Builds 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced

[Pip Bernadotte]

July 2024 - Towing and Hauling!

Found a GREAT deal on some metal shelving at a machine shop that was going out of business near Gastonia, so I borrowed Dylan's trailer and went to pick it up. A good first test for the brake controller I had installed previously~ Also noticed that despite his trailer being fairly tall, I need a lower drop hitch with the new springs in the rear...

I ended up getting WAAAAAAAY more than I bargained for, because the guys who were disassembling everything were "done" with it and just threw on a whole bunch of extras so they didn't have to deal with them later.

They threw in a whole welded steel shelf unit for an additional $50 and it's easily $300+ dollars worth in just steel alone. But, as they say, never look a gift horse in the mouth, so I just ran with it. ^_^

Cruiser hauled everything like a champ, and the brake controller worked pretty well perfectly. Though I'm going to have to learn how to do some fine adjustment, because it totally locked up the trailer tires a few times


(Update, yeah I went and got a better drop hitch. It's rated for more than I'll ever be able to tow, is adjustable in height, and was on sale during "prime day" so win-win-win)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

And about up to date! Only one (two?) more project(s) to report ^_^

As I said before, after checking the restriction gauge I put on the valve cover hose, it seems there was a bit too much restriction on airflow with the snorkel and adapter for what I wanted.... so: time to cut up some perfectly good Toyota parts and mod them to do better!

For those of you who don't know: the Toyota OEM Snorkel airbox exits the fender directly out the side and connects to the snorkel there, and Toyota being Toyota, they just have a cover plate for models that don't have the snorkel option. So, just remove plate and you have access to inside the fender.

Thankfully Toyota took the "quick and easy is cheaper" route when assembling their airboxes, so they're just tack welded and body seam sealed together.

Which means with a little bit of time with a torch and a scraper, it was pretty easy to get the seam sealer off, and a drill made short work of the tack welds.

After pulling the airbox inlet off, I just had to flip it 180 degrees and tack it back into place.... and it was ALMOST that easy.

After fitting and adjusting it a bit, and sliding it over and then cutting out a slightly larger opening to fit the opening in the fender I had cut for the Safari Snorkel, it fit pretty well.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Snorkel/Airbox Pt 2

Ah yes... While I was having to do things inside the fender anyways, I decided I'd go ahead and replace the outer fender that had... a bit of a rust problem... (Thankfully I had foreseen this problem when I was in Japan, and had already bought an aftermarket outer fender from a supplier in Taiwan. Not bad for $160)

The Previous Owner had attached the fender flares... without the Toyota hardware...
and by that, I mean he had used sheet metal screws and some metal pipe strapping to hold them to the fender... Dirty, but it's worked until now... Except for the massive hole in my front fender...

Getting the outer fender off without taking the whole fender apart is thankfully possible. But your knuckles and the skin on your hands and arms will not appreciate it... Also, a ratcheting box end wrench is definitely your friend.

Many grunts, curses, and a bit of blood spilled later... the fender came off.

Anyways, back to the snorkel. If anyone has installed a Safari Snorkel to their truck, they may be asking: How do you expect to connect the airbox to the snorkel now? The hook up for the snorkel is meant to go forward to the front of the fender with a rubber tube that curves back around to connect to the non-JDM airbox inlet. (as can be seen with the outlet end of the snorkel)

Well... In for a penny, in for a pound. That connection's gotta go.

I decided I'd replace it with a 3/16 steel plate that I would bolt to it using Rivnuts.

As so

 

[SNLC]

June 2024 - More fun!

My friend Gavin has a classic Nissan Patrol that he's building into a rock crawler. He found someone just west of my parents that had two more, and decided to purchase them as parts cars. So off we went! Dylan and his tow vehicle (RAM), Gavin and his tow vehicle (Excursion), and I in my Land Cruiser

Gavin lined his trailer up with the first one, and I pulled it out with my Cruiser.
View attachment 3699800

Sneak shot!
View attachment 3699799
View attachment 3699802

We didn't like the angle it was going to create with me pulling the Patrol onto the trailer, so I turned around and we used my winch and a snatch block to pull the patrol up. Gavin's son Graham got to pilot it onto the trailer. ^_^

View attachment 3699801

We did the same for the second Patrol to get it onto Dylan's trailer.

View attachment 3699803

Cool on the Pootrolls! Those are super rare in the USA with only 2616 sold here.

Show your friend Gavin this pic, it was my 1983 Patrol built into a crawler.

