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Feb 20, 2021 20:25:27 GMT
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Hi All, With all the current lockdown and international travel restrictions currently in place and I think maybe partially in place for a while yet, I was thinking of getting some sort of camper/holiday vehicle. I like vans and can see their practicality for converting into campers etc, but they don't really do it enough for me..... Wanted something a bit more exciting/interesting. In my head I somewhere had the idea that Land Cruisers where built to last. I wanted something reliable and simple, fed up with electronic modules going wrong with my daily E61 530d...... So after a lot of internet reading about everything I could to do with Land Cruisers I settled on the 80 series (1990-1997). I liked the look of them and that they are built in an era of relative simplicity, but still enough creature comforts to keep me happy. After having looked at a couple rust buckets I found mine, a 2004 import from Japan, pretty much rust free compared to the others, had a few nice extras already with it, factory winch, roof tent, 6" lift kit plus a few other bits. Of course it is not without its faults, they will be sorted out in the coming months with the plan to get it ready for some summer time adventures. Will try my bets to keep the thread updated with my progress.    |
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Feb 20, 2021 23:18:54 GMT
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Nice truck. Reminds me of a trip to Iceland a few years ago. There was a load of these beasts running around the capital.    |
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1955 Austin A30
1981 Jawa Mustang
1990 Trabant 601 (Tommy)
1989 Trabant 601
2009 Jaguar XF
2012 Toyota AYGO
2018 Scomadi TL
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Feb 20, 2021 23:50:52 GMT
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Love these big Landcruisers, a proper fortress of a car! Subscribed.
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I love your truck. They are awesome.
Is it petrol or diesel?
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Feb 21, 2021 10:45:17 GMT
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I love your truck. They are awesome. Is it petrol or diesel? It’s a diesel, simple mechanical fuel pump, just a few wires to make it run. Currently it doesn’t have an inter cooler which isn’t the most efficient set up. Once it’s mechanically where I’m happy with it I will look at fitting one with the associated fuelling mods. I’d like to take it to Iceland one day day for a trip, would be so fun! |
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Feb 21, 2021 23:30:25 GMT
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Feb 21, 2021 23:56:41 GMT
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I am very envious of how many are over there with you and the level of aftermarket support! Plus they don’t suffer from rust like ours do! Shame postage is so expensive or I think more people would get stuff sent over all the time.
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Not long after I bought it I took it to Overland Cruisers to have a thorough once over. My logic being that I am more than capable of finding faults with a vehicle, but being new to Land Cruisers and not wanting to waste time breaking down or waiting for something to break that could have been spotted earlier by a more experienced eye. The main issues were leaking radiator, front hub seals, brake and clutch fluids, plus cambelt, plus some diff naff and triv. I will try to do a fair amount of work myself, since it non of it looks especially complicated. Nothing major has been started yet with it because I am waiting for a load of parts to arrive so I can get stuck in. First main job will be a refresh of the cooling system, the radiator is pretty haggard, and is most likely the original. I already have a replacement, but am waiting for top and bottom hoses, thermostat and rad cap to arrive before I start with that job. A smaller item that was picked up was that the front and rear diff locks were not working. Had a bit of a play about with them and did some reading. Turning the rotary dial, I can hear, I guess, a relay clicking while in rear lock position, but no noise from the actuator itself. The front one is making a noise, but not been able to check if It is actually engaging with the diff. Rear position switch, on the diff wasn't working for a start, plus one of the wires to the plug on the front one was broken..... so ordered a new set. Beck Arnley make switches that seem to be a common replacement. Not sure how much a genuine one is, but way more than £12 I guess.  Fitted both the switches, obviously that didn't make the actuators work, can't be that simple! Took the rear actuator out to investigate a bit more....  Once the shield was off, it looked like some one had been in here before me....Any way carried on and took the switch plate and actuator out    First problem was a common once from what I have read, and that is the magnets de-bonding from the housing, weirdly one of them was cracked in half too. I'm hoping that once it is all glued back together it will still work. Does any one know if it will affect its magnetism?? I was a bit confused at first thinking there was a magnet missing, but its just because they had all moved around the housing to one side. Second issue was the actuator rod is seized into thee housing, I have left it soaking in wd40 over night, I was able to get a tiny bit of movement out of it using a soft faced hammer so have hopes its salvageable..... |
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I've got one of these in at the moment for a full Rustproofing, such a lovely vehicle.
It's got all the overland gear on it and we have fabbed up a couple of extra bits for it too.
After the Rustproofing I'm painting it also with bedliner paint.
