Builds 'Little Yellowy' 1982 BJ42 LX build

[FJBen]

Yeah that's the same theory I had. I didnt understand the higher voltage, slower heat up part though.

That would explaine why I never saw the glow coil light up. I had probably glowed it for 20 seconds MAX at the longest attempt and the coil didnt change a bit.
On your theory if I had glowed it for 30 - 40 seconds plus maybe the coil would have lit up.

After 15 seconds now that indicator is lit up like a fireball and it fires up instantly.

Thanks for your help!

Correct, if you would have glowed it for 40 seconds or more, you probably would have seen it light up. Glad to see it working right.

You are welcome, great looking cruiser!

 

[tlaporte]

After 15 seconds now that indicator is lit up like a fireball and it fires up instantly.

Thanks for your help!

I've heard that it wasn't uncommon, particularly on JDM trucks, to see the screen in front of the coil cut out so that the coil could be used as a cigarette lighter.

 

[DirtDauberGarage]

You can't blame the cat for admiring the LC. He has good taste!

He's probably hoping you will put a "Cat" in it ...

Land Cruiser with a Caterpillar 10.4 L Turbo V8 – Engine Swap Depot

Congrats and good luck with the build!!!

MM

 

[plink01]

I've heard that it wasn't uncommon, particularly on JDM trucks, to see the screen in front of the coil cut out so that the coil could be used as a cigarette lighter.

I was watching it glow today and I have no doubt that is possible. It looks like if I held it long enough it would turn molten!

 

[plink01]

You can't blame the cat for admiring the LC. He has good taste!

He's probably hoping you will put a "Cat" in it ...

Land Cruiser with a Caterpillar 10.4 L Turbo V8 – Engine Swap Depot

Congrats and good luck with the build!!!

MM

Haha no stupid engine swaps! I have a small block chevy in my 75 series and it was way too much of a hassle. This one is to stay as Toyota as possible.
I have a tiny update in the next day or so, I need to fire up the computer and put some photos on. Thats pretty much all my computer is used for, uploading photos and printing my camping checklist. I have no idea why I dropped $800 on it!

 

[plink01]

Ok sorry this has taken so long, I actually don't have that much to update though.

I'm sort of in a holding pattern at the moment. I'm about to move to the country, so I need to make sure I don't do any mod's that stop me from driving this thing, coz I have to drive it 4 hours up the road and I can't afford for it to s*** itself!

But I have done some things, and I'm pretty proud with how they went!

I had tons of old wiring from the previous owner, and I wanted it all out so I can start from scratch.
I have been mucking around with cars since I was 18 and man I've made a ton of mistakes!

But after all my mistakes I think I now have a pretty good grasp of 12v electrics and this is gonna be my most pro'est one yet.

I spent an entire afternoon ripping all this s*** out.

90% of it I worked out was irrelevant. I lost two hours to trying to work out why my clock and cigarette lighter no longer worked. But it was due to previous owners bad wiring and I fixed that up. I still threw a massive tantrum though!

All the other s*** wiring would have been old spot light and fog light wiring. But there was still a lot of unknown stuff. I had never seen relays that old. But I nutted them out.

BUT, there we're two really strange things:

First was the car had a push start button. The push start would turn the starter motor over but it wouldn't fire. The key start started the car perfectly and glows it perfectly when I turn it backwards, so I have no idea what the push start was for. So I ripped it out. The car still starts fine. I'm still unsure why that existed.

I had a Toyota Hiace van and the ignition barrel had s*** itself, and would turn the starter motor on while I was driving. I went through 2 starter motors before I worked out what was wrong, we put in a push button start and it worked awesome. But the 42's barrel is still super tight, I'm not sure what it was for but its running super good without it.

Secondly the car had this massive diode wired straight from the alternator. It was a 'Lucas 4bd Blocking Diode.' I have done a heap of searching online about what it could have done and the only explanation I could come up with was it maybe had something to do with an old school solar set up.

I understand the role of a diode, but I have no idea what role it would have played in a BJ 42!

