Builds spinning the roulette wheel (twice) on a 1996 Middle East HDJ81 at auction (1 Viewer)

[John Young]

BTW, our friend CruiserMatt down in Florida and I were discussing the frame swap today and I sent him some photos of the original chassis and the donor chassis now on the truck. It has been so long that I had kind of forgotten that the 1991 donor had front and rear lockers on it. The downside is that he donor also has rear drums, and I'm sure that the guys did not swap out the master cylinder which turns out to be something we should have done. Here are photos of the original RHD frame now sitting beside the garage:

I went back and looked at old photos of the donor frame but I was at that time focused on the engine and transmission mounting brackets and not the axels so I don't know that I have good photos of the axels now on the truck. I am going to have to climb under there and see how it all looks currently, in terms of the lockers.

 

[John Young]

Some of you may find interesting the 'frame measurement' results from Al Futtaim. I tried to talk the service manager out of doing it, and I don't think it was necessary for the RTA process but they did it anyways and charged me 1800 AED (about 500 USD). I did not want them doing it because I suspected they would then start poking at the whole RHD to LHD conversion which had not actually come up. Here is what I got for 500 USD:

Maybe some of you know how to interpret this? They concluded that the frame had been in an accident. I saw no evidence of that at all on the donor body or on the donor frame before it was put under the truck. I suspect it may simply be the differences between a 1991 and 1997 frame; or maybe the motor and transmission mounts? Any ideas?

 

[John Young]

Today I spent a couple of hours fiddling with the truck. The steering wheel was off by one notch, which was annoying, so I pulled the steering wheel and fixed that. Then I started fiddling with the side mirrors. The passenger side is fine but the drivers side is not. These were still the Japanese RHD mirrors on the truck. First I looked around to see if I had another LHD set of mirrors but I didn't. I ended up putting two longer 10mm bolts in the two mounting holes with a bit of old heater hose under the back side of the bracket to angle the mirror further out. Helps but is just a quick fix. Mostly I wanted to confirm I did not have a set of mirrors lying around so that I can head up to Sharjah first thing on Saturday to try to find decent LHD cores to rebuild.

I also just wanted to check the fluids now that I've been carefully driving the truck for a couple of days. Oil and trans fluid and coolant all are fine. I also wanted to investigate the warm air coming out of the footwell. It is cool in Dubai right now, but still I wanted to figure out what is going on.

It turns out that when the guys put the engine back in they hooked up the hoses to the heater core...but....

Look Ma, no heater diverter valve!

Yes that is a field expedient plug for one of the coolant hoses.

I remember buying a new valve, but I put it on the Omani truck. I need to order another. And some of the hoses.

 

[TYM4FUN]

Today I spent a couple of hours fiddling with the truck. The steering wheel was off by one notch, which was annoying, so I pulled the steering wheel and fixed that. Then I started fiddling with the side mirrors. The passenger side is fine but the drivers side is not. These were still the Japanese RHD mirrors on the truck. First I looked around to see if I had another LHD set of mirrors but I didn't. I ended up putting two longer 10mm bolts in the two mounting holes with a bit of old heater hose under the back side of the bracket to angle the mirror further out. Helps but is just a quick fix. Mostly I wanted to confirm I did not have a set of mirrors lying around so that I can head up to Sharjah first thing on Saturday to try to find decent LHD cores to rebuild.

I also just wanted to check the fluids now that I've been carefully driving the truck for a couple of days. Oil and trans fluid and coolant all are fine. I also wanted to investigate the warm air coming out of the footwell. It is cool in Dubai right now, but still I wanted to figure out what is going on.

It turns out that when the guys put the engine back in they hooked up the hoses to the heater core...but....

Look Ma, no heater diverter valve!
View attachment 2913128
View attachment 2913129
View attachment 2913130
Yes that is a field expedient plug for one of the coolant hoses.

I remember buying a new valve, but I put it on the Omani truck. I need to order another. And some of the hoses.

Are you sure the steering wheel was incorrectly installed, and it was not a relay rod adjustment that is needed?

 

[John Young]

Are you sure the steering wheel was incorrectly installed, and it was not a relay rod adjustment that is needed?

