Builds HDJ80 LHD #snlcbuilt Ute (pickup)

[SNLC]

It tested low compression, 355psi best and most at 300psi.

We found these rocker shaft caps busted with janky repairs.

Rather than mess with this head, I am just going to get a fresh bare head and load it up with new parts.

Cheers

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Send it!!!!!

 

[SNLC]

So this thing is so back burner it is not even funny.

However, I recently bought all new clutch pedal bucket, the pedal and related parts. We robbed these off this truck for the customers build. I may have bought some other parts for PigPen too, I don’t recall as many orders have been going on. I do have some boxes started for the Cruiser on the shelf.

Definitely going to stretch the frame. I am not a big fan of Ute chops where the wb isn’t stretched. I have only seen a few I didn’t think look funky. Plus a bit more wb is great for the rocks not to mention a better departure angle and a bigger bed without a horrible departure.

An 80 is 112” wb and I would like to see this Cruiser more in the 116-118” wb range. I have chopped a few 80 frames now so should be easy and straight forward.

Cab will be extra cab. I just like more room behind the seats for gear and other things. Already decided more or less where to cut it. Will be using the back door quarter windows for my extra cab windows.

Axles and suspension I want to do some fairly custom things. Suspension wise I would like to link it but keep it on coil springs vs going coil overs. I think I can get the suspension geometry far superior in the rear vs stock and still keep it on coil springs and shocks. For the front, probably a 3-link but again on coils and shocks vs coil overs. Axle wise I am kind of leaning towards Diamond or RS housings. Have not decided if I would go 9” or D60’s, if I did I would probably go SpiderTrax housings and 9”.

I have had my eye on a new OEM head but it already got snatched up and is now gone for good. Bummer cause it was a lot cheaper than getting one out of Japan.

Definitely going to run 37’s to start. This is going to be a “hardcore overlander” Seriously though, kind of Aussie style yet suited for the kind of wheeling and trips I like to do. One thing I don’t like about the Aussie utes is how high the build their beds above the chassis. I know why, to maximize bed space but I like a much lower center of gravity. So I am going to get a bit creative with the bed and it will definitely have wheel wells in it. I am going to compromise bed space for a low center of gravity and good up travel.

I am also going to put the money where it counts for me, at least to start. I want to be able to wheel this Cruiser pretty hard and not care so much about interior and body. I have dumped a lot of cash into my 80 refreshing many things I will totally skip in this build. So the cash is going into engine, trans, tcase, axles and suspension first.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

So I started washing this thing the other day, hard to believe the guy who sold this and his buddies tried to argue it was a good Cruiser and good buy.

That’s maybe a 1/3 at best of the mud on this Cruiser.

I think that might be a dead cat hanging up in there.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

The frame is savable if I can get it 100% clean.

Frame rails are still full of mud though after more than an hour of trying to wash them out. Still blown away that people were trying to argue that this is ok and a good buy, like really man!?

Cheers

 

[Indestructible 47]

Nice work. That's the only problem with a fully boxed chassis, almost impossible to clean out good and proper

 

[thatcabledude]

May need to change name to MUD DAUBER.

 

[thatcabledude]

 

[SNLC]

Nice work. That's the only problem with a fully boxed chassis, almost impossible to clean out good and proper

Well plan is once I have a bare frame to stand it up on end and wash out the inside. I also find beating on the rails with a rubber mallet while up on end helps a ton. Last bit I got for boxed frame is an old frayed piece of winch cable I can jam and stuff inside the rails.

I just don’t know when I can get this to a bare frame. In the meantime I would love to get this mud out of the rails to at the minimum slow down any corrosion until I am more full swing in the build which may be awhile.

Like I say though the frame is savable but I don’t want this mud sitting in it any longer. Might have to drop one end down and raise on end and just stuff a hose in there and let it run and run.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

View attachment 2640724

How about Dead Cat? Or RoadKill? Some kind of creatures carcass appears to be jammed up in the tcase skid. Couldn’t even see it until some mud was washed away.

Cheers

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Whiskers... Is that you?

I am stoked to watch this project progress. I like your plan alot.

 

[SNLC]

Whiskers... Is that you?

I am stoked to watch this project progress. I like your plan alot.

It’s like some dudes in Eastern Europe or wherever it came from took it on a hot joy ride shortly before selling it to some gringo who had high thoughts of importing and flipping for some cash profit.

