Amy's Build/Repair thread (LC100 XVR - Pic Heavy)

[Gunney]

nope no heated seats, we have natrual heaters here. 30 min out in the sun and the leather is almost too hot to sit on... seat covers are going back on for now.

I have a pie in the sky plan to one day have the seats recovered with perforated eather in the middle of the back and bottom and run an insulated AC line through the centre console to the underside of the seat. (now THAT would be a build thread!)

 

[hks3sgte]

Then it was time to tackle the carpet but it was 50 degrease

damn

 

[Gunney]

Day 5/6 - Fluid Flush

yup its getting hot.

Had a slow week, very busy with several work functions in the evening.

I managed to get around to flushing the transmission fluid, scarily the WSM said the transmission takes exactly 2 quarts LESS than the amount that came out. Not sure what was going on there but glad I got it flushed.

I started to do an oil fluid replacement that I was supposed to do a while back only to find Toyota had given me the wrong filter and that I have ZERO under body protection!

(don’t give me sh*t about not changing my oil on a level surface, I didn’t have enough bricks  )

Little bit of rust to be sorted out

You can see the winch mount, and just behind it the additional radiator for the rear cool.
I did manage to get 2 gas shocks of a wrecked cruiser for the back door which is great because it now stays up on its own. But it is still rattling in the lower left hand corner of the top door (if that makes sense) I have tried to adjust the rubber stops with no success.

My Old Man Emu 866's and nitro chargers have been ordered and should be here soon, they were out of stock of torsion bars, and everything is being shipped to me from Abu Dhabi.

Now I have to start trying to find 18" wheels with -19 or -22 back spacing to take the 315 geolanders. ( I think I may be able to get some pro-comps) I can ONLY get the tyres for an 18" rim and I fear I may have to end up with lexus wheels and spacers. I have always been weary of spacers and wouldn’t even know where to start shopping for them in the states.

 

[Griffin]

315s? Can't wait to see that.

Lots of threads on MUD about spacers, where to buy, size, etc. Not sure how that applies to overseas, though.

 

[hoser]

Now I have to start trying to find 18" wheels with -19 or -22 back spacing to take the 315 geolanders.

This sounds wrong to me. But hard to tell without the complete wheel and tire specs.

 

[Gunney]

Im more than open to advice. i actually started to do my homework this mornign at the tyre shops :whoops:

I can only get the following two sizes here
315/70/R17
285/75/R16

Considering the beadlocks I found in Duabi only come in 15"x8" and 17"x8" I will be buying the 315's.

I have done LOTS of reading on mud and it seems as though it is standard practice to fit 1" spacers to the stock wheels to acomodate the 315's. (although its not essential)

I woud rather not fit spacers as the beadlocks can be ordered with custom back spacing and 3.75" as stock.

Now Ive never been good with this whole offset/backspacing issue. Which is why I have just put up a thread to ask for some professional help with my maths

 

[Gunney]

Day 7 - Lube the tube

I finished work today at 2pm so I decided to tackle my thunk clunk with a full grease gun.

There have been some very good threads and posts on the subject on mud so I won’t go into it, I will just post some photos of the grease nipples and parts as there haven’t been many of those.

Here you can see the rear prop shaft, the thin red circle is where the grease spurges out making me a happy boy  but it took close to 30 pumps (this definition is fraught with euphemisms)

The thick circle is the visible prop shaft grease nipple, with the spider bearing nipple hiding within the two joints.

Close up of the grease nipple and parts:

WARNING: crawling under your truck can have negative side effects…. See all the green arrows, my old man calls them “little monsters” bare cables, aftermarket gaskets on diffs and transfer boxes indicating non factory work 

Look at my body mount bushes!

and my leaky front diff:

Lots of work on the cards for me…

 

[Rigger]

I'm a "wanna-be Hundy owner", and am enjoying your thread. Keep the pics coming!

 

[Gunney]

Toyota Service done for MEGA $$$

Amy came back from Toyota today.

