Builds My HZJ77 Build (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Threads
235
Messages
6,616
Location
BC
I have been getting pestered by a few people to do a build thread on my HZJ77 for while now. I figure I should at least do this as the mud community and mud itself is great database of knowledge. I hope to contribute and learn as much as possible while I'm on here. I have already learned a TON and the obsession with land cruisers really began to thrived as soon as I found this place. So I figure I should start taking some more pictures and documenting stuff online not just in my maintenance log. I am a big fan of detail on certain things, I'll try my best to be detailed as possible.

Bit of History on the truck, I imported it back in March 2011. Here is the original thread:

So I decided to import my own: Round Two

Bought it in November 2010 and told very few people about it online because it wasn't in the country yet, but I spilled the beans once it was shipped, I couldn't help myself. I had to sit a few months before it was legal for importing into Canada and it was like a early Christmas present when I won the auction and a late gift when I popped the container open. Missed the Tsunami thankfully as the ship was in China when Japan was hit with the disaster, lots of concerned people contacted me when it hit as they knew my truck was shipped. Dodged a bullet as container insurance doesn't cover acts of god.
Some specs on the truck when I bought it:
1996 HZJ77
1HZ Engine
H55F 5 Speed
Factory Front and Rear Difflocks
ARB Bullbar and Brush Guards
Warn Aux Lights
Warn XD9000i Winch
Safari Snorkel
Zeal Lift springs, Extended Shackles, Rancho Adjustable Shocks
4x4 Engineering Rims

Mods/Maintenance I have done:
Alpine headunit Completed March 2011
Amsoil Severe Gear 75W/90W in the Diffs Completed March 2011
Amosil MTG 75W/90W in the Trans and Transfer Completed March 2011
Extended Diff, E-Locker and Transfer Breathers Completed March 2011
Cruisin Offroad Skid Plate Completed May 2011
Donaldson Pre-Cleaner Completed September 2011
Aisin Manual Hub Conversion using BJ74 Hubs Completed March 2012
ACSD Delete Completed March 2012
MacNamara Output Gear in the Transfer during a rebuild Completed March 2012
Slee Offroad Rear Locker Armor Completed March 2012
Piranha Battery Trays to accommodate a third battery for strict 12v accessories Completed November 2012
Redarc BCDC-1220 to safely charge the 12v battery from the 24v system Completed November 2012
Separate 12V and 24V fuse blocks Completed November 2012
Ceramic Coated Exhaust Manifold, Turbo Compressor and Exhaust Housings Completed December 2012
Gturbo CT26 (Old Supra Hybrid) Boosting 14.5lbs Completed December 2012
Custom 3" Stainless Steel Exhaust with Aeroturbine 3030XL Muffler Completed December 2012
ISSPRO EV2 Pyrometer, Turbo Boost and Oil Pressure Gauges Completed December 2012
Exedy Safari Tuff Clutch Installed (machined flywheel, pressure plate, clutch disc, pilot bearing, rear main seal) Completed May 2013
New Summer tires (255/85R/16 Toyo MTs) Completed June 2013
Custom Roof Rack Built Completed June 2013
Repacked front wheel bearings with amsoil waterproof grease, upgraded trail gear hub studs installed Completed June 2013
Installed boost compensator, retimed IP to 1.09mm and retuned fuel pump Completed July 2013
Repacked rear wheel bearings with amsoil waterproof grease, upgraded arp rear hub studs installed Completed July 2013
Suspension Bushes and Pins (grease nipples everywhere that work) Completed April 2014
Valve Adjustment @ 160,000km Completed April 2014
New Greasable TREs and Drag Links Completed April 2014
Tire Alignment Completed April 2014
Amber Wax Sprayed Rear Interior Quarter Panels and Crevices Completed April 2014
Install Top Mount Intercooler Completed May 2014
LineX 045 Toyota White Sides Completed May 2014
Cruisin Offroad Sliders/Brush Guards Completed May 2014
Manual Boost Controller Installed Completed May 2014
Powdercoat ARB Bumper Black Completed July 2014
Old Man Emu Sport Shocks (60071L 80 series J lift for the front / 60043 hilux rear shocks for rear / OMESD24 Steering Damper) Completed August 2014
Led Signals in ARB Bumper Completed August 2014
New Intake Manifold Gaskets Completed December 2014
Wired Lighforce XGT Converted 70 HID and 20" Single Row 120W LED Bar Completed December 2014
Rear Right Hub Rebuild Completed July 2015
Okanagan Fuel Injection 12mm Injection Pump and Injectors Completed July 2015
Installed Catch Can Completed July 2015
1FZ Airbox Lid Completed July 2015

Mods List (No Order Really):
Mod/Install Front Locker Armour
Cargo Barrier
Aluminum Interior Panels w/ Storage
New Rear Speakers
Cargo Drawers & Fridge Slide
Rear Bumper with Dual Swing Outs
Better turbo and more boost
4" Snorkel and better airbox
Intake Manifold Mod potentially
3.73 diffs, 3.05:1 Low range gears.

Maintenance wise the truck was tight when I first bought it. Service records and poking around for general maintenance. After owning it for over a year and a half now I am still super impressed with it, and just as pleased as the first time I drove it out of the container.
I try and keep a good written record with everything and I am hoping by the way I treat the truck maintenance wise it won't let me down. I can't afford to pay someone to fix my truck so I find it fun and a learning experience working on my own truck. I tend to research the living hell out of things and modify or upgrade when needed. I hate doing things twice if it could be done right the first time. Buy one, cry once. Preventative maintenance is a must in my eyes.

For me the truck is a tool to explore and every modification I do will aid in my travels. I think its silly to build something up and not use it.

This thread might be slow to update at times but I hope to plug away at my truck when funds permit. I have lots of plans and hope to keep this truck for a very long time. All with in time and funds though!
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Changed the timing belt, tensioner, cam seal, water pump, drive belts , u-joint and a rad flush initially.

Wired and Alpine head unit for the ipod and bluetooth, buy the real alpine cord instead of buying the cheap chinese one on eBay.

Extended the breathers on the diffs, transfer case, and e-lockers up high under the hood.

Swapped Amsoil in everything (severe gear in the diffs, MTG in the trans/transfer) minus the engine because being an IDI diesel you cannot get extended intervals unless you run an oil by-pass filter. Cheaper for me to just run a high quality dino oil and change it every 5000kms. I strictly use Toyota filters.

I have always been told to run 10w-30 in the Japanese engines, there is even a sticker underneath the hood saying that is the stock oil weight they use in japan. I ended up doing some oil analysis results comparing 10w-30 to 15w-40. The results were night and day. 15w-40 is far better for 1hz's and 1hd-ts in coastal BC Climate. Mainly think the 30 vs 40 weight is the main thing as you can get 5w-40 synthetic. There are a few guys on the forum going to get some oil analysis results to compare if my findings are correct. I suspect there will be some surprised people.

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Fitted a Donaldson pre-cleaner to the top of the snorkel. This and potentially the snorkel might be a little bit of an issue with running boost on the turbo install. I will probably have to find something that has a bigger CFM capability to properly fit the engines air requirements. The 3" safari snorkel I have is said to be a restriction point. I'll cross that bridge if I have problems and deal with it then. Otherwise I'm happy with the thing as it catches a lot of debris and keeps my air filter cleaner than usual. There is a new safari model that is 4" and has much better air flow stats, Donaldson also has a filter that will go all the way up to 750cfm that would fit on top of the new snorkel.

