Builds OL'BETSY ZX: 1991 HZJ77

[JDM Journeys]

Almost ready for the big trip.
-changed the oil in the winch
-new brake fluid
-checked all other fluids
-checked torque values on lug nuts

Still working on interior organization - rear storage is good to go. Just figuring out the back seat configuration, since I now have a (human) passenger, and want him to have his own space. Decided that my old pupper girl is too frail to make this one - she's totally blind now, and needs her familiar environment, so she'll stay home with mama.

Not much left to do now beyond mounting the roofbars and traction boards on the tent (t-slots) once it's out of the garage. Then its OVERLAND EXPO here we come!

 

[JDM Journeys]

My last reply was about getting it in with the rope due to the gasket stiffness and the headliner trim (the installer cussed a little over this). Installer did apply the sealant from the outside only of course once the new glass was in.

Also, when the old windshield came out, like you said….there was very, very little sealant present from the factory. Almost none at all.

Just an update: I did run a perimeter of masking tape around the windshield and applied glass sealer yesterday. I only did around the outside, not on the glass side of the gasket.
I found a small tube of permatex for under 10 dollars, and it did the job with lots to spare. I don't *think* it would've leaked, but better not to find out your gamble didn't pay off when you find wet carpet right?

 

[JDM Journeys]

Down to the important stuff now, lol
Cooler has been appropriately branded.

Also, painted the selector knob on the PTO winch red, in case someone needs to find it in a hurry. And put a crush washer on my oil pan drain (forgot to change it while doing my oil change).

 

[JDM Journeys]

Trip is going really good so far. About 2000kms... We've blasted down many many BDR roads and trails in Washington, and are currently camping at Overland expo in Redmond.

Got to use my winch to clear some deep snow, and all the storage in the back hasn't rattled apart yet, so life is good.

More to come!

 

[JDM Journeys]

Home now and camping with my wife in our trailer and 100 series.

Lots of impressions but for now I'll just say that the old 77 had not even a hiccup the whole trip.

 

[JDM Journeys]

It's been a crazy summer, both good and bad, and I'm way behind with updates.

In the non-70 arena, I sold my Prado 90 and bought an R53 Mini Cooper JCW, because life needs unreliability and surprises? LOL. Also, my youngest little pupper girl crossed over the rainbow bridge at 13 years old, so now there are no dogs left in the house (the one in my avatar was the older guy, who passed at 15 in 2020). Hard times.

In any event, I put almost 4000 kms on the 77, via Washington and Oregon BDR's over 6 days as we raced to keep up with the motorcycle boys. I was surprised, once I got used to using third more, how well this thing could blast down gravel roads at speed. It took a lot of concentration, momentum, and opportune gear changes, but when I finally started getting it right, it was an absolute blast! I've got pics and vids that I still haven't sorted yet. But nothing came loose, Nothing fell off. And we got a few days at the OVERLAND Expo PNW to relax before hitting the interstate home to make the deadline two days after Expo weekend. Even got to audit one of @cruiseroutfit 's classes, and saw a few 'mud members as well.

Did many mountain passes, and although it was pretty miserable being N/A, she still made it. Thankful that I did the rad. Otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd have overheated at those 6000 foot climbs. Someday I'd really like to turbo it. But for now, I know she can take on anything I want to try, and come out the other side unscathed.

PTO was a treat on a snowy trail in washington, and pulled the rig through the drift with ease. Really need to find a condenser and lines to get some A/C for next summer. Windows down in the dust was not ideal.

More to come!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Which class did you attend?

That was a busy event, Lexus had us running!

 

[JDM Journeys]

Which class did you attend?

That was a busy event, Lexus had us running!

I went to your basic recovery 101 class... some of that stuff I haven't done/thought about in years, so it was a good refresher.

 

[JDM Journeys]

I've made a few additions/changes to the truck lately, and some fine tuning in other areas.
I added a shower/changing room on the port side. Wife loved it, and we even put the porta-loo in there! Sitting where it is, you can open the back window and reach your clothes bag in the back seat. Super convenient. I'll likely get a Geyser shower down the road, for showers on the road.

Speaking of water, my front runner slant tank combined with a small rv pump has been working great, but the tap part of it was sometimes a pain, as you had to remove the hose gun from the back, hold it with one hand over the container you were filling, etc. I know - first world problems. Anyways, I thought it'd be easier if I had an actual simple tap on the back door.

So here it is. Still needs tidying up, but works super simple...

Also reworked my sliding drawer tops so I could fit "one more box" in the center above the battery compartment.
Ran an LED strip along the inside top of the back window, energized with one of my rear switches.

And finally... sold my ARB side awning, and bought myself a OVS Nomadic 270 degree awning. Here's a mockup in the garage (just put it on this weekend past).