I used to have a bunch of the old ones too, cool fun old trucks but parts are super difficult to find beyond the basics.

Cheers

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Snorkel & Fender pt 3

Airbox mods continued. As I said, I just followed "The Toyota Way" and tack welded it back together, and then seam sealed and painted it.

It looks like, at least tentatively, I'll even get to keep the "cyclone" effect created by the airflow diverter. Though I may have to extend it a little bit. This is good because it pre-separates the large solids out of the air before they get sucked through the filter.

Body seam sealed and painted! Looks almost like it was on purpose ^_^

The next challenge was deciding what type of outlet to put on the plate I planned on attaching to the snorkel side. I didn't have any appropriately sized tubing... So I cannibalized the adapter that Odd Iron Offroad had made for me when he sold me the snorkel originally.

I cut off the piece of pipe that the hose that came with the Safari snorkel mated to, and then fit it and the hose back onto the airbox. I then cut the pipe at an angle that was perpendicular with the fender, which meant that when the sorkel was bolted back on, it would be flat against the plate.

(Pictured is the airbox with the rubber piece on the inlet, and the metal tube from the adapter fitted into it, after I had already cut it at an angle to put it perpendicular with the fender)

I then had to put the snorkel into place with the 3/16 plate attached where it should be, and reach through the airbox and trace out a circle so that I knew where the pipe would press against it. I then had to cut out the plate and tack the pipe to it to then test fit it further.

(Pictured is the pipe tacked to the plate on the snorkel)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Cool on the Pootrolls! Those are super rare in the USA with only 2616 sold here.

Show your friend Gavin this pic, it was my 1983 Patrol built into a crawler.

View attachment 3700114
View attachment 3700115
View attachment 3700117

I used to have a bunch of the old ones too, cool fun old trucks but parts are super difficult to find beyond the basics.

Cheers

Wow! That's really cool!! I'll definitely forward the pictures to him ^_^

Yeah, they're fun trucks, but parts are a bit hard to find. Which is why he decided to turn his into a rock crawler. He's using Dana 40s front and rear. He's also installing a 289 engine in his "just for fun"

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Snorkel / Fender Pt 4

After test fitting the snorkel adapter to the airbox and checking the stick out from the fender.
(a steel plate won't ever fit quite as close as the pliable plastic of the snorkel itself...)

I finish welded it into place, making sure to get all the gaps closed (no seam sealer this time), and then sanded and painted it before moving on.

(yes, I'm from the south... I weld barefoot...)


I then applied silicone caulk liberally between the adapter plate and snorkel, and used some stainless flat head screws to hold it together permanently.

Then it was back to the fender replacement. First I scuffed up the primer that the factory had applied, then painted it with a gloss black "one step epoxy paint" by PJ1. Dunno how well it'll stand up... has anyone else tried a "one step" in a can before?

The finish turned out... well enough... It's not a show car.


After that I tried to get it back in place. Some of the "captured nut" body clips weren't salvageable when I took it off, so I had to order some clips and bolts from my local Toyota dealership. Thankfully they're all things available in the states, so I didn't have to order them from Japan or UAE this time.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Snorkel / Fender pt 5

Fender back together, snorkel bolted on, and airbox bolted in. Looks pretty good and is a MUCH straighter path for the air to flow from snorkel into airbox.

After a week of driving with the better air flow, EGTs read 50-100F lower than previous, and the Boost gauge reads 0.4psi lower on the vacuum side (0.6psi of vacuum at 2800 rpm, and 0.8psi at 4000 rpm) on hard acceleration. Not bad for a bit of cutting and welding.

Looks pretty darned good in my opinion. Not quite as close as I'd have liked, but well within acceptable tolerances. I also decided to use some 1/8 thick silicone rubber at sheeting as a "between the snorkel and fender" gasket so it wouldn't chafe and scrape the paint off.

Only thing left is to reattach the fender flares. (better than the Previous Owner had)
I decided to mostly take a page out of the PO's book by attaching it with screws and straps, but upgraded to stainless rivnuts, stainless straps, and stainless bolts. Also painted the drilled holes before putting the rivnuts in to help prevent corrosion.

And the flares are back on. (I redid the passenger side the same way)

Looks pretty decent, and when I get the rear ones mounted better, I'll take them all off and give them a fresh coat of paint, and some new rubber weather stripping, but that's a project for another day (also because I have to fix one of my rear ones that got a bit crushed on a rock at GER... )

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Sigh... Sometimes the simple answer is the right answer....

