Builds 2002 HZJ76 Build (2 Viewers)

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So glad you decided to document. Loving this one so far. I've bought a lot of auction rigs over the years... Isn't it lovely when the expectations match what lands in your driveway? There are always surprises. But as long as the bones are good, it was worth it.

When we are welcomed back into BC again, we have an Okanagan trip planned. I will be seeking you out (be pulling the travel trailer though. So will be driving the 100).

I will not go into EVERY detail and step of replacing all the pieces and parts of the front end lift, as there is a prolifera of poignant intel for installing these lifts online.
This is my kinda prose! Love it!

I was interested to see your good results with the turbo setup. It's looking like a someday project for mine. But for now my factory new injectors woke mine up from a long sleep (coma?).

Dan at 4WA got me my new front fenders, and for a good price. I'll definitely be calling them again.

Okay. Enough hijacking from me: back to the 76!
 
So glad you decided to document. Loving this one so far. I've bought a lot of auction rigs over the years... Isn't it lovely when the expectations match what lands in your driveway? There are always surprises. But as long as the bones are good, it was worth it.

When we are welcomed back into BC again, we have an Okanagan trip planned. I will be seeking you out (be pulling the travel trailer though. So will be driving the 100).


This is my kinda prose! Love it!

I was interested to see your good results with the turbo setup. It's looking like a someday project for mine. But for now my factory new injectors woke mine up from a long sleep (coma?).

Dan at 4WA got me my new front fenders, and for a good price. I'll definitely be calling them again.

Okay. Enough hijacking from me: back to the 76!
Thanks for the kind words, sir! I will definitely look forward to seeing you in the - cough, cough - smokanagan! Let me know when you are planning on coming through and we will meet up! 👍
 
I decided on ordering NEW Toyota OEM injectors for the rig, for a couple of reasons.

I do not have the bench tester for calibrating injector springs, and testing spray delivery and atomization, so taking them to a shop to rebuild would have been the plan of action. New DENSO nozzles/shims were looking to be $400 all in, plus the labor getting a shop to rebuild them would likely have put me in around $700 range with tax.

With my personal proclivity to researching the H-E-double-hockeysticks out of everything and after a pedantic perusal of the web; I managed to locate a full set of brand new OEM Toyota 1HZ injectors at OZ Automotive in (You guessed it!) Australia for just under $700 CAD, shipping included! ETA is 2 weeks, so I am hoping it is all legit, no callbacks like, sorry we messed up our web inventory, or some such. Waiting with fingers crossed...

The next runner up was partsouq in Dubai, as they have come through for me in a pinch and shipping is always quick. However at $1000 CAD for the set, I was considering the rebuild option. And no offense to partsouq, but every time I get items in from them, I always seem to get a bill from FEDEX a few weeks later looking for blood money from my dirty deed of purchasing parts overseas instead of paying 3 times as much for the unavailable parts here in Canada. Not sure if everyone's experience is the same using them, but I imagine individual mileage will vary...

I also use blackhawk in Japan, they have been great to deal with, but you have to be very selective with what you end up buying there... some of their prices are very competitive, and some are out to lunch. I only ever looked up OEM products. Not sure the reasons on the wide spread...

Will keep you posted on the (hopefully) serendipitous saga of the injector hunt!!
 
Nice truck.

Have you tried putting a wheel spacer on your spare tire carrier? That may, just may, give you enough clearance to open the small rear door fully without any obstruction from the spare tire. I recall doing that for my 76 that was running 35” BFGs.

Cheers
 
Nice truck.

Have you tried putting a wheel spacer on your spare tire carrier? That may, just may, give you enough clearance to open the small rear door fully without any obstruction from the spare tire. I recall doing that for my 76 that was running 35” BFGs.

Cheers
Excellent thought and idea @boozewz - I HAD thought of that, and even went so far as to do some measurements in my deliberations. It would be really close (my 35's are actual 35's unlike some brands where the actual is like 34.2 or some such...)

