Build $500 1992 FJ80 Rebuild

[MrMikeyG]

Having spent the money to fully refurbish the rear quarter windows, if I can't fix the current leak, I'm going gull-wing. It's way too much of a p.i.t.a and time suck back there to keep messing with them. I think the only true really good use case for the sliders is if one has a couple of dogs riding along the majority of the time. (or passengers in the 3rd row).

 

[pace it]

That looks like fun!

Despite all the rain, it was a great trip. And of course the added benefit of the mud & water crossings is a bonus.

May I suggest swapping out solid windows instead of the split ones? It takes some doing to get the glass and the gaskets, but I really like the results and I don't miss the sliding windows.

This is certainly a consideration. Especially if (when?) we end up with more expedition-style accessories down the road.

Having spent the money to fully refurbish the rear quarter windows, if I can't fix the current leak, I'm going gull-wing. It's way too much of a p.i.t.a and time suck back there to keep messing with them. I think the only true really good use case for the sliders is if one has a couple of dogs riding along the majority of the time. (or passengers in the 3rd row).

That's our primary reason: the dog rides in the back. The added ventilation if we opt for a sleeping platform inside is also a bonus. Although the gullwing design would probably work well too.

There's been a lot of good info shared in here within the last week - thanks for posting, everyone.

Micro Update:

Marlin Crawler's "Marlink" setup has been ordered. I'm also looking at birfield joint replacement options since the passenger side is clicking at full lock. Feel free to chime in with any recommendations: most of what I've found have been chromoly upgrades, $600+ OEM replacements, or questionably cheap aftermarket parts (ex. $200 for full axles on both sides).

Edit: I forgot I bookmarked this late one night. Thoughts?

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The new FPR arrived last week and went right in. Turns out the fuel return line was dry & there was a crack in the vacuum line - so in addition to flooding the engine with excess fuel, there was also a vacuum leak. The Land Cruiser now starts & idles much better and there's a lot less fuel vapor in the exhaust. The new EFI Circuit Opening relay went in without a noticeable difference. But it's new & we have the old one as a backup, so that's peace of mind.

We had noticed some gear whine that progressively got louder on the way back from our trip last weekend. It sounded like it was coming from the transfer case. So that was inspected and found to be nearly dry (!). I guess we missed checking it beforehand, but it has now been filled with fresh gear oil and will hopefully be okay. While the weather was nice this weekend, we also looked over the exhaust: it rattles quite a bit when cold & under throttle. Husband noticed that the rear half was sitting low enough to make contact with the driveshaft. Two new exhaust hangars & bushings later, it's now sitting much higher. He also replaced a gasket where one of the cat "pipes" was leaking. It seems to be better now, other than the muffler itself that is rattling from the inside - likely rusted out.

We're talking about going back to out to the property in a few weeks. I'm not sure if we're going to take the Land Cruiser or Jeep yet. If we can get the Marlink setup installed & aligned in time, the decision will probably come down to chance of rain.

 

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The Marlink setup arrived on Friday and was promptly painted & installed. It's a beefy setup. Steering feel & response is drastically improved: the old tie rods were toast & worn out. The transfer case has also been fairly quiet since we topped it off with fresh fluid.

I also ordered new hatch struts and will get those installed in the next day or so. The original (?) set on the car still work, but don't like to go all the way up on their own.

The check engine light has also come up a few times, but isn't staying on fulltime. So we'll recheck codes again.

We're going back out to the property this next weekend to camp and will probably be taking the Land Cruiser. A few friends are riding in with us, so that extra space will come in handy. It's going to be cold - forecast shows highs in the low 40s and lows in the low 20s. So I don't think we're concerned with sleeping in the car this time. The cabin with a fireplace will be much more enjoyable.

The ever-running list:

Recheck codes
Install new charcoal canister
Get spare tire mounted
Install passenger visor
Front brake pads & rotors
Engine & transmission mounts
Marlin Crawler front tie rod kit
Get it aligned
Fuel pump/circuit opening relay
Replace FPR
New front & rear u-joints and hardware
Service front axle
Check transfer case fluid level
Slee diff breather extensions

Pic of the Marlink setup before paint. No after pics, unfortunately.

 

[Godwin]

Slee diff breather extensions

You can do diff breathers very inexpensively by using appropriate sized hose and a cheap fuel filter. Just pick it up at your preferred auto parts store.

 

[pace it]

You can do diff breathers very inexpensively by using appropriate sized hose and a cheap fuel filter. Just pick it up at your preferred auto parts store.