I got this image going in my head of some dudes with a thick accent drinking liquor and taking this thing out to the hills. Wasted drunk they run over cats (on purpose), take out mail boxes, brodie through farmers fields and take it through every mud hole they can find all the while bouncing it off the redline. When done, they ship it to the USA! I dunno maybe I just got a wild imagination?

I am not sure if I should laugh or cry.

Cheers

 

[thatcabledude]

You deviated and went East to West on this one. They saw you coming. Lol

 

[thatcabledude]

What a lucky truck to end up where it is though!

 

[greentruck]

How about Dead Cat? Or RoadKill? Some kind of creatures carcass appears to be jammed up in the tcase skid. Couldn’t even see it until some mud was washed away.

Cheers

That sounds as bad as the garage attic I cleaned out for a client last week. Formerly owned by a now-departed Harley rider, there was ammo scattered everywhere (no guns, but the price of ammo alone made this job worthwhile) and several dead critter heads. One was clearly a mounted buck, who had seen better days even since it got shot, and, well, err, something, maybe an antelope, It was a mess. But it wasn't a carcass found in a Land Cruiser, which story I'll tell my client if that proves to be the case.

Fascinating build, BTW. I say add a full 6" to that stretch, unless there's a good reason not to. But I'm tall and that still might not be enough to sleep in the bed you envision. How long are you thinking in terms of bed length?

My conspiracy theory about that mud and dust is that it was owned by some spelunkers and they took it into the cave...then it rained.

 

[SNLC]

No there really is no reason not to go 6”. There is a sweet spot in wb usually when doing custom suspension, bed, ect. Beyond that it can be whatever. I think 120+ is to much unless it was to be a double cab.

I am not so sure I want to sleep in the bed. I have done trips down to Panama and back and slept in a topper. To hot once I hit southern Mexico or CA. I like a hammock off the side of the Cruiser. I did five weeks of that in Baja and slept great every night. I am also considering an RTT set up above a bed platform, not higher than the cab though, keeping center of gravity low will be a theme in this build.

I have done three major “overlanding” build outs now on my own personal trucks and then took them down to Latin America. From that I have learned what works for me and it is to go light as well. I don’t need hot water on board or 20 gallons of drinking water. I have visions of a multi platform bed system that bolts on. Want to rock it as a flip down side flat bed? No worries. Want to back up under my overlanding whatever platform? It takes me a half hour at most to do that. These ideas been brewing in my head for some time now.

Cheers

 

[greentruck]

No there really is no reason not to go 6”. There is a sweet spot in wb usually when doing custom suspension, bed, ect. Beyond that it can be whatever. I think 120+ is to much unless it was to be a double cab.

I am not so sure I want to sleep in the bed. I have done trips down to Panama and back and slept in a topper. To hot once I hit southern Mexico or CA. I like a hammock off the side of the Cruiser. I did five weeks of that in Baja and slept great every night. I am also considering an RTT set up above a bed platform, not higher than the cab though, keeping center of gravity low will be a theme in this build.

SNIP

Cheers

Yeah, if the targets of interest are South, then the bed isn't the best place to sleep unless you're in the mountains. Sleep-in length was more the way I think of how useful a bed is beyond the bare minimums. I really liked the old school Toyota crewcab pick-up 4x4s they sold in Latin America before the first crewcab Tacomas started showing up here, except the bed length made camping impractical for sleeping most people. The RTT solution is a good one for such cases though, now that you mention it.

 

[gofast]

couple of things you can try - cut a an access port in a few spots in the frame rails to fish in the nozzle of a pressure washer (maybe even a hole saw). You can weld it back up after. The other is to use a plumbers drain snake in the channel - it will churn up that mud

 

[Heckraiser]

Just pour about 10 quarts of ATF into the frame holes--it will soak into the mud and make a nice rust-resistant sludge inside your frame

 

[lp2k]

@SNLC don't feel bad at all. My truck sat for 5 years in my garage and I found a wasp next near my spare tire, 3 mud dauber nests and some other type of insect in the front spring thing and on the side of my engine. (the one on the engine cooked the wasp-like things when I went to wal mart and back) really nasty but its all gone now. It all came to light when I had to prep my rig for painting. I am sure you will get it done. Stellar work so far and its good to move at your own comfort space!