[Viraat13]

Hey Folks!

I’m back again with another Land Cruiser 100 series, this one initially visited for just the basics (suspension, brakes, service, etc.), but it grew into a massive 3 month project that ended up including some world famous brands like:

• Sundown Audio
• Blam
• Dobinson
• Aozoom
• Avery Dennison

You get the picture? No?



Read on to find out how this LC was completely transformed & modernized.

I'm breaking up the thread into 5 posts:

1. Background & First Look at the car
2. Mechanical & Electrical Work
3. Exterior work
4. Interior, Audio, Lighting
5. Final Look

[Viraat13]

Background

This project was actually not meant to be one, it started as a simple mid-life mechanical refresh with some touch-ups etc to make it drive well and look decent.




It arrived from Uttarakhand via road till the edge of NCR, and then was flatbedded to my garage for work.

Slightly tired looking, but still has good bones and worth spending money on to bring up to spec:


The interior was largely in good shape, except for the door cards which had been rebuilt using body filler (that had started to crack) and paint.


After a wash and some minor improvements, like headlight restoration



Post arrival, a thorough inspection was carried out and a list of jobs was created, in no particular order:

1. Front suspension complete
2. Rear suspension complete, along with replacement of one bent arm
3. Tappet cover packing replacement
4. Power window service
5. Radiator cleaning and reseal
6. Tie rod ends and rack ends
7. Intake manifold cleaning
8. EGR block
9. Differential mounting
10. Steering rack boots
11. Complete service with all fluids replaced (engine, gear, clutch, brakes, power steering, transfer case, differentials, etc.)
12. Replace all belts including timing
13. Universal joints of diff shaft
14. Instrument cluser repair (didn't light up at night)
15. Alternator service with new bearings
16. Battery negative terminals replacement
17. Door card repair
18. Sunroof service
19. Roof lining upholstery
20. Headlight and foglight restoration

I'm sure I'm missing something, but the above gives a fairly good picture of the work at hand.

[Viraat13]

Mechanical & Electrical Work


It isn't possible to share pictures of each and every line item, but suffice to say that every mechanical/electrical system was checked thoroughly. From the top of my head:

• Engine
• Fueling (major diesel leakage)
• Steering
• Suspension (bushes, ball joints, shock absorbers)
• Brakes
• Gearbox + Transfer Case + Diffs + Driveshafts
• Radiator
• Belts + Pulleys
• Windows + Sunroof

Coming to the shockers, initially we were going in for a stock replacement, but the owner of the car was very enthusiastic about off roading and touring with his new car, which is why we started looking at aftermarket options.

In the world of Land Cruisers, Australia is the biggest market and place for mods, builds, and upgrades. When it comes to shock absorbers for the 100 series, only two names are worth considering, one is Ironman, and the other is Dobinson. For our usecase, Dobinson was a more likely bet - also it was available much faster than any other, and at a reasonable price.


After a wait of about 3 weeks:


Why did we go for the IMS series?


Dobinsons IMS are monotube shock absorbers and are said to perform much better than the stock twin tube shocks. What I say is, for the kind of money one has to spend over stock shockers, they better!

And you know what? They do. The handling of the LC100 is pretty poor by modern standards, and the Dobinsons really work overtime to compensate for that. The ride is slightly firmer than stock, but it dramatically reduces body roll and that prevents the car from pitching all over the place when you're going where there are no roads.

Coming to the real stuff, hardcore mecahnicals!

The chassis bushes were in absolutely terrible condition. If one doesn't replace these then all the money spent on Dobinsons, lower and upper arm bushes/balljoints etc is a waste.


The car also ended up getting a brand new exhaust. The stock exhaust is pretty restrictive, with a dia of just 1.75 inches. It is in no way enough for a turbo charged 6 cylinder 4200cc engine. Since this is a pretty old car, there was no cat-con - we went with a turbo back 3 inch exhaust with a single resonator. It did make the car slightly throaty sounding at full acceleration, but man was it worth it. The engine breathes much better with the aftermarket exhaust, and it's something I'd recommend to all 100 series owners.



Make no mistake, it's still a slow car, but at least it isn't ponderous at city speeds and after the exhaust, one doesn't need to upshift to first gear to get moving from 8-10 kmph. 0 to 60 kmph is now around 6-7 seconds, which isn't bad for a car of this age and size.


The intake manifold was pretty badly clogged up. This is purely because of the EGR.


And here you can see that the EGR valve has been blocked to prevent this happening again.


This is all the gunk that came out of the intake. Imagine how much healthier the engine must sound after getting rid of so much crap:


Upper and lower ball joints + front bush kit for upper and lower arms:


Tappet cover removed to check the valve clearances and to replace the tappet packing which had a small oil leak.


