Finish Line

Well its official .... we now have a finish date !
The old BJ will be finished by the 9 Feb 2013 ..

What a difference a Year Makes .... !

What a difference a Year Makes .... !

Well believe it or not it is close to one year since I started this blog. The first post was on January 30 2012. Just shows how optimistic I was back then, ordering superficial bits and pieces without actually realizing how bad the bodywork was on the old BJ.
But then again I didn't realize what I actually wanted other than I thought it looked cool !.
Thats the problem with Toyota Land Cruisers and I suppose any other off road truck that you think you might want to change to suit your own needs. The second you start down the run of changing/upgrading the possibilities are endless. The only barrier is the amount of money you want to spend.
I my case I wanted the truck to look a certain way and wanted confidence that everything would work as it should and add a few modern upgrades. But most important I wanted it to last and hopefully not have to replace anything in the next 30 years !.
So where are we 12 months later.
Pretty much on the home straight. The body work is now complete. The running gear is all done, engine is wired and was started for the first time in 11 months !. Wiring is 90% done.

So whats left ...
The last shipment of parts is now on the way. The list of items to be done now fits on one A4 page .. that's is a milestone in its self. 
* Some small wiring issues, spot lights, glow plugs, stereo and speakers.
* The seats need a bit of attention.
* Front bumper being chopped and painted
* Roof rack
* Fit top section
* Emblems

The good bits ..
The paint is prefect for the truck. The sound of the lockers engaging is the best. Full stainless steel exhaust. But probably the one thing that will make the most difference is the electric steering, it works better than we thought.

So the big question ... Is it worth it ?
I've been thinking about it and the truth is the money can never be recouped. But I think that's the nature of any restoration/rebuild.  The pleasure is the research, the knowledge you pick about, the decisions based on friends/forums/experts. But most of all its a one of a kind, unique, hopefully something that will last and give a few years enjoyment.

Record Photos

Dune Beige

Who would have thought that picking a colour could be such an ordeal  ....

Well I suppose I should clarify the above by saying it was actually never a decision because I was always going to pick dune beige. Why ?, because its the best colour I have seen on a TLC. So why the ordeal, well its because of that small bit of doubt that creeps in whenever you have to make a decision that could either make or break a project and a decision that you really dont want to regret ...

Just a small bit of background. We looked at a few options
1. Dune Beige - Because its and origional colour
2. Sand Storm - A modern colour from the FJCruiser and a back-up if the Dune Beige didnt look right
3. Metalic Dark Grey - Something completely different

We did samples of all colours had a look and decided the Dark Grey was not for this project and the Sand Storm was a bit lighter than expected. The Dune Beige was the right choice. So that was that untill the first finished coat was applied

But on close inspection the paint was full of minute dirt particles. Alex was none to impressed, to be honest I would not have really noticed. But he was having none of that and having the whole paint job redone !

But here's the thing, I had seen plenty of photos of TLC's with Dune Beige and all had different shades, the one he had was not to bad. That is until it is compared to the new or redone done final paint. The paint this time was a different brand and the quality is far superior to the previous. So much so that it transforms the look of the TLC. The better quality paint has a much deeper tone a richer quality.
Although you can only see a small sample of the new paint in the photos below, its a far better colour when compared to the photos above.
So Dune Beige is not always Dune Beige :)

Anyways the truck is coming together .. seems like its been an age (actually it has been) ... but considering it will last another 30 years, a few wont worry to much about a few extra weeks.

All the running gear is fitted, body bolted to the chassis, main plumbing installed, power steering complete. The compressor is fitted (tucked neatly inside the engine bay), with the air line nozzle connection mounted just above the rigt hand air vents for easy access from the outside.
The new dial and switch gear have been fitted, although a few tweaks still to make. But overall the new arrangement looks pretty sharp. The electrics are being done now .. not something I would like o be doing ..

More photos here
Record Photos 15-11-2012

Oh for anyone who is interested about the completion date ...
When I asked when I could have the keys, the answer was ...  "Anytime you like ... but dont expect to have the truck"
When I asked when the truck would be finished, the answer was  ... "It will be finished when its finished"

Snorkel

A short note about a short snorkel ...

