Builds 1985 BJ70 Story and Modifications (3 Viewers)

[AlbertoSD]

Greetings,

I wanted to initiate a thread about my 1985 CND BJ70 and hopefully tell the story and provide some details about the modifications that I have done to the vehicle.

This is not intented to be a full restore/refurbrish of the truck, but rather fix some issues and enhance the capabilities of the 70. It is an on-going project and it is far from being done, but I thought this was as good time as any to start the thread.

Hopefully, this will serve at least three purposes:

1.- To remember and document what I have done to the truck
2.- To help somebody with the same or similar questions
3.- To thank and acknowledge a lot of people from this forum who have helped me tremendously

So let the story begin...



-Alberto

 

[AlbertoSD]

Through conversations with Michael from West Coast Cruisers, I ended up purchasing the truck back in 2011 from another board member who took REALLY good care of the BJ70. I was happy to get the truck home and start working on it.

These are a few photos of the truck as I got it.

 

[AlbertoSD]

A few more photos

 

[AlbertoSD]

A little bit of background about me. I was born in Venezuela and lived there for a big chunk of my life.

Back in Venezuela, I had a 1983 FJ60 that in 1999 turned into what I called a FZJ60 when we pulled the 2F H55f drivetrain combo and installed a 1FZ H151 into it.

Below are a few links of some trips I did back home with the truck and provide some more detail about the 60 itself.

Gran Sabana 1998 (Venezuela) - Expedition Portal)

Gran Sabana 2000 (Venezuela) - Expedition Portal)

Capanaparo - Cinaruco 2001 (Venezuela) - Expedition Portal)

Capanaparo - Cinaruco 2002 (Venezuela) - Expedition Portal)

 

[AlbertoSD]

The first thing I did to the truck was to replace the miss-matched side mirrors. I bought a new set of the early style 70 mirrors from 4WheelAuto in Canada and installed them on the truck.

 

[crushers]

subscribed

 

[AlbertoSD]

Temporarily, I installed the 70 series OEM snorkel top on the Safari Snorkel, just to see how it would look. I had to create a spacer as the outter diameter of the Safari Snorkel body is quite smaller than the inner diameter of the OEM 70 series top.

My dog (Obi) relaxing next to the BJ70 in a couple of photos.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

I remember that one listed on Michael's site as being for sale "soon", then it vanished. Look forward to your story and more photos.

 

[NGray]

subscribed...hoping to build one up over times as well....assuming I can find one!

 

[AlbertoSD]

At some point on the life of this BJ70 somebody mounted 33" BFG AT's. The stock tire carrier in the 1985 models does not allows to mount a 33" without modification (at least on mine).

Here are some photos of the spare tire as it came when I bought it. I guess it worked, but it bothered me that the tire was not aligned with the door.

 

[AlbertoSD]

Doing some reaserch on the forum, I found that a couple of members have had the same issue in the past.

I found this post from Drew (amaurer) that provided guidance on how to solve the 33" spare tire issue:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/70-series-tech/501218-33x10-5-doesnt-fit-stock-carrier.html

So off came the tire carrier

Thanks, Drew!!!

 

[AlbertoSD]

Some more photos.

I decided to paint the tire carrier black as there was a remote chance to correctly match the body color or the truck...

 

[AlbertoSD]

Photos with the tire back on the truck. Note the clearance between the tire and the rear bumper and note that the tire is now aligned with the body.

Again, Obi hanging out with the 70

 

[Traveller]

Suscribed.."

Sent from my iPad using IH8MUD... fun starts where the road ends

 

[AlbertoSD]

One thing that I have noted from the early Land Cruisers, is that the headlights are not strong enough to provide good lighting. I have noted that in my ex-1983 FJ60, my ex-1982 FJ40, and my 1985 BJ70.

So I purchased an ARB Heavy Duty Wire Loom and two H4 Hella headlights to replace the factory sealed beams. The ARB wire loom is literally a plug-and-play kind of deal. You just need to decide where to mount the relay pack and do a couple of quick connections...it is literally a night and day difference.

 

[AlbertoSD]

More photos of headlights and ARB Headlight Wire Loom

 

[AlbertoSD]

The grill was looking tired and faded. As I had to pull it out to install the new headlights, I went ahead and got it sanded and painted.

 

[AlbertoSD]

Another important item that I wanted to take care of, was to replace the coolant, thermostat, and radiator hoses.

Obi decided that he wanted to relax on the sofa instead of helping with the project

 

[AlbertoSD]

While replacing the thermostat, I noticed that the radiator was leaking from the upper and lower tanks. Since I will be adding a turbo later down the road, I didn't want to compromise on the cooling system of the truck.

So I pulled the radiator and I took it to a shop here in Cincinnati where they fixed it and converted it to a 4-core radiator for increased cooling capacity

 

[AlbertoSD]

I got the new radiator hoses, thermostat, and thermostat gasket from Specter Off-Road at www.sor.com.

A few photos of the new hoses and the engine bay with no radiator