80 Series Body Swap? Anyone done this? (2 Viewers)

[Bravo1782]

I'll try to keep this brief: I have two 80 series land cruisers.

1) 1993 LC with 416k miles from PA, runs and drives (-ish....needs some major love). One spot of frame rot at rear bumper but otherwise seems solid. Body has plenty of rust on inner fender wells, passenger side outer fender, tailgate, and inner body panels.

2) 1994 LC from southern CA that was wrecked...driver side front corner bashed in, frame is bent, front panels seems bent\misaligned. 256K miles, engine, axles, etc in great shape. Minimal rust overall. Body is in excellent condition from roughly front door line\a-pillar back. No rust, all glass intact. Damage seems contained to front corner. LOTS of good, solid parts (and a clean interior!)

What I'm planning on doing is basically taking all the good, rust free parts off LC#2, pull off all the s***ty, busted, rusted parts of LC#1, and make one good, solid LC. Has anyone done a body swap before? What should I be aware of going into it? Anything I should check for before diving into this project?

 

[retrofive]

93 & 94 are near identical in most cases. Swap away!

 

[slow95z]

93 to 94 should be plug and play. i am doing 91 to 96 and i will be swapping the entire wiring harness and dash from my flopped 96 into the 91 body.

 

[Bravo1782]

Anyone know any "how to" resources anywhere? I've never done this and I literally have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I just know it has to be done

 

[BILT4ME]

Factory Service Manual (FSM)
Wrenches
Lifts
Friends
Start taking stuff apart and note how it should go back together.

Pretty simple really. Just time and money. More time than money.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Never done a land cruiser, but I have done this to 2 older Nissan pathfinders. Interested to see how this goes, I am planning on removing the body of mine to facilitate some suspension modifications, makes welding a heck of a lot easier.

 

[Bravo1782]

Someone on here did me a huge solid and hooked me up with a FSM...what a game-changer! I wish I had a shop lift in my garage...not quite sure how I'm going to do it without one. thinking about renting some heavy equipment of some sort to do it....and a bunch of heavy lifting straps....

 

[BILT4ME]

You can do the transfer with about 8 of your closest burly guys, or totally strip the interior before you move it, but it's still a bit of a lift. I had a tractor and ran a 2x12 through the windows (windows rolled down) with a strap or chain around each end. Maybe you can do (4) engine hoist in the same manner and roll the frame out from under each one.

 

[samiam09]

I've done the extra cab truck like 3 times and the 85 fourrunner once. Either have alot of friends or with the shell of the body empty and the smallest tires you can put on it tow or even 3 engine hoists, I removed the doors and shell on the fourruner and picked the body up from the inside .Of course if you had access to a car lift you could do it that way. Roll the complete fj in there remove all the body bolts and hoses cables and there's always one or two body grounds your miss lift it up to clear the engine, roll the chassis out and then remove the old body from the lift by lowering it on to say cheap furniture dolly's. roll the new body in repeat.then put the two together. in my driveway with just the engine hoists and one or two friends it will take a day or two. friends only have to be there for the lift.lot of work. Worth it if you want to keep your truck.

 

[bugsnbikes]

check your head.......

sell 2 s***boxes for $750ea as-is and buy a low mile clean one for $5k more.

one and done. save time . drink beer. and put time into modding a low miler.

 

[dirtyboots]

^This^

Or depending on $$ and space keep the wrecks for extra parts?

If you're fully committed and it's just something you want to do, you can do it yourself. I have swapped the body on an 80 using 4x4s, jacks, jack stands, and a stout engine hoist by myself in a home garage. It was super slow but rewarding. Heck check out @bugsnbikes thread for inspiration with limited resources.

It's more of a question of whether you want to learn about wrenchin' or get on the trail / road first.
Keep us posted and good luck regardless.

 

[bugsnbikes]

You come to a fork in the road........one road

- you spend 9mo. swapping two into one- fighting off rusted broken bolts with a 12-pack of easy-outs that are all well worn out. just when you are fighting your final battle with headliner bows- a falling headliner and a cruiser designed to have 483 bolts of which you only have 300 for some reason.......you will plug in your wiring harness for the first spin to the piggly-wiggly for a six pack and some pain killers for the bulging disc in your back.........and your HG will let go leaving you with a hike back home to call for a tow. Add $1200 for new headgasket to get her back on the road turning its 240,000 th mile and within 3k miles you end up spinning a bearing and firing a 3" hole in side of your well used engine block. Now in your 18th month you source a low mile engine for $750 and as you shimmy the engine in you notice that the low miler has some goopy brown junk under the cap. So you decide to get your low miler HG done before it goes in and machinist lets you know the head is cracked around the #6 valve . luckily you saved the head from your 400k miler but the machine shop informs you that thos head is warped. 20months in.........you are broke.....fawked up buldging disc in neck ad back.....two jalopys sitting on property- wife about to leave you for some nerdy software engineer that drives a new Prius and bones her while you are wrenching on your broken 250k mile rig that hasnt run more than 25miles in last 24mo.

