YvesNL Build - Modify Thread

[YvesNL]

My Cruiser: Landcruiser HDJ100, 4.2L TD 1HD-FTE, w/AHC, Jan. 2003.

Thread Index:

Page 1 post #1 - Index
Page 1 post #2 - Introduction
Page 1 post #4 - 2 starting batteries & battery isolator
Page 1 post #6 - Hidden Winch Mount
Page 1 post #7 - Hidden Winch Mount
Page 1 post #9 - Plasti dip parts


To come:
- Mounting chinese "LED" lights
- More lightning
- Second/Third battery & isolator
- Snorkel
- DIY drawers
- DIY digital switch panel
- Onboard air
- DIY Ground anchor
- Photo's and video's
- Arctic circle trip photo's

You can always convince me to do more mods and build more things.

If you need any part numbers that I didn't put in this thread (yet), just ask.

 

[YvesNL]

I am Yves from the Netherlands. At the moment of writing I am 23 years old and like a lot of people on here I really like Land Cruisers.

In daily life I am an electronic engineer and have my own company designing and producing electronics. I have got skills in fabricating, servicing and repairing. I will be repairing, maintaining and building the hundy by myself.

I always like to read Build threads. So this is a place where I can post my progress and people can ask questions. I will be doing some fairly moderate stuff but there will be things people will be interested in.

I sometimes saw these Cruisers on the road and always thought that they were very cool cars. I wanted one myself but couldn’t pay for one. Sometime later my dad was looking for a replacement for his Hilux. He was looking at Land Cruiser 60’s and 100’s.

Together with my dad I was browsing through some cars and the 100 became an even cooler car for me. At this moment I would really like one as daily driver, for travelling and offroading.

After we visited some of the cars for sale my dad decided he wanted a Hilux again. He transports a lot in the bed of the Hilux and that wasn’t possible in a Cruiser.

So that left me with the Land Cruiser in my head. I went back to one that was for sale. It was quite a rough one. It had been standing for two years in high grass and didn’t look very nice. The interior was dirty and smelled bad, rear hatch wouldn’t open, cracked windshield, brakes were sticking, PWR button stuck, timing belt needed replacement (8 years old), some rust. AHC wasn’t working and a lot of warning lights were on. Dis I already say that the interior was dirty and smelled bad?

This was a good reason to get it quite cheap. Since I like working on cars this wasn’t a problem. I drove it home 200km / 125 miles and stored it there.

As you can see in the picture below the rear is low and the front is normal. This is just after I drove the car home when I bought it.

Before I could work on it I should finish my bachelor degree, so I got to work and finished that. Good motivation, it was finished a lot quicker than it would have been.

I cleaned the car, opened the rear hatch from the inside. I had to open it up because the handle inside & outside wouldn’t work. The hatch was also rusted a fair bit so I started looking for a replacement.

The first thing I started working on was the AHC (automatic height control). I had experienced the AHC in some other hundy’s and liked it. I like being able to fit in parking garages and have a few inches of lift “on demand” with the push of a button.

I also like the dynamic dampening and being able to adjust it.

So having decided I wanted to keep AHC I got to work. I already have a thread on that so I won’t post it all again in this one, but I will give you a link.

EDIT: I forgot to put the link in but @PabloCruise put it in post #5.

In short there was a faulty door switch and a bad alternator + dirty connectors and a broken sense wire. When I replaced the alternator a lot of warning lights went off.

Now that the AHC was working again I could start on all the other things that need fixing.

Painting the grille:

I took apart the sticking brakes, the pistons were badly pitted. New ones are not that expensive, so I installed new calipers in the front. The rear was still good.

Replaced front brake calipers;
Replaced front & rear brake pads;
Flushed brake fluid.

My brakes were sticking badly, the car wouldn't move in idle Drive or Reverse.
At first I wanted to replace the pads and free the calipers, this is how they looked:
View attachment 1573295
With a 24H soak in lots of penetratring oil and a large hammer I was able to get them out.
I cut the half circle off on the left side so I could make more speed with the hammer.

