This is a 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser 60 series that’s been fitted with a 5.0 liter V12 engine from a Toyota Century. It’s now being offered for sale directly from the team that built it at USJ 4×4 Garage.
We’ve been talking with USJ 4×4 Garage about this unusual Land Cruiser since last week to get all the relevant information and pictures. We encourage you to keep reading further, because this is undoubtedly the most unusual Land Cruiser we have ever featured on Silodrome.
Fast Facts – A V12-Powered Toyota Land Cruiser
- This custom 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser 60 Series, built by USJ 4×4 Garage in Malaysia, features a rare engine swap: a 5.0 liter V12 sourced from a Toyota Century, delivering a combination of power as well as smoothness unmatched by any V8, and making it one of the most unusual Land Cruiser builds ever.
- The build process included a full teardown, chassis restoration, and body modifications, including conversion to a two-door and a shortened rear section to upgrade the off-road capabilities. The original Toyota Century automatic transmission was retained and paired with the Land Cruiser’s dual-range transfer case.
- The Land Cruiser rides on air struts with 14 inches of travel, it has ARB air lockers, and it has 38.5” Maxxis Trepador tires for top notch off-road traction. Custom chromoly bumpers and a tubular rear section were added to hold the spare wheel and additional equipment.
- Offered for $70,000 USD, this V12-powered Land Cruiser represents a unique and highly specialized build that cost significantly more to create. It’s now available directly from USJ 4×4 Garage in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, where it’s ready for a new owner and further adventures.
How To Build A V12 Land Cruiser
The process of taking a 60 series Land Cruiser from 1987 and turning it into a V12-powered monster is anything but simple. The project was led by Vishant Selvarajah at USJ 4×4 Garage based in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Although Malaysia might not seem like a likely location for a build like this, what a lot of the world often doesn’t realize is that Malaysia has a huge four-wheel driving community. This is thanks in part to the nation’s vast tracts of wilderness, which include everything from remote jungle teeming with elephants and tigers, to mountain ranges that stretch thousands of feet into the sky.
The build began with a 1987 Land Cruiser, a 5-speed manual, high-roof variant that was originally fitted with the Toyota 12HT engine – a 4.0 liter inline-six with overhead valves and a turbocharger. The engine bay of the 60 series is generously proportioned, likely designed this way due to the fact that Toyota engineers knew from the beginning that a wide array of engines would be offered in the model from the factory.
This large engine bay has made the 60 series a popular target for engines swaps over the years, though most owners seem to have chosen either V8s or Cummins diesels.
When Vishant was planning his engine swap he wondered what would have happened if, back in the day, there had been some sort of Skunk Works division at Toyota that decided to take the V12 from the Toyota Century and shoehorn it into the 60 series Land Cruiser.
The Toyota Century V12
For the uninitiated, the Toyota Century is a luxury car on par with the Rolls-Royce, though largely intended only for the Japanese domestic market. It’s powered by one of the smoothest V12 engines in modern history, and it remains a popular choice for Japanese politicians, industrialists, and tycoons.
The engine that Vishant and his team sourced for the build is a Toyota 1GZ-FE V12. This engine has a 5.0 liter displacement, double overhead cams per bank, variable valve timing, a 10.5:1 compression ratio, and electronic fuel injection.
The 1GZ-FE V12 is listed as producing 295 at 5,200 rpm with 295 lb ft of torque from as low as 1,200 rpm, however these figures are widely considered to be underreported, with the real power figures being a healthy step higher.
The USJ 4×4 Garage V12 Land Cruiser
The build project began with a full teardown of the donor vehicle and an inspection of parts. The ladder chassis was restored and the body was significantly modified, it was turned into two-door and given a cropped tail section in the interests of lowering weight and improving off-road ability.
The engine swap was done in-house at USJ 4×4 Garage, it required custom engine mounts and a custom exhaust. They opted to keep the original ECU in place as this allows the engine to run on one bank of six cylinders if the other bank fails – a useful fail-safe for a vehicle designed to explore the unknown.
The original Toyota Century automatic transmission was used, it was mated up to the original Toyota Land Cruiser transfer case, so the dual-range option is still available when needed. The rebuilt axles were mounted on air struts with 14 inches of travel, the axles were given ARB air lockers front and back, RCV chromoly shafts, and Yukon 4.88 gears.
The vehicle was then given custom front and rear bumpers, all fabricated from chromoly tubing, and a tubular chromoly rear section was built to hold the spare wheel and jerry cans. A set of 38.5” Maxxis Trepador tires were then installed to ensure there would be no shortage of grip when the asphalt turns to mud.
The rear end of the vehicle has been completely rebuilt, with tubular chromoly steel forming a rigid cage and holding a spare wheel and some jerry cans.
This highly unusual Land Cruiser is now being offered for sale out of Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia directly by USJ 4×4 Garage. The asking price is $70,000 USD, which Vishant notes is far less than the actual cost to build it.
The dyno chart below shows the performance of the Toyota Century V12, as you can see it’s producing over 250 hp at the wheels in this application, a strong indication that the original factory output figures were understated.
If you’d like to read more about this one-of-a-kind V12 60 series Land Cruiser or enquire about buying it you can visit the official website here.
Images courtesy of Vishant Selvarajah at USJ 4×4 Garage, with some editing work by Silodrome.
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