Welcome back to the in-depth breakdown of one of Australia’s most insanely modified LandCruisers. Now, if that doesn’t make sense to you, then chances are you’ve missed part one, so I’m going to stop you right there. Go and flick through part one, then come back to us here, trust me, you won’t be disappointed!
In part one we spoke about some of the most game-changing components of the build. The insane 1,062hp engine combination, the coil-over suspension and custom bar work, and we even touched on the wheel and tyre combination. Whilst those are some of the heavy hitters, we couldn’t leave out the finer details.
Tell me more
I can practically hear you guys begging for more information. You want to know more about the custom-trimmed interior, about what we did to the driveline to help handle the power and all the other bits and pieces that we did to the Landcruiser to make it as unique as it is. Well, strap yourselves in, because I have some more mind-boggling information for you to wrap your laughing gear around.
Let’s kick things off with one of my favourite parts of the entire project. The custom interior.
80 Series LandCruiser custom interior
A 30-year-old Toyota four-wheel drive’s interior certainly leaves a lot to be desired for. They’re rattly, old, smelly, outdated and often made with some pretty underwhelming fabrics. I knew that if we wanted to keep the theme going from the outside to the inside, we needed a custom interior.
We visited my good friend Henri at SRK Custom in Sydney and gave him creative control over the project. We had a few bits and pieces to provide him with to start including a set of extremely tatty XR Falcon seats, some Huracan custom rails and some Onestone armrests. Everything else, Henri had control over.
Given the exterior of the LandCruiser had the gorgeous AllStuckUp wrap that emulated the 70’s Factory TRD offroad race livery, we knew the interior had to have some vintage charm too. We settled on tan Napa leather for the door cards, seats and steering wheel, and complemented everything with some beautiful orange stitching.
The outcome was an interior that even a show-car advocate would be proud of. The smell, the texture, the overall look of it together with the exterior, everything about it was perfection. How am I going to keep it clean when offroad? That’s a question I am yet to have an answer for.
Custom 4×4 driveline
At this stage, you know my modified 80 Series LandCruiser has over 1,000hp. It has over 1,200Nm of torque. And you’re still yet to hear anything about driveline, brake and other chassis-related upgrades. Well, my curious friend, your time is now.
Whilst the options for driveline upgrades in my budget were sadly limited, we did what we could to try make this relatively budget friendly and somewhat bulletproof at least for now.
The front end was converted to a Dwizz diff housing from a Nissan GU Patrol. The Dwizz housing not only has larger capacity for oil, but is internally braced with chromoly. It’s also built here in Australia so we knew it was going to be tough.
The entire chassis was braced. With an extra cross member in the rear and fish-plating throughout to ensure that it won’t ever crack or bend under the extreme conditions we predict it’ll go through. The rear diff housing, whilst still a factory Toyota diff, was fully braced too. This happened when we converted to the 4-link suspension arrangement. Again, to prevent bending.
The front GU Patrol diff centre and rear Toyota diff centre were rebuilt using genuine 4.1 ratio gears. We also fitted a pair of Harrop E-Lockers. We upgraded the rear axle studs to 10mm too. For a clutch, we’re running a custom NPC 1600nm clutch with a billet flywheel. This has so far proven to be phenomenal!
80 Series LandCruiser brake upgrade
For brakes, we’re running custom brake lines front to back, removing all rubber from the system. The rotors are slotted DBA T3 rotors, the pads are DBA XP performance pads, and even the booster got upgraded to a Bendix dual diaphragm option.
For now, the driveshafts and axles are just genuine Toyota, however, we’re looking to upgrade to some more substantial items in 2024 before they let go. Which they no doubt will…
Project vehicle – it never ends
It’s often said that the last 5% of a major project can take the longest, but I’m going to be honest with you all, this 80 Series LandCruiser entire project felt like it took forever. Despite it really only being 10 months. The miscellaneous parts of the build that happened through this project are definitely still some of my favourite parts. And there’s a lot of them to touch on!
We upgraded the front lights to Bushdoof LEDs which can change colour whilst providing a huge improvement over the factory light output. The indicators are upgraded to the HD Auto sequential side indicators, and the taillights also got the LED upgrade treatment too.
One of the most talked about changes, and overall killer designs is the wrap by the team at AllStuckUp. We based the base colour off the original 40 series Dune Beige, and then layered some bespoke Toyota TRD stripes down the side, wrapping around the back and continuing up the other side too. It’s simple, it’s clean, and it’s effective. It looks like the original TRD racing livery but with a tweak. The design still isn’t that far removed from a modern-day Landcruiser livery.
Custom 80 Series bonnet and other mods
The bonnet is a custom, fully metal item from Wildside Garage based in Brisbane. He takes a genuine DPF 79 Series bonnet, cuts it up alongside a genuine 80 Series bonnet and blends the two together. The end result is absolute art, and one of the best ways to modernise the front of an 80 Series if you ask me.
We fitted Cruiser Company lift-up windows in the gear in place of the factory sliding glass. The lift-up aluminium windows give us better security, better looks, and also an increase in access which in a wagon, is absolutely essential.
Of course, last but not least, Show Us Your Tints came out and helped us get some tint on the windows, helping not only to keep it cool during summer, but also add some privacy for when you’re traveling Australia.
Watch it here
In this video, Sam takes you through the custom interior and suspension installed into his 80 Series. You can watch the full video series on his YouTube Channel for all the info.
Wrap it up
This LandCruiser has been a labour of love. Blood, sweat, tears, sleepless nights, emotional stress and everything else in between was poured into the build of this vehicle. Not just from me, but by everyone involved in its conception and creation.
The end result is something that I’m damn proud of, and hopefully, you guys are absolutely loving. If there’s anything you think I’ve missed in part one or part two, make sure you get in touch with Unsealed 4×4 via socials and let us know! As always, I’ll see you guys out on the tracks.