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I've got one of these in at the moment for a full Rustproofing, such a lovely vehicle. It's got all the overland gear on it and we have fabbed up a couple of extra bits for it too. After the Rustproofing I'm painting it also with bedliner paint. Is that a body off job, or you doing it with it on the chassis? Be interested to see some pics of that! |
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I've got one of these in at the moment for a full Rustproofing, such a lovely vehicle. It's got all the overland gear on it and we have fabbed up a couple of extra bits for it too. After the Rustproofing I'm painting it also with bedliner paint. Is that a body off job, or you doing it with it on the chassis? Be interested to see some pics of that! Sent you a private msg |
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Big chonky tyres make me happy
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Managed a bit of garage time tonight on the actuator, freed up the actuator rod, cleaned it up with some scotch and its all moving freely now. Need to find some suitable grease to put it all back together again. Should I be using some sort of electrically conductive/compatible grease for the wipers? Cleaned the rust off the motor housing and painted with some hammerite, and glued the magnets back it. Hopefully can do a dry build and test tomorrow. Had to do the painting and glueing in the house, was way to cold in the garage!!  |
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Gotta love a Landcruiser. Loads of fun especially when you have the owner sat in the passenger seat encouraging you to hit the river crossings faster.
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Gotta love a Landcruiser. Loads of fun especially when you have the owner sat in the passenger seat encouraging you to hit the river crossings faster. Haha, like the sound of that, you had some adventures in them? |
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A friend has one. I've driven it a few times. Here we are up the back of Hanmer Springs a couple of years ago.  |
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Awesome, love it! Look forward to going on some adventures with mine, its what they are made for!
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Mar 25, 2021 23:34:04 GMT
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So a long awaited delivery arrived from TCB parts, bulk of which was bits to overhaul the cooling system. Hoses, rad cap, thermostat etc. The radiator had a slow leak. I already had got hold of a new Nissens radiator, just needed these bits to be able to fit it.  First off was to get the batteries out, and try not to look too closely at the additional wiring for the light bar that the previous owner had done. Have got some proper connectors on order to tidy it all up. Bad wiring is a pet hate of mine, as soon as I see stuff wrapped in electrical tape, I have to have a look underneath, its rarely pretty.  Once the batteries were out, had to work out how to get the headlights out to then be able to get to the upper radiator mounts. The little peg on the bottom of the side light on both sides was corroded and needed the use of a pry bar to gently pop it out. Nothing broke on the lights fortunately! The upper radiator mount sleeves......well another story. strange design, sleeve with a threaded rod going forward, obviously the thread was totally corroded and trying to undo the nut it just sheared... will see how long it will take to get replacements, or drill them out to take a normal bolt. Bit of wrestling with the radiator vs fan shroud later and it was out.....I think its done its time, the fins are so rotten!!  The aircon rad being at the front was in even worse state, new one is on its way from Autodoc, so that was pulled out while I was in there...  The last job I did while the front end was apart was replace the one way valves for the headlight washers. I'm guessing the spring inside the old one has rusted away as the water just pours out them till the washer bottle is empty.  Will all be going back as soon as the aircon rad arrives. Be nice to not have a dripping radiator. Took it to Overland Cruisers to have the cam belt and accessory belts replaced along with the brake and clutch fluid changing. Don't have time to do all the jobs on it myself.... I had noticed some rust bubbles on the bottom of the doors and lower edge of the rear fixed windows. I had my friend Lee at BP Motor Bodybuilders sort the rust and paintwork out. Luckily it had been caught early enough and not metal had to be cut and welded. |
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Sept 13, 2021 21:08:30 GMT
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Once the aircon rad arrived I had it fitted, while that was being done the Aircon place had to replace the condenser, but it has been perfect since then. Took 2 attempts by Autodoc to get me an undamaged aircon rad. While I was waiting for the aircon rad to turn up I might have got a bit carried away refurbishing the top rad support panel and the bonnet latch mech....haha. I have had quite a bit of work carried out by Overland Cruisers while I was away. Mainly the front swivels were rebuilt, all new seals, wipers, wheel and swivel bearings etc. The axle oil was passing through the inner seal into the CV area, so they were done too. All transmission, brake and clutch fluids were changed too. I have no record of when they were last done. While it was there they checked and changed the big end bearings. Again, I had no history of this being carried out. I think they were caught just in time, Julian showed me photos of them, several had small flakes missing and were ripe for breaking up properly. They were all changed for new ACL bearings. Should be good for a few more miles again now! Took it on a 10 day camping trip to Wales, it drove perfectly the whole time. No issues really at all. Only minor issue is the speedo over reading a lot of the time. I need to see how it is driven because the odo seems to be counting correctly...... Saw another nice white 80 series parked down at Tresaith beach. Next up I think will have to be fuelling mods and intercooler. I think with the big wheels the gearing just shows the lack of power it has. Have to keep changing gear so much on the steeper hills. Was expecting it to be a bit more torquey for the size of the engine!      |
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May 13, 2022 18:38:09 GMT
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