HJ45 (2H motor) complete vehicle rebuild thread

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It has been a while since my last update, allot has happened. I am at the tail end of the build for the Land Cruiser and preparing for trip which I should be on the road in September. The majority of the metal fabrication and paint/body is complete. I just got the completely rebuilt injectors/injection pump. The head, block, and engine internals are being cleaned/getting their tolerances checked per the engine manual as we speak. Once this is complete I will drop the power train back in and finish the vehicle.


The following as been completed since the last update:

- Fabricated the roll and the overhead center console

- Fabricated the sleep platform in the rear

- Fabricated the dual fuel fill neck for both the main and auxiliary tank

- Finished the rust repair and painted the body. I decided to fill some of the joints with metal templates and seams that divide the body such as the windshield frame hinge. I never plan on taking the roof off the vehicle or putting the windshield. I decided to Herculine the bottom half of the vehicle for abrasion resistance and paint the top half/hood. Underneath the vehicle and in the interior floor is Line-x.

- Mounted the roof and roof rack. I reinforced the fiberglass roof with more fiber glass. Then I Herculined the bottom of the top and primed/painted/clear coated the top. The roof rack was sand blasted, welded to repair rust spots, and painted/clear coated.

- Installed the limb risers (Lines going from the roof rack to the front bumper, which break up vegetation).

- Fabricated and painted the exterior window guards for the four side windows, the two rear ambulance doors, and the two rear curve glass windows.

- Welded the Master hasp shackle locks on both driver/passenger doors and the two rear ambulance doors. This will make it extremely hard when the vehicle is left unattended to physically break the doors open or pick the locks.

- The fuel injection pump and injectors have been serviced. They were disassembled, cleaned, and inspected. Upon inspection they found rust on the fuel side of the pump and pitting on the barrel sealing surfaces. There was wear through the pump and they also found rust in the injectors and all the nozzles were bad. They rebuild the pump using new parts as needed. The pump was mounted on a calibration stand and calibrated to manufacture's specifications. All the injectors were rebuilt using new nozzles, gaskets, and heat shields. The opening pressures were set to 118-121 bar and pop tested.

- I disassembled the entire engine and the components were sent out to be cleaned, check for integrity (magna flux and it came out okay after I called them), and have the internals tolerances checked (camshaft, crankshaft).

- Ordered new engine gasket/seal rebuilt kit, new oil pump gears and pressure relieve valves for the oil pump and oil cooler.


What is left to do in the last two phases of the build


Phase 1 (July-August):

- Install seats

- Install four point seat belts

- Finish modifying the hood locks

- Mount the entire air system (air tank, air compressor, air distribution block that has the air locker solenoids on it, air reel, air pressure regulator, moister separator) and hardline it.

- Install all the gauges into the dash and the RPM on the steering column

- Install the switch box in the overhead console

- Mount the CB antenna on the back of the roof rack, drivers side at a 45 degree angle.

- Mount and install the CB radio.

- Mount and install the front and rear off-road lights

- Mount and installed the main headlights with stone guards

- Mount the front turn signals

- Install the main wiring harness

- Mount the electric cut off switch and switching fuel valve for both tanks

- Install the ARB off-road fridge

- Make and install the sleeping platform pads/locks to retain the sleeping platforms to the roll cage; reinstall the sleeping platform with the pulley hardware

- Mount the black solar shower cylinder on the side of the roof rack

- Install the white LED interior lights

- Connect the winch to the auxiliary battery and install cooling fan for the winch

- Install inverter

- Mount the two 1LB fire extinguishers in strategic spots within the vehicle

- Mount the rear view mirror

- Install the radio/speakers/amplifier

- Install the four steel fans I bought. Two should be on the driver/passenger and two should be mounted to cool two people sleeping the back of the Land Cruiser.

- Install the front windshield, four sliding glass windows on the side of the body, and the two rear curved glass windows plus tint.

- Mount and connect all three of the Optima batteries


Phase 2 / Completion / Stress testing the vehicle (End of August – Begning of September):

- Clean all the parts associated with the engine and prep for high temp primer/engine paint and then paint the engine parts gloss black/aluminum

- Assemble and install the engine (This is also including the cooling systems, turbo, electrical connections, oil catch can, the piece of stainless steel I bought as a head shield for the turbo, etc.)

- Install the transmission

- Install the already fabricated transmission/transfer case skid plate (It will need a little tweaking to work)

- Fabricate and install the sump skid plate

- Finish repairing the and mounting the driver/passanger doors and the rear ambulance doors

- Install the vacuum reservoir system to the brake booster and vacuum pump on the alternator

- Install the front grille Toyota Land Cruiser/Diesel emblems

- Weld expanded metal on the turn signal protectors (front and rear turn signals)

- Install the intake snorkel

- Install the exhaust

- Make a ladder from the 1” box tube to access the roof rack

- Make a pull out for the stove in the back from the 1” box tube

- Install drive shafts - Install transmission plate cover and bend the transmission/transfer case levers for right hand drive.

- Mount the fuel tanks and connect the fuel lines

- Mount and install coolant overflow reservoir and windshield wiper reservoir

- Check the preload on the bearings for the front axles, make sure to fill the front knuckles with grease when done; check back axles as well if needed.
 
Pics #1

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Woah! I'm going to have to come visit and see that in person :)
 
Hey guys!

