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As most know, i have a 1982 HJ60 Land Cruiser with an AMC 360 6L V8 and its nickname is "Red". Ive had this car for about (im guessing) 3 1/2 years now and when i first got it, i paid $1000 for it with a seized 2H Diesel motor. The motor was f'd from the previous owner running it out of oil and not checking it. The dumb ass said to me that he thought that the car was slowing down and stopping from having blocked injectors. Little did he know that the dam thing had no friggen oil in it and he persisted to keep driving it changing injectors and all sorts of things with the end result grinding it to a halt seizing the engine with then realizing it had no oil in it. What a twat!.
At the time i had a blue 60 series land cruiser with a 2H turbo diesel nicknamed "Blue". I used this car to pick up Red and i took it back home. The very next day i visited my bro in law's house just for a quick g'day and while i was there, one of Nelson's mates living with him at the time named Luke had a Merc 450 SL out the back yard that he was always working on. This thing as you can imagine just looked like another std Merc 450 SL that you see on the road everday and i never had any interest to have a look at it. I just thought it was just another piece of shit Merc and i always turned a blind eye to it not having a good look.
On the day i visited, i got talking to Luke and he mentioned that he had to get rid of the car ASAP because he was moving up to Port Hedland for some work. I asked him with not much interest how much he wanted. He said to me that he didn't want anything for the car and that he just wanted it gone as he was quite desperate to get rid of it. With me thinking in my head "might as well have a look and see if i can help out" i began to have a look at the car. It was rusted, fucked and pretty well rooted and not really good for anything. Even the interior was f'd. After looking around the car, i thought to myself, this things a pig and it ain't worth taking home. A few minutes go by and he say's to me "Do you want a look under the bonnet?". I said yer might as well and he began to open the bonnet. Well fuck me, i was shocked to find that this merc was no std piece of shit and it had been modified to have a V8 in it apparently used for doing skids being unlic as some fun. Looking at the engine scratching my head not knowing what it was, i asked him what engine it was. Luke had no idea of what engine it was and thought it was a Hemi 360 V8. With him saying that i thought, narrrr that ain't no Hemi and it is something else. Never seeing this engine before in my life, i then asked if it ran. The answer was yep and he got a battery to start it up to show me. As Luke started to connect the battery leads, he said to me "It hasn't started in ages so duno if its gona start". I said give it a shot and we will see how it goes. Luke then began to start the car without even pushing the accelerator and vrrooom, it was alive and it just sat there purring like a kitten idling. By this stage i had a hard on and thought "fark yerrr, its coming home with me now". I gave the engine a few revs to see if it blew smoke or anything but nup there was nothing. I was impressed! I simply couldn't take it for free and i gave him $50 bucks for it and i then drove it home unlic. On my way home, i tried giving it some stick but the auto was that fried from all the burnouts it had done in the past, it was only just driving the car slipping really badly.
Once i got the car home, i started to do my home work and i then found out that the engine was actually a AMC 360 from a Rambler Javelin. I scored big time and i then made the decission to use it Red.
Now with no one ever making a adapter kit to go from AMC to Land Cruiser box before, everything had to be custom made. I began by purchasing a s/h bell housing off a 2F petrol motor as it was easier to work with. Once changing this, i then purchased an adapter kit to go from the 2F bell housing to 350 Chev bolt pattern. My reason for getting this adapter was so i had something to fall back on if the AMC didn't work out allowing me to put a 350 Chev in it if need be. Once having the adapter kit, i then began to make an adapter plate to go from the 350 Chev bolt pattern to the AMC. The adapter was made from an inch thick alloy plate and it was milled to have it fit up correctly. The flywheel, clutch and starter mount point also had to be custom made for the project. After many many hours spent making the adapter, it was done and the engine was in. A custom made exhaust system, radiator and engine mounts were also fabricated once the engine was in.
After the engine was fitted into the car, i then began to swap a few bits from Blue to Red. These things were the front diff as it was locked and the bullbar as the one Blue had was better looking. Shortly after doing all these changes, Red was ready for action and it was put to use.
Now, since having the car on the road, i have always had the drama of it boiling its ring out and ive never fixed the problem. Every time i go nuts in it bush bashing, i would have to take the bonnet off to keep it cool but that would only last about 10 mins before it was boiling again. Other problems ive had with the car is radiator hoses exploding in half, coils shitting them selfs from the heat under the bonnet, points burning them selfs out, carby leaking like a siv and have flat spots, water pump pissing out water thru the bypass seal hole, a wobbly harmonic balancer and a major oil leak from the sump after launching the car many times thumping the diff onto the sump.
Well guess what peoples, thats all about to stop as i have started ordering replacement parts for the car to fix all these issues. Things that i have bought so far to replace are...
New HEI electronic dizzy with built in coil pack
New spark plugs with 90 degree 8.5mm leads
New 600 CFM Holley carby
New harmonic balancer
New chunky tyres
New water pump
New thermostat housing
Replacement Muffler (Old ones got broken baffles which i would imagine it would be giving alot of back pressure to the motor restricting power)
Replace sump with another S/H
EL - EF S/H Thermo fans
And last but not least, a new Red paint job.
As time goes on working, on the car, i will be updating information with the progress of things to show everyone what is being done to the car.
I love Red, and to be honest, i cant see myself selling it in a hurry as ive had too much fun in it. Just ask Rhys and Scott.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMoWJUxhepE
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