Working on the LandCruiser Again

It has been a while, but last weekend I started working on the LandCruiser again. I am tired of looking at it every morning when I head off to work or come home and it makes me mad that I am not making any progress on it. I don’t want it to be just another project that gathers dust and never gets completed. So, I started working on it again last weekend. I was working the other night to take the windows out of the hard top and three of the four came out fine. The fourth one was very stubborn. They are held into the hard top by a large stiff rubber grommet. I pried at it with screwdrivers and nail pullers and it finally gave way and shattered and broke into a thousand shards. It was a fifty year old window, so I guess it was as tired as I was, but I finally got it out and now I can move on and continue the process. I will continue to work on disassembling the Cruiser so that I can do a body-off restoration. I am curious at how corroded the chassis is. I think it will take some reinforcement to strengthen it back up.

I have been seriously considering converting the LandCruiser over to all electric, battery powered operation. The engine in it is currently OK, but I want to explore green options that might attract younger people to SUV restoration projects. On a good day the LandCruiser would average about 7-10 miles per gallon, so an electric conversion would substantially reduce the overall cost of running one. Plus, in addition to not using gas any longer, there will be no need for a radiator, water, or oil. I switched over my small lawnmower and weed eater to batter power a couple of years ago and I am always astonished at how little maintenance they require after you get rid of the gas powered engine. I will also be happy to reduce the noise levels inside the Cruiser while driving it. The gearing of the LandCruiser makes it one of the noisiest cars I have ever driven down the road. The engine whines loudly any time you go faster than about 30 miles per hour. There are lots of resources for electric car conversions, but I haven’t found hardly any focused on the Toyota LandCruiser. I don’t know if that is because it might be a lousy candidate for an electric conversion or because not very many people have tried it. Here is a link to a blog from a young man in Germany who has done a great job converting his 1978 LandCruiser over to electric.

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It will take a long time to to get it restored and converted to all electric, but I hope to have it complete by its 50th birthday in 2020. That’s my goal!