Antique Land Cruiser on the road since 2003

[landcruising]

Is that the BBC land cruise that flipped down the sandy slope??? (being rebuilted at the shop?)

Yep, it is the same one. I try to go back there a bit later, to see more of it and take some more images.

speaking of images, you asked for it, so here it comes:


Because of the great heat produced by oxigene welding, everything gets warped. But chain and choke become very handy in restraining the movement of the tub.

I'm a bit confused. My papers say the Land Cruiser is from late 1984. Now I come across a sticker with a big fat 82 on it. Does this mean it is produced in Februari 1982?

So this is my new tire carrier I bought on the Junkyard for 30 USD.

For almost the same amount I have the machine worker replace the bushing in bronze and have him put in grease points

This is the bottom hinge. I am asking myself, why are the holes not round?

I sanded the master brake cylinder and taped it so it can be painted soon.

Esteban is welding the backplate of my seat. This has been broken for the last five years!

 

[landcruising]

Thank you guys for the increase in postcard sales, I don´t know where they come from, but they have been up since I started posting here as well.... :victory:

More images:


The sidewall is warped pretty bad, and heavy tools must be used to get the whole back into shape. Alex is assisting.

This is how it works. Our Land Cruiser is made of real heavy duty steal. Not this plastic stuff they are using nowadays to produce cars.

The left rear is the worst place I guess. This is a real challenge for Esteban.

Little pieces at a time.

Hammer and chisel are his best friend.

This is the almost final result. We have to pre-fit the top part on the tub to see where he might make some adjustments.

There are some nasty spots in the sidewall, but nothing compared the the back part. The whole inside of the walls were sprayed with some sort of resin. A real pain to get of things. It is burning pretty hefty. Look the top of the sidewall is just burning away.

 

[Christian P.]

thanks for the report. This is a huge project but it looks like you have the right guys helping you.

Good thing you are saving this Land Cruiser!

 

[landcruising]

Thanks Christian,

More images:

Thursdays and Sundays there is the biggest used car and parts market of the whole of Bolivia. Everything you ever wanted. But you will have to look hard to find your part.

Crazy Transformers between the hardcore car brands. A huge number of cars are being transformed from right hand drive to left hand drive.

I am tempted to buy this mini-hammer [I think he means mini-hummer] for just 5.200 USD. A real 4x4 deal! I have never ever seen this little car in my life... Lawyers make a good living. Open all days to arrange the needed paperwork to close the sale.

I am eyeing this Grand Vitara fuel tank complete with it's protector. For 85 USD it would be a great spare fuel tank under the back. I am not sure yet, because the fill neck is on the wrong side. I would like mine to open up on the right side.

Maybe this would be a nice idea to support the back leaf springs?

Springs, gearboxes, engines, birfields, linkages and the likes. Buy all you can carry.

In San Pedro [the car parts neighborhood] I encounter this nice Oyota. It's right side headlight is harbouring a fish. Next to it is the every populair mini. 20 USD cents you get in and get of somewhere else. Also Toyota, like 95% of all the taxi and min's.

Coen

 

[Cabrito]

The auto parts market! Awesome!

Thanks!

 

[landcruising]

The end of the raining season is nearing so we get sparse rain now and then mixed with a little sun and this is bringing a beautiful natural phenomenon.

During one of my many ventures in search for usable items to improve our Land Cruiser I end up at a small factory of handmade iron toys. This little Jeep fits just in the palm of my hand and weighs just under 1 kg. They started producing these 22 years ago and since then have expanded their program and are making more than just Jeeps. But I keep liking these little indestructible toys. José showed me one of the very first models sporting a low year and production number on the bottom. Since then they came out with special features like a bull bar, winch, spare tyre, roll bars and different kind of tyres all made out of pure rubber baring the name of the factory. A little grease on the axles and it keeps on running forever. All individual parts are still in stock and so you can order any part from day one on.

Another Transformer. A cab driver told me that 99% of the taxis are Transformers.

