Builds Mike's disaster of a landcruiser project, 1992 "big red" (1 Viewer)

[Technician1985]

I ordered a manual transmission HDJ80 radiator and this showed up. It's an AT radiator after all, not the brand I ordered, but for $210 shipped I don't care. It is enormous compared to radiators for any car I've owned.
https://flic.kr/p/22YYb9w


Removing the motor went fairly smoothly. I did have to take the shifters out to get to the top two bellhousing bolts after all... it is pretty much a straight shot and you can actually touch the bolts with your fingers.
https://flic.kr/p/22Gn9AD




To get the third (upper driver's side) bellhousing bolt on the 3f-e I needed the above setup, and the remaining bolts were easily accessed.

 

[Technician1985]

I need to order exhaust stud nuts, exhaust gaskets, some AT hose, and this AT cooler and I think I'll be in business:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C3BBKS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Today I will begin pressure washing.

 

[Technician1985]

Now that I've blasted off a lot of gunk and dirt, I can see that the overall condition of this landcruiser is actually pretty solid. The underside is pretty much black and pretty much rust free and I consider that a win. I only had about an hour of light so it will still be some work for the engine bay and undercarriage to be fully clean.

 

[Technician1985]

Soon I will be able to put in the replacement engine, possibly tomorrow. The water came out clear when I tried to flush the heater cores so I guess the milkshake didn't make it that far. New motor mounts, fuel filter, charcoal filter. More to come including EFI wiring and various ground upgrades.

 

[Technician1985]

The replacement engine is in... All bolted up. Should be mostly downhill from here but a lot of work left. The engine seems to be in good condition besides surface rust. I'm not going to bother trying to paint the engine, I'll just keep cleaning it up as I reinstall things.

 

[Technician1985]

Progress is being made...

Issues: A few of my hoses are flattening but not pinched so I'll have to see about them. The power steering pump has some runout in it so I'm wondering if that needs to be rebuilt or if that's normal. Besides those issues things are going smoothly.

Mods: As you can see I've added some ground wires. These are scrap ground cables from work which is why they are green (AC grounds). Working on de-smog although I decided to leave the air rail installed.

New parts: Aisin water pump, OEM thermostat, NGK spark plugs, coolant, trans, and vacuum hoses, various gaskets, charcoal can, fuel filter

There are many more new and exciting parts going in soon, then once it's running I'm going to rebuild the front axle and f/r brakes.

 

[Technician1985]

I made a plate out of scrap metal at work, took about 10 minutes using the piranha and belt sander. Put some silver gasket maker in there. Plug for the exhaust manifold is steel - not ideal - and went in tight. Hopefully I can get it back out if need be. You can see some of my grounds.

Now I have a battery (and fluids!)

Um yeah, but don't worry it's clean now

 

[dan1554]

I just learned about the dirt can a few weeks ago. Had half of Utah in there.

 

[Technician1985]

You know, I told GraniteGrinder (who gave me the engine) that I was going to mail him something as a thanks. I intended to bring him a bottle of whiskey when I drove up there but decided they might confiscate it at the border, then I wasn't sure if I could ship it, then I forgot, my bad! He is a cool guy for giving me the engine and I owe him one (or two?)!

Anyway... I got it running finally. Everything seems pretty good except either my oil pressure sender is taking a crap, or the next time I run the engine it's gonna seize... I warmed it up for about a half hour, then after revving the engine a bunch the oil pressure dropped to zero. Now when I start it, the pressure rises then drops back to zero after a few seconds.

I was also informed that I may have the sender hooked up wrong but I don't know. I had the black plug on the spade terminal thing and there was a white plug that I didn't plug into anything. If something was supposed to plug into the middle t-post thing, I didn't connect anything to it.

Once I get back in town (out of town for work) I will check it with an oil pressure gauge and hope that it really has pressure. I really hope it has pressure! If I somehow ruined the replacement engine, it may be the end.

 

[Technician1985]

It runs and moves. Lots of ticking sound echoing through the rattling exhaust makes it sound quite tractory. Oil pressure tested good with the gauge I got in from amazon.

It just wouldn't have been right to not have a couple of disasters! I would say there's an issue with my rear heater! For now I just bypassed it after cleaning out the coolant.

It also took a couple of tries to get the cold start fuel line properly seated and not leaking fuel onto the exhaust manifold. Not sketchy at all...

Still have a million things left to do before I can drive it but at least it has a Toyota genuine parts sticker now. I actually only wanted the FJ80 so I had something to put a TEQ sticker on.

We'll be 4wheelin in no time! (maybe)

 

[dan1554]

Congrats!!! Been following and really happy it worked out.

 

[Technician1985]

Congrats!!! Been following and really happy it worked out.

Thanks! Feels good to finally start getting somewhere. I'm going to drive it to Yellowstone in two months though so I need to hurry up.

 

[Technician1985]

Preliminary plan:

1.) Lights, bumper, tail lights (get it legal)
2.) Service front axle, replace broken wheel studs
3.) Road Test, re-check trans functionality and fluid level
4.) Rebuild brakes
5.) Service rear axle
6.) Cosmetic stuff / steering wheel
7.) Rebuild / refill AC system
8.) Figure out what lift I have, look into caster correction, get alignment
9.) New front windshield
10.) Modifications (TBD)

 

[Technician1985]

I couldn't help test driving it now that it's road legal. No weird noises besides the brakes feeling and sounding sketchy, and possibly the wheel bearings. It isn't dripping any fluids even overnight so that's promising. The front end has seen better days and obviously the appearance needs work.

 

[Technician1985]

The front axle rebuild has commenced! I got a lot of decent stuff like OEM seals, the wit's end seal placer, koyo bearings, all that stuff. Also got remanufactured front brake calipers, akebono pads, rotors, brake lines, wheel studs, etc... I don't know what to expect when I pull these birfs but there's a ton of grease in there so they've been maintained at some point, maybe. during my test drive I didn't notice clicking so maybe they'll be good for a while still.

Lots of work left to do but it should probably be drivable this weekend. I might put off doing the rear end depending on how it drives once it's back together, and work on making it look a little bit better, including popping out the stupid dent on the door... I'm mostly concerned with driving it as many miles as possible before taking it on a long road trip to Yellowstone in 1.5 months (soon!)

 

[Technician1985]

I guess it's finished, I'm pretty sure I need to pump in some more moly grease though and double check the wheel bearing tightness.

It drives! It still needs a lot of work though. The off-throttle clunk is loud at times, the rear driveshaft has some clunk to it when I move it so I think I need to figure out how to grease all of that stuff. The power steering is weak feeling at low RPM too so that probably needs rebuilt. It's 100x better after balancing the tires but the alignment is suspect I believe. Speedo doesn't work and transfer case is leaking a little bit out of what could be the speedometer cable hole (?)

In spite of the issues it's made it a good 100 miles of driving so far so that's a good start.

 

[Technician1985]

Been driving it every day.

Had to re-adjust the wheel bearings. Adjusted the kickdown cable and greased the u-joints and slip joints, most clunking gone and drastically better shifts. Put in a radio, windshield wipers, front speakers, hood and hatch struts, PCV valve, cleaned the windows and sunroof, welded the broken exhaust bracket, ordered a remanufactured alternator.

Going to adjust the valves when I put the alternator in and improve more of the wiring. One of the valves ticks really loud so hopefully I can figure out which one it is and fix it. Also have new OEM cap and rotor to go in. Will attempt to clean up the paint (seriously) when I put on the snorkel (impulse buy, probably a mistake). More pics after that situation unfolds.

Still having one strange drivetrain noise and during the wheel bearing adjustment I noticed the drive flanges are worn so those will need to be replaced soon. Speedo cable started to heal itself but hasn't freed up so that's on the list too. Brakes are still pulsing so I should check out the rear end sooner than later, or my wheel bearings came loose again (would be bad news).

 

[TWILLY]

Great work, man. What an endeavor.

 

[mtmorto]

Nice job getting it up and running. I would be hesitant to take on a project of this size right now, so I applaud you.

I'm digging the e36 as well. I grew up around BMWs (dad had an e28, then e36, now e46 330i ZHP), and my daily for the last 10 years (until I started the engine rebuild - and the reason I bought a Cruiser) is a 1972 2002tii.

 

[sunrk]

Great to see you've brought it back to being an operating vehicle. I haven't attempted to do an engine swap with a motor as big as what's in an 80/lx450 but I'm prepared to face the challenge as you have!