Builds Not another "Fire Truck" build......HZJ75 (2 Viewers)

[African]

Where to start...how about the beginning

After growing up on a cattle farm in South Africa, and then working as a hunting guide there and in remote northern Australia I learnt to appreciate the same things people all over the world love about Toyota Landcruiser's. Iv seen em in all shapes and sizes and seen them beaten, abused and still just going strong.

The first cruiser I owned my self was an 80 series ( 1HZ with turbo ) and all the bells and whistles for a hunting rig that I used for several years in Australia, we went to some wild remote places and I loved that truck! ....upon leaving Australia to start a life in Colorado, I was just not in a position to keep or even consider trying import that 80 to the USA. In hindsight I wish I explored that option more seriously.

fast forward a few years, with some lurking on here and just grafting to make a life in Colorado, Iv yearned for another Landcruiser. But nothing was ticking all the boxes, Id love another 80 but to not have a manual gearbox or the diesel engine just put me off.. I also did not want a complete beater that would be a huge project, and that narrows the playing field some more.

and here enters this JDM Fire Truck..... I notice it one day on my way to work "for sale" in a parking lot, here in the middle of the rocky mountains. I go check it out and think dam... this thing is a cool rig ( pretty much do that with any 70 series) ...but its a fire truck, its been modified for that purpose and I just don't have a use for it as a daily driver. I come to find out I know the owner and we chat a little about the truck etc....
For what he was asking at the time and me thinking really this thing needs to go to a Fire Station or collector to be really appreciated as it is.
I thought I could convert it but it would be a serious amount of work.... off I went.

fast forward 6-9 months down the road and I get a text from the owner and the gist was ...

" hey bud, I need to sell this truck, Iv had a few low ball offers but I want it to go to someone that appreciates what it is and shares the vision of a sweet double cab build out, here's what ill take.. are you sure you don't want it for that price"

.... if you read this far, you all know how that ended

And so this is how it started...

 

[African]

The Good the Bad and the Unknowns

I figured I would not need to reinvent the wheel here... some folks have already done this so I read what I could as far as the tear down goes.

The Good.
-Its a time capsule (pretty much everyone in this forum section could climb into the driver seat, sit back and smile) other then the conversion to a Fire Station Pump Truck its never been wrenched on)

-Its got 13,000km on the 1HZ ( it does not get much street cred love, but all over the world even as I type this, for something that just runs when you feed it liquid dinosaur the 1HZ is there with what makes some Toyota's a time tested work horse, and thats what I want )

-Unlike most 25 year old trucks, its seen no use but, its lived its life indoors and has been run often enough to not have components perish from non use / lubrication like an untouched barn find. These where kept in service ready order, like all Fire Station equipment.

-Power steering

- Its a no BS 75 with no fluff, everything is manual, simple and solid

- its a Double Cab

- manual gearbox

The Bad.
- Not sure what really is involved with stripping down the back and pump gear

- Fuel tank removed and placed into the Pump box ( Not Stock )

- Radiator, different due to added cooling protection

- Its 26 years old, things might need to be replaced even with almost no use.

The Unknown.
- Suspension
- non standard parts for cooling and pump truck conversion
- Oil and Fluids ?
- anything Rubber or Perishable
- fuel tank ( back to OEM or retrofit )
- what to do with the back (cut down a stock 79 trey, build something from scratch)
- as my wife calls it " The Forehead " high top roof
- Drive Flanges
- Rims
- electrical system changes from stock for Fire Service specific's gear, Spot lights, sirens, sensors, radios etc )
- Right Hand Drive ( I put this here as its a hanging point for a lot of people, but it is a non factor for me, Iv driven both in different parts of the world and it has just not something I worry about at all , other then that one time I pulled out of a gas station at 3 am in the morning and drove a few miles down the road into oncoming traffic )

Check these cool little Lights placed through the truck ( I saved all of these and will put them back in as engine bay working lights, draw slide lights etc)

 

[African]

The Plan....
Its been a work in progress as time and money allows.

