Builds 2002 HZJ79 Double Cab Firetruck

[Rigster]

we made it to Armstrong...

Wait... you went right through where I live, and did not even stop by???

LOL - Sorry, just being a Troll, Kroll. S'all good. Keep it in mind the next time you are heading this way, you don't ONLY have to hang out with people with fire truck conversions. Maybe we could make it a meet up with Garret, and I know there is a fellow in Enderby that owns a 77 as well that reached out to me, and I replied, but he does not get online much (apparently), so I have yet to hear from him, this was probably a year or more ago, lol.

Gosh, I think you did well pulling a 40 series through the mountains with a stock 1HZ. Truck is looking great!

 

[Kroll]

Wait... you went right through where I live, and did not even stop by???

LOL - Sorry, just being a Troll, Kroll. S'all good. Keep it in mind the next time you are heading this way, you don't ONLY have to hang out with people with fire truck conversions. Maybe we could make it a meet up with Garret, and I know there is a fellow in Enderby that owns a 77 as well that reached out to me, and I replied, but he does not get online much (apparently), so I have yet to hear from him, this was probably a year or more ago, lol.

Gosh, I think you did well pulling a 40 series through the mountains with a stock 1HZ. Truck is looking great!

I'll keep that in mind the next time I am passing though. I figured you should have seen the 40+ foot ensemble parked at A&W!
Sounds like there's a few 70's in the area, I'll definitely reach out the next time I'm out there.
I was expecting it to go over a bit better...but I know how hard my Subaru WRX works going up the pass at 100, and it weights a fraction of the weight I had in tow. Appreciate it-thanks!

 

[Kroll]

After the European Troopy left, I found time to run down to Kelowna to pick up a kayak for a buddy...you can't haul an empty flat deck back home you know.
I didn't know the kayak market was "flooded" in the Okanagan usually many examples to choose from and very reasonably priced, in AB it was the opposite very few examples pop up, and all are at almost original retail prices. Drove an insanely steep gravel road with switchbacks...arriving at "Switchback ranch."
Kayak is about 20', trailer deck is 18' so it had to fit diagonally.

Next few days were spent visiting beaches, spending time on the lakes and enjoying the smoke free Okanagan heat.
I brought some tools down to help with installing a set of OME add-a-leafs to @JDMBC's 79...the extra weight of the canopy was causing a bit of a saggy rear end. Removed the leaf packs, cleaned, re-greased and re-assembled them for install. Had the awning set up to help keep the sun off of us.

The week long stay felt like it ended quickly - It was time to return back to AB. I opted to go a different route on the way back through Kamloops.
Towing the empty trailer was really nice, I didn't even feel it behind me.

Trip total distance: 2146 km
Burned 357L of diesel
Fuel average: 16.6L/100km

 

[Kroll]

I managed to get a week off in the beginning of September, giving me enough time to put in a gravel parking pad in the back for my tenants. My dad made some removable sides for the flat deck trailer making the transportation of gravel and dirt easier.
I went to pick up the Kubota tractor that we have stored out at the acreage an hour out of town.

Moved a couple of yards of dirt with the little BX25. After I leveled out the parking pad, it was time to haul some crush rock.
My first load was 4 yards of crush rock, that was definitely heavier than the BJ42.
The travel distance from the landscaping yard wasn't very far, the 79 still worked hard to bring it all home.
The crew working the yard had a lot of questions about the 79 and how the heck I ever found a retired firetruck online.

I ended up hauling 13 yards of crush rock / gravel by the time I had finished with the parking pad.
My friend had built a backlane garage suite this past year, the contractor somehow forgot to finish his rough grade around the garage, so I brought the Kubota there and cleared 3 trailer loads of dirt for him. I got pretty good with backing the trailer into the dump bin, making the unload process so much easier.

To round out the busy week I went to a friends house for an evening fire...he tells me that he bought a rusty 3rd gen 4Runner that he was figuring out how to bring back home from a neighboring community east of the city. We hopped into my car and drove to my place to pick up the 79/ trailer and headed out to grab his new project. Turns out the guy selling the 4Runner is a fireman and the truck was parked at the firehall, he was thrilled to see a Land Cruiser firetruck.

 

[janyyc]

Cool stories!

 

[bj70bc]

i wish i had more 70 series friends around here!

 

[JDM Journeys]

We have a few 70s down this way as well. Next time you're heading to Calgary give me a holler!

Love the adventures! Keep em coming!

 

[Kroll]

We have a few 70s down this way as well. Next time you're heading to Calgary give me a holler!

Love the adventures! Keep em coming!

I will keep that in mind! You'll have to wait until spring or summer, since I have parked the 79 after the first snowfall in January.
Still got plenty more to share.

