Builds $500 1992 FJ80 "Eyesore" Rebuild (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 27, 2022
Threads
1
Messages
100
Location
Arkansas
Greetings. I haven't posted on a forum in quite some time, but am finding social media and FB groups to not be ideal for keeping track of chronological work & build details. So what better place to post up this "rebuild" than here?

My husband and I picked up this 1992 FJ80 in April of this year. It wasn't a planned purchase, but kind of fell into our laps and we couldn't say "no". Funny story: my coworker was showing me Ring footage of her teenage son busting his rear on the ice when a car in the background of the video caught my eye. She had previously told me about her neighbor's car that had been sitting for the past few years, but never gave any details. She commonly referred to it as "the eyesore". Turns out, it was an 80 series Land Cruiser that was parked. I asked for pics & details and about a month later we were waiting for a tow truck at her neighbor's place to bring it to its new home. The seller let it go for $500 and a request for updates as we progressed.

It sat for at least 2 years and needs a lot of work. It had three failed window regulators and the affected windows were not fully closed. The driver's window was all the way down, leaving the seat and that side of the interior exposed to the elements. Someone had swapped out the stock wheels for unknown aftermarket 15x8 wheels and eventually the 31" tires dry rotted & refused to hold air. The hood release cable was frayed and finally snapped once we got it home. The shocks are blown and someone disconnected the steering damper at some point - tucking it out of the way with baling wire. The passenger front fender collected a sign at some point, so the corner light is missing & front bumper tweaked. And the cherry on top: the previous owner wasn't mechanically inclined, but preferred to use the rear tailgate as his wood working bench. So we've been finding wood screws used throughout the interior.

With that said, it has 269K miles. The exterior is a nice looking two-tone combo, but the interior had some interesting details: manual seats with leather and unique (but sadly trashed) door panels that I haven't seen elsewhere. The body exterior and frame are spotless - not a speck of rust. AutoCheck shows it was originally from Austin, TX and spent most of it's time between there & central Arkansas.

Pics from the day we got it:

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:clap: what a great back story!
Welcome to MUD.
That's a project right there, but all the parts you mentioned are available and not overly expensive either.
looking forward to watching the work progress. :popcorn:

Personally, I'd start with a full base line maintenance.
If its liquid, change it.
If its rubber replace it.
If there's a grease fitting, grease it.

After that the truck will let you know what it needs. They are relatively simple beasties with big parts that are easy to get too. Well... except the fuel filter, that's a biotch to get at!
 
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Thanks for the replies. We're midway through "baselining" it and it's already showing improvements.

From here I'll document some of the details on refreshing & rebuilding this thing. The initial idea was to fix & flip it since we already have a number of car projects and are saving up to buy a house. However, after spending more time learning about the 80 series and seeing the wide range of parts availability - both OEM and aftermarket - it has us reconsidering the roles within our small "fleet". We'll see how we feel after it's running/driving and has put in some miles.

First thing after getting it home was getting it cleaned out, the interior cleaned up, and sealing up the open windows until the first order of parts came in. Springtime in this state means frequent heavy downpours.

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Aside from the door panels & front seats, the interior cleaned up rather nicely.
 
Ah, that limit on attached photos is going to make this interesting. I'll try to consolidate info into posts with more of the important things pictured.

Anyway, pics of the cleaned up interior below. A bit of Goo Gone and scrubbing helped to remove the bit of sticker and random accessory adhesive left on the dash. A plush microfiber and interior detailer helped to conquer the residual dust/dirt/mold spores that had accumulated on the vinyl over time. If that comes back I have some Sporicidin leftover from a previous project that should knock it out.

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First few orders of parts came in so we did the following:

"Tune up"
New battery
Oil change w/ new filter
New Toyota distributor rotor & cap - anyone need a new OEM distributor cap for their 93+ 1FZ 80 series?
Spark plugs
Plug wires
Fuel filter - it was a biotch!
PCV valve & new hose
Cleaned the air filter
Drained & refilled coolant
Emptied StopLeak "mud" out of the coolant reservoir & cleaned it before topping it off with fresh coolant

Body:
New driver door handle - the old one was broken & sharp
New hood struts
Replaced the 3 bad window regulators & motors
Cleaned & dry lubricated the sliding quarter window tracks & seals
Cleaned & reattached the lower window glass supports - hair spray & tension does wonders!

We got in touch with a semi-local guy who was clearing out parts for his family's Land Cruiser business. We ended up meeting him to pick up new door panels, passenger sun visor, and some items for a friend. After talking with him, it turned out he bought my uncle's FJ55 a few years ago. Small world! We also scored a set of 17" first gen Sequoia wheels nearby for cheap ($100). So that opened up more tire options for us.

