Builds 40 Guy Builds a 100 Series (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 8, 2003
Threads
341
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6,209
Location
Bozeman, MT
I thought it was fitting to start a build thread as today marks 15 years since my 100 series was driven home off the lot from the new owners... September 13, 1999 with a whopping 55 miles on the odometer. I just found the original registration in the glove box. It's got a few more now. I bought the cruiser a few weeks ago and have been cleaning it up, base lining the maintenance and driving it daily.

I bought the 100 series after searching for a clean 60/62 turned out to be a tougher than i thought. I was finding nice clean 60s and 62s but they are starting to fetch big money. That and the fact tht I wanted to swap in a V8 and the platform quickly became expensive. Once reality set in on the 60/62 search, I had to decide between the amazing 80 and 100 series. Everyone knows the 80 is perhaps Toyota's all time best off road machine out of the box. But since I already have a lifted FJ40 with 35s' and since clean/locked 80's are getting tougher to find, we decided that the 100 series fit our family of 5 perfectly. Our main goals with this cruiser are hauling the family on camping adventures, touring the western national parks, family road trips and sloshing the ski gear to the mountiains during our ski seasons.

I'll document my build along the way, for now I am cleaning it up, addressing the few issues that I know exist, and driving it.

Here's where I am coming from, I've daily driven my 40 for over 15 years and I am just the second owner. I built the trailer for camping, back country adventures and hunting. You can see the whole build thread in my sig line.

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And here is our new to us 100 Series...
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And here it sits 4 years later... current in Sept 2018.
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Rock River Green Mica with tan leather interior, it snowed yesterday here in Denver and I enjoyed the heated leather seats tremendously. :D
 
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The Plan:

Overall this is a backup minivan in our family ;) That said, its going to be a lifted well equipped minivan that has great on road manners and enhanced offroad capability. In general I don't want to compromise the nice ride of the 100 all while improving how far we can go into the back country. I'd like to be able to take this truck to Devils Kitchen in Canyonlands... that's about as hardcore as it needs to be... However, I want the ride to be nice there and back too.

Lightweight. I hope to keep an eye to lightweight whenever possible and practical.

First Phase: Clean up, and Maintenance.
  • Overall the truck is good shape, was garaged and not abused.
  • Clean up was/is needed on the interior leather, engine bay, and wheels. (DONE)
  • Recondition the leather (DONE)
  • Swap out the hoses for the radiator and do the PM on the heater "T"s.
  • Figure out how to beat the caked on brake dust on the wheels. (DONE)
  • Add Weather tech floor liners (DONE)
  • Replace the antenna with a working unit. (DONE)
Suspension, Wheels and Tires:
  • OME and Slee 2.5" lift (DONE) Old Man Emu 2.5 Heavy with 864's
  • 33" tires either on the factory 16" or Tundra 18"s (Which tire I'm not sure, leaning towads the BFG ATs) (DONE 18" Tundras and 35" BFG KO2)
  • Slee Diff drop (DONE)
  • Added Bora Motor Sports 1.25" spacers on all 4 corners (DONE)
Bumpers, Sliders and Armor:
  • In order to stay light weight I'll likely only build bumpers if needed. (DONE)
  • I would like a tire carrier so I may go with a lightweight rear bumper and carrier.(DONE) Slee Centered Tire carrier
  • I'll build some skid plates before next wheeling season.
  • First up for armor, I'll weld up some step sliders. (DONE) Went with Slee sliders
Interior Mods:
  • Clean and condition the leather (DONE)
  • Weather Tech floor liners (love them!) (DONE)
  • Add a GPS Bluetooth CD system... likely the Alpine w900bt (DONE)
  • Tint the front windows (DONE)
  • I'm going to try my hand at building lightweight drawers/fridge slide. (DONE)
  • Add one of the OBD2 Diagnostic devices, scan-gauge, iPhone app or similar. (DONE)
  • Ham Radio install (DONE)
  • Replace all the wood grained interior pieces (I got a kit with the Cruiser from the PO)
  • Maybe rewrap the leather steering wheel. (DONE)
Electrical:
  • Hard-wire for my fridge. (DONE)
  • USB ports for front and rear passengers. (DONE)
  • Auxiliary fuse block (Blue Sea) (DONE) I have two aux panels now.
  • LED cargo lighting for drawers
  • Dual batteries if deemed needed. (DONE)
  • Solar panel for the roof rack to run the fridge while camping. (in progress)
  • Hella 4000s up front. Maybe I'll try the new light bars but so far I've not been impressed for the cost. (DONE)
  • Hella matador rear work light if I build a tire carrier. (DONE) Went LED Hella (In progress went with KC Hilight)
Misc Accessories:
  • Winch (maybe hidden behind factory bumper) (DONE)
  • Snorkel (DONE)
  • Roof rack (DONE) (built a one off homemade rack).
  • Fuel tank. I'd love to add an extended range fuel tank but I'll need to do a bit more research before deciding.
  • RTT I may add one for camping but we will likely go with a pop up for the family instead... since I can get a loaded pop up for about the same price ;):eek:
I hope to build this thing up slow and steady as time and funds allow. I've been making 300 mile trips for work each week lately and the 100 drives so nice on the highway that I want to make sure I don't kill the on road performance and the gas mileage I am getting which has been 16mpg.
 