Now I can keep my kitchen covered at the back. Might get some sidewalls in the future.
Looking forward, I'm thinking about a real temperature gauge. Maybe an AUBER instruments model, that can trigger a relay to an AUX electric fan at alarm levels? And also, I need to get my A/C sorted. The condenser was falling apart when I pulled it out, and I'm having a terrible time finding a reasonably priced one that won't be even worse with shipping to canada. Really would like it for spring trips south...

I'm seriously considering taking a chance on a new "22790-1C070 Toyota OEM Genuine COVER SUB-ASSY, TIMER". Its the doohickey that adjusts the mixture on cold starts. Pretty sure mine's pooched, and new ones for the early 77's are NOLA. This model is for the newer 1HZ's, but someone said it fit, somewhere along the lines (can't find my reference). I've had to advance my timing a little to make starts less smoky, and would like to bring it back just a bit if possible.

Still dreaming of forced induction. My new (to me) R53 supercharged mini isn't quelling this desire at all either...

 

[JDM Journeys]

One of my limitations with this rig is it's ability to park in the garage. I have a 7 foot door (with the opening "clearanced") and with the tent (always) on top, the truck is 83.8-something inches. Not a word of a lie.

When I'm filled up on water, fuel, food and provisions, I'm about an inch down in the back. Maybe a little more. Empty I'm pretty much level. But she's never empty it seems. When she's driven, most of the time it's on some sort of adventure.

So obviously new springs would be ideal except that I have zero room to play with to park it inside.

Enter: THE BOSS.

I've used airbags inside coils for mild trailer hauling help for almost 20 years, with good success. And many argue this is the worst use case for airbags, since it effectively makes your coil's spring rate rock hard when inflated.

But as a bumpstop replacement over a wagon spring? Heck, it brings my suspension into the 70s!

A tiny lift when loaded will level the truck but shouldn't otherwise adversely affect it. And if I need to air down to get into the garage? Perfect.

Found a lightly used set on marketplace so I'll be installing them in the coming weeks.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

One of my limitations with this rig is it's ability to park in the garage. I have a 7 foot door (with the opening "clearanced") and with the tent (always) on top, the truck is 83.8-something inches. Not a word of a lie.

When I'm filled up on water, fuel, food and provisions, I'm about an inch down in the back. Maybe a little more. Empty I'm pretty much level. But she's never empty it seems. When she's driven, most of the time it's on some sort of adventure.

So obviously new springs would be ideal except that I have zero room to play with to park it inside.

Enter: THE BOSS.

I've used airbags inside coils for mild trailer hauling help for almost 20 years, with good success. And many argue this is the worst use case for airbags, since it effectively makes your coil's spring rate rock hard when inflated.

But as a bumpstop replacement over a wagon spring? Heck, it brings my suspension into the 70s!

A tiny lift when loaded will level the truck but shouldn't otherwise adversely affect it. And if I need to air down to get into the garage? Perfect.

Found a lightly used set on marketplace so I'll be installing them in the coming weeks.
View attachment 3118109

When I installed my “over the cab” roof rack I knew the clearance in my garage would be very tight so out of an abundance of caution I asked my wife to watch as I pulled in. I even went so far as to place a ladder next to the truck so she would have a birds-eye view and instructed her to tap on the roof if it appeared I was going to hit the garage opening.
I then proceeded at a snails pace and initially everything was going well right up to the point where it wasn’t. I heard a very distinctive scraping sound. About 3-5 seconds after I stopped I also heard my wife tapping on the roof.

 

[JDM Journeys]

Not sure they were quite aware of what they signed on for eh? Mine has been standing on a step ladder, as well as the rear bumper (she's easy on the eyes but not effective ballast on the bumper)… I've lost track of how many times. So if I got new springs and ended up too high again after a year of squeezing in unassisted? I might be asking if my southern buddies had a doghouse to spare?

 

[JDM Journeys]

Another quick camp out this weekend. This time it was just the fellas. We did a ride first and then camped the night.

My OVS nomadic 270 awning was excellent! Super fast and easy to put out and put away.

I was able to hang my led lights off them last night too. Combined with the led stick on strip above my back window, I have light everywhere I need it. And the 270 is really nice for coverage over my kitchen.

A water tap on the back door is something I never knew I needed until I had it. Now I think all rigs should come with one. So convenient!

One more mod this trip. My Saris freedom spare tire rack wouldn't fit my spare (I always used it on the Prado before)… so I found a great deal on a Yakima spare time and put it on right before the trip. It allowed me to keep my trasharoo. It allowed me to open the back doors. Perfect!

Closed'

One side open:

And a gratuitous bike and truck shot.

 

[JDM Journeys]

Did some tidying up of the batteries yesterday. My dual AGM setup is much better than the lead acids it came with. The trip down in Oregon/Washington via BDRs was proof positive that lead acid batteries aren't suited for heat and vibration, so I'm glad to now have all three batteries of the AGM variety.

My batteries are big though. They just barely fit the space, and the terminals were quite close to the edge. So I thought it was time to do some tidying.

I used military style terminals on the central pos/neg posts where the two batteries connect, and made a new jumper to go between them, since the OEM lead was looking worse for wear.

