Builds 1984 BJ42 Story and Modifications - 3B to 15BFT

[AlbertoSD]

I can't believe it has been more than 6-months since I have updated this. A lot has happened since then, so will try to play a little catchup.

Even though this is a 1984 BJ42, it came with an Oil Bath Type air cleaner. It was a nice air cleaner but not something I wanted to use long term. The diameter of the air cannister was smaller itself (when compared to a 70/80 series type) and the outlet of the air cleaner was going to need modifications to point towards the turbo inlet.

Galen @bottombracket knew of a 70-series air cleaner for sale, so we procured it for the 42 project. Surprisingly enough, the air cleaner didn't need major modifications to fit where we needed it to be. Will post about the fitment here shortly.

 

[AlbertoSD]

Also, when I bought the wheels I wanted to use on the 40, they came with almost new BFG Mud Terrain tires, but they are 32 x 11.5 R15. I always liked the tall and skinny combo for the 40-series so we bought a set of five (5) Toyo Open Country MT in 33 x 10.5 R15 (I only had 4 of the BFG ones to start with).

 

[AlbertoSD]

Between a lot of work-related travel, and work, I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on the BJ42.

I had the fortune of attending the 2024 Rubithon in June with some folks that I consider family. My brother from another mother Brian @gifu invited me to come along and let Ofer @ofer bruhis and I borrow his cool 40-series and take it on the Rubicon one more time. We spent a GREAT week with my friends Ken @Hanna Quality (and family), Jason @CRZR45 (and family), and last but not least my friend Sean (I am not sure if Sean is here on MUD). All these folks are truly like family to me and I am more than honored to spend quality time with them and their families. A little bit of a photo dump on this trip:

 

[AlbertoSD]

And more:

 

[AlbertoSD]

Since the BJ42 was in Texas and I am in Ohio, working on it proved to be more than difficult. So I bothered Galen @bottombracket one more time, and asked if there was a way to get the 40 to a place where it could be picked up by a transport company. Galen got to work and assembled the 40 a little so it would make the hike without any parts falling off the truck and recruited my friend Mauricio @Spallet to get the 40 out of his shop.

I cannot say enough thanks to so many people that have helped me get this going while the 42 was in Texas.

A HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to Galen @bottombracket for allowing me to work on his shop and keep the 40 safe. Also, thanks to Mauricio @Spallet and David @davegonz for helping me work on the truck. Much appreciated.

 

[AlbertoSD]

And the 40 got loaded on a big semi to get transported to Ohio

 

[AlbertoSD]

Going back to the air cleaner fitment. It really didn't need a whole lot of work to make this happen. We removed the spot welds from the factory 70-series mounting legs and trimmed them to mount flat on the bottom of the air cleaner (and tried to use the same holes in the fender as the factory cannister).

I also decided to use an HDJ80 air cleaner lid, so we lined up the air cleaner so the 90-degree elbow pointed straight to the turbo inlet. We made a pedestal (with the same format as the 40-series air cleaner) to support the air cleaner from the bottom. All in all, I am VERY pleased on how this turned out.

You might wonder why we pointed the air-inlet to the driver's side, but I am putting a Safari Snorkel on this, and the snorkel itself will be mounted on the driver's side fender like so:

 

[AlbertoSD]

Also, drilled the exhaust manifold and trimmed the exhaust shield to install the EGT probe:

 

[AlbertoSD]

And worked on trying to figure out a power steering high pressure line, PS oil cooler, PS reservoir.

For the power steering pressure line, I had a Japanese one that I bought for my former 80-series and didn't use. With a little bending and little work it seems to do the job for now. Might change it later if it gives me trouble:

Regarding a Power Steering Cooler, Brian @gifu typically uses a Hayden Transmission Cooler and all his trucks and it seems to work really well. It is decent size and very thin profile, which lends itself to be mounted easily. We decided to mount it between radiator and intercooler and attach it with a bracket we made to the radiator frame:

We fabricated some brackets to also support the intercooler from the bottom side (note the 4 tabs on the radiator frame).

Link to where I got the PS cooler from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000C39CL8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[AlbertoSD]

I tried to find a Toyota Power Steering reservoir, but nothing really seemed to work right (we tried 2 or 3 factory ones I had sitting around). So I decided to bite the bullet and bought a PSC reservoir that offers a large volume of PS fluid capacity, and the mounting bracket allows for mounting it in any orientation. More on that to come:

Link to where I got the PS reservoir from Summit Racing:

Performance Steering Components PSC SR146-6-10 PSC Power Steering Reservoirs | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - PSC Power Steering Reservoirs with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Power Steering Reservoirs at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

 

[AlbertoSD]

All along, with the 15BFT having the radiator inlet and outlet on the driver's side, the 60-series PS conversion, the intercooler pipes running on both sides of the engine, and the main battery (truck is 24V and the main electrical connections are on the LH side of the truck) being also on the left-hand side, everything was really crammed in there. To install/remove anything on that side it was a work of two people holding things and aligning things so they can all go in at the same time.

Truthfully, I was not happy on how things were and how complicated it was to have it all there. Also, it worried me that to repair something on that side of the truck was going to be a major disassembly project to replace a radiator hose, or to even tight a clamp.

I ran into a post that my now new friend Petter @masterpetter in Norway have done on a 15BFT conversion on his late model 40. Petter decided to mount both batteries on a box under the truck and this made the engine bay a lot A LOT cleaner and more accessible.

With Petter's permission, I am posting a couple of photos of his truck that inspired me to do some changes to mine:

Also, here is a link to Petter's projects:

Masterpetter garasjen. 60,90,42, 120 - Norsk Land Cruiser Klubb - https://www.nlck.no/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9635&sid=8059172ebed088696d42fd080920e45b

His BJ42 series build starts on Page 6 or so.

Petter is using virtually the same drivetrain as I am using, his 15BFT is also an inline pump, but his H55 uses the 60-series type top cover. Though much of the fabrication on these two projects is the same, Petter did move his whole drivetrain a few inches forward to allow the 60-series top cover to poke through the right opening on the floor.

Amazing work, Petter, and thanks for the ideas and allowing me to share it here with the MUD community.

 

[AlbertoSD]

With Petter's @masterpetter project in mind, I decided to remove the driver's side battery and pedestal all together from the equation and fabricate a bracket to hold the two batteries on the passenger side.

We bought a new intercooler pipe and a 45-degree elbow to install the intercooler outlet / engine inlet in the same fashion as Petter did on the 40 shown above.

With that space now a little less crowded, we decided to install the PSC PS reservoir also on the radiator frame, fabricating a simple mounting bracket.

Some photos that show the progress done on this:

Note that we switched to two smaller batteries in an attempt to keep them in the engine bay. I hope these two have enough cranking power so they can stay there.

Also note that I "borrowed" Petter's idea and installed a Blue Sea Battery disconnect switch on the drivers side fender and used that as a bridge to the truck main harness and the batteries.

Link to where I got the switch from Amazon:

Amazon.com

 

[AlbertoSD]

Finally (for now anyways), I bought new Old Man Emu suspension for the 42 from Georg @orangefj45 and also a 4+ U-bolt flip kit with Georg as well.

I love the U-bolt flip kit, I had it on my BJ70/HZJ70 and I think this is the way they should almost come from Toyota.

The U-bolts on the U-bolt flip kit come raw steel. So you either have to paint them prior to installation or have them coat them of some sort. On my BJ70/HZJ70 I had them Zinc plated with a company here in Cincinnati that does electroplating. Decided to do the same with these ones (Smith Electrochemical is the company that does the work and they bake the hardware so it doesn't loose the tensile strength). At the same time, I went ahead and had the rollers of the PTO fairlead also Zinc Plated.

Before:

After:

A photo of the air cleaner connected to the turbo inlet. I bought some turbo hoses from Amazon and a reduction piece to go from air cleaner lid to turbo inlet (now I can't remember if it was 3" to 2" or 2.5" to 2", but it was one of those two for sure). Also got new belts from Dave Stedman at Japan 4x4:

Link to the 4+ Plus U-bolt Flip kit. Dave sells these kits for 40-series, 60-series, and 70-series:

4PlusProducts | FJ60 | Suspension Parts | U-Bolt Flip Kits

The ultimate kit for U-bolt protection and ground clearance on spring under axle equipped 60 series Land Cruisers.

www.4plusproducts.com

 

[davegonz]

It's going to be a beast of a truck.

 

[bottombracket]

Please burn diesel sooooooooon.

The PSC reservoir and passenger dual batteries is a great solution to a crowded corner of the engine bay.

 

[ofer bruhis]

And more:

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I love you Alberto!!!

 

[masterpetter]

This is looking Great Alberto, a lot of good solutions and good work
Good that I read your thred, I did'nt know about the Megacruiser sump in your earlyer posts.
I cut of both of the Winge on my sump, and I keep thinking about the loss of Oil capasity after modding.
Maby it matters or maby not, i'm not sure.
Thank's for the tip, maby I'll buy one myself

 

[Tex68w]

This makes me want a BJ40/42 really really badly haha.

 

[AlbertoSD]

This is looking Great Alberto, a lot of good solutions and good work
Good that I read your thred, I did'nt know about the Megacruiser sump in your earlyer posts.
I cut of both of the Winge on my sump, and I keep thinking about the loss of Oil capasity after modding.
Maby it matters or maby not, i'm not sure.
Thank's for the tip, maby I'll buy one myself

Thanks, Petter!!!

Didn't know you were here on MUD, so edited my posts to actually tag you on those.

Also, I cannot claim credit of the intel on the Mega-Cruiser oil pan. All credit on that goes to our friend Roma @roma042987 (he is also working on a couple of 15BFT swaps and he always have cool projects going on). Here is the sump/oil pan PN just in case:

(sorry for the sideways photo)

 

[AlbertoSD]

The stock 3B fuel line is 5/16 and the 15BFT engine is 3/8. Furthermore, the 3B's that had inline pump (at least the one on my 70 and the one on this 40) didn't have a return fuel line to the tank.

The BJ42 had a small water separator mounted on the frame rail (left hand side, right behind the vacuum canister) that of course was equipped with 5/16 lines. I removed the stock water separator and added a bigger more universal filter/separator on the frame rail. We fabricated a bracket that used the existing captive nuts on the frame (that were formerly used for the stock water separator) and also had the pattern of the new filter/separator unit. Also fabricated new 3/8" lines to feed the engine. Even with a larger filter unit, we fabricated the bracket so the whole assembly is above the frame rails.

Link to the filter/separator:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CSEV6...JVN8NDJ9W9802R0CS&starsLeft=1&skipTwisterOG=1

Link to the filter mount:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CSGT64?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_MSPMMYGHV3SX0VS7MJ4R&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_MSPMMYGHV3SX0VS7MJ4R&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_MSPMMYGHV3SX0VS7MJ4R&starsLeft=1&skipTwisterOG=1&th=1

The truck is still equipped with the engine mounted factory Toyota fuel filter, so this would add a layer of protection.