Hi all from Phoenix! (1 Viewer)

[Portech62]

Hey folks,
Johnny here from Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve been lingering the forum for a while now and finally decided to introduce myself and share my own personal project. Up there is my 89. Missing a lot of parts ,but, about 99% rust free! Prior to the 89, I owned an 85 rust bucket. Found this one for a steal and decided this was going to be a keeper !



Crappy with the camera but ... swapping in 5.3 Vortec engine from this donor Tahoe (my coworkers son rolled it, he’s okay)
Really I intend to keep it original with functional modifications.



Got plenty more pictures of the progress but not sure if I’m posting in the right place

Anyways, thanks

 

[gilamonster]

Good looking start!

 

[ander42b]

Welcome to the Land Cruiser madness !!!!!! There alot of guys here that have done the V8 swap. Including me. There will be happy moments and some headaches along the way. But the guy here come help you out. Dave from Miami area is good local source of info. Post often and share a lot of pictures.

Place to go for shopping of conversation parts are:
1) Stleath conversion
2) advance adapters
3) summit racing

Jason

 

[SteveH]

Looks like a nice '62 to start with - good luck!

 

[Beams37]

Welcome.

This is absolutely the right place to post progress of your project. You will get great advice and plenty of support!

Good luck with this project and stay the course !!

 

[Portech62]

Welcome to the Land Cruiser madness !!!!!! There alot of guys here that have done the V8 swap. Including me. There will be happy moments and some headaches along the way. But the guy here come help you out. Dave from Miami area is good local source of info. Post often and share a lot of pictures.

Place to go for shopping of conversation parts are:
1) Stleath conversion
2) advance adapters
3) summit racing

Jason

Appreciate it Jason. I’ll be sure to check them all out. Definitely the biggest obstacle I’ve found is committing to spending crazy money on these hard to find parts. In a way it’s been fun looking in all the salvage yards , driving hundreds of miles, and or searching the web to get a decent deal on parts. But it’s hard to justify sometimes why (for example) someone SHOULD have to pay 400$ plus for a used steering gear box. I’ve seen an instrument cluster on eBay for 1500$. I’ve worked on 80’s bmws mostly and found quick trips to the local junkyards would finish projects in no time. Now don’t get me wrong. I understand and appreciate the quality/name of the Land Cruiser. Seeing builds executing so nicely ,such as Stoffrengen Motorsports Lone Star fj62, Im excited and accept the challenges that come along with restoring it.

Anyways enough of my blabbering







I don’t run a fancy shop, this is mostly back yard boogie...

 

[cruiserboy14]

hey, nice idea. I'm from san tan myself. good luck!!

 

[Portech62]

hey, nice idea. I'm from san tan myself. good luck!!

Hey thanks neighbor , you have any luck finding parts for your 60?

 

[cruiserboy14]

Just on here or the web. I had a few cruiser friends in California that helped. Also camelback Toyota seemed helpful when I was there a few weeks ago. What are you looking for?

 

[Portech62]

Just on here or the web. I had a few cruiser friends in California that helped. Also camelback Toyota seemed helpful when I was there a few weeks ago. What are you looking for?

Geeeeez , well.. a bunch of random parts. Fuel tanks straps, rear sway bar end links, drivers door panel w/switches, front grill and headlight trims. Taillights (those are about 70$ Afternarket on eBay) rear bench seat, brake booster w/master cylinder. Windshield... I’ll just stop right there.

I snagged some great deals on a steering gear, hitch carrier, bench seat back rest, and a few other misc from a couple of nice guys out in the Tucson area

 

[Portech62]

Some more crappy pics..




I really wanted to weld the mounts in myself but I was too much of a pussy to buy a welder... so pops friend came out and made it happen

 

[Portech62]

A few months ago this came into the shop





And had this in it




One of the Chevy guys here said it was an LS3?? Whatever it was it sounded great and was doing nicely .

 

[Infinity00]

How’d that metal cutoff wheel do on the hardened steel of the output shaft? Like butter?

 

[Portech62]

How’d that metal cutoff wheel do on the hardened steel of the output shaft? Like butter?

Lol chop saw worked like a charm!

Yeah I saw a YouTube video of some guy using a band saw ... dude said in the video “yeah this will probably take an hour” and switched to the chop saw