Rolled 80 Resurrection (1 Viewer)

[AaronM33]

Late last year I rolled our 1994 FZJ-80 while on a ski trip 400 miles from home in Killington, VT. I immediately posted this thread, https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/rth-rolled-80-in-menden-vt.826194/ which was pretty helpful at the time and led to meeting some great 'Mud forum members in my area, including @Crusha who hooked me up with a great deal on a front clip and windshield. This new thread will have pics of the repair process and mods along the way. Here's what it looked after the rollover.

The full story can be found in the other thread, but basically she needed all the sheet metal forward of the A pillars and a new windshield. Here's the donor truck in @Crusha 's garage.

I got everything I needed and a few extra bits for a great price, and the used OEM windshield is working out great so far. More about that later. Here/s my truck stripped down and ready to go in a friend's barn.

More to come...

 

[AaronM33]

Once I had her stripped down, first thing i did was install Daystar 1.5 spacers and KYB Monomax shocks up front to level things out. Wish I had more photos of that install. I'll get some of finished product later. Anyway, heres the truck in the barn with stages of new sheet metal on all the way to windshield out.

 

[scrowley]

Way to bring it back to life.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Awesome!

 

[gofast]

It will be a happy day when you take it out of the barn!

 

[LS1FJ40]

Subscribed...

 

[foeix]

Love when 80's are kept on the road.. Awesome.

 

[cme4lyt]

Old 80's never die, they just keep on wheelin'…

Great to see it survives another day !

 

[AaronM33]

Yeah, it's out of the barn now, I've been driving it a couple weeks. More posting to come when I get a minute...

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Looks more like you ran through a crowd of Harry potter fans at McDonald's. Doesn't look like a rollover at all. But awesome job bringing it back. Custom tint Green!

 

[toyotaFJ]

I love a story with a happy ending

 

[LS1FJ40]

Who is gonna be the first to say it?!

 

[TeeDiggs]

Awesome on ya for keeping it going!

 

[AaronM33]

So after I got the front end back together and the windshield out I had AAA tow it to the glass shop, Big Crack Auto Glass in Elizabethtown, PA.

They were the only shop who would touch my used windshield, and they did a great job too. I had a tiny leak in the lower right corner but they fixed that and it hasn't been back.

Right now, I've got my old stickers on a taped up piece of the old windshield just sitting up on the dash. I need to build a front bumper so I can get my replacement stickers. Just went in on a garage with a buddy, so that build is forthcoming... Here's how it sits now, except I finally replaced the two crappy tires it had up front.

 

[AaronM33]

Just a quick update here. The garage is official today, I got a look around and a set of keys. My buddy has a bunch of great tools and equipment in there already, so I should be whipping up some cool projects in no time. A little tax return money doesn't hurt either

To keep it tech: I used a heat gun today to peel my PA inspection and emissions stickers off the old hunk of windshield. I only lost a few little shiny bits, and the glue is shot now so I'm gonna use some packing tape to get them to really stay. Still some slivers of old glass on them too but at least the VIN is still legible on back. I guess technically they're supposed to just be replaced but technically I need a front bumper, too. If there's an issue I'll play dumb.

 

[AaronM33]

Also, TRD Pro Inferno is a popular choice, but would it look like a big orange pumpkin with the rough texture?
Amazon sent me an extra set of KYB Monomax shocks for the rear. So they're going on soon as well, and the extras will be in classified I guess.

 

[LS1FJ40]

Ooh, extra shocks? PM me how much?!!!

 

[AaronM33]

Here's a long overdue update, and some backstory on my ownership of the truck. Kind of an unintentional build thread that's not in chronological order.

Anyway, I bought the truck in the spring of 2014 after a few months of looking for the perfect 3rd gen 4Runner I stumbled across an ad for a white 80 series with lockers in NoVA. Needs a little work, one recovered theft on the carfax, asking $3,500. Drove my other Toyota love down, our '06 Prius, and checked it out. It was idling a little high, had minimal but noticeable rust and was downright filthy. On the plus side it had lockers, a brand new radiator and OE shroud, a decent stereo. The price was right. $2,700 cash and I called AAA for a rollback. Had it towed to a shop in Gettysburg that was just within my 100 mile limit and my wife and I picked it up late that night. Something about moving under cover of darkness just made me more at ease knowing if I broke down there would be way less traffic to deal with. It felt like I was driving a go kart, the TPS was so out of whack and it wouldn't downshift on its own. Half the interior lights were burned out and the exhaust was leaking too. I was excited though, I had a good base to build from, and I used to turn wrenches for a living so these problems didn't scare me.

Here she is, love at first sight...

 

[AaronM33]

Got it home and started gutting the interior. Found a center diff lock switch and nice used carpet on craigslist. Sold my wheels on T4R.org and got some modern Taco replacements. Swapped all the bulbs to LED and replaced the shifter handle with one from a 3rd Gen 4Runner. Yakima roof bars from craigslist. Lots and lots of boring maintenance, baselining all fluids and hoses etc. Added an old Camry electric fan and a proper PS cooler (Junkyard finds). Blue sea fuse block, new speaker wires, attempted to rehab the leather, etc.

If I could do this again I would've done some proper soundproofing and never changed out the original lenses and taillights for clears...

 

[AaronM33]

I pulled the head and sent it to UFC Machine Shop in Carlisle, PA. Highly recommend their services. They cleaned the head up and hooked me up with a specially machined shim to correct the height after machining. I made a special tool to compress the valves and did all the seals myself, and lapped the valveseats. (It was the best I could do on a budget.) I replaced a bunch of other stuff under the hood, and I de-smogged the truck and moved some components out from under the intake manifold.