After getting the pins out I got the pads out. Then only three of the pistons would go back, one was stuck.
I took the piston out of the caliper, it was pitted and needed replacement:
View attachment 1573296

Since the calipers had a lot of rust, also around the seals I went with some new calipers. Here is old vs new:
View attachment 1573297

The rubbers on the old calipers expanded and did't seal well anymore. You can see how the rubber is too big to fit:
View attachment 1573298

New calipers on on both sides:
View attachment 1573299

Also bled and flushed all the brake fluid.

Easy job, no special tools needed.
All new pads, 2 new calipers and a flush can be done within a few hours.

Also drove the truck a while (+/-100 km's / 60 miles) for the first time after repairing the brakes & AHC.
Waiting for a replacement upper tailgate, dutch APK (yearly safety inspection), insurance and after this I can drive & daily the truck.

I felt some play in the left hand side front wheel, A good time to repack the bearings and fix the problem. I bought a 54mm socket, fish scale and got to work.

Repacked wheel bearings & greased spindle bearings.
Wasn't done for a long time, no visible wear on bearings.

Used a scale to measure preload, adjusted the nut until preload was between 42 - 67 N (as per FSM).
View attachment 1585827

Greased the needle bearings with a "DIY spindle greaser" (PVC tube, end cap and some insulation tape):
View attachment 1585828

On the left axle (right OK) the groove is a lot wider than it should, is this normal wear for a 400.000 KM / 250.000 Miles Cruiser?
View attachment 1585829

This is the groove with the snap ring installed (left/drivers side):
View attachment 1585830

As you can see, way too wide. FSM states a maximum of 0.2mm / 0.0008 in of clearance.
For now I added a (non Toyota) snap ring to reduce the clearance.

To get the car back on the road I had to fix my windshield. I had a local garage cut out the windshield and started repairing some rust:

My windshield was cracked and needed replacement. There was also rust coming from underneath the window. This was the perfect time to fix that.

Instead of pop rivets a previous owner used simple wood screws to secure the side molding. This caused rust on the A-pillars. There was also rust on the roof coming from the windshield.

With the windshield out I used a rotary wire brush to remove all the glue and paint. I used a flap disc to clean up the bad rust.

When all the rust was gone and there was only clean metal left I degreased the surface and brushed on some rust protection.

There was also rust on visible places. Tomorrow I'll be sanding and spraying on the Toyota 1B1 Champagne Pearl, clearcoat the day after that.

Heres a pic of the rustproofing:
View attachment 1597233

And basecoat:

Yesterday I sprayed the first basecoat. Today I sprayed the second basecoat of the 1B1 colour.

Yesterday I masket quite close to the edge of my repair work. If you spray up to the masking tape there will be an edge.

Today I used some scotchbrite to get rid of the edge and placed my masking tape about 10cm/4in further from the repaired area.

I then sprayed up to where the old edge was to "blend" the paint.

For this work I use a small HVLP gravity fed spray gun on about 1.9bar/28psi at 20cm/8in distance. Fan pattern about 12cm/5in.

Tomorrow is clearcoat day.

Here's the result so far:
View attachment 1598584

On the right side A pillar there was a little bit of paint contamination, but not enough to worry me.

I finally found a new (to me but used) hatch, I also got the bottom part because that also was dented. Here’s a picture of the replaced parts:

I also found some used carpet. It looked a lot better then the carpet that was in my car but was still dirty. I used some soap and a pressure washer (with hot water/steam cleaner) and cleaned the carpet. This worked really well. I let it dry inside for a few days and installed it. I also added a set of gray weathertechs to keep the new carpet nice.

There was one last thing I needed to fix before the yearly inspection, this was the wiper mechanism. It was completely worn out and needed replacement. Here’s a picture of the worn out bushes:

It is not a cheap part but I had everything off the car because I was replacing the windshield. Undo the six bolts that hold the wiper linkage in its place. Unbolt the Wiper motor, unbolt linkage from motor and remove linkage. Assembly is reverse of disassembly.

The car was now going for the yearly inspection and passed. I could now drive it on the road again. I had planned a trip to Sweden/Norway a month from this date. So I had a month to test drive the car.

 

[krice118]

3 batteries?!?

 

[YvesNL]

The 1HD-FTE has two 12v batteries under the hood already. Both are connected in parallel for starting (& winching).

I will be adding a VMF battery (3rd) in the rear with a Victron Cyrix ct120A isolator.