Thanks for the tip. Someone is selling some nice extension kits with metal hardware on FB. I'm thinking we might go that route instead.

Mini update:

November has flown by and we've been putting miles on the Land Cruiser. It turned over 270,000 miles on the way out from the family property last week - right before the big water crossing. And last I recall seeing, we're close to 800 miles since the refresh.

The Marlink setup & new tie rods made a huge difference. Steering feels much tighter and there's peace of mind that it's one less thing to kill us. I want to say that we also got better fuel mileage after replacing the blown FPR, but we didn't keep track. The exhaust was much less "fume-y" than it had been and we didn't need to refuel before getting home this time.

Since a few more friends joined in on this last trip, we took the long way in with a few scenic stops along the way: a popular historic schoolhouse, an old and long-retired fire tower, a route through to a "waterfall" that pours onto the road below (although it was more of a trickle this time), and a rocky & steep back way that lands us on the route to the property. The Land Cruiser handled it all in step. Although we did notice something smelled "hot" - almost like hot water - after a particularly long & steep climb. All the gauges looked good and it didn't show any other symptoms of anything wrong. So we'll keep an eye out for that in the future.

Temps dropped down into the teens the two nights we stayed out. Fortunately we stayed warm in the cabin and woke up to frost flowers throughout the yard & nearby field. So cool to see.

I also took advantage of a few Black Friday deals and ordered a new birfield joint from Cruiser Outfitters at 10% off. New brake pads & front rotors should also be on the way from RockAuto soon. The only thing we're missing for the axle rebuild are replacement spindle nuts. The ones currently on it were previously damaged and cross-threaded. So I'm going to see what other small parts I can bundle with that order.

 

[SteveH]

I have greatly enjoyed your thread and rehab. You have done a ton of work to the truck. My 3F-E valve train looked just like yours - light sludge from random driving and lots of time parked. Nice to see you using and enjoying the truck.

I also bought another 'ugly truck' from a neighbor, who left the windows partly down for years. A dog also ate most of the seats and scratched the windows. But, it was $850, rather than $500. Story here: New '62 (new for me, anyway) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-62-new-for-me-anyway.759029/. I have since pretty much restored it to stock and drive and 'wheel it in Colorado. It just rolled to 267K miles.

 

[91FJ80FD]

Thanks for the tip. Someone is selling some nice extension kits with metal hardware on FB. I'm thinking we might go that route instead.

Mini update:

November has flown by and we've been putting miles on the Land Cruiser. It turned over 270,000 miles on the way out from the family property last week - right before the big water crossing. And last I recall seeing, we're close to 800 miles since the refresh.

The Marlink setup & new tie rods made a huge difference. Steering feels much tighter and there's peace of mind that it's one less thing to kill us. I want to say that we also got better fuel mileage after replacing the blown FPR, but we didn't keep track. The exhaust was much less "fume-y" than it had been and we didn't need to refuel before getting home this time.

Since a few more friends joined in on this last trip, we took the long way in with a few scenic stops along the way: a popular historic schoolhouse, an old and long-retired fire tower, a route through to a "waterfall" that pours onto the road below (although it was more of a trickle this time), and a rocky & steep back way that lands us on the route to the property. The Land Cruiser handled it all in step. Although we did notice something smelled "hot" - almost like hot water - after a particularly long & steep climb. All the gauges looked good and it didn't show any other symptoms of anything wrong. So we'll keep an eye out for that in the future.

Temps dropped down into the teens the two nights we stayed out. Fortunately we stayed warm in the cabin and woke up to frost flowers throughout the yard & nearby field. So cool to see.

I also took advantage of a few Black Friday deals and ordered a new birfield joint from Cruiser Outfitters at 10% off. New brake pads & front rotors should also be on the way from RockAuto soon. The only thing we're missing for the axle rebuild are replacement spindle nuts. The ones currently on it were previously damaged and cross-threaded. So I'm going to see what other small parts I can bundle with that order.

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frost or a trash bag? My phone screen too small

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Frost flower. I showed it to a colleague of mine that's never lived further North than Central S. Carolina. Blew his mind. He'd never seen or heard of such a thing.
Thank you for sharing the picture with us

 

[pace it]

I have greatly enjoyed your thread and rehab. You have done a ton of work to the truck. My 3F-E valve train looked just like yours - light sludge from random driving and lots of time parked. Nice to see you using and enjoying the truck.