I moved the wheel one notch over on the spline and it is centered up and it is not pulling either direction.

Steering is a little vague and I'm wondering if maybe the steering box on the original frame might be in better shape but I did not change it out in the interest of making as few changes as possible to the running gear on the donor truck. I may put the original frame's steering box on at some point, once I take care of a few other things. The steering is not really bad.

 

[TYM4FUN]

I moved the wheel one notch over on the spline and it is centered up and it is not pulling either direction.

Steering is a little vague and I'm wondering if maybe the steering box on the original frame might be in better shape but I did not change it out in the interest of making as few changes as possible to the running gear on the donor truck. I may put the original frame's steering box on at some point, once I take care of a few other things. The steering is not really bad.

Maybe check and adjust your steering wheel freeplay at the box. Could help.

 

[John Young]

I made my first attempt adjusting the steering box and I -think- it had a beneficial effect. I need a very long screwdriver to really do it so I'm going to go get one of these and try again in the parking lot of the hardware store.

 

[John Young]

Some of you know that I've bitten off more than I can chew. About 4 months ago I removed the plastic covers in the footwells and got my first look at the wiring. It just tired my heart. Everything was just shoved in there. It is plain that when they did the conversion they did not bother to either source a LHD wiring loom or do a proper job of modifying the RHD loom. It was the last straw.

I've got three other 80s I'm working on here in Dubai. The ONLY thing I think I liked about the truck was the 24 valve turbo diesel engine with only a couple of hundred thousand km on the clock. It has just gotten to be too much. I took it to a respected local shop and asked him to sort the wiring and he was reluctant.

I happened to mention to him that I did really like the engine and that I wished it was in the Omani diesel 80, which is completely gutless at higher speeds. The owner asked me why I did not simply swap the engines. Put the really good engine in the Omani, which is a manual tranny, and put the tired Omani 1HZ into this truck. The thought had not occurred to me....

Well, I took him up on that idea, and 4 months later he called me to say it was ready to go. I went and drove it a good bit today and it truly is gutless now above 70kph. It will get to 100 or 110kph but it takes forever to get there. The gauge cluster is lit up like a christmas tree, but the 1HZ is a 1 wire diesel and everything was good before the transplant, so I feel pretty ok selling it. And saying goodbye to this truck. With its frame swap, 91 chassis (drums in the rear) and all the rest you can read about above. The brakes are still not what I would call good, but it runs and drive. But this truck is not for me. It needs to go to someone who will spend the time to sort it properly. Maybe do an engine overhaul and put a turbo on it.

But here's an illustration why I just want this truck out of my life. Here is my leg driving this 80:

The button is pressing uncomfortably into my leg.

Compare this to the position of my leg in my daily driver 100 series:

So I am going to list it on here for a few days before throwing it back on Emirates Auction. I'd rather it go to a Mud member than to a stranger. I think I've picked a reasonable price. I'm pulling a few items off of it, like the factory winch and bumper, but it is still a diesel with a solid body, running and driving, with a factory swing away rear tire.

If you have any interest, go ahead and post here and ask questions publicly so everyone can see the responses.

And don't say I didn't warn you!

 

[John Young]

Well the truck resisted going back to Emirates Auction with everything it had...

I had wanted to sell as complete a truck as possible and over the last couple of years I had borrowed the louvered hood cowl (where the wiper arms come up) and the wiper arms and the fuel door and I thought it would be nice to replace those. Unfortunately I don't have my work space here any more and all my parts are being stored by a friend--and quite difficult to access. So I pulled the wiper arms off the Omani truck and I went to Sharjah for a new cowl piece:

Monday a week ago I drove the truck from the shop that did the engine swap over to another shop that could do the clean up and paint and install the cowl piece. I then emailed for an appointment with Emirates Auction to hand over the truck. A day or so later I got a call and was told I could bring the truck at 2 pm on Friday. EA is a government entity so there is not much negotiating over schedules... So Friday it was.