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Tip: Plumbers wax helps seal up the felt seal on the airbox, I find with the little water crossings I do it tends to take a small amount of water into the air box before applying the wax. I also sealed up the drain hole in the catch can.
Its sticky nasty s*** though and makes checking your airbox a bit trickier but more waterproof than stock.
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I added a cruisin offroad skid plate. The thing is beefcake and I will be definitely getting another from Jason when I start working on my HZJ75. Jason we will be in touch in the spring....

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Fitted some Slee rear locker Armour to protect the expensive little unit. I bought an all-pro guard for the front locker.
I have to see if I can do some clearance mod on it to clean the leaf pack first.

I rebuild the split case transfer in the spring because it whined due to a bad output bearing. I didn't really take many pictures unfortunately. Kit was pretty good, added a McNamara gear to the output shaft of the trans so I hopefully don't have to go back into the thing unless I have to do a transmission rebuild in the future. I later added a trans to transfer fill plug hose because the trans or the transfer sucked a small (tiny really) amount of fluid from the other. I have talked to a few people and they have said its common. I don't think I messed up on my transfer rebuild but it keeps things in check.

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ACSD delete on the fuel pump.

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I did the wheel bearings, some seals all round and decided to do a proper manual hub conversion to the truck. Originally it came with a conversion done with some adapter plates but I think the original cruiser spindle design is far better suited for regular maintenance. I fitted BJ74 spindles and hubs. I'm testing out amsoil waterproof grease. I'll give a bit of an update how the stuff lasted when I go repack my bearings in the spring. Amsoil 5% moly grease in everything else (knuckles and grease nipples).
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I bought an 63qt ARB fridge freezer in the spring and wanted a really reliable battery system in my truck. I know the ARB system has a programable cut off so you can avoid getting flat batteries but I was having issues with the fridge cut out on the one setting due to running out of voltage. I don't like aux converters and have liked the idea of having a third battery for strict 12v purposes. A 12v truck would be nicer because I could just run dual batteries... I wanted to build a really good battery system for the truck.

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At about the same time this happened, o make things worse (but awesome), I did get tipped off about an HZJ75 at about this time (Deny you rock). Once in a lifetime thing for me the way I am viewing it. I have been looking for a 75/79 mine truck for awhile. Fortunately this was one that never did do mine work but slipped through the cracks of toyota dealership up north. This little jem will be hindering some of the 77s mods. I can't wait until this thing is fixed up a bit. Stay tuned for a build thread!

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I bought some piranha battery trays for the truck to accommodate the three batteries back in August. I installed a Redarc BCDC1220 to properly charge and isolate the 12v battery. The trays did require a bit of massaging to fit as a bracket was off. I fitted two relay solenoids to power an aux 24v fuse box under the hood and an aux 12v fuse box inside the cab. Its all a really tight fit under there. I just need a deep cycle battery now.

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There will be a non switched wire powering a blue sea two usb outlet and my gps charger. Its nice being able to charge on the go. I am still waiting for it to come in the mail.

I still have to take some pictures of the wiring all cleaned up, its tidy now.

On the plus side the battery trays I took out will fit the 75 nicely for a dual battery install. I like it when mods lead to other mods that I don't have to pay for!
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Turbo time!

Hoping to get this done this weekend assuming a little piece comes in tomorrow and everything else goes smooth.

I've been wanting to put on a turbo onto this truck before I bought it. After driving a 1hd-t for a while then going to a 1hz, they are a bit slower, mainly the highway hills. Still love the engine though, nothing against it. I looked at buying a few kits initially but I felt like their had to be a way to do things a bit more cost effective and exactly how I wanted. I hope that this thread can be used as reference to someone wanting to turbo their 1hz like me. Gathering stuff up has taught me a few things so far.

After much debate I decided on a GTurbo Grunter CT26 from Graeme on the forum. Graeme made a turbo suited to my goals and I am hoping this can fit the bill nicely. He is a great guy to deal with. I hope I am really happy with his turbo (I suspect I will be). This thing has been sitting on the shelf since June taunting me.

