HJ61 rebuild from Holland

[Jentuh]

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...

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

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..

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

 

[Jentuh]

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

Found a rusty spot, in the middle of a door.. must have been a nasty dent form the past with a dodgy repair job

 

[Jentuh]

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....

Nasty spot on the door that needed attention

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).

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.

Started to get all interior items out, as I found more and more items that needed attention (or new metal to be precise).

 

[Jentuh]

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).

Gently sanded the original white letters, and then taped it all. Results will come later.

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.

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!

 

[Jentuh]

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

Made a lot of paper mock-ups

The multicurved shape was a challenge, but I was keen on the results

 

[Jentuh]

Front end was rusty around the body mounts, so I recreated the metal work

Painted all with Brantho-Korrux

 

[Jentuh]

Put the front panel and front fender back in place in order to drill the holes for the snorkel.

Inside of the front fenders, and inner fenders painted in Brantho-Korrux

Fenders being plastered!

 

[Jentuh]

Time to split body and chassis

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.

Dropped the tank

The tank didn't look too bad at first glance..

But did have some crispy spots, underneath the mounting brackets. Decided to fix it with 2 component epoxy metal filled compound

 

[Jentuh]

Painted black...

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.

Happy with how it turned out. Allthough not planning on doing a 60 again, it will come in handy at some time.

Focussed on the famous rear seat mount on the inner rear fender.

 

[Jentuh]

Cleaned and painted the bulkhead. I reused all original brake lines, as they were still in mint condition. Just cleaned and repainted.

In the meantime I had all bolts, nuts, washers, hinges, etc. etc. yellow zinc plated.

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

 

[Jentuh]

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.

Cutting some mounts here and there to make it into a nice fit.

How to end the sill was still a bit unclear at that moment

 

[Jentuh]

Sorry, not all pic's are of the best quality..

Found (again) a rust spot. Lucky my part supplier had a replacement part from a wrecker

With a 2mm plate I made the connection between square box to the floor, at the same spot the original sill ended.

First half fully welded in place.

 

[Jentuh]

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.

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.

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.

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

 

[Jentuh]

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

First two layers of black on the undercarriage

 

[Jentuh]

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.

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

 

[Matty f]

Wow. Looks like it will be one very nice truck when finished.
Thanks for posting the pics and write ups

 

[HoJo 61]

Quite a project right there!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jentuh]

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.

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.

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

 

[Jentuh]

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.

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

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..

After: clean bare metal

 

[Jentuh]

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...

Finished

Used all the old rivet holes to spot weld.

Leaf spring bushed are also fully welded all around

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

I started by just opening it up to have a look, and yes: There was rust .
It would have survived for years to come, but I'm in for the long haul on this one.

So, I made temporary stiffeners, and picked op the angle grinder.