The Legend of Spacegirl. One man tries to please his wife and his cruiser. (1 Viewer)

[Tools R Us]

I wouldn’t own that pile of s***, it’s the wrong color!

Belonged to @Chachie, until his wife pickled his testicles and said it had to go.

I have worked on it a bit, though. Scary thought.

Yep, how many have ridden her lately, she is like one of them popular girls?

 

[Enders]

Yep, how many have ridden her lately, she is like one of them popular girls?

Reminds me of a link that won’t work. Google Aston Martin certified pre-owned magazine ad. Chances are you’ve seen it. But yeah, doesn’t really matter.

 

[Enders]

So, I started popping fusible links, yes plural, up to three now, after I changed out one of the power steering lines. Pretty sure I know where the short is, but repairing a wiring harness properly while it’s still in the truck is going to suck. So, I ordered up a used one from CruiserParts. I’m toying with the idea of unwrapping and rewrapping it with modern heat resistant wiring loom. Seems like a tedious, time consuming and detail driven job. But I will know any weak points and be able to address them where I can get to them easily.

So, while I was waiting, I put some work in the 93 that my daughter will be driving. She wants to have it monstalined in midnight blue. Pic for reference

And she wants the grill to be white. So, since we are swapping grills, and lower valance, I went a head and knocked that out. Not really sure how I feel about the white grill she asked for, but I think it will look better with the blue.

If the weather holds out tomorrow, I’d like to get the replacement fender on the 96 and maybe finally install the dorkel.

 

[Enders]

The used wiring harness arrived from Cruiser parts. It was well used, soaked in oil and engine grease. All the temperature sleave near the EGR pipe was gone.

The last bit caused some concern, so I busted out some cleaning wipes, and a few rags and started going through each wire. In all, I found 6 wires where coating was cracked, or rubbed through, and one wire that has a questionable connection in one spot.

Today I spent the day starting the re-wrapping project. This is about 4 hours in, and two broken connectors.

I’m using braided wrap in 1/4”, 1/2”, 1” and 1 1/2”, and Tessa tape. On the small connectors I’ve been using some white electrical tape and markers to note which connection goes where. It’s worked out really well. The larger connectors will need a pin diagram to keep track of.

Hope to wrap this up before Friday!

 

[Enders]

Had to change gears today. I’ve got a buddy that does a lot of woodworking projects that I talked to a while back about helping me to modify one of my prinsu racks to allow my AluCab expo 3 tent to sit lower on the rack.

The stock mounting system is designed for two stout rails. The stock brackets hook into a channel under the tent, and to a channel on the side of the tent. The prinsu has a 1/16” lip where the load bars meet the main railand the two do not get along. My plan is to lower the cross bars on the prinsu so the base of the tent rests on the main rails of the prinsu, and a total of 7 cross bars. Four of those bars will have brackets to bolt to the tent and I will drill the load bar and the other three are for weight support. All in all, that should spread the weight over 28 1/4” mounting screws, and if there is excessive flex, the bottom of the tent will rest on the main rails of the rack. I’ll use a thin peice of rubber to prevent squeaks and rubbing.

Today the main rails were drilled. We spent a solid hour comparing my other rack mounted on the 93 to avoid the sunroof. I think this is going to work out great.

For any that follow and work on this modification. The stock rail spacing is 5/16” wide and each cross bar needs holes that are 1” on center. It can be difficult to find center, so we measured to the outside of each hole and used a drill press with a fence. Measure 3 times, 2nd set of eyes verifies, then drill. We made all 28 holes using a single dewalt titanium drill bit. Spacing was determined by expected load and stability, with an eye toward repeating on the second rail.

 

[Enders]

Got a lot to update. Been getting ready for vacation next month. The roof rack mod was finally completed and mounted today. At Spacegirls request, I changed which bars would be load bars to 1, 2, 5, and 7. Due to all of the mounting hardware being hidden by the prinsu, the bars have to be tightened to the tent, then lined up with the rack. I ended up assembling the rack on an old set of tires then lifting it up and down with a bottle jack to adjust, and finally attach. It was a very tedious job.