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First order of business was to clean the Cruiser up. There are no leaks, no issues, just dust and grime from the miles on road. I hit it up with Purple Power cleaner stuff and went to town. I pulled the engine cover off and scrubbed for a while, it needs another round of cleaning and scrubbing but I am holding off until I can get a hold of a pressure washer.

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There was a lot of corrosion on and around the battery. I had Robbie (its not bad having the Toyota Trails Tech editor in your backyard ;) ) look the Cruiser over before purchasing it and we were both a little concerned about the the corrosion present but I took some time and cleaned it all up.

I took off the clamp to find the corrosion had worked its way down the radiator support mount and was actually starting to eat the paint... not good. So, I pulled the clamp and inspected it to find the underside nearly packed solid with crusty corrosion. So I decided to clean it up by tossing it into a jar of water and baking soda and letting it sit for an hour or so and it all dissolved away. From there I cleaned up the battery tray, battery terminals and posts. Put it all back together and it is all working as it should.

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That actually cleaned it all up. I hit the exposed metal and the battery hold down with some of the Rustoleum spray rubber stuff that is like plastidip and it came out great. I did forget the after pics. I'll track them down as I think I took them on my phone.
 
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Next I started working on the leather. Overall it was in good shape, no rips, tears, deep scratches etc just greasy and dirty. I started to watch some good vids on YouTube about restoring leather seats and used some of the tricks I picked up along the way. There is nothing hard about getting your seats to like new again, just some patience and elbow grease.

I used Mothers Leather products exclusively for no other reason than they were on the shelf at my local Wally world. I used two products, the Leather Tech Foam and the Leather Cream moisturizer. I have to say, I am uber-impressed.

All I did was:
  • Vacuum thoroughly, paying attention to the seams and getting all the junk out.
  • Wipe them down with a warm micro-fiber cloth (that I steamed with my wifes drapery steamer).
  • Apply the leather foam cleaner.
  • Brushed it in with the shoe polish brush until the suds became contaminiated. You can actually see the suds go from bright white to grey/brown as it starts to lift up the dirt and grime. Once you see the foam get dirty just wipe it way with a microfiber cloth.
  • Let it dry. (Overnight for me)
  • Repeat the foam cleaner again working about one leather panel at a time.
  • Let it dry.
  • Rub the conditioner in like wax and buff it off before it drys.
  • Simple.
For as easy as it was the back seat probably took me about 2-3 hours of scrubbing each little section at a time. Here are some before and afters for your view pleasure...