After this first push, we took a month-long break to focus on family, household projects, & go on a previously planned Colorado trip. I'll only post one pic since we took our [unconventional] Jeep, but highly recommend the Alpine Loop if anyone is in the southwestern region of Colorado. Hopefully next time we can take the Land Cruiser.
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Our trip to Colorado was a blast. We went with our neighbors in their first gen Sequoia & some friends in their 3rd gen 4Runner. Our planned route took us through Ouray, Lake City, Silverton, Telluride, and more. I think in the end we completed 6 passes along the way: beautiful scenery.

Getting back to work on the Land Cruiser meant getting it started for the first time. I'll spare you the video, but it started with what sounded like a number of vacuum leaks - something was creating a loud & piercing whistle that matched rpms - unhappy lifter/valve noise, and a steady stream of coolant coming from the water pump. It didn't want to idle either. While disassembling engine accessories we also found that the power steering pump bracket was broken. Someone had overtightened tension and broke the ear off one side (!).

There was also no brake fluid left in the master cylinder. The PO told us he had issues with the brakes beforehand, so this wasn't a surprise.

Cue the second round of parts orders:
Water pump
Thermostat & gasket
Coolant hoses
Assorted vacuum hoses
Power steering pump
Idler pulley bearings - new 6301NSE bearings were going to take a month to arrive from China
TLC Performance desmog kit & accessories
GM VC120 charcoal canister
New brake booster
New master cylinder

I've also had a steadily growing wish list on Partsouq and got notice that a few parts were back in stock. So it was time to order a few more things for the body:

Front, rear, & quarter belt moldings - that darn rear LH one ended up being NLA again. Next time!
Front & rear window weather strip seals
Hood release cable - Serra Toyota's website wanted $300 freight shipping for this part (lol)
New lug nuts (not from Partsouq)

Our Colorado off-roading experience shined light on the fact that we needed different sized tires on our Jeep to avoid damage from rubbing. So my husband was happy to order his preferred "pizza cutter" tires for it. I was happy we could move those 285/75r17 tires to the Sequoia wheels we picked up.

I had previously read on here about needing spacers for the higher offset Sequoia wheels to clear the front hubs and opted for a set from my preferred vendor: Precision European Motorwerks. I've bought 4-5 sets of hub-centric spacers from them over the past decade & have always been happy with the results. After getting a set & finding there were issues clearing the bolts on the inner face of the hubs, I realized my mistake: 91-92 (and maybe later years) are lug-centric vs hub-centric. So I got a refund & sent those back. Turns out the Sequioia wheels fit without them. They just look mildly sunken - oh well.

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Almost caught up.

Things were slow over the next month and a half. The Land Cruiser doesn't fit in our garage, so our motivation & time to work on it outside with 100* heat and high humidity was limited. Busy schedules also seem to rob us of those cooler opportunities.

Our latest big push was this past weekend. All the parts to get the engine bay wrapped up came in and the order from Partsouq took two days to get here after some expected delays. We opted to double team the car: him getting the engine accessories reassembled, tidied up, & fluids refilled while I tackled the interior & body.

We had a roll of 4mil visqueen from another project that I used to trace & cut new vapor barriers to go behind the door panels. I had also previously ordered some 3/8" butyl rope that I stretched out to reattach the vapor barriers. As expected, there were maybe a handful of the original plastic interior clips to reattach the door panels, so I tracked down the OEM part number to an aftermarket supplier & ordered a set of 100 for approx $11. Downside is the stem on those ended up being about 0.5mm too big in diameter, but they fit after test fitting each one a few times - ouch!

After transferring the arm rests/door pulls and any missing panel bolts to the "new" door panels, along with installing the new weather strip seals and panel clips, they were ready to go on the doors. Then I moved on to removing the old scratchy belt moldings (except that pesky rear left one) and getting the new molding installed. We had previously installed aftermarket side mirrors, so this was a pretty easy job.

We had previously bought some simple seat covers and materials to level out the blown out driver seat base: outdoor-rated high density chair foam with a little adhesive spray adds a bit of reclaimed cushion and protects from any small metal rods in the seat poking through. The foam sheet ended up being the perfect size for the seat base and doesn't stand out with the seat cover installed. It's not a solution we particularly care for, but it's temporary until we can get some use out of this thing. My plan is to rebuild the front seats with new foam base, back, and leather skins from Lseat if we still have the Land Cruiser in the spring.

By the time I wrapped up the interior, husband had finished things in the engine bay and it was time to try starting it again. Quite the success: no leaks and it idles on its own. The idle does slowly drop little by little to about 500rpms once warm, so I suspect the TPS needs adjustment. It also sounds like a valve adjustment needs to be done as well: the top end sounds like a small diesel.



So now we're waiting on a few more parts to be delivered before moving onto the next step:

Passenger window switch - found the dud
KYB Monomax shocks
New steering damper
Marlin Crawler front axle service kit
New front corner lights - I could only find clear housings. If anyone has an extra OEM passenger side they're willing to sell, PM me.
New main fusible link (the one next to the battery)
Valve cover gasket & grommets
Rear LH door belt molding (fingers crossed!)
Washer nozzles & new hose

We have a tentative trip planned for the Land Cruiser. It may be optimistic depending on how things go over the next month, but we're hopeful to drive it out to a Halloween camping trip on some family property deep in the woods. Getting to the spot means crossing the nearby creek nine times. We'll see how things go - we both want to get some miles on the Land Cruiser around town before risking such a trip, even with a support vehicle or two for company.

