It all started in the mid ‘70’s. To say that I grew up around Land Cruisers would be an understatement. I grew up IN them!
1976: Me in my car seat in Dad’s 1975 FJ40. Dig the safety!
Dad belonged to a club and we went on a lot of runs together with other Land Cruisers, Jeeps, Scouts, Willys Wagons, etc.
1979: Me at a trail run in the back of the Land Cruiser. I remember it seemed pretty roomy back then. Dig the Tru-Tracs!
1979: Me in front of the Land Cruiser. This was about as cute as I ever got.
Dad sold the Cruiser in 1980 and bought this 1976 with a 350 a few years later. He promised to teach me to drive as soon as my feet reached the pedals. I don’t think he was counting on that happening when I was 9 years old, but he kept his word and this was the first vehicle I ever drove.
Since then I’ve owned 3 of my own FJ40’s, a ’70, a ’72 (my avatar) and a ’76. All were great rigs for different reasons.
My 76 in Azusa Canyon two years ago.
I sold my last Cruiser a few years ago as my wife hated it (manual everything, no A/C, not much room, etc. ) I decided to build more of a light expedition/camping rig that we could both be comfortable in.
Her Demands
“Doesn’t look old” (But Honey, all the cool stuff is old!)
“Must have paint” (Hey now! Spray paint IS paint!)
“Must have doors” (Why?)
4 of them (an SUV??? UGH!!!)
“Must have a COMPLETE floor” (She was really adamant about that one)
AC (Yeah, I can get behind that)
Power Windows (Well, if it’s going to have all those damn doors…)
Power Steering (Agreed)
Automatic transmission (UGH!!!! I don’t trust automatics.)
My Demands:
Solid Axles (Ha! That ought to keep us out of anything too newfangled!)
Backwoods reliability
Aftermarket support
Reasonably presentable
Able to tow a small trailer
Proven off road vehicle with a real transfer case (I’m NOT going to be the first guy to show up in Moab with a lifted Hyundai Santa Fe.)
V8 power
With all of that in mind, I began my search. All search results matching those criteria returned the same result – Land Rover Discovery. I didn’t know too much about Disco’s so I test drove a few. I really liked the driving position, but each one I drove had different things wrong with it. I decided to hit the internet forums to find out what the best year was as far as equipment and known mechanical issues. OK, so…head gaskets, electrical problems, tranny issues and every once in a while the transfer case grenades. Lovely!
I was becoming disheartened by the whole thing , searching Disco web and Expedition Portal endlessly for a glimmer of hope that there was a hidden “good year” to buy. As I was reading yet another new Discovery II’s owner’s plea for help, I saw the following comment:
“Dude, the answer to all your problems is an 80 series Land Cruiser.”
Huh. Quite honestly, I had been of the mind that the last “real” Land Cruiser was the FJ60. It was my assumption that all the following vehicles to carry the name were IFS soccer mom minivans in disguise.
Little did I know.
I headed over to Mud, where I had been all but excommunicated from the 40 section a couple of years before for daring to suggest that there were viable alternatives to the stock FJ40 carburetor) to investigate. Sure enough, there’s an 80 section! And they’re not all purists! Ok, so…let’s see…Solid axles? LOCKERS??? These things had lockers? Why didn’t anyone ever tell me? I’M IN!
I ended up spending a couple of months reading threads here in order to avoid any pitfalls. I posted a few times and everybody seems pretty cool.
Armed with a solid Muducation, I headed out for a few test drives. My first impression was that it felt like a Toyota truck, not the uber plush yuppie wagon I was expecting. Same driving position that I liked in the Disco too.
It took a few weeks of searching Craigslist before I found what I was looking for – a 1997 FZJ80 with lockers, nice paint, no issues and not overpriced. The test drive went well, lockers work as does everything else. $4k later, she was mine! It came with a full service history and when I did my baseline checks, all the flujids looked like new and were at their proper levels (Even the axles AND t-case!) Although everything seems fine, I'll rebuild the front axle when I re-gear in a few months.