So when the snorkel arrived, unpacked and admired .. yes it was a quality snorkel.
Its a real neat piece of kit and fits really well to the BJ, however its mounted on the passenger side (no problem), but that means that a long flexible air pipe has to run along the driver side and across the bulk head to the passenger side to meet the snorkel. Again no big deal, but we didnt really like the idea of a long untidy flexy pipe looking untidy under the bonnet.
So we had a better idea, get a new snorkel made to fit the driver side and lower the pipe to clear the folding wind shield. Its going to look neat and just high enough to clear the bow wave :)
But there will be an extension pipe, if ever needed.

 On the right is the snorkel that arrived and to the left is the start of the new driver side snorkel

 This is how the finished metal work looks, ready for paint.

Evolution of a dash

Like most things as noted before, there seems to be a lot of bespoke stuff going on with this BJ41. Not originally planned but that just seems to be how things go.
Its funny how the small things can change everything. The dash being a great example. The original dash layout and knobs are cool. Functional and retro. And yes the purest's out there will be very upset. But then again this isn't for them. The redesign  of the dash was as a direct result of 3 new switches that came with the ARB locker and yes they would seem insignificant till we though about where they should go. The normal route is to but a blanking panel over the radio slot and mount the switches. Ok it would work, its been done before, but then it doesn't look to good. So the opportunity was there to look at the whole dash layout and switches. No big deal, true, but never as simple as that. As were were going to redone the whole dash, we though we might as well add a couple of gauges and additional switches. My main concern was having potentially truck breaking switches easily accessible to small fingers. The temptation for kids to press buttons (especially ones with big red lights) would be too great :)
The objective was to have a logical order to the switches and keep the more important one close and centered to the drivers side and add two dials (Tacho & Clock). To keep everything same, the engine kill switch and ARB 'power on' buttons are located to the right hand side of the steering wheel out of harms way. To keep the whole thing symmetrical the original radio housing is now centred on the dash with the switches and dials aligned above. I think it looks pretty good.

This was the concept

 First attempt

Test alignment

and this is how it looks now, ready for the original radio to sit below.

One step forward two steps …..

One step forward two steps …..

One step forward two steps ….. well you all know how that line goes and that’s how it feels sometimes. This is not the first time I’m felt this way and in fairness it’s never actually anything but progress. Don’t think they guys at the classic car center have put a foot wrong.

Suppose to explain in a bit more detail. When restoring, repairing or just fixing something, there is always two ways to do it. Either do the minimum or check whether the minimum is enough for what you want and if not improve it. And improvement seems to be high on the list of ‘thing to do’. Its these little improvements that really take time, each improvement being bespoke and unique to this project. And being unique makes it worthwhile.

The roll cage being a point in case. It arrived and looked the part, tested fitted ok. But when we all stood back and looked at it, we thought the front roll bar was a bit ‘agricultural’ and didn’t fit to well. There is no question is would have been fine, but it could be better. So it was set aside and a new front roll bar made to suit the BJ. Again like most ‘let’s improve it’ ideas, sounds simple enough, but the extent of the improvement is what makes the difference.

So let’s look at the problem, the original roll bar sat away from the dash, hampered the foot wells and didn’t align to well with the rake of the windshield. So the solution was to make a new one which was wider and aligned tight with the window corners and windshield. All simple enough, except that to align with the windshield without putting tight radius in the roll bar would mean notching each end of the dash to accommodate the uprights. So now the roll bar fits really neat, tight to the window corners, windshield and roof. Test fitted all looks well .. almost. Now it fits so good it hampers the locking nuts for the drop down windshield, the sun visor and rear view mirror. Just minor problems, but all minor problems require measuring, fitting, making stuff and refitting ….

So now the simple front roll bar has become a roll bar, anchor point for the windshield locking nuts, mount for sun visors and rear view mirror. 

So yes .. there are two ways to do things … appears we have chosen the ‘improvement’ path where ever possible :) … 

A recap on 'improvements' to date.

Chassis/Running Gear

Straighten and strengthened chassis. Oh, in case the question is asked, the chassis is being finished in paint. Many people galvanize the chassis and I had thought about it and discussed it with Alex & Steward, my initial fears of the chassis bending while galvanised were dismissed, however I was told that galvanizing the frame could make the joints at the spring mounts brittle leading to failure. That was enough for me to dismiss the galvanising route.  Powder coating was considered but ruled out on the basis that should the surface get damaged there is the possibility of water seeking under neat the powder coat finish leading to blistering etc.

So in the end we were happy soda blast the frame, repair and strengthen where required, prim coat and apply a few coats of paint.

 The rear cross member had to be split and welded to remove a bend

Front cross member plated and welded

The axles, diffs and brakes were rebuilt, ARB lockers added front and rear. Thankfully the JDM BJ’s came with disk brakes up front, so they just needed new pads and a bit of TLC. All look like they will last another 30 years.

New suspension and shocks all round, it’s a 4”lift, this will probably be changed some time in the future to a 2.5” lift. The 4” lift might look the part, but makes the whole thing a bit bouncy on the rood. Will see if it settles a bit over time.

The engine as checked out before any work started and the compression test done. It was given a clean bill of health so left as is with the exception of all new gaskets, turbo and a tidy up.  Gearbox and transmission was working fine, so as nothing was broken, we didn’t touch them.

Power steering

Electric power steering is being installed rather than hydraulic. Again we thought about this and while the hydraulic power steering is fine, it requires additional pulley wheel, pump, hydraulic lines and mounting brackets to both the frame and engine. We choose the electric steering because of its simplicity and ease of installation. The units comes supplied with a new steering column, motor , bracket and loom. The motor sits under the dash and the whole assemble mates with the existing lower steering arm. Neat and straight forward.

The body, well not much of the original left, what was kept (roof, upper rear, front section, doors and bonnet ) was all repaired, patched, primed . With the addition of the aluminium tub the whole body should be pretty good. 

Supplied by ezpowersteering

 

Hard Top/No Top

Always wanted to be able to take off the top, just in case, we managed to get a day of sunshine. Again sounds simple but needs a whole heap of things done to make it manageable. So taking it in sequence. First the full doors should be easily removed. So a little thought for the hinge assemble. The front door hinges were pretty easy, we just added a locking spud to the hinge pin that way the doors can be lifted without removing the whole hinge assemble and the half doors inserted. Second were the rear doors. The rear doors were not so easy as the hinge assembly is different, just meant cutting a piece out of the receiving hinge bracket, to allow the doors to he pulled rather than lifted and insert the new rear tail gate. The perimeter of the rear tub (top section) was fitted with rows of captive nuts. This should make removal of the top that bit easier

The Dash

Have decided to pretty much replace all the original switches, this was a pretty big decision, because they original pull switches are pretty unique to the Land Cruiser. But given that there are new switches and gauges to be added, we felt it was best to redone the whole look and layout of the dash. Not for everyone, but no going back now …

New switches include the three ARB lockers and air compressor, I wanted to have the ARB lockers and winch buttons to be powered from a separate power switch remote from the main cluster. This was to prevent accidental engagement of the lockers and we didn’t want that now … young kids and buttons .. never a good combination.

Where does it all go ....

The money and time that is ....
Well it becomes more obvious as time goes by ..... its all in the labour and attention to detail. Most of the ancillary engine bits have been cleaned, primed, repaired and painted. Most of the bits got a satin back finish. The wheels have gone from white to a really dark grey or more a back with a grey tone. The engine bolt on bits have been finished in a silver, its the silver that i think has come up just right. The rocker cover on the BJ's always looked very agricultural, but the new paint and cleaned up bits gives the engine a really good look.
At this point I have to say I'm pretty happy with the whole thing. The guys at the classic car centre are coming up with some cool ideas .... it the attention to detail and figuring out ideas to make the truck work better for that keeps it exciting. Like changing the door hinge pins so they now have locking spuds so the half doors can be swapped by just pulling the hinge pin rather than taking off the full hinge.....
Its the little things that make all the difference :)