South African HJ-47 Pick-up (1 Viewer)

[Scrrapper]

My name is Eric Hyde. I am pretty excited. My friend Heinrich and I am hoping to turn this:

and this:

into this:

minus the big tires.

Heinrich has taken down an 1982 HJ-47 with a South African load bed to the frame as you see in the first picture. My desire is for him to rebuild all major components (engine, diffs, transfer case and brakes) and add some pieces that were not on the vehicle to begin with. We are adding power steering, a 79 series bed to replace the nasty Durban-made bed in 1982 (Africa did not get the nice North Am bed with rolled fender openings), and redoing the interior. One thing I know will get some groans here. I had a choice of engines, H, 2H, 2F and 3F. First off the original engine was gone from the frame a long time ago. I chose the 3F because I am hoping it will provide a little higher cruising speed, allow me to add air-con after I get back to the States and will mate up well with the H55 5-speed going in. I will likely add fuel injection. Still undecided on that one. Please let me know what you think about an EFI from a later LC. Split rim skinny tall tires and the auxiliary tank under the back bed. The first picture is a few weeks old. I will add as i get more.

 

[Scrrapper]

Have a few more picts of the shape the tub is in. Not bad, actually I think pretty good. There is no rust in the rear channel where the cab rests and just a little inside under the seats. Taking it down to the metal. Have two wings and the rear portion of the cab getting ready to go over to the painter. Heinrich started on the engine rebuild and that will be the next big step. Getting it in the chassis. Have some 16 split rims that will go the pewter color same as the jockey box and the instro cluster. Brakes are being re-built as we speak.

 

[Scrrapper]

One more shot. Have to get out and get a 75 series bed. Should not be too difficult since so many people in industry here buy several trucks and then convert them to stakebeds. Hoping for less than a $1000.

 

[Scrrapper]

Ask and ye shall receive

!!

 

[Michael B]

Nice start! BTW I have a 2H in my 78' 45 w/5 speed, it will easily cruise at 75 mph. Keep up the good work. I look forward to more updates.

 

[Scrrapper]

The bed is too long to bolt right in. For the wheels to line up, 12 or so inches need to come out of the front. That is what you are seeing above. The bed liner is almost counterproductive. It was pretty messed up. Had to let it soak with solvent, and just muscle it off. Then a little (sarcasm) elbow grease and voila, you are about 50% done. Lots of work, slow progress. The front wall has/had a headache bar and the wall itself extends up above the sidewalls by about 3 inches. I have to decide if I want that the bar on, or if not then if I want it nice and level with the side walls all the way around. I guess it will depend how the newer hoop matches with the 45 cab. The aux tank will be fitted under the bed and will be lower than the main and so will need an electric fuel pump to move it up to the main. The bed looks like it was glued together as much as it was welded. Straight cut and then the rear wall goes right back on.

Heinrich continues to work on the engine rebuild. We have decided we need new pistons as well. It should be a nice tight engine with a new feel to it. I have been reading here: http://www.urbanlandcruisers.com/products/engineperformance.html about possible power upgrades. The one from that aftermarket tuner that I would be most interested in is the coil upgrade:

"The stock coil, while it puts out a very hi voltage, can be improved upon. We like the MSD 6A Spark Control System. The nice thing about this is that it is a piggyback system to your existing system so if either fails the other continues to function. We build a custom insulated mount for the 6A and use only waterproof, vibration resistant connections. The plugs are re-gapped to allow for the bigger spark. You will see better starts, smoother running and more power higher in the power band than stock. The MSD 6A upgrade costs $375 installed."

But for now I will wait for Heinrich to get the engine built up and back together. We have sourced Koyo bearings and will use Toyota OEM seals. New fuel, water and oil pumps. Diffs, transfer case and transmission will be next.

 

[Scrrapper]

And when the engine is done, we move on to this!!!!!!!!

 

[Scrrapper]

76 FJ40, thanks for the encouragement. I have read that the ratios in the diffs need to be changed for different engine/transmissions combinations. Did you do that?

Does anyone know what I might need to do for a 3f/ h55 combo? What would the result be if I did not make any adjustments?

 

[Scrrapper]

More body parts.

 

[wongtsenhin]

You need to make adjustment on the cab floor shifter cover backward for H55
Also shorten the tail shaft and extension on the front shaft.
Nice work and keep the photos coming

 

[Scrrapper]

Sorry after 2 years my son is finally home, decided to get out of the cold here in Harare so 10 days on the beach in Mozambique. Whoohoooo!! Actually have some new pictures, will get them on when I get back.

