Time to upgrade the BJ60 a little....

[splitbuseric]

I have been giving some thought to upgrading my basically stock 1984 BJ60 for a while lately. I have spent some time researching on MUD and elsewhere for what I would like to do and gathering the respective parts. It seems like I should start a thread for some of the improvements I'll be doing, hopefully someone else will glean some useful information from it!

So the truck: 1984 BJ60, Rootbeer brown, mostly original paint, and fantastic shape for a Canadian truck! 346,000km on the body and a remarkable 675,000 on the 3B! I have had it for over a year now and it does not burn or leak any oil either. No rust to speak of, although the rear quarters have been repaired. The rest of the truck is original paint and the chassis and frame are absolutely mint! I bought it from a fellow mudder in Alberta and shipped it here to southern Ontario. My first concern was of course oil spraying it to maintain the great shape.
The previous owner just installed a OME Heavy/Heavy Ultimate kit from Kurt at Cruiser Outfiitters and the truck rides smooth! much nicer than my previous stock BJ60s.

3B, 5spd H55F, and all stock down to the toyota exhaust system!

Tires are 235/75/15 Sport King All terrains, a BFG copy and they are actually really good in the snow (important here). But not big enough, hopefully upgraded in the future.

A pic of the victim:

The upgrades I plan on/completed so far are:

-Safari type Roof Rack
-Winch bumper (homebrew)
-Warn Tabor 9K winch (got it super cheap, see how it works!)
-Compression Test and then.....
-Volvo Garrett T3 Turbo
-2.5" exhaust w/Magnaflow muffler
-Rear interior panels from wood w/speakers/storage
-Stereo upgrade - 6X9's, sub/amp, cd head unit, new front speakers
-POR15 on interior floors/wheelwells/outside maybe someday
-235/85/16 GY wrangler duratracs on Unique 297 Black 16X7" wheels

I am a working joe, with a wife and 3 boys so, time and money is limited, expect slow progress. However, I have some time off coming up and will be working on the truck. These modifications will hopefully meet my needs, I am interested in trail running/expeditions/offroad camping. I am not heavy into mudding or rock crawling, plus the truck needs to remain my daily driver.

Open to suggestions or comments along the way.

Now, I'll have to remember to take pics....Some stuff (like the bumper) I have done in the last few weeks...

 

[87 HJ60]

Nice to see that there are decent looking Land Cruisers in Southern Ontario still!!
I'm going to say it before anyone else does; keep the pictures coming...!!
One question though. Do you think it's wise to turbo your 3B with that many km's on it?

 

[splitbuseric]

So a couple of items have been knocked off the list already.

I had 2.5" stainless steel exhaust run from front to back. This is in preparation for the turbo, but was done ahead of time due to the multiple leaks in the stock setup. BTW, the stock exhaust was quite nice with multiple heat shields in necessary locations etc. I had it routed the factory way exiting behind the rear tire on driver's side. I have kids that travel in the truck regularly and didn't want the exhaust to exit in front of the tire for burn reasons..

I also had time to remove the interior seats and carpet and paint the entire floor with POR15 chassis coat. Two coats should help fight the salt they use so much of around here in the winter. I also welded up two small holes in the wheel well at the same time, near where the rear seat mounts. This was time consuming and I double sandwiched it, with two coats of por 15 on both sides of both peices to prevent rust in between them. I thought doubling it up was a good idea as Toyota had reinforced the outer wheel well in that area. Unfortunately, no after pics...

And I picked up a used roof rack too, off a guys HJ47...price is right and we use it all the time now that its on there.....

 

[splitbuseric]

Turbo

Nice to see that there are decent looking Land Cruisers in Southern Ontario still!!
I'm going to say it before anyone else does; keep the pictures coming...!!
One question though. Do you think it's wise to turbo your 3B with that many km's on it?

Well, wise... that's debatable. The truck runs mint, starts perfect in cold weather, wilson switched, even when not plugged in. It burns leaks no oil. I did a compression check as well and results were
1 - 425
2 - 350
3 - 350
4 - 350

Not bad by my standards so I think I'll give it a go! If the motor grenades, then I guess I am in for a rebuild. We have other vehicles as well, so not as much of a concern. I know plenty of folks have turbo'd with high mileage. I plan on keeping the boost and fuel conservative to limit overdue stress. I should have all the parts next week and hope to start tearing down then as well...

Where's the best source for a 3B oil pan gasket? Toyota?

 

[splitbuseric]

Last couple of days...

Over the course of the last couple of days I have added a used winch bumper that can be seen in the first pic. I got this off a buddys BJ60 that was sitting unused. I ground all the rust off it and painted in with two coats of black POR15. This turned out bad though as I was taking advantage of a warm day to do so but the POR15 didn't kick off before evening came and the paint ran and bubbled like crazy! Oh well, now it has that bediner-textured look!
I plan on topcoat with Tremclad or the like as the POR15 chassis coat isn't UV stable.

Tomorrow I hope to install the Warn Tabor 9000lb winch. Some people have really dissed these winches as Chinese crap, however others have used them with good results. I got it cheap, so it was worth it. For the record they are made in Oregon, USA.

The best upgrade I have done to my cruiser so far hands down though is new front seats. I have been searching to find a junkyard seat that would be comfortable and EASY to install with little or no fabrication. It seems as though I am not the only one searching for this 'magical seat'. Well it seems as though I have come as close as I can - seats from a 95 Honda Del Sol coupe/targa. I came across these on the net used and had the guy measure the width of the tracks side to side and front to back. Everything was within 1.5" or so of the stock BJ60 mounts. So I snapped them up and unbelievably 3 out of 4 mounts bolted in once I elongated the mouting holes in the stock honda tracks.
On the 4th hole (outer rear) I made a simple 1/4" flat bar bracket that bolts to the factory 60 hole and has a hole about 1.5" over to bolt the honda track to. Very easy, flat bar and drill two holes. A install I'd say. This also lifts that corner up 1/4" which actually seems to level out the seat nicely. I only have the driver's seat in now but will hopefully get the passenger in this weekend.

 

[splitbuseric]

More seat pics

This seat is great! What an upgrade from my broken slumping stocker! Unfortunately Honda Del sols aren't the most common car out there but there could be sets around somewhere. I would say these seats are built for small to medium individuals. Might be a little tight for larger folks. Very comfy, though lots of side bolstering and lumbar support. Not heated, which would have been nice but I am happy with the upgrade. BTW, they are vinyl and I have purchased some seat covers to go over them as the vinyl doesn't appear to be overly rugged...

Pics below show the mounts etc. I plan to remove the bracket I made quickly and clean it up, radius the end to match the mount profile, paint it and put it back on.

 

[splitbuseric]

Pic 1 - rear inner mount (elongated hole=bolt in)
Pic 2 - rear outer mount (bracket 1/4" flat bar with 2 holes)
Pic 3 - front inner mount (elongated hole=bolt in)

 

[Kynot62]

My BJ had a bit more rust than yours, when I pulled the rear seat, the mounts came out along with a chunk of the fender well. Rig was in Lethbridge for most of it's life but I brought it down to WA by way of BC. Finally back on the road.

Make sure all the drains are clear in the rockers and quarter panels and rinse out any dirt thats in there as well. Best of luck.

Tony

 

[splitbuseric]

My BJ had a bit more rust than yours, when I pulled the rear seat, the mounts came out along with a chunk of the fender well. Rig was in Lethbridge for most of it's life but I brought it down to WA by way of BC. Finally back on the road.

Make sure all the drains are clear in the rockers and quarter panels and rinse out any dirt thats in there as well. Best of luck.

Tony

Thanks for the tips on the drains. My truck is a Lethbridge truck as well, maybe their brothers! Definitely the most solid canadian truck I've had... That's the only rust on the truck...

 

[earl]

Nice to see some progress! I'm looking forward to seeing how the turbo install works out.

Unless you do a lot of winching, if it were me I'd throw a hawse fairlead on so myself and others didn't hurt themselves on the roller fairlead.

I'm sure you're already wanting some rock sliders (and maybe rear bumper) after denting your pristine rocker panels

Keep the pictures coming.

 

[vwmark]

so I'm new to the TLC world, but I was wondering why a lot of people want to switch out their front seats?The stock seats seem pretty comfortable to me. Just curious, thanks

 

[CDN_Cruzer]

keep the great work up! I hope your turbo install goes well!

if your rockers are in good condition I would recommend building some sliders my rockers where perfect but after a few trips they have some dents in them and I wish I had built some sliders before the damage! ugh!

 

[cody c]

so I'm new to the TLC world, but I was wondering why a lot of people want to switch out their front seats?The stock seats seem pretty comfortable to me. Just curious, thanks

They get pretty worn out and are uncomfortable on long trips, seats with side bolster are nice for offroading and keep you centered in the seat when your off camber all day long. I think you need to do an intro thread as well though by your thread count.. ;p

 

[splitbuseric]

so I'm new to the TLC world, but I was wondering why a lot of people want to switch out their front seats?The stock seats seem pretty comfortable to me. Just curious, thanks

I think they are not bad when in good shape. Two of my BJ60s have had broken drivers seats, when the frame starts to lean inward, making for a very uncomfortable drive and a very sore back. Better seats seemed like a necessity for me....

keep the great work up! I hope your turbo install goes well!

if your rockers are in good condition I would recommend building some sliders my rockers where perfect but after a few trips they have some dents in them and I wish I had built some sliders before the damage! ugh!

