’84 BJ42 Upgrades - I have owned this BJ42 for some time and have performed many upgrades, with some of these still work-in-progress. This truck is also in need of a complete frame-off and I hope that will happen soon and I plan to rebuild the tub with stainless steel, but more on that as it happens. The primary upgrades to date follow:

I have reverse engineered and replaced the Pre-heat glow plug timer system with a BasicStamp micro-controller and single solid state 225A relay. For additional detail just click on the circuit board to the left, but email me if you have questions as I have additional schematics, drawings, etc, should you want to do something similar.

I am in the midst of installing a turbo on this truck as well. This has been very interesting and entailed a fair amount of education and math to figure out the correct turbo, etc. In addition to the turbo selection, there is quite a bit of fabrication involved as I also decided to add an intercooler to my installation to keep things as efficient and as cool as possible. I added the intercooler, not so much for even more power, but mostly to keep the charge temps down and engine longevity up, at least that is the theory.  This job is about 75% complete and with any good fortune, I hope to dyno three scenarios: standard aspiration, turbo only, and turbo with intercooler as there is nothing more definitive than real-world results.

In order to give the turbo as much clean, dry air as I can, I decided to design, fabricate, and install my own snorkel. In order to keep it light, I decided to use aluminum, and while I have designed an air ram, I have not yet built it, so the shots to date are will a pre-cleaner installed. Further, once I build and install the air ram, I expect that at highway speeds with heavy rain that some amount of water will build up on the snorkel, so I have designed it to incorporate a reed valve and small reservoir that will hold and vent water, while keeping water and unclean air out. Further, in an effort to keep any possible water from the engine, I bring the snorkel into the motor compartment on an upward angle. I also needed change the air filter, but rather than performing surgery on the existing air cleaner, I had a ’71 air cleaner which served as a great baseline.

The ‘65 Carryall was also quite interesting in that it was the first restoration of any type, the first time I have ever welded, and the first time I have undertaken something the size of a complete restoration. Also, this was not only a restoration, but a redesign of many of the primary systems, including power disc brake, 5-speed overdrive transmission, fuel injection, power steering, etc. Click on the 65 Carryall on the left for a complete write-up and restoration photos.

This ’66 Mustang belongs to a friend and we are working together to complete a baseline restoration. This was his first car and has been sitting for many years, so there is a good amount of metal work and the motor and other primary systems are being refreshed as well.

The FJ40/BJ40/BJ42 Land Cruiser Tub on the left was build 100% from scratch. I had hoped to go into production on these, but the work involved to remake the skeletal areas were the doors close and where the top rests, just took too much effort and time to be commercially viable, without offshore stamping and the like.

This ’82 Scout was and I hope remains in excellent condition. It had 64200 miles on it when I sold it.  In the photos below, you will see a roll bar that I fabricated for both the front and back seat. The real goal of this was to install three-point seat belts for all four passengers.

It is missed.

This Trailer Restoration was pretty standard except that I redesigned it so that it could be disassembled in an hour or so, rather than the 50+ that it took to disassemble for this restoration, allowing for quick and easy repaints, repairs, etc. As you would expect in a restoration, longevity was another primary consideration in materials and redesign.  Click on the picture to the left for more pics and a detailed write-up.

I owned a wonderful FJ45 years ago, but times got tough and I sold it and have been thinking of making another one ever since. But instead of a standard FJ45, I have been thinking about extending the cab and other alterations that would be more functional and interesting. These pictures represent only a few of the variations that I have either drawn or found elsewhere.

Home Computing/Entertainment, IT & Network Infrastructure - Computing and computers for me, as for most, are about what they can do for us, how they can improve and hopefully simplify our lives.  Until recently, when it came to personal computing, I have been on various flavors of the evolving Microsoft OS and related applications.  Microsoft has been an influential factor in our computing lives and I have benefited and enjoyed older version of Word and Excel, and also found XP to be a solid, robust, and very usable OS.  And, for the most part, I have used computers for work and administrative tasks. 

Recently, however, that all started to change with the failure of one of my old Win 2000 PCs.  Click on the picture to the left and I will go into further detail about how this journey started and where it has taken me, resulting in a robust computing, entertainment, and network infrastructure build throughout my home, barn, and beyond. This infrastructure meets the standard computing needs such as word processing, picture management, IM, email, Web surfing, etc, but goes well beyond this to include backup and recovery; disaster recovery; a comprehensive set of music and video capabilities including streaming, storage, transcoding in real-time, etc; TV recording, including place and time shifting; event-based home video surveillance, and secure access to my primary stores, servers, and functionality, from anywhere on the planet that I have an Internet connection.

Self Contained Off Road Camper - We just purchased this trailer and military shelter with plans to turn it into a self-contained camper, including running water, solar power, generator power, sleeping areas for three or four. The trailer currently has a torsion suspension, but I also have hopes to replace this with either a good leaf suspension or possible an independent airbag suspension. Click on the photo on the left to see more.