Just thought I'd share some pictures and details on my 74 Toyota Land Cruiser project. 

I picked this beauty up in 2007 when I spent a short summer working help  to open another location for my company in Spokane. The seller had been using it as a snow plow for the past decade or so, and it was in need of some TLC. Some pretty major rust on the rear sil (to be expected) and overall just a tired but neglected rig. The bonus to the limited use, was that there were only 86K original miles, and everything mechanical was in pretty good shape. Here's what she looked like the day I got it "home."

That is sweet. Other than fixing the rust I'd leave it just as it is. That thing has a perfect patina.

 Being an overzealous 24 year old single guy, with too much time on his hands, I thought I could have this baby, "restored" and daily-driveable in no time. Boy was I mistaken. My lack of skill and a legitimate tool arsenal quickly brought me back to reality, and my ego back down to Earth.

I spent the first few free evenings and weekends cleaning and scooping out pounds of grease, leaves, spent cartridges, live ammo, etc, out of all the nooks and crannys. I must have used 3 gallons of Simple Green. Gave it a much needed bath, and found the hardtop had some holes in it, OH BOY!  Popped that off, to enjoy the summery Spokane weather.

Bought a Hi-Lift jack and got around to pulling the wheels off and sandign down as best I could and gave them a fresh coat of paint to help stave off rust until I could source some different wheels (I despised the "Wagon" wheels, but replacement was low on the priority list). 

My next task was tires, as the ones on there were all mismatched, rotted out ,and ready to blow at any time. WIthout the funds for lift and  tires simulaneously, I tried my luck at used tires, only to find the well dry at all the used tire shops. I ended up going with the Costo deal of BFG A/T KO's of the 32x11.50 variety. In order to squeeze those in, I went with some Dick Cepeck extended shackles, which gave me a 2.5" suspension lift.

 After my time in Spokane was up, I headed back to the West side of the mountains. Had the Cruiser shipped over on a semi, for a cool $300, glad I did not drive it over the pass, not sure how the old girl would have handled it.

Back in Bellevue, I lost a lot of free driveway work space, so my progress stalled. I installed a Weber 32/36 progressive carb with an electric choke, so get a little more consistency out of what had become a crap shoot to start it. Since carb tuning is a science, I had it towed off to get it tuned, and also to get an electric fuel pump installed at a buddy's buddy's shop in Everett.  This finally gave me a little consistency on early morning starts, and also got the fuel mileage under control to a relatively reasonable 10mpgs.

Next move for work, was down to Centralia to open another store. The Cruiser made the drive down from Bellevue to Centralia without a single issue, until a State Trooper in Rochester noticed my 1 month expired tabs. He let me off with a warning, and sent me on may way, after about 10 mintues of trying to get the engine restarted...

Once in Centralia, I had a driveway and garage to get back to work. Next up was to sand down the entired body to get the surface rust and 8000 pounds of Bondo off. Here's an "in-process" picture. Obviously this is a rolling resto, couldn't bear to have it just sitting around all pulled apart

In the meantime, had some Warn hubs installed amongst some other front end work (tie rods, knuckle rebuild).

 Ramsey PTO Winch (8000lb capacity).....still haven't gotten it working, but once it is, I can hoist myself up into a tree!

Got it all painted primer black (sans the hardtop) so finally looked a little less like a project and more like a driveable rig.Got the exhaust redone for next to nothing at the Muffler Man in Centralia, complete with a new exhaust manifold gasket, and refurbed manifold, turbo muffler, and tailpipe. What a difference in sound and exhaust fumes in the cabin!

Next up was the suspension. Researched, and researched, and saved up, and got enough cash to piece together a great lift. I ended up with Skyjacker 4" leafs, with Bilstein 5100 shocks. Brandon from East Olympia Cruisers did the install for me and did a great job. With the extended shackles and the new leaf springs, the lift was close to 6", but still looked good. Eventually got the shackles replaced with stock length greasable ones from SOR, got the center arm rebuilt so she tracks straight and improved the driveability 101%. 

I am apparently lacking pictures with the full extra high lift, but here's a couple little ones. As you can see, sitting up pretty high before the ext shackles were removed. Since installed, I've come to appreciate the more stock, and old schoold look, so my goal is to keep moving in the direction and keep it as stock looking as possible besides the suspension.

Dropped down about 2" with stock length shackles. Leaving a true 4" lift.