I also whatsapped the garage a couple of times to make sure they understood the tight schedule and that I -had- to pick up the truck no later than 1 pm on Friday because Emirates Auction had set the time.. Friday morning rolls around and I message the foreman again. He responds to ask what color I wanted to paint the cowl piece! This is maybe 3 hours before I need to pick up the truck...

I explain that it needs to be the same color as the truck. He says ok. At this point it feels like this is not going to go well. A little later he texts to say I can pick it up at 3 pm! I say no. And that I did not care if the paint was wet or whatever but I needed to pick it up and get over there by 2 pm. I wait until 12:30 and head over figuring that I might need to push a bit in person.

I get there and the truck has been cleaned and the kick panels are back in but the cowl is nowhere to be seen and everyone is at lunch. I go into the office and ask them to call the foreman, who does come, and then the body/paint guy and they have the cowl and I breath a sigh of relief...until they start to install it.

80 series cowls are different for RHD and LHD trucks....

In my haste I had picked up a RHD cowl and the holes for the wiper arms are in the wrong place.

I take a beat and decide to forgo the cowl and ask them to just put the wiper arms on, and I will go. They do that and I climb in, light a cigar and drive. It is now about 1:55 pm. I am NOT going to make the appointment on time. I am just going to go and hope for the best. I get on the highway and try to relax. And I'm reflecting on 3 and an half years battling this truck and all its issues and it feels SO good to have the end in sight! I'm about 30 minutes into the 45 minute drive to Emirates Auction when I notice....the temp gauge has skyrocketed!

I make the turn off the main road and get to the wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market about a mile from Emirates Auction. I took this picture while stopped at a (long) traffic light. Despite idling and even turning off the engine, it was getting hotter and hotter by the moment. I've never seen any of my LC's get hotter than 1/4 of the gauge so this is pretty stressful.

What do I do?

Do I chance it and drive one more mile in the afternoon heat with the needle above the red line (which it was by that time)? Do I pull over and let the engine cool and then try to make it? But will I be able to start? And I'm already late for a -government- appointment.

I was so tired and so fed up by this time I decided to chance it and if the engine seized up I would have the truck flatbedded the rest of the way. So on I went. And I actually made it to EA:

But that was only the beginning of my trials and travails....

 

[lp2k]

god bless your mental fortitude for the love of these 80s

 

[John Young]

god bless your mental fortitude for the love of these 80s

It's hard not to attribute animate characteristics to these old trucks. I really tried with this one. It just got to be too much. And then when I finally made the decision, it fought me every step of the way to the point where it was a comedy... I will continue the story

Just about to drive home in the holy truck. Which is a real pleasure by the way. It needs some help with the carburetor but even so it's still really nice to drive. The silver truck just couldn't be done at least by me

 

[Imthishan]

god bless your mental fortitude for the love of these 80s

John, you're truly a frustrated novelist! Thanks for these great updates and appreciate that someone is documenting this process.

Completely understand what you're going through..if I wrote everything that happened to my 1FZ in the past 18 months, most would consider me absolutely certifiable!

 

[John Young]

John, you're truly a frustrated novelist! Thanks for these great updates and appreciate that someone is documenting this process.

Completely understand what you're going through..if I wrote everything that happened to my 1FZ in the past 18 months, most would consider me absolutely certifiable!

Hi ITH! I see you also are in Dubai. Even though I have been here for more than a decade, I'm very much still in the process of learning how it works. I'm a guest here and I try to enjoy everything as an experience in getting to know another business culture. I also like to tell stories. We should meet up and swap experiences! I'm sure you have learned things that would be interesting to me.

 

[John Young]

Here's a little more of the story...

It is Friday afternoon in Ras Al Khor at the Emirates Auction office, which is busy. I walk in the door a few minutes after 3 p.m., over an hour late for my appointment. I am seated in front of one of the desks a few minutes later. I pull out all my documentation, including last year's vehicle inspection (posted above), my 'gold card' or Mulkiya which serves as the registration certificate for the car, and my Emirates ID, and the very pleasant clerk starts going over the documents and pulling up the government databases on his computer. Everything seems to be going ok. My hands are actually unsteady at this point--I've been pretty unnerved by the last part of the drive especially after all the misadventures earlier. And I tend to chatter when I am unnerved...