Esteban working with Massilla, a kind of epoxy to seal of the welded seams

The local brand.

The welds are sealed off.

 

[landcruising]

Meanwhile I tore out the beam holding the tyre winch because the spare thank is going to be in this place. The spare tyre is moving to the back door.

These two tanks I found in El Alto on the car fair. Now I have to look which one is most suitable as our new spare tank. One is flat and long, but has the intake [for me] on the wrong side. The other is fat and high but comes with an excellent protecting plate.

Esteban and I choose the last. But because the protection plate is not the original one that belongs to the tank, I will have to adapt it a little. I am sending up a rooster tail of sparks with the grinder while cutting the protector.

It has to be a bit narrower so it will fit in between the frame.

These are parts from the front of the frame; the steering gear housing, the steering center and some links and brake tubes.

When I am cleaning the brake tubes, I see some rusty parts. Those will have to be replaced.

 

[landcruising]

another question:

the leafs of the leafsprings are hold under the axle with a plate and 4 nuts. Now if rust and dust come into play these nutr can be a real pain. I neede a lot of heat and cold to play with in order to get them off. 2 u-bolts snapped. Now would it be okay to put copper ease on them? Like I put on the bolts of the wheels...

 

[Pskhaat]

Those are a PITA, I've rattled my hand numb with impact wrenches getting those things off. I forget, do they have lock washers on them?

 

[landcruising]

No, they have normal pression washers, or what they are called.

more images:


This is how the front is looking. Soon the tyres will go so I can paint the rims. The front leaf springs will come off as well as I want to replace them. They are one amalgam of leafs from different countries and there is no consistency any more. The gearbox will go off so I can replace the dried out support rubber underneath.

This is a close-up image of the breather plug on the gearbox. I would like to extend this one with a rubber hose to a higher place, together with those of the two axles. Was there a fourth?

Esteban is quickly putting on a protecting layer of paint. Afterwards he will put two layers of some sort of asphaltic paint on there after that the original color will be painted.

Getting the frame in shape is a big challenge. Fire and violence are needed to get the rust out.

The view from the bus to El Alto when I am going shopping at the car fair. With beautiful mountains in the back. Remember this is 4.000 meters.

Coen

 

[landcruising]

next question: I have the spare tank almost ready to roll. I killed the pump and all the returnlines. I kept one breather pipe and I extended the pickup fuel pipe to almost the bottem. I kept the floater and the two wires that come out of it. How can I use these to get a reading from the tank? It is a 12v version for t...he Suzuki Grand Vitara. Are these things standard? Can I just buy a 12v fuel gauge and hook it up?

 

[Pskhaat]

I doubt they'd be standard, I may be wrong You may have to play around with measuring the resistance throughout the range.

 

[landcruising]

I doubt they'd be standard, I may be wrong You may have to play around with measuring the resistance throughout the range.

Now I've played around a little with a multimeter and I am not an electricity expert. In the Ohm section there are numerous options. And I thought they only shifted the , but I find different values in the last two options [of course the damn thing is lying in the appartement and I am at a wifi cafe]. Then there is the section which I always use to mesure continuity. How would I go about this? I have looked in town and they have some universal gauges, but without any documentation. 3 screws on the back. One is the 12v, the other is a signal and the third I wouldn't know... I guess I hook up the two wires from the floater and a 12v on the gauge... Or am I wrong?

 

[JohnIndenver]

Regarding: "...leafs of the leafsprings..." and stiff u bolts

As you properly tighten the nuts on each leaf spring pack u bolt, a small amount of distortion or stretching occurs. It can change so much that the nuts are very hard to get off, even with no rust.

A local spring shop said always use new u bolts and 4 new u bolt nuts when reattaching spring packs to the axle.

 

[UK4X4]

3 wires = positive - negative and the level send

using ohms on the multimeter

positive to negative will stay the same resistance which ever position the sender is in.

The wiper to negative will change with movement.

depending on the sender it may work either way arround.

The level meter in this case is a simple volt meter.

Great posts !