GINERICFJ80’s 1994 FZJ80
First, about the name. My name is Eric and my wife’s name is Ginger so combined you get GINERIC. We’ve had GINERIC license plates for years on a variety of cars. It sort of really fits this one as it is white/black. The bar codes on the rear deck lid and under the front door handles actually scan GINERIC if you had UPC code reader. Oh and when I adopted the screen name and email addy I had a 91 so it was an FJ and not an FZJ. It has stuck so I’m not changing it now.
This is my 3rd 80 series and I’ve sort of been building this one really slow. I started building it in June 2005 after we sold our 91 wheeling 80. I’ve owned this one for about 3 years. I am the 4th owner. The first two owers were related and of the Busch family. And the last two are related too, me and my dad. About 4 years ago at Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day my dad and I trekked up to Boise to take a look at it. This thing was beautiful. It even still had the plastic on the carpet. He covered the seats and had another layer of carpet installed over the rear cargo area. I had sold my V8j60 and my 76 yellow 40 the weekend before and I was in the market for a Cruiser. My son's pending birth caused the other Cruisers to go. It was a little out of my price range. So that Friday my dad bought it and I bought his 91. Another interesting thing about the 91 is that I sold it to my dad in 1996 when it came in a Chevy dealership I was working at. My primary concern in building the rig was to have a useful rig that can be driven to the trail, haul our pop up camper, ocassionally tote our horse trailer, and be able to fit the dogs and all of our 3 year olds gear.
EXTERIOR SPECS Front to rear:
Front Bumper: No name bumper which was a last ditch effort to get the stock bumper off before CM. I’m currently designing a front bumper to integrate a Warn XD9000i I just bought. It will be 2” tube similar in shape to what I have.
Hella 550 driving lights switched and relayed controlled by a foot switch where the dead pedal used to be.
Nothing special under the hood right now, I’m working on a dual battery mount to hold two Exide Orbitals both on the DS in a slightly larger box, The 1FZE has 213,000 on it and is running strong.
The hood has a conglomeration of stickers from various TLCA clubs. The centerpiece is an original 1976 TLCA logo which is actually a digital print on vinyl.
Wheels: Mickey Thompson 16x8s with 3.6” backspacing for a slightly wider stance
Tires: Toyo Open Country MTs, probably the toughest nonSwamper tire made. At 78lbs each for the 315/75/16 they are heafty beasts
Gears and Lockers: Factory retrofitted lockers with stock gears (possible diesel swap has made me stall on the regear) I ran wires from the rear to the front and installed factory pins using BostonMangler’s instructions. Amsoil Grease and knuckle rebuild this spring.
Slee Caster correction plates
OME J springs
OME L shocks
FZJFillmore bolt in spacers in the front
Metal Tech Protype Sliders, the cat guard is killer! I’ve slammed it hard and not moved the sliders.
Custom Rear bumper: Frame was not cut but center crossmember was partially removed, main section is 3x6” rectangular tubing notched over the frame rails, 5/8” plate recovery mounts bolted to the frame and welded to the main section, sides are 2x4” recutangular tubing, corners and ends are capped with ¼” plate, ¼” plates mounted to frame with 3/8” bolts using nut clips clipped through the plug hole with two new holes drilled, the side supports are 1x2” 3/8” thick tubing, Swingout is hinged on a 1” trailer spindle with the tube actually being from a semi truck leaf spring. Swingout is 1x2” 3/8” tubing with a 40 series license plate bracket. The swingout is undergoing revisions. It need to tuck closer to the body as it drags on steep obstacles. It is still better clearance wise than the manufactured bumpers other than maybe the 4x4 labs but I want more clearance.
Skidplate is a home built ¼” piece of plate with a piece of angle iron running doen the edge of the frame using factory bolt holes in the frame. Probably the crappiest welds around as the angle iron was recycled and was coated with teflon. But so far it works.
Vent shields on all the windows, it came that way and until they fall off I enjoy cracking the windows without the wind noise or rain.
91 Fender Flares with bedliner coating. I like the narrower flares and I have to run them. I’ve been pulled over multiple times for not having them on. Tires exceeding fenderwell is what the ticket is called.
Factory Roofrack
Toyota sunroof deflector
Stickers: Lots of stickers on the sides, my favorite is American Gunslinger which is a digital print of a watercolor my wife painted, she is the WildWildWestArt.com on the side. This keeps it from looking like the typical white wheeling 80s.
69 FJ55 4 wheel drive emblem, 100 series lift gate emblems
Rock lights in various spots under truck
Custom 2.5” pipe center dump exhaust by Discount Performance Muffler with resonator
INTERIOR SPECS:
Factory Cloth Interior Driver seat has no rips or tears.
