Builds 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced

[Pip Bernadotte]

A surprise delivery from Japan ^_^

With the Yen to Dollar exchange rate being so skewed, and with the prices not catching up either, I snagged a 40L Engel fridge/freezer combo for about $600USD. Just had to wait on my friend to come back to the states (and be willing to carry it all the way to the airport for me) to finally actually get it. MANY thanks Marcus!

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

May 2024 -
Well, I have a new co-pilot ^_^

Her name is Blue Bell.
She's a 4 month old German Shorthaired Pointer

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

May 2024

Darren said we should re-wind my winch line to make sure everything is nice and tight for when I actually need it. So we pulled it out and tied it to a tree in the parking lot of Lake Hartwell State Park while we were camping. Glad to say everything went smoothly, and it pulls with a decent line speed.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

June 2024

I decided to start some other prep for the turbo install.

One of the most commonly suggested gauges to add is an EGT gauge. There a lot of debate about "pre-turbo" vs "post turbo" but seeing as the manifold hasn't even been installed yet, I decided to go ahead and insert it pre-turbo. But the AEM EGT gauge I got only came with a "weld in" threaded fitting... so I had to hunt down a threaded bung that matched it.

The "Weld In" fitting

EGT probe - I was worried that this probe was gonna be too short for the manifold... and as you'll see, it isn't terribly deep in there...

Drilling and tapping a BRAND NEW virgin part is rather unsettling sometimes... But I got it all aligned, center punched, and used lots of cutting & tapping fluid and everything went pretty smooothly.

I actually had to shave the head of the screw in fitting I had purchased a few threads worth to allow the temp probe to sit deeper in the manifold.

 

[cruisermatt]

thanks for taking such nice pics of my and my families trucks! I'll make sure to share them

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

EGT probe install pt 2

Trimmed the inside of the screw in plug a few threads so there would be less "stick out" into the manifold so it wouldn't cover the end of the EGT probe

EGT probe installed as tight to the outside of the manifold as possible.

Temp probe stick out with the screw in fitting installed. Its not a whole lot, but seems to be alright.

I ended up ordering a new manifold elbow instead of reusing my current one and having to deal with the gaskets and seals. So here's the manifold all together.


Also went ahead and installed the studs that hold the turbo on. As well as painted it with a High-temp rated paint. We'll have to see how long it lasts, but I hope it keeps things less rusty than bare cast iron would.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

thanks for taking such nice pics of my and my families trucks! I'll make sure to share them

Sure thing dude! Dad and I had an absolute blast both getting to wheel with y'all and talk with you about all the cool cruisers you brought! Hope we can do it again sometime soon ^_^

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

June 2024

Whelp, I decided "in for a penny, in for a pound" and went ahead and put the whole turbo and manifold assembly together. Then went back and painted it with the Hi-temp paint as well.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

June 2024

After getting it all together and looking at it, I decided I could do a little bit better than the kit that Back 40 Imports had put together. (Don't get me wrong, his kit is absolutely fantastic! I just want to keep as much "OEM" as possible, and I don't want to splice into my heater hoses for coolant to feed the turbo. So instead I looked up the parts for a 1HDT engine, and grabbed the outlets, inlets, and hoses for the stock turboed engine. (only an extra $100 or so)

It required a little bit of an adjustment to the coolant and oil feeds on his turbo, but that just meant I needed another gasket. Or so I thought...

This is where the water inlet/outlet should attach


Annoyingly the stock inlet/outlet is JUST offset... so the holes to mount it didn't line up...

So... I filled the hole with cotton swabs, put a thick layer of petroleum jelly on top of that, and used a carbide bit to widen the inlet port.

Cleaned the cotton swabs and petroleum jelly out, and it bolted right up! ^_^
(I love it when a plan comes together - drags on cigar)

Now I can use the 1HDT coolant hard lines that go behind the timing belt and around the engine instead of splicing my heater hoses and using T-fittings and all that entails. (I'd rather have hardlines either way)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

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.

Sneak shot!

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. ^_^

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

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

We ended up trailering them to my parent's lot, and hid them behind some trees for storage until Gavin needs them for parts.
Apparently Nissan only brought 2200 of the Patrols to the states and stopped selling them in 1969, so it was pretty darned lucky to find two so close to home.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

June 2024

So, as I've lamented about before: most Land Cruiser owners in Japan find the door mounted tire too heavy and cumbersome, so they usually take them, and the door mounted carrier off. So I haven't had a spare on my vehicle since I bought it...

Wanting to rectify this now that I have a steel bumper, I have decided to copy Cruiser Outfitter's rear bumper swing out system where the swing arm is connected by a double heim joint to a plate that's bolted to the door.

So, I found a few decent pictures of their swing arm system.

Absolutely LOVE their bumper, just wasn't willing to pay what they wanted for it

Anyways, onto fabbing my own!
I'm a big fan of CAD in getting an idea of how things are going to look, and by CAD I mean Cardboard Aided Design
So I took measurements of all of the OEM bolt holes where the door mounted tire carrier would be, and transferred it to the cardboard, then generally tried to emulate the CO bumper's design with the attachment to the swing arm.