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While you have the valve cover off, I highly recommend soaking it in some kind of solvent or having it hot tanked by a local shop. I had an oil consumption issue that didn't make sense and it turned out to be plugged baffles in my valve cover. My PCV valve was sucking oil into the intake at an alarming rate. I only figured it out after I installed a catch can.
 
Wow, you two have been really "gittin' 'er done".
I think its wonderful you and your husband are working as team on the new rig.
My bride likes to go to the pick and pull with me and rummage around for interesting bits.
 
Same paint scheme as my first one! My parents that I learned to drive in (sort of my first one) was the darker blue at the bottom.
 
Wow, you two have been really "gittin' 'er done".
I think its wonderful you and your husband are working as team on the new rig.
My bride likes to go to the pick and pull with me and rummage around for interesting bits.

That's great you've got someone who will accompany you on the salvage yard searches! Ironically one of our first dates was to a salvage yard.

We've had plenty of practice working together on a few other project cars. He does more of the mechanical work while I source reference materials, parts, and take care of the interior/exterior.

Same paint scheme as my first one! My parents that I learned to drive in (sort of my first one) was the darker blue at the bottom.

It's a great looking two-tone color scheme. I can only imagine how nice it must look on one with better condition paint.

While you have the valve cover off, I highly recommend soaking it in some kind of solvent or having it hot tanked by a local shop. I had an oil consumption issue that didn't make sense and it turned out to be plugged baffles in my valve cover. My PCV valve was sucking oil into the intake at an alarming rate. I only figured it out after I installed a catch can.

Good call! I've added that to the "to do" list.

Small update:

Husband was still feeling motivated & had some spare time the other night. In the fading daylight he got the old brake master cylinder & rusty booster off. The master cylinder actually looked fairly new, except someone cross-threaded a random bolt into the bottom of it. Not really a surprise that all the fluid leaked out. New booster went in with minimal fuss - still looked like an uncomfortable PITA for anyone other than a contortionist to install. The new master cylinder will need to be bench bled before install. Gives us more room to clean up & work around the shock tower in the meantime.

KYB Monomax shocks came in and I saw a shipping confirmation from Partsouq in my email this morning. Looks like the rear left belt molding made it on the order this time (yay!). Sounds like most of the parts should be in by early next week. We'll be busy through the rest of this week and the weekend with a car event & family time. Weather next week looks to still be sunny & a bit cooler (low 80s vs this week's mid-90s) so work should be getting started on suspension next.

Stay tuned and have a great weekend!
 
Please keep us updated when you can! I'm new here and have a 91 with 228K miles, and have some window motor issues as well. Let me know know how that goes.
 
It's a fresh week and we're feeling optimistic about the Land Cruiser's progress. Fingers crossed that continues!

The latest Partsouq order came in and everything was there. So I got that last belt molding swapped in: it looks a lot better now.

The new guy at the local parts store mixed up our order for feeler gauges, so we made do with a cheaper set they had in stock. Gauge sizes were the same, so it works for both the Land Cruiser & our 280Z's valve adjustments. Husband worked half days on Thursday & Friday, so he had time to adjust the valves and clean up the valve cover. He also cleaned the throttle body, adjusted the extra slack out of the throttle cable, and installed a new fusible link & battery connector.

The engine's top end was a bit dark and there was some sludge buildup toward the back of the engine. But that's not a surprise at 269K miles with questionable service by prior owners. It currently has synthetic 10w30, which we'll change again after putting some miles on it around town.

Either way, it looks & sounds a lot better now with everything back together.

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Oops. Linked the wrong video in the above post. Looks like I don't have enough posts to edit at this time. So here's the correct video:



Saturday morning we were able to get three of the new KYB Monomax shocks on. The old master cylinder had leaked brake fluid onto the driver's side shock tower, so it needed some TLC before getting the new shock in. The paint on the shock tower and part of the control arm below was peeling, but surprisingly the metal underneath was clean & not rusty. So that all cleaned up easily & a coat of black Rustoleum paint was sprayed for a layer of protection. We got that done in time to let it cure before going to our twin nieces' birthday party.

By Sunday afternoon it was all dry and ready for the last shock to go in. We were pleasantly surprised with the Land Cruiser's new "stance". The new shocks appear to have lifted it slightly vs the old blown stuff. Suspension damping is also much stiffer. This should help reduce the feeling of a land yacht floating down the road.

Husband has today off, so he's sending me updates as he buttons up a few more things. New steering stabilizer & mounting bracket are on and getting the new brake master cylinder mounted & brakes bled will be next.

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