Stunning 79 Series LandCruiser makes no compromises

Has the LC70 overtaken GQ/GU Patrols as Australia’s most modified fourby? We reckon it must be getting close.

Not only is the LC70 designed to do the tough jobs with a minimum of fuss, it is also arguably the last of the old school 4X4s – simple, powerful, and over-engineered in all the right ways.

The 70 is easy to mod into something special too, like following a recipe from a Michelin Star chef where the second step is “chuck it in the microwave for two minutes.” And there’s no step three.

That inherent robustness coupled with the two-minute-noodles ease of modification is what led Mark to build up this delicious Sandy Taupe LC79.

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With a career in industrial filtration, Mark needed a work truck that could tow heavy machinery to sites, cart a metric buttload of tools between locations, and be loaded up and taken over to Moreton Island for a few nights of R&R without a hiccup.

Having owned a 76 Wagon before this dual-cab, he already had a fair idea of what he wanted out of his updated rig… and he’s not the type of bloke to do things by halves, which would be like paying Gordon Ramsay to whip up a bowl of Nutri-Grain for you.

This inclination to do it right, coupled with a near pathological attention to detail, has helped Mark achieve a masterpiece of a build. The closer you look the more you appreciate the ingredients that have been expertly mixed and brought together.

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The mods you can see

The front bar is a modified Offroad Creative alloy bar that has had the hoops removed and has been powder-coated to match the canopy.

Stedi LEDs have also been integrated to lend a hand should the stock headlights not be up to the task. There’s also a pair of Runva 11XP winches mounted at either end of the chassis should Mark need to recover any mates and not feel like making a U-turn.

Clearview Compact mirrors allow towing of larger trailers for work (Mark’s currently working on an industrial vacuum that’ll outdo the moon’s gravitational pull) while communication duties are catered for by the aerials mounted to the Rhino-Rack Pioneer platform above the cab.

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Speaking of the cab, you will have noticed the body stripes running down the side of the Cruiser, but what you probably didn’t see is the entire cab being covered in paint protection film.

In fact, Mark is somewhat fanatical about his vehicle’s looks to the point that he uses a calcium filter on his garden hose when washing his rig.

So, before the canopy went on he dropped the Cruiser off to the guys at Protect Wraps who covered the rear and roof of the cabin with glass coating, fully rust-protected the frame, covered the entire cabin in PPF, then glass coated over the top before adding the stripes and rear window blackout vinyl, making this arguably the most rust-proofed LandCruiser in the country.

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The mods you can't see

In case you were wondering if your eyes were playing tricks, nope, this VDJ79 is definitely a little longer than you’re used to.

A 300mm chassis stretch has been performed, making the 4-inch lift and 35-inch Baja Boss rubber seem incredibly proportional, almost as if Mark planned it that way. In fact, the vehicle’s entire frame is remarkably different than when it rolled off Toyoda-San’s assembly line.

Before it had even been registered Mark had it delivered to JMACX Engineering where a 4495 Super Chassis kit was fitted, which bumps GVM up to the maximum (on a standard driver’s licence) 4495kg and lengthens the frame.

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The rear differential housing is also whipped out and replaced with a custom fabricated housing which not only corrects the rear track width discrepancy, but also increases the axle load rating as well.

Oh, and the upgraded diff also features mounts for the five-link suspension arrangement, doing away with the factory leaf springs and swapping in a set of progressively rated, 4-inch taller coils with Airbag Man bags to help the ride remain level no matter what’s being carried or hauled.

JMACX’s own Alpha remote reservoir electronically adjustable shocks are used at all four corners to control the bounce, and the front has been treated to a JMACX brake upgrade too. How do six-pot callipers and larger slotted rotors sound? Like increased safety and supercar-spec stopping performance, we’d say.

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Under the bonnet

While the 4.5L V8 turbo-diesel is a known quantity and capable of big numbers, Mark was not looking to break any dynos.

Instead, he wanted a usable boost in torque and power without rolling coal or taking a bat to the vehicle’s reliability.

After a not-so-good start with a tuner who didn’t know what he was doing, seeing the fuel usage skyrocket without much of a power increase, Mark was put onto G&L Performance who re-did the tune to a much more satisfactory 250-ish ponies… and more than 660Nm. Just the ticket for pulling heavy machinery along.

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The air is sucked in via a schmick-looking AMVE airbox and is mixed with diesel from the 185L Brown Davis fuel tank, before the spent gasses are pumped rearwards via a 3.5-inch exhaust courtesy of Torqit, which also gives the V8 a healthy bark when the loud pedal is leaned on.

Keeping the five-speed spinning is a 1300Nm NPC Performance clutch, which is more than up to the task of soaking up the torque loads.

Rounding out the under-bonnet mods is a Process West catch can, which was installed to stop the oil-heavy crankcase vented gasses from being pumped back into the intake.

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Behind the wheel

Now, it should be mentioned that Mark has built a couple of competitive stereo systems back when he used to get around in high-performance tarmac-tearers, and as good as Toyota’s single-din CD player with a pair of 4-inch splits was from the factory, Mark was always going to want a little more.

Northfield Car Sound in Nundah started by stripping the interior right down and installing sound deadening everywhere that wasn’t a window.

Then the Alpine catalogue was thrown really hard at the dash and nek minute an i905 head unit with 9-inch touchscreen interface, a pair of R2 6x9s, a couple of tweeters, a six-channel amp and a pair of subwoofers had magically fallen into place.