2cnd road:
- you sell two s***boxes for $600 ea to a few fellow cruiserheads in need of parts. spend a month looking at a host of sub 150k milers all within 20min. of your house until you score a locked 152k mile grocery grabber that had the hg done at the dealer under warrantee when you run the vin down at the local Toyota dealer. Drink beer. Troll mud classifieds for deals. Drink more beer. bolt on cheap bumpers that some other nerdy douchebag software engineer who is boning your wife paid full price for. go wheel it. break s***. drink more beer. buy more cheap used s*** thats stronger. wheel. break s*** again. repeat.

 

[NCFJ]

HUGE job and I use a lift!! If you put the same amount of time and energy into working overtime or a second job you will be able to buy an 80 in running shape and have some cash left over.

If you feel that you must do it, search around and see if you can rent a spot with a lift. It will make life far easier. Do all the prep work at your own place and only rent the lift to pluck bodies. I'd pull the bad body off the good frame and totally prep the good frame before even thinking about plucking the good body.

New OEM body mounts will run you about $400.00 Either way you are spending money.

 

[Bravo1782]

I'll admit I assumed that there would be a ton of work involved, but this was the kind of project I wanted to tackle; a "from the ground up" kind of build. I don't have a problem putting in the time and effort to do it right, and I already have just mounds of perfectly good parts. The high-mileage landcruiser was free and the wrecked one was only a few hundred bucks, so it's not like I'm in this project for stacks of money.

The big thing is that the high-mileage landcruiser was my best buddy's rig for years and years and me and him spent countless day and nights running around getting into trouble and going on adventures in it, so there's definitely sentimental value. His family bought it with 12 original miles back in 1993 and we put every single one of those 416,xxx miles on there. It's been all over the country and none of us are ready to retire it yet (It still fires right up and runs like a dream!). They always kept up on the maintenance up until it started sitting in their driveway when the power steering went out.

Now with this wrecked landcruiser, I see a great opportunity to breathe new life into it and have a s*** load of fun doing it. I work in academic science as a lab manager, and this project is the perfect way for me to blow off steam and relax in the evening, so I don't mind the hours.

Are there easier ways to do this project? Absolutely. Will it be as satisfying as putting in the long, stupid hours in doing it all myself (and with the help of my buddies? Probably not.

You guys have given me some great tips, and 'Mud has been awesome at helping me in this project so far...and I really look forward to posting pictures of this project as it start to come along...

 

[bugsnbikes]

Sounds like you have the time and energy to tackle it.

Personally i would find a blown engine 60 series and throw that body onto an 80 chassis. But thats a whole different animal to tackle.

 

[Bravo1782]

I'm curious, @bugsnbikes , why would you chase that strategy? What's to be gained putting a 60 series body on an 80 series frame?

 

[retrofive]

I'm curious, @bugsnbikes , why would you chase that strategy? What's to be gained putting a 60 series body on an 80 series frame?

Mojo

 

[strictlyRUM]

You mean like this?





Its a 92 going on a 96 frame. I picked up the flopped 96 with a low mile babied drive train after I drove the 92 for about 50 miles after buying it and the motor took a dump. A lot of guys here just throw money around like its nothing. I am back in school full time at the age of 39 and dont have that money anymore. I bought the 92 for 1200 bucks and it went poop soon after. I found the 96 at a wrecker and got it delivered to my house for 1500. Yes its a lot of work but I am richer on skill and time than I am with money right now. I can also go through and pick and choose the best parts from each. I also found the dash wont work but you can just switch out the center box with the climate controls into the older dash. In my case I have to switch wiring harness and all the heating and air too, so you need to do the dash section too. I have the best of both vehicles. I am just about ready to do the monstaliner to the underside and firewall and inside. Then I will do FatMat and install the interior out of the 96. It too was spotless. Then I will be doing paint. I have parted out alot of parts and just found I am into the donor about 200 bucks at this point. I just have to sell a few more parts and I will be in the black. Again..... alot of work, but I dont have the money to just buy a different one.

Jason

 

[bugsnbikes]

I'm curious, @bugsnbikes , why would you chase that strategy? What's to be gained putting a 60 series body on an 80 series frame?

No strategy there. I simply think the 60 body style was the last true classic cruiser style with similarly unique character to previous series Landcruisers 45,55,60,70,74,75 all have a unique boxy-ness that got lost in the 80 series. From the 80/100/200 and on.....Toyota lost its soul like many of the other great brands did in the 90s. The 80 drivetrain and chassis coupled with ANY of the previous bodies is a dream-marriage of form and function.

 

[NCFJ]

I am with you bugs, 62 body/80 frame and suspension/Vortec swap my personal dream rig.