Nicolas' Build (1 Viewer)

[nicolas2b54]

Hello all lovers of Land Cruiser !

I'm Nicolas from France. With my wife, we recently purchased an HDJ100.
Some infos :

• first registration : 11/2001
• 2 previous owner
• 280k km
• no modifications (except a LED bar on the original front bumper)

It seems that the car had good maintenance but with the time I discover some things need to be take care of :

• rust on the spare tire holder
• carpet is very dirty
• front silent bloc need to be changed (said by previous owner)

We know next to nothing in mechanic (change a wheel, check fluid level). So it will be an interesting learning curve.

We plan to do a 4 to 6 months road trip in Europe (if allowed with all the sh*** happening at the moment). So we will create a moving house.
The main parts :

• rooftop tent
• drawer on the trunk
• electrical circuit to be self-sufficient for a fridge, lights and electronics)
• "light" mechanical mods : new wheels, maybe some other parts if we discover problems

The next posts will show what we already did.

I hope it will be interesting and I look forward to all the advice you have !

 

[nicolas2b54]

link to a question I had about batteries : Transform dual battery into 1 main and 1 accessory - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/transform-dual-battery-into-1-main-and-1-accessory.1258402/

 

[nicolas2b54]

Some photos of the car

 

[nicolas2b54]

First thing we add was 3 roof rails. We bought them online from a french maker in the south of France.
It's extruded aluminum bar in double width. It's a standard industrial bar so connector are widely available.

 

[nicolas2b54]

Hi everyone !

After several weeks far from the car, back for some mechanics : the alternator is dying
After several non-start of the car, a garage did some test and, engine running with some lights, it gives 11.9V
So, I buy a new one

And the fun began !
Several attempts to access it without removing the radiator and fan were unsuccessful, so with a friend we remove them. We manage to remove the upper and lower bolts from the generator, but no to loosen the accessory belt so nothing move

I need advice from you guys. How to proceed ? Do I forgot a bolt or with the 20 past years, it's kind of stuck ?
Thanks

 

[nicolas2b54]

Did it !

In fact, all was unscrew correctly, the key was more WD40 (pretty much always the answer) and some raw strength to move the alternator.

This afternoon : install the new one in place and put the radiator back.

 

[2020 Rocks]

Did it !

In fact, all was unscrew correctly, the key was more WD40 (pretty much always the answer) and some raw strength to move the alternator.

This afternoon : install the new one in place and put the radiator back.

You got lucky, that bolt snaps sometimes…I had to drill it out on mine after it snapped.

 

[nicolas2b54]

You got lucky, that bolt snaps sometimes…I had to drill it out on mine after it snapped.

The "raw strength" was after that I remove the bolt (only to move the alternator from its support)
To remove the bolt, I use a lot of WD40 and a week of wait time between my tries.
Last week when I started, nothing move and breaking the bolt was my biggest fear

 

[nicolas2b54]

Hello,

I resume posting about my build. I work the last months but didn't have the time to post.

Last summer, after the alternator episode, I work on the media center. It will be with 2 parts :
- an in-car PC (more on that later)
- an android tablet on the center console.

First, I remove the old radio and tape player.

To support the tablet, I use a RAM mount with 4 parts : ball size C, a small arm, a medium length arm and a tablet holder.

To hold the RAM mount, I made a wood support and use the original tape player brackets

 

[nicolas2b54]

The tablet is a Samsung Tab A7. I prefer to use a dedicated tablet instead of an all-in-one that plug to the car because I can install what I want on it on use it around the car (to plan the next day road for example). The downside is that I can't manage car parameters (speed, temperature ...)
On the tablet, I install OsmAnd, a GPS software and plug a dedicated GPS receiver. It works perfectly : I can have full GPS capabilities without data or phone connectivity.