Thankfully one of dad's friends has an "Ironworker" machine (50T shear, brake, press all in one) which made cutting and bending the plate a LOT easier & faster.

Next up: Have to mount the rebuildable tire carrier swing arm spindle I bought from 4x4Labs. I also got the double heim joint piece from Cruiser Outfitters, and a spare tire mounting plate from Barnes 4WD

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

June 2024 - More fun!

Good Evening Ranch in West Virginia with the NOAS crew! And my first event as NOAS president!
(yes, the irony of me being president of the Nissan Offroad Association of the Southeast is readily apparent )
We may have started as a Nissan focused group, but over the years it's opened up to all makes and models. The only real requirement is that you like offroading, camping, and working on your vehicle ~ A lot of the guys in the club are more... budget focused but when you can get two trucks for $1500, what's not to like about cheap? They also beat the hell out of most of the 30-50,000 dollar jeep setups I've seen


For those of you who haven't been to G.E.R. before, it is an active horse ranch and rodeo/horse show arena, that they also allow us offroaders to come explore the backwoods trail system they've created.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

GER pt 2

Darren's Passport with Erin as co-pilot

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

GER pt 3

Into solid rock ^_^

Dad hopping around on the rocks trying to get back to the Cruiser. Pretty spry for 72

You shall not pass! Wait... No... You actually want to come up here, right?

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

GER pt 4

I just love how my Land Cruiser looks in it's natural habitat

It was about this time that we realized, something was wrong with the Nord (Nissan Frontier with a Ford rear end)

Yup, front axle joint broke thankfully he had a spare

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

GER pt 5

The Nord wasn't the only one that had to winch out of "Cripple Creek" = because it will cripple your truck... I decided to give this one a pass... But still spent 5 hours running around helping everyone else carry rocks, spot, transfer recovery gear,

and winch their trucks out.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

June 2024 (been a busy month ^_^ )

Decided to drill and tap the stock exhaust manifold on the 1HZ so I could get an idea of what EGTs were on a naturally aspirated diesel before putting the turbo on.

A fairly straightforward mod as far as most things go.

Also, after so many people kept saying "you'd be able to clear that obstacle better if you didn't have 9000lbs worth of tools in your drawers in the back (primarily my dad... but it caught on...)
I decided to see how much it all actually weighed.

97 kilograms, or just over 210lbs for the drawers AND tools!

Suck it haters!



Next project has been a fairly long time coming. And Onboard Air system with 4 gallon air tank!

Apparently air compressors start better and have a better duty cycle if they start with no pressure on the piston head, so I copied Darren's manifold block idea.
It has the compressor feeding a normally open solenoid that passes air through a mechanical one way valve into the manifold block, that then sends air to the storage tank.

How it works is the Normally Open solenoid is triggered by a pressure sensor that flips at 70psi. When it flips, it closes the solenoid and starts the compressor which fills the tank. The pressure switch automatically stops the compressor at 100psi. When it stops, it "opens" the solenoid which allows the air in the tube between the compressor and the mechanical one way valve to be released. There's also a 125psi "pop-off" safety valve on the manifold block. Lastly is a hose with a QD connector that I can hook an air hose to to fill tires, or work a basic air tool.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Onboard Air pt 2

So to mount the air tank, I decided it was time to finally test the lift that I installed for dad at his new workshop/garage ^_^
We got the lift from the Ford dealership that I used to work at when they replaced all of their lifts. So we got a professional quality 9000lb Rotary two post lift for 1500. And by sheer happenstance, it turned out to be THE lift that I was assigned to work on when I was working there as a mechanic! ^_^

Decided to mount the tank to the chassis rail between the chassis rail and the transmission. There, it'll be protected by the skid plate too. (one of the reasons I went with a 4 gallon tank instead of a 5 gallon one)

Ugh it was bloody hot that day... Still haven't fitted an AC system to the garage... and only one fan...

After mounting the tank, I plugged everything in and gave it a try!

It worked like a charm~

Automatically starts at 70 psi or lower, and shuts off at 100 psi. So I can just turn the system on with the switch on the dash, and it's fully self regulating ^_^
4 gallons is also enough to fill up a 33" tire pretty quickly, and also means the time I take to swap tires, etc is spent refilling the tank, so much less wasted energy.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

So, with the seemingly rapid increase of crappy drivers about after covid. (Whether actually just bad drivers, or impatient/selfish/self-centered assholes, or even just a "whoopsie") I decided it would probably be a good idea to get a drive recorder. Been looking at a few for a while, and finally decided to pull the trigger. (Also means I can get some sweet footage while offroading )

I decided on a Vantrue 3 camera system. One that goes forward, one for inside the cabin, and a third that mounts to the rear door. But that meant running a USB cable all the way from the front ceiling console, to the back door, under the headliner. What a joy that was... Especially the transition at the back door to snake the cable down the quarter panel to then go into the door...

Running from the front rearview mirror

Through the quarter panel, into the rear door, and up to the top. All wiring nice and tidy and hidden away.