The plan is to make it a Double Cab Pickup, remove all the Fire specific gear and return everything I can back to stock within reason.
I started with baselining and tear down.

- Remove the Back, Pump, Wiring, Throttle control from the Engine to the pump box. All heat exchange items that where put in place to protect the engine, transfer case while it was stationary but running and pumping water. Remove the huge bubba lip on the front.

Some tear down begin's.

some the the water piping and taps from the circulation water as heat exchange, Some of this goes to the front sub radiator, in between oil cooler and oil filter, into the transfer case at inspection plate, as well as cooling some of the pump gear. Basically, as it pumps water it uses some of the water to try help keep things cool.

Here is the big PTO driven pump living under the back seat

 

[African]

Next was pulling off the back.
This involved about an hour undoing any bolts attaching it to the frame, Undoing or cutting anything from the back into the vehicle ( wiring, throttle cable, water lines)
Disconnect the PTO drive shaft
Disconnect the outlet of the big water pump.
There where a few welds that had to get cut as well.
Also the Fuel tank has to be removed as it is relocated into this back pump box, to make room for the big pump

We decided to do this in two parts, First get the box off the back, then pull the big PTO driven water pump from under the back seats.
Out came he backhoe....

 

[African]

Next was the Pump itself from under the seat. This took a little finessing but out it came.
A note on this part of the tear down, the pump box and pump is a LOT heavier then I thought it would be!
Im not sure the weight of that set up, but it was a properly heavy!

At this stage it was off.
Now I would spend a few hours temporarily remounting the fuel tank, brakes lights and cutting and grinding all the attachment points that had been welded to the chassis.
There is now a giant hole under the rear seats and with all the weight gone it was a bouncy ride home.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Just curious, does your headliner have zippered pockets?

 

[African]

Just curious, does your headliner have zippered pockets?

Yes, several. I suspect so that you could access the wiring up to the lights, sirens, mounting hardware etc that would have been on the roof.
Headliner is in pretty good shape.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Yes, several. I suspect so that you could access the wiring up to the lights, sirens, mounting hardware etc that would have been on the roof.
Headliner is in pretty good shape.

Everyone I’ve seen had the same access areas in the headliner.

 

[FJBen]

Where abouts in Colorado are you? Lots of cruiserheads here.

 

[African]

Where abouts in Colorado are you? Lots of cruiserheads here.

Gunnison

 

[African]

Next was clean up, removing more fire truck gear and wiring, a start on baselining fluids and changing out 25 year old rubber.
as well as the big bottom lip.

This took part over a few months, figuring out where to get parts, etc

The Radiator on these is set up with a Sub Radiator and the lower hose is on the opposite side as a stock radiator.
The radiator was in really good shape but I could not get comfortable with the lower hose sticking below the skid plate and a work around for rerouting it into the engine once the sub rad was pulled. I did at this point look into a bigger rad like the Terrain Tamer HDJ78 set up but I could not spare a kidney at the time so I settled for the 16400-17080 Toyota
This included, draining the block, new hoses, new thermostat.

 

[African]

To make it easier to do all that I pulled the big bottom lip, which I had heard had a hidden anvil inside it which did not disappoint.
The plan is to put on a BullBar..

following this I started pulling out the wiring associated with the fire truck, this had wire everywhere, engine bay, fuses and controls in the cab, up to the roof for sirens, lights, radio's, to the rear of the truck to all the gear in the pump box.

I did this very carefully, not being that keen on auto electrical, I made dam sure before I cut and pulled wires it was not part of the stock harness
Much to my relief after tearing it all out, I turned the key and everything worked as it should.

In pulling up the wires under the floor cover I discovered a nice layer of sand and oil that must have leaked from the oil reservoir for the water pump.
So out came the seats and floor cover for a good cleaning.

one nice thing so far is every bolt I remove is perfect, no rust no corrosion.

