Hey!
Just wanted to share my Land Cruiser purchase and build experience.. Much of the same old but it was pretty exciting and satisfying for me, and I'm sure I had the same experience as some of you.
... So sit back and relax.. 
It first began with an off road camping trip with some friends sporting a J**P, P***finder and an X***ra and that was all I needed to get me back behind the wheel of a Land Cruiser.
So the search began here in Vancouver BC and the whole province for that matter. Looking on Mud and in the local classifieds, I was looking for a BJ or HJ even some RHD rigs. But to no avail, most were a lot more body and frame work than Im used to and I HATE BONDO!! Most of the RHD trucks were way out of my price range and heard of Horror stories of cracked heads. The search expanded to the south and it was promising, the unfortunate part for me was the fact I wanted a diesel. I made the decision at that point that I would need to do a swap "eventually".. I narrowed it down to two, both sight un-seen and contacted the owners.
I ended up with an '89 FJ62 AUTO with all the bells and whistles.. Ha! This would prove to be NOT the best one after all (I will explain later!). But the bonus was it has an OME lift, 32s and what I believe to be a Man-a-fre front winch bumper. It was an EX California rig that ended up in southern Oregon. I Grabbed the cash and bought a plane ticket flew down, and drove it up to the BC/Washington border and waited the 72hrs.. I was very impressed with the body and frame.. Its NOT a "trailer queen
" by any means but its pretty clean and nothing like what I've seen here.
Upon arrival from the border and on my driveway I had to call a friend (John (jzilla)) and tell him about the purchase and we talked about his swap and my plans.. It was he who put me onto a complete parts BJ60 for sale. I wasn't eager at the time as I just made the FJ purchase. But when a deal comes up you have to jump on it. So I did,
a running driving 315k km BJ60 for my swap on my driveway the same week I brought my FJ62 up.. Lets just say my wife was NOT impressed hahaha! I took a chance w the BJ and it has paid off, but I was stupid not to do the neccasary checks like a compression check and oil pressure check etc.. But I figured it was cheap and my 70 had way more km than that and it ran probably about the same when I sold it.
On with the Swap..
I gave my self a month.. YUP! I had the BJ drivetrain out in about a couple days working on it here and there. With some suggestions from a few folks here I got all the parts and then some off the BJ and had it all sorted. I cut the mounts out and stripped the BJ.
I kept the following parts.
-Radiator, Rad hoses and Shroud
-Air Filter and pipes for intake
-Battery tray (one was rusted out luckily opposite the one in the 62) (Thanks Baxter650)
-Power steering lines from pump to box
-Vacuum pump
-Vacuum lines
-Slave cylinder
-Clutch master
-Throttle linkages
-Engine/trans/t-case
-Engine and trans mounts
-Drive shafts
-Pedal assemblies
-Shifters and shifter cover
-Starter
-Fuel Lines
-Fuel Tank
-Complete Engine/Dash Harness...
It wasn't too hard, as long as you have mechanical understanding and you DO NOT CUT anything.. at this point there was no room in my one car garage. Parts were stacked and I had not even begun taking my FJ apart..
FJ62 drivetrain...
Next came the removal of the 3FE and drivetrain out of my 62. I also gave myself a week to do this. Well it took me a day. I decided to separate the transmission from the 3FE as I didn't think my engine cherry picker would be able to handle the weight. When doing that remember the Torque Converter nuts!! Yes, I did! I didn't hack anything everything came apart very easy for me.. every bolt removed went back into place as to not mix anything up, good practice IMO. Every connector easily un-clipped. By 3am the next day the the truck was stripped including dash, Harness and rest of the drivetrain was out and I was ready to cut the engine and transmission mounts out. I decided to send the truck over to Steve @ EBI at this point. I am NOT a welder and I figured his guys would do a much better job cutting the mounts out and welding the BJ mounts in.. A bit of a cop out but hey...
The Process..
I got the truck back and the Welds were great. I slapped some black paint over the primer and all over the frame towards the front and some white paint on the inner wheel wells and firewall to clean it up a bit.. This was after a decent steam clean and a good day of drying, followed by some brake cleaner on some more stubborn areas.. came out better than before, so I was happy. Picked up motor mounts and the 3B was in.. Everything bolted up as it should have and was looking like a truck again. I was spending a lot of time on the truck and it was paying off.. I had a bunch of pieces powder coated at a friends shop (Aegis Finishing), some I didn't end up using but the ones I did make it look pretty. The eye catchers are the side engine cover, fan shroud and air filter box. I did a clutch on his sami a while ago and these were all freebies
! Also had the fuel and vac lines done.
Fuel..
