Builds 1997 FZJ80 to HDJ80 1HD-FTE + H152F (2 Viewers)

[jomelo]

We are really close on this harness. Today (in Australia) is the final testing day. All went well yesterday. I ended up buying a total of four ECU’s so I’ll have a spare for each engine. These things are getting hard to find. Two of them are from 100 series and the other two are from 79 series. Generally, the main difference is the 100 will work with cruise and the 79 doesn’t but can be made to work. We are not running immobilizers on any of these so that has been deleted. Of note, the ECU for this truck is from a Russian 100 series FTE that came stock with no immobolizer and a few extra programmed HP. I’m hoping this setup will be on a DHL plane in the next 48 hours.

 

[SNLC]

POR15 on these yesterday, cured nicely overnight.

Cheers

 

[scottryana]

Looks sharp!

 

[jomelo]

Alright, we should have wiring harness to crank this truck by the end of next week. There was a slight hiccup this morning but some modifications to a couple of wires were made and its solid. It ran fine on the test FTE along with the accelerator pedal without throwing any codes. We are in business.

On another note, this entire project would have been substantially easier 10 years ago. There are definitely a lot of parts still available for an 80 series. It’s the ones that aren’t that have caused the greatest difficulty. Like that pesky shifter console. I am in so deep on that one at this point. We have now commissioned a high end 3D printer to replicate this console to improve upon the one that we got from the parts 80. I really wish I could have just bought one from Toyota like you can for the 100 series. It’s pretty cool the amount of parts they have available for 100/05 series.

 

[SNLC]

So axles are all painted up.

It takes a lot of work to get this kind of finish. I feel it is super durable and will last. It took me a lot of years redefining my paint stuff. In the last 5yrs or so I feel I have finally got it down out of 20yrs of working on trucks. It is all about the prep and the care you take leading up to laying down paint. I use an accelerator in the POR15 and I make sure we have high humidity when applying it. It cures fast in the right conditions. After it is cured we spend a lot of time scuffing it back with red 3M scuff pads. We then wash with an automotive wax & grease remover and then we lay down the top coat.

I hemmed and hawed about this being semi-gloss. I kind of prefer satin or flat but decided to go semi on this. I think it came out good.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Ok so sound system. You will have to forgive these being cell phone videos (iPhone8) so the quality is really not what it is like in person. Also we only gave the system a quick tune, there is plenty more tuning of the system to do.

No sub.



Now with a JL Audio 8” sub, again very little tuning so far.



We have played and played with fitting a sub to the stock location, that is why we left a “blank” space on the Wits End panel. We have several subs including a shallow mount. They are just simply not going to fit in the stock location and side panel. We even played with ideas of carving up the wing on the Trekboxx and the stock plastic panel, it really is still not a go for a good sub in 8” plus size.

So after talking to John about it I think this is the solution.

Yes the amp wire will need to be able to be pulled out with the fridge. We are working on a slick setup for fridge wire and the amp wires can be ran in the same setup.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Oh ya, I got to say, the quality of the system is top notch. My phone really doesn’t do it justice. It is absolutely crystal clear and sounds excellent with various types and styles of music.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Alright one more on the sound system for now. This was first fire up of the system.



Not bad for out of the box and no sub.

The system consists of a double din Pioneer head unit I think John may have installed and the Cruiser came to us with it in. JL Audio component and sub amps. Morel thin mount mid/bass and component speakers in doors. Morel tweets in dash in original locations and Morel mids in cargo original locations. All the Morels run through Morel crossovers. Sub looks like we going with the JL Audio pictured above. We ran all new high quality speaker wire for the entire system as well.

Cheers

 

[FMC80]

Sounds great to me, great choice of music too

 

[SNLC]

A little bit more content for the evening.

Been waiting on this for a few weeks.

Once it is installed we can install the intercooler.

x2 Odyssey in the Cruiser controlled by the RedArc.

Cheers

 

[cruiserdan]

I HATE Odyssey and Optima batteries. Way too ****ing expensive and temperamental. I will never buy one for any of my personal vehicles.

 

[SNLC]

I HATE Odyssey and Optima batteries. Way too f***ing expensive and temperamental. I will never buy one for any of my personal vehicles.

