Builds My LC 80 thread. (1 Viewer)

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Little update with some good news. First the number plate lights, the one on the left needed a little help to stay on (a good thump needed), when going through the yearly inspection, trying to remove the rusted in screws soon had that put on the 'to do' list. I recently saw a set of LED's versions that are the correct size (including bolt holes) and purchased them, sure enough perfect, they even came with gaskets. I will pause for a moment here, when fitted there is a small gap between the lamp and the holder, at first I thought the lamps are not such a perfect fit after all, but when I tried one of the OE lamps there is in fact a gap, another check (you need a torch to save dismantling) and I could see this on another 80. I am assuming this was a very discreet vent to allow condensation out or what, I am not entirely sure?

But the great news for me that came yesterday is that after 14 months of being unable to drive I get a full med checkup and brain scan on the 10th of this month to see if I can recover my driving licence, for someone who has been driving all manners of cars (including competitions) since he was ten years old it is really is hard to get my head around and I really mean that with no pun intended, so my fingers are tightly crossed.

Thanks for reading and keeping up.

Regards

Dave
I sincerely hope your scan and evaluation go well and you get a clean bill of health for vehicle operation.
 
So, do the planes in Spain fall mainly in the rain?

No, but some rather radioactive bombs did............now just who was it that made a cock up with the bomb release? ;)

Regards

Dave
 
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I sincerely hope your scan and evaluation go well and you get a clean bill of health for vehicle operation.

Many thanks for that, for someone who is a bit of a hard arse (East London lad), I am surprised at the mixed emotions I am having not having driven since IIRC the 2nd of September last year? For sure the meds affect me, but taking 120 tablets a month to stave off fits, another 60 for blood pressure and circulation, throw in around 150 injections a month to keep blood sugars in check, diabetes can really screw your emotions and attitude........yeah I know many have probably guessed that? ;) I am still going in with a mental crossing of fingers and a positive attitude on Thursday.

My 80 is pretty much ready for the inspection if 'I' get through. 🤞

Thanks again to all who follow this thread and of course commented with regards to this particular subject.

Regards

Dave
 
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No, but some rather radioactive bombs did............now just who was it that made a cock up with the bomb release? ;)

Regards

Dave
Seems like a B-52 (USAF) came apart above Spain. One hydrogen bomb burrowed itself into the ground, and the other went into the ocean while still on board the failing aircraft. Back in the '60s I believe this was...
 
Seems like a B-52 (USAF) came apart above Spain. One hydrogen bomb burrowed itself into the ground, and the other went into the ocean while still on board the failing aircraft. Back in the '60s I believe this was...
I think that is about the gist of it? They are still clearing up the mess!

Regards

Dave
 
Update sort of car related.

Brain tests were all good, eyes, scans, blood, cognitive and physical responses again all great, you name it and I had it!

But the licence remains out of reach due to Spanish drivers law, I have to wait 1 year from my last fit, that was last June, so May next year before I get my licence back!

Some tests on the way through to May so keeping track of my progress.

Regards

Dave
 
Update sort of car related.

Brain tests were all good, eyes, scans, blood, cognitive and physical responses again all great, you name it and I had it!

But the licence remains out of reach due to Spanish drivers law, I have to wait 1 year from my last fit, that was last June, so May next year before I get my licence back!

Some tests on the way through to May so keeping track of my progress.

Regards

Dave
I'm glad your tests went well. I'm sure it will undoubtedly be a long wait until May, but it seems like you will be able to use your rig again! Just think of all the money you're saving on fuel? I'll keep rooting for you!
 
I'm glad your tests went well. I'm sure it will undoubtedly be a long wait until May, but it seems like you will be able to use your rig again! Just think of all the money you're saving on fuel? I'll keep rooting for you!
Thanks for that, I will continue to do jobs and will get the axle overhaul done. If I had been told I would be unlikely to recover my licence, I would sell the 80 and simply hand the box load of new parts to the owner and send him or her on their way.

Regards

Dave
 
Thanks for that, I will continue to do jobs and will get the axle overhaul done. If I had been told I would be unlikely to recover my licence, I would sell the 80 and simply hand the box load of new parts to the owner and send him or her on their way.

Regards

Dave
Well, maybe by then, you'll have made it through all the jobs needed and you'll have a "new" truck! to go with the "new" freedoms!

Good Luck! Keep the incentive there! Hope can work wonders and can make life a LOT better!
 
Small update.

The T piece on the oil pressure port and at the one at the bulkhead oil pressure gauge has been changed, the amount of versions with different hole/thread sizes has to be seen to be believed, and even vendors don't know what there selling!

