... See attached TSB...
 

Attachments

  • TSB - Torque Converter CP1018_1_1.pdf
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Dodged a bullet me thinks... See attached TSB...
Hi Graham, Ive just had my torque converter done as my LC is a 2001. The gearboxes are good, just keep the oil and filter clean.. never seen or heard of the fan rebuild before it will be interesting to see how it performs. You mention in an earlier reply about doing things that probably don't need doing, the LC is 17 years old so i think its worth checking everything that way you find out if things need doing !! Keep up the great work its worth it in the end. Im fitting my new sump pan this weekend hopefully, its that rotten i can stick my finger through it !! Graham
 
Nice Job, great to see another Cruiser being saved.

I see you are using some sort of "quote" "Electrolysis bath for crusty bits..."
It's worth googling "Hydrogen Embrittlement"
Somewhere in the foggy depths of my memory I remember reading that this could occur during the home brewed rust removal process and that baking the parts in an oven for a certain period can expel the hydrogen and reverse the embrittlement.
I was involved in a job where the customer wanted the High Tensile Cap Screws electroplated to prevent rust. Turns out that if you do this it destroys the strength of the cap screw.
 
Nice Job, great to see another Cruiser being saved.

I see you are using some sort of "quote" "Electrolysis bath for crusty bits..."
It's worth googling "Hydrogen Embrittlement"
Somewhere in the foggy depths of my memory I remember reading that this could occur during the home brewed rust removal process and that baking the parts in an oven for a certain period can expel the hydrogen and reverse the embrittlement.
I was involved in a job where the customer wanted the High Tensile Cap Screws electroplated to prevent rust. Turns out that if you do this it destroys the strength of the cap screw.

Yikes, I'll definitely do a bit of googling. I'm hoping that I haven't done any significant damage! Thank you for the message, really helps to have as much information as possible available. Glad to hear it may be a reversible process! Thanks again,

Graham
 
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