I'm sure like many of you here, my fasination with Landcruisers began at an early age. From the time I was about 12 or 13 years old, I began looking at various offroad vehicles on the internet, magazines, t.v. etc. My interest was fueled by a friend of mine who had an old Heep Commando. He and his older brother worked at rebuilding that thing, but it was pretty much a lost cause.
I grew up under the hood of a car, holding the flashlight for my dad... the job relegated to the youngest in the family. Yet all that time finally paid off. After about 2 years of searching classified ads and local newspapers I finally found my match. As I was driving home from school one wintry day, I happened to see some old post-office heeps parked in the back corner of a used car lot. However, one of the vehicles caught my eye. The oval headlight bezel stood out, I knew I had found her. I quickly pulled a u-turn and headed back to the lot. There I discovered a true fixer-upper. I talked briefly with the salesman and told him I would be back later that night with my father. So, at about 7:00 that night, my dad and I came back to look at the cruiser. She was in a sorry looking state, but I had big dreams and knew she was the one. Our fun began when we tried to start the engine. It took the three of us just to get the tired 2F to turn over. My dad worked on the carb while the salesman cranked the engine, as I poured gas straight from a gas can down into the carb. Finally, after several long minutes, with a sputter a lot of fuss, she turned over. We quickly discovered that the rings were shot, and the bluish oil smoke filled up nearly 2 city blocks... $1500 later, and an 8 mile tow truck ride home, she was mine. That was 5 years ago.
(Unfortunately I couldn't find any pictures of it during that time period, but it's safe to say it needed a lot of work.)
So began my adventures... The next 2 years my dad and I worked weekends, breaks, whenever we could, just trying to make her road (and eventually off-road) worthy.
Some things we've done
-Completely rebuilt the 2F (This cruiser is a '73 body on a '76 chassis, oddly, the dmv registered it as a '73, so can we say bye-bye smog parts?!)
-New clutch
-Rebuilt tranny and t-case
-New radiator
-New wiring harness and lots of electrical components that go along with that
-DUI HEI distributor (1/3 of my summer's salary)
-Rebuilt both axles, all new seals and bearings in the front knuckles, new wheel bearings all around, rebuilt carrier front and rear. All new u-joints
-Lock right locker in the rear
-Rebuilt carb (several times)
-New gas tank, fuel lines, and fuel pumps
-4 in. Rough Country lift (they weren’t kidding when they named it rough….) and 33 in. Pro-Comp X-terrains on 15 in. white wagon wheels
And way too much other stuff that slips my mind at the moment….
Things I still need to do
-Address some cancer issues creeping in where I hit a tree with my front right fender…
-Selectable lockers
-Beefier axles
-SOA and softer leaf springs
-Roll cage
-Fix the hard top (had some issues with the rear corners rusting out, got the replacement parts, just haven’t gotten around to it yet).
-And all the other things I can think up….
Now for some pictures to satisfy ya’lls bloodlust for .jpegs hahaha I'll start with older pictures and move forward....
The first is one of the olds pics i have of it, no fenders, just got done with the engine rebuild, just painted, never driven.
Second is the interior after putting in the new steering wheel, the stock one had fallen apart
Third is my dad putting in the first tank of gas... a glorious day after 2 years of long long long work.
I grew up under the hood of a car, holding the flashlight for my dad... the job relegated to the youngest in the family. Yet all that time finally paid off. After about 2 years of searching classified ads and local newspapers I finally found my match. As I was driving home from school one wintry day, I happened to see some old post-office heeps parked in the back corner of a used car lot. However, one of the vehicles caught my eye. The oval headlight bezel stood out, I knew I had found her. I quickly pulled a u-turn and headed back to the lot. There I discovered a true fixer-upper. I talked briefly with the salesman and told him I would be back later that night with my father. So, at about 7:00 that night, my dad and I came back to look at the cruiser. She was in a sorry looking state, but I had big dreams and knew she was the one. Our fun began when we tried to start the engine. It took the three of us just to get the tired 2F to turn over. My dad worked on the carb while the salesman cranked the engine, as I poured gas straight from a gas can down into the carb. Finally, after several long minutes, with a sputter a lot of fuss, she turned over. We quickly discovered that the rings were shot, and the bluish oil smoke filled up nearly 2 city blocks... $1500 later, and an 8 mile tow truck ride home, she was mine. That was 5 years ago.
(Unfortunately I couldn't find any pictures of it during that time period, but it's safe to say it needed a lot of work.)
So began my adventures... The next 2 years my dad and I worked weekends, breaks, whenever we could, just trying to make her road (and eventually off-road) worthy.
Some things we've done
-Completely rebuilt the 2F (This cruiser is a '73 body on a '76 chassis, oddly, the dmv registered it as a '73, so can we say bye-bye smog parts?!)
-New clutch
-Rebuilt tranny and t-case
-New radiator
-New wiring harness and lots of electrical components that go along with that
-DUI HEI distributor (1/3 of my summer's salary)
-Rebuilt both axles, all new seals and bearings in the front knuckles, new wheel bearings all around, rebuilt carrier front and rear. All new u-joints
-Lock right locker in the rear
-Rebuilt carb (several times)
-New gas tank, fuel lines, and fuel pumps
-4 in. Rough Country lift (they weren’t kidding when they named it rough….) and 33 in. Pro-Comp X-terrains on 15 in. white wagon wheels
And way too much other stuff that slips my mind at the moment….
Things I still need to do
-Address some cancer issues creeping in where I hit a tree with my front right fender…
-Selectable lockers
-Beefier axles
-SOA and softer leaf springs
-Roll cage
-Fix the hard top (had some issues with the rear corners rusting out, got the replacement parts, just haven’t gotten around to it yet).
-And all the other things I can think up….
Now for some pictures to satisfy ya’lls bloodlust for .jpegs hahaha I'll start with older pictures and move forward....
The first is one of the olds pics i have of it, no fenders, just got done with the engine rebuild, just painted, never driven.
Second is the interior after putting in the new steering wheel, the stock one had fallen apart
Third is my dad putting in the first tank of gas... a glorious day after 2 years of long long long work.
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