Anyway, now I have a T in the block with the slow and vague OE sender (despite me taking the time to calibrate the sender correctly), the other port is piped to another T mounted on the bulkhead or firewall, so enabling an oil pressure light and buzzer circuit and allowing the use of an under bonnet pressure gauge.

I know this was all done a few years back but I wanted to get rid of the exposed flexible pipe, it was clipped up OK but I was always wary of failure, the change of the T's at both ends has allowed me to change out the flexible pipe to one that is still flexible but comes with armour, getting matching threads was a pain, so another job ticked off.

Many thanks for keeping up, and of course the various comments and wishes of 'get better soon' both on this thread and via PM's.

Regards

Dave
 
Another update, woooo I hear you say, two in a week!

Probably due to lack of use, awhile back the original double DIN stereo decided to do its own thing. The tuner/cassette part decided it did not want to play cassettes any more (did I say it was awhile back?) and a few months later the CD player below also decided to give up as well, the radio continued to work fine until the ariel got caught up in a bush when off roading, it got bent back so far that when it finally snapped with a 'twang' it actually overtook my friends 80 who I was following at the time!

So during my time of enforced not being able to drive due to no licence I had started fixing 'things'. With the new ariel fitted and the radio working I took apart the cassette and CD player, no faults obvious, and no longer having the concentration skills needed to 'fault find' I decided to replace them with a second hand unit. Sounds simple enough but mine being a 'VX' it was not easy finding an identical replacement, but alas one day I finally did.......300 sodding euros from Russia!! Of course the camera on my computer must have been on, the word cun......er 'MUG' must have been clearly displayed to the seller!

My search continued sadly without success, so I decided to opt for one of the cheap Chinese touchscreen offerings, with prices ranging from 40 euros to 250 I went for the 125 euro option. Apart from the delivery issues (Spain still not having got that sorted yet) the parcel finally arrived. Well to be fair it looked great, loads of accessories including GPS sensor, although I use the standard GPS and as an option the 'Glonass' system 'comie' I can hear the cries now, but you would be surprised how good the alternative system is.

I got to work fitting in the new unit.......well lo and behold the 'universal fitting brackets' are not! For those that do not know, the OE two or 'double DIN' fittings are staggered. So be prepared to use the OE brackets and have a drill, some needle files, oh and one hell of a lot of patience to get the replacement double DIN touchscreen to fit neatly in the dashboard hole, I did well getting it close but no I do not have the patience to finish getting it right. So locked up the garage and went indoors before blowing a gasket and lobbing the new stereo in the rambler!

Now staying at friends for a few days and will resume fitting next week sometime as I want it right!

Thanks for keeping up.

Regards

Dave
 
Another update, woooo I hear you say, two in a week!

Probably due to lack of use, awhile back the original double DIN stereo decided to do its own thing. The tuner/cassette part decided it did not want to play cassettes any more (did I say it was awhile back?) and a few months later the CD player below also decided to give up as well, the radio continued to work fine until the ariel got caught up in a bush when off roading, it got bent back so far that when it finally snapped with a 'twang' it actually overtook my friends 80 who I was following at the time!

So during my time of enforced not being able to drive due to no licence I had started fixing 'things'. With the new ariel fitted and the radio working I took apart the cassette and CD player, no faults obvious, and no longer having the concentration skills needed to 'fault find' I decided to replace them with a second hand unit. Sounds simple enough but mine being a 'VX' it was not easy finding an identical replacement, but alas one day I finally did.......300 sodding euros from Russia!! Of course the camera on my computer must have been on, the word cun......er 'MUG' must have been clearly displayed to the seller!

My search continued sadly without success, so I decided to opt for one of the cheap Chinese touchscreen offerings, with prices ranging from 40 euros to 250 I went for the 125 euro option. Apart from the delivery issues (Spain still not having got that sorted yet) the parcel finally arrived. Well to be fair it looked great, loads of accessories including GPS sensor, although I use the standard GPS and as an option the 'Glonass' system 'comie' I can hear the cries now, but you would be surprised how good the alternative system is.

I got to work fitting in the new unit.......well lo and behold the 'universal fitting brackets' are not! For those that do not know, the OE two or 'double DIN' fittings are staggered. So be prepared to use the OE brackets and have a drill, some needle files, oh and one hell of a lot of patience to get the replacement double DIN touchscreen to fit neatly in the dashboard hole, I did well getting it close but no I do not have the patience to finish getting it right. So locked up the garage and went indoors before blowing a gasket and lobbing the new stereo in the rambler!

Now staying at friends for a few days and will resume fitting next week sometime as I want it right!

Thanks for keeping up.

Regards

Dave
I was getting g worried you were going to spend 300 euros on a 30 year old used stereo. Welcome to the future!
 
I was getting g worried you were going to spend 300 euros on a 30 year old used stereo. Welcome to the future!

OTT I can be, but plain stupid.....nah! ;)

Regards

Dave
 
Update time.

Another speedometer has been found by a member of the UK forum landcruiserclub.net. It certainly was not a walk in the park for him and I am truly grateful. Rather than rely on the incredibly unreliable Spanish system set up to charge ludicrous import duties since Brexit (which is now presently under scrutiny by whatever 'watch dog' had been set up to investigate why it is such a mess), the speedometer has been sent (and has arrived) at one of my customers houses in the UK, they are coming over early in the new year and will bring it with them!

As usual being 'Mr picky' I will calibrate the gauges so accuracy of the readouts will be maintained, anyone who has done this will recognise it is not a five minute job but extremely satisfying, and certainly better than having a dashboard of ambiguous gauges.

Tomorrow should see the new touchscreen radio fitment close to being finished, I had to stop due to doctor/hospital appointments and all is going well.

Thanks for keeping up, another update sometime next week.....no honest!

Regards

Dave
 
Update time.

Another speedometer has been found by a member of the UK forum landcruiserclub.net. It certainly was not a walk in the park for him and I am truly grateful. Rather than rely on the incredibly unreliable Spanish system set up to charge ludicrous import duties since Brexit (which is now presently under scrutiny by whatever 'watch dog' had been set up to investigate why it is such a mess), the speedometer has been sent (and has arrived) at one of my customers houses in the UK, they are coming over early in the new year and will bring it with them!

As usual being 'Mr picky' I will calibrate the gauges so accuracy of the readouts will be maintained, anyone who has done this will recognise it is not a five minute job but extremely satisfying, and certainly better than having a dashboard of ambiguous gauges.

Tomorrow should see the new touchscreen radio fitment close to being finished, I had to stop due to doctor/hospital appointments and all is going well.

Thanks for keeping up, another update sometime next week.....no honest!

Regards

Dave
I’m hoping you will share your process of calibrating your new cluster. That would be fascinating to learn about.
 
Update time, long informative post.

Really a 'heads up' (no pun intended) about fitting the touchscreen head unit.

As already mentioned the universal fitting brackets are anything but universal. This is probably made worse by the 'stepped' method used by Toyota on the double DIN systems, just drill and file the OE brackets, you need patience and have to keep trial fitting the lower dash to make sure when all tightened up the screen fits in the opening neat and tidy.....did I say you need patience?

Wiring is pretty straightforward once you have sussed out the wires to suit the speakers. My model has the four speaker system (two in the lower dashboard, and two in the rear doors), some models had eight speakers, that is additional units in the front doors and rear of the roof, wiring is still pretty straightforward though. An easy way to locate the wires that relate to the individual speakers is to use a 9 volt battery, simply keep pairing wires across the two terminals, you will here a speaker 'crackle' when you have a matched pair. Toyota do not list + or - in there speaker wiring diagrams, instead they use 1 and 2, in the past I have always used number 1 as the + or positive. If I am wrong then there must be a lot of deaf people out there, if wired wrong the sound is rather 'flat'.

A couple of other things I would point out, a lot of these touchscreen heads (and indeed older radios) do not like the turn of the key from ignition to cranking, it tends to disconnect the radio and then reconnects when the key is released, this is the starting system used by Toyota. I found my head unit has two options simply called 'key 1' and 'key 2'.

Key 1 was my first choice (obviously), and this caused the disconnect/connect scenario, key 2 on the other hand did work, there must be a changeover mechanism in the head unit, cranking now does not cause the interruption of the power supply.

EDIT: This morning I started the car to bring it out of the garage and I caught the radio come on and then go off during cranking I have no idea at the moment why, one theory I have is a diode failure assuming there is one or a sticking relay in the glow plug circuit, this maintains the glow plug supply for around thirty seconds, so the theory holds water.

I will look at it when I get time, this unlikely as I am spending much of Christmas with friends as from Thursday, I will definitely get back to clarify what I find.

