Take 3, the Forever 45- IFS and 1uz-vvti (1 Viewer)

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Top and bottom fish plates on
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Forgot to take a picture of the new rear cab mounts but they are much stronger and I managed to lower the cab closer to the chassis by about 50mm. It now sits much nicer.

Threw the body on to check if all of that was worth it....
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I believe it was! Loving the look, the extra length really balances it all out well. Bigger wheels and tyres will complete it. Oh, and moving that wheel arch back too!
 
Been a week of this....
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Finally in a position where I'm pretty sure where everything goes and it's time to put it all in the cruiser and join it all together
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Nothing really to report, still wiring! And wires don't take good pics...
The loom is mostly there now, just adding in a few things like the light circuits and all the speaker wires while I'm here...
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Hoping to have the loom done by end of next week. Then I can put the radiator in, plumb the engine, then do the fuel tanks and hopefully start this thing!
 
Took a bit of a break from the wiring today and started on moving the wheel arches.

Marked and taped up
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Cut out
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Moved and welded back in
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Looking so much better now!!
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Started on moving the wheel boxes in the load tray today
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Also got the radiator mounted up and started to figure out the air box layout
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And had some company in the shop for most of the time too!
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So one of my goals with this build is to be able to carry enough fuel to have 1000kms of range, which means I need at least 130L of capacity, which means I need 2 tanks.

The stock tank out of the lexus is 85L, and the one from the surf is 65L, so that's 150L which is above my target. So now I just need to shoe horn them both in.

Started on the lexus tank first. This will be my 'main' tank, the one that actually sends the fuel to the engine. The surf tank, the 'sub' will pump into the main rather than send direct to engine. That way I only need one high pressure pump and line to supply the engine.

I started by cutting out the rear cross member to make room for the tank. I then took a length of 30mmx3mm flat bar and bent it to the shape of the tank so that it cradles the tank.
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Just this hoop is enough to fairly securely hold the tabk in place, but i will build on it to make sure the tank is safe as houses.
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Really happy that the tank does not exceed the tangent of the tyre to the very rear of the chassis.
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I wanted to add some rear protection for the tank, so I took the cross member I cut out, cleaned it up a bit and put it in sideways. I then used some 3mm plate to box the ends and tie them to the bottom of the chassis. The end result is something I'm pretty certain will take a serious impact to move, and then there's still going to be my rear bumper to do a better job than this.
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I also made some tabs that are welded to the hoop that the tank bolts to to make sure its not going anywhere or knocking around.

Here is the full setup without the tank in place
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And here is a better view showing the tabs and hoop and the reinforcement bars that tie the hoop to the rear member.
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I'm thinking of adding some plate onto the the reinforcement bars to act as a stone guard. I also need to add some top tabs to capture the top bolt holes on the tank. A job for tomorrow...
 
Well this happened....
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Took 100mm out of the center of the load tray. Then welded it all back together
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And then got it roughly in place to make sure I like how it all looks. Which I do... a lot :hillbilly:
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Haven't had as much time on the cruiser as I would have like of late, but I have a big show coming up I'm prepping for and knives don't make themselves.

Got a couple of hours in this evening though, so thought I would takle the airbox.

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So I cut the air flow sensor housing out of the LS400 air box, then made some brackets to mount the surf air box and plumbed that in.

The reason I went with the surf air box is because even though it takes a bigger filter, it's actually a smaller package to shoe horn into the area I wanted it in! The stock LS400 box was just to bulky to go anywhere practical. This way I also get to keep the resonator
 
I want to use the LS400 brake pedal as its a nice big pad designed for auto. Had to rework it though, as in its stock position in the 45 the pedal itself would be up by my shins!

I used some 12mm steel I had left over from when I made the gearbox adapter. Nice and beefy and with a bonus of being able to shift the pedal over towards the center of the car more to leave more room next to the accelorator pedal.

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So the 1uz vvti has a built in immobiliser in the key that apparently is quite difficult to patch out. I know a lot of guys simply tape the key to the immobiliser ring and put it up out of the way so you need never worry about it. That was my original plan, but seeing how easy it is to break into a 45, and that mime will spend at least 4 months of the year with the roof off, I figured having an immobiliser might actually be a good idea.

The catch is that I couldn't bring the key cylinder from the LS400 as its built into the column and I'm just not going through all of that. Plus I like keyless starting.

So my plan is to turn the key immobiliser into a key fob that slots into a special place for it on the dash, so that when I park the car I just take the fob and the car can't start. Simple really.


I started with a block of my own home made micarta that I milled out to fit the immobiliser ring.
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I then had to make the actual key fob. I started with another block of my micarta that I milled out for the body of the key.
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A little bit of fiddling and it's a really nice fit. Also made a brass plate that stops the fob from being pushed in too far.
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Then made a hole in my dash for the whole assembly
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I still need to hand sand and polish the micarta and make a facia plate for the dash, but over all, I'm very happy. I might make a different coloured fob once I've done final paint, maybe use some premiums materials like blackwood and brass or something
 
Been a while since I last updated. I've been tinkering here and there but been real busy with work and also getting a very bad case of covid as well. But here's one of the big things left to do in the engine bay all done.

Made up a cowling for the fan.

Started with a frame that bolts to the radiator and then bent up a hoop that fits around the fan.
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Figured out where it all needed to land up, welded the hoop to the frame, and then started filling all the gaps.
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Made sure to angle the filler peices so that we should have really good airflow . It also just looks better.

Then cut out the sections of the hoop that were no longer needed and that would impede air flow.
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And then fit it.
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Really happy with the result. I'm very confident that it will do its job efficiently and it really does look good in place. Just need to do some clean up grinding and paint it all up.
 
With my oil filter relocation, I needed to make up some extension hoses to feed the oil cooler that's mounted to the oil filter housing.

To do that I had to turn a new fitting that allows me to join 2 rubber hoses together correctly.
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Been tackling a few small things here and there whilst recovering from a bad case of covid. Not fun when it gets into your lungs.

Redid my t case selector lever as I have now moved the radio down into the center console.
I will turn a brass charging handle for the lever as well as a brass knob for the gearbox lever a little down the line.
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Made a battery box as well. Just need to get it fit I'm the engine bay. Was inspired by @StevoJonesFJ60 battery boxes he made. Not as well built as his but im pretty happy with it. Should clean up nice with some paint on it too.
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And now it's time to get back to wiring.... yay....

Fuse box in and fire wall grommets in place
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ECU in place and wired in. Now to finish out the rest of the loom
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Found some other things to do instead of wiring :hillbilly:

Got the battery box in the engine bay. Was really only one place for it. A little farther forward than I wanted, as I wanted to put the radiator overflow and washer bottle there, but there's space for that behind the battery.




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Also grabbed up and mounted a bracket that hold the power steering reservoir. 3 points of contact, rubber isolated and perfectly level. Happy with this one.
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And just couldn't resist pulling a @UZJ40 and seeing what it will all look like with the vanity covers in place.
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Engine bay is nearly all done. Just a few things left to check off
 
And just couldn't resist pulling a @UZJ40 and seeing what it will all look like with the vanity covers in place.

Looks great!! Sometimes you have to do stuff like that to keep the motivation up 😁
 
Looks great!! Sometimes you have to do stuff like that to keep the motivation up 😁
For sure. Its like the light at the end of the tunnel! How's your build? Havnt seen an update in a while?
 

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