Builds Locked79's Build Thread. Vdj79 + Fzj105 = ? (1 Viewer)

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Locked79

SILVER Star
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Threads
13
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1,005
Location
Ayr, QLD
I thought I might start a thread detailing my latest project. This is to help people who might be thinking of doing the same and to try and nut out some of the problems I'm having. I'm not good at writing these kind of things so please bare with me.

What I wanted was a solid axle vehicle with coil springs all round, a torquey motor, diesel, manual box, and a full size tray to haul my gear around. I had to be comfortable enough to travel 1200km a week for work and still be capable enough to tackle the cape and Simpson desert. It will eventually have a removable camper setup on the back. Nothing really fitted the bill except maybe the GU patrol turbo 6, but I'm a toyota guy so I thought why not build one.

So I started off with this
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2012 VDJ79r. I picked it up cheap enough at the auctions so that if this project didn't eventuate, I could sell it off as parts and still make my money back. It's a parts vehicle so I cant use the chassis or cab. All other parts and panels will be used in my build. Its a flood damage vehicle so it can't be re-registered as is.

I bought it condition unknown, I didn't know if it ran or had engine damage. I visually check it over, oil wasn't milky, no water in the headlights, no mud or silt inside so I took the gamble. They picked it up with a forklift and loaded it on my car trailer,that didn't look promising.

So when I got it home, I put a battery in it and turned the key. Bam, the ignition lights came on. I thought to myself, well thats a start, then turned the key a little further and she came to life, purred like a kitten. I breathed a sigh of relief, the gamble payed off. I started playing around with all the controls and everything worked fine. Cold aircon, indicators and lights worked, and then I looked at the odometer, 52xxx kms, only a baby. After looking at it closely, it couldn't have had too much water through it, maybe up to the transmission tunnel at most. What a waste of a landcruiser.

I've had this for over 2 years now, always to busy with work to get a proper start. So next I had to find a chassis and running gear at a reasonable price. Local prices were through the roof so I flew down to Sydney and picked up this
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Its a 2000 Fzj105r with 380xxx kms. I drove if home 2200 kms and the 1fz-fe didn't miss a beat. It also averaged 18l per 100k @ and average speed of 110km/h. Not too bad for a petrol. It looks pretty neat and tidy in the picture, but the interior was trashed and had a few dents on the l/h side.

To be continued.......
 
The first thing to was to get the body off and engine out. Doing this at home with nothing but a hi lift jack and some blocks was sketchy at best.
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Definitely not recommended but I had no other options at the time. I was waiting for power to be installed in my workshop. But it did the trick and the chassis rolled out.

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Now it was time to strip all unwanted parts off. Once that was done, let the lengthening begin.

Since I want to use all off the shelf parts, I decided to keep the wheel base the same as the 79 so the factory drive shafts could be used. This required the wheel base of the 105 chassis to be lengthened by 330mm. There is only one place to lengthen the chassis if you want it done right, and it requires the rear lower trailing arm bracket to be cut off and rewelded.

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New channel welded in and plated both sides. I wanted to keep the factory look so the outer piece of channel is plated from the inside, then capped and plated from the outside if that makes sense. All holes plug welded for extra strength. Then the trailing arm brackets were welded back on.
 
I finally got the power hooked up at the workshop so I trailered both vehicles out. I decided I wasn't going through that brick and jack ordeal again so a 2 post hoist was in order. It's only money, the bank's got plenty haha. Here's a pick of the workshop. Definitely not finished but getting there.

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Putting up the hoist and making sure it was in the correct postion.

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Ok. Time to start stripping.

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Cab off. I love this hoist.

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Next, the motor and transmission came out. Straight into the donor chassis for a quick test fit.

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She's a tight squeeze but I think I can make it work. The gearbox crossmember is nearly in the correct spot, but needs to come forward 30mm. There's about 10mm clearance for the oil feed pipe for the turbo.

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So I modified the gearbox crossmember to bring the whole assembly forward 30mm. I also cut the original engine mounts off to allow for better fitment.

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I think that turbo is going to get in the way. I might go a high mount if I can't get it to fit properly. Tight squeeze.

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can you add me to the list of people that are envious of your trucks and your shed mate :D


nice work on the plate and welding on the chassis although the pic isnt a close up it looks a nice professional job, just out of interest and I'm not a welder or an engineer by any means but over here whenever we weld plates onto chassis's (or frames to the rest of the world) they try and make us concave the ends back into the plate with the theory if anything starts to crack the crack will travel back under the plate and not out away from it

and the other note my 6.0l LS engine in my fj75 gets 1l per 100km better than that 100 series on the highway, around town I get about 22l per 100km and towing my 40 series on a car trailer it get about 25l per 100 on the highway

keep the pics coming we're all drooling over them :)



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can you add me to the list of people that are envious of your trucks and your shed mate :D


nice work on the plate and welding on the chassis although the pic isnt a close up it looks a nice professional job, just out of interest and I'm not a welder or an engineer by any means but over here whenever we weld plates onto chassis's (or frames to the rest of the world) they try and make us concave the ends back into the plate with the theory if anything starts to crack the crack will travel back under the plate and not out away from it

and the other note my 6.0l LS engine in my fj75 gets 1l per 100km better than that 100 series on the highway, around town I get about 22l per 100km and towing my 40 series on a car trailer it get about 25l per 100 on the highway

keep the pics coming we're all drooling over them :)



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I understand where your coming from with that concave cut out. I actually never thought about it like that. Talking to my engineer, all he wanted was the corners of the plate cutoff in diamond like shape. The chassis extension was actually done by a pro and has had no trouble getting them signed off. He has actually converted a ifs 100 series to solid axle. I'm no welder either so I'm thinking of stitching everything in place and getting it welded properly. I did do the crossmember though:)

I know everyone likes pics so I'll keep em coming:cheers:
 
locked
Nice build and shed mate.:)
Thanks Oz. It was about time I gave something back. This forum has given me 99% of the info I need.

WOW.

HOT.

Good work indeed.

Do you need a parts guy for that shop? :lol:
Thanks beno, we could all do with more landcruiser guys. I'll ship it over when I'm finished. Only have to wait 10 more years as it will probably be registered as a 2000 model.:grinpimp:
 
I'm a tow truck driver and it breaks my hart seeing landcruisers written off because of wet floor carpets. They total them believing the dampness will corrode all the internal electrics etc. Most flood damaged cruisers are snapped up by overseas buyers and shipped out of the country some have fresh some have salt water damage.
 
The right hand bracket that joins the block to the rubber engine mount will have to be remade. There won't be enough room for the steering shaft to pass by. Only problem is that's where my sling is attached to. There isn't a great deal of places to suspend this engine by without dismantling it.

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And checking driveshaft lengths and alignments.

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What I have found is that the gearbox positioning is fairly good BUT the drive flanges on the transfer and on the diff pinion aren't parrellel. It seems the engine needs to go to the left more but the placement of the turbo won't allow this.

So my question is, how many degrees misalignment can I have on the drive flanges before vibration becomes a problem. I haven't measured the misalignment yet, but I will next time I go out to the shed.

I also want to thank @Sporty Forty for the info he has posted up on his build thread
 
I'm a tow truck driver and it breaks my hart seeing landcruisers written off because of wet floor carpets. They total them believing the dampness will corrode all the internal electrics etc. Most flood damaged cruisers are snapped up by overseas buyers and shipped out of the country some have fresh some have salt water damage.
The amount of times I've had water over the trans tunnel, ole silver would have been written off several times if the insurance company got involved. Pull the floor and seats out, let it dry properly and you back in business. I got my hdj79 new in 06 and haven't had any electrical problems yet. They are very hardy vehicles, you can't let a bit of water stop them. Long live the 70;)
 
glad to see another 1VD-FTV being put into an older cruiser.

I put 9" into my chassis and have a wheelbase of 122" or 2100mm. The 80 and 100 chassis look very similar from your pics.

I will probably notch the RH shock tower out and put some tube there and have the steering column passing through the tube to the steering box.
 
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So my question is, how many degrees misalignment can I have on the drive flanges before vibration becomes a problem. I haven't measured the misalignment yet, but I will next time I go out to the shed.

The guy doing my engine set out has said you can have up to around 7 degrees of offset but the smaller the better. As long as the pinion and transfer case output drive flanges are parallel vibrations are minimalised.

I plan on running a Patrol rear with the pumpkin in the center and will be using the 79 transfer with the drive output offset to the RHS. (I tried to put a GQ center into the 80 rear axle but it seemed to hard for the previous guy to do it, his head might have had trouble working out what offset and weld into this meant.)

As the wheelbase is long it will end up being about 2-3 degrees. May mean I wear out unis faster but my thing is intended to be a tough tourer so the weekly mileage won't be high so over a long term uni wear can be monitored.
 
I will probably notch the RH shock tower out and put some tube there and have the steering column passing through the tube to the steering box.
Great minds think alike lol, had the same idea today.

The guy doing my engine set out has said you can have up to around 7 degrees of offset but the smaller the better. As long as the pinion and transfer case output drive flanges are parallel vibrations are minimalised.
Sounds good. I'm going to do some more calculations and see how close I can get it.

Why cant you move the turbo if that's the only problem with lining up drive shafts.
Thats what I'm thinkin Oz. If I go that way, I will go high mount gated turbo. Only problem with that is the $$$ which I'm running low on. I've got some toys for sale to fund this.

Maybe something like this

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Thanks Ward, It will be slow going but hopefully it will turn out ok.
79 -
I have no doubt! Looking at your town via Wikipedia/web, the rigs, the shop, etc. that looks like a bit of heaven and 84 degrees F yesterday! Some of us may need to come visit :)
 

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