I also bought another 'ugly truck' from a neighbor, who left the windows partly down for years. A dog also ate most of the seats and scratched the windows. But, it was $850, rather than $500. Story here: New '62 (new for me, anyway) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-62-new-for-me-anyway.759029/. I have since pretty much restored it to stock and drive and 'wheel it in Colorado. It just rolled to 267K miles.

Thank you! It has been an educational & rewarding experience that we both have enjoyed. I'm sure you know the feeling with the headway you've made on your 62.

frost or a trash bag? My phone screen too small

It's a frost flower. If you're not familiar with them, this link gives a good description & the conditions required for them.

Frost flower. I showed it to a colleague of mine that's never lived further North than Central S. Carolina. Blew his mind. He'd never seen or heard of such a thing.
Thank you for sharing the picture with us

That's cool! They're not as common around where we live, but the property & cabin are in a valley where they tend to show up numerous times during the cold season. So I'm happy to share.

Brake pads were delivered yesterday and the rotors should be here on Thursday or Friday. The new birfield joint will probably follow this weekend. The replacement spindle nuts will be coming in an order with new u-joints & hardware for the rear driveshaft from Partsouq. So that may take a week or so to arrive. No rush. Our household is down with a bug after visiting family last week. So motivation is low. Haha.

There is one thing I've noticed as we've driven the Land Cruiser more regularly: small things that didn't work previously are slowly starting to work again. As is commonly said, cars don't do well sitting (especially exposed to the elements). So with careful use, certain things are starting to come around: the heat/air sliders have loosened up & are not as stubborn, the passenger door lock actuator that was previously seized is slowly locking/unlocking with fewer tries, the rear dome light randomly started working while at the cabin, etc. Even some of the dash lights are starting to come back on - although the "D" light is still a lost cause.

Anyway, that's one of my favorite parts about restoring a car. Sometimes it's as if some of them want to be saved.

 

[91FJ80FD]

The Marlink setup arrived on Friday and was promptly painted & installed. It's a beefy setup. Steering feel & response is drastically improved: the old tie rods were toast & worn out. The transfer case has also been fairly quiet since we topped it off with fresh fluid.

I also ordered new hatch struts and will get those installed in the next day or so. The original (?) set on the car still work, but don't like to go all the way up on their own.

The check engine light has also come up a few times, but isn't staying on fulltime. So we'll recheck codes again.

We're going back out to the property this next weekend to camp and will probably be taking the Land Cruiser. A few friends are riding in with us, so that extra space will come in handy. It's going to be cold - forecast shows highs in the low 40s and lows in the low 20s. So I don't think we're concerned with sleeping in the car this time. The cabin with a fireplace will be much more enjoyable.

The ever-running list:

Recheck codes
Install new charcoal canister
Get spare tire mounted
Install passenger visor
Front brake pads & rotors
Engine & transmission mounts
Marlin Crawler front tie rod kit
Get it aligned
Fuel pump/circuit opening relay
Replace FPR
New front & rear u-joints and hardware
Service front axle
Check transfer case fluid level
Slee diff breather extensions

Pic of the Marlink setup before paint. No after pics, unfortunately.

View attachment 3167774

what charcoal canister did you get to replace stock one, and how much of a pain was it? Thanks

 

[cvenom96]

As others have said it's nice to watch the progress. Really cool to see someone bring one back up to speed, not over-do it with mods (guilty), and just head out and have fun.

 

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what charcoal canister did you get to replace stock one, and how much of a pain was it? Thanks

It's a GM version based off of part # VC120. It hasn't been installed yet, but you find more info on it here.

As others have said it's nice to watch the progress. Really cool to see someone bring one back up to speed, not over-do it with mods (guilty), and just head out and have fun.

Thank you. It's been fun getting it up & going again. Although I'm sure some mods will be in the near future: an ARB bumper to replace the bent OEM one, at least. But we like to keep things simple. We're not aiming for hardcore rock crawling, so it's pretty easy to to enjoy most of the outdoors here with a capable stock vehicle.

 

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Mid-month check in. It's been cool & rainy and we've been busy with work & household projects. So the Land Cruiser has mostly been sitting.

A friend offered us a set of used Yakima gutter mounts from his old Montero. So we picked those up and found a set of 58" round bars locally for a deal. I also ordered replacement hardware & lock cores/keys, which should come in this weekend. It will be nice to swap that on in place of the OEM roof rack. The way the roof basket attaches to the factory roof rack causes it to loosen up over time & knock against the roof on bumpy roads. Not optimal.