What made me decide to go the route I did, was the weight of the rim and tire, hanging even further out the back putting more stress on the door and hinges over time did not seem like a great idea to me. I still may need to replace the hinges on the right hand door as it is. There is a bit of play starting in them. I suspect I will soon have some rattles starting. I cannot stand rattles and squeeks.

Apparently unlike the ol' 40 series, we cannot rebuild these hinges so I will need to order some new ones soon... another add to the "to order and do" list...
 
Success!!! :bounce2:

I had some time this morning before the day's festivities begin with my 3 lads... likely something to do with beaches, water, and copious amounts of food intake for 3 teenage boy bellies!!

I received an email from a fellow @APX turbo's in Australia regarding my conundrum of the poor man's check engine light (glow coil light) on my dash coming on after doing an EGR delete at the same time as the TURBO install. They said to leave all the EGR stuff on the truck, and just plug the hoses with ballbearings, and to make sure the TPS on the throttle is sending the correct voltage...

Hmmm.... I was pretty sure I did NOT have a throttle position sensor, as the ONLY option this Land Cruiser did not come with, is cruise control. A quick check all around the fuel pump confirmed I could find no evidence of a TPS... so that left the EGR junkopolous items that were torn out:
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There were 2 electrical connectors left, as well as a couple of plugged ports on the air cleaner lid:
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Armed with questionable wits, and a partsouq diagram of the vacuum system, I attempted to recreate a 3d reality of my assumptions from the 2d diagram. I connected the missing VSV's, electricals and vacuum hoses, moved a couple of hoses to the correct routing, and ignored what was "supposed" to go to the air cleaner. I plugged the last hose that would have gone to the EGR valve with a screw:
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I kind of just piled the hoses up on top of the intake manifold, clipped them together and zip-tied things down:
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I went and started the engine up and first try, the annoying coil light did not come on and stay on with the engine running!! Finally, a little ray of sunshine on my OCD! At least until I start festering over the next thing.... lol.

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I would have preferred finding some more detailed info on the module they use for this and how to jumper it out, or "fool it" so it thinks all is peachy so it would not send the signal to light up the coil "engine trouble" light and avoided having all the extra hoses and VSV's sitting on the engine essentially doing absolutely nothing other than sending the right signal to the control module, but alas, the nefarious light is OUT!! lol

I will post these results in an earlier thread I opened looking for information on EGR delete on these models in the event that someone, somewhere ends up doing the same thing and needs a solution....
 
Following the EGR delete completion, I looked into a rattle noise that was beginning to become incessantly worse (remember how I hate rattles and squeaks?) and was able to identify the source as the aluminum roof rack holding the spare. The welds to the floor began to break, and the rattle was the floor of the rack literally bouncing up and down.

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After thinking about it for a while and how to mitigate this insufficiency, I discarded the option of rewelding it, as it was sorely unequal to the task the first time. I decided reinforcing it was what was required.

I spent about a whole 5 or 10 minutes doing a cost-benefit analysis if buying some aluminum angle flat stock and doing a lot of cutting and drilling to make my own reinforcement brackets, or simply running down to home depot and picking up some premade and predrilled ones.

Working full time and being a Father of 3 lads, time is often at a premium so I chose to pick up the prefabbed steel pieces, but then they would need to be POR'd to inhibit corrosion:

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Will need to wait for these to dry, then will test fit and secure them with SS bolts....

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Following the EGR delete completion, I looked into a rattle noise that was beginning to become incessantly worse (remember how I hate rattles and squeaks?) and was able to identify the source as the aluminum roof rack holding the spare. The welds to the floor began to break, and the rattle was the floor of the rack literally bouncing up and down.

View attachment 2741763

After thinking about it for a while and how to mitigate this insufficiency, I discarded the option of rewelding it, as it was sorely unequal to the task the first time. I decided reinforcing it was what was required.

I spent about a whole 5 or 10 minutes doing a cost-benefit analysis if buying some aluminum angle flat stock and doing a lot of cutting and drilling to make my own reinforcement brackets, or simply running down to home depot and picking up some premade and predrilled ones.

Working full time and being a Father of 3 lads, time is often at a premium so I chose to pick up the prefabbed steel pieces, but then they would need to be POR'd to inhibit corrosion:

View attachment 2741764

Will need to wait for these to dry, then will test fit and secure them with SS bolts....

View attachment 2741765
Darren, remind me again about the spare situation. Is it a full size 35 that you're rocking up there?

I had one occasion of carrying a spare on the roof, and that was on one of our moab trips. I didn't like what it did to my COG. And when I had need to huck it up or down... Even less so.

I always felt a back door spare was the perfect place, and thus I've had 12 rigs in total with rear mounted spares. The few times I've needed one (the edge of a canyon cliff trail on Kane Creek comes to mind) it was easy to swap, no dramas.

Rooftop for me is generally for lightweight stuff, or eventualities. Backdoor is for a spare.

Having said (all) that (sorry), can you put a lighter/narrower spare up there that would do the trick if needed, without being so heavy that it breaks the roof rack?
 
Heya Phil,

Thanks for bringing up a PITA for me... lol - I am buggin ya... but seriously, this was not my first choice, as I normally only stick lightweight stuff up high simply for the work involved, and of course... COG. Although, to be honest, I have not noticed the spare up there when it is or when it isn't - it does not seem to make much of a difference. What made a difference that I noticed was the 4" lift and larger tires... definitely makes you think twice b4 playing in the off-camber stuff....

Ideally and initially, my plan was to change out the front and rear bumpers, and I was going to go with a well designed and well made rear bumper with a custom swing out HD tire carrier, the works! But for front and back, we were talking upwards of $8000 with taxes to get something that I would be happy with both the looks and performance, long-term. So, for now, these plans have been put on the back-burner, and the roof rack has become a temporary home...

As far as SIZE... the spare is identical to all the other wheels and tires, as I prefer to do a 5-wheel rotation, and always have an exact match for a spare. A 35x12.5 is a hefty tire to have up there, but again, hoping this to be temporary... pending life. lol
 
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Now as far as the reinforcement of the aluminum rack goes, I think the plan should pan out for now. If I can stand the frankenfix, that is:
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I will get my lads to give me a hand throwing it back up on the Cruiser and test it all out... If I don't like it, then maybe I will just mount it permanently on the ATV... lol
 
Ok, the rack is installed again, and I tossed the 35x12.5 up there too. There is no noticeable sag, nor clatter or noises. The rack is quite light, in fact I would say the spare is slightly heavier, and I tossed it up there by myself. So I imagine @JDM Journeys, this is why I probably don't notice the ~200+ lbs up there. I am about 230lbs and I do not think the both of those items outweigh me.

Anyways, with the spare up there again, there does not appear to be any sag with the reinforcements in place now:
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While I had the spare down, I decided to do a tire rotation, even though it was a little early.

Brakes front and back still have alot of meat on them, but I need to tighten the front right wheel bearings a smidge. It has been a loooong time since I have rebuilt a set of knuckles - do I need a new gasket if I just take the hub off whole and intact to get at the wheel nut to tighten it a bit? Can't remember.... :rolleyes:
 
Care package arrived!
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Replacement custom extended rear brake line for post-lift height, and replacement axle vent lines. The front brake line did not need to be replaced due to the location of the line, and there being enough length already.

There are a set of fuel supply line and injector washers there too for the up and coming injector replacement. Injectors are showing shipped and enroute - they should arrive in the next week or so!
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In the meantime, I should have enough to keep me out of serious trouble at least... ;) :clap:
 
I climbed under the beast last night with the intentions of replacing the rear flex brake line, but quickly reconsidered when I saw the condition, and tentatively attempted loosening the union end... I could feel the hex head wanting to start stripping... grrrr.

I checked to make sure I had a few tools that I have not needed in some time before going any further:
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Then, I realized I was probably overthinking this and checked for the brakeline online that I figured I might ruin and it was literally about $8CDN. I probably spent nearly that digging up the brakeline flaring tool... sigh.