Ever since I had made the decision to return the truck to Emirates Auction I had been mulling over the frame change. I knew it was proper, legal and documented, but I had decided to make sure to give EA a copy of the Al Futtaim letter because any buyer would definitely want that. I had sent the letter along with all the other documents to EA a couple of weeks earlier via email, and I included a copy of the letter with the other physical copies of the documents that I handed to the clerk. There was no special reaction to it. But, as I said, I tend to get chatty so I mentioned the letter to the clerk and verbally asked him to make sure that the buyer got it because it cost me 4500 AED and if the buyer did not get it, s/he might have to go and pay Al Futtaim to do the same thing again.

The supervisor at the next desk looked up....

The supervisor stood up and walked over and asked: "Your truck has a frame change?"

I said 'Yes...." dreading what was about to come next.

"You need to have a special test done and get a fresh testing certificate."

I tried to take a beat. I strongly suspected that given the water leak and all that it would not pass so I freaked a little. I told the supervisor that I was selling it with no reserve and I would be fine if it were listed as 'scrap' which they do at Emirates Auction. I knew that a functional 80 series that looks pretty ok will get bids and will get sold, and buyers have the opportunity to look at the vehicles in person, so I had no ethical qualms. In fact if listed as 'scrap' it would give bidder additional reason to do a good in-person evaluation.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't accept scrap listings from individuals, only companies."

Ok, what kind of an inspection is it that I needed? Can I do it? He said it was an ordinary testing certificate from a testing centre, making sure that the frame was ok. I pointed out that the previous RTA testing certificate explicitly stated that there had been a frame swap and that it was properly documented. He responded that by EA policy it had to be from a particular testing centre. 'But don't worry sir, it is very nearby. You can have this done in 20 minutes!' I also learned that they closed the intake process at 4 p.m. and by that time it was 3:15. Just conceivably I could do it.

I had several more minutes of conversation with the EA supervisor to see if there was any other way it could be handled while mentally considering that my truck had no cooling system, it was a hot afternoon, and the odds of the engine seizing up during the exercise. The designated testing centre happened to part way back to the Fruit and Vegetable Center, BTW, in a giant shared yard/complex of small used car dealers. I thanked the supervisor and the clerk who had been helping me and went outside to consider.

I want to make a point of adding here that the EA staff was courteous, friendly, clear and helpful. They obviously were concerned with my welfare because they saw the state I was in and got me cold water, which helped a lot. I like these guys. EA is a volume business but they treated me courteously, patiently and with respect even when I was not at my best.

I will pause the narrative here.

 

[Imthishan]

Hi ITH! I see you also are in Dubai. Even though I have been here for more than a decade, I'm very much still in the process of learning how it works. I'm a guest here and I try to enjoy everything as an experience in getting to know another business culture. I also like to tell stories. We should meet up and swap experiences! I'm sure you have learned things that would be interesting to me.

Hey John - happy to catch up in person, will drop you a line with my number in DM.

 

[FMC80]

Cliffhanger! John, my best to you! Hope it went well which I’m sure it did. Fingers and eyes crossed my friend.

 

[John Young]

Ok... so it is a few minutes after 3 pm and EA has a 4 pm cutoff for intake. And the car has been sitting cooling off for 45 minutes. I decide to try to assess the situation. I go over to the truck and grab a rear floor mat and use it as an insulating pad to slowly open the radiator cap. No scalding jet of steam. Interesting. So perhaps it has just cooled off? In the back of my mind I am wondering if the guys at the garage might simply have forgotten to fill the radiator. Unlikely. But it is possible. So I decide to try to fill the cooling system with tap water and see if it holds. How to do that... I had brought a water bottle with me for the drive (always a good idea in the Middle East) so I go over to the washroom which is next to the small Mosque that EA has on-premises and fill up the bottle and very slowly pour it in not wanting to crack the block by cooling too suddenly.

Nothing. No hiss. No steam. Nothing. I look under the truck. Nothing. no leaks.

