Earl - my HJ47 Project

[SOOT]

Hi all,

I have been looking at this great site for nearly 12 months now and I thought that it was time to say g'day, start posting and ask some stupid questions!!!

At the start of the year my father in law gave me his old daily driver, a 1980 HJ45 as he bought a 2000 79 series landcruiser. At the same time he also gave me a 1983 HJ47 that he bought cheap for parts that he had sitting on his farm. Both have a 2H under the lid.

That day I felt like I had been kissed on the a$$ by a fairy! and I still do!

Since then I have been busy with a new baby, moved into a new position at work and pulling these two cruisers apart with the grand plan to build one cruiser, which I have named Earl, out of the two with some extra spares. Sprayed Toyota graphite or a similar dark gun metal grey with a 2" lift and sitting on 33's with black steel rims.

Thanks in advance for any knowledge, help and motivation that you might give me along the way!

I will post some photos when I figure out how!

Cheers
Soot

 

[SOOT]

If this works this is a photo of a photo I took with my iPhone, this is the 47

 

[SOOT]

This is the 45, sorry for the crappy quality but u should get some idea

 

[SOOT]

Sorry about that last post I didn't attach here is the 45

 

[SOOT]

Happy new year to all from Australia!

 

[love2fly]

45 in OZ

First welcome to the site. If you have been watching the site for as long as you said you know by know that there is a wealth of knowledge here for beginners to the advance builder/owner. Most all on the site that I have dealt with are real good folks. I kind of dabble in all types but love the old Land Cruiser, they just seems to have a personality of there own.
You have a very good uncle, hope you take him on a off road run when you are done.
So which truck are you going to use as the main build? All I can say is take your time on the build, grate therapy and the end results will carry for years when done right.
I too am the proud owner of a 1982 OZ RHD FJ45 that I am now finishing up. Has had its challenges being a non US model but when one looks back at it "its all good". You being in oz should have no problems getting the parts you may need.
Wish I could of found a HJ model.
Keep posting your build and by the way there are no stupid questions.

Have a good year

 

[Apache Pilot]

Welcome to the site! Happy New Year from the great country of TEXAS and a military "Hooah" to ya! Nice 45 you have there. My tan '65 has been undergoing major restoration and will be up for sale in about two weeks. The red '66 is my keeper and I have some minor things currently working on it.

 

[SOOT]

love2fly,

Thanks for the welcome.

I have read alot of threads on this site and have seen the abundance of knowledge along with the willingness to help others out, which is great.

I have wanted an old cruiser of my own since 2006 went camping/fishing with a mate in his SWB 40 series, they seem to me to be the ultimate/functional 4x4, not to metion the classic look that they have. I started my fitter/machinist apprenticeship for SnowyHydro in Cabramurra, NSW where I believe the first Landcruisers were imported into Oz by Thiess bros and put to work at Tumut Ponds dam. So I think that owning one of these old landcruiser that helped to build the place where I started my apprenticeship is pretty cool.

Your FJ45 looks great, nice work! You should be proud, I bet it is a joy to drive after all the hard work. Those 45 beds are fairly hard to come by over here as most people opt for a steel tray with drop down sides. I have only seen one and was not in good shape.

 

[SOOT]

Welcome to the site! Happy New Year from the great country of TEXAS and a military "Hooah" to ya! Nice 45 you have there. My tan '65 has been undergoing major restoration and will be up for sale in about two weeks. The red '66 is my keeper and I have some minor things currently working on it.

Apache Pilot,

Thanks for the welcome, and you have some smick looking 45's there youself. Alot smicker then mine are at the moment, but mine can only get better from here on. It will take some time, lots of work and lots of beer but I will get there!

 

[SOOT]

Some more pictures of the 45.

First one shows a slightly damaged front guard, damage under the door and it is hard to see but the door has a bow across the bottom half from impact with a strainer post

Second one shows below the right hand side door. There is heat marks from an oxy and small patterned dints from a panel beating hammer I suspect. The body filler was quite thick in this area. It looks like they did a ordinary job.

 

[SOOT]

A better quality picture of the 45 from the other side, right hand side guard needs some work under the indicator and where it has cracked along and across on the bend. The hood is in great nick, just need to fix 3 of the vent fins as the have been slightly bent out of shape, and all of the hood catches need replacing.


And the interior. I wish I took a picture of how much the crud was in the floor pans, it was about 2 inches deep, mostly dirt mixed in with grass seeds, beer bottle tops and old 22 shells.

 

[SOOT]

After cleaning out the cab of all the **** on the floor, I pulled the bungs and the pressure washer out and got wet.