Also took the time to replace the fusible link at the back, just under the wiper motor, just in case... (Kept the original as a backup).

Waiting on my airbags now, and looking forward to "levelling up" when they arrive.

 

[JDM Journeys]

Some things about to be improved or updated...

Just got a full washer kit to replace all the drain and fill plug gaskets that i didn't get the chance to do before the trip. Most are weeping, so this will be nice to get cleaned up.

Just ordered a valve cover gasket kit to solve my long suffering valve cover leak.

Also ordered an injection pump seal kit in in line with the high altitude compensator that is also on the way. I'll do the cover gasket once I pull the OEM cover before installing the new HAC. I'll also do the oring on that shaft thingy to that sticks up through the cover.
More info about the HAC here if you're interested:
Thread 'High altitude compensator 1HZ retrofit?' https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/high-altitude-compensator-1hz-retrofit.1251575/mo

And I can finally investigate the wax pellet timing cover ACSD since I'll have an oring for that too. I found an alternate part number for the ACSD but suddenly it's unobtanium too.

Finally ... I found somewhat locally, a BOSS airbag kit. The 60 series guys have had good luck with them so I'm gonna give em a try.

 

[JDM Journeys]

HAC cover retrofit is now completed, and isn't leaking or causing adverse effects, so I'm calling it a win, regardless of whether it actually helps or not. Jury is still out on gains, but we'll see.
Details, as I mentioned above, are in a separate thread.

Adding hac to 1hz

Here are the two covers, side by side, for comparison:

And here is the "new" HAC cover, installed:

Air bag pieces are now sitting on my bench ready for install, but just this morning I found a deal on some bits that will possibly change my whole approach to the 1HZ. Controversial: universally lauded and panned at the same time, depending on who you are, but here is what I now have...

Yep, CT26 and associated bits from an early 80 series. More parts are needed, but you can see where this is going. VERY low pressure turbo in tandem with the HAC will hopefully help with my lack of dense air here in the foothills.

Aren't projects fun?

 

[JDM Journeys]

I've just ordered an ACSD blanking cover from diesel injection pumps UK, along with the gasket, just in case my all in one kit doesn't have it.
Cover blank link

Not as easy to find as they apparently used to be, so link above in case you're looking for one.

Originally I was going to order up a new ACSD with a part number I was fairly confident in, but even the new part is NOLA. Sigh.

Meanwhile, the hunt is on for turbo parts. My plan is to emulate the 1hdt factory setup as closely as possible, only because I scored the turbo and some piping for a very reasonable sum.

 

[Rigster]

I've just ordered an ACSD blanking cover from diesel injection pumps UK, along with the gasket, just in case my all in one kit doesn't have it.
Cover blank link

Not as easy to find as they apparently used to be, so link above in case you're looking for one.

Originally I was going to order up a new ACSD with a part number I was fairly confident in, but even the new part is NOLA. Sigh.

Meanwhile, the hunt is on for turbo parts. My plan is to emulate the 1hdt factory setup as closely as possible, only because I scored the turbo and some piping for a very reasonable sum.

Yes, you should be able to source some used intake piece that says ''TURBO'' on it, and the 2 piece exhaust manifold that is designed to mate to that turbo. You will also need to source a new airbox lid with the downspout to connect to the turbo. Maybe try posting the ask in the 80's series forum. Failing anyone having what you need you could try cruiserparts.net, but they can be pretty pricey on some items.

EDIT - If you do source a used OEM exhaust manifold, I recommend you get a new gasket for the connection between the 2 pieces (as well as the new 2 exhaust gaskets for the head)

Looking forward to the new BEAST-UNLEASHED!! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns, etc. You will also need to grab the oil supply line and drain for the oil pan, and coolant line/connectors. Gosh, the list is pretty long....

 

[JDM Journeys]

Yes, you should be able to source some used intake piece that says ''TURBO'' on it, and the 2 piece exhaust manifold that is designed to mate to that turbo. You will also need to source a new airbox lid with the downspout to connect to the turbo. Maybe try posting the ask in the 80's series forum. Failing anyone having what you need you could try cruiserparts.net, but they can be pretty pricey on some items.

EDIT - If you do source a used OEM exhaust manifold, I recommend you get a new gasket for the connection between the 2 pieces (as well as the new 2 exhaust gaskets for the head)

Looking forward to the new BEAST-UNLEASHED!! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns, etc. You will also need to grab the oil supply line and drain for the oil pan, and coolant line/connectors. Gosh, the list is pretty long....

The cover and charge pipe are still available new. But the exhaust manifold doesn't seem to be. Actually the cost isn't terrible, except the shipping. I also need the bracket that hangs the turbo off the block.

Just this morning I found the oil and water pipes from aus. But kinda spendy. Hmmm...

 

[FJ73Texas]

ACSD is one Toyota part that should be unobtanium. Had one fail on me when I owned the PZJ70 and the result was not pretty.