• New timing belt with full assembly (idler pullies ect)
• New water pump
• New radiator shroud
• New fan
• New hoses all round
• Radiator flush
• LH/RH inner and outer CV boots with repacked CV’s

Basically a full overhall of the timing and cooling systems, and some prepwork for the W.A.T expected from the upcoming lift.

Very strangely Toyota comped about 140 dollars in parts for no apparent reason but didn’t wash my car??? Oh well I’m not really complaining.

So she is back and the work can start again, I sent through my payment for suspension yesterday so should get all the parts next Monday.

Sorry no pics for now

 

[jgray]

Gunney - Great job so far. You are moving this build along quickly as well. Your thread should be nominated for a Featured 100 with all the great info and pictures you are providing.

 

[pfran42]

This is a great thread. Kind of reminds my of this one: https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/358410-complete-bj45-rebuild-start-next-week-bolivia.html

Keep up the good work. I really like the amoiunt of pictures you have included.

 

[Gunney]

thanks. I managed to pop in at the scrap yard on the way home form my ride in the dunes this morning to find out that a cross member diff support will cost me about 50 USD so I will be picking one up next weekend to build my own diff drop kit to go with the new suspension.

looooooots of pics to come with that SO looking forward to being able to do some more on her when work calms down a bit.

 

[Gunney]

Day 8 - Front Bumber and Winch Removal

Knowing I have been slowing down a bit and waiting for my suspension to arrive I decided not to waist this morning (my first free day in 3 weeks) and to start the process on mu custom front bumper.

My usual brick lift to make life easy. (With AMY back form Toyota the centre diff still doesn’t lock with the button but it does lock in LOW. One of my evening jobs this week is to get a new center lock button.)

The first step was to get the front bumper off and have a look what was going on behind it. (Some pics of the process, and mounting bolts)

You can see my hellas, I will put in 2 more just so the arabs know I’m coming

Once it was off a few things caught my eye, the first was the bundle of wires hanging on the LHS, the next was the aircon sensor assembly (at least I think that’s what it is) and how it is right in the way of where I want my bumper to go and then I realized how strong the factory winch mounting is. And that it will make a fantastic base for my bumper.

What are these three connectors for???

I started to try to get the winch working (I don’t have a remote) and despite all my efforts I could not get it to work.

One of the clear problems is that the thermal cut off that apparently uses these two wires:

To shut the magnetic solenoid next to the fuse box, as seen here:

I had two cut wires at the solenoid and could not make head or tail of the wiring diagram I found so… three questions:

Where do these wires go, what is the correct setup for these two cut wires??????

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for this bunch so I can wire in my own switch to the winch?

After I realised the winch wasn’t working I decided to take it out and to work on it outside the vehicle while I had the AC sensors relocated and the first draft of the bumper fabbed up, this is the winch mount.

Il will be relocating the AC sensors and pipes to make space for the bumper:

 

[Gunney]

Then I ran out of time as we are having a family BBQ and it was time to get amy in a condition that I can use her in for this week. I cable ties all the wires up and away and refitted the number plate and front winch plate.

I already like the look without the front bumper… a lot less Barbie and a lot more ready for some fun

by the way... the plan is to build one of these

 

[TheFuzz]

Looks great man! You really took a nasty looking rig and breathed a whole lotta life back into it cosmetically. Great job. Must be great having so many parts yards around there!

I was rocking the no front bumper look for about 2 months while waiting for my ARB bumper to arrive from Oz. I don't think you'll ever quite get it looking like that last photo, since it's a solid axle 105...but with everything you've done in such a little amount of time, who knows!

I'm looking forward to seeing your build progress as far as the lift goes, specifically how you handle the torsion bars. I doubt you have any rust to contend with but documenting the process with pictures will be helpful to all of us.

 

[Gunney]

SFA.... I wish! no its just the bumper im after.


one thing.


If you have a look at the bumper I want to build, the winch seems to be mounted at the same level as the bottom of the chassis at its lowest points making the rollers sit 2 to 3 inches below the headlights.

my factory winch seems to be mounted an inch or sow below the bottom of the chassis with the roller plate almost level to the chassis.

