LJ70 Build Thread!

[ozcruiser]

If you part it out Ben I want the doors please.

 

[doyle61]

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.

I found that one on this site, can't remember the thread though. As I said I've seen 70's advertiaed before with this roof, only a couple of times in fairness but I do remember seeing them. The 70's I saw them on were adds on autoscout24 and I think they were german cars

 

[doyle61]

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/fj70-offroad-project.143904/
Here's the link lad

 

[Ben]

If you part it out Ben I want the doors please.

If I part it out its the rare soft top body (with doors) that I will be keeping, I dont actually need anything else.

I found that one on this site, can't remember the thread though. As I said I've seen 70's advertiaed before with this roof, only a couple of times in fairness but I do remember seeing them. The 70's I saw them on were adds on autoscout24 and I think they were german cars

Thats very interesting! I must have missed that thread.

I'd say seeing that Toyota obviously did make and sell them, but I dont believe the Australian market got those FRP tops.

I think I will just run mine topless all the time and keep it garaged when its not being used.

 

[Edward Moyse]

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/fj70-offroad-project.143904/
Here's the link lad

Mine is a FRP top:
https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/landcruisers-at-work.140404/#post-1354183

Edit: Ah okay - I missed the point about the FRP only being on MWB trucks.

 

[Ben]

Work.

I've been working at some really nice properties over the last few weeks.

Some had amazing ocean views.



I went to a luxurious big house that is being built to fit 5 shower screens as every bedroom had its own en-suite!

I loved the oak staircase.





Lexi.

Lexi says hi.





Shes been on more play dates to the park with her best friend Chilli.









Trailer Project.




Needed to change the old imperial hitch for a metric 50mm one so it would fit my cars.



Cut the old one off with the grinder.



I then needed to weld the plate on that the new hitch would bolt to.



Dug out the Miller that hasnt been used since we left Melbourne.



Heated up some welding rods in the oven to dry any moisture out.





Got setup.









Did a few tacks.





Followed by some full welds.



The slag was just starting to lift off, not as good as I've had it before, as I've had it completely peal off along the whole weld and curl up like a snail.





Flipped the trailer up and welded the underside.



Followed by a coat of paint.



Decided to re-grease and tighten the wheel bearings while I had it up side down.



Flipped it back over, gave the welds a paint and bolted the new hitch on.





Decided against giving it a proper paint job in LJ blue as the trailer is pretty rusty anyway. So just painted it with rattle cans.





Once it was painted I could fit the new number plate to the back and vin plate to the front.







RJ.









I removed this rusty part from the B pillar.



As it was causing the body to rust.



I want to re-fit the windscreen hold down brackets to the bonnet.



The hard top bonnets arnt designed for the hold down brackets as they dont have the extra rib underneath.

Hard top bonnet.



Soft top bonnet, complete with welded up holds.



So I will have to drill the welds out so I can bolt them back on.



One of the windscreen hold down brackets that came with RJ was missing this bracket.



So I decided to make one.

Found some steel the correct thickness, but it was too wide so I marked where it needed cutting.



Cut it on the guillotine.









I bent it to shape in the vice with a hammer, after the first few bends I had to get creative and use a piece of angle to do the bends that were close together.









A bit more cutting, bending, drilling and filling later....................



Ideally I need to plastic/rubber coat the end some how. I may just use some black heat shrink.





The only thing I could come up with for the bolt that was even remotely similar in size and shape was this.





Not ideal but it will do for now.

I've actually found a place in the USA selling NOS complete hold down brackets but at over $100 each I cant afford that at the moment.

So they bolt to the bonnet and sit like this with the windscreen up.



When the windscreen is folded down they look like this.







I spotted the other day is that the LandCruiser badges are missing.



Fortunately I have spares.



But they have welded the mounting holes up like the bonnet.



I may just cut the tabs off the back of the badges and just stick them on with tape.

Kieren turned up at the weekend with the rear bench seat for me.















He also brought me the missing transfer nob.



I have the stick to fit in one of the boxes along with the rubber gaiter, just need to bolt it all on now.



LJ.

