My BJ70 Evolved (1 Viewer)

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FloridaFJ80

Roaming Land Cruiser Heaven
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Threads
185
Messages
3,051
Location
Ashburn, Va
Website
www.landcruiserheaven.com
Greatings everyone!

I have never ventured into the 70 series section until now. I have been on mud for a long time and have always had 80's until now. I recently sold my 80 series and acquired a 1985 BJ70 in the process. Rig was originally from Canada, until it came down to Atlanta where it was for 5 years and now its further south in St Petersburg FL.

When I lived in Colombia, I had a FZJ73 "Machito" that was a bad ass rig and really fun to drive. The 1FZ engine in these beasts is amazing. They are very "jumpy" with the leaf springs in the front but nonetheless fun to drive and wheel.

My new to me BJ70 has a top end rebuilt 3B diesel with the H55 5 speed transmission. PO had installed a 3" ironman suspension, an Ironman front bullbar, 5 steelies on Cooper ST 255/85/16 tires. Being from Canada and 30 years old rig has some cancerous rust in various spots that need some attention. For those that dont know of me, I sent down my 80 series to Colombia this year and gave it a transformation. New 0 mile 1FZ-FE engine, H151F conversion, TRD Supercharger, new leather, JDM aux gas tank, JDM Center console fridge to name a few. You can see the thread here in my signature click on "How it all started"

So this brings us up to the now. I will be using this thread to document my build. I have some nice plans for this BJ70, some may not like what I am doing but to each his own. My plans for this rig are a semi restoration. I plan to send my 70 series to Land Cruiser Heaven (Colombia) for a complete makeover. Having access to many non-US new and used toyota parts I have sourced a used rust free cab that will be replacing my current one. Of course a new paint job will be in the works and I also plan on doing a complete engine and drivetrain transplant, the current 3B diesel, H55 and split case will be removed and I plan on installing a 1FZ-FE Coilpacked engine with a H151F transmission and PT case.

I plan on sending my rig down in January 2016. In the meantime, I will enjoy my new toy stateside, I have ordered some used OEM Mirror's (DS one broke), an outback over head console, a new headunit and some 80 series wheels.

So for now, I want to say hello!

Happy Thanksgiving!!


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Nice rig mate consider 12HT, 1HDT, 1HD-FT, 1HDFTE or VDJ 4.5 v8 single or twin turbo diesel. :)
 
I like your tyre size
 
Nice rig mate consider 12HT, 1HDT, 1HD-FT, 1HDFTE or VDJ 4.5 v8 single or twin turbo diesel. :)

I am also considering the 1HDT. This may be the route I may end up taking. We will see.. Lets see how much I can stretch the bank.
 
So while I waiting for a few goodies to arrive. I have been thinking more and more on where I want my build to go. Coming from SA this same 70 series got the 1FZ engine in the carburated version, then onto the 1FZ-FE with a distro and then finally the "3rd Gen" version of 1FZ-FE with a coilpack. These rig are widely used in Venezuela for off roading. So my idea was to transform my 85 BJ70 to a 2006 70 series. Like the pictures below:

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Knowing that I would rather replace this cab rather than fix, coming from a time and money perspective. I have begun stockpiling parts for my restoration. So far I have sourced the complete cab. Since from what I can see the cab has never changed since they started building these in 1984. Sorry for the blurry cell phone pics.

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Looking better at the cab pics, I am noticing that there is a raised hump over where the seats go, mine have the suspension seats so I am going to check if these are the same or different on my cab.
 
Frank
How do you like the Ironman front bumper? Are there recovery points?
Thanks!
Peter

Peter i like the look of the bumper. But i am not seeing any recovery points there are some hi lift jack points but thats about it.


Sent from my iPhone
 
Well. I have been really happy with my 70. I was having an issue experiencing the "funky chicken" which I was able to fix by upgrading my battery grounds.

3B EDIC Woes - "Funky Chicken" Help - SOLVED

In the meantime, I have added some goodies to it. I started with an Outback Overhead console. This truly lit up the interior the small dome light just wasnt up to the task in lighting up the interior even if I had replaced the bulb with a led one it wouldn't be enough. Installation is rather easy and its a welcome upgrade to the interior.

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Taking advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I placed an order for a WARN Zeon 8 and a Safari Snorkel. The winch really fit perfectly on the IronMan bumper it was a perfect fit. Really love how this turned out.

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The Snorkel was rather easy to install, I had already installed various other ones before. Only issue I ran into was that my BJ70 had some front side marker lamps and well they just happened to be in the way, so I had to cut up the light to cover its whole. The snorkel gave the 70 a new look.

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Ordered up a new sound system for this rig, nothing too crazy just enough to get some decent speakers and Bluetooth streaming will do just perfect. In the meantime, thanks to the Online EPC thanks to @beno and many others on this forum I was able to source some trim pieces. I am still looking for a battery tie down for the main battery, havent had much luck finding the PN. If anyone can share it that would be awesome!

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Also tried seeing how well my 80 series seat covers fit to the 70 and well the fitment isnt too bad at all. a little loose but manageable.

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So while I waiting for a few goodies to arrive. I have been thinking more and more on where I want my build to go. Coming from SA this same 70 series got the 1FZ engine in the carburated version, then onto the 1FZ-FE with a distro and then finally the "3rd Gen" version of 1FZ-FE with a coilpack. These rig are widely used in Venezuela for off roading. So my idea was to transform my 85 BJ70 to a 2006 70 series. Like the pictures below:

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Get the " 3 bobinas" into that bad boy so you can bring it over here and I can later buy it from you.

cheers and Happy New year!


Sent from my iPhone
 

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