When the car is started and the alternator starts to generate power it will charge the starting batteries. When the starting batteries reach a certain voltage the battery isolator will close and switch all the batteries in parallel.

When the car is turned off all batteries stay connected in paralles until the voltage drops below a certain point. Now the batteries are isolated. It is a very nice, automated and cheap solution to separate patteries. It also has an override function.

The isolator I have is only 120A. But if too much amps are drawn the contacts will get hot. The unit measures this temperature and automatically switches open if the contacts are too hot. When they cool down, the isolator closes again.

 

[PabloCruise]

Mind if I link to your epic AHC trouble-shooting?

Hi From The Netherlands & AHC Issues

 

[YvesNL]

@PabloCruise I don't mind that at all, thanks.

In the month that I was testdriving my new Land Cruiser I still had to do some things before my trip to the arctic circle. I was travelling with a mate in the hundy and that would be the only vehicle.

I like to be prepared and in this case I did a few things. I bought some TREDS, an ARB snatch strap and a winch. The winch I bought was a Runva / Kompakt EWX12000. As you probably guessed it is a 12000 lbs / 5.4 Ton winch. After buying it I removed the wire rope and spooled on a synthetic rope.

The winch comes with a relay box and wireless receiver. I will mount these higher than the winch so I can wade through water without problems. I will also seal the winch and put some more grease in to keep water out.

I like the look of the stock bumper and I’ll build my own hidden winch mount. I also like the idea of a bull/roo/winchbar and maybe I’ll buy one in the future.

I started with a standard winch mounting plate and will adapt it to fit the Land Cruiser. In the picture below you can see me test-fitting the winch and winch mounting plate. This is as far back as possible. The winch didn't fit between the two steel bars (radiator and bash plate).

This made a few things clear. I had to:

- Bring the fairlead forward;

- Make side protection arms since I deleted the original crashbar

- Extend the plate with flatbar to reach the tow point bolts.

So I did that:

In the above picture you can see I welded flatbar to the winch plate and drilled mounting holes. This wasn’t as strong as I would like it to be. I added another piece of flatbar from the back all the way to the front (overlapping both pieces of steel). Also drilled holes in that bar. So the bolts now go through both pieces.

In the above two pictures you can see the almost finished winch mount. You can also see an extra support at the bottom.

 

[YvesNL]

The next step was to cut out the fairlead in the bumper. I masked the bumper with masking tape, drew the outline of the fairlead and began cutting slowly with a jigsaw. This is the result:

I mounted the winch and test fitted the bumper. Perfect fit.

I made a bracket to hold two lights above the bumper. More info and pictures of this later.

The factory wires were quite small so I connected both batteries parallel with two 35mm2 cables, then I hooked up the ground to the right and the + to the left battery for the best load balancing. I have a hydraulic (hand operated) crimper and could make the cables myself.

Then I mounted it all up and the winch was ready to go:

This is a picture from my arctic circle trip where you can see the Land Cruiser from the front:

 

[atnolan94]

I just got some very similar lights for my ARB bumper. I am actually very impressed with them!

Love to see builds from folks overseas (Non-US).

 

[YvesNL]

@atnolan94 I am also really impressed with the lights. They put out a lot of light for not a lot of bucks. I will write some more about the lights later.

I also like your build, and... you've go the best colour ha.

This weekend I plasti dipped my "van" panels matte black.

Before:

After 4th layer:

Done:

Turned out really well. Looks a lot better than before.

 

[YvesNL]

I have replaced my timing belt at 406 000 K's. It is a very easy job on the 1HD-FTE.

Undo the six bolts that hold the timing belt cover and you'll see this:

You can see the screw locations better in the picture below:

There are two more screws on the underside of the timing belt cover.

Rotate crankshaft (clockwise) until matchmarks on No.1 & No.2 camshaft timing pulley align.

On the No.1 pulley the matchmark is at the front of the pulley and at the top of the engine.
On pullley No.2 the matchmark is a "V" in the back flange and a dot on 11 O-clock on the engine.

See picture below:

Unbolt and take off the tensioner:

Then take off the idler pulley.
I then installed the new belt, new idler pulley and new tensioner.