I've also had my eye on the roofrack elimination hardware Wit's End sells. Husband suspects one of the nutserts in the roof may have broken loose, which we'll address at some point. But the kit should help seal up the rest in the meantime.

Not much else to report on at this time. We're waiting to hear back on a house we're wanting to buy, but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed. The market here is still a mess. Either way, we're going to stay positive & continue to clear out excess: car parts, old projects, maybe a car or two (not the Land Cruiser), etc.

 

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And just like that, we have a house! Now the fun part: moving everything.

We sold the Grand Wagoneer. Bittersweet to see it go, but it was yet another project and took up the last of the space we had in the garage. Not being able to access the workbench and tool boxes easily was frustrating.

The Land Cruiser is here to stay - for now at least. It still needs one birfield joint & the front brakes replaced. We suspect it needs a fuel pump as well: it starts & runs great when cold. But it's hard to start after warming up & being driven. We checked & neither of the EFI relays is getting hot. The wiring under the relay/fusebox in the engine bay seems to be okay as well. I'm also pretty sure the fuel pump is either original or of questionable origin. So we haven't driven it much lately.

The new place has a slightly bigger garage with a more useful layout: 530sqft vs our current 400sqft. It has epoxy floors, moves the washer/dryer into a separate mud/laundry room, and has a cutout for our beer fridge & maybe a chest freezer (in the future). Our current wall of yard tools/equipment will be moved to the utility shed outside. And a bonus: the PO left us some nice handcrafted wood shelves with workbench surface as well. So we should have more space to work with once everything is put in place.

We're excited to get moved in and get back on track with our projects.

 

[Godwin]

The Land Cruiser is here to stay - for now at least. It still needs one birfield joint & the front brakes replaced. We suspect it needs a fuel pump as well: it starts & runs great when cold. But it's hard to start after warming up & being driven. We checked & Nnither of the EFI relays is getting hot. The wiring under the relay/fusebox in the engine bay seems to be okay as well. I'm also pretty sure the fuel pump is either original or of questionable origin. So we haven't driven it much lately.

The fuel pressure regulator is another component to consider when flakey fuel issues develop.

 

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The fuel pressure regulator is another component to consider when flakey fuel issues develop.

Very true. And it actually did cause issues with overfueling on startup. Along with the nasty vapor in the exhaust and even worse fuel mileage. So we replaced that this last fall.

 

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We're slowly moving some things to the house, starting with the garage. Good opportunity to make sure the Land Cruiser fits.

Just barely clears!

I think we'll be sticking with 33s and stock height for a while.

Still room to spare for a Z car and some tools.

It needs cleaning and we have some lights to set up, but we're happy with things so far.

 

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I hate moving.

On the upside, we have everything out of the old place & the keys turned in. The Land Cruiser is in the new garage to let things dry out and get things sealed up. I'm still thinking a fuel pump replacement is in its future, although I saw a post in one of the FB groups about IAC issues that sounded familiar. I need to do some more reading on that. Brakes & axle are still needing attention as well.

It recently crossed 1200 miles since we got it back on the road and is in need of some TLC. The carpet is a mess since it has been used for camping & hauled various things during our move. I want to pull it and pressure wash it anyway. It's also sprouted a few leaks in the engine bay: one that looks like it's from the power steering reservoir that we swapped onto the remanufactured pump & another that looks like it may be the oil pan seal. So nothing out of the ordinary for this mileage & usage.

I'll follow up once we start making progress again.

 

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Mini update:

I'm a firm believer that patience pays off in the end. We missed out on the CVT clearance sale last fall and passed on some other last minute options that weren't what we wanted.

Last night we picked up a Roofnest Falcon from an old classmate of mine. He removed it from his 100 series a year ago and decided to sell it for cheap. It needs some cleaning, but should fit our needs well.

One upside: our old neighbors have the same generation Falcon XL, so we're aware of the potential leak issues and ways to address it.

 

[Godwin]

Mini update:

I'm a firm believer that patience pays off in the end. We missed out on the CVT clearance sale last fall and passed on some other last minute options that weren't what we wanted.

Last night we picked up a Roofnest Falcon from an old classmate of mine. He removed it from his 100 series a year ago and decided to sell it for cheap. It needs some cleaning, but should fit our needs well.

One upside: our old neighbors have the same generation Falcon XL, so we're aware of the potential leak issues and ways to address it.

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Where did you get the 3FE Mafia sticker?