So I ****ed it off. If anyone has any idea what the role it may have performed it would be super appreciated! Everything seems to still be working fine without it.

So yeah my update is pretty much a picture of all the s*** wiring I ripped out of the car, I still have a bit more to go once I get to the roof console.
I am going to completely strip it and re wire it again. I want to keep my dash 100% Toyota so my roof console Is gonna have all the switches and mods.

I'm hoping the caravan park I move to lets me pull this thing apart. It wont be till after Christmas till I get myself a proper shed again.

So yeah, this is all my irrelevant wiring I ripped out, I can't believe the car still ran after ripping all this s*** out!

If anyone has a super keen eye I think I threw out the Ammeter fuse link! I didn't know what it was doing and it didn't have any wires running to or from it.

So I ****ed it off.

My ammeter doesn't seem to do anything, so I was reading stuff about it and it seems that the fuse link I removed and threw in the bin was actually OEM and was the ammeter fuse link!!
I know it was bypassed and wasns't doing anything but latlely coz of you guys influence I seem to be turning into a Landcruiser nuffy and I am now buying everything I can OEM or NOS.
Its ****ed, 5 years ago I never would have bought Toyota, now I feel guilty everytime I don't buy Toyota!!
If I have intentionally thrown out the ammeter fuse link im going to be spewing!!!

The next photo is my new clean engine bay without all the junk wiring.

 

[Bear]

Plink,

None of that wire or terminals looks like the Toyota factory stuff--good riddance !

 

[FJBen]

Nice work mate. Previous owners do some of the worst work on vehicles. Thankfully my Aussie BJ74 has been really nicely setup. I've "yet" to find any hackery at all. There are 2 things I"m not sure of 100% but thankfully they aren't hacked.

Keep at it, I hate dealing with crappy wiring.

 

[plink01]

Ok I have a medium'ish update. I pulled the blower motor apart. All the foam gaskets were absoloutly stuffed. I'm rapped how it turned out. I should have gone a thicker gauge on the outside air intake gasket, its a bit too thin. I'm going to take the motor back out again and paint it anyway, so ill fix it up then. Apart from that it went really well.

I also cleaned up the door light switch and cleaned up the interior dome light. It didn't work previously and its come back to life. I'm a complete moron and halfway through unscrewing it I decided I should CRC it. The wind blew the door in and it snapped the little plastic switch thing!!! I was spewing, I was pretty hungover as it was but I was making good progress on stuff. That was the last project for the day. Lucky I could just grab one out the my 75 series, its the same part. I'm selling it anyway, I doubt they are going to notice its missing on an inspection. Still, bad form on my behalf.



Ok this fix is a little bit more interesting! The 40 made a horrible noise everytime I turned the intermediate wipers on. It sounded like a ton of bee's squealing. It was pretty disconcerting at first, and I didn't really get it. So I traced it back to this little black box. I had no idea what it was.

Everything on this car so far has been super easy to get to. This is the first time I needed super bendy small Japanese hands. After a heap of arm twisting in super unnatural angles I managed to get it off. I had no idea how I was going to get it back in, but it was out!

I opened it up and it had all these mechanisms (good word!). It's gonna be too hard to explain it over text but when you turn it all it all makes sense.

I didn't have any pro suitable grease so I just chucked some high temp bearing grease on it and put some contact cleaner on the circuit board. The gears felt instantly better with the grease and gripped way better. I put the little black box all back together, having no idea if I had really achieved anything but it all worked and no more squealing!! I was rapt, I showed my missus that the wipers now work good and don't sound like babies dying. She didn't give a stuff. Brings you straight back down to earth! Apparently having 3 wipers on a 37 year old car run smoothly without making any crazy noises isn't very impressive. Anyway I thought it was cool!

I have no idea why it keeps repeating this picture, I have deleted it a billion times. So here it is, little door light switch! Its probably trying to emphasise don't unscrew it halfway, then decide to grab some CRC and watch a gust of wind explode it into multiple pieces!

 

[plink01]

Ok here are a few more photos of the mechanism. Just incase someone wants it for reference.

I think that photo has the high temp bearing grease on it, grips heaps better!



Ok so I downloaded the FSM manual off this site and decided I needed to print it in full. I hate digital stuff, I'm not sure why, I'm from the unique age that grew up in both analogue and digital and was young enough to fully embrace the digital bit. But I really struggle with it, I much rather it in paper.

So I took it to work and asked the office girls if I could print it. It's 800 double sided pages, they got all upset and said its too big. It wasn't in my mind, 800 pages didn't sound that bad. So I found a guy who would do it and we pressed print.
Nothing seemed to happen and we tried a different printer but it still didn't work. So I lost interest and thought ill try again another day. Turned out he printed it in another depot's printer, 50kms away!! So these guys at this other depot went to their printer to see what was going on as it was probably spewing landcruiser manual all over the joint . They cracked it and rang up my printer man and told him to cancel it.
So we tried again and picked the right printer this time.
Holy **** did I underestimate how big 800 pages was!! No wonder the office chicks wouldn't print it.
So after an hour or so it was eventually all done, I felt a bit guilty, I probably have half a tree in landcruiser manual.

I got the office lady to show me how to use the binder and I binded them all into chapters. Worked out super good! Here is my manual.

And here is it all stacked on top of each other, all 800 pages.

 

[plink01]

Like I said earlier im sort of in a holding pattern coz im moving to the country. I have collected a s*** load of parts though. I know there is a heap of Landcruisers nuffies like me who like seeing parts wrapped in plastic. Especially OEM or NOS Toyota bits. So this is my parts corner. It sits in my lounge room. My misus loves it! Ill try and name it all.

I have:

Terrain Tamer Radiator hose kit
OEM Thermostat
Thermostat housing gasket
OEM overflow bottle, it doesn't come with the cap though, I need one of them!
Terrain Tamer front end rebuild kit with wheel bearings.
Terrain Tamer rear wheel bearing kit.
2x Aisin hubs
4x OEM Uni joints
Brake and clutch pedal rubbers
OEM windscreen washer nozzle
OEM spare tyre latch end rubber thing
Bonnet hinge rubbers
OEM 4x glow plug white things
All new wheel studs and nuts
2x diff breather filters

I just ordered a Hell For Stout front bumper and a rear quarter panel patch from Cool Cruisers as well.

I buy a lot of this stuff drunk. Stuff like the OEM glow plug plastic things, the OEM nozzle and the OEM spare tyre lever rubber end thing makes my head spin the next day, none of this s*** is cheap!!! But its pretty cool when it rocks up, especially when its wrapped in the Toyota packaging!

But yeah, I really gotta get the cooling stuff orgainsied, that why I have so much cooling stuff. The previous owner has been using water and its a feral brown colour (Sort of scary brown actually). But at this stage its working, so ill leave it as is till I get to my new house and flush it properly. I don't wanna blow any dodgy radiator patches out at this stage and have the car immobile!
I have found a guy who sells NOS hose clamps, im still undecided if I want to blow $70 on all original hose clamps! My kit comes with hose clamps but they aren't the Toyota style. Ill probably drink a few and just bite the bullet.

I have read heaps that there is still OEM FJ40 radiators available, just thought I'd check, I havn't found any but is there any OEM BJ42 radiators about?? Mine looks like it could go at a moments notice and I'd love to have an OEM one. If not ill try and get this one rebuilt.

I have all new wheel studs and nuts coz I'm still a bit rattled. I lost a wheel at 100kmph on the 80 last year and it was pretty bad! Here is a photo. I'm still not really sure why it happened. I had done a few 1000 km's since the last time the wheel was off. So yeah I am replacing the 42's as a precaution!

 

[plink01]

Ok a lot of stuff has happened since i last posted. I nearly lost the 42 when this mega tree in my front yard fell over. Its amazing the way it fell, if it fell the other direction i probably would have lost my house. It fell in probably the best way possible. I ended up with a few big scratches on my Falcon and some damage to the carport but really, it was a mirracle it wasn't worse.

I transfered my job and moved 4 hours down the road to East Gippsland, Victoria. Pretty much as soon as i arrived the massive bushfires started and continued for the next 3 months or so. It was pretty devastating, I'm not going to go into the politics of it but it decimated a massive proportion of East Gippsland and it was the biggest bushfire in Australian recorded history. I spent the next 4 months or so helping rebuild the power grid and i got absoloutly nothing done on Yellowy.

 

[plink01]

I'm not going to post many photos of the fires, its been done to death, but this was what i woke up to every day for a few months. I was living in a work mates bungalow during that period of time. It was tiny but it was an awesome place to stay while i learnt the area a bit better.

 

[plink01]

So once the fire situation settled down a bit i found a rental property in Lakes Entrance. It's absoloutly perfect, it has a huge shed, its close to the beach and only half an hour from my depot. I had been searching for a Warn 8274 for months and i finally found a good one in Tasmania that had been completely rebuilt. I got it shipped over and i couldn't be happier. The bloke who rebuilt it seems to have done a really good job, and the price was pretty good.

Photos of the Shed/Workshop

The Workshop

The Storeroom

 

[plink01]

The drinking hole

Fishing at the Mitchell River

So once the move was complete and the workshop was setup i finally had time to get back to work on the BJ. Working in the shed is a billion times easier than working in the driveway like im used to!

I bought a 2 inch Old Man Emu lift and put it in. I swore i wouldn't get the heavy duty springs, i'd been burnt in the past putting heavy duty springs in my 75 series ute and i thought i'd never do it again no matter what the ARB guys told me. After twisting my arm for half an hour i caved and got the heavy duty ones again. I'm gonna put a long range tank in the back and some drawers, potentially a rear bar as well. Worst case i can still remove a leaf or two.
I have done spring swaps a few times and it has always been a nightmare. I think all that practice finally come in to play and i got this one done pretty easily. It still took maybe an hour or so each side but i was amazed how quick i got it done. The shed made all the differance!

Just as i thought the rear springs were too stiff, but better than i thought they'd be. I was still hoping that once i started loading it up they will get a bit softer. I rekon the springs i took off it were lifted, but they were sagged to buggery. The car is definately a tiny bit higher.

The shackle angle wasn't too bad, better than before. The fronts i'm pretty happy with, the rears are still a bit straight. Like i said earlier i think they will level out a bit with a bit of extra weight in it.

 

[plink01]

This is the old suspension. It was completely clapped out. I'm not sure what brand it was and i couldn't be bothered trying to clean it up to find out. Interesting the springs were a little bit shorter than the new ones i put in, by a few inches. So that will help with the shackle angle. The shocks were completely rooted and were doing nothing, same with the steering damper. I could push them all the way in and out with barely any effort.
The ride quality is dramatically better, the shocks definitely play a big part in it. I'm no longer bouncing around all over the place when i hit a stick on the road. Overall im rapt with the Old Man Emu kit, with a bit of weight in the back it should be spot on.

Once i finished the springs it was time for the front bumper. It had an old school bull bar that bolted onto the original bumper and it was pretty rough. It had had a few impacts and was pretty banged up. I didn't like it and it wasn't worth rescuing in my mind so i ordered a Hell for Stout bumper from the USA and got it shipped over here. It was pretty expensive once shipping got involved!

Technically its illegal in Australia as its too short and doesn't cover the wheels, but im pretty confident no policeman/Vicroads guys will know. Worst case if i got caught i'll weld some extra channel on it to make it full length.

I did a pretty half assed job cleaning up the chasis behind the bumper, my misus talked me into doing it. It was the right thing to do, it would have looked pretty pox having a brand new bumper on the old rusty/dirty frame.

Originally i was going to try and spray the whole frame without taking the body off. It really would have been a pretty ordinary job. If i took the body off it would have opened a can of worms and i didn't want this to become a multi year project. I think ill still sand back and clean up some of the worst parts on the chasis but i'm not going to put heaps of time into it. The chasis really isn't that bad, it just has a bit of surface rust. It should see me out.

Here is the winch attached before installation. The bolts that came with the bumper were a bit strange and most of them were either too fat or too short. I put it together with the bolts that did work and some that i had laying around. I'll swap em all out sometime later on to some that fit a bit better.

 

[plink01]

I was super happy how it come up, looks even better than i was picturing in my head. The approach angle is ridiculous! It took probably 10 minutes to bolt up with the help of my misus.

 

[plink01]

A minor thing, i bought some aftermarket hood latches and im pretty disappointed in them. I do live near the ocean so salt in the air definitely accelerates the rust, but these are only 4 months old! I can still buy genuine ones, but they are about $120 AUS. I'm not sure whether to bite the bullet and just buy some or buy some stainless steel ones from the USA. I like the idea of genuine but i have heard they rust pretty quick as well. I'm thinking i should probably go stainless.

I had a few beers one night and thought **** it, and i bought the OEM glovebox light! It was pretty expensive but im actually pretty impressed with it. When i did the inspection before i bought the car the original light was in the glovebox, but the previous owner removed it before he sold it and i didn't realise till i got home. He had a few 40's and must have known how expensive the bloody things are.

I bought some strip LED's and i was going to run them in the back, but i'm trying to keep the car as period correct as possible. Once i hooked up the glovebox light and saw how much light it throws out i think im going to just use it while camping. More old school experience which i'm after anyway

 

[plink01]

I decided i need a roofrack. There is absolutely stuff all room in the back of these things once a swag and an esky is thrown in! My mate designs them so he helped me out with some gutter clamps and bars. This is only temporary, the gutter brackets will stay but we are going to remove the bars and build a proper rack once this Corona stuff winds back a bit. Even just having the 2 bars is super helpful and free's up a bunch of space in the back.

 

[plink01]

Now the suspension was in it was time to get rid of the old 31 inch Yokohama Super Diggers! They were absolutely cactus and i can't believe they lasted as long as they did. They are stamped 2003 so they were 17 years old and the rubber was super cracked. I'm amazed i never had a blow out.

I ended up going with the BF Goodrich mud terrains KM3's 33/10.5's on 15 inch rims. They have softened the ride of the car dramatically, the old tyres were like rocks.

I'm happy with them, i wish they still had the white writing, i told the tyre people to put the white writting on the outside and when i picked it up it wasn't. I was pretty disappointed till i checked the inside of the tyre's and there is no white writting, both sides are black! I got new rims as well as the old ones were a bit rusty. They are 15 inch Dynamic Sunraysias. I could have cleaned them up but it would have taken a lot of mucking around. To do it properly i would have had to get them sand blasted and powder coated, it would cost have cost the same amount to do that as it did to buy brand newy's.

Idealy i would have liked to have had 12.5's but they would have stuck out the guards much and i didn't want to put flairs on. The 10.5's seem to fit perfect and i havn't had any rubbing yet. They are meaty as hell, they should be awesome off road.

Lookin good next to the Falcon!

I bought some Chinese mirrors when i first bought the car. The one's i had were already aftermarket and they were stuffed. Again it was a waste of money, i hadn't learnt my Chinese lesson by that stage! They were flimsy as hell and the mirror itself seemed to be a bit warped and hurt my brain looking at it. They were the last straw and I'm not buying anything Chinese again. I'd rather import crazy expensive genuine stuff from the Middle East then waste my time with that crap. I know 99% of people on this board already know this, but man the genuine Toyota stuff is far and away superior in 99% of applications.

So i ****ed them off and bought some genuine convex ones. Again it cost me a small fortune but i couldn't be more impressed. I wen't from pretty much guessing when i was in reverse to being able to see everything as if i was in a modern car. i give them 10/10. I almost feel as though i should buy another set for the future to keep as spares coz i'm not sure how many of these convex ones are left in the world. Apparently they were an option you could tick when you bought the car brand new.