So, not that it’s up there, the ladder is about 4-5” too short for a good angle. I’m looking at a telescoping ladder off amazon in the 8’5” variety. The connection hardware is not welded to the factory Alu-Cab ladder, which will make everything a lot nicer. I think I’ll look into mounting the new ladder to the spare tire. If I can find a way to keep it locked up, I’ll leave it there, otherwise it will live in the trasharoo until trip time. I also discovered the factory wind deflector for the rear window has to go.

Lastly, I was pleased to find my Expo 3 has the power pack, sadly it’s missing a power cord. So far my calls to Juniper Overland have not yet been returned. I’m hoping Monday will bring better results.

I also decided for our power consumption needs, dual batteries is just a lot of expense and weight when we just don’t need it. I picked up a Duracell 31M AGM battery from sams club and got to work making it fit. I had to cut the battery box a bit to fit the battery, then fabbed up a tie down out of some old angle steel I’ve had for longer than I can remember. Just had to cut a bit of the fender, and make extra space for the terminals. So far so good.

Oh, and the fender got replaced with a maroon one out of a local junk yard. Truck looks like hell right now.

 

[Enders]

When I bought this one, it had gears and Harrops e-lockers installed, but the lockers hadn’t been wired up yet. Thanks to Mud and this thread from @Malahki
Harrop E-Locker using OEM Switch and Dash Lights in a HDJ81 / FJ80
I was able to officially join the triple locked club today!

 

[Enders]

The wife and I just returned home after a weeks worth of camping along the Mid-Atlantic BDR. We completed a portion of the Colorado one a few months after we met, and really enjoyed it. Although 95% of the “trail” is completely doable in a stock corolla, it did allow for a few hundred miles of dirt road as a shake down cruise. Words without pictures is meaningless, so here goes.

This shows the majority of our trip. The phone kept loosing GPS signal toward the end of section 7. We ended up running from halfway through section 3 till the end of section 8. We also ran both “expert” sections. None of the trail was technical for anything with four wheels.

 

[Enders]

I had posted in the forum to see if anyone had tried a center mount fridge for their drawers and didn’t really get anything back. It was about what I expected, as a google search also failed to provide anything. Well, I needed something before we left, so I whipped up version 1.0 for the trip. I also have an Adventure Trailers combo slide that saw 4 years in the bed of my taco.

I’ve opted for a two drawer design. As you can see, the drawers will have a corner cut to accommodate the wheel arches. Although I could have gone with a longer drawer, I found this design allowed a long storage option right behind the 2nd row seats.

It also did an ok job of separating the two dogs (ventilation for the fridge was allowed for under the deck, and reduces dog hair in the cooling elements)

Spacegirl approves! She has asked for a fold down table off the Jerry can holder and to make sure the kitchen drawer is protected from dog hair. Otherwise this is working perfectly for us!

 

[Enders]

Long time, no updates. I’ve added a few parts! Will try to keep all commentary related to them.

Wits End QPM. This thing is freaking amazing, but it sucks when you install and remove a number of times tying to get everything just right!

ARB Twin Compressor, finally installed. It’s sitting in the above mentioned QPM, and is mich quieter than I expected. I’m sure it would be loud enough to startle if it cycled unexpectedly, but that’s what switches are for. I’ve hooked it up to a VAIR 2 gallon tank, which is mounted in the stock spare tire area. My big hands made mounting more of a pain in the ass than it should have been. My teenrager helped out without getting emo!! I’ve decided on two outlet ports, one regulated, one at tank pressure.

ARB Linx. God bless, ARB writes worse instructions than many Chinese companies. The install is still in progress. YOU MUST HAVE AN OPEN BARRELL TERMINAL CRIMPER. Order one the same time you order the Linx. It’s slowed me down a bit. I also got their pressure kit, and it’s fittings do not match any others I had on either the tank or the compressor. Many trips to Lowe’s, and I still have 1 issue that I need to address before I depend on it. I’m mounting the brain box, and a fuse/relay box in the center console. I already have relays in place for both e-lockers and my front lights, the remaining switches will be interior items like USB plugs; and ditch lights/backup lights where I wanted a central relay.

No name snorkel. This came with the truck when I bought it, finally installing. The reviews were right, the instructions were off, by a lot. I resolved the issue with cardboard box, and my only issue was trying to make the intake hole on the small side. I need to spend some quality time with a dremel to smooth that out.

Lastly, the rigs about to get Monstalined. Here’s some teaser pics. Expect more on Monday.

 

[fz1boxer]

thats a lot of ventilation in that hood

 

[Enders]

thats a lot of ventilation in that hood

Yes. There is going to be a wits end turbo in there one day. Although I think the side vents would have been sufficient, I got a deal on the set.

 

[woodsman 44]

Oh, man, that was a rough beginning!...I thought at first you bought a Turd, but looks like its working out ok so far.....hopefully you don't have to flush it anytime soon.....props for the persistence!

 

[sxp]

Do you think you will have a problem with water entering the hood vents?

 

[Enders]

Oh, man, that was a rough beginning!...I thought at first you bought a Turd, but looks like its working out ok so far.....hopefully you don't have to flush it anytime soon.....props for the persistence!

I had started with a open/open 93. As I was getting into, I kept finding little things that really put me off from restoring it. When this 96 came up for sale, I couldn’t have bought the lockers, armor, roof rack, another set of 35’s, and the other odds and ends for the same money. I had already bought a set of arb air lockers, and sold them for close to a 1/4 what the whole rig ran. It’s supposed to have had an engine refresh around 280k and it runs like a top. Have a few maintenance items to check off, but I don’t think I’m going to have to flush it any time soon

Do you think you will have a problem with water entering the hood vents?

It’s been on my mind. I need to order up a fresh dizzy o ring and inspect my spark plug boots. I’m also going to go through the engine bay and hit up all the electrical connections with dielectric grease, and relocate my front diff breather and all my after market wiring to the driver side wheel well while I’ve got the fender off.

The side vents should be fine. Nothing much to hit on the passenger side. On the driver side it’s over the charcoal canister and ABS booster. It may drip on my fuse box, and if it does, I’ll be looking at some kind of deflector/gutter to divert it elsewhere. I image the starters going to see more water, but my starter cables are fresh. I’ll defiantly post my opinion after some weather testing.

 

[jaymar]

Ouch! BTDT twice!

lost the front left wheel on my hdj81 at 50mph about 50 miles after a tyre shop repaired a tyre!
And lost the front left off my HZJ105 at 75mph on a motorway 30 miles after swapping steel play wheels and tyres for standard alloys after a day off road.

Spoken to numerous people over the years who've lost a left side wheel of a landcruiser, but never a right side wheel.

Did they change lug nuts, or put the same ones back on?

 

[mudgudgeon]

Did they change lug nuts, or put the same ones back on?

After the event?

Both times, lug nuts were lost along the road never to be seen again.
Both times I pilfered a lug nut off each of the other three wheels to limp home, then changed all studs and nuts.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Nice draw set up.
Did you make any other improvements?

 

[Enders]

Nice draw set up.
Did you make any other improvements?

I still need to make actual drawers instead of the totes. I also picked up some aluminum C channel to cap the exposed ends and hold the mat in place. It’s been a low priority though. I added some switches. I’ll get more pics of it when it’s pretty

 

[jaymar]

After the event?

Both times, lug nuts were lost along the road never to be seen again.
Both times I pilfered a lug nut off each of the other three wheels to limp home, then changed all studs and nuts.

What I mean is, steel and alloy wheels use diff nuts and have very diff torques, and the problem came just after changing wheels. Were lug nuts changed over at the same time?