Been a while since my last update. I am not doing one today, but just offering a glimpse after paint/body work is basically complete. I will be starting to put in the power train and wrap up the project this next month. I plan on doing a final write up and video showing of the vehicle running then if everything goes according to plan.

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Looking good! I don't remember if you mentioned it, but what are your plans for the interior? Are you going to build a sleeping platform?
 
Looking good! I don't remember if you mentioned it, but what are your plans for the interior? Are you going to build a sleeping platform?

Oh yes the interior has a full roll cage welded into the frame, full sleeping platform, ARB fridge, and a bunch more. I will do a video and final write up once it is done with allot of pictures and details.

I like to share so I can give back in case I have any ideas people could use for their builds. I have allot of people help me on here when I started out.
 
Hey guys,

It has been a while since my last update. I am in what is hopefully the final weeks to actually driving the Land Cruiser.

Allot has been done to the Land Cruiser since my last update, I will attempt to list most of the work.

My goal right now is to just get it driving this month and break in the vehicle. I decided, because of the extended time it took to complete the vehicle, that I will wait until probably April when spring starts to begin my journey. This will give me time to get the vehicle completely broken in. I have plans after it is running this month in the time I have between now and April to add a few additions to the vehicle. I plan on adding a roof top tent, water storage tank/filtration system, redesigned spare fuel tank, and redesign the interior sleeping platform.


Here is a general list of all the work completed up to this point since the last update:

- The entire engine has been assembled and mounted into the engine bay (reference pictures)

- The entire wiring harness has been constructed out of marine grade wire, heat shrink loom, 3M super 33 electrical tape, heat shrink ends, and heat shrink marine connectors.

- All the Autometer gauges on the dash have been installed (reference pictures)

- The marine stereo has been installed and is functioning

- The 3 optima (1 red top, 2 yellow tops) have been wired and installed (pictures included for reference).

- The ARB fridge has been installed and is functioning

- The electrical project with all of my rocker switches for my accessories has been installed

- Seat heaters for both the car seats

- Four HID Lightforce off-road lights on the front and the two off-road lights on the rear (reference pictures)

- Limb riser system

- 6 white rock lights in the interior and 2 green rocks light for night vision installed in the cabin area (reference pictures)

Here is what needs to be completed prior to the driving break in period:


- I need to reset the load on the front axles bearings prior to driving

- Install the invertor

- The metal window guards (reference picture) need to be sand blasted, powder coated satin black, and installed

- The side, sliding glass windows need to be installed and all windows, minus the windshield need to be tinted

- The entire exhaust will be stainless steel, I need to install the exhaust. I will be running an exhaust stack snorkel, like on the military vehicles (picture included for reference). I will cover the stainless exhaust coming out of the body with a stainless steel heat shroud (picture included for reference)

- Finish misc electrical, which is minimal at this point. I have a few switches, and wiring bugs to work out.

- The stereo is functioning, I just need to install the speaker boxes I am making. I bought some MDF board from a hardware store, cut holes for the speakers, polyurethane the box, and will be putting marine carpet to cover the boxes (picture included for reference).

- The autometer dash gauges are installed, but I need to finish installing some of the sensors to the engine bay for them.

- Aesthetically there are some paint and minor body tweaking I need to do. I need to wet sand the clear coat and recoat thicker spots of the bed liner in some parts of the vehicle.

- Finish mounting one of the headlights and put LEDS bulbs in the rear of the vehicle.

- Finish welding the rear bumper on

- Mount the fuel tank and run fuel line

- Mount the air compressor and air system

- Install the four point seat belt system

- Finish installing the winch system

- Finish install the glow plug system


There are some things I did not add that I completed and needs to be done, but this is just a general overview. Once it is running I plan on doing another overview with a video of it running. I figured I would do a quick update!

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Very nice!
 
Nice.. very nice. How many kilometres do you want on the vehicle prior to the big trip.. I'm thinking at least 1500klms to be sure that its all OK with a lot of visual inspections along the way..
 
Nice.. very nice. How many kilometres do you want on the vehicle prior to the big trip.. I'm thinking at least 1500klms to be sure that its all OK with a lot of visual inspections along the way..

Well I plan on doing oil changes the first 100, 250, 500 miles into the break in. I have a engine break in procedure I am going to follow. I need to head from Virginia to Florida to pick up my girlfriend this month. I would like to have at least 1,500 miles on the vehicle before even driving down to Florida.

I think before my trip I could have over 5,000 miles on the vehicle. Which would give me plenty of time to break it in.
 
Hey guys, it has been a while since my last update.

I have the vehicle basically finished. I had allot of "life" events happen, but I still managed to get the Land Cruiser built and running! The first drive was awesome!

I have several cosmetic things to work on out on it, cooling (I need to add a oil cooler with my turbo I believe), get a alignment, and break in the drive/power train.

I decided to take my touring motorcycle on my U.S/Alaska/Baja journey instead this summer/early fall. I estimate I need many months to break in the Land Cruiser and feel comfortable taking it in the middle of no where. I also really need to go on my journey no matter for personal reasons. This project was challenging, but with the help of others and not quitting, it was built. I can't wait to get back and button her up and break her.

Here are a few pics of the Land Cruiser and the touring bike I am taking.
 

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