Aussie 1985 FJ75 Project

[86FJ75]

New to the forums and thought I would do a build thread on my recently acquired 1985 FJ75.

Picked it up the other day. Licensed, but has done 400,000km's. It has a 3F engine and scored another engine for spares/rebuild. Has a fibreglass roof, 2" lift and came with a new clutch (not fitted). Also came with 6x tyres and rims and some other spare parts. Also came with a tray (not pictured).

Going to have a look at another FJ75 next week and hopefully pick that up for parts. It's unlicensed, but has only done 213,000km's so should have a better driveline (not that there is anything wrong with the current one). The body is in better condition on this one and it has a good tray with hardwood floor so will most likely do a cab swap and make one Cruiser out of the two cars using the best parts from each.

She is pretty rough, but it won't take long to get her sorted

 

[ozcrusier]

Whats the plan on the old girl mate.

 

[86FJ75]

Well the one pictured is licensed, but the other one I am going to look at has a better cab and a driveline with less K's. So will swap the driveline from the lower km one into the one pictured and swap cabs over as well.
Basically make one ute out of the two using the best bits from both.

Will mostly use it for camping, fishing and touring.
I am also getting into Speedway racing so it will be my tow vehicle for the racecar.

Down the road I will look at swapping a V8 petrol engine or possibly a turbo diesel 6 into it.
For now though I just want to get it on the road and running

 

[86FJ75]

Oh and one of the first things I am going to do is remove the christmas tree lights off the roof.
Someone at some stage must have done it up like a Mack Truck lol

Those sidesteps will need to go as well.

 

[86FJ75]

 

[86FJ75]

Well after much consideration I have decided to repair the second 75 series Ute I own.
The one pictured above had a lot of body rust and the engine was down on compression quite badly on 3 cylinders.
The other one I have has 213,00km's (132,000 miles roughly) on the clock and the engine runs fine.

 

[86FJ75]

First thing I had to do was swap diffs. The previous owner had attempted to rebuild the differential with new bearings, but had left out a pinion spacer and munched the crown and pinion.

Diff removed from vehicle:

Diff Swap

• 86FJ75
• Nov 9, 2015

Diff removed. Old diff had been repaired with no pinion spacer by previous owner

Diff from donor car installed:

Diff Swap 2

• 86FJ75
• Nov 9, 2015

Diff from donor car installed

 

[86FJ75]

The dashboard was missing from the Cruiser so I removed the dash from the donor car and painted it satin black and refitted it to the project car:

Dash painted

• 86FJ75
• Nov 9, 2015

When I bought the car the dash had been removed. I removed dash from donor Cruiser and painted...

Passenger seat was also missing and luckily the donor car had a seat in good condition:

Passenger seat

• 86FJ75
• Nov 9, 2015

The passenger seat was missing from the car so I swapped the good one from the donor Cruiser...

 

[86FJ75]

The front right hand quarter panel was missing and the right hand door was removed to do this so I replaced the panel with one from the donor car and refitted the door:

Quarter panel and door fitted

• 86FJ75
• Nov 9, 2015

When I purchased the car the front right hand quarter panel was missing and the door had been...

 

[86FJ75]

The headlights and grill refitted to the Cruiser and the quarter panel painted:

Headlights and grill fitted

• 86FJ75
• Nov 9, 2015

The grill and headlights had been removed from the car when I got it.
Painted the grill and...

 

[86FJ75]

I rewired the headlights so they now have a relay for high and low fitted so I can run 6mm wire from the battery to the headlight globes which makes the lights much brighter.

New 9"x3" aircleaner fitted to help the 3F breathe a bit better.
The carb is a 500 Holley 2 barrel which was fitted when I bought it and runs ok, but I will either rebuild a 350 Holley I have or look at alternatives at a later date. I think the 500 will be much too thirsty on fuel.

The wiring in the engine bay was attrocious from previous owners so I removed all of the added on wiring and started from scratch with just the original harness.

At some point someone had wired a switch to supply 12v to the coil during startup and then when running the switch was supposed to be turned off to reduce the voltage to the coil for normal running. Repaired all of that and it now runs as it was designed to.

I replaced the plugs and cleaned up the points and distributor cap.
The leads all tested ok so I will run them for now.

Replaced a few connectors such as the temp sender, oil pressure sender and some other miscellaneous wires and connectors that were either missing or damaged.

Replaced the clutch slave cylinder with a new one.
Swapped the clutch master cylinder from the donor car into the project which had a dodgy one.

Removed an immobiliser which had been installed badly and for which I didnt receive a keyfob for.

Replaced a couple of radiator and heater hoses in the engine bay.

Stripped and cleaned the front locking hubs and regreased them.

Swapped out the drivers seatbelt from the donor as it was missing from the project car.

Lots more has been done and needs doing, but she is getting there

 

[ozcrusier]

Wow nice work on the build. The second trucks looks better then the first.

 

[86FJ75]

I picked up another couple of Landcruisers.
First one is a 1988 HJ75 with Styleside tub.
I used the bullbar off this one on my build and it had an ashtray in it. Out of the 5x 75 series I now own I have 2x ashtrays and only one of those has the metal retaining plate.

Second Landcruiser is a 1985 HJ75. This Landcruiser I picked up for $300 (Australian) and it has a recently rebuilt 2H, new radiator, new alternator, new clutch fan and new injector pump.
I am tempted to use this engine in the project 75, but most of my offroad driving (90%) will be on the beach so I like the idea of running the 3F Petrol.

 

[86FJ75]

This one I picked up yesterday.
1985 HJ75. Still licensed (believe it or not), but incredibly rusty.
I am the second owner. The original owner bought it new and had a friend who is a boatbuilder build the tray and bullbar. It's made out of some seriously heavy gauge aluminium. It's currently running on biodiesel (frier oil).
After many years of faithful service the owner stopped driving it except to launch a boat from the beach. The cab is no good. Totally rotted out. I suspect areas of the chassis are as well, but it has a good driveline that has been looked after and it drives well. I am tempted to use the tray on this one on my Project rig.

 

[86FJ75]

Bonnet (Hood in the USA) painted and fitted.

I have trial fitted the bullbar and will remove it and get it blasted and painted (Black) tomorrow.

Suspension bushes, rear shocks and steering damper replaced.
Windscreen fitted.
Tray sides have been blasted and painted.

I have 2x sets of 15x8 rims so will get 6x sandblasted and painted and for now fit a secondhand set of Bridgestone Desert Duellers on them.

 

[86FJ75]

Bonnet fitted.

 

[86FJ75]

Interesting modification I found on one of the landcruisers.
The bush on the wiper motor is a common failure point and so the previous owner of this car has braised a ball joint onto the end of the control rod so it will never fail again.

 

[86FJ75]

Fibreglass roof on one of the cruisers. Complete with running lights and a spotlight mount.

 

[86FJ75]

Custom aluminium roof console in one of the Cruisers with speaker holes and movable lights.
This one was mounted at the rear of the cab. I am 6 foot 6 so no way I could use it.