Hello,
What a great resource, I have been lurking for awhile. I live in central Nebraska and suprisingly we have very few Land Cruisers. Might have something to do with the fact that we have nothing higher than the median to climb... I have also been looking for a FZJ80 for a year or so. I found a blue 95 FZJ80 w/o lockers, north and east of me a couple hours away. It was beat up pretty bad on the exterior and the interior. I was willing to put a lot of time and money into it to get what I wanted so I pulled the trigger. It has very little frame rust and no body rust which is rare in Nebraska for a vehicle of that vintage.
Two weeks after I bought the first FZJ80 I ran across one for sale a couple hours south of me. It is a 1997 Anniversary Edition triple locked... So, I made a purchase of a LC that was much closer to what I want to end up with. The 95 needs a head gasket and who knows what else, it was driven pretty hard. The 97 burns about a quart of oil in about 1000 miles and smokes alot at startup.
I am a 1 bananna mechanic and want to use these projects to help my boys and I learn to wrench. I don't have alot of time to wrench right now and I started to dig into the head gasket job on the 95 and have stalled with some tough nuts to remove. I hope to start back up in a week however, I think my approach has changed and that is where you folks come in.
A- pull the engine and all other useable parts from the 95 and take my time rebuilding the engine so I can swap out with the 97 and have spare parts to support the main driver and scrap the body of the 95 or,
B- Replace the HG in the 95 and sell it as a running but rough 4 wheel drive which would bring around $2,000 in central Nebrasks where we get our share of snow. Then pull the engine in the 97 and have it out of commission for awhile while we learn to do an engine rebuild?
I was going to do option A however, after looking around I think the best value for me would be to part out the 95 for spare parts for me and scrap the body even though there is minimal frame and body rust. please sound off. I plan to support the vendors and will certainly create a build thread complete with pictures and an introduction of the 97. I don't think the 95 is up to a photo shoot....
I will be keeping the 97 to pass on to my boys in 45 years.... Thanks for your consideration!
Kevin
What a great resource, I have been lurking for awhile. I live in central Nebraska and suprisingly we have very few Land Cruisers. Might have something to do with the fact that we have nothing higher than the median to climb... I have also been looking for a FZJ80 for a year or so. I found a blue 95 FZJ80 w/o lockers, north and east of me a couple hours away. It was beat up pretty bad on the exterior and the interior. I was willing to put a lot of time and money into it to get what I wanted so I pulled the trigger. It has very little frame rust and no body rust which is rare in Nebraska for a vehicle of that vintage.
Two weeks after I bought the first FZJ80 I ran across one for sale a couple hours south of me. It is a 1997 Anniversary Edition triple locked... So, I made a purchase of a LC that was much closer to what I want to end up with. The 95 needs a head gasket and who knows what else, it was driven pretty hard. The 97 burns about a quart of oil in about 1000 miles and smokes alot at startup.
I am a 1 bananna mechanic and want to use these projects to help my boys and I learn to wrench. I don't have alot of time to wrench right now and I started to dig into the head gasket job on the 95 and have stalled with some tough nuts to remove. I hope to start back up in a week however, I think my approach has changed and that is where you folks come in.
A- pull the engine and all other useable parts from the 95 and take my time rebuilding the engine so I can swap out with the 97 and have spare parts to support the main driver and scrap the body of the 95 or,
B- Replace the HG in the 95 and sell it as a running but rough 4 wheel drive which would bring around $2,000 in central Nebrasks where we get our share of snow. Then pull the engine in the 97 and have it out of commission for awhile while we learn to do an engine rebuild?
I was going to do option A however, after looking around I think the best value for me would be to part out the 95 for spare parts for me and scrap the body even though there is minimal frame and body rust. please sound off. I plan to support the vendors and will certainly create a build thread complete with pictures and an introduction of the 97. I don't think the 95 is up to a photo shoot....
I will be keeping the 97 to pass on to my boys in 45 years.... Thanks for your consideration!
Kevin