I know that structurally this is the strongest setup however Im seriously considering moving my winch up and forward to clear the cross member as it goes up.

Im thinking of just moving the winch mounting plate from below to above the chassis, to get the stock plate to mount ontop I will have to dril some new holes but by moving it forward to clear the cross member it will allow me to mount the front plate of the bumper to the front of the winch and give me an inch or so for spot mounting.

you can see how it will have to come forward to clear this cross member (ignore the arrows)

and here is the plate below the chassis that i want to move up and forward.

 

[Gunney]

 

[NorCalBorn]

FWIW on carpeting if you want to save a bit of the scrub-a-dub time this is the over-the-counter version of the professional stuff. I'm not sure but you might be able to find some over there.

Try spraying a white towel/rag down and hitting that stain on the seat. Be gentle and don't spend too much time on it or scrub too hard, then follow up with a quick wipedown with some leather saddle soap. Let me know if it does the trick for you, as I've loved using it on my 4Runner's carpeting and fabric upholstery.

 

[e9999]

great job on the pics and details. Thanks.
Yup, may put it in the Featured 100 series in a bit.
Can we have a bit of context on the LC scene wherever that exotic locale is? What's it like to work on a truck and get parts out there?

One thing though, is that given the many nice pics you are willing and able to provide for our enjoyment, we want you around a bit longer, so I suggest you might want to reconsider your "small bricks under the tires" approach to working under the truck... Wheel blocking, big jack stands, yada yada...

 

[Gunney]

Some background info on Qatar & my situation

Im living in Qatar which is a small country that sits on a peninsula just next to Saudi Arabia and above Duabi and Abu Dahbi. I came from south Africa where I rebuilt a 75 series troop carrier into an overlander.

The only off road we do here is sand dune driving so im building a sand rig. the lift lets me put on big tyres and the beadlocks let me deflate them all the way. the bumpers increases my entrance and exit angels and stops me loosing my bumpers on the dunes, and the sliders are quite literally parking lot protection for my body work.

The parts situation here is great, if you stop at a traffic light, any traffic light at any time of the day you will be able to count 5 land cruisers.. .I’ll show you a pic, it’s a complete joke. So with thousands of land cruisers and crazy Arab drivers there are a tonne of wrecks for me to pillage. (even the cop cars here are cruisers)

The driving here is unreal, all 4 corners of my old man’s FJ have been rubbed, all four corners of my old bumpers are dinged and my mom’s pajero got its first ding yesterday… the Arabs just rub up against your cars in the parking lots…. Don’t be surprised when I post a pick of Amy written off, sooner or later one of these guys are going to crash into me.

In terms of aftermarket parts, the situation is dismal. You can get loads of Chinese crap and Arab bling but nothing of substance. I spend the whole day the other day trying to find 17” wheels that I could have the backspacing changed on… after looking at a million chrome wheels and having no luck finding a decent engineering shop I gave up and went home.

I have 2 choice of wheels BFG’s and Geolanders, and I can only have then in 285/75/16 or 315/70/17… but they come at a pretty good price because of the low import duties.

My suspension is coming from Dubai… so will my bead lockers but I want to see if the beadlockers fit before I buy them so I will plan a road trip soon.

If I want AM bumpers I can only have ARB bars from ARB in Abu Dahbi unless I import at a crazy price.

When it comes to working on the trucks, every single mechanic on every corner is 1 an Indian and 2 knows how to fix a land cruiser because there are SO many of them. The trick is to find a good one. My buddie took his cruiser to a mechanic with the check engine light on and the mechanic took the bulb out of the dash and told him the problem was fixed.

I have very little mechanical experience but because parts are so easy to get here and so cheep I’m a bit more adventurous in my endeavours, so I’m learning A LOT. This weekend I will do my first bumper build, my first diff flush, my first suspension install, my first boot replacement ect…..

I just wish I had less work to do and more time to spend on amy…