Builds A Touch of Gray build (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

jfz80

Cruisin’
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
Threads
184
Messages
13,287
Location
Madison NC
April 2009 —RIG OF THE FORTNIGHT —JFZ80


Well if no one will step up ill quit procrastinating and offer what I got as of now.

I have always loved Toyota trucks. An early obsession in my childhood, I have pictures from across the country and world w/ me standing next to Toyota trucks. My mom was a flight attendant and I was fortunate enough to get to travel many places for very short periods of time. Wanna spend 19hrs in London? Sure…….. hey mom take my pic next to this lifted Prado. I remember when on a dive trip in the Caymans pushing dad hard not to get the dihatsu rocky…… b/c hey a real man would get that bad a** 4 door hilux. plus you could throw wet gear and tanks in the back. I tried every angle, and finally won. J However my love affair w/ the Land Cruiser began when I was 15. My older brother had a friend in high school w/ a 40 and I used to love riding in the jump seats over to the skate park or a pond to fish. But I really fell in love w/ the 80 series at the same age when I stopped in at the dealership in town and drooled over a brand new 40th in sage green. An amazing truck with whopping price tag too. Little did I know of its capabilities and its stand alone prowess amongst other production vehicles.

I didn’t get what I wanted on the first try. I bought a 87 nissan hardbody std cab 4x4. And was really just a DD and bike transporter as I worked in a cycle shop and rode daily. It really didn’t get wheeled but as any High Schooler would see too, it found its way off road on power line trails, country shortcuts, field parties, and remote stargazing ventures with a girl or two.

Time to move to college and I’ve got a 89 pathfinder 2dr v6. Loved it. Coil sprung and enough power and room to run those huge 31x10.5 m/ts WHOO HOO :D The first truck I really wheeled. Local spots around Raleigh NC mostly until I moved to California. I wheeled w/ the local club on an eel river cleanup run and was hooked. Took strap a couple times (river) and had - great time. Spent a year in the Redwoods around Arcata and HSU and wheeled two residents in my dorm w/a 40 and a 4 runner, stock as I was but saw the virtues of MTs and proper equip. Dunked once too many times (and the fact that nothing dries in Arcata) the ECU liked to act up on humid days

image.jpg


On the way home to NC I happen to pick up a job at a YMCA camp in CO. :D oops sorry mom n dad. Here my free time was extremely limited but I got to do some real wheeling. Intantly I fell in love w/ the terrain and landscape and learned to hate altitude as it sucked every ounce of testosterone out of the p’finder. I feel for you high altitude boys.
 
Last edited:
So jump to 2001, ive graduated and im needing/wanting to buy a new car. Having worked thru college and now being able to get what I wanted vs. what I could afford I bought me a Toyota truck. A 99 tacoma 2.7 4x4 xcab. LOVED it!!! Wish I still had it :crybaby:
Here is a shot now that were in the digital age.

PICT0019.jpg


And then I go and move in w/ a long time friend and fellow mudder (don’t hate me for association :flipoff2:) ConcreteJungle . And a guy can only take so much harassment for his “small parts” on his taco. So one day I had to go buy me an 80. I had looked for about a year but the last 6mos more intently and all over the country. I drove about 8 or so before low and behold here is one 2hrs from the house, almost in my price range, and way over my desired mileage but plenty of goodies to make that less of a concern. I wanted a locked cruiser, 100k miles, and 10 grand (remember, this was 04) and settled for 1 outta 3(you betcha it’s locked); but for good reason. Looking for black or white, fate dealt me the happy medium. Behold the beautiful moonglow pearl.
IMG_1187Small.jpg




183,xxx, New HG w/ the Kazuma install :D, new leather in rows one and two and door inserts, scion radio, OME “heavies”, new waterpump and t-stat w/ blower, new steering wheel and shift knob wrap, new mirrors, 285 MTR’s, and dba rotors. Not bad eh?