My 1997 FZJ80
Well, if you actually made it past my long winded introduction, here is the plan for the build:
2.5 inch OME lift - DONE
315/75/16 Dick Cepek Mud Countrys
ARB front bumper - DONE
Winch - DONE
Lights - DONE
Prin su roof rack - DONE
Tepui Tent - DONE
Spare tire and jerry can carrier
On Board Air
Drawer system to hold camping gear with slide out kitchen
Fridge slide
ARB awnings on driver’s side and rear - DONE
CB and HAM
Upgraded stereo
Cupholder - DONE
Center Diff Lock Switch - DONE
Pin 7 mod - DONE
Plasti Dip center of hood and flares
A few other one off ideas that I have
Did I mention that all of this has to be done by August? Yeah, our anniversary is in September and we’re planning a camping trip. Luckily (depending on how you look at it) some unlicensed asshat blew through an intersection and totaled my Silverado, so we have a workable budget.
I removed the running boards and third row seats the minute I got home and put the truck to work the next morning.
Towing my 1950 Chevy project to the alignment shop
A little rain makes it easy to see where your clearcoat is horked.
ARB Bumper, Smittybuilt 9.5k winch and some lights I had lying around.
Not sure if the bumper/winch is super heavy or if my front springs are just super whipped. Probably both.
Installed a Chinese snorkel. There are a lot of valid reasons to run a snorkel and when I think of one, I'll post it here. I promise that this will be the only purposeless mod I do. Meh, it was $33 and it's functional.
Snorkishness!
I called Slee and Cristo was nice enough to walk me through my suspension order and suggest the correct springs for my intended use (fully loaded all the time). They arrived yesterday. I’m going to hold off on installing the lift until I have all the weight on the truck, as I’m sure those springs would be pretty harsh unloaded.
I was able to get in on a deal with Q-Ball for a Prin Su rack (same one as on Boxrocket’s truck. I am anxiously waiting for that to arrive.
I will be contacting Boxrocket this week to order my tent. As my hair gets greyer, I find that I am still physically capable of doing the things I did when I was 17, but the next day usually sucks so, I’m planning to have it shipped to my work where I can use a forklift to set it in place.
The ARB awnings arrived today!
That's all for now...stay tuned!
Scott
1976: Me in my car seat in Dad’s 1975 FJ40. Dig the safety!
Dad belonged to a club and we went on a lot of runs together with other Land Cruisers, Jeeps, Scouts, Willys Wagons, etc.
1979: Me at a trail run in the back of the Land Cruiser. I remember it seemed pretty roomy back then. Dig the Tru-Tracs!
1979: Me in front of the Land Cruiser. This was about as cute as I ever got.
Dad sold the Cruiser in 1980 and bought this 1976 with a 350 a few years later. He promised to teach me to drive as soon as my feet reached the pedals. I don’t think he was counting on that happening when I was 9 years old, but he kept his word and this was the first vehicle I ever drove.
Since then I’ve owned 3 of my own FJ40’s, a ’70, a ’72 (my avatar) and a ’76. All were great rigs for different reasons.
My 76 in Azusa Canyon two years ago.
I sold my last Cruiser a few years ago as my wife hated it (manual everything, no A/C, not much room, etc. ) I decided to build more of a light expedition/camping rig that we could both be comfortable in.
Her Demands
“Doesn’t look old” (But Honey, all the cool stuff is old!)
“Must have paint” (Hey now! Spray paint IS paint!)
“Must have doors” (Why?)
4 of them (an SUV??? UGH!!!)
“Must have a COMPLETE floor” (She was really adamant about that one)
AC (Yeah, I can get behind that)
Power Windows (Well, if it’s going to have all those damn doors…)
Power Steering (Agreed)
Automatic transmission (UGH!!!! I don’t trust automatics.)
My Demands:
Solid Axles (Ha! That ought to keep us out of anything too newfangled!)
Backwoods reliability
Aftermarket support
Reasonably presentable
Able to tow a small trailer
Proven off road vehicle with a real transfer case (I’m NOT going to be the first guy to show up in Moab with a lifted Hyundai Santa Fe.)