I did a tiny bit of work on LJ.

Re-fitted the drop slide and Engel.





Food.

I was thinking recently that anyone reading this blog and seeing what I eat on our camping trips away may think that I eat quite unhealthily.

As my diet on trips mainly consists of fried meat washed down with beer.

But the truth couldnt be further or weirder from that!

When I moved in with Michael and started working at Piranha I realised for the first time in my life I would have to cook all my own dinners.

And I decided then and there that I couldnt be f****d doing that every night! So I had a thought and decided pasta bake would be the way forward, as I could cook up a big batch of that and then just heat up a portion of it each night.

So for the past 3 years I have eaten pasta bake 5-6 nights a week, every week!

Its developed over time but it all started with jars of sauce.



Then about a year ago I watched a few documentaries and decided that in order to hopefully live a long, healthy, health issue free life I needed to change my diet.

In particular I wanted to try and remove processed foods completely as there full of preservatives and other nasties, but the biggest thing I wanted to cut down on was sugar, manufacturers seem to cram into everything, even products you would never imagine needed sugar, are full of it!

Its been proven that for over 50 years the sugar industry in the US have employed scientists to publish reports claiming that its fat and fatty foods causing obesity, when in reality all the facts are pointing more towards our modern high sugar diets. Sugar is also the main cause of diabetes, heart disease and a host of other nasty diseases and conditions.

Anyway.....................back to the pasta bake..........

I decided to start making my own sauce about a year ago in order to have healthy, sugar, salt and preservative free sauce!

The recipe I came up with has evolved a little over that time, but this is where its at now.

6 jars of squeezed tomatoes (once I can grow enough of my own tomatoes I wont be buying these jars)







Along with some olive oil, onions and garlic.



I cook the garlic and onion in the olive oil for a while.



The peelings are all saved for the compost bin.



Then I add all the tomato sauce.



Cook that up for a while then collect some fresh herbs from my veggie garden.



Wash and prepare them for the pot.



Chuck them all in.



Then leave them on a medium heat for 3-4 hours bubbling away.



I stir it every hour or so and by then end I'm left with this.



That then goes in the fridge for 2-3 days to mature.



Then it comes out to be blended and boxed up.





Thats just over a months supply.



They then go in the freezer and the day before I need to make another pasta bake I get one out and let it defrost in the fridge as I dont want to microwave anything in plastic as I believe the chemicals leach into the food when microwaved.



So the pasta bake itself.........................

It consists of 1 free range chicken breast, half a kg of pasta, a whole kg of frozen veg (if I have fresh carrots/capsicum etc. out of the garden they also go in, and eventually will replace the frozen veg all together), and half a bag of grated cheese for the top.



All the veg and pasta gets boiled up in one big pot, while the chicken gets fried in a pan.



After the pasta and veg gets drained the chicken gets added, followed by the home made sauce.



Mix all the sauce in (this is my favorite bit)!



Tip it into a large glass baking dish.



Add the cheese.



After 20 mins in the oven I'm left with this.



Each evening then I serve some up and 3.5 minutes of microwaving later I'm left with a delicious hot meal!



I would estimate I've made and eaten over 200 pasta bakes in the last 3 years!

Another area I managed to massively cut down on sugar and other nasty chemicals/preservatives was with yogurt as most supermarket yogurt is rammed full of them!

I buy a big pot of this.







Add fresh fruit.



And thats my daily portion of yogurt.



As I've said before my ultimate goal is to buy some land and build my own off grid eco house and grow all my own organic fruit, veg, chicken, eggs, pork and be as self sufficient as is possible.

 

[ozcruiser]

Thanks Ben for the photo's of the windscreen hold downs points. I have a set and want to fit them to my bonnet but from the photo's I will need to add some extra strength into the corners on the bonnet.

 

[Ben]

Were they difficult to source?

When I went out to Toowoomba to look at the first soft top RJ70 the seller told me he had lots of people contacting him wanting to buy just the windscreen hold down brackets, so I'm guessing their hard parts to find.

I've been unable to find a Toyota part number for them, even on Toyodiy.

RJ.