I will be starting the teardown for the turbo on the weekend, should have all my parts by then, and I need to drive the truck this week.

The rockers were perfect, original paint however I crossed paths with a stump, and the rocker lost that battle... Sliders would be good and I am itching to use this new welder...

 

[splitbuseric]

I got some more time working on the truck yesterday and today, so was able to get the winch on. It barely fit in there with tight clearances so we'll see how that works out. It seems to work okay, but I haven't had the truck out of the shop yet to try it/break the cable in. One annoying thing was the lack of a bracket to mount the solenoid pack, I had a peice of 1/4" flat stock lying around and just used that but it's not pretty. Kinda suits the rest of the bumper though

 

[splitbuseric]

Rear panels

I was also able to get the rear panels on today as well, with some great help from 3 year old son. I had precut them quite a while ago, so I gave a few coats of Krylon brown and mounted my Eclipse 6"X9"s in there. This gave a little more space in the cargo area where I had the speakers mounted in boxes previously. This space may get taken up by a sub/amp enclosure that I have here so.... I decided to skip the rear storage for now... My inner quarters are coated in oil spray and undercoating and will need some work before anything that actually needs to be touched again can be stored in there. Thats one thing living in the salt belt, a good oil spray is worth gold, and they did a great job on my truck. I have oil on everything I own to prove it.

 

[splitbuseric]

odds and ends..

There are a couple of small jobs that I have been putting off for a while today. Since I have owned the truck there has been an annoying whistle from the driver's door window. It sits tilting down towards the front of the truck and leaves a small opening at the top rear corner. Pretty annoying while going down the highway. Also so the speaker in the same door stopped working so I had two reasons to tear into the door panel. Everything came apart fine and the speaker turned out to be a broken connector. New connector and were back to surround sound.

The window regulator had worked ever so slightly loose and tilted forward. I loosened all the mounting bolts (5 or 6) and adjusted it down at the rear on the slotted bolt. Re-tightened all the bolts and the window now goes up in place as it should. I didn't drive the truck to see if the whistle has stopped but I think it should be gone. Either way, now I have a good speaker so I can crank up the tunes and drown it out! Pics to follow tomorrow.

 

[splitbuseric]

Passenger seat pics.

Here are pics of the passenger seat in as well. It fit the same basically as the driver's however had to be raised on the rear mounts slightly to clear the rear heater under the seat. Otherwise worked out okay and very comfortable. I cleaned them up and threw on a pair of black seat covers to keep them decent. I need to rework the ghetto spacers I used (3/4" square) and clean the install up, but good to know they are in. Good seats sure do improve the driving experience.

 

[splitbuseric]

Pics of the inner drivers door. Loosening the regulator bolts and tilting the rear of the regulator down towards the bottom of the door got my window in the correct position. Drove the truck today and the whistle is now gone. Little change = big improvement for driver.

The second pic shows the slotted adjusting bolt for the regulator and you can see the mark where the window was previously positioned.

The last pic is my less than stellar welding job on the wheelwells to fix the rust shown in an earlier pic. I did this before the winter. My first day with the welder so forgive. I was also pretty lazy about grinding the welds down. Oh well, its not a show vehicle. The reason it's burned through is because there is a second patch on the outside (all surfaces POR15d) which I welded later, after painting the interior. I have a number of touch ups to do later and will catch those spots then.

 

[splitbuseric]

Turbo prep

Yesterday I cleaned up the Volvo TB0363 Garrett T3 Turbo in prep for installation. I removed the old oil and coolant lines and cleaned up all the mating surfaces. Once I had the turbo sort of cleaned up I mocked up the manifold, adapter and turbo to confirm I needed to 'clock' the cool side housing. BTW, I need the adapter as Volvo used a variation of the T3 flange and it needs an adapter to mate to a standard T3 manifold flange. See pics below.

Once I realized I needed to clock the turbo I simply undid the 6 bolts which hold the cool housing a rotated it until it was closest to what I required to run over the valve cover to the intake. The only hiccup here was the need to remount the wastegate actuator in the new clock position. I drilled a hole in the mount bracket and screwed it into the requisite hole on the housing. I'll post pics in the next post. The trouble here was I only had one bolt to hold the bracket now instead of the previous two. So I tried to mount the bracket so it was flush with the lip on the housing and then tightened the one bolt with a lock washer. Time will tell whether his will stand up to the diesel shake. Overall, the clocking went smooth, with no seized parts etc.