I was at a friend's house last week (Yes! I am finally caught up to the present day! ^_^ ) and went out to get something out of the Cruiser and although the driver's door opened, I didn't hear the familiar "click" of the rest of the doors opening... Funny... So I tried pushing the lock button and... nothing... Tried putting the key in the ignition and "ding ding ding" the "door's open" chime went off. Turned the key and nothing happened... Well sh*t...

Went to my rear drawers and pulled my volt meter out to check the batteries. Found out that I had 13.7 volts across them... Not good when it's a 24v truck...
For the life of me I couldn't think of what had happened. Posted in a group chat and Darren asked if I had checked the batteries individually, I had not, so I went ahead and disconnected them and checked them. 3.3v and 10.4v... So they were both dead, but one was "dead dead"... concerning because I had just replaced them back in March when I got the winch...

Because I was in Rock Hill I called Gavin and he said he wouldn't mind taking me to Costco to warranty them. A whole adventure going to Costco on a weekend afternoon later... and I got them back to the Cruiser. After hooking them up I noticed that the headlights were on...

Thinking back on it, it had been REALLY dark and kinda rainy when I took another friend home, but I remembered that it had cleared up on my way back... So best as I could figure, I had just left the lights on overnight and killed BOTH of my brand-damn-new batteries Thankfully Costco doesn't ask questions, but does pro-rate replacements. So it only ended up costing me 36 dollars and some embarrassment when I had to admit to my friend chat that the lights being left on was the culprit of my misfortune... And it was about that time that my friend's neighbor walked over and asked me if I knew that I had left my lights on last night. "Well, we hadn't met you before, and we thought about coming to tell you, but we figured you'd have seen them"

/Sigh... people these days... at least she was friendly enough about it...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

And Friday I got to try out my brake controller a second time. This time to pull my Fiat to dad's garage. It's been making a noise while engine braking and kicking out of fourth gear, and it just keeps getting progressively worse... so to the bat cave! I mean garage!

Cruiser pulled it rather well other than being slow to accelerate and slowing on every slight incline or hill but what else can you expect pulling 3000+ lbs with an engine that only produces 129hp 210ftlbs? Guess I'll have to try again when I get the turbo installed.

On a good note, EGTs only hit 1290F for a second while getting up to highway speed, and generally stuck to 1000F


No idea of the order they'll be completed in, but here's a list of other Cruiser projects on the docket:
Finish reattaching fender flares, and repaint + put new weather stripping on
Have Cruiser dynoed so I know what power I'm gettin before the turbo install (just to satisfy my own curiosity)
Install turbo kit
Tire carrier swing arm assembly
CAD and then bend an underseat mounting bracket to hold my ViAir compressor and 24-12 stepdown that powers my GMRS for under passenger seat
Reinforce rear bumper wings
Wire aux lights on dash through highbeam switch so I can turn them off when I go to low beam (switchable so I can turn that function on and off)
Make a beefier skid plate for trans/transfer case - probably out of 3/16 steel (thoughts?)
Make drop down fridge slide for Engel 40L fridge
Rebuild power steering pump

 

[JDM Journeys]

Now that's what I call an update! Man alive! It's cool to see someone else's hzj77 upgrade path - sometimes it intersects with mine and sometimes it doesn't.

Great shots of all then cruisers too! Looked like fun!

Keep it coming. Love it!

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Now that's what I call an update! Man alive! It's cool to see someone else's hzj77 upgrade path - sometimes it intersects with mine and sometimes it doesn't.

Great shots of all then cruisers too! Looked like fun!

Keep it coming. Love it!

I'm glad you're enjoying my posts! It's fun seeing everyone's reactions, even if it's not exactly what they would have done. ^_^ I agree, each person's mods and upgrades paths are really fun to see~

Oh yeah, what have you decided to do similarly? ^_^ I always love seeing another 70~

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

It seems like I never added the comparison pictures for the headlights versus the Baja Designs OnX6 light bar. It's a HUGE difference, even using Hella upgraded bulbs for my headlights.

I ended up having to re-aim the OnX 6 and it throws a lot better now.

 

[JDM Journeys]

I'm glad you're enjoying my posts! It's fun seeing everyone's reactions, even if it's not exactly what they would have done. ^_^ I agree, each person's mods and upgrades paths are really fun to see~

Oh yeah, what have you decided to do similarly? ^_^ I always love seeing another 70~

Oh God I don't even know where to start. Many many pages of my rambling build thread would suggest we've done a lot of things the same. But at this very moment I'm finally working on my much procrastinated turbo...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Oh God I don't even know where to start. Many many pages of my rambling build thread would suggest we've done a lot of things the same. But at this very moment I'm finally working on my much procrastinated turbo...