I'm thinking it might be nice to put a petrol V8 in RJ and theres only really one choice and thats a Toyota/Lexus one!

I could buy something like this as a donor and sell off what I dont need.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/byro...00-lexus-4l-v8-4speed-auto-no-rego/1106362260

 

[Julian T]

Ben would it not be cheaper to just contact a scrap yard and source a matched engine and ecu with loom?
Something like this might be cheaper and you would be using parts off a car that was no longer any good for anything else.

 

[ozcruiser]

Ben
Rest cradle P/N
53390-90K00

 

[AndyCook]

Good move with the food, we have done the same
There is more stuff being published all the time about sugary foods and drinks, and that fatty foods are not so bad

we have cut nearly all processed foods from our diet at home

except beer and wine for me but I make my own beer

 

[Ben]

Ben would it not be cheaper to just contact a scrap yard and source a matched engine and ecu with loom?
Something like this might be cheaper and you would be using parts off a car that was no longer any good for anything else.

It would be cheaper to start with but I'm thinking if I bought one like that one I found, then I could make my money back on selling the rest of it off and end up with a free engine.

The other thing is if I bought one that was running I could atleast make sure it was a good engine before buying the car.

I'm thinking at the moment that I could drop a Lexus V8 into RJ and drive it round for a few years.

Then when I get a big 4wd (ideally a duel cab VDJ79) I can retire LJ from touring/camping duties and drop the re-sprayed soft top body on LJ. Then turn the RJ chassis with V8 into my rock crawler and drop a modified Jimny body on top.

Ben
Rest cradle P/N
53390-90K00

Oh wow! I couldn't find a part #!

Did you buy yours new then? How much were they?

Another part that I really want to find but suspect could be impossible to find is the covers for the 2 front doors.

In the owners manual it says that with the soft top cars there is a bag in the glove box that has the bolt on covers for the doors that bolt on when you remove the tops to seal the top of the doors/make it look more finished.

The car came with the ones on the rear doors but I dont have any for the front doors and I suspect they were something that was easily lost, especially with a 30 year old car that has likely had many owners.

Good move with the food, we have done the same
There is more stuff being published all the time about sugary foods and drinks, and that fatty foods are not so bad

we have cut nearly all processed foods from our diet at home

except beer and wine for me but I make my own beer

They reckon the sugar debate is where the tobacco debate was 50 years ago and its only a matter of time until people wake up and realise just how bad for us it is in the quantities were consuming it.

On average people are consuming almost 3kg a month!

I've read some of the "I Quit Sugar" books, but I'm not ready to cut it out completely just yet, I love chocolate too much.

I added up my daily sugar intake about a year ago and was surprised to see that my diet, which I considered reasonably healthy contained about 14 tea spoons of sugar a day!

I've now got it down to about 3-4, of which a lot of that is fructose in fruit, which I eat as fruit so its slowly digested, rather than a fruit smoothy which is just as bad as a sugary drink like coke!

 

[doyle61]

Saw a documentary couple of months ago where two identical twins did a diet comparison. The twins were doctors as well which gave an extra twist. One went on fat diet and cut out sugars and the other went on a sugar diet and cut out fats. They compared each other after think it was a month with different tests ranging from concentration tests to physical tests. They were both in bits in different ways, from low concentration levels to exhaustion when cycling a bike and concluded that we need both fat and sugar in our diet or the body starts to shut down.
What they found was the combination of fat and sugar in the same product (highly processed) is where health damage and obesity start and flourish. They used a box of donuts as the experiment here. They had a range of donuts in a box and offered the public a free donut on the side of the street. It was the one with iced glazing that was picked somewhere close to 70% of the time. They found addictive properties with people when fat and sugar are combined. Here you had the fat in the donut and sugar in the glazing. Same with ice cream etc.
It was very interesting anyway and like ben said, we've not used a stir in sauce here for years aswell

 

[AndyCook]

One thing my wife said about when talking about this last night, is pasta is a very processed food too....

