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:
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: