My Completely Clapped HZJ105 (12 Viewers)

[Kuzmovka]

I've always been a Toyota guy. I got into Land Cruisers in August of 2020 after building an 85 Toyota pickup through most of my college years. That truck ended up with a 3RZ swap, an R151 swap, 2.28/4.7 dual cases, custom rear disc brakes, and twin locked with an E-locker retrofit in the rear. Here that is:

I had my eye on importing a 79 series one day, or perhaps a 75 pickup but discovered the 105 series a number of years ago. I decided that was the way to go after a close friend in Colorado purchased one and I had the opportunity to get up close and personal. I moved to the broader Washington DC area in January of 2022 and ran into none other than John Young in an auto part store while out with his 75 pickup Golden Boy. We have since become quite good friends and he has been instrumental in pushing me to buy and subsequently import some kind of Land Cruiser.

After years of searching, many failed attempts and a few missed opportunities, I have finally purchased a 105 of my own. It's... completely clapped but it has a 1HZ, a manual transmission, and barn doors. Found on an auction site with pictures that were dubious at best, no keys and very obvious body rust issues I thought this would be a worthy opportunity to step into a new chassis. See the vision, it's going to work. Probably.

The vision:

I want to do something a bit different on this 105. The Australians have some amazing takes on these trucks but due to their laws on modification I have yet to see one that is quite like many of the big 80s that we get here in the States. I am sure what I'm thinking exists, but I have not seen it. So that is my goal. I want this truck to have a 1HD-FT, an H152 swap, a 4" lift and ride on 37s. If possible I am toying with the idea of swapping in 80 series E-locker axle tubes and diffs so I can have the benefits that come with them.

So here is the rig as it sits:

This is how the truck sat the day it was purchased. Now I know you're thinking this is a basket case. It is definitely that and I am here to tell you that it is actually substantially worse!
The hidden damage that can't be seen thus far includes a broken off key in the ignition, a main tank damaged by a forklift, a missing sub tank, and what can only be described as the worst hail damage I have ever seen on the roof.

The plan:

• Get a key made
• See if it turns over
• Buy el-cheapo tires
• Get tanks
• Reskin the roof
• Replace the hood and both front fenders
• Paint and body the everything
• Color matched door handles
• Replace the plate light thing
• Replace the steering wheel, fix the seats and generally make the interior not awful
• Definitely more

 

[nissanh]

I like the Patrol sitting next to it!

 

[John Young]

I met Travis when I went into the local auto parts store looking for a battery for the HZJ75 pickup. Nice guy who knew his Land Cruisers. He ended up working on my Middle East auto 80 and rebuilding the transfer case. He left the gear oil out of the transfer case when he finished, but that is another story. (@cruisermatt opened it up a year or two later and its still pretty ok.)

Travis said he wanted either a 2000 75 series that had the 10cm longer cab, or a 105. We had a couple of false starts including truck that disappeared in Saudi Arabia, but then this thing showed up at auction. Yes, it looks pretty clapped out, but the thing about a manual, diesel 105 is that pretty much anything can be repaired. (My own feeling is that it is simpler and easier to work on than an 80, and the parts are much more available.). We were successful at the auction and got it for a good price and it got delivered a few days later.

This poor thing, an ex-UAE government truck, has been through the wars.

The issues range from regular stuff like missing wheel studs

To the astounding:

I would love to know the thought processes around curtting off only half of the exhaust resonator and then inserting this thing:

Exhaust just kinda comes out somewhere in the middle of the underside of the truck.

All Middle East cruisers (other than Shortys) , near as I can tell, come with both main and sub tanks. This poor thing has had its sub tank removed,

and the main tank has suffered an incredible indignity:

But perhaps my favorite amusing thing about this truck is the hail damage:

 

[SNLC]

I've always been a Toyota guy. I got into Land Cruisers in August of 2020 after building an 85 Toyota pickup through most of my college years. That truck ended up with a 3RZ swap, an R151 swap, 2.28/4.7 dual cases, custom rear disc brakes, and twin locked with an E-locker retrofit in the rear. Here that is:

View attachment 3931565

I had my eye on importing a 79 series one day, or perhaps a 75 pickup but discovered the 105 series a number of years ago. I decided that was the way to go after a close friend in Colorado purchased one and I had the opportunity to get up close and personal. I moved to the broader Washington DC area in January of 2022 and ran into none other than John Young in an auto part store while out with his 75 pickup Golden Boy. We have since become quite good friends and he has been instrumental in pushing me to buy and subsequently import some kind of Land Cruiser.

After years of searching, many failed attempts and a few missed opportunities, I have finally purchased a 105 of my own. It's... completely clapped but it has a 1HZ, a manual transmission, and barn doors. Found on an auction site with pictures that were dubious at best, no keys and very obvious body rust issues I thought this would be a worthy opportunity to step into a new chassis. See the vision, it's going to work. Probably.

The vision:

I want to do something a bit different on this 105. The Australians have some amazing takes on these trucks but due to their laws on modification I have yet to see one that is quite like many of the big 80s that we get here in the States. I am sure what I'm thinking exists, but I have not seen it. So that is my goal. I want this truck to have a 1HD-FT, an H152 swap, a 4" lift and ride on 37s. If possible I am toying with the idea of swapping in 80 series E-locker axle tubes and diffs so I can have the benefits that come with them.

So here is the rig as it sits:

View attachment 3931570
View attachment 3931569
View attachment 3931571
View attachment 3931573

This is how the truck sat the day it was purchased. Now I know you're thinking this is a basket case. It is definitely that and I am here to tell you that it is actually substantially worse!
The hidden damage that can't be seen thus far includes a broken off key in the ignition, a main tank damaged by a forklift, a missing sub tank, and what can only be described as the worst hail damage I have ever seen on the roof.

The plan:

• Get a key made
• See if it turns over
• Buy el-cheapo tires
• Get tanks
• Reskin the roof
• Replace the hood and both front fenders
• Paint and body the everything
• Color matched door handles
• Replace the plate light thing
• Replace the steering wheel, fix the seats and generally make the interior not awful
• Definitely more

Awesome Cruiser, a 105 is on my top five best ever Cruisers.

Skip the FT. Go straight to an FTE. Trust me on this, I build these for a living.

Or just slap an LS3 in it!

Cheers

 

[John Young]

Travis' truck and my 105 project are in the same shop, and they both are white and they both are a bit rough. I call mine Schrodinger, and I need a name for Travis' truck. Personally I favor "T105" just to keep things simple.

I think this is apt because of Travis' ultimate plans for the thing, which don't appeal to me but to each his own.

As I write this I am waiting for an auction to finish for a donor for T105. Here's the candidate:

I chose this even though it is missing front fenders and hood, the roof looks in decent shape and most importantly this truck is the barn door style so the trailing edge of the roof will be correct. Our plan is to do a roof transplant rather than trying to fix all the hail damage.

As a bonus likely both main and sub tank will be in this donor, although the plumbing will be a bit different. The dash looks like it might be useable. Also, the donor's doors look ok so we may use them and thus convert T105 to electric windows. I am claiming the center console fridge for Schrodinger.

The front seats look ok. I've been wanting a manual drivers seat to experiment on in terms of doing a 100% camel leather job on it.

Back to the status of T105, one of the debates we've been having has been how many miles are on the truck. From the state of the engine bay I was thinking around 300K km but then we found a oil change sticker:

It is a little hard to read but it says 470,793 km or 293K miles, which is not too bad for a diesel 105. Others involved revised there estimates to as high as 600k km.

It came with the end of a key broken off in the ignition and it has taken a couple of days and a lot of effort to extract that and get a key made so we could turn on the ignition and see. Late last night the guys succeeded and we found out the actual mileage.

(We had opened the front cover on the 1HZ and checked that the timing belt still looked whole before cranking, but from a couple of trys the engine sounds pretty ok.)

I think the mileage of 488K km is pretty good news, especially given the oil change sticker. It means it got that last oil change and then basically just sat. I'm guardedly optimistic about the engine and driveline.

Meanwhile there is a half-hour to go on the donor.

That's about 175 USD currently. I have an auto-bid running going up to about 750 bucks. Transport will cost almost 200 USD, but this still makes sense for the roof and bits of interior trim.

 

[Super77]

That’s not hail damage. That’s a caffeinated child with a pogo stick.

 

[John Young]

That’s not hail damage. That’s a caffeinated child with a pogo stick.

My first guess was kids with cricket bats, given the location, but friends in the region assured me this was hail:

Turns out this was a real thing in Al Ain (one of the 7 emirates making up the UAE, along with Dubai and Abu Dhabi) last year.

 

[Kuzmovka]

I like the thought of the FTE but I also quite like that the FT remains mechanically injected but does get some head improvements. I’m not sure I want to go through the hassle of wiring an FTE and dealing with the spill valve and immobilizer.

Why do you prefer the FTE?

Definitely not putting an LS3 in anything I own.

Awesome Cruiser, a 105 is on my top five best ever Cruisers.

Skip the FT. Go straight to an FTE. Trust me on this, I build these for a living.

Or just slap an LS3 in it!

Cheers

 

[excessive]

wow, i had no idea hail could do that. What a cool project , i will be following along! Good luck !

 

[MUDZLLA]

Hail damage on a 100? Hmmm they must use thinner sheet metal than an 80. My 80 went through killer hail that battered up my 2000 4-runner pretty good but never left a ding on the 80.

 

[John Young]

Got some BFG 285/75R17 and Method rims on the T105. Starting to look like a truck again

bead grip zero offsets

 

[Kuzmovka]

Progress has been made. The 1HZ is alive! It struggles to run currently because of air in the fuel but that will be sorted out with time. Between two new tanks, plumbing and new fuel filters, the fuel system will get looked over plenty. Here is a video:


The VIN plate on the dash was also discovered behind tons of caked on mud. This is a big deal because there were concerns it might be missing. Additionally it has also been confirmed that the power door locks work and the immobilizer works as it should.

Parts have also started to arrive. A brand new windshield from Toyota appeared at the shop.

Still debating on the Method wheels. I am really strongly considering a beadlock wheel for this truck. I am also thinking about going with a bronze/gold wheel instead of the black. We have settled on a no stripe scheme for this rig and it should look a lot like John's Mrs. White except if it didn't skip leg day. think this but with more...rock crawler:

 

[littlevulture]

So what’s the big picture plan as far as the work that’s getting done there and the work you’ll be doing here after it’s imported?

 

[SNLC]

I like the thought of the FTE but I also quite like that the FT remains mechanically injected but does get some head improvements. I’m not sure I want to go through the hassle of wiring an FTE and dealing with the spill valve and immobilizer.

Why do you prefer the FTE?

Definitely not putting an LS3 in anything I own.

The FTE is a far superior engine. The electronics make it soooo good. No mechanical tuning needed, ie setting timing, adjusting fuel, installing and adjusting a power rod, ect ect. You can also get way more power out of an FTE. There is also no parts NLA for the FTE while the FT has some NLA parts.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

You say “rock crawler” for your goals.

I suggest you run the H152 trans, Black Box and tcase gears. Depending on diff gears and tire size you can get around 175:1 with that setup.

I like KMC for beadlocks and Raceline.

Oh ya you don’t need an immobilizer to run the FTE. Stripped down the electronics is pretty basic.

Cheers