New suspension

This upgrade was already on my list since the beginning. The original suspension pack installed by the factory was over 30 years old, therefore lost its flex and lowered the cruiser about 5 cm from its original height. Besides that the driving behavior also changes during that time, in the end the steering tends to react too much on road conditions and curves. It starts to drive a bit nervous and therefore dangerous and exhausting.

Replacing exhaust manifold gasket

So now the tank was installed, the engine was running perfect and I started to make some test drives… I felt great!! Although there was something not right… It sounded like an old Volkswagen Beetle, like it had a serious cold.

Installing the recoated tank

Its been a while since my last post and that can mean two things, good or bad news… fortunately it was the first one!!! I’ve been driving alot the last few weeks.

Hood silence pad

Driving noise is something you have to live with when owning a classic land cruiser, even more when owning a diesel version. That’s why Toyota assembled the Diesel cruisers in some markets with a factory silence pad under the hood.

(P)repairing the Roof Top

Since the hardtop is now installed including the doors and upper door bows, its time to work on the iconic creamy white polyester roof top.

Hardtop: the final paintjob!

In the meantime the epoxy primer was good for sanding with grit 500 paper. This is the moment when the last preparations to the surface can be made,

Welding the doors

Its been a few weeks, but I’m still alive and working on the BJ44. There just wasn’t much interesting stuff to tell, than the things I already told in my last post. But now I’ve worked on fixing the doors, so here we go…

Hardtop side panels

Now that the interior is mostly finished, I started with the left overs; the hardtop and doors. The status of these was still half finished; already did the necessary welding on the hardtop side panels 2 months ago, but put those one on hold, so I could start assembling the finished parts first ( was a good idea to stay motivated ).

Nuts & Bolts: replated

A few weeks ago I brought my mounting hardware to a plating company, this is a company where they for instance re-chrome or zinc plate your metal parts. Toyota originally used a yellow zinc plate on their nuts and bolts, something iconic, since most of the car manufacturers use a more blue/neutral colored zinc finish for their hardware. Yellow zinc is a bit stronger than the standard zinc type.

Preparing Paint job

Getting closer and closer towards the paint job, there’s still a lot of work to be done. To get some overview in my work, I decided to work from front to rear. So I started to finish all the work

Repairing the doors

As I’ve showed you in a previous post the right ambulance door and right front door suffered from serious rust in the “well known” bottom part. I ordered door skins at CCOT (Cool cruisers of Texas) and received them a week ago.

Fender mounted mirrors

As from 1980, all JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) LandCruisers were, because of Japanese traffic regulations, equipped with mirrors mounted on the front fenders. These are the only LandCruisers with these type of mirrors. Pre 1980 Landcruisers had

Refreshing lenses and reflectors.

A good way to save some money is by not replacing faded and scratched rear light lenses and turn signal lenses with pricey OEM ones.
The lenses alone might save you just a little money. New OEM rear light lenses + front turn signal lenses will cost you around

Polishing chrome

Nothing special to tell here, just the usual polishing stuff, but it works as a meditative exercise if done with enough time and relaxed music.

Refurbish apron emblems

Because I would like to stick to my tight budget, I have to be efficient. That means, cut the cost on replacing parts that are basically good, but just need some attention in detail, for instance the emblems.

Solution for the rusty doors

After a “less happy” period of one day, I decided that I somehow have to get over the “hidden secrets” of the right front door and right ambulance door… (see post: Rust Damage ) These 2 doors were far beyond repairing with the welding skills I recently learned.

Stage 03 – Repairing Rust

I must admit, I’ve never welded before, and was kind of anxious to do so.. Looked so difficult; what to do?…, What material? Where do I start? How am I ever gonna fix this?