LJ70 Build Thread!

[Iwan]

Nice haul there mate! In my opinion the bundera chassis and running gear is miles ahead of the later square light set up. They're "flex kings! "
Noticed that you have type 2 2lt engine parts there.. especially noticed the exhaust manifold that has the egr outlet... so could originally be from an import (not sure in aus but in the UK definitely tells a story!) Cracked head and early type 2 2lt more common from an auto..

Don't worry about having too many cruisers. .. provided your Mrs likes them ... then there's no problem! !

 

[Ben]

Couple of thoughts Ben:
-Historic/Club Rego for one of the Land Cruisers?
-Look at a 3L head; they bolt up to the 2LT and are supposed to be less prone to cracking
-And in a similar vein, a 10 blade 5L fan is supposed to help a lot with cooling according to the 4Runner/Surf guys here.

Otherwise, enjoy!

Thanks Ed.

I've looked into historic reg and although RJ is old enough, historic reg in QLD is very limiting and completely different to VIC. In QLD it only allows you to drive it to garages/shows/organised rallies etc. Where as in VIC you could drive it for X amount of days of the year and you just kept a log book, which would have been ideal.

I've been doing some reading up and the general consensus on the threads I read seems to be that the 3L heads are less prone to cracking as there fitted to non turbo engines, so by putting it on a 2LT its not actually any improvement. I'm not sure how true that is but thats what I've read.

Ive also read a few people say its not a matter of if the 2lT head cracks, but when as its such a poor design!

Brilliant Ben, you're right, no excuses needed for new toys, especially as Bec and Lexi will enjoy that in the summer.

Being happy is more important, you have your whole lives ahead of you to catch up with domestic spend.

Thanks mate.

Nice haul there mate! In my opinion the bundera chassis and running gear is miles ahead of the later square light set up. They're "flex kings! "
Noticed that you have type 2 2lt engine parts there.. especially noticed the exhaust manifold that has the egr outlet... so could originally be from an import (not sure in aus but in the UK definitely tells a story!) Cracked head and early type 2 2lt more common from an auto..

Don't worry about having too many cruisers. .. provided your Mrs likes them ... then there's no problem! !

Thanks man.

Yes later 2LT. Originally it left the factory with the 22R petrol motor, hence why its an RJ70. Then at some point some one fitted a V8 petrol out of a Ford or Holden. Then some one re-fitted a 22R but couldnt get it running properly. Then the guy I bought it off bought it without an engine and fitted the 2LT out of his 70 into it.

I'm still not sure what to do engine wise but I guess 1KZ-T would be my favorite choice, but an easier, cheaper option is probably to repair the 2LT.

 

[Ben]

First Work ON RJ.

I couldn't resist doing a little bit of work on RJ this morning.

While putting the spare dash away I noticed that the sticker on the drivers side actually makes sense, where as the one currently fitted to RJ is in broken English.




Where as this is the one in RJ, which I'm guessing is older.




I wanted to remove the hideous overhead roof console next.















I removed the sun visor next.






With those 2 items removed I will be able to fold the screen down.

I was keen to see what it would look like with the screen folded down, so the next job was to remove the 4 x M6 bolts that hold the piece that links the A and B pillars.





Other side removed.



I could now fold the screen down.



To do this I needed to remove the bolts each side.











With the screen folded down the little push switch is revealed. When the screen is up this switch is pushed down and power goes to the windscreen wiper switch, but when the screen is folded the circuit is broken meaning that the wipers cannot be inadvertently activated while the screen is down.





Folding the screen did reveal a tiny bit of rust but its not too bad so I'm happy it should be easy to repair.





The next step was to remove the tops of the doors.



This involved first popping the rubber grommets out.



To reveal the M8 bolts.



I had to pull the door trim back to get to the bottom ones.





The top could then be pulled up and off.



Almost forgot to remove the screw holding the door rubber on.



Top off.









I removed the other one and then jumped in to see what the view is like.







I spotted that there is a gap in the back where checker plate has been screwed to the sides of the truck.





I hoped one of the genuine plastic pieces I'd kept from LJ might fit.



But sadly not!



I'm thinking of removing the checker plate from the back all together if I can find some standard rear trim pieces as I want to have RJ as close to standard as possible with just a few subtle extras.