Center console has a custom cushion on the top of it, done by previous owner and I love it
Console is actually out of my 91 as I modified it for the changer and just swapped them out.
1000 watt power invertor mounted under DS front seat
Sony Xplod CD receiver with MP3 Changer controls and 10 disc MP3 changer, each CD has about 120 songs changer is mounted in the center console. Also has an aux input for computer, DVD player, Ipod
Speakers: Front and Rear doors Infinity Reference 6.5” rear required spacers, I like that the silver ring on the grills matches the door panel trim
3 Cigarette lighter plug ins mounted below a Radio Shack CB w/ PA and Weather functions
Weather proof AC outlets mounted next to High Low Shifter which are connected to the Power invertor another outlet is mounted in the PS rear panel where the ash tray orignally mounted for the 3rd row
Osram Flex Head Map Light
Garmin GPS 5, External Antenna, MapSouce Software and Gateway computer
Accessories are hard wired to a 6 fuse panel mounted on the DS kick panel. It has a fusible link and heavy guage wire running to it.
Does have the 3rd row seats in storage
Rear panels are also from my 91, rear pouch removed from PS so I can store more junk between the panel and the body. They are hammered. I have an idea for a custom panel. I just haven’t had time to mount it.
Rear shelf which will someday be a rear drawer system. This allows you to fold the 2nd row seats and have a decent sized sleeping area and it just so happens one of our pop camper matteresses fits in there perfect and is also covered in grey velour.
Center diff lock switch and 7 pin mod
Wood 4 high/low shifter (I have a couple of these available for $30) My uncle makes them each is unique
7 pin trailer wiring kept in rear DS access panel, it keeps it out of mud and from getting broken
FUTURE MODS:
Remove the rest of the of the gold trim, front Toyota symbol will be done in glow in the dark white lettering, Note: Repainting the grill with Charcoal Rustoleum Metallic paint looks very nice.
Add 60 series side emblems, I had them on prior to the stickering
Build front bumper, maybe a stinger. My 91 bumper had a stinger at one time but I removed it because Id didn’t like it
Install winch, add winch contols to dash using factory switches in the two blank spots furthest left. Extra ETC switch will turn the winch on and off and a power antenna switch will handle the in and out duties
Laptop mount
New center console
PA speaker under hood for CB
Add 1” hoops to rear sides of bumper
Gears should I decide not to go diesel 4.88s
Aisan Hubs
Someday Longfields
Thicker tubed rear control arms
Dual batteries in custom tray in factory DS location
Big Lights, I miss my Hella 4000s
Paint fire engine grellow
Find a 45 wagon specific emblem to add somewhere, I want an emblem of every Cruiser wagon on my 80.
Finish drawer system and rear side panels with access doors
More stickers Send me your LC club sticker!
TRAILS: This isn’t a mall Cruiser!
Rusty Nail, Pritchett, Hell’s Revenge, Golden Spike, Metal Masher, Steel Bender, Carnage Canyon Idaho, Meatgrinder, Lost Trail, Top Ripper, Bulldozer and someday the Rubicon! Plus lots of unnamed trails.
MOTOS: “dents are like tattoos but with better stories” Every dent I’ve put in a rig has a story to it and most of the stories are better than the stories folks have about their tattoos.
“real environmentalists don’t pave roads” this is the truth. Paved roads are poisonous! The leach toxins into our environment. If we did not have a paved road system people would not drive so much which further deteriorates the world. I prefer to take the unpaved road in this adventure we call life.
OTHER CRUISERS: I learned to drive in a 78 FJ55 when I was 10 or 11. But it took many years for me to get my first Cruiser of my own. I dabbled with Toyota pickups for awhile before going back to my wagon roots. First Cruiser: 1985 FJ60 350TBI custom bumpers and sliders, snorkel, h55f, Ranger Underdrive, ARB etc… 76 FJ40 bone stock needed resto but complete and good body. 83 BJ60, died of Canadian Cancer. 69 55 basket case turned into a parts truck, 74 40 baset case burned in rear started parting, sold it, and now I bought it back to build, 76 40 302 Holley injection, SOA, 36” Irocks blah blah blah was built by Cruiser Ken. That rig was instrumental in me deciding to build this 80 to wheel. I realized there was no space in a 40 for all the junk and if I was going to have a 40 I also needed a tow rig. One day in the hot sun doing 220 miles was enough for me. 78 40 project truck, Maybe extended body on an 80 frame using 80 drivetrain and suspension? Also in the mix in there was another 94 FZJ80 and more recently a 94 80 series parts truck.
CLUBS: TLCA, charter member of NW Cruisers. Lone Star Land Cruisers Associate, Tornado Alley Cruisers, and Wild West Off Road (multimake local club, but 3 80 series members
) Currently I’m the MSVP for TLCA.