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So yeah, if you’re wondering what the NVH levels are like in this Cruiser, the answer is ‘not too shabby’.

Further interior appointments include the suite of GME comms gear, a couple of Recaro butt-huggers, a NESA 7.3-inch touchscreen rear-view mirror replacement that’s hooked up on a constant feed to the HD camera on the back of the canopy, and a pair of Department of the Interior floor and roof consoles.

Essentially, imagine a stock LC79 interior and picture all of the ways you’d improve it – that’s what Mark has done.

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The back end

When you’ve stretched the frame, gone to town on the body, completely re-designed the entire suspension system and thrown a brazillion custom touches at your rig, you wouldn’t settle for an off-the-shelf canopy set-up, would you? Mark had AMVE build him a custom rear-end to his specs. The icing on the cake as it were.

The canopy bolts directly to the frame and has been powder-coated externally in Black Textrue finish, while the inside has been coated white to keep internal temps down. A pair of toolboxes sit on either side of the wheels while the rear roller drawer is completely sealed away from the elements.

The doors are lifted by dual-struts and the whale tail locks are all wired in with the central locking system. A Bush Company Maxx awning is mounted over on the passenger side and the rear wall sees a mount for the spare 35 and a ladder to access the inbuilt roof rack system, as well as a pair of jerry can holders.

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All in all, it looks a lot like an average canopy at first glance, but it’s when you add up all of the little details that you begin to appreciate the extent of the build.

Most canopies have a lip where the door seals, for example, but not this one. The floor is flush with the opening, making retrieving gear and opening internal drawers a snap.

The framework has been recessed for the Renogy 3000W inverter, the Joolca hot water system is fitted on its own slide-out, and there’s a custom bench slide-out for the microwave, air-fryer, Nespresso machine and twin induction stove (which is frankly better decked out than my kitchen at home).

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A 130L Bushman upright fridge and Oztrail drawer freezer take care of keeping the food fresh, and there’s also a custom 100L water tank for showers and cooking. In other words, if you can’t find what you need in this canopy, you’re not looking hard enough.

It goes without saying that having this much electrical gear onboard necessitated a hell of a battery system, and there are three DCS Compact Lithium batteries that output 180Ah each (if you can’t power your campsite with 540Ah you may need to step away from the PS5, champ).

These are controlled by a Renogy 300A smart shunt (that was specially ordered as they’re yet to be released in Australia) and a Renogy One Core management screen.

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Up on the roof a 295W 48V solar panel keeps the system topped up when the engine is off, and some redundancy has been built in with four separate four-way fuse blocks for both negative and positive power distribution.

There’s also a 240V power inlet for keeping things at max charge when parked up at home.

And yep, there’s still plenty of storage inside the canopy too. Just goes to show that the perfect 4X4 is not unachievable – the devil is in the detail.

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The anatomy of a built chassis

It’s no secret that the LC70 has a few compromises in the chassis department.

The skinny rear diff, the ultra-stiff leaf springs, the wheelbase (particularly in the dual-cabs) that doesn’t seem to be quite enough, the GVM that’s really not that amazing…

Don’t get us wrong, the 70 Series Cruiser is still the go-to for Aussie workhorses, but like Mark, there are a few things you can do to make them tick all the boxes.

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1. Diff correction

There are a few options for widening the rear LC70 rear axle, and most of them increase the diff housing’s load bearing limits too.

Some use spacers (which are illegal), and some use more negatively offset rims (which can flog out your bearings pretty quick), but to do the job properly a full replacement housing and axles are the way to go.

It costs a chunk of change, but again, aftermarket housings are usually exceptionally high quality and offer higher load limits, so it’s money well-spent.

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2. Coil conversion

You may not think that swapping the leaves out for coils would do you any favours when it comes to load carrying, but you’d be wrong.

Coils offer a heap of advantages both on and off-road and with the correct spring rate (or with the addition of airbags) you can easily tailor them to suit the weights you’re working with.

Leaves are great at load carrying but can be a severe compromise for anything else. Coils take a little more work to dial in but can be made to work incredibly well for just about any purpose.

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3. Frame stretching

There are a lot of advantages to stretching the chassis from an engineering standpoint. The first is it moves more weight in between your axles, improving the mass distribution.

It also increases ride comfort (there’s a reason limos are so long), especially over corrugations, plus adds stability on hill climbs. You do lose out on rampover angle, but for a tourer, who really cares? The gains far outweigh any lost belly clearance.

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4. GVM upgrade

Gross vehicle mass is a buzzword in modern vehicles, mainly because it’s shockingly easy to exceed the factory GVM ratings (in some cases) with nothing more than full tanks, a few passengers, some bar work, a couple mods and a camper in tow.

Once again, the aftermarket has come to the rescue with specially designed suspension, and occasionally chassis reinforcement, kits that allow you to legally bump up your rig’s load-carting ability.

A must-do if you’re towing heavy or like to bring your entire household along for your weekend away. We ain’t judging.

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5. Engineering

All of the above will require signing off by an approved signatory for your state’s motoring authority; aka it’ll need to be engineered.

Because Australia has design rules and state-by-state legislation for the modifications for motor vehicles that may as well have been written by a dyslexic chimp slapping arbitrarily at a typewriter, how each individual engineer chooses to interpret these laws will vary wildly.

Best bet is to do it through a company, like AMVE, who will have its own contacts and know exactly what needs to happen to make everything legal, saving you time and money in the long run.