 

[Beau]

Nice buy! I think if you really plan on keeping the new truck for a long time, do it right and stick the KZ lump in it. The 2.4's can be pretty gutless. Plus having two of the same engines in the family makes servicing and having spares easy.

 

[clivehorridge]

If you're keeping LJ, then I'd be inclined to keep this as a fully open "wyllis" type for sunny weather only.

It looks a lot of trouble to "convert" every time.

Great project though

 

[Ben]

Nice buy! I think if you really plan on keeping the new truck for a long time, do it right and stick the KZ lump in it. The 2.4's can be pretty gutless. Plus having two of the same engines in the family makes servicing and having spares easy.

Thanks mate.

I would love to fit a 1KZ, the only issues are finding one at the right price and I'm not sure I will be able to find a manual fuel pump and the correct bell housing for one.

I'm thinking if I go the 1KZ route then I might be best buying a donor vehicle and selling whats left to recover some money. I know that engine was fitted to 90's, 120's, Hi-lux's and Hi-Ace vans.

For now though I'm very tempted to fix the 2LT thats fitted so I can atleast start using it, then when I have more money go down the 1KZ route and sell off the 2LT.

If you're keeping LJ, then I'd be inclined to keep this as a fully open "wyllis" type for sunny weather only.

It looks a lot of trouble to "convert" every time.

Great project though

Thanks mate.

Yeah thats what I'm thinking. With an average of 300 days of sunshine a year here in Queensland, keeping the roof off should work well.

 

[Gary820]

That's just like the UK but 300 days of rain

Liking the new motor.

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate.

 

[doyle61]

Love the new truck ben!! Personally i prefer the round headlights on a 70 and think they really suit the soft top. A wrangler style roll cage would really go well on it as it wouldnt be so square at the back. Tbh i dont think flames suit a landcruiser at all but i do like that colour paint. Best of luck with her and looking forward to reading anout this project

 

[Paddler Ed]

Hey Ben; keep an eye on this as there may be some interesting developments on Rocky Point and the GC over time... the later part of the segment is of particular interest where they're discussing the building of a motor sport precinct.

 

[Ben]

That's just like the UK but 300 days of rain

Liking the new motor.

Thanks mate.

Love the new truck ben!! Personally i prefer the round headlights on a 70 and think they really suit the soft top. A wrangler style roll cage would really go well on it as it wouldnt be so square at the back. Tbh i dont think flames suit a landcruiser at all but i do like that colour paint. Best of luck with her and looking forward to reading anout this project

Thanks mate.

The soft top has been built to fit the roll cage so changing the cage would mean changing/altering the soft top. that said though I'm not really a fan of the cage either so it probably will go.

I'm really in 2 minds as to what to do with it. Part of me thinks it would be nice to put it back on the road but to do it properly would involve removing and striping the cab down completely and fixing the small areas of rust and getting it re-sprayed. I'd then ideally want a 1KZ-T engine in it and I would still need to find another body/donor for LJ.

All that is going to cost considerable money on top of my initial investment.

The other option is to part it out and get some money back and just keep the body for
LJ and the axles for my Jimny comp truck project.

Then I would have LJ as a soft top that I would keep the top off and use for light off roading and road use.

I'd need to get a duel cab 70 for day to day driving and big 4wd camping trips.

And the Jimny comp truck for serious off roading which would be trailed behind the duel cab.

Hey Ben; keep an eye on this as there may be some interesting developments on Rocky Point and the GC over time... the later part of the segment is of particular interest where they're discussing the building of a motor sport precinct.

Very interesting thanks.

House building is booming up here at the moment! I've been working on a lot of them recently with the new job.

Its just a shame most are so poorly built!

The main Pacific motorway running between the GC and Brisbane is a nightmare though and its only going to get worse and worse with the amount of houses going up.

 

[StarCruiser]

House building is booming up here at the moment! I've been working on a lot of them recently with the new job.

Its just a shame most are so poorly built!

The main Pacific motorway running between the GC and Brisbane is a nightmare though and its only going to get worse and worse with the amount of houses going up.

This sounds so familiar. Little ol' Bognor Regis has had around 2500 houses built around it in the last few years. It's got the bypass road it desperately needed but that will have a downside on trade for some.