 

[Ben]

Saw a documentary couple of months ago where two identical twins did a diet comparison. The twins were doctors as well which gave an extra twist. One went on fat diet and cut out sugars and the other went on a sugar diet and cut out fats. They compared each other after think it was a month with different tests ranging from concentration tests to physical tests. They were both in bits in different ways, from low concentration levels to exhaustion when cycling a bike and concluded that we need both fat and sugar in our diet or the body starts to shut down.
What they found was the combination of fat and sugar in the same product (highly processed) is where health damage and obesity start and flourish. They used a box of donuts as the experiment here. They had a range of donuts in a box and offered the public a free donut on the side of the street. It was the one with iced glazing that was picked somewhere close to 70% of the time. They found addictive properties with people when fat and sugar are combined. Here you had the fat in the donut and sugar in the glazing. Same with ice cream etc.
It was very interesting anyway and like ben said, we've not used a stir in sauce here for years aswell

I think I saw that same documentary!

One thing my wife said about when talking about this last night, is pasta is a very processed food too....

Good point! Thats certainly something I've over looked.

Its not bad from an ingredients point of view as it contains nothing but wheat!



I think I will have to do some research and find out just how its processed and just how nu-healthy it is.

I know my pasta bake days are ultimately numbered though as at some point I will have to start cooking and eating with Bec each night and I know she wont be happy having the same food every night.

She has been doing light & easy for the past year or so and with lots of exercise and the calorie controlled diet has lost over 20kg!

She wants to loose another 10kg before the wedding and once shes at her goal weight we will both be eating healthy meals together each night.

 

[Ben]

Tomato Plants.

The tomato seedlings were starting to get a bit pot bound with their roots.



So I decided to plant them in their final homes.

I selected the strongest, healthiest ones to go in the individual big pots.







And put some of the others in the new planter and made sure this time they have plenty of room between them.



Another thing I thought of is that I have been letting them flower and start fruiting immediately. But I'm now thinking I'm going to try removing all those flowers, in the hope that the plants might grow into bigger, healthier more mature plants before letting them fruit as I've found they grow a few leaves, then start flowering, the tomatoes start to form, the leaves fall off and I'm just left with long, tall, thin stalks with a few tomatoes hanging on that dont really develop as they should.

Maybe its this particular strain from shop bought tomatoes, but when I saw the link to the video Ed posted the commercial growers plants were really thick stemmed and looked much more mature than my ones.

RJ.

I did some more work on RJ yesterday.

First job was to clean the spare gearbox/transfercase as I figured I could use it for the engine conversion as I want to make my own bell housing from scratch in alluminium, a bit like I did for the air boat project back at Piranha when I mounted the Subaru Impreza engine.





But it turns out its not the right box!

Its a G52 which is the box that would have left the factory in RJ, behind the 22R petrol engine.

What I need is an R151f box from a diesel 70, the same as what is in LJ as they are a much stronger box and will be able to take the Lexus V8 power a lot better.

So this needs selling.



I removed the bonnet.



Got it on the bench.



Needed to drill out the holes that have been welded up.



Got to use my sexy new die grinder!



That got the welds nice and smooth ready for drilling.



Drilled the holes through.



I could then bolt the windscreen hold down brackets on.





Bonnet back on.









Screen down and clamped in position.







The bits I made needed finishing.



Cleaned up the bracket with a flap wheel disc.



A quick coat of paint.



Found some rubber channel to use for now.





Done!







I wanted to remove the hideous cage from the back.

First I had to remove the checkered plate from the sides. I'm hoping to replace these with the original pieces of trim when I source some as I want it back to factory finish.





Then I could get to the nuts holding the cage in place.



Cage off.













At this stage I'd like to repair the 2LT diesel engine thats currently fitted and I may even register the car with that engine and start using it.

Then I want to sell that engine and buy a donor Lexus.

 

[asheddie]

Hi Ben, I'm also a commercial market gardener and have grown thousands of tomatoes over the years. When I grow them in a glasshouse and run them up a trellis I pinch out every second growing shoot, not the fruiting shoot (you want the fruit!) and wrap them around the string weekly. They grow to 8 feet easily. When you first plant them make sure you give them a decent seaweed and fish emulsion feed, then stress them for 2/3 weeks. One decent watering when planted, then nothing! it seems weird but what it does is force the plant to send out a decent root base in search of water and food. It'll make for a strong plant and it'll produce decent fruit. Keep the potassium levels up as they require it for fruiting. Use worm castings in your potting mixture to help retain moisture too. I'd avoid the garlic and onion peelings in your compost, the beneficial nematodes don't like them much.