I will agree on Optima but not Odyssey. I have had no issues with them vs many with Optima. I have ran the Odyssey in an 80 myself (in the back) on a three week trip to Baja. Zero issues.

I ran big XS Power batteries in my 100, down to Panama and back over five months. No issues at all and we’re very nice but very expensive.

XS Power

4xspower.com

I run an Interstate currently in my personal Cruiser.

I also personally don’t let any of them get run down. If camping for more than a day or night, I have a nice solar panel I can run in my truck that will keep a 45L Engel topped off no probs. If the Cruiser is going to sit, you should unhook whatever battery or run a trickle charger, not like you don’t know that Dan but some might not.

Cheers

 

[jomelo]

I HATE Odyssey and Optima batteries. Way too f***ing expensive and temperamental. I will never buy one for any of my personal vehicles.

I have very little experience with Optima so no real opinions there. But I have quite a few Odyssey batteries and they are pretty fantastic. I just ordered another two for my Can Am and for a mud boat. Yes, they are expensive but so are most nice things.

 

[wngrog]

Coming along so nicely

 

[TurboDennis]

I HATE Odyssey and Optima batteries. Way too f***ing expensive and temperamental. I will never buy one for any of my personal vehicles.

Agreed 100%. Optima nowadays is complete garbage. Odyssey is OK, but certainly no better (in terms of build quality/life expectancy) than most batteries that cost half as much. They have good initial specs, but dont really last any longer than a typical big box store battery.

It's pretty amazing what passes for a "good" battery in North American market. I dont know why (its above my paygrade), but none of the QUALITY battery manufacturers sell their batteries in North America. Brands like Panasonic, Furukawa, Yuasa all make batteries that are LIGHT YEARS ahead (in terms of quality) compared to anything you can buy in North America. It's not unheard of for those batteries to last 15-20 years - something that would sound impossible to a typical North American consumer.

 

[jomelo]

Dang. I’ve heard of the bezel police but this is crazy. There is a wicked science behind my battery selection. If I am at home I buy Interstates because I know the shop and like the color green. If @SNLC or @wngrog or @ca18sean needs a battery for one of my trucks I get an Odyssey because I can order one in less than 30 seconds on Amazon Prime and go back to whatever it was I was doing.

In other news, @SNLC is making some great progress today. He might have some better photos but these are what I have so far.

 

[SNLC]

A bit of DEPO with Morimoto HID projector goodness.

Cheers

 

[TurboDennis]

Dang. I’ve heard of the bezel police but this is crazy. There is a wicked science behind my battery selection. If I am at home I buy Interstates because I know the shop and like the color green. If @SNLC or @wngrog or @ca18sean needs a battery for one of my trucks I get an Odyssey because I can order one in less than 30 seconds on Amazon Prime and go back to whatever it was I was doing.

In other news, @SNLC is making some great progress today. He might have some better photos but these are what I have so far.

View attachment 2633662View attachment 2633663

That's a healthy looking intercooler. One thing i always wondered about... (and the reason i'm still debating IC for my own build) - when you're driving in 100+ degree weather, turbo pumping 30PSI through that bad boy, A/C on full blast (with 200-250 psi in condenser right behind the IC ), is the radiator behind it all gonna get sufficient amount of cool air through it?

 

[SNLC]

That's a healthy looking intercooler. One thing i always wondered about... (and the reason i'm still debating IC for my own build) - when you're driving in 100+ degree weather, turbo pumping 30PSI through that bad boy, A/C on full blast (with 200-250 psi in condenser right behind the IC ), is the radiator behind it all gonna get sufficient amount of cool air through it?

Absolutely, why not? A mechanical fan always does and always is the way to go.

You simply have a thicker “cooling pack”. With the correct shroud, fan, good working fan clutch and proper seal of all that there is no reason an OEM radiator won’t do the trick. Being a manual trans is even better as the trans cooler lines don’t exist nor does the cooler.

These days companies like PDI make bolt in super nice large intercooler kits that work and fit. In my opinion if you are taking any diesel above stock specs you need the largest intercooler you can fit along with a tip top shape cooling system as well as an EGT gauge. None of these things will hurt you in a stock configuration either but are certainly needed when modding up any diesel.

Cheers

 

[jomelo]

And we wait. I have a tracking number.