Make sure the matchmarks align and pull the pin out of the tensioner.
The tensioner will now erect and put tension on the belt (wait a little while to let the tensioner do its job).
Check again that the matchmarks align.

I then rotated the engine a full rotation by hand (with a breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley) to check for faults.

Started her up and ran great again.

Reinstall timing belt cover and everything else you took off. In my case I only had to remove AC tensioner pulley.

Don't forget to test your new timing belt thoroughly:

 

[bucfl]

I like the inter grated winch behind bumper. It’s something I’m hoping to do this year. I already have the plate and saving for winch. Good work!

 

[atnolan94]

I have replaced my timing belt at 406 000 K's. It is a very easy job on the 1HD-FTE.

Undo the six bolts that hold the timing belt cover and you'll see this:
View attachment 1678555

You can see the screw locations better in the picture below:
View attachment 1678557
There are two more screws on the underside of the timing belt cover.

Rotate crankshaft (clockwise) until matchmarks on No.1 & No.2 camshaft timing pulley align.

On the No.1 pulley the matchmark is at the front of the pulley and at the top of the engine.
On pullley No.2 the matchmark is a "V" in the back flange and a dot on 11 O-clock on the engine.

See picture below:
View attachment 1678558

Unbolt and take off the tensioner:
View attachment 1678556

Then take off the idler pulley.
I then installed the new belt, new idler pulley and new tensioner.

Make sure the matchmarks align and pull the pin out of the tensioner.
The tensioner will now erect and put tension on the belt (wait a little while to let the tensioner do its job).
Check again that the matchmarks align.

I then rotated the engine a full rotation by hand (with a breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley) to check for faults.

Started her up and ran great again.

Reinstall timing belt cover and everything else you took off. In my case I only had to remove AC tensioner pulley.

Don't forget to test your new timing belt thoroughly:
View attachment 1678563

Pretty jealous of how easy that timing belt job is....the 2UZ is a tough job.

 

[JGG]

Hey Yves,

Wow, you're bumper winch is awesome.

Nice to see someone from The Netherlands in here!
I'm from Geldermalsen!
Do you like to meet? Busy getting licence plates with RDW right now.

Groet,
Johan

 

[YvesNL]

So... It's been a while since my last update but I do have some modifications to share.

After a lot of 4WD'ing I found out what I needed.

I started with a set of sliders. If you do any offroading in a (relatively) long wheelbase vehicle you know your rockers will get beat up. I made mine out of 60*30*3mm and 50*3.25mm tube. Bend the tubes with a tube bender, painted them grey / silver and here they are getting used:

After a year they were beat up and I didn't like the color. I sanded them and painted them in raptor liner. Here are some pictures of the paint process:

And a closeup of the texture:

I also needed new tires. At first I thought I should go to 35 inch tires byt after reading the pro's and con's I wanted to stay with the 33's. Regearing is not really a problem for me, but when I'm out on a trip I can get parts everywhere with the stock gears. I do like the braking and do not want to increase the stopping distance. Staying with 33's also gives me an excuse to buy Front and Rear airlockers.

I settled on 33 mud terrains, General Grabber X3 285/75r16 and after 15000k's I really like them. Handling is great, also in the wet. Off road they are awesome in mud, much better than my old all-terrains.

While changing tires I also sandblasted the wheels and sprayed them in Raptor liner with a HVLP gun. The look I was after is textured powdercoat, and I hit that spot on. Here are some pics of the new wheels and tires:

And a picture of the cruiser while the Raptor liner on the sliders was still wet & off the car:

 

[YvesNL]

After the sliders there was time for the next project. I had been stuck on rocks before and was afraid that I would hit and damage my transmission. It was time for a skidplate for me and my mates.

First I mocked up the skidplate with some cardboard:

First I got a sheet of 2000*1000*3mm steel and some angle iron. Clamped that to the top of the roof (you can see the first colour of the sliders here):

Ten I cut the plates with a plasma cutter and welded on the angle iron:

Made three:

Painted white and installed under the car:

The skidplate is mounted with bolts through the existing holes in the differential mount & I drilled five holes and inserted rivnuts in the transmission crossmember.

As you can see it can be easy an cheap to build some skidplates. After some use I can say that they work perfect for taking dirt with you. A few holes to drain the muddy water and flush out the dirt would be great.