First, about the name. My name is Eric and my wife’s name is Ginger so combined you get GINERIC. We’ve had GINERIC license plates for years on a variety of cars. It sort of really fits this one as it is white/black. The bar codes on the rear deck lid and under the front door handles actually scan GINERIC if you had UPC code reader. Oh and when I adopted the screen name and email addy I had a 91 so it was an FJ and not an FZJ. It has stuck so I’m not changing it now.
This is my 3rd 80 series and I’ve sort of been building this one really slow. I started building it in June 2005 after we sold our 91 wheeling 80. I’ve owned this one for about 3 years. I am the 4th owner. The first two owers were related and of the Busch family. And the last two are related too, me and my dad. About 4 years ago at Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day my dad and I trekked up to Boise to take a look at it. This thing was beautiful. It even still had the plastic on the carpet. He covered the seats and had another layer of carpet installed over the rear cargo area. I had sold my V8j60 and my 76 yellow 40 the weekend before and I was in the market for a Cruiser. My son's pending birth caused the other Cruisers to go. It was a little out of my price range. So that Friday my dad bought it and I bought his 91. Another interesting thing about the 91 is that I sold it to my dad in 1996 when it came in a Chevy dealership I was working at. My primary concern in building the rig was to have a useful rig that can be driven to the trail, haul our pop up camper, ocassionally tote our horse trailer, and be able to fit the dogs and all of our 3 year olds gear.
EXTERIOR SPECS Front to rear:
Front Bumper: No name bumper which was a last ditch effort to get the stock bumper off before CM. I’m currently designing a front bumper to integrate a Warn XD9000i I just bought. It will be 2” tube similar in shape to what I have.
Hella 550 driving lights switched and relayed controlled by a foot switch where the dead pedal used to be.
Nothing special under the hood right now, I’m working on a dual battery mount to hold two Exide Orbitals both on the DS in a slightly larger box, The 1FZE has 213,000 on it and is running strong.
The hood has a conglomeration of stickers from various TLCA clubs. The centerpiece is an original 1976 TLCA logo which is actually a digital print on vinyl.
Wheels: Mickey Thompson 16x8s with 3.6” backspacing for a slightly wider stance
Tires: Toyo Open Country MTs, probably the toughest nonSwamper tire made. At 78lbs each for the 315/75/16 they are heafty beasts
Gears and Lockers: Factory retrofitted lockers with stock gears (possible diesel swap has made me stall on the regear) I ran wires from the rear to the front and installed factory pins using BostonMangler’s instructions. Amsoil Grease and knuckle rebuild this spring.
Slee Caster correction plates
OME J springs
OME L shocks
FZJFillmore bolt in spacers in the front
Metal Tech Protype Sliders, the cat guard is killer! I’ve slammed it hard and not moved the sliders.
Custom Rear bumper: Frame was not cut but center crossmember was partially removed, main section is 3x6” rectangular tubing notched over the frame rails, 5/8” plate recovery mounts bolted to the frame and welded to the main section, sides are 2x4” recutangular tubing, corners and ends are capped with ¼” plate, ¼” plates mounted to frame with 3/8” bolts using nut clips clipped through the plug hole with two new holes drilled, the side supports are 1x2” 3/8” thick tubing, Swingout is hinged on a 1” trailer spindle with the tube actually being from a semi truck leaf spring. Swingout is 1x2” 3/8” tubing with a 40 series license plate bracket. The swingout is undergoing revisions. It need to tuck closer to the body as it drags on steep obstacles. It is still better clearance wise than the manufactured bumpers other than maybe the 4x4 labs but I want more clearance.
Skidplate is a home built ¼” piece of plate with a piece of angle iron running doen the edge of the frame using factory bolt holes in the frame. Probably the crappiest welds around as the angle iron was recycled and was coated with teflon. But so far it works.
Vent shields on all the windows, it came that way and until they fall off I enjoy cracking the windows without the wind noise or rain.
91 Fender Flares with bedliner coating. I like the narrower flares and I have to run them. I’ve been pulled over multiple times for not having them on. Tires exceeding fenderwell is what the ticket is called.
Factory Roofrack
Toyota sunroof deflector
Stickers: Lots of stickers on the sides, my favorite is American Gunslinger which is a digital print of a watercolor my wife painted, she is the WildWildWestArt.com on the side. This keeps it from looking like the typical white wheeling 80s.
69 FJ55 4 wheel drive emblem, 100 series lift gate emblems
Rock lights in various spots under truck
Custom 2.5” pipe center dump exhaust by Discount Performance Muffler with resonator
INTERIOR SPECS:
Factory Cloth Interior Driver seat has no rips or tears.
