RiverCityDave
SILVER Star
2 Years ago almost to the day I bought my 80 Series after three months of looking. I actually found it on here, bought it from a member, flew to Utah and drove it home.
Us by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
I had looked at twenty or more, and amazingly the trucks I found here in Texas that should have been garage queens were generally more beaters. I guess a generation had passed and most of the garage queens had upgraded to 100 series. Out west though it was a different story, in snow bound Colorado and Utah I found them constantly in great mechanical and cosmetic condition, which really surprised me.
IMG_1355 by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
I wasn't dead set on having lockers, as I don't mind ARBs and honestly, Im not doing much crawling, its mostly for hauling my herd to Big Bend, or SPI.
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
When I bought it (145,000 miles) the PO had taken great care of it, and had installed an ARB front winch bumper and Roof Rack (which was worth the price alone) as well as a good set of 285s. There have only been two POs, the original who apparently used it to mall crawl in Vegas, and the guy I bought it from. The PO had just completed the head gasket, and PHH, as well as running AMSOIL in all the right places. The things known wrong when I bought it were a leaking upper oil pan gasket, the A/C wouldn't come on, (though clearly the compressor was fine and the system was tight), the right front BIRF is clicking a little at full lock, and the brakes were getting on toward service limit.
Immediately I did the front and rear pads and flushed the brake fluid, as well as taking it to my local trusted mechanic (Chelseas if you're local to Austin, I think he might be the last honest mechanic I know) who fixed the AC in about twenty minutes. It turned out to be a plug on the compressor wiring, the PO noted that the A/C worked fine til he did the head gasket, so most likely someone just pulled it out of the connector. He rewired the connector, replaced the belt tensioner, belt, and recharged the system for 120.00 including trouble shooting time.
Over the course of the next two years, I've replaced the rear pads again, the power brake booster, fuel filter, and plugs. We've taken four trips to SPI, driven it all over central Texas, and put another 65,000 miles on it. I've changed the oil 6 times, put a new set of tires on it, (Falken Rocky Mountain 285s),
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
and as of right now, Im 99% sure the head gasket is about to kick the bucket again. Im not sure why it would fail again so soon, but Im down on compression in Cyl 6, and its weeping oil and coolant around the back side of it.
In a few weeks Im buying the wife a new
car, (she's been driving mine since the Rover kicked the bucket) and I'm going to tear into the head to see whats up.
As far as cost of operation, no joke, its expensive to operate, though the cost is primarily fuel. I get about 12 MPG and thats about 5600 gallons of gas, at roughly 3.75 a gallon is simple math, Im at about 20,000 dollars worth of fuel. The tires were 800.00, 240.00 worth of oil changes, then about another 200.00 worth of top up gallons (it marks its spot for sure.) 20.00 for the filter, plugs were 20.00, pads 85.00, (turned rotors for 20.00,) So if we only look at what Uncle T costs me, its not bad at all. Once we factor in all the dead dinosaurs, its a different story altogether. The bottom line is I've spent
6500.00 (purchase price)
20,000.00 (fuel)
440.00 (oil)
800.00 (tires)
200.00 (miscellaneous parts)
220.00 (per year for insurance)
28,380.00 (total cost)
I'm sure there are other little things I've bought, but thats pretty close to a TCO.
Right now, as I said I'm staring down another HG (I'm expecting around 1500.00 total so I can do valves, hoses, etc all at the same time)
once thats done, Im going to bed line the entire truck (Al's in grey for the record) I'm budgeting 500.00 for that total including pads for sanding etc, tape etc.
I want to re tint the front windows with something modern (100.00)
and then I plan to lift it, (3 inch Slee's) 800.00
The other things that will eventually find their way on are an on board hot water system, a dual swing out rear bumper, and honestly, thats about it. Im not interested in an RTT, or anything like that. I may look at a re power in a few years, a Vortec most likely, 18mpg and some real horsepower would be nice.
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
This isn't really a build thread, its just an experience thread. I'm interested in other folks stories with their Cruisers. And for the record, no, it isn't, nor will it be for sale.