Funny thing is I drove this very truck about a year earlier and had passed on it due to wobbly mirrors, cracked leather and high miles on the HG. :D

However all this joy came w/ the loss of my new dog of 6mos. Not in the fatal sense but when I was taking care of the purchasing he escaped from my brothers house/yard. Gone for 30 days , breaks a leg, and gains ten pounds. Hell of a pooch!!! although a bit strange in his own right.
Copyofpumpkinpigrun07058.jpg


So after recovering financially from the purchase and not being able to sell the lift I had previously purchased for the Tacoma and put on hold (so almost gave up on the 80 search) what else was there to do but lift the taco :D Man couldn’t have scripted this dream as a youth any better.
PICT0045.jpg

33x10s.jpg
 
Last edited:
Another year goes buy and its time for some mods. First up was the Slee stepsliders. This at least allowed me to go enjoy where the current build would take me w/out serious harm to the rockers. Basically now I can run the trails instead of the bypass. Wheeled Tellico, Uwharrie, and various other logging road excursions in this form.
kodak1.jpg


Then Concretejungle and I decide to take a road trip to IPOR for a pair of skids (again remember 04, gas was cheap). Can you say beefy? Impressed me from day one and I hear the design has gotten improved again from the gen II that I purchased. It has been used plenty
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/118566-ipor-skid-install.html
newdownloads009.jpg

newdownloads019.jpg

used.jpg



I picked up a set of tundra wheels and jumped up to the 315 BFG’s
wheelchange002.jpg


Mud having completely consumed me by this point had spread its evil illness on me and I was hooked. Somehow it got it so bad I ended up with this which held me up on building the 80 a bit.
downtown003.jpg

https://forum.ih8mud.com/sc-upstate-cruisers/132534-why-i-didnt-make-mlk-trip.html

It took another year of no mods to allow me to take the plunge and jump for two bumpers from IPOR. There are some other designs I prefer for both front and rear but I still had a budget and wanted to get both. Picked em up and took em straight to the powdercoaters and picked a color for colormatching. BG2 powder w/ 10% metallic. Picked them up and threw them on and went wheeling that day. Then shamelessly stole the winch from the taco when i got back as I didn’t wheel it. Managed to get into a set of 35'' trxxus by now.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/189993-touch-gray-bumper-install.html
UREDEC9023.jpg

weeks038.jpg

LURP081.jpg

LURP082.jpg
 
Last edited:
Now I had to take some time off again from trying to cure the mod ailment. But as time progressed I picked up a few things along the way. Landtank MAF,scanguage, some 4’’ front springs and Js out back, 33’s>35’s>37’s :D, another set of tundra wheels,e-locker skid, and managed to make up a decent recovery bag.
snow026.jpg


Then you get a spare afternoon and you go wheeling only to get to buy an exhaust for your efforts. Ended up w/ a 3'' cat back system tucked up and over the frame rail.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/223533-new-3-cat-back-exhaust.html
3inchexhaust011.jpg

profile shot after install...
3inchexhaust007.jpg




I really hadn’t had any issues to speak of until about a year ago. I started getting a sputtering and hesitation upon acceleration and tracked it down to the extension in the wiring harness that was required for the s/c install. 12 new crimp connectors and couple feet of wire and it was all good.

Then the gas tank began to leak. I have been through several tanks w/ the same failure point and am still amiss to the source of this delima. Ive checked all the body mounts and they are tight and visually inspected the frame and suspension for abnormalities to find none. Oh well we brazed up the original and I just threw it in yesterday so well have to see.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/225705-leaking-gas-top-tank.html
gastank2002.jpg


As far as maintenance ive perfomed. I change the oil every 7500 miles w/ rotella and don’t lose any in between changes. Ive rebuilt the front axle, and am waiting on a box from dan to do the rear. I tackled the ss brake lines at the same time I rebuilt all 4 calipers, and have gone thru RavenTai’s Ebrake instructions for the 3rd time but finally found success.
77teardown009.jpg


Well im at 220k miles now and there is still a long list of wants of course (does it ever end?)

