Builds My GCC Spec 1HD-FTE Converted FZJ100 (1 Viewer)

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Love the striping and love the Factory proper steel wheels. Where are your center caps?
 
Small Update

Finally back into wrenching on the 100!

Took apart the door panels to replace the door lock actuators. My truck has the classic "slow locks" issue. So I bought new AISIN actuators from Rockauto, and much to my surprise, they were made in Japan! Far cheaper buying them this way, in my opinion a no brainer!

When I removed the door cards I discovered that the insides of the door panels were an absolute MESS. They are going to need a ton of clean up, new parts and restoration.


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All locks work perfectly now.

I discovered that the driver's side door must have had some sort of mishap during its life. The door check was colliding with the window run guide (which explains why the window would make noise when it went down). Check it out, it's bent out of shape! I promptly replaced with a new one and fixed the damaged window run guide.

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FTE! FTE! Are you also going to Unichip it?

Nah, going to stay as stock as possible. 3” exhaust will be the extent of the power upgrades. I want this thing to last as long as possible! :)
 
This is going to get good! Cool swap into an already sweet 100 series. Looking forward to updates Nick!
 
1HDFTE, baller. I assume it's much easier to swap this into a 1FZ equipped 100 vs a 2UZ.

Curious though, you can get a factory LHD manual 100 series diesel from europe for 15-30k euros, wouldn't you be better off going that route?
 
30k Euro will get you not one, but 2 great condition late models, minus shipping & import :)
But AFAIK you can't import them in the States yet. How did you mnage to get the engine though and how are you going to register it?
 
1HDFTE, baller. I assume it's much easier to swap this into a 1FZ equipped 100 vs a 2UZ.

Curious though, you can get a factory LHD manual 100 series diesel from europe for 15-30k euros, wouldn't you be better off going that route?

Technically yes, but my truck didn’t cost me anything other than shipping. Plus I prefer the barn doors and sub tank included. Euro market has none of those things. 15-30k is significantly more than 0. Haha
 
Every place I look (mobile.de or Leboncoin.fr) I can’t find an HDJ100 with less than 275-400k+kms for less than 12+ thousand Euros and looks ridden hard and put away wet and with rust issues. 15,000+ euros is $18,500 USD and $18,400 in CAD.
 
Finally starting tearing into the FTE. Made some good progress!


Finally managed to find an engine stand that can hold up this beast... ended up needing a 1 ton stand for this heavy beast.


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Take a look at the valve train on this thing. It's mint! I couldn't believe how clean it was. Wow!!

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This is where I got to... ordering parts this week. Only doing a light refresh on this thing considering its low mileage and quite good condition!


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Man that is really clean. How did the intake look? Clogged up or not so bad? EGR delete is the 1st thing these need IMO. Let it breathe!!!
 
Man that is really clean. How did the intake look? Clogged up or not so bad? EGR delete is the 1st thing these need IMO. Let it breathe!!!

They're gunked up... but could definitely be worse!!

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Still waiting on parts... global logistics have come to a stand still because of the pandemic so there's been a lot of waiting during this project.

In good news, I've started editing footage for the YouTube channel for this thread!

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Well... I'm finally back at it. I decided to take a year off cruisers as I wanted to focus on other, more important things in life. :) I think breaks from this hobby are important when the addiction gets a bit out of hand. I'm sure many can relate.

Anyways, the 1HD-FTE is at the 90% stage buttoned up and cleaned up. Just a few small items plus AC compressor are left on it.

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I've been shooting footage of this whole process which is another reason why I haven't been updating this thread. I promise there will be youtube episodes of this entire thing later this year!

We removed the 1FZ last week and have been packaging it up for a mud member that's got their name on it! Overall, engine removal was a breeze. I've removed full drive trains on other cruisers (80s and 100s) with the auto still bolted on, but I have to say, removing the drivetrain with the H151 is MUCH easier. Probably took half the time overall I would say.

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More to come...
 
So this project just got huge. Hence the delay in posts.

I have a habit of "while you're in there" work, and boy oh boy, I found a lot of stuff to do while I'm in there.

So I pulled absolutely EVERYTHING from the engine bay. It was filthy, and needed a ton of work.

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I got it cleaned up and took the truck to a body shop to have the engine bay sprayed. I also had them weld various capture nuts on the firewall for the FTE gas pedal, along with some new brackets for my fancy interior overhaul. The engine bay turned out VERY nicely.

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Here is where the truck sits today. This was a LOT of work. I took the FZJ100 engine bay harness and modified it by hand to incorporate the FTE stuff including: spill valve wiring, new starter wiring, water trap sensor, fuel heater, intake screen heater, modified alternator and AC compressor wiring. Also, since the harness was in terrible condition, I re-sleeved the entire thing, cleaned it up, re taped and even put in new PVC sleeves for the electrical connectors. It looks great, but it probably took me 15+ hours on the engine bay harness alone. Oh, I also got the bolts yellow zinc coated too. :cool:

You can also see the new fuel lines are installed as well. I managed to order a new 12mm diesel main fuel line from Japan (getting it here was a HUGE challenge). The best way to install fuel lines on a 100 is to actually lift the body off the frame on the LH side. There's no other way to do it. We unbolted the LH body mounts and lifted the body ~2" and the fuel lines went in instantly. Very easy.


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Along with my commitment to "while i'm in there", I took out the entire interior. All the FZJ100 stuff was basically shot, so I've been retrofitting a full interior from a minty HDJ101 and man it's starting to look very very sharp. The door cards are a preview for things to come. :)

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Installed minty door card and replaced the window motor, regulator and the door seals.


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Making lots of progress... Interior is mostly back together, minus the dash. I'm thinking the dash will be the last step, after motor is installed so I can make sure all the wiring works out.

Rebuild all of the HVAC stuff. New actuators, new evaporator and expansion valve and rebuilt a bunch of little things... Also fixed the fridge console with new components.

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Front end is looking awesome. Got overseas spec DEPO's and OEM clear lenses. Also test fit everything in the engine bay. Man it's looking awesome.


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Hi GN. I've been enjoying this thread greatly. It is quite a dramatic turn to the story to be putting in a black-top, 24 valve diesel into the beast.

It resonated quite a bit because last weekend when I was prospecting the salvage yards of Sharjah I ran across a 100 series half-cut with a turbo black top diesel in it. My 105 has a regular 1HZ in it and although I love it and I'm getting just over 19MPG, it is lacking a little in the 'pep' department. I asked about the motor and the owner, who is pretty darned knowledgeable about it, discouraged me from trying an engine swap. He said that with the electronic fuel injection (mine is a mechanical, 1-wire motor, essentially), and especially the Toyota immobilizer, it would be a real bear to swap. He said all the computers had to change and the implication was that especially the immobilizer would be problematic. Could you fill us in a little on what the engine came out of and what you've learned about getting it up and running in a different vehicle. If it turns out easier than the Sharjah yard operator felt then maybe I will give a look at that again myself. I can't quite recall, BTW, if the engine I saw was exactly the same as yours--it may have been a silver top turbo.
 
Hi GN. I've been enjoying this thread greatly. It is quite a dramatic turn to the story to be putting in a black-top, 24 valve diesel into the beast.

It resonated quite a bit because last weekend when I was prospecting the salvage yards of Sharjah I ran across a 100 series half-cut with a turbo black top diesel in it. My 105 has a regular 1HZ in it and although I love it and I'm getting just over 19MPG, it is lacking a little in the 'pep' department. I asked about the motor and the owner, who is pretty darned knowledgeable about it, discouraged me from trying an engine swap. He said that with the electronic fuel injection (mine is a mechanical, 1-wire motor, essentially), and especially the Toyota immobilizer, it would be a real bear to swap. He said all the computers had to change and the implication was that especially the immobilizer would be problematic. Could you fill us in a little on what the engine came out of and what you've learned about getting it up and running in a different vehicle. If it turns out easier than the Sharjah yard operator felt then maybe I will give a look at that again myself. I can't quite recall, BTW, if the engine I saw was exactly the same as yours--it may have been a silver top turbo.

So the most difficult part of the conversion is certainly the wiring. However, there are guys in Australia that can help you out. They'll even build complete harnesses for you so it's plug and play. I'm currently working that out as I decided not to modify the dash harness myself...

As for the immobilizer, fun fact, early model HDJ101's, 98, 99 and I think 00 do not have an immobilizer from factory. My ECU is from a 99 HDJ101 and it checked out. So I would say keep an eye out for early model HDJ101 donor vehicles for your conversion. Also, as I understand, it's better to use an auto ECU as it will have cruise control as the manuals do not.

Also, stick with going with an FTE for your conversion. Yes, it's more of a hassle to get running, but it is the superior choice of the bunch. Keep it stock with a 3" exhaust and it'll go forever.
 

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