1981 Toyoto Landcruiser BJ42 (diesel FJ40) like BJ40 & BJ41

<br>The Best1981 Toyota BJ42 Land Cruiser (FJ40, BJ40) Diesel

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It is absurd to really call anything the best. Depends what you want it for. Some Cruisers have wild mods and can go places I cannot dream of. Some are over-restored originals that belong in a museum. Although this took us five years to complete. My favorite compliment is "that is the nicest stock Cruiser I have ever seen" -- which I usually followup by going where their Cruiser cannot go. And then I leave the trip Cruising at 80 mph while all the crazy crawlers are loading on trailers and the V8 models and stock Toyota gassers are stuck way behind at 65 mph.

This Cruiser, originally a LHD from the Canadian west coast (minimal rust issues), was made to be a period- correct (with a few exceptions I’ll mention later) 1981 Land Cruiser. The type one buys and makes incremental improvements on. Such as the turbocharger and locking ARB differentials.

It has had a total top-quality driver level restoration with changes to things as I pleased.

They would not take the Canadian VIN for a 1981 so the year in title is wrong.

Underneath:

The frame is powder coated. The fenders are lined with color matching Rhino bed. It has four wheel disc (factory but now with Willwood). It came from Canada but has the US suspension block to level the truck left to right. It sits on OME three inch suspension with one leaf removed in the rear, also to level the truck (extra leaves available). I re-routed the non-EGR gasses to not drip onto the front differential. There is zero rust. It has the Smokey Mountain version of shocks to go with OME lift. All rubber replaced as well. It has a Smokey Mountain steering stabilizer.

Note that considerable work was done to keep rocks from flying up and damaging the body. Mud or all-terrain tires grab small rocks off of the road and smash them into the bottom of the fenders – making dents and trashing the paint. So we have Rhino bed coating the insides of the fenders have a thick layer of some sort of epoxy that is very hard under the paint, and in the front we added semi-truck rubber flaps all along the rear inside. It also keeps you from being startled when one of those rocks flies up! No THUNK!

Exterior:

Cragar Wheels with correct offset. Cragar will make any offset you like. The forums said to go ¼ inch more offset than stock as not all wheels have the same angles. After much soul searching, I went with 1/8 inch more offset than stock. Fits perfectly. All Toyota lights except side turn signals are LED of the type that look stock. Needed to leave the one old set of bulbs to have enough resistance to drive the clicker.

It has driving lights. These are wired neatly with relays and proper fusing. The headlights are extreme and have been re-wired to use relays as well. The headlight are not legal in all states. The are very extreme and come with spare bugs.

Front ARB bumper with WARN 8,000 lbs heavy duty winch. There are multiple winches with the same rating in pounds, the heavy duty is capable of winching all day long, the lesser ones burn out.

The tires are 33” Interco Trexus narrow tires with 90% tread plus a new spare. Fabulous tires. And no need to hack the body to fit them underneath. It also makes it easier to fit in smaller places.

Body:

Lots of choices. In the end I picked the round front grill, doors with wind wings, and tub with tank inside the truck and not hanging down to be bashed. It was painted inside and out thoroughly with quality paint on all surfaces including the correct white top. The body color is from a one-year only Toyota color although when I tried to color match it, it is a little too dark (and way less dark than the typical Cruiser blue). The paint job was very expensive and professional – no worries. There are two flaws – a nasty door ding took a chunk out of the passenger side front fender; there is a small rust spot the size of a pencil which I don’t believe reflects on the body at all. Rather, I think some piece of scrap got painted over. It has not changed appearance in ten years. You won’t notice unless looking for it. The body really shines as it is detailed often.

Interior:

Essentially stock. Except seats now covered in heavy leather and quality carpet with insulation added. Instruments rebuilt and all work. Speedo is in Km not miles! Diled in ebay is in KM. The odo reading reported is fantasy and has no relation to the miles on the truck. The truck uses the factory A/C in the engine compartment but Vintage Air in the cab. It is RU-134. Vintage also handles the heat. I live in AZ and good A/C is needed! Seatbelts added at all stations. Fancy shift knob. There are two sets of extra gauges. One is old-school manual and the other is digital (the one place I was not period correct). It has a digital tach that works great. It has two digital monitors that are programmable. One is used to control the flow to the intercooler. The other is a noise maker in case EGT gets too high. Which as configured is not possible unless a hose leaks. Has full jump seats, also leather covered with seat belts.

Drivetrain:

This is where this Cruiser really shines. I see ads for people who put in a big V8 Chevy and brag they can cruise at 65. This Cruiser will cruise at 80 mph all day long with no issues (and can go faster). It is in the design of the system. Toyota made 3.70 gears and 4.11 gears for a four speed with 30” tires. So a 3.70 4-speed would be considered a Toyota approved final drive. With lots of math I used the factory five speed with 4.11 gears with 33” tires such that 5th gear is the same ratio as the 3.70 4 speed with 30 inch tires. In other words I have a Toyota approved gear ratio for the road (the most common one as this allowed highway speeds). But for off road I have 4 lower gears giving me better rock crawling ability.

But complete engineering goes way past that. I turbocharged it with large exhaust and intake. It got hot. I added an intercooler. Still too hot occasionally. Enough already. I bought a factory head from Japan (took six months) and then had it re-worked to 13BT specs (same engine with turbo used in delivery trucks). This included porting, larger valves intake and out, different springs. Now it runs cool as a cucumber. It is a 13BT head in al;l but bolt pattern. The alarm is set to scream at 1300 EGT degrees – it never screams. Typical cruising is 900 +/- 100. There is a boost adjuste underhood. I have it set low and only allow 14 lbs boost. Since it goes fast enough and can chirp it’s tires I don’t need more, I prefer the reliability. I did have it at 28 lbs for a while – howza. That made daily driving closer to 1250 and could in extreme cases set off the alarm. So back to 14lbs. More reliable and all the power you need. At lower altitudes you may find it gives more.

So you have a Cruiser than can manage freeway speeds. It is pretty snappy on acceleration as well. It is a daily driver on the road. Yet it has lower gears off road due to the five speed. The ARB lockers make it very capable off road. The external compressor allows you to deflate and re-inflate your tires during a trip.

The fuel pump was rebuilt with 18% higher fuel flow to take advantage of the extra air from the water-cooled AXT turbo (a copy of the 13BT system from Aussie land including the intercooler). You can achieve 28 mpg if you drive slowly and don’t use that extra 15% plus boost. It will get over 20 if you are slightly sane and not 4x4.

The glow plug button was separated for ease of use. As long as you heat it enough it starts with no smoke. The engine and transmission and Diffs were rebuilt 10 years ago (new head 8 years ago) and have less than 15k kilometers (around 10k miles). It has never been on abusive 4x4 trips. Some mildly challenging ones though!

It is a Toyota 3B diesel. This means it will go 500,000 miles … dripping all the way. It does have minor drips. One from the lack of EGR. The other comes from mysterious places fed by gremlins. All new seals and proper machining and new gaskets and it still drips. Google it – they all do. Never enough to require you to add oil between changes, just enough to make you put cardboard under it so it does not stain the garage.

The extras – unusual things:

The mileage (in KM) has no meaning. I replaced the panel with a random good one. Since the rebuild less than 10,000 miles have been added. So mechanically it is new. Anything that needed attention got new Toyota parts (or good substitutes if Toyota not available), Four wheel Wilwood disc brakes.

100% of all nuts, bolts, screws, and washers are stainless steel with the exception of a few frame and drivetrain ones where stainless does not have the sheer strength required, and the few we missed 😊 We chose not to paint these – be proud of your stainless. Very nice when you want to remove the roof – you won’t have rusty bolts to break free. Stainless hinges and other parts.

It has a pintle hitch in the rear for towing, tugging, and extraction (never needed an extraction).

User selectable infinitely variable speed power assist steering! We don’t like super powered steering for street driving. We set it to almost manual. When we go off road – at the time we lock the Warn hubs – we turn the power on full – no rock is going to kick the wheel from our hand. It takes less time than changing the hubs. When we unlock the hubs we restore the power steering.

No radio. No bucket seats. No courtesy lights. It’s an old school Land Crusier, that is how it is! This way seven can be seated.

I am not happy with the wiring for the A/C – a monkey with only one color of wire did the job. Fortunately it works perfectly (and has for 10 years). If you have problems please re-do properly. For me I said that if it works don't fix it,

Licensed and registered in Arizona as an 81 BJ42 despite not all matching parts, for a decade or so. Legally imported from Canada. No worries here – check your state for any oddball rules, especially if you are from California.

This is a high quality drivers restoration. It was meant to be used and it is. Mostly in town with some not-too-crazy small 4x4 trip. It gets great mileage. It has infinite torque and the front end is much lighter than an FJ40. It has what you need – ARB, winch, lift, lights, everyone stops to talk to you, and 4x4 people go nuts, fuel economy, modern cruising speeds, nice leather, and that bullet proof diesel. Something few people in the US have.

DO NOT BUY THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET STOPPED BY ADMIRERS -- especially at 4x4 events.

I am sure I have left off some subtleties. It is beautiful It goes places a street 4x4 would cry about (including where Jeep Rubicons fear to go), it has style, low maintenance – and pure FUN!!!!

It needs nothing and is ready to enjoy. Nothing to repair. Just drive it. Send your number and I'll call.

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Good luck! Bid to win. If you send your phone number in a message I'll call back.