Project Fauxverlander 200 Series Land Cruiser Build Thread

[Willman]

Are you aware of compatibility issues on the arb bumpers with the LX570?

Nothing a saw can't fit!

:ylsmoke:

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Are you aware of compatibility issues on the arb bumpers with the LX570?

Yes, it's been done but it's far more difficult

I've not seen anyone overcome the LX570 Suspension yet in favor of traditional coils/shocks but it will happen eventually

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Sorry for the lack of updates, been busy working, playing and making some progress on my other projects (Jenny BJ74 and the Red Dragon HJ61)

 

[purdytj]

This is a great thread. I've been thinking about the 100 series or the 200 series and you are certainly leaning me in the direction of the latter.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

This is a great thread. I've been thinking about the 100 series or the 200 series and you are certainly leaning me in the direction of the latter.

Both are great options. There are some fantastic buys out there on 100's leaving one with plenty of budget to build.


I had the 200 out yesterday for some race car projects, we had a riot doing some car to car filming at high speed.

 

[rlynch356]

Next up? Time to tackle the ARB rear bumper, and boy did that take a minute.

Boxes ready to be torn open and installed

The parts of the rear bumper (not including carriers) laid out, inventoried and ready

The pile of hardware, not including the hardware for the carriers

We've done a fair number of ARB rear bumper installs here in the shop but this was the first dual swing utilizing the factory park sensor system. The 4 ultrasonic sensors require not only drilling and physical mounting but more tedious, extending the pigtails on 3 of the 5 harness plugs. While the paint was drying on the new sensor holes, I made a wiring diagram as those 3 sensor plug extensions will require a total of 30 wire connections as two of leads have 6 uniquely colored wires and the other has 3. About half way through the park sensor install I started to really question the additional work to incorporate the sensors into the new bumper, I mean I had never really used them to date. The system is there and I might as well get familiar with it, so I marched on with the wiring.

Coming together, piece by piece:

As the carrier components are universal with the 80 and 100 Series offerings, ARB still includes 12mm wheel studs and lug nuts, despite the fact Toyota hasn't used that size on a heavy-duty Land Cruiser for almost 20 years now Easy enough fix, we've crossed that bridge with the 100 and have a nice assortment of the needed 14mm hardware. I suppose you could use the 12mm hardware but the taper wouldn't sit right in the wheel and I like the idea of having some spare lug nuts if/when they are needed. It does require a quick re-drill of the tire carrier as well as some different lug nut hardware. I had ordered spares to match the splined lug style used with the TRD wheels, this gave me matching hardware across the vehicle, one lug-nut socket to carry and a matching lock if I end up someplace I'm worried about security.

14mm studs in place for the 5-lug configuration

Land Cruisers have flipped-flopped on the turn signal coloring over the years, red into the 70's, amber into the 2000's, red for the tail end of the 100's and back to Amber with the 200's. The red-tail/stop & red-turn is easy to work out with a simple red lens swap, ARB provides their bumpers with a red/Amber combo but they have the red lenses available for those applications. However, the red-tail/stop and amber-turn is a bit tougher. ARB includes a plug/play harness that requires popping open the rear panels (easier said than done when drawers are installed), but, it plugs into the same place as the US spec 7-Pin trailer harness. It does have a lead for a 5 pin trailer harness but I prefer to leave the factory 7-Pin in place. So, rather than pull drawers apart, pull panels and drop lines from the L & R tail lamp assemblies, I opted for a far easier and cleaner (imo) method. I tied into the 7-Pin trailer harness and used a converter to go from the combined tail/turn (red) back a separate tail (now red) and turn (now amber). It does require mounting a small converter (this size of a credit card) under the vehicle but they come with some good self-adhesive and I've not had one fall off or fail to date. This method allows one to trim down a considerable portion of the ARB harness and really end up with a tidy and simple install with just 5 connections into the trailer harness.

Remnants of the ARB harness and the wiring portion of the project

Another time consuming aspect of the bumper install is the OE bumper cover trimming. We used a loose variation of ARB's recommended measurements and they got us close but we fined tuned the trimming and installed a nice clean w/s edge material that offers a really clean fitment while allowing the needed flex that the bumper and cover panel will experience. This is where we could really streamline a future install as we kept some good notes on what worked for us and the w/s is something I'll have available ahead of time next go around.

Trimmed panel with w/s in place

So, while it likely represented the longest I've ever spent on a bumper install, I'm quite confident the remaining installs will take a fraction of the time. I've since done an additional ARB rear bumper on a 200 while it was a different configuration, the trimming portion took a few minutes

Finished product!

Kurt - does the tire stick out past the body at all? It really looks like it from the last picture in your rear bumper install photo..
asking b/c i really like the total solution package that ARB has - great install

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Kurt - does the tire stick out past the body at all? It really looks like it from the last picture in your rear bumper install photo..
asking b/c i really like the total solution package that ARB has - great install

I'll be catching up one some 200 projects tomorrow in the shop. I'll snap a picture down the RH side to show you how much of the tire is exposed.




We've been crazy busy in the shop (some other 200 builds ) and I've been burning the midnight oil with my Canguro team mates getting the race car ready for an upcoming desert race. This has left me with little/no time to get anything done on the 200... BUT tomorrow is looking good. I've got a couple of minor projects to finish up on vehicles headed to Cruise Moab and then it's game on for the 200. Sadly I've got to spend some of that time doing an oil change


I have been out playing in it a bit. I had a camera crew rolling with me as we did some car to car footage of the race car during a recent testing session. Can you tell we like Land Cruisers?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

And this is what the testing looked like from the sidelines

 

[jah310]

AWESOME!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Kurt - does the tire stick out past the body at all? It really looks like it from the last picture in your rear bumper install photo..
asking b/c i really like the total solution package that ARB has - great install

Hopefully this is what you are after



As you can see, zero protrusion.

 

[Chris Boyd]

And this is what the testing looked like from the sidelines

Nice. That suspension looks awesome. I'm guessing you don't have any gear rattling around the back of the rig

 

[rlynch356]

Hopefully this is what you are after

View attachment 343018

As you can see, zero protrusion.

yes - thank you Kurt

some of our "local" (NC and VA) trails are pretty tight as it is for cruiser - that settles it..
can't wait till you modify the jerry can holder to hold 2 cans.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Nice. That suspension looks awesome. I'm guessing you don't have any gear rattling around the back of the rig

Spares are in a hard-mounted Pelican case, Maxtrax are pinned against that. Recovery and fluids are in an ARB Recovery Bag that is strapped tightly. No rattles

 

[cruiseroutfit]

yes - thank you Kurt

some of our "local" (NC and VA) trails are pretty tight as it is for cruiser - that settles it..
can't wait till you modify the jerry can holder to hold 2 cans.

Glad I could assist. Let us know if we can be of assistance with any parts for your build

 

[cruiseroutfit]

If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute. So they say anyways.

With Cruise Moab just around the corner I had made some goals to get the some of the 200 projects finished up. It's a bit frustrating seeing 200 projects stack up with no progress and I've been spending a bunch of time on other rigs that are in reality less of a priority.

ARB Recovery Point. This thing took longer to take out of the box than it did install. Two bolts and you're done. The factory "tow hooks" are not compatible with a standard recovery shackle and are not often recommended for recovery use.

The box of one, about 20 could realistically fit in this box

The old

The new

Next up was an oil change. Nothing major there but I did install the Fumoto Valve and upgraded the plastic element housing to the aluminum version. You have to swap out the element tube but it's as easy as tweaking a couple of tabs. I installed the TRD filter element at the same time. All oiled up.

Pre-swap

Swapped

Installed