customizing a landcruiser for overland expedition

rideglobally

Adventurer
Fuel tank mock up

in preparation for our our second trip to Laser Cutting Northwest we are now building the mock up for the second fuel tank (pictured below). the card board pattern will be mailed to LCNW. this process will save us some time on the design.

the aluminum tank will have over 60 gallon capacity, it will be located "below" the rear passenger seat. as you can see by the drawing the rear floor will be cut out to accommodate the fuel tank. we will then build a sealed "floor" over the tank. the rear bench seat will lay over the tank on the "floor". i believe a gallon of diesel weight 8 lbs, so that the tank when full will be 480 lbs. i think the factory fuel tank hold 17 gallons, therefore, our total fuel capacity will be about 80 gallons. the factory fuel tank is located about 8" forward of the second tank we are installing. this will greatly lower the center of gravity of the cruiser.

does anyone know the ohm resistance on the factory sending unit on a 1981 hj 47?

we are looking forward to our drive, and of course exited to arrive at LCNW in Auburn, Washington.

thank :arabia:
 

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rideglobally

Adventurer
Engine conversion – Day 1

Today we turned another chapter of the Nulla cruiser’s build. We began the day by picking up the 12 HT engine from the distribution warehouse in Compton. Edy’s Auto Repair & Auto Body will do the conversion. Nulla’s power plant will be replaced from the current 2H to a 12HT. Edy’s Auto Repair is located at 949 W. 66th Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90044 (corner of 66th Ave and Vermont) Phone # 323 758 1833 or www.edyautobody.com. Other parts of the conversion will include:
• 5 speed transmission
• Air condition
• Power steering
• Rear differential lockers from vacuum powered to manual
• Heavy duty clutch

The 2H engine, 4 speed transmission, transfer case and other accessories that we are removing from the Nullacruiser are for sale for 2,000 dollars. I have also posted on ih8mud classified here is the link http://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-jdm-...-w-all-accessories-transmission-etc-sale.html.

We will do our best to keep you posted on our daily progress. We look forward to working with Edy’s Auto Repair here in our hometown the City of Angels.:arabia:
 

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rideglobally

Adventurer
engine conversion – Day 2

Today we started to break down and take Nullacruiser apart. Take a look at the pictures. Tomorrow we should finish and be able to take the engine out. We will begin to prep the engine bay for painting. Enjoy.... :arabia:
 

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rideglobally

Adventurer
Engine conversion day 3

The conversion of the Nullacruiser engine is now at the point of no return. It reminded us of the time we took the rear cab off at Laser Cutting Northwest.

By the way if you like pupusas, tamales, champorado and meeting the Los Angeles natives you will like the corner where Edy’s Auto Repair is located. The corner is Vermont and 66th Ave in Los Angeles. 8 AM on a Saturday has it all. This morning I was there to start day 3 of the conversion and had the Pupusas. They were the best! The tamales are next.

Monday we will get the engine bay rust free and ready for painting.:arabia:
 

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rideglobally

Adventurer
First time we are posting the Nulla build here since August 26, 2008. It has been a while and since then Nulla has gone to many overlanding destinations. You can see our travels on our website http://www.nullacruising.com/ Covid placed our travel in the EU and beyond on hold and we decided to use this time to do a major retrofitting of the Nulla. It is currently with Adventure Truck Slovenia https://www.adventuretruck.si/ The retrofit will include replacing the camper box with composite material, upgrading equipments, and upgrading the 12ht engine performance. The new camper box will be attach to the double cab and will flex. Over the years Nulla gained weight. The major goal of the retrofit is to lose some of that weight.

The last picture is the drawing of the camper box on scale. The rear axel will be move back 400mm (16”) the current wheel base of the Nulla is 11 feet. An Aveco or Tundra double rear cardigan will be installed The overhang is still a bit long, but it is a compromise between manueuverability and structural strength. The Nulla is being built as an off-road camper. The size of the camper box is 16’ x 6’ x 6’, the 6‘ of the 16’ length will be the bed over the cab. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

We are currently traveling the USA and Mexico on our Mitsubishi Delica JB500.
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