 

[Kroll]

Next trip was a backpacking one to the Purcell Mountains near Kimberly BC. A few coworkers were interested in a three night trip to some natural hot springs.
Four of us fit into the 79 and another 3 were coming in a Subaru Outback as they returned from a trip from the West Kootenays.
Left the city at 0830 in the morning to get as much day light driving as possible since the days were getting shorter near the end of September.
Backpacking gear and food filled up the bed of the truck- we enjoy eating well when out in the woods.

We were looking for a hidden fishing spot that was on the way to our meet up point. It was essentially a quad trail, the 79 fit down it really well...until the trail faded off.

Eventually some tree clearing had to take place, things got really tight bringing the 79 back through. Having the mirrors folded in made it a lot harder to see and judge the distance of obstacles.

Eventually we met up the other group and made camp for the night.
Weather started to get a bit unpredictable so a temporary dry cooking area was set up the next morning.

The roads out in this area are all logging roads with active hauling 7 days a week.
We were fortunate not to run into any loaded trucks, but we did see our fair share of them pass by when parked.

 

[Kroll]

The hike in is about 12km long with only about 200m of elevation gained/lost...so quite easy. The fall colours were a welcomed sight, especially the differences of red, yellow and green noted when viewing a valley. The weather was wet and cool during our stay out there, making the appreciation of the hot springs a nice treat to warm up in. A creek runs along the hot springs, we eventually mustered up the courage to spend time in the cool water as well.

Here is the first sign you see of the hot springs. This area is a protected ecological site due to rare mosses and lichens that grow from the rich mineral springs. You'll often see sheep, goats and other large ungulates grazing here.

The pool was heavily remodeled and thoughtfully rebuilt by BC Parks sometime in the early 2020's. There used to be a blue tarp that was the liner for the pool and it was often filled a thick coat of algae. The new pool has a set of valves to control HOT and COLD water inflow along with a valve to completely drain the pool.

The discharged water from the springs makes for a good "warm up or cool down pool" depending if you're done soaking in the springs or the creek.

The fall colours that graced us in the valley leading to our campsite.

A pie cut from a log makes for a perfect floating charcuterie board when soaking.

Trip total distance: 1493 km
Burned 214.8L of diesel
Fuel average: 14.39L/100km

 

[bj70bc]

Damn....
Im envious
excellent 70 useage

 

[mt72]

The hike in is about 12km long with only about 200m of elevation gained/lost...so quite easy. The fall colours were a welcomed sight, especially the differences of red, yellow and green noted when viewing a valley. The weather was wet and cool during our stay out there, making the appreciation of the hot springs a nice treat to warm up in. A creek runs along the hot springs, we eventually mustered up the courage to spend time in the cool water as well.
View attachment 3564140
Here is the first sign you see of the hot springs. This area is a protected ecological site due to rare mosses and lichens that grow from the rich mineral springs. You'll often see sheep, goats and other large ungulates grazing here.
View attachment 3564148
The pool was heavily remodeled and thoughtfully rebuilt by BC Parks sometime in the early 2020's. There used to be a blue tarp that was the liner for the pool and it was often filled a thick coat of algae. The new pool has a set of valves to control HOT and COLD water inflow along with a valve to completely drain the pool.
View attachment 3564152
The discharged water from the springs makes for a good "warm up or cool down pool" depending if you're done soaking in the springs or the creek. View attachment 3564157
The fall colours that graced us in the valley leading to our campsite.

View attachment 3564161
A pie cut from a log makes for a perfect floating charcuterie board when soaking.

Trip total distance: 1493 km
Burned 214.8L of diesel
Fuel average: 14.39L/100km

This was during the fall in 2023? Great to know about hot springs!

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Oysters?

 

[Kroll]

Damn....
Im envious
excellent 70 useage

My coworkers understand the LC addiction a little better after spending so much time in it.

This was during the fall in 2023? Great to know about hot springs!

Yes, September 25-29th to be exact. Winter came late this year, we had amazing weather well into October out in the mountains.
Lots of hot springs out in BC. I can share a few locations that you should visit when you make the journey west.

Oysters?

Smoked oysters in oil if I remember correctly.

 

[Kroll]

The fall weather in Western Canada for 2023 was exceptionally mild and nice, this made for a great excuse to do a proper 4wheeling trip with a few others. Canadian thanksgiving long weekend was the first weekend of October and for many is the last opportunity to spend some quality time in the wilderness before the snow begins to fall. We convoyed down to Invermere BC, three trucks in total- a GQ Nissan Safari, 4th gen 4Runner and my HZJ79. We chose to drive trails that were more of a scenic drive that required 4 wheel drive, than a hardcore wheeling event. We planned to spend about 6 days out exploring different areas and trails. We spent several nights camping in the alpine with an altitude of 2200-2300m.

