HJ61 rebuild from Holland (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Threads
4
Messages
154
Location
The Netherlands
Hi guys,

If been on and off this forum, mostly viewing and using it on informational bases.
If got a HJ61, which I completely rebuild, during a 2 year project. Being away for work (floating somewhere offshore Rio de Janeiro) I have time to post some pics of the past 2 years. I plan on updating from time to time, as there is more to come.

A Land-cruiser is never finished....


This is my Cruiser shortly after I bought it.
Still, 2,5 years later, nameless...

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It's an imported original 24V HJ-61 from Finland. It was originally equipped with a PTO winch, but this was sold separately before I got a hand on the car.

Since I got it, i did the following major jobs:

- rebuild front axle with new birfields
- overhauled gearbox including a new 5th
- overhauled transfer case
- overhauled rear axle
- installed new clutch


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Rust on the bottom of the doors made me start the project. The plan was to thread each door, and prevent further rust from causing problems. I had a good look over the car when I bought it and in the back of my mind, I knew there was a lot more to come..


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Rust on the bottom of the doors was part 1 on of the project...

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Instead of the original, complicated shape of the metal, I decided to go the easier way.

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Found a rusty spot, in the middle of a door.. must have been a nasty dent form the past with a dodgy repair job
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Tag welded a new plate in. After two years I learned to start with a bit more of a gap in the plats I weld in like this.
But, in many ways, I learnt a lot by doing. In general, the right side of my cruiser is now the nicest, as I started most jobs on the left.... ;)

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Nasty spot on the door that needed attention
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Cleaned as good as possible and threated the inner panels with Brunnox rust inhibiter.
After this, I welded new metal in place. Since I'm offshore at the moment, I miss a few pics... (like the one with the end-result on this spot).
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By then, the plan was still to go door by door, panel by panel.
I live 5 minutes away from www.cruiserworld.eu and used some temporary replacement panels.
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Started to get all interior items out, as I found more and more items that needed attention (or new metal to be precise).
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From that moment on, I knew we're going all in.

To maintain some variation in the jobs, I started painting all the plastic items such a mirror's, grill etc.
I grinded it down using Skotch-brite, plastic primer, High gloss and then a semi gloss layer (high gloss for better adhesive, semi gloss for the final looks).

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Gently sanded the original white letters, and then taped it all. Results will come later.
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Started working on the fenders. In retrospect it would have been much, much easier to buy replacement ones.
But, I preferred to keep it somewhat low budget (didn't succeed on that overall..) and more important: try myself, and see where it ends.

Got most of the paint off, found quit a few spots with minor rust under the paint.
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Most of the arch was gone. I spent a sh*tload of time rebuilding them. Plaster was needed, but I can say I rebuild it myself!

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Original shape of the fender was still there, it was just as thin as aluminium foil...
needed replacement

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Made a lot of paper mock-ups
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The multicurved shape was a challenge, but I was keen on the results
 
Put the front panel and front fender back in place in order to drill the holes for the snorkel.

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Inside of the front fenders, and inner fenders painted in Brantho-Korrux
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Fenders being plastered!
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Time to split body and chassis

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Quit tricky on a two fingered ramp, especially as I had to jack it up on the crispy rear quaterpanels.
Check out the DIY crossmember where the spare wheel carrier used to be! They put in a piece of storage rack.
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Dropped the tank
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The tank didn't look too bad at first glance..
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But did have some crispy spots, underneath the mounting brackets. Decided to fix it with 2 component epoxy metal filled compound
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Painted black...

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Decided to make my own 'body cart' This way it was easy to get the boy off the ramp, as I rent the workshop together with a mate of mine.
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Happy with how it turned out. Allthough not planning on doing a 60 again, it will come in handy at some time.
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Focussed on the famous rear seat mount on the inner rear fender.
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Cleaned and painted the bulkhead. I reused all original brake lines, as they were still in mint condition. Just cleaned and repainted.
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In the meantime I had all bolts, nuts, washers, hinges, etc. etc. yellow zinc plated.
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Tank fill pipe had also holes in it, and not just at front and rear... had it welded up, test with water, rewelded and got it watertight after 3 times :D
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At that time I really got focused on getting all rust OUT!
The sills were not that bad, but needed replacement ;)
I decided to use 90x40x4mm square box profile.

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Cutting some mounts here and there to make it into a nice fit.
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How to end the sill was still a bit unclear at that moment
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Sorry, not all pic's are of the best quality..

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Found (again) a rust spot. Lucky my part supplier had a replacement part from a wrecker :)
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With a 2mm plate I made the connection between square box to the floor, at the same spot the original sill ended.
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First half fully welded in place.
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Rebuild the inner rear quater panel. The famous spot with tank fill pipe, and tank evaporation lines. it was gone almost completely.
Also the crossmemeber with body mount an a piece of floor was rebuild.

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Maybe difficult to see, bu here I weld up the wheel arch. By adding these plates I made it into a complete water tight square box. No more mud in those corners.

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Normally the rear body mounts can be accessed through a small cover. I decided to weld is shut, and drill a hole above the bolt.

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Lot's of hours spent on these corners. Most of the clean metal in the picture is new..

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Cleaned and lightly sanded the floor. 3 layers of Brantho-corrux.
I applied three layers on everything I painted, rusty spots pretreated with Brunox

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First two layers of black on the undercarriage
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Time to get it off to the paint-shop.
It took me a long time deciding whether or not to paint it myself. At this moment I was allready one year into the project, and I spent so many hours...
I knew I could do some metal work, but also knew I had no experience with doing a proper paintjob.

Being the eye-catcher, I decided to outsource is. I used a DTM based paint, semigloss industrial coating.

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I was overseas when It came back... Very very exiting to see it when I came home! So happy with the overal job the guy did. especially the rear quater panels turned out very nice! (allthough it took him a fair amount of time plastering it ;)
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Thnx guys,

As soon as the body came back I started spraying all hollow sections with Tectyl ML. I must have used over a dozen cans throughout the complete project.

Used rags and screwdrivers to prevent the wax coming out of all drainholes.

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As my old chassis was a piece of crap, I sourced s decent FJ62 automatic chassis over at Cruiserworld.

The chassis was very nice, but the motor mounts and transfer case brackets needed to be replaced.
Below a template I made to check position of the motormounts, in relation to 9,5mm hole. I put a drill in the hole and welded some metal parts together to get a good reference on the motor mount. After I cut it out of the old chassis, I could easily put the template on the new chassis, using the same hole and tack/weld the mount in place.


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For the tranmission mounts I decided it was safer to put the engine in for a trial fit

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Next up were the U-channels at the rear of the chassis. Allthough they were in decent shape, I had to get them out, and re-do it the propper way. On of the 60-series worst designs must have been those u-channels (or at least if you life in an area where rust is an issue).

I cut the rivets, and used square boxed profile.

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The ends I made like the original, with a small edge to it

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Tried to clean the chassis part as good as possible, using a sandblaster. I covered it in plastic and used the gun to clean it. It was a nasty job, dust all over the shop, but it was the only way with the tools I had at the time

Before: wirebrushed rust..
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After: clean bare metal
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Started the welding.

I left enough space for water to get out on the forward side.
A friend of mine is into a restauring a 60 at the moment, and he actually welded every single hoel in the chassis that is not in use. We want to fill up the complete chassis with oil, once finished.

I regret I haven't done the same. I really can't stand having sand and mud in the chassis now...

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Finished

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Used all the old rivet holes to spot weld.

Leaf spring bushed are also fully welded all around
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Then my eye caught the rear crossmember of the chassis. Again, Mr T. used a double C-channel....
So again I just had to get rid of it :bang::bang:

I started by just opening it up to have a look, and yes: There was rust :bang:.
It would have survived for years to come, but I'm in for the long haul on this one.
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So, I made temporary stiffeners, and picked op the angle grinder.
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