Dr Slug's 1983 BJ42 Build Thread - Yes I need a name for my truck (1 Viewer)

[DrSlug]

Well the roof came along pretty good, got the final coat on it today. Here's the Sikaflex filling up the channel-

Then after the primer-

I made up a dodgy arse hoist for the roof, seeing as how I want to be running this rig without the roof on the pleasant days. Here's a pic of it in action when whacking on the roof-

Then the moment of truth

Didnt think too much about the bar being in the way when I made up the hoist, although now I will make a hooks for the rear end of the hoist

A pic of me lowering the hoist down - through the window!

The moment of crapping myself thinking it would fit out of the garage, luckily it had a few inches when I pushed on the roller door-

Looking good- although in this pic not fully bolted down-

Oh and now the rollbar fits!

Well now it's time for me to size up a console between the rollbar and the windscreen. Want to mount a few different items in there, so will post up when I've gotten underway with that.

 

[DrSlug]

So now that I had the roof on, I decided to make up a centre roof console that I could have installed with or without the roof being on. So I made up a template to match the curve in the roof line from the rollbar to the windscreen, and welding up a steel frame. Attached 1.6mm steel to the top of it to keep the water out of it if I ever got caught without the top on in a shower, and covered the steel with marine carpet, with the edges taken care of with rubber edging. Then made up the underneath with marine ply so I could get the curves and contours that I wanted.

Made a neat little spot that I can put small items in, and there is plenty of room for switch mounts and another radio in the future.

Then covered with carpet -

Installed the radio and spot lights I had in my old truck -

Now that this is installed, I'll pull off the roof again and glue in the headlining carpet, and start feeding wires up to the console which is always a fun task

 

[Falco80]

Looking really great mate! Awesome job on the roof console too, it looks like a bought one.
It appears like you only just made it out of the garage as well.

I also approve of the XXXX-gold dash ornament!

 

[DogDigger]

Wow... I hope I can get my HJ47 looking as good as this! It looks great!

 

[DrSlug]

Well havent updated the progress on here for a while, so here goes.

Finally found a rear lift up door

[

Had to weld in some new steel on the upper hinge strut though -

Finally found a 5 speed gear knob for the truck as well, been told I'll need this to pass the roadworthy

Had a set back a few weeks, the idiot neighbour across the road from me backed his crap box into my truck. Lucky all he hit was the bullbar, but what pissed me off was that he didnt even apologise for it when I questioned him about it. Idiot!

 

[DrSlug]

Wow, I haven't posted for months! So I better go back through my pics and show you all the progress.

Got the rear lift up door mounted -










Came up perfect, exactly how I wanted it to. I had a week off work because I busted up my knee, hence the crutches. Neighbours were looking at me funny hobbling around on the trying to work on the truck, but had to keep going to make the wedding deadline I had for getting the truck on the road.

I was thinking about the seat that I had installed and was worried they wouldn't pass road worthy with the frame that they were sitting on. So I picked up a few rough looking stocks seats on eBay, and whacked some covers over them-



Finally finished off the snorkel install, although these pipes were a bit tricky getting around the side of the air filter.





Oh remember how I was re-painting the diesel and Toyota badges on the front grill? Here's the diesel badge which I reckon came up alright-

 

[DrSlug]

Went to town on the Tectyl spray on the inside of the doors, hopefully this should keep the rust away.

Bought new clips for the door panels to go into, much better than trying to use the old ones-

Best mod so far to the truck though would of been putting in this Bosch hand priming pump. So much better than the stock Toyota job, makes no mess now

More ebay purchases arrived, I'm sure the loves going to collect my packages each day at the post office-

And now a new switch panel to go into my roof console-

 

[DrSlug]

Up till now I have been unable to source any LX badges for my truck. I'd searched everywhere for the last year and couldn't find any, so decided I'd have a crack at making my own.

First of all I found a decent pic off here and printed out a stencil, and taped to a piece of 6mm alloy. Then took to it with the Dremel and jigsaw.

Then sat there for ages with some wet and dry to sand it up, then got the Dremel again to tidy up the edges.

Then masked up the insides and painted the edges in black-

Came up pretty good for a one off job, although I'll still keep an eye out for some authentic ones in the future. You can see in this pic I've mounted my hi-lift jack to the truck as well, using a Kaymar mount. Works well and it's out of the way there, and might protect the windscreen frame on that side from branches on the tracks.

 

[DrSlug]

Well a few weeks went past and I had nearly got the truck ready for rego. I took it to the mechanic and he pointed out he didn't like the look of the seat belts, (I had used old ones from my previous truck). So I went to the seat belt joint and got new belts. Cost me about $300, but they look so much better than the old ones, and much safer.

