80 series advice and opinions (1 Viewer)

[options2]

Looking for 80 help before I pulled the trigger and pick one up.

I have owned a FJ Cruiser, 2 x 100s, a 150, and currently a 200 series Land Cruiser. But I have never owned an 80 series.

I know I have a TLC problem, I want them all...lol.

That said I found a 1994 80 series with 300k miles on the truck. It has a blown head gasket between the #5 and #6. No oil found in the coolant or signs of coolant in the oil. The truck comes with a complete 2nd 1FZ-FE with paperwork and Carfax of donor TLC. Motor came from a 97 with 150k miles on it. Body looks great, very minimal surface rust on frame. New tires and other new various parts. Service receipts for about $1800 worth of recent service. Everything seems to work, minus the engine, although I can not really test drive it. No factory lockers.

They are asking for $3500 for everything.

Couple of thoughts.....first off being is worth it.
Could it be possible to rebuild the engine in there now and sell the spare
How hard is a 1FZ-FE swap if putting the same motor back in

These are just some thoughts going thru my head.

Any and all advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jpoole]

If you like to turn wrenches, there is no rust and the paint/cosmetics are good that price is probably fair but you have a lot of work ahead getting it sorted and are running risks on the things you can't test since it's immobile. You'd have to be into putting one of these together from parts and dealing with the surprises for it to make sense in my opinion though.

I'm into fixing broken stuff but even if it's clean, rust free and cosmetically solid I'd want to pay under $2k since it's a non-runner non-driver. I'd only go higher if it was in excellent condition in all areas beyond the HG, had lockers and was a year/color combo that I liked.

 

[options2]

If you like to turn wrenches, there is no rust and the paint/cosmetics are good that price is probably fair but you have a lot of work ahead getting it sorted and are running risks on the things you can't test since it's immobile. You'd have to be into putting one of these together from parts and dealing with the surprises for it to make sense in my opinion though.

I'm into fixing broken stuff but even if it's clean, rust free and cosmetically solid I'd want to pay under $2k since it's a non-runner non-driver. I'd only go higher if it was in excellent condition in all areas beyond the HG, had lockers and was a year/color combo that I liked.

Thank you for the feedback. Gives me some things to think about. IDK, I feel like Land Cruisers are just expensive around here. I constantly watch FB and CL for them and never see them cheap. This is about the cheapest one I have seen in awhile. I know what people ask and what people get are two different things, but even rusted out beater ones still seem like they are $5000 or more.

It would just be a spare SUV to have around if I get it fixed, possible first vehicle for my son in a few years.

IF not, do you think it would be possible to part it out with 2 engines for that much?

I forgot to mention. It does run, start up, and drive. So I can drive it onto a trailer. Just cant really take it on a test drive or move it far.

 

[jpoole]

If you've got the time you could probably part it out around that price but that probably would not cover your time at a very high rate unless you find buyers pretty close and sell things in a few big deals vs. bit by bit etc. There are a lot of good parts there but many are expensive to ship (so your local market is important) and hard to pull/prep for shipping etc. and the time that goes into selling all of the parts can be pretty big with emails, calls, pictures, shipping etc.

For me personally the big questions on this truck is rust and cosmetics. It sounds like a fun project/puzzle mechanically (to me at least) so that's less of a big deal in my opinion but I'd be doing the work myself without any rush. If there is no rust and the cosmetics are satisfactory to you then I'd lean towards buying it and doing the HG in truck along with baseline preventative maintenance for safe operation. That way you can start driving the truck after 2 or 3 weekends if you hit it hard while it's new/exciting and then you can get to know the truck and make further plans before you invest more than you have to.

I'd plan to strip/rebuild the 2nd engine at my leisure if I decided to keep the truck long term to then be installed when needed. That 2nd engine sounds good but while it's out it would be nice to at replace all seals and inspect bearing/wear along with any other preventative maintenance like the HG, etc. Most likely you'd just be replacing seals and doing the HG without a lot of heavy work on engine 2 but when it went in it would be set for a long time to come. I wouldn't want to go through the process of building the spare engine up front though, I'd want to start driving the truck ASAP and then decide how to proceed.