Center console has a custom cushion on the top of it, done by previous owner and I love it
Console is actually out of my 91 as I modified it for the changer and just swapped them out.
1000 watt power invertor mounted under DS front seat
Sony Xplod CD receiver with MP3 Changer controls and 10 disc MP3 changer, each CD has about 120 songs changer is mounted in the center console. Also has an aux input for computer, DVD player, Ipod
Speakers: Front and Rear doors Infinity Reference 6.5” rear required spacers, I like that the silver ring on the grills matches the door panel trim
3 Cigarette lighter plug ins mounted below a Radio Shack CB w/ PA and Weather functions
Weather proof AC outlets mounted next to High Low Shifter which are connected to the Power invertor another outlet is mounted in the PS rear panel where the ash tray orignally mounted for the 3rd row
Osram Flex Head Map Light
Garmin GPS 5, External Antenna, MapSouce Software and Gateway computer
Accessories are hard wired to a 6 fuse panel mounted on the DS kick panel. It has a fusible link and heavy guage wire running to it.
Does have the 3rd row seats in storage
Rear panels are also from my 91, rear pouch removed from PS so I can store more junk between the panel and the body. They are hammered. I have an idea for a custom panel. I just haven’t had time to mount it.
Rear shelf which will someday be a rear drawer system. This allows you to fold the 2nd row seats and have a decent sized sleeping area and it just so happens one of our pop camper matteresses fits in there perfect and is also covered in grey velour.
Center diff lock switch and 7 pin mod
Wood 4 high/low shifter (I have a couple of these available for $30) My uncle makes them each is unique
7 pin trailer wiring kept in rear DS access panel, it keeps it out of mud and from getting broken
FUTURE MODS:
Remove the rest of the of the gold trim, front Toyota symbol will be done in glow in the dark white lettering, Note: Repainting the grill with Charcoal Rustoleum Metallic paint looks very nice.
Add 60 series side emblems, I had them on prior to the stickering
Build front bumper, maybe a stinger. My 91 bumper had a stinger at one time but I removed it because Id didn’t like it
Install winch, add winch contols to dash using factory switches in the two blank spots furthest left. Extra ETC switch will turn the winch on and off and a power antenna switch will handle the in and out duties
Laptop mount
New center console
PA speaker under hood for CB
Add 1” hoops to rear sides of bumper
Gears should I decide not to go diesel 4.88s
Aisan Hubs
Someday Longfields
Thicker tubed rear control arms
Dual batteries in custom tray in factory DS location
Big Lights, I miss my Hella 4000s
Paint fire engine grellow
Find a 45 wagon specific emblem to add somewhere, I want an emblem of every Cruiser wagon on my 80.
Finish drawer system and rear side panels with access doors
More stickers Send me your LC club sticker!
TRAILS: This isn’t a mall Cruiser!
Rusty Nail, Pritchett, Hell’s Revenge, Golden Spike, Metal Masher, Steel Bender, Carnage Canyon Idaho, Meatgrinder, Lost Trail, Top Ripper, Bulldozer and someday the Rubicon! Plus lots of unnamed trails.
MOTOS: “dents are like tattoos but with better stories” Every dent I’ve put in a rig has a story to it and most of the stories are better than the stories folks have about their tattoos.
“real environmentalists don’t pave roads” this is the truth. Paved roads are poisonous! The leach toxins into our environment. If we did not have a paved road system people would not drive so much which further deteriorates the world. I prefer to take the unpaved road in this adventure we call life.
OTHER CRUISERS: I learned to drive in a 78 FJ55 when I was 10 or 11. But it took many years for me to get my first Cruiser of my own. I dabbled with Toyota pickups for awhile before going back to my wagon roots. First Cruiser: 1985 FJ60 350TBI custom bumpers and sliders, snorkel, h55f, Ranger Underdrive, ARB etc… 76 FJ40 bone stock needed resto but complete and good body. 83 BJ60, died of Canadian Cancer. 69 55 basket case turned into a parts truck, 74 40 baset case burned in rear started parting, sold it, and now I bought it back to build, 76 40 302 Holley injection, SOA, 36” Irocks blah blah blah was built by Cruiser Ken. That rig was instrumental in me deciding to build this 80 to wheel. I realized there was no space in a 40 for all the junk and if I was going to have a 40 I also needed a tow rig. One day in the hot sun doing 220 miles was enough for me. 78 40 project truck, Maybe extended body on an 80 frame using 80 drivetrain and suspension? Also in the mix in there was another 94 FZJ80 and more recently a 94 80 series parts truck.
CLUBS: TLCA, charter member of NW Cruisers. Lone Star Land Cruisers Associate, Tornado Alley Cruisers, and Wild West Off Road (multimake local club, but 3 80 series members
) Currently I’m the MSVP for TLCA.
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