So back and forth I go, filling my little water bottle and gradually getting more optimistic. Maybe the system had not been filled after all. I might make it to the testing center and back to EA after all... I look under the truck from time to time. Nothing. Still no leaks.

I'm getting more confident and pleased. I happened to have parked next to smokers corner (where I had left my cigar when I went into the office) and they clutch of young men were curiously watching me go back and forth. Not questioning; just watching with interest. Every one of these guys is a fan of old land crusiers and I get the sense they are rooting for me.

I must have gone back and forth a dozen times before I start to get a little steam out of the radiator spout. Things are looking good!

Then one of the young men approaches and with a kind look on his face suggests I look under the car....

Damn. Water is streaming down at the back of the engine. I had looked at all the heater hoses and had not seen anything amiss, and I'd also looked carefully at the water outlet at the back right side of the engine and had not seen anything.

Ok; obviously I cannot get any more coolant in the system. But maybe there is enough to safely get over to the testing station while it boils off... I decide to seek expert advice. I call the owner of the garage and tell him what happened and ask his advice. Keep in mind that this fellow is an unflappable Aussie who also happens to be the acknowledged expert on race-ready desert trucks. He's seen it ALL before and he knows what engines can stand when it comes to cooling under these conditions. I had driven a 1FZ-FE 100 series 5km through soft sand and 120 degrees in a medical emergency a couple of years ago so I knew these engines could take a good amount of abuse in exigent circumstances, but would this be too much? There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then a heartfelt.... "Oh no..." I told him that I had not seen any evidence of a heater hose problem and he opined that it might be the freeze plug at the back of the engine, which would be bad because it would require engine removal to address. I asked him if I could drive a kilometer or so to the testing place and he though that would not be prudent. He asked me to flat bed it back to the shop and he promised his guys would take care of it quickly--which is important because the car's registration had expired a few days earlier and the tags on the licensed plate said FEB and we were now at the end of the month. I had taken a chance driving it over to EA, technically. I would not take that chance if we passed into March.

I won't bore you with the difficulties of getting a flatbed late on a Friday afternoon in Ras Al Khor but I reached out to three guys on Whatapp and the one who responded was actually in Pakistan. He said, don't worry, he would have a buddy come and take care of me. Having set wheels in motion, I took a beat, put down the hood, found another cigar and walked over to smokers corner and had a nice chat with the young men still congragated there. Despite some language difficulty we can always talk Land Cruisers.

After a pleaant conversation and about half my cigar, the flatbed showed up. I started the 80 (yay! it started!) and turned it around and drove it up the flatbed, and got out. This is what I saw underneath:


This was not a small leak. That is not the 80's engine, BTW, it was the flatbed.

 

[John Young]

We had a relatively pleaant drive from the North of Dubai back to Jebel Ali where the shop was, and I dropped off the 80. The owner was there sitting in a desert racer with a laptop reprogramming one of its computers. This is a serious shop. His clients were there too. All men of a certain age. My age, and that of the owner as well. These guys had done something right being able to fund high-end racers. Whenever I go to this shop I feel fortunate that the owner will take in my trucks. I try not to use him for the ordinary stuff. He is the guy who did all the mechanical work on my 105 to bring its chassis drivetrain back into tip-top shape. He's also going to install the 24 valve factory turbo 1HD-T into the Omani truck (which had donated its tired 1HZ to the silver truck I was trying to sell). I am going to do the Omani truck up right with a new 3 inch exhaust and complete teardown of the interior similar to what I had done with the Holy Truck that I am so happy with. But it all starts with the chassis and driveline. I always feel a bit of a lucky fellow when i go to this shop. He -always- has something interesting going on. And he personally does all the engine work.

Anyways, the shop owner was busy and I was tired. T fladbed driver kindly agreed to drive me to where the Holy Truck was parked. I got in; relit my cigar and started teh drive home. On the way I stopped at the Grandiose Supermarket, which I like. Yes, that is really it's name.

And I saw something I had never seen for sale before in a supermarket:

And I decide to buy some and try to end the day on a high note.

 

[alia176]

oh dang dude, what a day

 

[John Young]

oh dang dude, what a day

Just wait for Part 2