 

[Michael B]

I made the mistake of putting 3:70 gears behind my H55. Lots of top end speed but with a 2H I lose speed rapidly on an uphill grade. It had a lot more grunt with the 4:10 gears. This will be rectified when my cable locker axles go in. I also had a 76' 40 with a 2F/H55 4:10's on 33's. Lots of power and top end. It would make 85 mph on flat roads. . Hope this information helps.

 

[Scrrapper]

76 FJ40, Thanks again. I discussed this with Heinrich and we are thinking with the 3F that the 3:70 will work. I guess if i don't like it I can change it later. Have a few more pictures.

Have installed the front axle with disk brakes off of a 60. 1990 3F so I can bring it home with me. It is carbureted and so will likely have less power. Maybe add injection later after I get back. IDK, may just see how it drives and go with the carb. Rebuilt 5-speed H55- Smoooth like butter. Hate to say, but I got it for just $125. Sweet deal. Cleans up nice. All new OEM internal rebuild. Nicks in and out of each gear really nice. T-case also finished and in. Motor is looking really good. Gonna put power steering on it. Seen some of the threads on here about that. It is looking like we will have to put it out the front. Prolly have to cut the front out a bit to get it to fit.

I am very pleased with the way the pewter paint turned out on the 16 inch split rims. Have some General Super All Grip 7.5 16 radials. I like the tread and hope they fare well on the pavement. When I am home I will likely get some other tires and rims to put on this Frankenstein. You saw the 70 series bed that is going on the back. Had to take out 8 inches. Kinda bummed. Cut the side rails where it looked like we would have good overlap. But when the front wall slipped on and welded in you can see the rail should have hung wild a little more, about 5/8 of an inch.

Cab only had a little surface rust and has turned out quite nice. The 5 speed fits into the center hole of the tunnel of the cab well, but the lid will have to be trimmed back about 2-3 inches. Tank is nice an clean. With the 70 series truck bed, I will have an aux tank of about 11 extra gallons. But it is way to the back and lower than the main tank. Gonna have to figure out how to feed the main tank from the aux tank.... Anybody done this before???????

Such a purty engine, with such a nasty manifold coming off it. What is the best engine paint that holds up to the heat? Or just leave it and close the hood. Had a choice of a few frames. Even though this one had about 8 inches cut off from the rear, it seemed like the best one. It had 3/8 plate steel extensions and a 3.5 X 3.5 solid bumper welded on it. See the picture. I felt like, need a bumper, might as well take the best of the litter and get a mama-bear bumper to boot. But still don't know why someone would cut 8 inches out of the rear of the frame. It came with the normal Durban South African bed on it. Who knows? Not me. All of the bushing holes between the frame and the cab all lined up perfectly so I don't know.

Got the 2 doors and the cab roof and rear coming back later today. Then maybe on Monday the bed will be back and the tuck can start to come together. Hang the exhaust, pull the loom and get the tank in. Maybe next week will start the engine.

 

[Scrrapper]

I may buy a set of these rims and put some tall BF Goodrich TAs to use everyday. Do I need to put a spacer on to run them? I like the look-skinny and tall. They look a little more modern, but not too much so. Anyone try them before?

 

[Scrrapper]

Got a door on and the top. Getting the gap right is so hard. You adjust one side and the other side is horrible, fix the horrible side and then you are back to square one with the first side. I am pretty sure we can gt it better, but I fear it will be impossible to get the gaps exactly perfect. Much less perfectly matching on both sides.

Found and ordered the European door mirrors. Much nicer than the nasty grey plastic ones. But it will take a while to receive them. I guess I will put the concave plastic ones on now and when the nice ones arrive in the US I will swap em out then. I wish I had time to get all new window rubber. We got to get this done sooner rather than later so I can get it on a boat before i have to go home.

 

[Scrrapper]

Moving along.

Got the "passenger door" on. RHD. What ya going to do? It is what it is. If this is the route I have to go to get a 45 then I will go it. I drive a RHD 100 series as my POV and have a 76 series as my issued vehicle. Please forgive me for what I am about to say. I also drive a P38 Range Rover. How do you say "no" to a $100 truck with 120K km on it? The 100 is a V8 auto and the 76 is a 5 speed with a 4.2L diesel. Talking about British cars, I drove a 110 Defender for 3 years and my favorite electrical problem was that it engaged the horn every time you turned on the high beams. So when you "flashed" someone, you also simultainiously "beeped" them at the same time. But.....you could not drive with high beams as the horn would be constantly engaged. I digress. I bring the other vehicles up as I have about 3 years driving on the "wrong" side of the road. So I am not too bummed that this is RHD truck. So I will be the strange uncle with the RHD truck.

Got a 75 bed and as I mentioned before cut out about 8 inches to shorten it up to fit the wheel-base of the 45. Will add the step-side to the front of the rear wheel and behind the cab. It is looking like it may be a little short of matching, but much better that the height difference between the bed and the cab you see here. 79 series have a nice mud flap we might be able to use but it may not work with out the flares. The rear will receive a cab protector- I think people here call them headache racks? Anyway, that is why the bed is higher on the rear wall. Totally screwed up and cut the side rails too short. Thought the rack might cover for it, but it is looking like we are going to have to weld in a little piece and correct it correctly. I will get a pict of it next post. Gonna hang a aux tank under the rear end and put the spare in the bed agaisnt the back wall. Do a nasty cut up through the floor of the bed for the filler and do a better angled filler cap through the side at a later date. Just running out of time before it has to ship.

Left to do:

Electrical wiring
Aux tank and run all gas lines
Power steering
Glass
Attach bed and add accessories
Install heater in cab and blower and lines in bay
Heinrich says (I wish I had a dollar for each time I have said that) A new alu radiator is many more times efficient than an old radiator so we will get one at a breaker and install.
Install seats. Vinyl in SA is not as I like, but will install the seat and recover them later.
Dash and glove box
Going to use perlon now for floor mats. I will get some heat and sound deadening material in the ol US of A and install and then put a rubber mat if I can find one later. Found a website that searches all the inventories in EUR-Mid East and Japan and offers about 85% of what I need at about 60% of what it costs in the states. But shipping is a headache.
Wipers
Finish installing brake system and e-brake -lines already in stalled
Exhaust system
Steering linkage...................................

AAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhhhh................OK, I am gonna stop now. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

 

[Scrrapper]

Front end assembled and a lot of work completed on the engine bay. Power steering and brakes ran and installed. There is the 2015 70 series aluminum radiator. Keep the 3F cool. Glass in and rubber around doors. Electrical is almost complete. Heater installed and plumbed up. Starting it for the first time was really cool. As you may have all guessed, I am the muscle and not the mental behind this. And the cash. But when that key turned and the engine roared to life, that was cool! Trailored it down to the South African police and had then sign off on the new VIN/engine number combo so that it does not run into trouble at the port. I made sure the engine was from a pre-1990 so we should be good with my State-side customs people. My shipping people do cars all the time so I am relying on them to make sure all is correct. Trust but verify.

Here is the 10-11 gallon aux tank installed under the bed. Has a Fawcett pump to pump gas up to the main tank when it gets low. Added a small gauge under the dash with a toggle switch to turn in on and off.

Arrrrrrrg! This was completed while I was away. It is totally unsat. Should not be too difficult.

Another shot of the motor.

Interior. As I mentioned before, Perlon now, rubber mat later. A little more electrical and the boots and we are off to the races. E-brake completed. Yes, that is a tear in the vinyl. Yeah. But at least I know that I will try some better stuff when I get back to the states.

 

[Scrrapper]

Oh yeah, got an e-mail telling me my Euro mirrors have shipped!!!! Psyched!!!!

A brand new OEM floor mat for $210 plus 70 shipping. Is that sound about right? Anyone?

 

[Scrrapper]

So I have looked at a few of your blogs showing power steering upgrades. Heinrich has done several. I should have sat down with him and showed them to him. I am less than a novice at truck building, but when I saw the truck this time after being in Mozambique, I was a little confused as to why the PS motor was hanging out a hole cut in the front bib. Heinrich said it was to do with the geometry of the RHD steering shaft from the steering wheel and the way the motor arm interacts with the actual steering linkage. IDK. I will continue to look at other threads here and see what I can learn about this.

Another shot.

Pump and manufactured bracket.

I guess it could be worse:

 

[Scrrapper]

Other progress shown below.

Bumper on the rear is significant. Heavy and strong. I have an Aussie made spare swing arm off the back of my 100 series I don't use. It is the second spare on the back bumper, I have one underneath as well and I don't think I need seven tires on on vehicle. So I am thinking it might go on the top at the end of the bumper. I have not yet had time to measure it, but it looks like it will fit and not get in the way of the tailgate opening. I am hoping that the cross arm will fit nice and cleanly between the top of the bumper and the bottom of the lights.I will have to modify the bumper attachment to accomplish that, but it should not be too tough. I hope. If that does not work I will have to locate the tire up at the front of the bed and the bed is rather small as it is. Cutting the 8 inches out of a small bed oddly enough makes the bed even smaller. I intend to use the truck as I am remodeling a house after getting back to the States and don't really want to give up the space in the bed. It should work.

You can see why I wanted the step on the bed. It is really handy to get to the middle of the bed in the front, and really evens out the bottom edge line of the truck. It had been attached to the part of the bed that got cut out and to move it more fab work was needed. With the crunch for time I first thought about not doing it.. But on second thought I decided it was too good not to put the time into.