HDJ100 - Body off renovation, now with a hot dip galvanised frame *Picture Heavy* (1 Viewer)

[Moridinbg]

It's about time I started a thread for my build.

I have a perfectly preserved European HDJ100 with the 1HD-FTE from 2005, with very little if any rust. I am stripping it down to a bare chassis and will conserve it with a combination of hot dip galvanisation and epoxy primer & Raptor. While doing so I also made some observations on the condition of the car and various parts of it and where the rust starts attacking the car.
I am building the car for overlanding and hopefully will throw in some diesel performance mods as well.

It's a 2005 HDJ100 that I got in Feb 2019. It was driven mostly on highways across Europe. I drove it for a bit more than a year with hundreds of offroad kilometers, mostly mud, before stripping it down now.

This is when I got it

Here it is after some happy times

This is it right now, after 17 months

 

[Moridinbg]

I bought the Land Cruiser with the plan to tour South America with it.
I have extensive experience travelling the world, but never by car - I have hitchhiked along the west Australian coast, crossed Russia, Mongolia and China by trains, spent a month snowboarding in the Kashmirian Himalayas and crossed Chile and Argentina multiple times by buses.

Now I decided it's time to try a different approach.

This is my first car. Before that I have lots of experience maintaining... bicycles Early on I had decided that I should be able to do myself as much of the repairs on the side of the road as possible. My father has been doing most of his repairs himself and he has been invaluable in getting me up to speed with car mechanics.
I have spent the past 6 months before buying that one reading on Land Cruisers and 100 in particular, so I already knew about the more infamous issues and quirks.

The car was in seemingly good condition with supposedly 174 000kms (108 000 miles) and 0 previous history. Unfortunately on our side of the Earth odometer manipulations are rampant and there is no centralised registry that can give you the car history. After I got it I found out that it was 420 000km (260 000 miles). Oh well.

First things first - change all oils immediately. Good signs - it looked fresh.

Of course I had THE CLUNK. Of course I immediately greased the driveshafts. Of course it did not resolve it, just slightly mitigated it.

In general the car seemed to be in a pretty good conditions, but I have the feeling that in the last year or so it was in the hands of someone really sloppy. Lots of bolts related to maintenance work were tightened just before snapping, the front hubs were a mess. Looking underneath most of the bushings were completely shot. Couldn't trust any of the belts. Discs seemed worn, only the pads were good. The flexible break hoses looked old.
So made my first order. Here in Europe we get whole lot of original OEM parts via Dubai. Prices are amazing, compared to the stealership.

No wonder handbreak was not engaging. I literally had no handbreak The discs were 16.4mm thick with a minimum of 16. Just in time.

Moving up front, this is why you do not use a hammer and a screwdriver to remove the hub caps (which shouldn't be reused as per the FSM in any case).

And this happens if you do it regardless

Amazingly, the bearings were good. The play was due to insufficient preload. There was plenty of grease in there, so it was only the topmost layer and the splines that were in contact with water.
There is a seal on the back of the hub that can be a nasty surprise as well.

Moving on to bushings. I will just leave that here. I didn't have just The Clunk. I had ALL the clunks.

 

[Moridinbg]

After the first few wrenching sessions together with my father I started getting comfortable with working on the car. I noticed a lot of additional stuff that needed replacement, while in there. Wrong snap rings for the axles, punctured boots, worn break piston, wrong bolts, etc

Also replaced the horribly corroded outer CV joint.

Meanwhile a neighbour came by to see the new toy and lend us some help and knowledge

I bought the car with a Chinese copy of an ARB bar, but had to use the original plastic bumper until I went through the local DMV. Finally I was able to put the bumper back on. On the outside it's a pretty convincing copy. Actually it uses thin s*** steel, mounts to the chassis via ridiculous plates and I will never trust it to mount a winch directly to it. But hey, I got it for free.

Also put on a snorkel. I cheaped on that as well with a chinese one. Lots of my friends drive with those, I have used it extensively for a bit over an year now and actually it's really good.

Starting to look business.

Together with the snorkel I extended my diff breathers. Front went up to the engine bay, for the rear I extended it behind the fuel door. Transfer & auto were factory extended to the engine bay.

I went for a spin to get a measure of how many horses are still in there. 182hp out of 204 and 395nm out of 410.

Room for improvement. The EGR on the 1HD-FTE is notorious for getting blocked by coal. EGR is the worst system ever put on an engine. Imagine jogging while breathing mostly your own farts... I could barely squeeze two fingers in the otherwise pretty wide intake pipe post EGR

 

[Moridinbg]

After getting stuck a few times, it was time to get a winch. As mentioned, the chinese bumper will warp if a winch is mounted, so a chassis mounting was needed. Unfortunately neither me, nor my father have ever done anything with winches and winching before, so we chose the wrong approach - mounting the inch in such a way that it is pulled away from the vehicle. This was fixed in a few months.

Right after that I had the first breakdown. My front differential grenaded - reversing upslope on sand/rocks in low gear - perfect. First roadside repairs. Another set of new hub caps.

Driveshaft out, hub flanges out. Rear wheel drive only sucks.

Land Cruiser front diffs suck. On the other hand, as seen in the background, Christmas arrived in November

This was the first time I had to get the car in a workshop, so I used it to get some work done that I felt very uncomfortable doing yet - valve adjustments, belts replacement, lockers installed.

The 1HD-FTE in all it's glory with the valve cover off. The mechanic said he wouldn't give it more than 150 000km (93 000 miles). Also notice the factory dual battery installation - always connected in parallel.

After I got it back, I put the compressor on a custom bracket in the engine bay. I also connected it to the air filter box.

I wired an original Toyota dash switch for F+R lockers.

On our side of the pond we do not always get the air filter either, so I had to retrofit the panel with the filter door. Fitting it sucked.

Meanwhile another system betrayed me. My alternator failed. Embarrassingly, a friend with a Land Rover had to tow me...

Remember when I said that all the bushings were shot? This has been haunting me for a long time

 

[Moridinbg]

After a few mud holes I got mud in my headlights via the breathers.

European LCs have adjustable headlights. I don't think I have seen the adjuster on USA dashboards. Do you guys have it? It's an electric motor on the vertical adjuster on the back of the headlight.

Having to open them anyway, why not put some Morimotos? I used water pipe seals that happened to fit perfectly in the factory enclosure and retainer ring.

Turned out pretty good

I adjusted them as per the FSM. Both high and low beam are at the expect spots. I used a garage door, instead of thick white coloured paper.

 

[Njck22]

Love your posts, can't wait to see more. Sometimes it's really nice to see what people in other parts of the world are doing to their land cruisers, And pictures of things we north Americans have never seen. Also it's curious to see how some things are done similar or approached differently. Are there good spots to offroad throughout Europe? Do you see many Landcruisers like yours?

There was a video posted here awhile back of a guy in norway doing an extensive no expense spared restoration of his hdj100.
Landcruiser HDJ 100 Frame Restoration
I remember he laid out every single bolt and bushing(all new toyota) for the frame before installing the rebuild engine, transmission. The frame was blasted and sprayed. Shame the video is now private.

 

[Moridinbg]

I come from mountain biking and there are plenty of places that are really nice to ride and very accessible with a Land Cruiser so I had to get a decent bike rack that can withstand abuse and keep the bikes safe.
I imported one all the way from Australia from iSi Advanced 4x4 Bicycle Carriers | Extreme Duty | Offroad | Cars | 4x4 | Caravans and Camper Trailers They seem to be THE bike rack for offroad. Pretty good description here


Here it is loaded driving on some dirt roads and trough some fields. It's extremely stable. Notice how in the beginning the entire assembly is swinging with the car through some ruts, but the bike do not move relevant to one another or the carrier - no rubbing, no bashing!


Empty

Folded down. Tailgate can be opened freely that way even when loaded with 4 bikes

How the bikes stack

If you are always loading the same 4 bikes, the system is super flexible and you can adjust it so that they easily fit perfectly.
But if you load lots of different bikes you have to keep adjusting until you find the sweet spot and putting on the middle two bikes can be a challenge.

I had to do a little bit of fabrication. The Australians use square hitches like the States, but we use tow balls in Europe, so ISI sent me just the joint for attaching the carrier which I then welded to a metal bar that fits in the tow ball slot. I had never welded before.

 

[ramangain]

Imagine jogging while breathing mostly your own farts

Definitely subscribed when I read this line

 

[GTV]

Well done so far!
Is it a 2006 MY with a 2005 build date? Is the colour Pacific Blue?

 

[thibaut]

If you are going overland and around the world, there are a few things you may want to consider:
1) getting rid of AHC: I am a big AHC fan but my car is having an easy life and doesn’t carry loads of extra weight. If you are going to far flung places, i would move dampers + spring
2) best source of engine and trans upgrades for the 4.2 TD is australia. You can get 400hp + with different turbo / intercooler / trans / ecu upgrade. However I am not sure you want to do that as it will put more stress on the car and you’re not racing anyway. Given mileage I would do cambelts / water pump / injectors. Then perhaps get you trubo rebuilt (given age of the car it should have the variable turbine turbo which are great)
3) if doing heavy duty work, I would change the water radiator and perhaps upgrade trans cooler (they are one unit per oem) two separate units will make things more reliable and you avoid internal corrosion feeding coolant to your trans.
4) I would make sure i have a laptop with techstream to troubleshoot the car on site anywhere / anytime

 

[Moridinbg]

I am not getting rid of the AHC. I am getting heavier rear springs and probably new torsion bars. I can't decide if I should get new AHC bars or try with tired non-AHC bars, as I will be loading weight.
Modding the European engine and ECU is harder than the Australian, mostly because way less people here do it.
I have the factory separate trans cooler.

Well done so far!
Is it a 2006 MY with a 2005 build date? Is the colour Pacific Blue?

I think it's different with the colour options between regions. AFAIK that colour (which I am trying to confirm if it is exactly Pacific Blue) was available before 2006 in Europe.


By the way, as part of the frame off I will be swapping all bushings and cushions that I managed to track down in the car. 64 at last count. Did you know there are torsion bar bushings? I didn't...

 

[GTV]

I think it's different with the colour options between regions. AFAIK that colour (which I am trying to confirm if it is exactly Pacific Blue) was available before 2006 in Europe.

Your headlight/signal housings are also the same one piece design that was used in 2006-07 LC's in the states, although I suppose that could be a European thing in earlier trucks as well. What is the build date on the vin tag in the door jamb?

 

[Moridinbg]

It's May 2005. The one piece housing was available from 2003 with the 5 speed auto in Europe. There are all kinds of weird combos from around the world. I have seen photos of 4 speed autos with the updated nav interior and one piece headlights.

 

[thibaut]

Re: AHC, you can get beefer rear springs and perhaps a spacer. I don’t think running non AHC torsion bars works as they will be way too stiff.
I have replaced by globes with Pleiades and they are really good and cheaper than oem. You need to adjust everything with techstream to ensure your pressures are in spec with eveything loaded. There is a great few threads on the topic here. I would definitively replace globes if original as they age.

i think the truck has ample power to be honest.Makingsure it performs to spec is a sufficient goal. In france there are a few guys that sell upgraded ecu / intercooler / turbo but I personally won’t go down that route.

but change the injectors !

 

[Moridinbg]

I am very well aware of the AHC specifics and have contributed to several of the topics here

I got the chassis from blasting today. I have a lot to write about getting to this stage, but here is a very rare picture of a naked 100 chassis before the final finishing blasts

 

[Manhattan]

THAT is a stout frame. I used to park my FJ Cruiser in an angled "half spot" at the kids's school - end space, ramped retaining wall, netting a mild RTI ramp. Because of the twist, the doors didn't close without sort of lifting up on the handle. First time I parked the 100 there, I opened and closed the door 5 or 6 times... just smiling at the perfect little "snick" as the door closed like it was on level ground. Beefy.

I'm really digging your posts. The pics, the stories - just awesome. Can't wait to see where you take your 100... and where it takes you!

 

[mdcoa]

Thanks for sharing this—it’s so entertaining to see the resto as well as see the rest of world options.

I did a frame replacement years ago on a 1965 Land Rover 109, which was a laughably simple job compared to what you’re doing. Galvanization is the way to go—I bought a galvanized frame and had the firewall (bulkhead in the UK), grille support (breakfast in the UK), and B/C pillar assemblies hot dipped as well. And then I got an airhead BMW and sold the Land Rover . . .

 

[IndroCruise]

I am very well aware of the AHC specifics and have contributed to several of the topics here

I got the chassis from blasting today. I have a lot to write about getting to this stage, but here is a very rare picture of a naked 100 chassis before the final finishing blasts

View attachment 2396205

Great story about a project with a purpose! Thank you! More episodes please .....

 

[Travis Bickle]

Thanks for sharing

 

[Kabanstva]

Curious why you're going through the effort of blasting and re-coating the frame. Based on the original pics you posted, that truck has no rust at all. What's the point?