I hi used to work on new build houses and from what I've seen would never buy a new build in a development of more than say 5 or 6 houses. When you see how quick some of them go up you just know the quality is going to be poor.

Seems like youve gone gone from a quality area to a quantity area.

Love the new truck BTW. The answer seems to stand out for me but may be out of the question for you and that is to fully restore this new one in soft top form and when the time comes for LJs body to go then to use the parts for your Jimny. Or make some sort of hybrid. Jimny top, cruiser underneath. I know how you love LJ though.

 

[doyle61]

The soft top has been built to fit the roll cage so changing the cage would mean changing/altering the soft top. that said though I'm not really a fan of the cage either so it probably will go.

Well if your going to use the truck primarily with the top off it I think you should put whatever cage you like/prefer into it and work from there. That would mean your new soft top would either have to be bespoke made which would be expensive, get your existing soft top altered to the new cage or go for a removable hard top. Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember seeing a couple of soft top 70's for sale with shorter ftp roofs. They stood out to me because it's a 73 I'd prefer to get my hands on and seeing a ftp on a 70 is unusual. Ben would these have been factory spec or a modified roof to fit a swab?

 

[Ben]

This sounds so familiar. Little ol' Bognor Regis has had around 2500 houses built around it in the last few years. It's got the bypass road it desperately needed but that will have a downside on trade for some.

I hi used to work on new build houses and from what I've seen would never buy a new build in a development of more than say 5 or 6 houses. When you see how quick some of them go up you just know the quality is going to be poor.

Seems like youve gone gone from a quality area to a quantity area.

Love the new truck BTW. The answer seems to stand out for me but may be out of the question for you and that is to fully restore this new one in soft top form and when the time comes for LJs body to go then to use the parts for your Jimny. Or make some sort of hybrid. Jimny top, cruiser underneath. I know how you love LJ though.

Thanks mate.

Yeah good idea.

Might try and source an un-cracked head so I can get the current engine going.

Well if your going to use the truck primarily with the top off it I think you should put whatever cage you like/prefer into it and work from there. That would mean your new soft top would either have to be bespoke made which would be expensive, get your existing soft top altered to the new cage or go for a removable hard top. Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember seeing a couple of soft top 70's for sale with shorter ftp roofs. They stood out to me because it's a 73 I'd prefer to get my hands on and seeing a ftp on a 70 is unusual. Ben would these have been factory spec or a modified roof to fit a swab?

Thanks mate.

Have you got a pic of the sort of cage you were thinking of?

Toyota never sold FRP tops for the short wheel base 70's only the medium wheel base 70's. But there were a few companies here making them but there pretty rare now.

This car has one:

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=96165

But some people have shortened the FRP tops from the MWB's.

More info here:

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/rj70-bundera.134534/

 

[doyle61]

Have you got a pic of the sort of cage you were thinking of?

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/Chohoc/Jeep2.jpg
Just a standard jeep wrangler cage. Obviously you'd have to fabricate it yourself for width difference. The reason I'd personally go for this is because it has nice slope to it, it can be easily braced further and there are extras can be bought cheaply e.g. padding and cool sound bars that fit snuggly onto the bar.
I went looking for the add i saw of the shorter frp but it's gone but if it's worked before it'll work again

 

[Shayne]

With all the hours you have already spent on your truck Ben i would like to see an Odin style restoration combining the best of both trucks into one highly modified and individual minter . Not my choice of course and i can imagine the pain of having no truck until the project was complete so maybe its not even possible but hey it would be nice to see .

 

[Paddler Ed]

Just spotted this Ben: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kalg.../toyota-landcruiser-well-body-tray/1072741051

Might be a bit of a road trip to get it though...

I was supposed to be looking for how much an alloy tray from a 70 series was worth, as we've got one that's about to become the top of a trailer unless I cannibalise it to become a camper trailer for me... which I might yet do...

 

[Julian T]

Now that is a gem of a find for being in Australia

 

[doyle61]

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/attachments/img_00000306-jpg.34310/
I knew I wasn't imagining seeing one before. So this is a homemade for?

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

That tray looks good Ed, I wonder if its single cab or duel cab? I suspect single cab.

Where did you find that pic Doyle? As far as I know Toyota never made and sold such a roof, but there is a chance they did in select markets maybe.

Hoping to get an update up soon, just a bit short of time at the moment.