I parked the 45 up hill of the pine tree just in case it decided to go for a quick drive down the hill. Then I started pulling some panels off.

Lifted the steel tray off with the help of the tractor


Then with full access to the engine bay, everything was disconnected from the cab body. Fuel tank was drained, disconnected and removed. Ready for lift off.

 

[SOOT]

With the help of my Dad, we lifted the cab off the frame and onto the trailer, tied it down, then tied it down again! then towed it to my shed, and lifted it onto a makeshift mobile work trolley until a better, more stable one could be fabricated.

 

[love2fly]

FJ Texas

Nice FJ's Apache Pilot, if it were I, I keep both. Any sneak previews on the asking price before you sell?
Ya gotta love Texas, did two jumps from Hood to overseas from there.
Toss a few more pic out on the tan FJ.

 

[love2fly]

SOOT

Man your on it. Your digging in like a miner. What are you going to do with that area under the door? All that dirt on the floor probably helped preserved it. Any rot in the floor?. Looks as you to got lucky with not having any rot along the back cab sill ledge. Are you going to have the cab blasted. I was not but then decided to do it, that's when I found the hidden rot, but was an easy fix being it was down to the bare steel. I never sand again.
Can you do me a favor and look on your steel frame, now you have the cab off, and just around were the door area would be, is there any kind of channel reinforcement on both side, about 8-9" long added to the frame channel? I have two reinforcement channels on each side on my 82 that look factory but not sure. It was known to be a weak area of the frame. If yours being newer does not, mine may of been done by the PO. If you look at the last photo you can see the lest side with a "U" shape channel welded to the frame. It had a tray on it so he may of had some heavy loads and this may of been done before installing the tray as a standard before tray install. The box on it now was put on by someone in the states in 2010 as it came with no tray to the states.
As you can see this old rig was in need of some serious love when I got it.
The cab was better than some I have seen, got lucky there.
They are fun, enjoy

 

[love2fly]

Picture

Another photo, still working on the bed.
The other is a project I am still working on-the cover for the bed. Still in the works, in the photo I just put paint drop cloths on to size the cavas needs.
The other looks like most FJ before the big start.

 

[SOOT]

Man your on it. Your digging in like a miner. What are you going to do with that area under the door? All that dirt on the floor probably helped preserved it. Any rot in the floor?. Looks as you to got lucky with not having any rot along the back cab sill ledge. Are you going to have the cab blasted. I was not but then decided to do it, that's when I found the hidden rot, but was an easy fix being it was down to the bare steel. I never sand again.

I am trying to catch up to where I am currently with the build, bit behind but its all good!

For the area under the door I was planning the cut and paste method - out with the old and in with the new. When I washed all the dirt out of the cab out the nasty nasty showed its ugly self.
Anyway the back edge showed no signs of rust that I see. Can't afford to get it blasted so I turned to other alternatives.

 

[SOOT]

Can you do me a favor and look on your steel frame, now you have the cab off, and just around were the door area would be, is there any kind of channel reinforcement on both side, about 8-9" long added to the frame channel? I have two reinforcement channels on each side on my 82 that look factory but not sure. It was known to be a weak area of the frame. If yours being newer does not, mine may of been done by the PO. If you look at the last photo you can see the lest side with a "U" shape channel welded to the frame. It had a tray on it so he may of had some heavy loads and this may of been done before installing the tray as a standard before tray install. The box on it now was put on by someone in the states in 2010 as it came with no tray to the states.
As you can see this old rig was in need of some serious love when I got it.
The cab was better than some I have seen, got lucky there.
They are fun, enjoy

I will have a look on the weekend if I get out to the farm as I don't have any pics of the frame that show that area.

The mustard HJ47 you can see in one of the pics above did have a bed when my father in law bought it way back in the day but he swapped it for the alloy tray, he now wishes he never did
It was good for farm work I suppose. I did try to track it down but the bloke he swapped it with said he had sent it to the wreakers and the wreaker can't recall seeing it.

 

[SOOT]

As you can see this old rig was in need of some serious love when I got it.
The cab was better than some I have seen, got lucky there.
They are fun, enjoy

Another photo, still working on the bed.
The other is a project I am still working on-the cover for the bed. Still in the works, in the photo I just put paint drop cloths on to size the cavas needs.
The other looks like most FJ before the big start.

Your truck has come along way!
Hopefully I can get mine lookin like that. How long have you been at it?

Bed looks like it is in good shape aswell.

 

[SOOT]

I tried some paint stripper on the cab but it didn't work that well so I took to it with an angle grinder and some 3M strip and clean discs. They worked very well and quick you just have to watch your pressure as they probably would remove steel if you let them.

This is them and the box they came in.