I am still unable to drive on the road until permission is granted however, this does not stop me driving around the campo or countryside tracks. I found the screen too bright when it gets dark, in the settings you can dim the display, that is you are setting the screen display for day and night, of course like a lot of touch screens on your mobile phone, if too dim you cannot see it, and of course at night you might as well be looking at the sun! I thought the answer was in the wire that was to be connected to the headlight switch perhaps dimming the display alas no. When connected and the lights are turned on it illuminates the five touch sensitive switches, these are on/off, two for volume, one for home and the remaining one for 'return' as in previous screen. A nice touch is the graphic on display shows a small car from behind, switching on your lights the headlights on the graphic lights up, a neat touch if nothing else. FWIW it was easy to connect the light switch to the radio by connecting to the dimmer control, I know many have disconnected this, as like me found night time illumination fine when on full, but of course the wiring would still be there. On my model there are three wires for the dimmer switch, white/green trace, white/black trace, and a solid green, the solid green is the correct wire to connect to, of course you should check the wiring diagram relevant to your model....disclaimer in place. ;)

Now having said all that I found that an icon in the top left corner if touched brings up a set of options, one of them is to turn off the screen but leaving music on, the now black screen needs a simple touch and it comes back to life. I still need to fit the reversing camera, having driven HGV's for a number of years I doubt I need it but it came with the head unit so I will, use it. Tomorrow I have a dash cam and rear cam being delivered, so will fit the rear camera when fitting the reversing camera, it's probably possible to use one camera to supply the head unit and the rear dash cam, of course fault finding becomes more difficult so will wire the two individually.

The user instructions are at best........well..... there is no best!
The answer is to 'fiddle' with the unit, you will find this is the quicker way to learn what it can and cannot do. For example getting Bluetooth to pair should be a simple affair, I found I had to switch on the front display BT then activate pairing waaaaay back in the various menus.

The quality of the display is really really great, as good as any mobile phone I have seen. Initial calibration was fussy to say the least, it took me no less than four attempts to get it to work right, interpretation of the instructions was a little difficult, and I perhaps need to share some of the blame for that? Either way once it was done the screen responded to the gentlest of touches. A point to note is I am right handed, so being in a RHD vehicle I use my left hand on the touchscreen, and yet I found the 'buttons' easy to touch without triggering the wrong one. There are soooo many menus and options for example no less than three different sat nav options, even an option to use off road or terrain maps, all the bells and whistles with amplifier outputs, perhaps there is a way to auto dim the screen, maybe I simply haven't found it? I doubt if I could remember all the options, and if I did I would probably forget them the following day anyway!

Sorry it was a long post, but better to be informed before making a purchase like this, next update will be when the finalisation of the three cameras are installed.

Many thanks for keeping up.

Regards

Dave
 
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OK an update on the new radio install. You would think something this simple would be easy right?

So the problem:

The radio will always start up when the acc or ignition is switched on, but goes off when cranking the engine. It then restarts the radio going through the whole 'boot up' cycle as it is Android, this seems to be default however, I have searched through the so so so many options the ability to turn the radio off and prevent this 'cycling' is not available!

Careful checks of the wiring on the 80 shows that turning the key to 'crank' disables the acc line positive, despite connecting the optional 'key 1' and 'key 2' this does not allow for the acc going dead during cranking, so a rethink was needed. Going through the various wiring checks it seems the diesel 80 disables everything connected to the acc line output. Wiring the radio acc connect directly to the ignition is not an option, whilst the radio would stay on during cranking, so no cycling it still means you need the ignition on to listen to the radio. Wiring the radio acc connection to a permanent live again removes the problem but means I would have to remember to turn off the radio when leaving the car.

So to get around the problem I used two IN4001 diodes, one from the ignition feed and one in the acc line for the radio. By connecting the diodes with each opposing each line input it means the acc stays live when the key is in this position, turning the ignition on there are now two feeds to the radio acc connection, when cranking the ignition the vehicle acc goes dead but the ignition input remains and the radio no longer cycles. Use of the diodes, the one in the ignition line prevents any supply from the acc running back to the fuse box when the ignition is off. Using a second diode in the acc line which would normally be disconnected during cranking now will not receive a supply from the ignition line during cranking.

Simple enough, but I was sure the radio connections key 1 and key 2 should prevent the need for this, why else would they be there, and why two? The radio instructions clearly state never to connect the two together which makes no sense if they are simply using the crank signal to prevent the cycling? Unfortunately I can only work on things like this for a short time or I soon get a little muddled up from the surgery needed to remove a brain tumour.

Whilst the radio works perfectly and I am happy, I am also driven by curiosity why additional wiring modifications are necessary. Over the Christmas period I will be staying at friends and other friends will be coming to mine, so it will be a busy time for me, so after Christmas I will revisit and look at this again, if there is an answer as to why wiring mods are needed I will find it!

In the meantime I wish all MUD members and of course staff a very Merry Christmas.

Regards

Dave
 
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Good luck with your wiring quest. Merry Christmas as well!
 

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