Next up------------------------------
Better braking (trying the motiv bleeder next)
wheel spacers
Gears 4.88’s
adj. panhards
Lightweight drawer/sleep platform
IC for the blower
Dual batteries
j-moose style rack for the maggiolina of course :D

maybe a 1'' body lift
 
Last edited:
and everyone loves poser pics…………………..
as is now…
irok001.jpg

Early days…
Cullawhee2-23004.jpg

Mtn run…
1NorthSouth08.jpg

Beach run…
PICT0082.jpg

The exhaust muncher..
URE5_16_08014.jpg

Manmade rockcrawlin….
URE5_16_08016.jpg

Not so man made….
augURE016.jpg

augURE014.jpg

Trail head…
Urejuly010.jpg

Redneck wheelin…
irok009.jpg




That’s it for now folks…. Goin wheelin!!! Happy trails and ill update and aswer when I get back.
 
Last edited:
couple random videos








hmmmm and i cant find the best one ???
 
Last edited:
Great looking trucks. I love that 80. What part of NC are you in
 
Great write up!!! nice rig man.

keep the shinny side up and the rubber side down :steer:
 
Wow, that's a bad ass cruiser! Looks awesome with the Tundra wheels/37" IROKS....:cheers:...
 
Love your truck! looks great! esp. with those meats.
 
Thanks fellas..... im in the greensboro area.
 
Jason, it's awesome to get the full story on your 80! Very very cool. Hopefully we'll meet up again soon (URE?). Brody is the most mellow dog ever!
 
Great writeup! I was just about to step in myself, but it would be soooo boring compared to your rig.

TK

well dont wait till DUSTY chimes in :D but, THANKS !

By all means dont be shy to step up. I think we need to use this as a way to demo whatever you got. Your thing might be stereos,forced induction, heck it could be interior detailing but its something others dont have and we can learn from. And if nothing else if we get the newbs to search these archives they may know what they want and not have to post the same questions over and over :lol:

if nothing else we all love pics and id love to see your 80 posing in the great land

Ive hiked kenai peninsula a couple times; very very nice:cheers:
 
Jason how far up the rock pile at Uwharrie stables did you make it??

Also I have an extra adjustable front panhard if you are interested.

I'll just talk to you at OBX about it on friday. :cool:
 
Wow, that's a bad ass cruiser! Looks awesome with the Tundra wheels/37" IROKS....:cheers:...
Thanks Robert, just realized which is your truck. A beautiful rig and inspiration for sure.
Love your truck! looks great! esp. with those meats.
Thanks....your included in one of the votes of confidence for the BL
Jason, it's awesome to get the full story on your 80! Very very cool. Hopefully we'll meet up again soon (URE?). Brody is the most mellow dog ever!
Sure thing... cant make OBX this weekend but well share a trail soon im sure. and yes hes a laid back dude.... the Yin to Jacob's yang for sure.
 
Jason how far up the rock pile at Uwharrie stables did you make it??

Also I have an extra adjustable front panhard if you are interested.

I'll just talk to you at OBX about it on friday. :cool:

You see where steve is standing??? :steer:
j/k not too far...2 truck lengths maybe on the best approach. Concrete was tryin to spot me into this...
URE5_16_08021.jpg

and the next pipe is a 60 incher :D Some things just arent meant for the 80.

Id definitely like to talk to you bout that panhard, but i wont be at the OBX. Ill drop you a PM or hit me up when you get back in town.
 
Last edited:
Nice rig.
Funny, I had the exact tank failure in my last 80! Never did figured it out.
 
Great story, actually sounds very familiar; everything on the truck looks awesome, I personally dont like the tundra wheels, i dont think they look right on an 80, but, beauty is in the eye of the beholder....
 
He was james bond 007 about his 80 search. All of a sudden i come home one day from work and there was a bad a$$ cruiser in the driveway. I thought to myself, i wonder who is here? Walked in and he just sat there silent. I said, who's 80 is that? He said, oh, yea, i picked that up today. . . . I was like WTF!! :)

Then i saw the blower and the nice dial switch on the dash and i was even more jealous.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom