Appologies to those that have read this on the other couple of forums I am on, but for those that haven't, here is my landcruiser build thread!!

The principal purpose of this is for overlanding, but also for a bit of gentle off roading and green laning in the UK. Here is how it appeared in it's original form in Russia



and on the way to the Gambia


And on the way back from visiting my future wife and her family for the first time in Belarus



but after a few years. it was starting to rot away and the decision had to be made, save it or sell it. The sensible option was to sell it and buy an 80, so I decided to save it!! It was all down to emotional attachment really

here's what it looked like before the rebuild started

The rebuild has taken almost three years, so, with a lot of 'stare time' I have managed to come up with a spec that I think suits my needs pretty well.

Body off bare metal restoration including NOS front wings, 4 NOS doors, NOS upper tailgate, replacement lower tailgate, various bits of chrome, rubber seals etc, new rear carpet. chassis blasted and painted in chip resistant chassis paint, all cavities waxoiled to within an inch of their life!!

Toyota Hilux front brake calipers and pads
ARB winch bar
Winchmax 13000lbs 24v winch
IPF auxillary lights
custom made rear bumper
ARB air lockers
ARB compressor with auxillary air tank and external airline plug
OME heavy duty suspension, giving approx 50mm lift
longranger fuel tank
GRP side panels for rear windows
custom rear load restraint
Upracks roof rack
Foxwing
235/85x16 tyres on 8x16 rims with -33mm offset
4.1 diffs to compensate for tyres
24-12V dropper
12v and 24v accessories seperately fused through secondary fuse boxes
convert from electric windows to manual.
remove central locking
Toyota Hilux front seats in the rear
modified land rover 110 rock sliders
racing harnesses to the rear
load restraint system
'security items'!

I decided against roof tents, for a familly of four it's just too much weight up top, so we will have this instead as a ground tent.



So, here is how it now looks.

Here's the foxwing extended out. good second hand buy off the landcruiser forum. not got the poles in, guy ropes or tensioning strap so looks a bit baggy, but you get the idea.







This is the rear load area. These are two explorer boxes I managed to pick up for a good price, they will be mounted in a wood frame, which will then be extended upto roof height to take other cases, equipment and, when I can afford it, a fridge (they are chuffiin expensive!!)



without the cases in you can see the rear load restraint, custom made by the garage, and a nice job I must say



You can also see the fibreglass side panels which have replaced the rear windows, this improves security, and gives a useful bit of storage



In the back, I have fitted a pair of Hilux front seats for the kids. These are what you might call an interference fit!! Although I have retained the original seatbelts, these also have racing harnesses fitted so when I go off road the kids don't get thrown about too much.

As standard the landcruiser HJ60 comes with 24v everything, so the stereo has a 24-12v dropper mounted underneath it. now we have a dedicated 12v dropper this was removed and the space utilised for the control switches for spots, lockers, compressor etc



stuck an extra set of legends on as with the lights on they disapear!!



The 3 left hand bulbs are too bright at night time so I will have to try and get hold of some dimmer ones, preferably the same as the left hand three.

Here is the ARB compressor and air tank. Also under the bonnet are the 24-12v dropper and supplementary 24v and 12v fuse boxes. A test drive showed that it all got a bit warm, so we have fitted a heat shield. It amused the mechanic no end, as he is a landy owner and the garage is Waveney Landrover that this was a Landrover Part, with a Landrover stamp on it. As his boss said, it'll probably start pissing oil out now then!!





The long ranger tank is problematic, it hangs down a long way with a right angled leading edge. IT needs protecting before I go off road. It is complicated by the prop shaft, so will need a recess in the plate to accomodate it.

In retrospect, I wouldn't do the longranger thing. I would have ordered an enlarged replacement for the original tank from someone like allytanks and relocated the spare wheel. I had a quote off allytanks for that and it was about the same price, it was only relocating the spare that put me off.







I am going to have to get a substantial bash plate made up to protect it.

and that's it, so far, but these things always need more work!!

so, on the list of jobs still to do:

rebuild gearbox, replace front seats, probably with Saab items, fit block heater, rack out inside, sort out door cards and interior (door cards have holes in where electric window switches used to be), get some underbody protection, watertight metal box for roofrack.

Looks stunning...well done.

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what are you rebuilding?

Sorry...just saw this. P.M sent, but just to add I'm coming to the end of spending cash on my Toyota surf 3ltr 2nd gen. It's been the usual new bits in prep. Anything that looks like it might need replacing in the next year or so.

The comfy stuff I did last year...fitting the truck out etc. gen 7 celica seats for £30 on eBay, 2nd hand engel, 80w solar panel, roof tent and lots of 2nd hand goodies from eBay. Have got inventive in a few places and took the rear seats out to build a platform to hold the plastic cargo boxes.

I would rather had gone for a older truck like your, but missed out a couple of times.

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