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Sourced out a 1hd-t exhaust manifold. Anyone needing factory toyota parts at US pricing or better talk to Akella on the forum. He is a stand up guy. He can source you anything toyota with a part number. This has been on the shelf since April.

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I'll be doing the connecting rod bearings on the truck, its an easy enough job (will be my third vehicle). The pan has to come off for the oil return anyway. Bought some Taiho bearings and plastigauge and new Toyota rod bolts for the added premium.

Ceramically coated turbo and exhaust manifold from Rocket Ceramic Coating
http://www.rocketcermacoat.com/. The shop was great to deal with.
Looks good, I mainly did this for corrosion resistance, I am sure it will help with a little bit of heat.

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Re-assembled the turbo.
I painted the CHRA with four coats of high temp paint. We will see how this holds up.

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Full 3 inch custom stainless exhaust with an aeroturbine 3030XL. The thing is like a cannon, my girlfriend can stick her arm almost through it. Bought all my bends, clamps, silicone and the aeroturbine from http://www.mandrelbendingsolutions.com/, looks like nice stuff and they were very easy to deal with. V-band flanges on everything. Sourced 20ft of 3in stainless tubing locally. Should be plenty to do the 75s exhaust too!

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Isspro EV2 EGT, Boost and Oil Pressure Gauges. I had Isspro EV1 gauges in my old HDJ81 but hated the wiring associated with them (amplifier boxes). The EV2 series should be a fix for this. The EV2s are programmable to have warning lights go off to programmed levels. I'll be programming the pyrometer to go off at 1200 degrees F pre turbo. I wish the madman gauges had more parameters to monitor. Makes me want to create a tuner like gauge for trucks with no computers.
Bought them from dieselmanor.com

Thanks to Crushers for the gauge plate.

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Very tasteful build! I think for many of us this is the dream 70 series, and you are going about doing the perfect maintenance and modifications. Good job and thanks for sharing.
 
Well my turbo install might get started this weekend. A few shop delays right now with stuff in the way at a friends place. Maybe get it in Sunday. Means opening day at Shames tomorrow, could be worse I guess.

A buddy dropped off my dump pipe today, and the remainder of what I need for my install. Would be nice if my final electrical connections came in before Monday or Tuesday :S.

The flange I bought turned out to not be 304 like it was advertised. Welded a bit funny. I'll hit it with a few coats of high temp black paint until I know I will have a few days of downtime and I can send it to get ceramic coated.
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All painted up with some hi-temp paint and checking out the fit. A little teaser of the 1hd-t manifold pipe. I ended up buying the 1hd-t airbox lid too.

I'm going to try and photograph things with a better camera.
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Hi,Are you going to run intercooler?
if not the EGT will go pretty high in the mountains or if you r towing.....
 
simonliew said:
Hi,Are you going to run intercooler?
if not the EGT will go pretty high in the mountains or if you r towing.....

No towing as of yet. Down the road when I have a skiff yes.

Intercooler will happen as soon as I can afford the hood I want.

I am hoping the spring or summer
 
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Very nice work mate,
Absolutely love this truck
Great build with the turbo ill be watching closely.
That factory cross over pipe will look sweet as to aswell as the bonnet you want.
Ps would you like 5 turbo studs. ;)
 
Looking great. watching closely

I really hope I can help you out because we are in the same boat on things. I want to help people out on mud because it helps me out a ton. Pay it forward you know.

Very nice work mate,
Absolutely love this truck
Great build with the turbo ill be watching closely.
That factory cross over pipe will look sweet as to aswell as the bonnet you want.
Ps would you like 5 turbo studs. ;)


Now if I could only get it into my buddies shop, it keep getting delayed, dame f350s need too much front end work! I hate those things! We are still shooting for this week sometime assuming everything goes well.

Can't wait for that hood scoop, i think it will look really nice....

Keep the studs as a gift! ahahahah, that still makes me laugh.
 

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