Thanks to Craiglist, I found some old school style steelies (not original FJ40 wheels, but close enough), got all 4 for $50! I love the look of white steelies, so here's the transformation over this past weekend....

Here's what they looked like after I bought them with the old tires removed, the PO had painted them black...

I sanded them down a bit, removed some rust from the edges, first coat of self etching primer....

Front wheels off ready to take to the tire shop to get swapped over, final product on the floor, went with Rustoleum White Acrylic paint, and a Duplicolor clear coat to try and make them last as long as possible.

***BEFORE*** Wagon wheels and white letters out.

***AFTER*** tires flipped around to hide the white letters in order to match the mroe  "old school" style of the "new" steelies. I could not be happier with the turnout! Can't wait to get the fronts mounted up tonight! Rears will have to wait until later this week, only have 2 jack stands 

I'm kinda jumping around, but during the winter of 2009, I did a hard top cap refinish. The gutters were dilapidated and there were a couple of holes where the PO had a couple of emergency lights drilled through the roof. This is a budget build, so my "tools" of choice were a power drill with a paint stripping attachment, a couple of sandpaper blocks, white enamel paint, clear coat, clear sealant, and Bondo brand fiberglass repair kit. We (my future wife and I) went to town stripping down the top layer of the top and cleared out the old sealant from the gutters, repainted, fiberglassed over the holes, and put a thick band of aquarium sealant around the gutter rim. Voula! NO MORE LEAKS! Definitely not perfect, but looks much better, and you can stay dry if it starts raining :)

Haven't gotten my replacement lug nuts in yet, but had to see what the new setup would look like....much cleaner and more classic look.

Wow that looks great. Love the change in wheels. Find some old school hubcaps.

I always wanted an old FJ40.

Edit: looks like those are the non-hubcap wheels. They came out great.

 Thank you everyone for the comments, I will do my best to keep this updated now that I have got you all caught up and current.

I don't think I really mentioned it, but my goal with this rig is for it to be a weekend warrior,  occaisional camping/wheeling rig (especially in the summertime with the top off), and also have it be comfortably driveable in the winter time in case we need the extra 4x4 vehicle to get to work.

UPDATE : I got all 4 tires swapped over to my "new" wheels only to discover that the backspacing on the "new" wheels is close to 5" and my old wheels were around 3.5", so I ordered up some 1.5" spacers from All Pro Off Road, to be able to clear the tie rods up front. So my super-deal-$50-wheels, have turned into $200 wheels with spacers, OY! 

 Got the All-Pro Off Road 1.5" spacers and wheels slapped on last night, rims fit on nicely, cleared all steering components. 

 Couple more "historic" shots from a couple summers ago heading over Steven's Pass to Lake Wenatchee, topless and doorless, with worn out steering components made for a *FUN* ride through the mountains.

The ride height and stance is much different now with the extended shackles removed and the new rims with different backspacing.

Bought some new lug nuts to go with my "new" wheels, but the ended up coming boxed incorrectly so they didn't fit, causing me to have to leave the Cruiser hanging out on jack stands for the past couple of weeks.  Finally just  ended up putting on the old rusty ones in order to clean out/organize the garage. 

Also stuck my Blitz jerry can mount on to see what it would look like....

 I know there is a bit of an issue with putting less than pristine vehicles on this site but, I really enjoy the build-ups that folks do and seeing the progress is very inspiring.  You have done well and now have a vehicle that you have pride in. Keep it up.

Morris

Thank you everyone for the compliments, I really appreciate it. It's been a slow process, but finally getting there.

I will say,  that this rig is no where near pristine, and don't plan it ever being pristine. What I do hope is that I can continue making it as reliable, drivable,  and aesthetically pleasing vehicle that my wife and I (and kids some day) can take just about anywhere, whether it be to the mall, to work, but most importantly into the hills to enjoy the outdoors for years to come.

What it will NOT EVER be is a beat up, cut up, modified, rock buggy with 40" tires, that I smash to bits on the weekends at an ORV. Some of the information I have absorbed from this site has inspired me to alter my future plans for this rig and I am very excited.

Craig, thank you for the vote of confidence, I was a bit worried I had overstepped the bounds of the site since it is not yet truly ready for proper "overland" travels, but I will continue posting with your blessing and hope that with the majority of the baseline mechanicals now buttoned up, I can soon begin to focus on the more fun modifications.

ME LIKEY