HJ47 welcome here? (1 Viewer)

[Henry James the 47th]

Next set - the corner of the valance took a little fiddling, and the result isn't exactly perfect, and it will do for now.

not enough time to do the floor - just getting that center section out was a bit of a battle.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

last set

 

[Henry James the 47th]

last one. The rocker support pieces are finally back in place. I think I got them in the right way around, but I wasn't sure at all.

Day ended with the cab back on the chassis, with the upper cab section attached. Threw a couple of tarps on, and walked off.

...now the withdrawal can begin as vacation starts Well, I'm sure i'll be just fine kicking back for the first week or so.

 

[65-fj45]

Very nice work, I look forward to reading this daily.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

hey there 66-fj45,
well, glad you enjoy the write up. You'll have to wait for the daily updates however, as I am away until Sept 7th and nothing will be posted, picture-wise, until i get back.

I'm aiming to get this truck on the road by the end of October (gulp!)

 

[Henry James the 47th]

All right, the break is over and I'm back into Landcruiser world (just as the bank account was starting to look good...)

While I was away, I got a hold of some new parts, including:

-wheel spacers from CCOT
-day/night type interior mirror, complete
-clutch master and an accelerator cable

 

[Henry James the 47th]

... a new spare tire winch from CCOT. My old one was seized and had bent up intenals, so I took the $100 plunge on the new part

 

[Henry James the 47th]

..the remaining license plate lamp, so now that component in complete

 

[Henry James the 47th]

..after getting the wrong part initially (from SOR), I was able to locate the correct windshield washer pump motor from an Australian supplier. I needed to separate the washer bottle from the overflow tank to get at the position needed to drive the attachment screws, and then used a dab of dielectric grease to ease the connection of the motor to the tank.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

For some odd reason Toyota uses non-cad-plated bolts to put the washer bottle and overflow tank together, so I took the opportunity to replace the bolts with cad-plated ones

 

[Henry James the 47th]

...here's the new Toyota ignition barrel and key set, for the 1980~81 BJ60, which has the glow-plug 'G' position I wanted. This had to come also from Australia as it was unobtainium in N. America

 

[Henry James the 47th]

...some minor plugs from SOR and an engine hours meter from JC Whitney. I'll need to put a 2" hole in the dash to mount it. I also acquired a warning light unit off of Ebay ,which combines the 'filter' warning with the 'brake' warning light (eliminating the 'seat belt' light), so I don't need to cut a hole in the dash for the filter warning. I'll post a pic of that warning light combo unit when it arrives. I've also got a set of new Toyota door locks coming from Australia.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

And then I traipsed on down to the local OK Tire outlet and picked up a couple of tires. I selected, after careful consideration, some Toyo M55's, in a 235/85/R16 size, which works out to a 32" overall diameter. These are 10-ply tires with reinforced sidewall, and are designed to perform well in snow and have good traction. I considered the more off-road oriented M/T units from Toyo, which look really cool, but this is a work truck and will spend most of it's life on the asphalt.

The new wheel spacers were a little thinner than I was hoping, and I needed to remove a little more metal from the side of the 4Runner calipers to achieve a interference-free fit. After the grinding was over, I repainted the calipers, and installed them with ceramic pads.

It was so sweet to get the truck back down onto the ground again, at least at the back. When I've finished re-doing and installed the front diff., and the front brake dust shields have arrived (on their way from Japan presently) and are put on, I can go ahead with getting the front tires. When it's all down on the rubber at last (maybe by the end of this month?), then I can look at putting the engine back in.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

last one

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Jeez that was a long break from your cruiser.

I hope seeing it like that makes you as pumped as it does me. Especially since by my calculations, in less than two months I should be starting to order parts for mine.

Out of curiosity, where have you been getting parts from AU from? For my Hilux (er, Hilux-clone, sort of) I used Castle Hill Toyota with great success, but I haven't yet tried them for cruiser parts.

Looks fantastic! I like the tires. Not only do they look "right" for a working cruiser, but 10 plys rules. The old Dodges have 10 ply tires, and they are probably the only tires I've never seen a nail poke through.

Dan

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Hey Dan,

I've been getting a lot of parts from David Porter at 4wdparts.com.au. I came across them when I bought some aftermarket parts, and then found that they were happy to locate oem stuff as well. They're honest and give excellent service, and communicate well.

I discovered today that the Toyo M/T tires were also 10 ply and considered them anew, but, given the reality that 95% of the miles I will do with the truck are going to be on the pavement, I think I made the right choice with the M55's for my situation.

Tire size was one of the main things I wrestled with in the decision process. I was looking for the 'rubber overdrive' effect, but didn't want to push the tires too big or I'd run into issues with the engine struggling too much to roll them. I mean, at 103 h.p./177ft.lbs, , the 2H isn't exactly a powerhouse, and I've come across enough accounts of sluggish performance with oversize tires and diesels (yah, I know, go turbo...). I felt that 32" was a good compromise, though time and miles will tell.

Also, these M55's are durable tires from all that I have been able to learn, and that was confirmed again today by the guy at the tire shop. Around here, with all the logging roads and forest industry business (Vancouver Island is pretty close to moonscape in many areas unfortunately), there is plenty of real-world brutalizing of tires going on and a lot of experience to draw from. Another factor in the choice was that 235's are one of the most common tire sizes out there for trucks, so I'll have no problem getting a spare if I were to trash a couple of tires in some out of the way locale.

And finally, well, this may seem silly but, Toyo tires from Japan - -they just seem perfect, based on name-similarity alone, to go on a Toyota from Japan.

The Sino-Japanese character read 'Toyo' by the way, means 'luxuriant', or 'abundant'

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Well, as a result of my long flight home, jet-lag etc, I have now come down with a cold, my first in a couple of years.

I managed to do a little futzing around on the truck today, and thought I'd share the few pictures I took.

first, a did a bit more excavation on the floor pan, exposing the mounting for one of the seat belts under the sheet metal, pic. 2,, yet another mod required in the RHD~LHD conversion. In the 3rd pic, I have removed the mounting plates from the large sectioned piece, which I will soon media blast and refit to the new sheet patch piece.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

then I took the front sheet metal off the truck, and pulled the pto winching drum off to start in on the remaining work necessary to mount it cleanly to the bumper.

I started feeling bagged at that point, so I came home and began work on the computer to draw a new customized wiring diagramme for the truck, since I am blending 60 series and 40 series stuff on the dash. I have a nice (and inexpensive) 2D drafting software called MacDraft which is excellent for these sorts of things. When I'm done, I'll post up a PDF of the diagramme.

Anyone have a picture of a Toyota in-line diode? I need to get one for the sedimenter circuit.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

It looks like I need to source another 60 series fuse panel, as the one I have is in poor condition. There's a couple to choose from at the wrecking yard, and I think, IIRC, one of them had the new style color-coded fuses instead of the glass cylinder type, which would perhaps be an improvement (?).

I'll also need to fab up some sort of mounting solution for the relay cluster out of the 60 series - I think it can be tucked in up and to the left of the pedal box.

 

[ColoCruiserJeff]

This has been quite a build! Looking great! I'd certainly be interested in seeing a diagram of the wiring (as I'll be doing a similar build).

Very Cool!!