Us by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
I had looked at twenty or more, and amazingly the trucks I found here in Texas that should have been garage queens were generally more beaters. I guess a generation had passed and most of the garage queens had upgraded to 100 series. Out west though it was a different story, in snow bound Colorado and Utah I found them constantly in great mechanical and cosmetic condition, which really surprised me.
IMG_1355 by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
I wasn't dead set on having lockers, as I don't mind ARBs and honestly, Im not doing much crawling, its mostly for hauling my herd to Big Bend, or SPI.
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
When I bought it (145,000 miles) the PO had taken great care of it, and had installed an ARB front winch bumper and Roof Rack (which was worth the price alone) as well as a good set of 285s. There have only been two POs, the original who apparently used it to mall crawl in Vegas, and the guy I bought it from. The PO had just completed the head gasket, and PHH, as well as running AMSOIL in all the right places. The things known wrong when I bought it were a leaking upper oil pan gasket, the A/C wouldn't come on, (though clearly the compressor was fine and the system was tight), the right front BIRF is clicking a little at full lock, and the brakes were getting on toward service limit.
Immediately I did the front and rear pads and flushed the brake fluid, as well as taking it to my local trusted mechanic (Chelseas if you're local to Austin, I think he might be the last honest mechanic I know) who fixed the AC in about twenty minutes. It turned out to be a plug on the compressor wiring, the PO noted that the A/C worked fine til he did the head gasket, so most likely someone just pulled it out of the connector. He rewired the connector, replaced the belt tensioner, belt, and recharged the system for 120.00 including trouble shooting time.
Over the course of the next two years, I've replaced the rear pads again, the power brake booster, fuel filter, and plugs. We've taken four trips to SPI, driven it all over central Texas, and put another 65,000 miles on it. I've changed the oil 6 times, put a new set of tires on it, (Falken Rocky Mountain 285s),
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
and as of right now, Im 99% sure the head gasket is about to kick the bucket again. Im not sure why it would fail again so soon, but Im down on compression in Cyl 6, and its weeping oil and coolant around the back side of it.
In a few weeks Im buying the wife a new
car, (she's been driving mine since the Rover kicked the bucket) and I'm going to tear into the head to see whats up. As far as cost of operation, no joke, its expensive to operate, though the cost is primarily fuel. I get about 12 MPG and thats about 5600 gallons of gas, at roughly 3.75 a gallon is simple math, Im at about 20,000 dollars worth of fuel. The tires were 800.00, 240.00 worth of oil changes, then about another 200.00 worth of top up gallons (it marks its spot for sure.) 20.00 for the filter, plugs were 20.00, pads 85.00, (turned rotors for 20.00,) So if we only look at what Uncle T costs me, its not bad at all. Once we factor in all the dead dinosaurs, its a different story altogether. The bottom line is I've spent
6500.00 (purchase price)
20,000.00 (fuel)
440.00 (oil)
800.00 (tires)
200.00 (miscellaneous parts)
220.00 (per year for insurance)
28,380.00 (total cost)
I'm sure there are other little things I've bought, but thats pretty close to a TCO.
Right now, as I said I'm staring down another HG (I'm expecting around 1500.00 total so I can do valves, hoses, etc all at the same time)
once thats done, Im going to bed line the entire truck (Al's in grey for the record) I'm budgeting 500.00 for that total including pads for sanding etc, tape etc.
I want to re tint the front windows with something modern (100.00)
and then I plan to lift it, (3 inch Slee's) 800.00
The other things that will eventually find their way on are an on board hot water system, a dual swing out rear bumper, and honestly, thats about it. Im not interested in an RTT, or anything like that. I may look at a re power in a few years, a Vortec most likely, 18mpg and some real horsepower would be nice.
Untitled by Красный Октябрь, on Flickr
This isn't really a build thread, its just an experience thread. I'm interested in other folks stories with their Cruisers. And for the record, no, it isn't, nor will it be for sale.
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