V8 power
With all of that in mind, I began my search. All search results matching those criteria returned the same result – Land Rover Discovery. I didn’t know too much about Disco’s so I test drove a few. I really liked the driving position, but each one I drove had different things wrong with it. I decided to hit the internet forums to find out what the best year was as far as equipment and known mechanical issues. OK, so…head gaskets, electrical problems, tranny issues and every once in a while the transfer case grenades. Lovely!
I was becoming disheartened by the whole thing , searching Disco web and Expedition Portal endlessly for a glimmer of hope that there was a hidden “good year” to buy. As I was reading yet another new Discovery II’s owner’s plea for help, I saw the following comment:“Dude, the answer to all your problems is an 80 series Land Cruiser.”
Huh. Quite honestly, I had been of the mind that the last “real” Land Cruiser was the FJ60. It was my assumption that all the following vehicles to carry the name were IFS soccer mom minivans in disguise.
Little did I know.
I headed over to Mud, where I had been all but excommunicated from the 40 section a couple of years before for daring to suggest that there were viable alternatives to the stock FJ40 carburetor) to investigate. Sure enough, there’s an 80 section! And they’re not all purists! Ok, so…let’s see…Solid axles? LOCKERS??? These things had lockers? Why didn’t anyone ever tell me? I’M IN!
I ended up spending a couple of months reading threads here in order to avoid any pitfalls. I posted a few times and everybody seems pretty cool.
Armed with a solid Muducation, I headed out for a few test drives. My first impression was that it felt like a Toyota truck, not the uber plush yuppie wagon I was expecting. Same driving position that I liked in the Disco too.
It took a few weeks of searching Craigslist before I found what I was looking for – a 1997 FZJ80 with lockers, nice paint, no issues and not overpriced. The test drive went well, lockers work as does everything else. $4k later, she was mine! It came with a full service history and when I did my baseline checks, all the flujids looked like new and were at their proper levels (Even the axles AND t-case!) Although everything seems fine, I'll rebuild the front axle when I re-gear in a few months.
My 1997 FZJ80
Well, if you actually made it past my long winded introduction, here is the plan for the build:
2.5 inch OME lift - DONE
315/75/16 Dick Cepek Mud Countrys
ARB front bumper - DONE
Winch - DONE
Lights - DONE
Prin su roof rack - DONE
Tepui Tent - DONE
Spare tire and jerry can carrier
On Board Air
Drawer system to hold camping gear with slide out kitchen
Fridge slide
ARB awnings on driver’s side and rear - DONE
CB and HAM
Upgraded stereo
Cupholder - DONE
Center Diff Lock Switch - DONE
Pin 7 mod - DONE
Plasti Dip center of hood and flares
A few other one off ideas that I have
Did I mention that all of this has to be done by August? Yeah, our anniversary is in September and we’re planning a camping trip. Luckily (depending on how you look at it) some unlicensed asshat blew through an intersection and totaled my Silverado, so we have a workable budget.
I removed the running boards and third row seats the minute I got home and put the truck to work the next morning.
Towing my 1950 Chevy project to the alignment shop
A little rain makes it easy to see where your clearcoat is horked.
ARB Bumper, Smittybuilt 9.5k winch and some lights I had lying around.
Not sure if the bumper/winch is super heavy or if my front springs are just super whipped. Probably both.
Installed a Chinese snorkel. There are a lot of valid reasons to run a snorkel and when I think of one, I'll post it here. I promise that this will be the only purposeless mod I do. Meh, it was $33 and it's functional.
Snorkishness!
I called Slee and Cristo was nice enough to walk me through my suspension order and suggest the correct springs for my intended use (fully loaded all the time). They arrived yesterday. I’m going to hold off on installing the lift until I have all the weight on the truck, as I’m sure those springs would be pretty harsh unloaded.
I was able to get in on a deal with Q-Ball for a Prin Su rack (same one as on Boxrocket’s truck. I am anxiously waiting for that to arrive.
I will be contacting Boxrocket this week to order my tent. As my hair gets greyer, I find that I am still physically capable of doing the things I did when I was 17, but the next day usually sucks so, I’m planning to have it shipped to my work where I can use a forklift to set it in place.
The ARB awnings arrived today!
That's all for now...stay tuned!
Scott
Last edited:
