Intro & LJ71 Project (1 Viewer)

[clintnz]

Edit: Currently putting in a few more old pics & notes to make this a more complete build thread. Not much action anymore over at the NZ site where I had my original build thread. Some stuff might not be strictly in the right order.

May 2006
G'day all, just got signed up. I've been 4x4ing for a while now in an 'ol SJ413 Suzuki that has had a few mods here & there including a 4A-GE Toyota engine swap. The old zuk was getting a bit tired after doing a lot of hard yards however...

so it was time for a new project. I got a stock 1990 LJ71 Landcruiser Prado SX5 EFI Turbo Diesel.

I decided on the Prado 'cos its not too big, has beam axles, coils, disc brakes all round & has a pto option. I found it on Trademe, 190K km & in pretty good nick, apart from 2 patches of rust under the rear lights. My good mate Damian down in Welly checked it over for me & the deal was done. Got it for $5K & headed down soon after to pick her up.

Within a month or 2 she was rollin on some 33" Sumitomos & I had had trimmed the rusty rear corners up & made a rear bar.

Then this arrived in the workshop...

Original Build thread here:
Clints Cruiser Project - Offroad-Express

Cheers
Clint

 

[Tapage]

seems to be a nice proyect ..

 

[clintnz]

The mighty 1UZ-FE Lexus V8 - 4.0L 32 valve, quad cam, EFI. My mate Mike had done several swaps with this motor into 4wds & he was going to be the brains behind the conversion.

Running up on the 'test rig'

Custom flywheel according to Mike's template:

Then, in an epic long weekend:

Thursday 1600. After checking that there are adequate stocks of essential workshop consumables the wrecking team of Eamon, Dan & Klem take to the Cruiser with great enthusiasm & a selection of dangerous powertools to extract the boatanchor 2LTE. Mike puts the finishing touches on the bellhousing & flywheel. We are using the existing R150F gearbox, mated to the modified lexus bellhousing via an adapter plate.

Thursday 1900. The plasma cutter & angle grinder are deployed on the old engine mounts. The dummy block is installed, clearances look good, just a couple of taps to the firewall are required to clear the head on one side. The supercharger should fit under the hood nicely.

Just kidding about the blower, that’s actually for another project. Maybe one day.

Friday 0800. The block is positioned & engine mounts are fabricated. The fuel pump is installed. Pricey fabricates the modified thrust bearing. The big bore manifolds are finished off.

Friday 1400. The new motor goes in. The sump will need modifying but otherwise it fits well. Hoses & wires are connected. Klem gets into the exhaust - twin 2 ½" sidepipes.

Friday 1900. Pizza 'o clock.

Saturday 0830. The laptop is jacked into the workshop stereo & the Hard Fast & Heavy playlist cranked up. Klem continues with the exhaust & makes up the front mounts for the upcoming side bars while at it. Mike modifies the radiator & shroud to fit. I extract the redundant wiring & mount the ECU high up in under the dash where the original injector pump controller was. More wiring is sorted.

Saturday 1100. Man that tastes good. Beer, Rock 'n Roll & Powertools for Africa. What more could a workshop need?

Dancing Naked Chicks?

Well, yeah Mike I can't argue with that.

Saturday 1445. The motor runs for the first time in it's new home. One major issue still to sort out though: the side of the sump is sitting on the front diff. Mike attacks a sump with the grinder & TIG & completes a precision cut & shut. All the engine bay peripherals go back in to their original positions. The grille & front trim go back on.

Saturday 1900. New sump on. All electrical systems go. The exhausts are completed & sound positively symphonic. We're starting to make a dent in the bourbon by this stage however so a test drive is postponed.

Sunday 1700. Had to go & fang around the new Taupo racetrack on the KTM all day so not much done 'til the afternoon. Mike bled the clutch & I got the command to go forth & test drive. Wooo Hooo! It pulls like a schoolboy & everything works sweet! There isn't much left to do on the conversion, a set of sparkplugs, tune up the ECU, Fit #2 throttle body & linkage, tidy some wiring & fit some of the little covers back on. A bit more muffling might be needed but I think I'll enjoy the glorious noise for a week or two first

All in all a hugely successful Monster Build weekend. Massive thanks are due to the team, especially the masters of metal & wizards of the welder Mike & Klem

Next up is side bars:

Klem had put in a plate for the front mount while he was doing the exhaust .

I made up a rear mount & Mike migged it on:

Strong enough to jack off.

Winch mount & bullbar construction commenced. Got a std Toyota PTO winch + driveshafts & an Australian made Winch Industries PTO box.

I had to make up a bracket to mount the rear of the winch to the front x-member, move the lower radiator hose to the other side & put a notch in the bottom of the radiator to fit the PTO shaft through. There was already a factory notch in the x-member.
As the pto driveshaft was for a cruiser with the std 'porch' out the front I had to shorten the driveshaft a fair bit. The driveshaft mounting brackets were welded onto the chassis, one had to be modified slightly to fit. I also had to make up a flange to attach the shaft to the keyed shaft on the winch industries pto box.

I had the remains of the PTO selector lever mechanism that we had butchered up to put on Klem's comp truck, so I made up a new bracket & linkage with some of those bits & weka'd the 4wd lever off the FJ40 parts wreck. The previous owner had had a PTO setup in it but had removed so I cut a slot in his blanking plate for the lever & made up a catch to prevent inadvertent operation.

A bit more progress has been made, the bar is done & the winch is all go:

Further details:

Clints Cruiser Project - Page 2 - Offroad-Express

The crappy electric hubs have stopped working for good so next up I'm swapping in some hilux hub assemblies to get 4wd back.

Cheers
Clint

 

[knorrena]

Holly crap. I just went through your write up on swapping in a lexus. Holy crap. Stunning work. Kudos to you man. Could we get a pic of the engine bay in the sunlight? Once again, holy crap.

Karl

 

[clintnz]

Got the manual hubs swapped in, took plenty of pics to help out anyone else that is replacing dodgy electric hubs.

The stock electric hubs fitted to the LJ71, & several other Cruisers, are crap & if you've got some that actually work, enjoy them while they last cos it wont be long before they give up the ghost if you are actually using the vehicle for it's intended purpose. At least carry the right torx bit & driver so you can take off the cover & manually engage them in an emergency.

Fitting manual hubs involves a bit more than just buying a set & bolting them on however so I thought I'd note down what I did to assist others. If you've got the skills & tools to adjust your front wheel bearings, you're well capable of doing this job.

The problem with the electric hubs is that the wheel hub is shorter, so there is no room behind a free wheeling hub for the locknut assembly. Fitting a spacer is possible but not very strong. One solution, developed by Oldblue, is to fit a sealed manual drive to the outside of the electric hub - operated by an allen key. The solution I decided on was to use some Hilux parts & fit standard Hilux Aisin hubs.

Hilux hub on left, cruiser on right.

Parts Required:

Wheel Hubs from a beam axle Hilux, free wheeling hubs of your choice, wheel bearing lockrings & nuts, front spindles (optional), sealant, Loctite.

I picked up a whole front axle assembly off Trademe for $200. Mine was mid 80's vintage but as far as I know all beam axle Hilux's have the same parts. Look for one with the factory Aisin free wheeling hubs, they're pretty strong & don't stick out too far. Get something steel rather than aluminium at any rate. If you've got any bearings, seals etc in the front or in your donor hub that need doing, obviously now is the time for that also.

Tools Required:

The only tools needed that some may not have are a couple of Torx bits; #20 & #40. The best thing I've found for the circlips on the axles is the cheap interchangeable head circlip pliers which come with a head with a couple of 'paddles'. You can use a screwdriver or 2 but flicking the clip across the workshop into a pile of junk never to be seen again is a PITA at times.

Procedure:

Put the vehicle up on axlestands & remove the wheels. Unbolt the brake calipers & tie them up out of the way.

Unbolt the old electric hubs, take off the circlip, remove, then undo the lockring & take off the wheel bearing nut. Fish out the outer bearing race. With a bit of wiggling the hub should pull off.

The old Hilux disc will most likely be solid, the Prado brakes are vented. You need to remove the disc from your old hub. The studs go through the disc & press into the hub. To remove the studs find an old wheelnut you don't like to thread onto the studs before you bash them out with a FBH. Some discs also have a couple of bolts holding them on. Put your original discs on your new hub & press or FBH the studs back in.

As far as I could tell the original hub spindles would work with the new hubs. However I decided that the Prado spindles with the conductors for the hub drive running up the centre & the extra slots in the end for the brushes, didn't look as strong as the Hilux ones I had on hand. I took off the brake backing plate & original spindles, cutting off the wires that feed into the spindle. I took out the axles while I was there & packed some fresh grease into the CV's & all around. A healthy dollop of RTV was required to bung up the hole where the wires went in, & also a smear of sealant around where the spindle bolts on.

Then It's a simple reassembly job using the new bits, greasing as we go, & checking the condition of any old bearings & seals that are going back in.

After setting the wheel bearing preload I locked the nuts with some screw-on type lock rings that I had, but the hilux bend-the-tab type could be used, or the original screw-on lock rings could be cut down & made to fit.

Then it's on with the manual hubs, making sure they are all lubed & driving in out freely. Don't forget that outer circlip. Use Locktite on all the free wheeling hub bolts & torque them up firmly, they're buggers of things for coming loose. Check them again after your first 4wdriving session on them too.

Put the calipers & wheels back on, pump the brakes up in case the calipers got opened up a bit during removal & you're good to go.

Originally posted on:
Clints Cruiser Project - Page 2 - Offroad-Express

Cheers
Clint

 

[clintnz]

Built a skidplate/t-case guard over the weekend.

I'll get some more pics of that engine for ya tonight too.

Cheers
Clint

 

[waydownunder80]

Holly crap. I just went through your write up on swapping in a lexus. Holy crap. Stunning work. Kudos to you man. Could we get a pic of the engine bay in the sunlight? Once again, holy crap.

Karl

holy crap awlright i live in the same town and have never seen this truk, have to open myeyes sweet conversion man, mike is the man when it comes to V8 lexus`s

 

[clintnz]

Had some some new springs & shocks arrive before xmas. Jacked 'er up & whipped out the old stuff, only to discover that the front springs (40mm lift Toughdog from Genie 4x4) were different. Fortunately there were some springs in the junk pile outside the workshop that looked about right, so for want of a better idea we chucked them in. Mike thought they might have been out of an old Falcon.

There's not much available for the LJ71 in the way of shocks so the new front shocks from 4wd stuff, Rancho RS99157 IIRC, had to be adapted to fit. I pressed the sleeve out of the top of the old shocks, reamed out the bush on the Ranchos & pressed the sleeve in. They were slightly longer compressed so I packed the bumpstops down 16mm to stop them bottoming, this was needed to keep the tyres off the guards anyway

The rear springs went in sweet, but the rear shocks, RS99157 again, are probably a little bit long as I had to pack the bumpstop down 40mm & the spring is going loose under full droop, I'm going to look into moving the mounts a bit to get more travel.

Given she was a bit saggy before, especially in the front, this has brought her up 50-60mm, & shes sitting fairly level front-back so far.

Test drive: Schweet! the ride before was pretty crap for a coil sprung wagon, it's much more like it should be now. the adjustable Ranchos are great. The difference between #3 & #5 is quite noticeable & when set stiff they compensate well for the now taller, more softly sprung vehicle in terms of on road handling. I think I need some caster correction now but only a little bit.

...then did a coupla thousand k's of touring down south to test it out.

Cheers
Clint

 

[clintnz]

Our recent holiday showed up what a jumble everything can become in the back of the wagon after a few days touring so I decided I need some drawers in the back to keep things organised. A bit of web surfing revealed a heap of different Ozzy brands of these & I got a few good ideas from their various websites.

I'm building the storage boxes out of 13mm Armourblack high density MDF - It's a product Laminex made a few years ago & is a lot tougher & more water resistant than normal MDF. HD3 was the normal coloured version which was still being made, but since the mill burned down last year it might not be available anywhere but the 2nds pile in the back corner of our warehouse!

I thought easy access to things like tools & strops & shackles might be required so I designed a setup with some ~ 250 deep compartments along behind the seats - this will also accomodate one of those little car fridges & maybe a 2nd battery & inverter. This bolts down onto the original back seat mounting holes. I still have to add lids & maybe some brackets on the front to hold a rifle.

Behind that are 2 boxes, 750 x 510 x 280. This height is so I can fit my little chainsaw in the drawers & is still low enough that someone can sit on top. The idea is that none, one or both boxes can be used depending on what else is being carried. They'll be bolted through to the front box & bolted down to the rear seatbelt mounting points.

Next was adding some hinged panels either side so there is a full width deck.

And some carpet - big thanks to Central Trim & Upholstery who are conveniently located right next door to the Monster garage.

Building the drawers to go inside the boxes got postponed after I found some perfectly sized cheap plastic bins that fit in 2 per side.


Clints Cruiser Project - Page 3 - Offroad-Express


Cheers
Clint

 

[crushers]

Clint,
i just read your entire report...damn boy, nice job!!
congrates

 

[clintnz]

Thanks Wayne, I'm really pleased with the way it's been coming together.

Cheers
Clint

 

[clintnz]

Got the snorkle/lightbar & airboxes done:

Cheers
Clint

 

[prado t]

thats a common color same as mine but a 4 door good work . how is the stock driveline holding up?
aaron

 

[clintnz]

thats a common color same as mine but a 4 door good work . how is the stock driveline holding up?
aaron

Funny you should ask, I just blew a back diff in the weekend, but I know several other guys running similar hp through toy 8" diffs with no problems, It's usually front CV's that feel the pain. I'm going to rebuild the old chunk with shimmed pinion bearings & an air locker & see how it goes.

If I have more issues I might swap in an HD Cruiser rear end & Nissan GQ front.

Hopefully it'll be getting repainted army green before too long, the brown on brown colour doesn't really thrill me.

Cheers
Clint

 

[prado t]

I see about the rear end well theres alot of power you have, the high pinion front should last exept for the birfields ,chromoly logfields should hold up.
ps in the dodge i keep blowing up the dana 70 it gets costly
aaron

 

[lowenbrau]

Got the snorkle/lightbar & airboxes done:

See the above link for more details.

Cheers
Clint

This is an interesting setup. I can see the evolution to an exocage/snorkel combo.

 

[sajidd]

Got the snorkle/lightbar & airboxes done:

See the above link for more details.

Cheers
Clint

Can you pls post few more pictures and information on this very interesting set up? perhaps few technical drawings?

Regards
Sajid

 

[clintnz]

Can you pls post few more pictures and information on this very interesting set up? perhaps few technical drawings?

Regards
Sajid

I haven't got any other pics on file, I'll take a few this weekend if I can & post 'em up next week for you. There are no drawings sorry - we designed them as we built them We do a lot of driving on overgrown tracks & the steel snorkles have proven to be great for that - they take plenty of knocks & the lack of a big scoop means they don't catch on everything.

Work on the Cruiser has come to a bit of a stop since I moved away from the Monster Garage last year, but hopefully I'll be buying a place with a big workshop in the next few months & the mods can begin again.
I blew a front diff the other day, I've got a complete Nissan GQ front axle to solve that that problem, now I just need to get a full floater, disc braked, 10" toyota setup for the rear, & an HD axle swap will be the first job in the new shed

Cheers
Clint

 

[roscoFJ73]

I blew a front diff the other day, I've got a complete Nissan GQ front axle to solve that that problem, now I just need to get a full floater, disc braked, 10" toyota setup for the rear, & an HD axle swap will be the first job in the new shed

Cheers
Clint

Why dont you just get a FF Nissan 10 inch rear to suit the front,its what a lot of the comp guys do.

I dont think there is a 10in toyota rear unless you can get one off a Dyna and they are centred

 

[hoser]

The '07+ Tundra is available with a 10.5" rear diff but it is also centered.