Thread: BJ73 Landcruiser

Me too. Dangit

Originally Posted by gimp

Me too. Dangit

Yea its a bit worn alright, got a mate who is handy with a welder and grinder? He could build up the male part to fit the wear in the female and get a few more years out of it.

Altho a new part may not be that expensive if your lucky.

Where would I get parts in NZ? Looking for door weatherstripping etc - found it online in Oz but is there a good NZ source? I like online shopping but I guess I should just call my local Toyota dealer with part numbers?

Clutch gave out last weekend while a mate was borrowing the truck, had to drive up the Greymouth with the gf and top up/bleed the system to get it back home. It's been leaking from the master cylinder through the clutch booster & through the firewall, paint is stripped under the carpet & lightly rusted. Not sure what I'll do about that as presumably the carpet/felt is still soaked with brake fluid so there's presumably not much point re-painting? Cleaned it up and rust-killed it anyway. Also have a new master cylinder and have drained the clutch system, waiting for a 10mm flare wrench and blowtorch to arrive this week to get the old clutch line off. Probably need to have a look at the clutch booster/seals also but don't really know til I get it off. Apparently about 1200AU for a new genuine Toyota booster, if you can find one.... Might have to look at getting it rebuilt. Presumably some playing with the vacuum hoses will tell me whether it's working or not.

Drivers footwell/firewall under the carpet/felting







Also found a lot of rust in my passenger door (noticed it while bleeding the clutch) so I spent this afternoon making space in the garage then pushed the truck inside and stripped/pulled the front door, going to the local panel beaters tomorrow to get cut out & welded.

Only fits with about 80mm clearance overhead, good thing I haven't bought suspension parts yet




One patch of rust - it's also rusted out badly along the bottom where water obviously pools, sort of behind the weatherstripping.


Also started finding/pulling some mystery dead wiring the other day, traced one wire back along the chassis to disappear into the rear quarter, pulled the tail lights and found some minor rust starting

Cleaning & rust killing





My rear right quarter also appears to have a healthy coating of bog on quite a lot of it. Doesn't go right through so presumably it had some surface rust that needed filling at some point?? There is however some minor surface rust starting on the back of the taillight recesses inside the read quarters.




Current plan is to fix a few mechanical things and any bad rust I find, then next summer strip and fully repaint everything taking care of whatever rust I find, also chuck in suspension, turbo, new rims & tyres at the same time. FRP top needs some love, also want to build a rear bumper with spare wheel carrier to take the weight off the door so I'm on the lookout for an arc welder...

Ain't old Toyotas fun
Weatherstripping for my 89/93hilux is only available x Japan.gutter rubber over drivers side $240 NZD

I'm thoroughly enjoying how easy things are to take apart! Except for rusty bolts - hence the blowtorch that is coming...

Snapped a rusty bolt off in my mates Hilux alternator last weekend and spent 3 days trying to get it out, eventually went for the $20 to the local engineering shop solution. Never again! (Use the right tools, patience and do the job properly, and have a welder on hand to tack on something to get it out if the first two options fail)

Your getting there though which is the main point ah.

Does anywhere in NZ sell genuine Toyota parts cheaper than a dealership? Frickin 700+ bucks for parts that would be 320+ shipping from an online seller in the us

Originally Posted by gimp

Does anywhere in NZ sell genuine Toyota parts cheaper than a dealership? Frickin 700+ bucks for parts that would be 320+ shipping from an online seller in the us

Have you looked in Australia? Better exchange rate and heaps of cruiser owners.

I found a source for Genuine Parts ex Japan and UAE of all places. Much cheaper than Toyota NZ.


Got my door back and installed. Waiting on a used clutch booster. Have been seconded to Invercargill for work for the winter so I'll have to have an operational truck inside the next week to drive the 660 odd km down there. At least there are more tools/parts stores down there than in Hoki!! First job will be a new exhaust when I get there I think - 2.5" mild steel probably

Got my clutch sorted at the end of April before moving down to Invercargill for the winter. Bought a used clutch booster off trademe but that didn't fit properly, so I cleaned up the old booster and chucked it back in as a connecting rod of sorts with a new master cylinder, it worked.

Have done about 1400 k's with no problems since. Managed to get a 11.3 L per 100km highway k's, with a bit of a load of gear on, doing 95-105k's per hour where possible (it's not possible up the hills...)

Got a new exhaust fitted today, 2 1/2 inch system with a free-flow muffler. Cut off the old exhaust a couple feet downstream of the manifold and attached the new system there - when I turbo in the near future, it'll be a matter of cutting it off where it is connected to the old exhaust, throwing that away, and hooking up a downpipes. Welds are a bit rough, reckon I should have bought a welder and had a go myself.



Also got some rad new alloys, 15x7 -13mm offset, whipped off one of my current mystery steelies and the new alloys appear to only have 2-7mm less offset (it's hard to measure) so they ought to fit; I have heaps of clearance around everything. Going to get my tyres fitted to them this weekend.




Anyone recognise these alloys so I can try track down a 5th one for the spare?

Went to Macetown today. Didn't get stuck in a blizzard. And shot some bunnies yesterday (not at Macetown)











My brakes started playing up today. Intermittent (!) light on the dash, hard pedal, poor braking. Was very non-functional at one point which was concerning, then function returned. Thought it was the brake booster but it appears to be working as per test in the FSM (pump pedal with engine off, hold pedal down and start engine, pedal moves down a little = booster working). Plenty of meat on the pads at the front, reservoir not leaking and hasn't lost any fluid in the 6 months I've had it. Vac pump pulling at least some vacuum per the "thumb over vac hose" test. Help. Not really sure where to go from here? Bleed the lines and adjust the rear drums and hope it goes away? Vacuum leak?

Light on dash and hard pedal is a vacuum leak, check all hoses
Even a small one with a split will do it
Or if You are realy unlucky the spline on the vacuum pump is on its way out

Thanks, will look at/replace hoses tonight.

"How much" vacuum should the pump be pulling? Ie if I put a vacuum gauge on it. Cannot find any specs. Thumb over the hose pulls a bit into the hose but not uncomfortable at all

The Fix

Originally Posted by gimp

I'm thoroughly enjoying how easy things are to take apart! Except for rusty bolts - hence the blowtorch that is coming...

Snapped a rusty bolt off in my mates Hilux alternator last weekend and spent 3 days trying to get it out, eventually went for the $20 to the local engineering shop solution. Never again! (Use the right tools, patience and do the job properly, and have a welder on hand to tack on something to get it out if the first two options fail)

Thats the one. Don't break them in the first place. Get it red hot (if you can) with the propane torch, cool it down with crc and the heating\cooling cycle breaks the rust bond and sucks the crc into the thread. Work it backwards and fowards slowly and take it all the way out.

If you do break a nut then often you can get it out by either cutting a slot in what remains with a dremmel and using a flat bladed screwdriver or by welding a nut onto what remains and taking it out that way.

Replace with a new bolt and run a tap through the thread for good luck.