Back to the cars, I think a v8 is the go in a car like this. It'll spend a lot of time on the beach and you'll want a lot of torque for the sand. I have a 304 injected v8 in my FJ70. It sounds tough, it has a lot of power and it goes hard. I've got a Marks adaptor on mine. Look up Castlemain rod shop, you'll find everything there.
What are your plans with the main pillar on RJ? at the moment its looking a lot like a barbie utility vehicle! maybe a better paint job to camouflage it a bit! Will you be adding a decent roll cadge of sorts? I don't think the soft top would fair to well in a roll over.

 

[ozcruiser]

Ben
I brought them second from a member on a American forum both where around $100 landed in OZ from memory. There around $150 each on Amayama from Japan and around $105 from UE but postage will put it around the same price.

 

[Ben]

Hi Ben, I'm also a commercial market gardener and have grown thousands of tomatoes over the years. When I grow them in a glasshouse and run them up a trellis I pinch out every second growing shoot, not the fruiting shoot (you want the fruit!) and wrap them around the string weekly. They grow to 8 feet easily. When you first plant them make sure you give them a decent seaweed and fish emulsion feed, then stress them for 2/3 weeks. One decent watering when planted, then nothing! it seems weird but what it does is force the plant to send out a decent root base in search of water and food. It'll make for a strong plant and it'll produce decent fruit. Keep the potassium levels up as they require it for fruiting. Use worm castings in your potting mixture to help retain moisture too. I'd avoid the garlic and onion peelings in your compost, the beneficial nematodes don't like them much.

Back to the cars, I think a v8 is the go in a car like this. It'll spend a lot of time on the beach and you'll want a lot of torque for the sand. I have a 304 injected v8 in my FJ70. It sounds tough, it has a lot of power and it goes hard. I've got a Marks adaptor on mine. Look up Castlemain rod shop, you'll find everything there.
What are your plans with the main pillar on RJ? at the moment its looking a lot like a barbie utility vehicle! maybe a better paint job to camouflage it a bit! Will you be adding a decent roll cadge of sorts? I don't think the soft top would fair to well in a roll over.

Awesome! Thanks Ash, very interesting!

Sounds good mate, you've got to love a petrol V8 for sound and power!

I will be keeping the B pillar on I think as the seat belts are mounted to it. If I remove it I would have to fit a cage to mount 3 or 4 point harness's to. Although I'm not sure how legal they would be for road use.

I'm not a huge fan of the colour or flames and I think it would look much better put a bit more back to standard and with a genuine Toyota colour.

I wouldnt mind a simple cage but I dont want anything too radical as I dont want to do any extreme off road driving. I want it mainly for the body, to fit to LJ so that I can ultimately keep LJ for the r est of my life. But before I fit it to LJ I want to put RJ back on the road and use it for light off road driving and beach driving.

Admittedly it may look a bit barbie like at the moment but I think in standard form like the one below it looks cool. I cant wait to drive it round like that, even just to nip to the shops!

Ben
I brought them second from a member on a American forum both where around $100 landed in OZ from memory. There around $150 each on Amayama from Japan and around $105 from UE but postage will put it around the same price.

Very interesting!

I'm thinking I might just stick with the ones I have for now, the one isnt perfect but it works ok.

These are the ones I found for sale in the USA:

http://shop.cruiserparts.net/index....=37314&zenid=7b265c106b52264aacb82afe5af30725

 

[StarCruiser]

Definately need shades (or safety glasses) for driving it. And a closed mouth!

A biker on one of these TV Police documentaries had an open visor helmet and got hit by a bumble bee in the eye at 60mph (that was him, the bee's speedo was destroyed by the impact)? He ended up in a ditch with a huge very painful black eye!