Jalmood's Build Thread: 1999 GCC Spec LC100 (1 Viewer)

[Jalmood]

Hello again, around end of June, 2024 I bought my 1999 GCC Spec (GX-R) LC 100 and had my first intro thread on IH8MUD. Since work has started on the car I thought of sharing a build thread to keep things somewhat documented and share the build's story.

I've been looking for an LC100 since last year. It's hard to find a "decent" LC100 for a reasonable price tag around here. So after months of searching and running around I finally found one that I was able to justify it's price relative to it's condition.

A 1999 (GX-R) 1FZ-FE Engine, manual transmission and rear lockers.

I confirmed engine and transmission health before purchase.

So I bought the car and Immediately drove it to a workshop whom happen to be my friends as well, here are some pics from when I first got it (Spoiler: Don't let the pictures fool you):
View attachment 3709549

View attachment 3709565
Headlights were replaced with 2006 model by previous owner

View attachment 3709567
View attachment 3709549View attachment 3709549

 

[Jalmood]

Some how I managed to upload the photos incorrectly, here we go again:

 

[Jalmood]

The goal of the build is to return it stock then see where I can go from there,
I bought the car knowing it had many issues and they were mostly under the car (the focus is on mechanical repairs):

• All suspension Bushings were dry, cracked, or worn out and had to be replaced. (literally all bushings)
• The arms' ball joints were toast, and had an improvised pin made of what looked like clothing hanger wires.
• All shock absorbers were blown.
• one of the rear spring bushings was so bad that I can move the spring out of place with a little push from my hand.
• Air conditioning wasn't doing so great. Previous owner also decided to hack off the rear AC lines for some reason.
• Starter Motor wasn't doing great as well, but previous owner kindly threw in a new starter motor in the deal.
• Power steering was non-existent. nonetheless, Previous owner also threw in a used power steering pump into our deal. (steering rack is in excellent condition)
• Front Drive shaft needed new boots.
• The LC had a "Sports" clutch which made shifting hell, definitely had to be thrown away as I have no need for it.
• The LC also has long head headers and a makeshift cut-out electric mid muffler. Also to be replaced with Stock exhaust systems as I love my torque.
• There is some rust on this LC, fortunately it's all surface rust.

 

[Jalmood]

First things first the Air Conditioning system:

We experience pretty harsh summers here with degrees going up to 48 deg Celsius (~118 F) and humidity hitting 70%. So believe me the first thing you want to fix is the A/C.

And the guys started checking the A/C system part by part.

Well most controls on the front Control Panel we're not working, the A/C worked on one mode only HI fan and that's it. "AC" button was not pressing in, resistor switches were rotating towards eternity and the air was neither cold or hot.

So the control panel was taken apart, and to our surprise someone decided to have paper tissues jammed behind the buttons in hopes of making it work. obviously that didn't work well:

so that was put aside until we sourced some new resistor switches and A/C buttons.


Existing compressor was on it's last breath so a new one was put in:

 

[Jalmood]

A couple of issues with the rear A/C system:

Rear A/C lines were hacked off and rear A/C switch was bust (suspect that was why previous owner decided he no longer needed rear A/C)

"new" rear A/C lines were installed under the car and connected to A/C unit in the back (Don't have photos of it at the moment)

the rear A/C unit was working just fine, blower was doing it's job and evap seemed to be ok from the visual inspections, however no air was coming through the vents.

the control panel switch was toast and the expansion valve was not expansion valving, so a new valve was installed:

After having a complete closed A/C system, the guys started pressure testing the system and with no surprise the front Evap was leaking, new Evap is on it's way:

Yes the LC is not lifted in the most orthodox method, but the lifter was not working and the guys had to improvise!

 

[Jalmood]

Next was the power steering system, for starters we knew we had to replace the power steering pump. The previous owner kindly threw in a used power steering pump as he was going to install it before deciding to sell the LC to me.

so the guys at the workshop took the pump apart and thankfully it checked out and only needed a rebuild kit.

Pump was rebuilt and installed. steering rack was checked and was working fine. And with the magic of hydraulics, power steering was alive and running smooth!

 

[Jalmood]

Parallelly the guys at the workshop were working on all things mechanical under the LC.

Transmission and transfer case were taken out:

And with no surprise we found the "Sports" clutch with it's light weight flywheel.

of course the only sane thing to do was to replace them with Toyota's stock parts:

The transfer case has definitely seen better days, the transfer switches were non-existent, new ones are on the ways. fingers crossed transfer case has no issues.

side note, some might be wondering why it had the "Sports" Clutch and flywheel in the first place. Well, the LC100 is one of the most beloved and popular cars around here. Many used it for purposes other than off-roading uses, such as street racing and drifting. Others just adored the 1FZ engine's sound. So the light weight flywheel gives you higher revs and match that with an exhaust system, you get some freaky JDM tones.

Anyways these modifications on the LC meant it had a rough past life. But no worries it's being reborn now.

 

[Jalmood]

All suspension bushing on the LC have been replaced or are being replaced

Some of the old bushings that have already been replaced and the old track bar:

new track bar installed:

old blown shock absorbers:

new OEM shock absorbers installed:

new stock front drive shaft boots installed:

 

[Jalmood]

rebuilding steering knuckles:

photo of front new axle boots and new flywheel installed on the LC:

we know it's still looking crusty under there, but it's work in progress. we're happy with the progress so far.

there's still a good amount of work to be done, will be back to update soon on the suspension job.

 

[Jalmood]

Last Saturday I passed by the local LC scrap yard,

I picked up stock headers, stock front exhaust pipe and a shift lever. unfortunately couldn't find any stock mufflers.

Thank you donor LC:

salvaged shift lever:

retired LC80:

 

[excessive]

wow. thanks for posting those LC graveyard pics. Amazing to see that

 

[Mike NXP]

This is awsome, geez the world of land cruisers in your part of the planet is so freaking cool......For some reason I am also intrigued most by the LC graveyard lol . I wonder what kills these rigs out your way

Keep up the refresh work, looks great.

 

[Jalmood]

It's been two weeks since my last update on the build, lots of exciting updates!

Work continued on the LC100:

• Rear suspension refresh
• Rear axles got a refresh
• rear drum brakes rebuilt

• 

 

[Jalmood]

Salvaged shift lever from scrap yard has been installed and is looking good

 

[Jalmood]

New condenser installed however the AC still need a few repairs,
Previous owner just decided to rewire the entire AC system all the way from the control panel to the AC harness.
The compressor is hardwired to be on 24/7, so it's been a nightmare to undo all the bad wiring the previous owner had.
Good news is the AC system is now working well with no leaks, the guys are still fixing the wiring.

New AC buttons soldered on the control panel:

First AC test, it reached somewhere around 0 deg C eventually:

 

[Jalmood]

The Exhaust system is finally back to stock

"Sports" exhaust headers out and new headers in
here is what the sports long head headers looked like:

Had another visit to the scrap yard last Saturday and finally found the mid-muffler:

Salvaged the muffler from a 05' LC100:

Car is super quite now!

 

[Jalmood]

I had my first test drive of the Cruiser last Tuesday, and man the stock suspension reminded me why it is called a LAND CRUISER it was just super smooth on the road, can't wait it go off-road this winter!

I'm still having some issues with shifting, the slave clutch cylinder was replaced but the the gears grind shifting into 3rd & 4th gear and it had me fighting it putting it into reverse. I had to pump the clutch twice before shifting into gear to avoid gear grind. Master clutch cylinder needs to be replaced so we ordered a new one and it's on way but the car for now can be safely driven!

the Cruiser's registration is about to expire so I'm taking it for inspection this Saturday. Had to change the existing balloon tires for it to pass inspection, and I went for all-terrain tires.

Was hoping to find some 275/75/R16s or 285/70/R16, however the tire market here can be weird. For some reason it is impossible to find R16 tires.

So I went for the closest size I can find which were the Kumho 265/75/R16 Road Venture AT51s, which are branded as Marshal here.

I was afraid the 265s would look tiny on the Cruiser (of course I did my research on IH8MUD before pulling the trigger), but they look pretty good IMO:

 

[Wadepat2]

My gearbox was doing the same. Change oil to gl4 synthetic and it should shift much better.

I like the Redline brand MT-90 but any GL4 will be good. Just don't get GL5

 

[Jalmood]

My gearbox was doing the same. Change oil to gl4 synthetic and it should shift much better.

I like the Redline brand MT-90 but any GL4 will be good. Just don't get GL5

Thanks for the suggestion!

Will definitely try the synthetic oil, I already ordered the new Master clutch cylinder I'm just changing as many parts to new to eliminate as much issues as I can

 

[Jalmood]

So I took the car for Inspection today and it failed. Good news is, it failed because of a bad wipers, allegedly "loose" tail lights, and a sound from the steering rack.
Well Yeah the wipers rubbers aren't the best after all the sun bathing they got, but their functional enough to clear a window, it's not like we get much rain here .
Tail lights were no where near loose IMO, they're solidly screwed into place.
The steering rack sound is minor and power steering is working fine with no leaks at all. I tried to get by with a free used steering pump but apparently nothing is free, will just get a new and get done with it.

All things aside, no harm done in trying to pass the inspection.

However, ironically harm happened as I left the inspection. I parked the car outside of the inspection building to grab some papers from the inspection engineer. As I hopped in the cruiser and got ready to leave, the Cruiser had another surprise for me. As I turned the ignition on, the car started to shake and some vibration noises came out of the hood. A bystander pointed out there was "some" water under the car, I immediately shut-off the engine and stepped out of the cruiser. And yup there was huge puddle of radiator coolant enjoying the asphalt:

I opened the hood and turns out the radiator hose clamp decided to fail, good thing it waited until after inspection. After some further inspection we found that some silicone was applied some time ago as a further "safeguard" for the clamp, well that didn't work out well obviously:

(engine head was painted blue by previous owner)

Will have another go at inspection after two weeks, by then I would have things fixed.

on a side note, I'm loving the new tires they were pretty smooth on the road with virtually no rubber sounds. Glad that the new tires worked out.