In any case mechanicals are relatively cheap/easy in my opinion/experience. Full paintjobs are a bigger deal and more expensive so I try to avoid getting a truck that needs one unless the truck is cheap enough to allow it. You don't want to buy at $3.5k spend $5k on engine/baseline work etc. and then be stuck with an ugly truck that isn't worth spending another $6k or whatever on a nice paintjob.

Rust is a deal breaker in my opinion.

The above is fairly subjective. Only you know how you want to spend your time and/or $$ moving forward. If you plan to pay to have this truck done by paid mechs. then you should probably just increase your buy budget to over $10k and plan a buying trip to get a different 80 in a rust free part of the country. Paying to have the HG fixed or the engine swapped is going to push this $3.5k truck well over $10k if I'm not mistaken and that will buy you a lot of 80 if you shop a wider area.

 

[dugsgms]

I agree with jpoole with this one... It'd have to be a rust free, exceptionally clean truck for me to spend that kind of money on a non runner even with the spare engine.

I don't think Id rebuild the 300k mile engine, the 150k mile engine sounds nice, should be in pretty good shape internally but likely still leaks from all the common places(oil pump o-ring, upper oil pan seal, valve cover gasket etc.) and now would be the time to address all that as well as all the normal maintenance items(thermostat, spark plugs/wires etc.).

Looked at the the procedure to replace the engine, not too bad, pulling the engine is pretty basic its just alot prep getting it ready to pull.

 

[jksinton]

You could always try blue devil head gasket sealer as a quick and dirty fix for the 300k engine. But if you go that route, I would bypass the heater core on the cooling system to prevent any of the liquid gasket from contaminating the heater.

I would get estimates on an engine rebuild for the 150k engine and engine swap. Just to factor in a plan "B" in the cost of ownership. You don't want a boat anchor for too long.

For peace of mind, you might even consider picking up a brand new 1fz short block. They're still available. Not sure on price.

I wouldn't give too much weight to the $1800 in receipts. You're already looking at an engine swap, which will likely lead you to replacing just about every hose, gasket, pipe, belt, o-ring, bolt, nut, screw, etc.

Watch OTRAMM's videos on the 80 series head gasket repair: OTRAMM

Those will give you a sense of what work needs to be done for removal of the 300k engine and to prep the 150k engine for installation.

 

[musthave]

If you’ve got a place to do the work, and this won’t be your immediate daily driver, I’d rebuild the 2nd engine while it’s out then drop it in. Then yiu know it’s good, less surprises. No rust I’d be around 2K. Hope it goes well.

 

[REKCUT]

Every area has different values on these trucks but in most areas i look it seems like a fj80 (93-93) with no motor is a $1500 truck. Add to that mix and i feel you can find a engine for 1000. Those numbers add up to $2500 in my mind. You need to decide if this truck is $1000 nicer than your average truck. Add to that that a non locked truck in the 200k range is to me again probably at most a $4500 truck but im not buying at that price then i feel that its a little on the high side with price and work.

This is just my opinion an in the end its whats the value to you as far as this truck goes. Keep looking.

1994 land cruiser

1994 land cruiser Runs solid 4500 OBO

littlerock.craigslist.org

 

[jfz80]

There are some differences b/w 97 and 94 that will make it not quite plug and play. Doable but not simple RnR. Theres good info here about the differences involved.

Price seems slightly high but thats going on verbal descriptions. Id say 2k without the spare motor would be more comfortable for me. Engine rebuild will be 2500/3500 and the in and out part is not that bad.

Theres a built low mileage 94 with a freshly rebuilt 1fz local to me at $9k if it was of interest. If not dont neglect to look outside your local area for better selection.

 

[options2]

Thanks for all the feedback, ideas, and thoughts. I think I will pass on this one for now.

 

[Wompom]

FWIW i paid 2500 bucks for a blown motor triple locked super clean 96 with 84k on the clock when i got it.
I wouldn't pay much more than that for a blown rig, especially if not locked/in good shape all around.