Nice! You do all the engine health checks I've done as well? (Oil pressure, compression test, etc?)

I hope your turbo goes on easily~ I still need to figure out what I'm gonna do with the exhaust pipe attachment to the turbo... A flex pipe, or hard mount?

 

[JDM Journeys]

Nice! You do all the engine health checks I've done as well? (Oil pressure, compression test, etc?)

I hope your turbo goes on easily~ I still need to figure out what I'm gonna do with the exhaust pipe attachment to the turbo... A flex pipe, or hard mount?

I've spent the last four years testing/tuning/improving. It's as good as it's gonna get, n/a methinks.

Turbo /exhaust? I'm not 100% yet but I'm leaning towards a side exit... I already have a 3 inch downpipe (came with my used ct26) so it's just a "simple" matter of cutting/connecting. And I want to maintain the bigger bore so tracing the original path is tight.

My table of contents is here, and the highlights are similar to yours I'd say? Except your execution is better...

Thread 'OL'BETSY ZX: 1991 HZJ77' Builds - OL'BETSY ZX: 1991 HZJ77 - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/olbetsy-zx-1991-hzj77.1232170/

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

I've spent the last four years testing/tuning/improving. It's as good as it's gonna get, n/a methinks.

Turbo /exhaust? I'm not 100% yet but I'm leaning towards a side exit... I already have a 3 inch downpipe (came with my used ct26) so it's just a "simple" matter of cutting/connecting. And I want to maintain the bigger bore so tracing the original path is tight.

My table of contents is here, and the highlights are similar to yours I'd say? Except your execution is better...

Thread 'OL'BETSY ZX: 1991 HZJ77' Builds - OL'BETSY ZX: 1991 HZJ77 - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/olbetsy-zx-1991-hzj77.1232170/

Great sounds about the same to what I've been doing, and I'm at the same spot.

Hmmm, my friends 1HDT has a 2.5" exhaust, so I think I'm gonna stick with that for now. So I just need to figure out how I'm gonna tie in after the turbo. I know I'm gonna need to save the tri-flange from the old exhaust. Just haven't decided on piping yet

Ok cool! I'll have to take a look at your posts~ (and figure out how to make a link table for mine ) I haven't seen yours yet, but I dunno how much better my execution could be I just like to have fun with things

 

[Musafir]

Snorkel / Fender Pt 4

After test fitting the snorkel adapter to the airbox and checking the stick out from the fender.
(a steel plate won't ever fit quite as close as the pliable plastic of the snorkel itself...)
View attachment 3700148


I finish welded it into place, making sure to get all the gaps closed (no seam sealer this time), and then sanded and painted it before moving on.
View attachment 3700135
(yes, I'm from the south... I weld barefoot...)


I then applied silicone caulk liberally between the adapter plate and snorkel, and used some stainless flat head screws to hold it together permanently.
View attachment 3700137


Then it was back to the fender replacement. First I scuffed up the primer that the factory had applied, then painted it with a gloss black "one step epoxy paint" by PJ1. Dunno how well it'll stand up... has anyone else tried a "one step" in a can before?
View attachment 3700170

The finish turned out... well enough... It's not a show car.


After that I tried to get it back in place. Some of the "captured nut" body clips weren't salvageable when I took it off, so I had to order some clips and bolts from my local Toyota dealership. Thankfully they're all things available in the states, so I didn't have to order them from Japan or UAE this time.
View attachment 3700189

Hello,
I want to replace the rubber trim that goes between the two pieces of the fender. Can i do so without unbolting anything or loosening the bolts?

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Hello,
I want to replace the rubber trim that goes between the two pieces of the fender. Can i do so without unbolting anything or loosening the bolts?

No, the rubber trim has holes in it for the bolts to go through to hold it securely. So you're going to have to unbolt everything to get to them. It take a bit of time and work, but it's a good way to check the condition of the inside of your fenders while you're at it.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Ive b

Hello,
I want to replace the rubber trim that goes between the two pieces of the fender. Can i do so without unbolting anything or loosening the bolts?

I've not tried to replace without fully separating the two however it may be possible as I think all of the bolt reliefs are slots. I'm not at the shop to look at the gasket/trim (spacer) but based on our pics they may all be slots?

Front Fender Left Hand Side Spacer - OEM Toyota - Fits 7x Series (WS53879)

Toyota Land Cruiser Weather Strip

cruiserteq.com