Then the moment of truth - finally registering my truck!

What a feeling driving it on the road the first time!

The week after registering it, (late SEP), I took it up to Bribie Island with a bunch of 40 series cruiser enthusiasts. I decided to run with the roof down on this day, so had to take if off the day before-

The home made hoist worked well, and although having to squeeze down the side of the truck to pull the ropes up in the single car garage, I still managed to do it without any damage to the truck or panels.

 

[78fj40mg]

Excellent restoration thanks for sharing!

 

[lostmarbles]

Nice work there Nick and I love your LX badge.

This maybe the only LX lift-back in existance!

 

[DrSlug]

So the first weekend in October a few other guys from SE Qld went up to Bribie Island for the day for a cruise along the beach. Was great driving without the top on, until that night when I got home and realised I was quite sunburnt

The truck drove well for the day, was the first time I had taken it off road, and seemed to go pretty good.

Well everything went well, except the UHF CB didn't work properly, I must of buggered up the antenna connection somehow. Other than that though was a great day out.

 

[DrSlug]

Well after the beach run I had 3 weeks to clean up the truck in time for the wedding. It was decided that when I finally proposed to my that we would use the truck and get another 40 series shorty for the bridesmaids. Another mate had had his truck off the road for a while repainting it, so it worked out perfect that we would have two shiny looking trucks for the wedding-

I had to make up a couple of milk crates as stairs for the ladies to climb out of the trucks, but it all went off without a hitch

 

[Falco80]

Excellent work mate!

 

[soup]

Up till now I have been unable to source any LX...

I'm currently trying to source a pair for my 'Mustard' LX frame off, I found somewhere (possibly here on Mud) that LX badges off a 76 series wagon (on the back door - 75441-90k00?)are a close match, can be sourced for $13.16 ea through amayama (http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_G_198608_TOYOTA_LAND+CRUISER_BJ70LV-KN_7551.2.html?hl=75463).

Also through amayama (http://www.amayama.com/search/?q=75351-90800), it seems you can get the original LX badges for $63.82 ea from Japan, if I have the part number correct (http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_G_1982_TOYOTA_LAND+CRUISER_BJ42RV-KCQ_7551.html).

BTW - guessing different laws in QLD to WA, I got knocked back on rego for my bullbar (same as yours) cause it protrudes fwd (that and I was missing the rear seats - stupidest thing I did selling those seats, young and stupid )

 

[DrSlug]

I'm currently trying to source a pair for my 'Mustard' LX frame off, I found somewhere (possibly here on Mud) that LX badges off a 76 series wagon (on the back door - 75441-90k00?)are a close match, can be sourced for $13.16 ea through amayama (http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_G_198608_TOYOTA_LAND+CRUISER_BJ70LV-KN_7551.2.html?hl=75463).

Also through amayama (http://www.amayama.com/search/?q=75351-90800), it seems you can get the original LX badges for $63.82 ea from Japan, if I have the part number correct (http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_G_1982_TOYOTA_LAND+CRUISER_BJ42RV-KCQ_7551.html).

BTW - guessing different laws in QLD to WA, I got knocked back on rego for my bullbar (same as yours) cause it protrudes fwd (that and I was missing the rear seats - stupidest thing I did selling those seats, young and stupid )

Hey mate, yeah I told the roady guy my seats were off getting upholstered, so he didnt change the seating capacity down from its stamped 6

Believe it or not I had to remove my spot lights, they are not allowed to be less that 600mm apart here in Queensland, which is a joke. So using this bullbar I wouldn't be able to run lights at all, cause you cant have them on top of the bar either. So unbolted for inspection, then bolted them back on as soon as I got home. There is no way the cops are going to write me up for that, its just not logical when I cant mount them anywhere else on the bar, given the headlights on these trucks are so close together to begin with.

Tried amayama a while back and got an email saying they couldnt get the LX badges in, not sure what the problem was though from memory.

 

[DrSlug]

Excellent work mate!

Thanks Dan, yes it's definitely all worth it now that it's on the road, I love the looks I get from people. How's your rig going?

 

[Ken White]

Hey Nick just read your full post on the restoration. Great job mate. I have just bought a 1984 BJ42 LX and want to do the same thing. If you dont mind me asking how much do you reckon it cost and how long did it take you. I have the benefit of possibly taking 3mths long service leave to do a lot of the work. My biggest problem is that I have no idea how to weld or paint. Might just have to learn.