The poor man’s US spec “105” (100/80/105)

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Mar 22, 2023
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Starting the thread to post my… uhh… creation. Stay tuned for the full build breakdown with pictures.

It’s a 100 series body, 80 series frame. Straight axel, 1HZ turbo diesel, manual, 3x locked.

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I’ll start by saying I’m not an off-road guy. Never have been. I prefer racing and have a few Nissans. (R32 GTR, 2x 240SX’s, etc). But my want to have a Land Cruiser started by seeing a picture of an Aussie 105 Land Cruiser towing a skyline (last picture) and right away I thought “I want that exact setup”. 48 hours later I won the bid on my 2000 100 series.

Right away I realize I bought a pretty far gone LC. RUST. Alllll over it. It was a New York vehicle since it was purchased.
Typical problems. Rusted headers, floor rust, rocker rust, loooots of frame rust, every bushing blown, exhaust barely hanging on.
But… the ideas started flowing right away.

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I knew if I wanted to really drive this truck, I’d need a new frame. But I also wanted what I had seen in that picture. The 105. But I’m not made of money so I started getting measurements and diagrams of different Toyota frames that I might be able to use, and I settled on an 80 frame.

I had found a few 80 part outs but none that were far enough along that they’d be able to feasibly get the frame out. Then I found a guy willing to sell me a frame that was in need of love for $200. So I picked that up and started grinding it down and starting fresh. Every inch had to be ground down, treated, and sealed. (Looking back, I didn’t do as good of a job as I should’ve, and will most likely pull it apart in the future to do over)

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I forgot to state this in the beginning, but I’m no professional. I do what works, what makes sense, and what I’m willing to invest in. I don’t know everything, nor will I claim to, especially with Toyotas. I’ll absolutely take any advice or tips/tricks anyone is willing to give me.
I also never intended on making a “pretty” rig. I wanted something I could use on the trails, and to tow my GTR with occasionally.

Used an engine hoist and sheer will power to lift the frame and slide the axels under in the garage.

Going off the measurements from the 100 body and the 80 frame, nothing lines up. None of the mounts, and even the rear axel is a little further forward In the arch. I knew I’d have to design new body mounts. I snagged a basic body mount design and threw my own measurements on them be cut and bent up.

Dropping the 1HZ into the frame with a friends tow truck stinger was probably my favorite method of installing an engine. Especially while on gravel.

Picked up some Methods which had to be bored out to clear the hubs.

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The factory 80 trans crossmember needed to be modified. I pushed the trans mount holes forward a few inches, and welded up the old holes for some more rigidity. (Just pulled it out again yesterday to stitch weld, and powdercoat it)

Super ugly just having flat plates on the end but it held great and will eventually be replaced with a DOM tube crossmember I’ll make.

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Pulled the old tow points, sand blasted, powder coated red.

Plasma cut off the old body mounts. Ground down to the frame. Welded on the new body mounts. Finally dropping the body on the mounts… had planned on using 80 series body bushings but none of the heights worked so I gave it the ol’ Canadian body bushing (hockey pucks with holes drilled in them)

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Started pulling the interior apart, sand blasting more parts and powdercoating them.

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Drilled out the firewall, mounted a factory manual 105 clutch master (thanks eBay), clutch pedal, and also had to modify the factory steering column to factor in the length needed to make it to the steering gear box.

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Had to remake all the brake lines, clutch line, and modified the rear brake proportioning valve. Tried to mimic the brake coils from Toyota.

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Ran into some clearance issues on the rear wheel wells. The flex of the body bushings made some contact. Had to trim a half inch or so on each side.

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(Deeper dive into how I extended the steering column)
Cut the factory column below the crumple zone (no one likes being impaled) Took another LC steering column and chopped (not sure on the measurements, been a while) a good chunk out, beveled it, tigged it together, painted it, called her good.

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Didn’t like the old turbo down pipe flange, and wanted to go to a more modern V-band and 3inch stainless down pipe. Also welded in the “all mighty” important EGT bung

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The truck must have been owned by a man who enjoyed spilling wood stain in the trunk for fun. It didn’t feel right to install the old one. I went for a darker brown to match the darker portion of the dash.

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Took an older Warn winch and built a high clearance winch plate to mount up in the grill. Rewired the controller with newer cables (first picture is pre-new cables), and cable sleeves, and mounted the box up in the bay on a plate to get it away from the elements. And to keep the grill open for a future front mount intercooler. Went with a synthetic winch cable also.

Grabbed a Bluetooth battery monitor to try out. Don’t really use it but I guess it’s cool.

Also wired up an Auxbeam 8 gang solid state touch panel. Mounted it up high. Really like the location.

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Installed and tested new LED headlights, and a Baja Design light bar. Bought different diffuser lenses to decide on a beam pattern.

Installed an older single ARB compressor for the ARB air lockers and for trail air. Ran it through the touch pad in the cabin. Will eventually go with a different unit. Something with higher CFM’s. But this does the job for now

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