I ordered the brakeline, and a couple of other little bits and pieces that I forgot to add onto my last order (does that bother everyone else as much as it does me??)

That being on hold, I decided to look into adding the second solar panel to the trailer. When I opened the solar panel box however, the little connector feet for mounting the panel did not come with this one...
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It is a good thing I have a sense of humor... sigh. I will have to go out and pick up four "feet" before I can mount the second panel. This is starting to be just like life! lol

“HOW DOES IT HELP…TO MAKE TROUBLES HEAVIER BY BEMOANING THEM?” - SENECA

I will just have to find some feet now to mount the panel... sometimes you take one step forward only to take 2 steps back. Still, I suppose I could have examined the stiff brake line and the union condition and planned ahead for this... the panel and the missing feet... not so much! We will get there...
 
Definitely some irony in "one step forward - two steps back", when your missing feet are the thing keeping you from moving forward...

I always forget something when I make an order. Drives me nuts.

But speaking or orders, ordering your injectors outside Partsouq (nevermind the savings) was the right move at the moment. I ordered an ignition switch and some oil filters on July 7th, and the order hasn't shipped yet. Apparently Toyota is revamping a warehouse or some such thing? Anyways, your new injectors will likely arrive in Vernon long before they would've even shipped from Abu Dhabi or Japan...
 
I got around to reseating the front right bearings/seal to get rid of the play I discovered during my tire rotation. The last time I did a set of knuckles on a Land Cruiser, it was on a 1981 vintage. Memory is foggier than I would like to admit, but I seem to remember a bolt/washer combination for removing the front hub, so I was a little surprised to discover a fun little retaining ring to get off and back on again:
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Then I remembered the little cone washers never come out when you tap the bolts...
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Sometimes you just gotta play wack-a-mole!
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a couple of (light) thunks with a 3lb did the trick right away

Got to the preload nut, torqued it to somewhere betwixt 40-50 ft-lbs (hard to be exact with the old school analog torque wrench! :rofl:) Tested the "spinability" of the wheel, backed off the nut and retorqued to 10ft-lbs, then lock washer and lock nut torqued to about 60ft-lbs

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Hopefully nothing slacks off in any way, but when I had the tire back on and checked for any play it was nice and snug like the other side! 👍
 
In appreciation for @JDM Journeys poignant post with the clarifying comment:
Definitely some irony in "one step forward - two steps back", when your missing feet are the thing keeping you from moving forward..
The said FEET arrived today! I was somewhat surprised that they arrived already. I maybe expected them this weekend.... sooo... I hopped right to it!

Some might feel that the trailer may not belong in my build, but since it is often behind the cruiser I figured it would be ok. It IS his little buddy, after all. More to the point, the concepts are exactly the same in the event you decide to add a solar system to your build. I can tell you right now, if it was just myself, or a +1 I would be building a self sustainable troopy like system with drawers, fridge, solar, etc etc. Though I would likely go with a paste-on flat (non-framed) solar panel and stick it directly to a hard shell pop up or some such....

Now I DID initially purchase just the one high efficiency 100W panel, but I also had the forethought to get a charge controller that could handle expansion if necessary. The charge controller I have can handle 20amps. So safely, I could go with 3 100W panels. Each panel puts out a max 5.7amps. You also want to leave a little room... never grab a 20amp controller and 4 panels that put out 5amps. In theory it should be fine, but if there was ever a surge, or what have you, it could toast the controller. They can be a little touchy.

Just getting setup:
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Be sure to grab a good quality roof sealant meant for trailers and RV's. It tends to be UV resistant and flexible. Keeping water out of the system is advisable... water and electricity don't mix well (I've heard... ahem... 🙄 ) Don't be afraid of using alot, so it works into the holes you are making, PLUS it acts as an adhesive keeping the mounts tight to the roof
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New next to the old... The old one needs a good cleaning!

Addendum: Keeping the solar panel clean will improve efficiency, but this is also why I added the second panel... for those cloudy days, and so I don't have to constantly make sure the panel is spotless to keep things running!
 

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