Picking up firewood before we head above the treeline. Found a patch where an avalanche must have ripped through the past winter since decently sized trees were splintered and scattered throughout a narrow column above / below the road.

It had snowed about 10 days prior, someone skinned up with their split-board and left a few turns on the fresh snow covering the glacier.

There's a hut in the valley that we camped in with a packrat that governs the premise.

It was also larch season (when the larches turn yellow / golden in the fall), thankfully no tourist crowds and instagram models out this way...

 

[Kroll]

The next day we ventured a bit further south towards Kimberly, trying out an area I have never been to. After a long dusty, bumpy and winding road we had arrived at the trailhead. This area has a few huts scattered throughout and an abandoned mine that we explored until we ran out of further access.

A few off camber sections were met as a creek bed follows the trail, as well with some sharp turns around trees requiring careful navigation to avoid body damage to the vehicles.

The trail has several switchbacks to gain incredible amounts of elevation in a short amount of distance, thankfully the trail was not muddy and traction was plentiful even with the loose rocks scattered. The drop down to the valley on the slope side was steep with a lot of exposure.

At the end of the trail is a lake, we each brought an inflatable boat to float and relax after a long day in the saddle.

 

[Kroll]

Time to update the last bit of this trip.
One of our friends left back home and we continued further into the Kootneys.
Drove the Grey Creek pass over into Crawford bay to board the ferry across to Balfour. It was my first time driving a vehicle over the pass, I had done it a few times on a dualsport bike and it provided a different perspective this time in the 79.
After we landed from the ferry we drove north towards Kaslo. The road is quite twisty between this stretch and I was amazed how well the 79 could handle holding speed and navigating the twisty roads.

There is a beautiful fire lookout near Duncan Dam that we drove up to spend the night up top. The weather was changing and becoming cooler with some light precipitation. We were thankful to spend the night in the tower hidden from the elements and able to take in the 360 degree mountain views.

The next day we drove further north towards Trout Lake. This is another area that I have explored on a dualsport bike but not in a vehicle. I earned some BC pin striping on the ascent, but the views made it worthwhile.

We returned back to the valley to find a campsite at a recreation site near Upper Arrowhead lake.
The next day we boarded another ferry to get us across so we could make our journey towards Revelstoke. Stopped in town for fuel and tacos at the Taco Club. We hit the highway so we could make it to Golden to stay the night at another recreation site.
Woke up the next morning to snap some pictures of us parked above the valley clouds.

Trip total distance: 2223 km
Burned 333.6L of diesel
Fuel average: 15.01L/100km

Since I had installed the SET tray on the 79, I had put over 13,000 km over the summer / fall trips.

 

[Kroll]

My next project on the 79 was how to obtain more power. I daily drove an FJ40 for many years, so my level of patience and strategic passing on highways with a Land Cruiser was well refined. I always wanted to make the 79 a comfortable highway cruising vehicle that's also capable off road. My next dilemma began...do I turbo charge my low km 1HZ or do I look for an alternative motor?!?!

After weighing out my options I came to the conclusion that I should sell the 1HZ to offset the purchase of a 1DH## variant of some sorts.
I started looking at the MUD classifieds and also searching for suitable donor JDM's that could have the motor I wanted. Ideally I wanted to find something with a service history of some sorts, lower mileage on it and preferably local to reduce transportation/shipping costs.
A few friends of mine knew I was on the lookout for a turbo'd motor, I got forwarded an ad for a low mileage 1HDT that was for sale in BC.
I reached out to the seller, got all the details needed and paid a deposit on the motor.

This motor purchase snow balled a few other decisions that needed to take place...time to think about upgrading the transmission since long term the R151F is not up to the task of being behind a tuned 1HDT. My choice was quite simple, I needed to source a H152 transmission along with a HF1A t-case.
Also, the seller of the 1HDT stated not to consider running the motor without an intercooler since the IP was tuned and a Holset turbo was installed...another email to Aus to order up a PDI kit for the 79.
The parts list began to grow, and my bank account began to dwindle...

 

[AirheadNut]

Wise choice on the intercooler. Even a stock HDJ81 has no trouble pushing 1350ºF exhaust temperatures pre turbo. Some mild tuning (fuel pin, intercooler, 18psi) really wake them up. I will be very interested to see how your fuel economy numbers change with the 1HD-T and H152.

You're going to need a new license plate now!

 

[Kroll]

Wise choice on the intercooler. Even a stock HDJ81 has no trouble pushing 1350ºF exhaust temperatures pre turbo. Some mild tuning (fuel pin, intercooler, 18psi) really wake them up. I will be very interested to see how your fuel economy numbers change with the 1HD-T and H152.

You're going to need a new license plate now!

Reliability will be my priority with the tune and parts being used.
I'll let you know how the fuel mileage changes, I've heard it should increase as long as the right foot plays nicely.

i thought about that!