 

[African]

Then a start on liquid dinosaur baselining.
Engine oil change, Oil filter 90915-30002, ( here I discovered a "heat exchange" that was sandwiched between the oil cooler and oil filter) which I blocked off and will remove and go back to the stock union at the next oil change. replaced gearbox oil, transfer case, front and rear diff, air filter 17801-61030

Not getting to crazy here incase I have to pull something, for example Im leaving the fuel filter until I figure out the tank.
Break fluid for after suspension and likely extended brake lines. etc

Next things are figuring out how to fill in the huge hole under the rear bench seat where the pto pump was and something for a permanent fuel tank.....

 

[African]

for the the big hole under the back seat.....
Check out @adv2bc HZJ79 Build to do the back seat properly! one day I will go that route ( anyone have a back seat that will work? )
...but to keep things moving I decided keep the bench seat and fill in the bottom so I could seal it and use it as storage.

Flinstone's hole

I bent up some checked plate aluminum and riveted / sika flexed it into place.

The next big hurdle to figure out was the fuel tank.
I figured this would be just go right to OEM tank or even better a dual tank set-up.
This turned out to be much harder to make happen then I anticipated, limited availability, cost etc. I considered a long range america 40 gal tank, and an variety of other tank options. I got some great info from @rick_d on the fuel system and reached out to @joekatana who ultimately advised me to just get a good aftermarket tank and run with it. I took his advice and got on with it.
I was able to reuse the original sender unit, tuck the tank up nice and out of the way unlike some of the other rear tank options.
Mocking up the tank to see where I want it etc

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Great thread….

 

[TreadingLight]

Gunnison

I was just in that area for the first time with my white Troopy a few weeks ago. Gorgeous part of the world. Nice rig too!

I have a folding rear bench for a Troopy I'd like to get out of the garage.

 

[RivMan]

Great thread, good to see another Fire Truck getting some love.

If you haven't seen my 62-Series build, take a look here: "Detour" - FJ62 Fire Truck Ute - soon to be 80-chassis swapped - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/detour-fj62-fire-truck-ute-soon-to-be-80-chassis-swapped.1271834/

-Rob

 

[African]

Great thread, good to see another Fire Truck getting some love.

If you haven't seen my 62-Series build, take a look here: "Detour" - FJ62 Fire Truck Ute - soon to be 80-chassis swapped - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/detour-fj62-fire-truck-ute-soon-to-be-80-chassis-swapped.1271834/

-Rob

Awesome, keen to check that out!

 

[African]

So after closing up under the rear bench seat and getting a fuel tank in place, it was time to think about planning the back.
Few big upcoming items where going to be:
BullBar
Suspension
and a random list of misc things on order from Cruiser Outfitters and Oversea's

For the back I wanted to go with something much more common in South Africa and Australia, with a Trey bed and fold down removable sides. (so it can also be a flatbed)
There is a company in Canada "Summit Overland Expeditions" that make some incredible aluminum examples for all kinds of vehicles and they have already fitted a couple to some 79 series Landcruiser up in Canada. Check them out

I simply did not have the money for one of those, so my plan was to build the back myself.
I started sketching out some plans and ordering some parts, I wanted some good hinges / latches and I ended up getting those sent from Australia as I could not find quite what I wanted State side.

I did seriously consider chopping down a 79 series bed which would be a fine choice if you can get your hands on one. But the biggest limitation for me that I was willing to trade off was overall length, and chopping a 79 bed was just going to leave it to short for my longer term use goals.

here's the rough vision on paper....
Wanted a full 6 feet
Wanted removable side gates
Wanted a rear slide out draw
Maybe side boxes or I will panel those off
Wanted to make it all myself
Goal was to keep the original LC tail lights and add some Backup lights

 

[African]

Pretty much all the work on vehicles up to this point in my life has been in the dirt and my old mans shop.
Something very exciting going down..... Building my very own workshop (major life goal !...for me)

I had 3 guys help me get the structure....up took us a week.
and then my dad and a handfull of friends helped pour a concrete floor.
from there I would do everything inside myself and that has been taking priority over the last year on weekends and after work.