The Products I used: Mothers Leather Tech and Leather Cream
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Here is the condition of the seats in the back before I started...
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And here is a before and after line I made with some painters tape so you could get an idea of how much grime was actually coming off the seats. The coolest part is these products really gave the leather their "softness" back. They feel like fine glove leather instead of the previous heavy "saddle" leather feel. They are supple and soft to the touch now... again, I'm impressed.
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Here's a few more of the leather cleaning and conditioning...
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More before from the other side of the car.
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It is hard to capture in pics but this is a good before/after shot of the "cracks and creases" that soften once you clean them up and condition the leather. Both these seats looked the same and the fine lines start to come out as you condition the leather, its really cool to see and feel.
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Ahhh, soft clean leather, and the completed rear seats...
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You'll love the 100 for your intended purpose. Having had a 60 and an 80, this is by far the best highway/offroad combination. Love the other trucks for what they are, but for making road trips, this one is head and shoulders above them.
 
Welcome to the 100 series side. I had a fj62 and I have to say that it was a really nice truck but after I picked my 98 a few months back and I really like it. The V8 power is just amazing.
 
Nice 100! I have read your trailer build more than once. Beautiful work!
 
Got a little time to tackle base lining my paint today. I gave the 100 a thorough wash, then before waxing it up I tried one of the Meguiars Clay Bar kits... I was shocked at how much stuff it pulled off the paint. This pic is of the clay after one pass over the hood, it really cleans up the paint and makes the wax shine even more. I'll get a good daylight pic of the "fresh from the spa” paint in the morning, it was dark when I wrapped up.

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I put a Blue Sea 6 circuit fuse block and a Blue Sea USB port in the rear of my 100. I also installed Anderson Powerpoles for my fridge. It is kind of tough to find the clearance behind the panels so my advice is 'measure twice, cut once'. It all works great though.

**edit** Well I've been trying to post a pic but I can't seem to make it happen. I've done it before but there is either a glitch with the new iOS 8 or with Mud.
 
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Feeling good about where the paint is. I have a few chips to address and a few scratches as well, once I knock those out I'll have the Cruiser polished. I always feel mo' betta about getting a good base of quality wax on the paint as it helps with the day to day junk that falls on it
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Paint and interior look awesome, nice work!
 
Thanks man, I'll knock out a few interior things next, then its on to hoses, fluids, and cleaning the undercarriage. Once I get it base lined, then the fun begins. I scored a set of Metal Tech sliders for a deal too good to pass up on so those will go on before too long as well.
 
I've been through 5 sets of BFG TAs on 80/100 and mini truck.

My newest 100 Series tires are the Toyo Open Country AT IIs...and I love them. You can't go wrong with BFG, but if you can't wait for the newly designed AT KO2s, take a serious look at the Toyos.

You managed to grab one of my top 2 color combos that the 100 Series (LC) was made in...River Rock over tan...I'm also a sucker for the Bronze.

Love to see established Cruiser guys moving into 100 Series...subscribed.
 
Got a big, time intensive, laborious mod installed today Weather Tech Floor Liners ;)

Actually, I think they are one of the simplest additions that really keep your cruiser looking good. Here in Colorado between the muck and grime of the mud season, or the slosh of snow, these liners are awesome at collecting it all and are easy to clean. I just ordered the mid piece for the middle row of seats but I won't use the rear cargo mat since I am planning on drawers down the road. If you don't have a set of these, they're the first thing I buy for any new vehicle in our home. I have 3 kids that prove their worth constantly! :D

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Hey Drew - 100 series is looking great! I think it was a very wise choice for you and the family.

Brett
 
Got a big, time intensive, laborious mod installed today Weather Tech Floor Liners ;)

Actually, I think they are one of the simplest additions that really keep your cruiser looking good. Here in Colorado between the muck and grime of the mud season, or the slosh of snow, these liners are awesome at collecting it all and are easy to clean. I just ordered the mid piece for the middle row of seats but I won't use the rear cargo mat since I am planning on drawers down the road. If you don't have a set of these, they're the first thing I buy for any new vehicle in our home. I have 3 kids that prove their worth constantly! :D


Nice! Got a set ordered up myself, and tracking shows that FedEx drops them off for me tomorrow! I have two boys aged 9 and 6 that pushed me to get these right away.
 

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