HDJ81 1995 Rebuild

[Mufsalman]

Started issuing the rusted part replacement.. Went to quite a few Chop shops, junk yards and dealers.. Was stuck between getting just the bare metal door without any workings for cheap, or get the complete door with door cards, lock, power window slides etc for twice the price..

Cheapest option won

Now have to remove all the internal mechanism (most of which are rusted).. Clean.. Sort.. Mend.. And reuse as much as I can from the old doors..
N yes I know the color doesn't match.. Not to worry.. A brand new paint job is in the works..
Just want to get done with all the mechanics and electrics first and get rid of the rust..
Speaking of rust.. I'm having a hard time finding a rust converter paint and an undercoat paint for the undercarriage and inside body in this part of the world.. Anyone with ideas of diy substitutes?

Battery cages - check

AC water flow control thingi - check
Hydraulic booster pipe - check

 

[Twinair]

For today opened up the top cover and sump.. And it was spotless .. Something seemed fishy.. Because I know it wasn't looked after that well.. Ow well, maybe I was wrong.. View attachment 1508995
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Opened up one of the conrod bearing and lo n behold.. It has a scrap running down the middle.. Looks like someone's cranked the engine over without oil for a while.. It wasn't too deep so put it back in.. Parts are costly enough.. Dont wanna add more on it already..
View attachment 1508994

So the long wait for spares starts.. Ordering all gaskets, swivel rebuild kit, turbo Overhaul kit, all new belts, filters (oil, fuel and air) all being flown in from the .. It's turning out cheaper.. Let's hope customs doesn't hinder much ..

So in the mean time, it's cleaning time.. Sanded, clear coated and polished the headlight and indicators.. Spit shined the front grill.. And started cleaning and painting all the small trim pieces I tool out.. View attachment 1508991

View attachment 1508993

Bearings are cheap when considering the grand scheme of your endeavor. It doesn't make sense to go through all of that effort to reinstall a suspect critical component. Its a lot more effort after the fact to remove a damaged crank, replace a damaged rod, not to mention the other damage to components a shredded bearing can do. Bearing cost < crankshaft cost by A LOT. I'm also not just a little jealous of your diesel so meh.

 

[Mufsalman]

Been away for a while.. Been flying like crazy and haven't spent much time at home.. But good news.. It's Christmas morning n I'm giddy as a school girl.. I got my shipment of spares..

wohoooo

Managed to finally get the bull bar off.. Had to cut around a bolt though.. It was infuriating and didn't have the patience to carefully cut the bolt out.. The angle was just too tight..

So it out.. Only to find more rust on the wheel wells and front metal portion below the radiator..
Planning on changing out the front wheel wells and front metal portion as well as the driver and passenger side floor pans with one salvaged from a parts car.. Anyone with suggestions of where to cut the floor pan from so that they can be welded on nicely to the old body? Is it even a good option of just tackle the small pieces of rust with patch work?

 

[Mufsalman]

The fluids are in.. Went out and got a hold of all the fluids needed for the vehicle.. Went with the following;
Castrol GTX diesel 15w-40
Castrol ATF dex2 for transmission and power steering
Castrol radicool red coolant
Castrol brake fluid dot 4
Castrol axle EPX 80W-90 for front diff and transfer box
Toyota LSD gear oil 85w-90 for rear LSD diff
Caterpillar Multi-utility grease
Caterpillar adv 3%moly grease for CVs

I really gotta thank this forum for the help in finalizing the type of fluids needed.. Especially locating the 3%moly grease.. It was damn near impossible to find in my country.. Then I stumbled upon a thread by a south American fellow who was facing the same situation as I was in locating the moligrease.. Someone mentioned to try CAT spare warehouses n he was successful.. And so u did the same n voila.. Grease in hand..
Did not manage to find castrol lsd fluid so went with oem Toyota.. Should be ok right? I know there's additives I could've topped up into the castrol one for lsd but didn't find the additive..(no we don't have online purchase or over night shipping )..
Price vs product I was stuck btn castrol, total, and valvoline.. I know lotta aussies like valvoline but I had a very small range of products from it and wasn't worth the price hike.. I wanted to stick to one brand for all the fluids.. Makes it easier to remember in the next top up..
Got fluid quantities needed from a nice guide by roughtrax website.. Special thanks and awesome read is chewbaccas birfield grease guide.. Go check it out

So here we are.. All ready to put it in.. Oh yeah gaskets are in, and have an rtv gasket maker for the sumps.. Been waiting for the mechanic to come in and get started rebuilding the mechanics but he's been breaking appointments the whole week.. Frustrating as fxxx.. Don't really wanna change mechanics at this point..

 

[Mufsalman]

Had some time on my hand so managed to build a few battery cables.. Went out and bought some 50mm cable.. Bought some copper tubing to make proper cable connectors and got busy.. Got the trick about the copper tube from youtube.. Pretty neat I though..

Just waiting for the actual moment of installation to drill the connecting holes in the copper cable ends so that i know they are the right size..
I do have a two battery 12v system.. Now I'm a bit confused as to the connection between them.. From youtube tutorials I know the two batteries need to be connected in parallel to give 12v..thats positive to positive and negative to negative.. From when I took them off the car, it had it setup as so;
Batt 1
Positive to main distribution hub
Negative to body ground

Batt 2
Positive to engine
Negative to body ground

There is one more wire I believe connecting the two batteries to each other going over the radiator though i dont remember how that was connected.. Any electrical expert who can guide me? Gracias..

 

[Mufsalman]

And so the final assembly finally begins .. Rebuild both the front and rear axle ends.. Front cv/birfield done.. All new bearings all around.. Few mounts changed.. All new fluids pumped.. Drive shafts aligned to phase.. New axle tube seals in the front.. New belts all around.. Engine cleaned with diesel and drained.. Now awaiting to bolt in the remaining engine parts and wiring before we kick it over..

Front disc I had salvaged were not correct .. So quiet surprising.. Never thought there were any 80s with the part time 4x4 in my country.. But apparently there are and I ended up with the one set of disc's that were for them.. So call to the junk man and he said he'll take them back.. I did however scramble to find the right disc rotor for the worn out side and few calls later i got it from a uses spare parts dealer I use.. .. So all the axles are complete and I'm happy.. Now to get some new tires.. Thinking of 275/70/r16 AT.. That's what they had and I like the stance of it..

Agree?

 

[priffe]

275/70/16 would be 31 inch, I think you have space for 33 inch or 285/75/16 kinda ideal size
let's you roll over those African bumps without hurting yourself

 

[Mufsalman]

New updates..
Its ALIVEEEEEEEEE..

The vehicle works.. Ok before reaching that point did a few more things.. The power window motors were shot.. Salvaged two used ones.. The doors are so rusty that the window doesn't wanna slide up nicely.. Then I remembered some famous movie saying, "when in doubt, Lube it" .. So that's what I did.. Used some grease and petroleum jelly n it worked.. Kinda..

Now that that was sorted.. Needed to get some cool air in the cab.. It gets pretty hot where I am by the coast so need go get the air conditioning system sorted.. Soon figured out the compressors konked..

It has seized up completely at some point.. So took the vehicle to an AC specialist.. She made her investigations and diagnosed a full system rebuild.. Particles from the messed up compressor were all over the evaporator, filter and condenser.. Which wasn't even of a cruiser but rather of a Toyota balloon ..

So changed it all.. While at it took the opportunity to upgrade the compressor from a 15a to 17a..bought a new condenser, salvaged evaporator and set about putting it in.. All went in smooth except now the battery was drained.. Just wouldnt crank.. Mind u the car hasn't run for 3months now apart from the idling.. So took the batteries out for a boost charge.. Put them back in and cranked it up for the gas refill.. Went in good.. No leaks.. All seems fine.. So the AC specialist suggested because of the high outside temp and bigger compressor to put in an auxiliary fan infront of the condenser behind the front grill.. Went and salvaged what I think is a landrover front plastic fan and put it in.. And connected it to the compressor so everytime the compressor kicks in, the fan runs too.. Now the vehicle cools like a charm..

Moved the horns around to accommodate the fan..

 

[Mufsalman]

The side mirrors are all gone beyond repair.. The glass is shattered.. And I'm not getting any replacements near me.. So has to find a temporary fix for the meantime for an upcoming offroading trip.. Just could not miss that.. So I went down to the local glass cutting shop and told them to cut some mirrors to size to fit in the side mirror housing.. And siliconed those damn things in place..

Its crude.. But it worked.. Ofcourse couldn't adjust them any which way.. But glued them in the ideal view of me sitting n driving.. So they worked a treat..

 

[Mufsalman]

For the offroading trip just made the outside as normal looking as possible in hopes of not getting pulled over.. The inside was bare.. Just as u see it.. Nothing apart from two front seats.. The main purpose of the trip was to test out the vehicle and see how far it has come Mechanic wise.. N it did wonders.. It really surprised me.. I was hesitant at first to push it but by the end of the trip was revving it all the way to 3-4k rpm.. Did some wonders on the beach despite the sorrow looking tyres.. It does need some tuning and boost adjustment.. The first gear seems to stick a bit too long for my liking.. Got a few leads as to where to take the vehicle for tuning.. Let's see how that pans out.. Till next time..

 

[Varoon Sampat]

For the offroading trip just made the outside as normal looking as possible in hopes of not getting pulled over.. The inside was bare.. Just as u see it.. Nothing apart from two front seats.. The main purpose of the trip was to test out the vehicle and see how far it has come Mechanic wise.. N it did wonders.. It really surprised me.. I was hesitant at first to push it but by the end of the trip was revving it all the way to 3-4k rpm.. Did some wonders on the beach despite the sorrow looking tyres.. It does need some tuning and boost adjustment.. The first gear seems to stick a bit too long for my liking.. Got a few leads as to where to take the vehicle for tuning.. Let's see how that pans out.. Till next time..

Was a lot of fun indeed.. look forward to seeing the finished product..