Upper & lower arms fitted back after replacement of the bushes and ball joints. Here you can also see the repaired axle (with new boot), as well as the replaced steering rack boot:


Front brake disc rotors after being skimmed on the lathe:


Brake fluid was a total mess. It had turned to sludge, a miracle that the master cylinder had not given up. We flushed out this gunk with almost 2 litres of brake oil.


Rear arm with a worn and cracked bush:


New rack ends installed:


New engine mounts:


New air filter and diesel filter. The old air filter is on the right, for reference.

Fun fact, the Land Cruiser 100 series has a washable air filter! You can actually run it under a tap to wash off the dust and dry it under the sun and install it again. Only try this if you are 100% that you have a genuine air filter. The market is full of copies.

New UJ for the rear diff:


Totally bent rear arm. Luckily I had a set of old arms lying in my godown, pulled that out, replaced the bushes and we were good to go.


Flywheel after surfacing:


Brand new clutch set ready to go in:


Release bearing:

[Viraat13]

Exterior work

This section is mostly just images of minor dings, scratches, and rust spots being fixed up... except for one major thing:





The sunroof in this car was an aftermarket unit, and the installation of that left much to be desired. As a result, there was significant build up of rust on the roof. This led to the sunroof machinery actually starting to separate from the body of the car. Pretty disasterous! We ended up welding it back into place and painting it.

There was also the small matter of removing a new and recently replaced windscreen for addressing the rusting along the edges of body:






The rest of the body was in good shape, with some minor battle scars.






Although I must say I didn't expect to find peelable paint on such a car :

[Viraat13]

Audio, Accessories, Lights

Speakers, subwoofer, amplifiers:

• Blam L165P & L165A
• Hammertech LCA4100
• Sundown Subwoofer SA V2
• Sundown SFB 1000 (2022)

Head Unit:

• Sony XAV-AX8100

Wiring:

• 4 gauge wiring kit Stinger (Mono)
• 4 gauge wiring kit Scosche (4 channel)
• Subwoofer audio wire Kicker
• Speaker wire Vibe Audio
• RC wires Scosche
• 0 gauge wiring for big 3 + terminals + crimping

Misc.:

• Probably close to 50 sheets of various kinds of damping (doors, roof, door cards, trunk lids, boot floor + trim, etc.).
• And not to forget water guards, spacers, amplifier mounting board, reverse camera, custom enclosure with extra bracing, resin, and safety grille, quick lock connector, etc.

Yours truly, with the massive subwoofer in my hands and the speakers from France lying on the open tail gate.


Blam L165P, a very nice bit of kit with a warm and plesant sound; but it has weird power requirements that can make it challenging to install.


Massive output, and massive crossovers too.


Trial placement of the amps. We sacrificed the right seat of the third row for this. Unfortunately there is no other decent location to mount amps this big with sufficient room to breathe.


Loads of damping, and the final look of the L165A for the rear was like this:


I wasn't kidding about the damping, here is more:





Big 3 wiring upgrade (0 gauge)
Why is a big 3 important when upgrading your audio? When there are such heavy demands of the electrical systems w.r.t. charging and supply of power, it is right to give the system the right tools for the job. Beefier wiring means better grounding, better charging, and better power supply. Plain and simple.

The LC100 has a weird battery system to those not familiar with it. The starter operates at 24v and has a switchover relay. The second battery only works for the starting of the car and is idle the rest of the time. The switchover controls the charging and switching as needed.
That means, we had to upgrade the following cables:

1. Battery1 to body ground
2. Battery2 to body ground
3. Battery1 to alternator
4. Charging cable between battery 1 & 2
5. Battery 1 to ground (engine)
6. Battery 2 to ground (engine)

Our customer had a few meters of 0 gauge wiring lying around which we ended up using for non-critical grounding points, along with 4 meters of Sundown Audio 0 gauge.


And yes, we went overboard with the Sundown Audio sleeves, but they look nice.


Lighting:

• Main Beam: Aozoom R8 6000k LED Projector
• High Beam: DHC F55 6000k LED
• Fog Light: IPH 2.5 inch projectors with 4200k HID kit + tint
• Cardi 20 pc app based ambient lighting

The showstopper, Aozoom R8 bi-LED projectors


WIP:


Trial Fit:

We elected to not cut the stock reflectors since the projectors are pretty expensive (Approx INR 75000), the customer wanted to be able to remove them at the time of selling the car and putting the original projectors back in.

Low Beam:


High Beam:


Interior:

• Door card restoration and retrim after removal of body filler
• Puddle lamps
• Roof lining upholstery

The original puddle lamps in the door cards were all damaged beyond repair and had too many missing parts for us to make them whole again. While mending the door cards, it was a spur of the moment choice to blank out the original slot and create a new slot for installing generic LED bulbs with bodies for use as puddle lamps. Since the wiring was already there, it was not a challenge to install


Here is one of the door cards after being expertly retrimmed in art leather.

