I guess my love affair with Landcruiser’s started young. One of my earliest memories is sitting in the back seat of my father’s 40 and the smell that seems to be common amongst all of them. (Combo of fuel, vinyl and rubber)
After a brief flirt with a Chrysler Charger and a SWB Nissan Patrol the family was back into a charcoal grey 60, with turbo 2H, 5 Speed and central locking. I reckon I saw 90% of the east coast of Australia from the back seat of that sixty.
As a family we would spend 2 weeks in September on Fraser Island with the same group of people every year. Around this time I was knocked out by one of the groups purchase, a new HJ61 with 12HT, 5 speed and rear air conditioning, a big set of american racing mags and BFG Mud Terrains and a 2’ OME lift. Well back in the day, that thing was awesome and it struck a pretty deep chord with me.
Roll around to 2000, and I’d been heavily into street cars and hi-po V8’s. I’d bought a Ford Falcon and built a new engine for it that was a too cranky for everyday use. There was only one thing to do....buy a ‘Cruiser, but not just any, I wanted an FJ62.
I found this one not far from home, two owners and a good maintenance history on it. When I first got it, it needed an LPG tune, new plugs, rotor, cap etc. Change of fluids, rebuild of radiator, new water pump, new hoses and a new viscous hub coupling. It was showing 246’000 kilometers when I picked her up.
Things were good, tyres were wearing out, so it was time for a new set of 33’s to replace the 31’s. Bought a set of Dick Cepek FC 2 and love them. Best all terrain tyre I’ve used. One of the things I was happy about was that going up to that new tyre size corrected the speedo and the speedo agreed with the GPS I had borrowed. Also added a pair of slotted front brake rotors and Bendix Metal King pads and fluid flush.
Next addition was an Icom IC400 Pro UHF and aerial. Mounted under the dash and I had communications covered, I also took the Kenwood head unit from my Falcon and installed it into the dash of the cruiser along with some Pioneer speakers I had lying around. Tunes were now covered as well.
After a few more trips away up the beach, I was sick of the rear suspension rubbing on the bump stops, time for a lift. Now, while I would have loved to put in a OME kit, I was working as a workshop manager at the time and had access to Belton gear at the right price. So a new set of 4” lifted springs, shocks, greasable shackles and steering dampner were installed along with nolathane bushes.
It took about 3 months for the springs to settle and things to smooth out. Fairly disappointed with the ride of the springs and the poor design of the rear ones. When fully stuffed in the rear, the springs stretch so far the the shackle inverts and locks over against the chassis. Most annoying. So after talking to the Belton distributor in Melbourne and discovering what a dickhead he was, I made my own ghetto style shackle stops out of treated timber, rough I know, but they have worked well.
Interestingly, the suggestion from Belton was to use anti inversion shackles and call it done. Sadly I didn’t agree, not wanting to bend a spring or worse I decided that the only proper course of action was to move the rear shackle mount back. I’ve still not done this and probably won’t. Its a pain in the ass from a compliance and legal point of view here in Australia, so the timber blocks remain.
Next up was the to fix the alternator. Still the original Toyota unit I wanted to go bigger. By this time I had a second battery under the bonnet and another two batteries in the rear cargo area. These are used to run an 80L Waeco fridge and lights when we go camping. I sourced a new 80 amp Bosch alternator and installed that, required no modification and had an internal regulator which made things a bit more reliable.
That brings us to the present moment, where I have just fitted a Pertronix ignition kit and MSD coil. This has made a massive difference and I wish it was the first thing I had done. The red wagon is now seeing duty as my everyday work truck, towing a trailer and covering about 600 klms a week.
Few things on the list to do over the next couple of months, rebuild front knuckles and chase the rust that is coming out in the roof line. Of most concern at the moment is the low oil pressure and the amount of time the engine is taking to pick up pressure. Going to add an external mechanical gauge and see exactly what is going on. If all else fails I have enough parts lying around to build a pretty stout 351 Cleveland and adapt that to the H55.
Anyway, thats all from me. If you have any questions please feel free to post up and I'll post pics later tonight.
After a brief flirt with a Chrysler Charger and a SWB Nissan Patrol the family was back into a charcoal grey 60, with turbo 2H, 5 Speed and central locking. I reckon I saw 90% of the east coast of Australia from the back seat of that sixty.
As a family we would spend 2 weeks in September on Fraser Island with the same group of people every year. Around this time I was knocked out by one of the groups purchase, a new HJ61 with 12HT, 5 speed and rear air conditioning, a big set of american racing mags and BFG Mud Terrains and a 2’ OME lift. Well back in the day, that thing was awesome and it struck a pretty deep chord with me.
Roll around to 2000, and I’d been heavily into street cars and hi-po V8’s. I’d bought a Ford Falcon and built a new engine for it that was a too cranky for everyday use. There was only one thing to do....buy a ‘Cruiser, but not just any, I wanted an FJ62.
I found this one not far from home, two owners and a good maintenance history on it. When I first got it, it needed an LPG tune, new plugs, rotor, cap etc. Change of fluids, rebuild of radiator, new water pump, new hoses and a new viscous hub coupling. It was showing 246’000 kilometers when I picked her up.
Things were good, tyres were wearing out, so it was time for a new set of 33’s to replace the 31’s. Bought a set of Dick Cepek FC 2 and love them. Best all terrain tyre I’ve used. One of the things I was happy about was that going up to that new tyre size corrected the speedo and the speedo agreed with the GPS I had borrowed. Also added a pair of slotted front brake rotors and Bendix Metal King pads and fluid flush.
Next addition was an Icom IC400 Pro UHF and aerial. Mounted under the dash and I had communications covered, I also took the Kenwood head unit from my Falcon and installed it into the dash of the cruiser along with some Pioneer speakers I had lying around. Tunes were now covered as well.
After a few more trips away up the beach, I was sick of the rear suspension rubbing on the bump stops, time for a lift. Now, while I would have loved to put in a OME kit, I was working as a workshop manager at the time and had access to Belton gear at the right price. So a new set of 4” lifted springs, shocks, greasable shackles and steering dampner were installed along with nolathane bushes.
It took about 3 months for the springs to settle and things to smooth out. Fairly disappointed with the ride of the springs and the poor design of the rear ones. When fully stuffed in the rear, the springs stretch so far the the shackle inverts and locks over against the chassis. Most annoying. So after talking to the Belton distributor in Melbourne and discovering what a dickhead he was, I made my own ghetto style shackle stops out of treated timber, rough I know, but they have worked well.
Interestingly, the suggestion from Belton was to use anti inversion shackles and call it done. Sadly I didn’t agree, not wanting to bend a spring or worse I decided that the only proper course of action was to move the rear shackle mount back. I’ve still not done this and probably won’t. Its a pain in the ass from a compliance and legal point of view here in Australia, so the timber blocks remain.
Next up was the to fix the alternator. Still the original Toyota unit I wanted to go bigger. By this time I had a second battery under the bonnet and another two batteries in the rear cargo area. These are used to run an 80L Waeco fridge and lights when we go camping. I sourced a new 80 amp Bosch alternator and installed that, required no modification and had an internal regulator which made things a bit more reliable.
That brings us to the present moment, where I have just fitted a Pertronix ignition kit and MSD coil. This has made a massive difference and I wish it was the first thing I had done. The red wagon is now seeing duty as my everyday work truck, towing a trailer and covering about 600 klms a week.
Few things on the list to do over the next couple of months, rebuild front knuckles and chase the rust that is coming out in the roof line. Of most concern at the moment is the low oil pressure and the amount of time the engine is taking to pick up pressure. Going to add an external mechanical gauge and see exactly what is going on. If all else fails I have enough parts lying around to build a pretty stout 351 Cleveland and adapt that to the H55.
Anyway, thats all from me. If you have any questions please feel free to post up and I'll post pics later tonight.
