8 years ago I followed a good mate of mine around the back of his shed with a glimmer in his eye. He’d picked up an original 1973 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45 from some friends on a farm down in Katanning, and had grand plans to rebuild it.
It still ran, but was in need of some major attention. All I could see was a giant pile of work, but this wasn’t the first rodeo for Clayton, and I knew it was in good hands.
Way back in the past he’d picked up a short wheel base 40 Series Land Cruiser and done something similar, before trading it in a direct swap for an 80 series Land Cruiser.
Before we go any further, this is the finished product, with a serious amount of time, effort and money gone into getting it completely restored from the ground up. This was one major FJ45 restoration. If you’ve ever seen a FJ45 for sale that has had any major work, you’ll know they sell for a small fortune.
They are as classic as it gets in the 4WD world, and are highly sought after world wide.
Clayton’s completely rebuilt FJ45, in pristine condition
Obviously, the way it looked when Clayton first got the vehicle was vastly different, but he wasted no time in stripping it down and starting the rebuild process. What took place over the next 8 years was nothing short of staggering, with every single nut and bolt removed, and a full rebuild taking place. Everything that was damaged or tired was replaced, with genuine parts where possible.
The FJ45 Landcruiser came in a number of different variants; short wheel base (FJ40), single cab ute, and troopy style, but this single cab Ute was the choice of project!
The FJ45 not long after it arrived, being stripped down
Everything was stripped down right to the chassis
Full rust removal, clean up and re-painting
The 4.2L Petrol motor, removed and pulled apart
The motor was in reasonable condition, all things considered
The basics for a tidy up of the motor
A simple honing of the bores was done
All coming together
Re-assembling the gearbox and transfer case
The tray was rebuilt and re-painted
New virtually everything
From the side
A full respray of every panel happened after he’d found decent panels for everything (going through 4 doors in the process) and it was slowly put together. You’ll find a lot of FJ45 restoration projects just cover anything dodgy up, but Clayton was determined to do everything to 100% perfection.
Absolutely incredible transformation
Every panel was sand blasted and professionally powder coated, before being re-assembled
The interior was fiddly, and took a very long time
Clayton made his own canopy, from a steel frame and aluminium panels.
Custom steel frame canopy with aluminium panels
Complete with a custom exhaust that has a very nice note
Every time I visited there was some small, but impressive progress made and the excitement grew as it got closer to being able to put it back on the road.
A visit to the pits landed a couple of minor fixes needed, and then it was registered, and I’ve never seen Clayton’s smile so big!
Time to hit the road, Jack
Exploring some 4WD tracks close to Perth
It goes well, and gets used too!
What a weapon
New badges, and heaps of other things you’d have to look closely to see
All in all, an absolutely incredible project that gets used all the time today, and realistically is a work of art. To finish, here’s a few more photos of it in use!
The FJ45 at Lancelin in the sand dunes
Kicking back at Wedge Island
Launching and towing a jet boat to Lake Kepwari
Have you done any major rebuilds of old 4WD’s? Let us know below!