You may have noticed the ambient lighting as well.

This is what the Cardi kit looks like behind the scenes:


At the end of the final sections, below is a roundup of what all we've done...

Here is what the headlights look like:

Aozoom R8 + DHC F55 + IPH Projectors in fog + Zimmer 65w HID 4200k.
Ignore the primer spots, the car was actually meant to go in for paint but at the last minute we changed directions.

App based ambient lighting + new puddle lamps:


Final look of the amps mounted with a first look at the Sundown Audio subwoofer in the enclosure.

[Viraat13]

Final Looks

And finally, it's the final post!

Originally Posted by Viraat13

Ignore the primer spots, the car was actually meant to go in for paint but at the last minute we changed directions.

We went in for a wrap instead! Here it is, 2002 Land Cruiser, in pearl white. Out for delivery to Uttarakhand, at 2:30am.








Thank you for reading/scrolling through my thread. Feedback appreciated!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Shreyfiesta]

Nice restoration thread Viraat. Kudos to you for the excellent work done. The 100 series is one of my favourite generations of the Land Cruiser, most of the celebrities just used to have one back in the early-2000s which were eventually replaced by Range Rovers and Q7s later.

Assuming the engine under hood is 4.2 1HD-FTE diesel, why does this particular car get the front-end fascia (including the split-headlight setup and chrome radiator grille) from Cygnus version? I guess the actual Cygnus variants never had an option for diesel.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Shreyfiesta

Assuming the engine under hood is 4.2 1HD-FTE diesel, why does this particular car get the front-end fascia (including the split-headlight setup and chrome radiator grille) from Cygnus version? I guess the actual Cygnus variants never had an option for diesel.

The front end swap was a popular option back in the day. Most of the Cygnus/LX running around in India are ordinary Landcruisers with swapped front ends and badges. And given it is a Toyota, one can easily mix and match parts and looks as long as it within the same generation.

In this case, the rear is untouched. So am assuming the front end was changed as one of the owners liked the quad light look or it was the easily available part in a minor front collision.

[Viraat13]

Originally Posted by DicKy

The front end swap was a popular option back in the day. Most of the Cygnus/LX running around in India are ordinary Landcruisers with swapped front ends and badges. And given it is a Toyota, one can easily mix and match parts and looks as long as it within the same generation.

In this case, the rear is untouched. So am assuming the front end was changed as one of the owners liked the quad light look or it was the easily available part in a minor front collision.

This is spot on. The owner of the car has asked me to arrange a new tailgate and tail lights to complete the look though.

I have a legit V8 Cygnus in for work right now, as well as a faithfully converted Land Cruiser that has the front, rear, steering wheel airbag, dash (ice), and even door sill plates to match.

I still feel that the original has aged well and the Lexus one looks very late 90s.

[jono213]

Originally Posted by Viraat13

Final Looks

And finally, it's the final post!

These threads are an absolute delight to read and this is an extremely clean restoration on your end, seems like an enthusiast customer who sees the value of this beast.
The LC 100 was an outstanding car, although I do prefer the stock look over the cygnus conversion . I remember seeing one in Ooty back in 2019, a real headturner.
Kudos to you and your meticulousness in dealing with the car!

[AShubrah]

Originally Posted by Viraat13

Final Looks

And finally, it's the final post!



We went in for a wrap instead! Here it is, 2002 Land Cruiser, in pearl white. Out for delivery to Uttarakhand, at 2:30am.

Attachment 2391172

Attachment 2391173

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Thank you for reading/scrolling through my thread. Feedback appreciated!

I was just scrolling through Instagram & I saw your post, and I couldn’t help logging in to read everything in detail.

all I can say this that I am in awe of the before and after.

I’m glad that I could witness the transformation in real life, and for everyone else reading, the quality of workmanship performed on this Land Cruiser is just incredible.

glad to see you save another one of these!

[Viraat13]

Originally Posted by jono213

The LC 100 was an outstanding car, although I do prefer the stock look over the cygnus conversion .

Thanks for the kind words. Have a look at my other LC restoration thread, that's stock: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post5079431 (Refreshing a 20-year old Toyota Land Cruiser 100 series)

Originally Posted by AShubrah

all I can say this that I am in awe of the before and after.

I’m glad that I could witness the transformation in real life, and for everyone else reading, the quality of workmanship performed on this Land Cruiser is just incredible.

glad to see you save another one of these!

Thanks for the kind words, and for your help with the audio set up.

[abtyagi]

This was an excellent read. So much information, and quality of work. Kudos to you.

[tc89]

Wow!! This is amazing, I'm in awe of the level of detail you went through. I'm sure in reality there were more details you had to look into. Kudos to you and your team.