I had all the Mechanical stuff together and the big question of fuel delivery (wiring was even bigger but we'll get to that) was on my mind. I had been expecting to swap the BJ tank in but read that it may not be necessary (thanks kim). So I didn't. There were Three (3) lines coming out of the 62 tank, one was feed one was vent and one was return.. Since there was no return line on the diesel to the tank I blocked that one and blocked the other vent line. I ended up using the feed line that came with the 62 all the way up to the GAS fuel filter area. I did not use the sedimenter as I installed a Racor 120A filter up on the firewall. (thanks Tony (Kynot62)). I also of course had to swap over the filler neck and cap. Also powder coated!! I used a fuel rubber line from the frame up to the Racor and a Rubber fuel line from the Racor to the fuel pump. The metal fuel lines were still good but I decided to go the easier route and use a rubber line. They're nicely tucked in under the firewall seam.
Wiring..
Okay we had fuel... No power though.. Here's my "mistake".. I decided to use the BJ60 harness and make my own power window/lock harness. I eliminated the power antenna, and well thats bout it.. With the help of a couple friends we tore apart the 62s harness and pulled the power options out.. And well we had the power window/lock harness.. LABLE LABLE LABLE!!! Thats pretty much all I kept out of the 62s harness except for a few odds and for ends. My BJ harness suffered from some Broken wires for the oil pressure and coolant sensors, so some of the connectors came in handy.
I would recommend NOT to pull the 62s harness to anyone doing a swap into a 62.. And to just adapt or add the EDIC, Glow plugs and starter relays to it. It would turn out much cleaner. Everything works on my truck but It's not as "clean" as I would like it to be. Oh well! :whoops: I got nice new battery Cables made for it as well (Phils Batteries and more) and would recommend them to be done when doing a swap.
Result..
Well only about 100 km (60 mi) on it so far. Oil pressure is good and coolant stays stable. Charging is good as well.. No complaints! Next will be a valve adjustment and proper gauges installed for EGT and oil pressure. It did blow a seal on the power steering pump I think...
Regrets..
None yet and I don't think I will, I am quite happy with the this.. I've done engine swaps and transmission swaps in the past at my old job but never one that involved a change in fuel. Like gas to diesel or diesel to gas.. I did it in about a month and a half and thats to be expected with a swap like this.. TAKE YOUR TIME! I tried to rush it a bit and I would have maybe done things differently in the end but over all I tried to make it look as close to factory as possible.. This rig is my DD thats why I rushed it a bit.. You need to remember that its the little things that will take the most time and will stress you out the most.
Next swap.. Yes thats right! The next swap will be into an older FJ for sure with a 4spd stick and one without the power options, that was my vice!
NEXT..
Home brew Turbo!
Just wanted to share my Land Cruiser purchase and build experience.. Much of the same old but it was pretty exciting and satisfying for me, and I'm sure I had the same experience as some of you.
... So sit back and relax.. It first began with an off road camping trip with some friends sporting a J**P, P***finder and an X***ra and that was all I needed to get me back behind the wheel of a Land Cruiser.
So the search began here in Vancouver BC and the whole province for that matter. Looking on Mud and in the local classifieds, I was looking for a BJ or HJ even some RHD rigs. But to no avail, most were a lot more body and frame work than Im used to and I HATE BONDO!! Most of the RHD trucks were way out of my price range and heard of Horror stories of cracked heads. The search expanded to the south and it was promising, the unfortunate part for me was the fact I wanted a diesel. I made the decision at that point that I would need to do a swap "eventually".. I narrowed it down to two, both sight un-seen and contacted the owners.
I ended up with an '89 FJ62 AUTO with all the bells and whistles.. Ha! This would prove to be NOT the best one after all (I will explain later!). But the bonus was it has an OME lift, 32s and what I believe to be a Man-a-fre front winch bumper. It was an EX California rig that ended up in southern Oregon. I Grabbed the cash and bought a plane ticket flew down, and drove it up to the BC/Washington border and waited the 72hrs.. I was very impressed with the body and frame.. Its NOT a "trailer queen
" by any means but its pretty clean and nothing like what I've seen here.Upon arrival from the border and on my driveway I had to call a friend (John (jzilla)) and tell him about the purchase and we talked about his swap and my plans.. It was he who put me onto a complete parts BJ60 for sale. I wasn't eager at the time as I just made the FJ purchase. But when a deal comes up you have to jump on it. So I did,
a running driving 315k km BJ60 for my swap on my driveway the same week I brought my FJ62 up.. Lets just say my wife was NOT impressed hahaha! I took a chance w the BJ and it has paid off, but I was stupid not to do the neccasary checks like a compression check and oil pressure check etc.. But I figured it was cheap and my 70 had way more km than that and it ran probably about the same when I sold it.On with the Swap..
I gave my self a month.. YUP! I had the BJ drivetrain out in about a couple days working on it here and there. With some suggestions from a few folks here I got all the parts and then some off the BJ and had it all sorted. I cut the mounts out and stripped the BJ.
I kept the following parts.
-Radiator, Rad hoses and Shroud
-Air Filter and pipes for intake
-Battery tray (one was rusted out luckily opposite the one in the 62) (Thanks Baxter650)
-Power steering lines from pump to box
-Vacuum pump
-Vacuum lines
-Slave cylinder
-Clutch master
-Throttle linkages
-Engine/trans/t-case
-Engine and trans mounts
-Drive shafts
-Pedal assemblies
-Shifters and shifter cover
-Starter
-Fuel Lines
-Fuel Tank
-Complete Engine/Dash Harness...
It wasn't too hard, as long as you have mechanical understanding and you DO NOT CUT anything.. at this point there was no room in my one car garage. Parts were stacked and I had not even begun taking my FJ apart..
FJ62 drivetrain...
Next came the removal of the 3FE and drivetrain out of my 62. I also gave myself a week to do this. Well it took me a day. I decided to separate the transmission from the 3FE as I didn't think my engine cherry picker would be able to handle the weight. When doing that remember the Torque Converter nuts!! Yes, I did! I didn't hack anything everything came apart very easy for me.. every bolt removed went back into place as to not mix anything up, good practice IMO. Every connector easily un-clipped. By 3am the next day the the truck was stripped including dash, Harness and rest of the drivetrain was out and I was ready to cut the engine and transmission mounts out. I decided to send the truck over to Steve @ EBI at this point. I am NOT a welder and I figured his guys would do a much better job cutting the mounts out and welding the BJ mounts in.. A bit of a cop out but hey...
The Process..
I got the truck back and the Welds were great. I slapped some black paint over the primer and all over the frame towards the front and some white paint on the inner wheel wells and firewall to clean it up a bit.. This was after a decent steam clean and a good day of drying, followed by some brake cleaner on some more stubborn areas.. came out better than before, so I was happy. Picked up motor mounts and the 3B was in.. Everything bolted up as it should have and was looking like a truck again. I was spending a lot of time on the truck and it was paying off.. I had a bunch of pieces powder coated at a friends shop (Aegis Finishing), some I didn't end up using but the ones I did make it look pretty. The eye catchers are the side engine cover, fan shroud and air filter box. I did a clutch on his sami a while ago and these were all freebies
! Also had the fuel and vac lines done.Fuel..
I had all the Mechanical stuff together and the big question of fuel delivery (wiring was even bigger but we'll get to that) was on my mind. I had been expecting to swap the BJ tank in but read that it may not be necessary (thanks kim). So I didn't. There were Three (3) lines coming out of the 62 tank, one was feed one was vent and one was return.. Since there was no return line on the diesel to the tank I blocked that one and blocked the other vent line. I ended up using the feed line that came with the 62 all the way up to the GAS fuel filter area. I did not use the sedimenter as I installed a Racor 120A filter up on the firewall. (thanks Tony (Kynot62)). I also of course had to swap over the filler neck and cap. Also powder coated!! I used a fuel rubber line from the frame up to the Racor and a Rubber fuel line from the Racor to the fuel pump. The metal fuel lines were still good but I decided to go the easier route and use a rubber line.
They're nicely tucked in under the firewall seam.Wiring..
Okay we had fuel... No power though.. Here's my "mistake".. I decided to use the BJ60 harness and make my own power window/lock harness. I eliminated the power antenna, and well thats bout it.. With the help of a couple friends we tore apart the 62s harness and pulled the power options out.. And well we had the power window/lock harness.. LABLE LABLE LABLE!!! Thats pretty much all I kept out of the 62s harness except for a few odds and for ends. My BJ harness suffered from some Broken wires for the oil pressure and coolant sensors, so some of the connectors came in handy.
I would recommend NOT to pull the 62s harness to anyone doing a swap into a 62.. And to just adapt or add the EDIC, Glow plugs and starter relays to it. It would turn out much cleaner. Everything works on my truck but It's not as "clean" as I would like it to be. Oh well! :whoops: I got nice new battery Cables made for it as well (Phils Batteries and more) and would recommend them to be done when doing a swap.
Result..
Well only about 100 km (60 mi) on it so far. Oil pressure is good and coolant stays stable. Charging is good as well.. No complaints! Next will be a valve adjustment and proper gauges installed for EGT and oil pressure. It did blow a seal on the power steering pump I think...
Regrets..
None yet and I don't think I will, I am quite happy with the this.. I've done engine swaps and transmission swaps in the past at my old job but never one that involved a change in fuel. Like gas to diesel or diesel to gas.. I did it in about a month and a half and thats to be expected with a swap like this.. TAKE YOUR TIME! I tried to rush it a bit and I would have maybe done things differently in the end but over all I tried to make it look as close to factory as possible.. This rig is my DD thats why I rushed it a bit.. You need to remember that its the little things that will take the most time and will stress you out the most.
Next swap.. Yes thats right! The next swap will be into an older FJ for sure with a 4spd stick and one without the power options, that was my vice!
NEXT..
Home brew Turbo!
! I also supplied and OHM meter!!
