Building a “Home” in a 80-series Toyota Land Cruiser — part 1
This post was moved and continue to update to here.
About 25 years ago we bought a family car. A 1993 Toyota FZJ80 Landcruiser. It served us for 20 years for family camping, and car pooling around town. Now that the 4 kids have left the house, we have no use for it. and a YouTube v
Looking at the low resale value, we decided instead to invest and convert it into a house/camper having all the options of being on/off the road and being independent of lodging and food.
We documented the project in a photo album.
The first issue was to create a reliable overland vehicle, with a robust drive train, a fuel efficient engine and one that could travel over any terrain. This meant we would have to replace the 10 MPG 1FZ-FE gas engine/auto transmission with a 1HDFT (which is a Toyota 24-valve turbo diesel engine mated with an H151 5-speed transmission). This 24 MPG upgrade would allow us a 700-mile range per tank of gas.
Searching for the right engine was a long process -we’re talking 2 years. After exhausting eBay and Craigslist, in December 2017 the engine was finally found through the North America Land Cruiser Community (through Facebook). The shop that had the engine was Landcruiser Direct in Ozark. The engine/drivetrain came out of a European HDJ81 Land Cruiser and was sent to Valley Hybrids, a shop in Stockton, California that specializes in diesel engine conversion for Land Cruisers. They replaced most of the external parts, rebuilt the injector pump and injectors, and did all the checks to verify that the engine was in excellent running condition. They also rebuilt the 5-speed transmission. The transfer case was converted to part time 2WD/4WD from all time 4WD in order to get even better milage on the highway. They have done an amazing job. We could have not chosen a better shop.
Meanwhile, “back at the ranch”, the vehicle was undergoing more changes. The bumpers were upgraded with more rugged units that can accept a winch and a spare tire in the back. Product of 4x4Labs. The front seats were refinished with new leather and seat warmers. The two rows of rear seats were removed to allow space for a kitchen and bed.
The electrical and fuel systems had to be converted to the diesel engine and the transmission hump had to allow for the new manual shifters. The vehicle was then painted with a ‘sand’ color to blend better with nature.
In June, the engine was completed at Valley Hybrids. We borrowed a truck and brought it from Stockton to San Jose, California. On a hot sunny day in July the engine was finally put into the vehicle. Since this engine was designed for this Land Cruiser model in other countries, little metal work modification was required.
The finished job on the drivetrain required testing before the work on the “tiny house” began. The car was driven for 1000 miles. It also required a trip to the CA DMV to change the title of the vehicle from gas to diesel.
The big test was a road trip from San Francisco Bay Area to Tempe. The vehicle was taken on a 2000-mile trip to Arizona including 4WD trails in Sedona. It drove beautifully and got 24 mpg. There were no mechanical issues. The last day it was driven over 1000 miles with one gas stop for 10 minutes.
We were ready now to move ahead with the interiors. At this point we added a second battery to support the ‘home’ part of the car. It is charged by the alternator when the engine is running and disconnects when the voltage drops below 12.5 VDC when the engine is not running. It will be hooked to a solar panel if the car will be parked for extended period of times while using the fridge.
Tali Hardonag Architects began the interior design of the vehicle in order to convert it into a “tiny home”. After a long search a marine grade fridge/freezer was selected to accommodate the limited space — Webasto BI-41 dual. The advantage of this model is that it has a detached compressor that can be placed up to 6 feet away from the fridge. It will probably reside behind the fridge inside the wheel well. We’re still scouting for a sink and a stove that will fit in the layout.
We’re currently finishing the design for the kitchen and building a mock-up from plywood in order to experience the space inside the vehicle.
We hope to move quickly in the next couple weeks… stay tuned!