Builds '94 FZJ80 "Cotton"

[roadstr6]

My affliction got the best of me once again. I just picked up this '94 FZJ80 here in Charlotte on Tuesday. It is an honest bone stock, no accidents, original paint, local, 1 owner truck. 180K miles. Sadly, no lockers. I'll be cleaning it up and working out the bugs in the days to come. Immediate plans are to give it a good cleaning and spit shine, throw on some seat covers and fix a couple of nagging issues like seat gears, inop windshield washers, etc. Full baseline to happen over the winter and as time and money allows, I'd like to do the normal 80 SWAG (lift, 35's, sliders, rack, bumpers, lockers). The goal for this truck is to have a "newer" mostly worry-free rig that can make longer trips. I love my 40 and 60 but taking long trips in them stresses me out. Here's the only pic I have right now and it's not great. More to come....

 

[roadstr6]

In my 5 days of ownership I have not had much spare time to mess with the truck. I'm chipping away at little nagging issues an hour at a time. What I have done so far is:

-Replaced the windshield washer pump and deleted (for now) the busted and leaky diverter valve. Currently my front washers spray but the rear does not. That'll do for now.
-Fixed the shaky side mirrors using the zip-tie trick
-Pulled the rocker panel plugs and drained at least a two gallons of water out of the passenger side rocker panel
-Sanded, primed, painted and cleared the wheel center caps.

 

[Malleus]

You must know someone. I've been looking for a deal like that for a while, for two different people, and never saw that one. It's beautiful.

 

[Comet]

Dave, awesome! Best color ever! My 1997 with 340K is very jealous of the low miles. Trade you a brown 60 series (almost done baselining).

 

[roadstr6]

You must know someone. I've been looking for a deal like that for a while, for two different people, and never saw that one. It's beautiful.

Thank you, sir. I don't know anybody. It was on CL in Charlotte for two days. I bought it and the seller took down the ad. I had never met the owner before. I do search CL every day religiously, much to the chagrin of my wife. Having four 'cruisers in the driveway does not seem to satisfy my need to keep searching. Sometimes I find stuff. Most of the time I don't.

Dave, awesome! Best color ever! My 1997 with 340K is very jealous of the low miles. Trade you a brown 60 series (almost done baselining).

White paint definitely holds up the best on any car down here in the South. It doesn't have the "je ne sai quoi" of a 40th Anniversary Moonglow Pearl but, hey, it'll do. I did some paint correction on this truck last night to bring the shine up to par and it really pops now. White is easy to bring back. I like white.

I'd be interested to know what all you've had to do to keep your '97 running for 340K. That kind of mileage says volumes about the durability of these vehicles. I love what you're doing with Buster. It's looking better and better. Keep it up! The Turdle gave me the stink eye when I pulled this 80 in the driveway, but it shouldn't worry much. It won't be going anywhere. There is something about a 60 series that just does it for me.

 

[Comet]

Oil changes and OCD maintenance on Comet. Recently tore down the engine due to high oil consumption. Everything was straight in the bottom end, head was rebuilt. Oil consumption gone. Now chasing a wiring issue for the injectors. Good times throwing parts at a classic. Buster Brown is a different story. My goal is to bring him to Relic Run in 2018 and see where the wind takes me. That 60 needs way more attention than my wallet can spare right now. Thanks for the compliments, Turdle is still too shiny!!!! HaHa!

 

[roadstr6]

Here are a couple of more recent pics of Cotton all cleaned up. I did an overall cleaning and light paint correction to bring the shine back up to par. Removed the crudded-up rear fender rock protection film. Seat gears are done and working properly again with the Gamiviti gears and caps. Next on the to-do list is PCV valve and associated grommets and hoses and new intake hose. Oh, and seat covers. The driver's seat is pretty rough and duct taped at the moment. After that, brakes.

 

[roadstr6]

A couple of local club members hooked me up with the owner of a wrecked '97 80 series truck with the factory Elockers. I struck a deal with him for $500 and trailered it home. It will donate its locking axles to Cotton. The parts truck was involved in an off-road rollover and was featured in the "Whoops" section of an issue of 4wd Magazine. Whoops! Chop It? The engine has already been scavenged. None of the doors open. I'm pretty sure I will have to cut off the top to be able to access the interior goodies (if they aren't all too nasty to save). The owner said that he rebuilt the knuckles 200 miles before the accident so I am hoping to swap the front axle in as a complete unit and rock on. I may do the same for the rear, but I'm not sure.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Subscribed

 

[JohnVee]

Paint looks good. I got Sarah working on our white LX with a clay bar last month. Now that I'm in a better mood, I'll tell her we have an oscillating buffer and some Meguiars for the next round. Unless, of course, you'd like her to hire your boy for the job?

 

[roadstr6]

Paint looks good. I got Sarah working on our white LX with a clay bar last month. Now that I'm in a better mood, I'll tell her we have an oscillating buffer and some Meguiars for the next round. Unless, of course, you'd like her to hire your boy for the job?

Thanks man. I'd hate to deprive Sarah of all the fun. Tell her to have at it. Nathan is going to be busy ripping parts off the donor truck for a while.

 

[roadstr6]

Cotton's rear brakes were toast. It had a great deal of brake pulsing and shudder when making even light stops. I determined that the rears were the culprit so I ordered Powerstop's OE replacement kit. The part number was KOE 1156.

The kit was $115 and came with ceramic pads, rotors and clips. I installed everything last Friday and, just like that, problem solved. The old pads were worn down within a gnat's hair of the backing plates and the old rotors were scored up really badly. I hated to put these new pads and rotors on an axle that I knew I would not use (I'll be swapping in a locked axle) but the brakes were so bad that I didn't feel comfortable driving it. Besides, I can always swap the new stuff over to the locked axle once I get that installed.

I replaced the PCV valve, grommet and hose just because I wasn't sure if it had ever been changed. Surprisingly, the old grommet was not hard as a brick and the valve did rattle like it was supposed to. The hose was pretty hard though. Evidently the PO had had this done at some point. I guess I wasted $27 but at least I know it has been done and I can check that off the list.

I have not verified the PHH and whether it has ever been changed. My guess is no. Also, Cotton leaves a couple of drips of oil on the driveway under the battery tray area. My guess is that the issue may be either the oil pump seal or distributor seal or both. I can live with it for now, but I'd like to address the oil leak sooner than later, even though it is not terrible.

 

[roadstr6]

I guess Japanese folks drink out of tiny square-ish cups. I don't. I couldn't deal with the crappy factory cup holders so I splurged and bought new front and rear cup holders from BH3D Printing. Brad @bhicks is a MUD member and he turns out a quality product. BH3D Home - BH3D Printing

I got the double front

...and double rear.

Both in gray. Install took 5 minutes and they look fabtabulous (if I must say so myself). Below are the actual pics of my truck (crappy pics though) and you can clearly see the driver's seat PO duct tape disaster.

 

[BerettaMato]

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[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Cotton's rear brakes were toast. It had a great deal of brake pulsing and shudder when making even light stops. I determined that the rears were the culprit so I ordered Powerstop's OE replacement kit. The part number was KOE 1156.

The kit was $115 and came with ceramic pads, rotors and clips. I installed everything last Friday and, just like that, problem solved. The old pads were worn down within a gnat's hair of the backing plates and the old rotors were scored up really badly. I hated to put these new pads and rotors on an axle that I knew I would not use (I'll be swapping in a locked axle) but the brakes were so bad that I didn't feel comfortable driving it. Besides, I can always swap the new stuff over to the locked axle once I get that installed.

I replaced the PCV valve, grommet and hose just because I wasn't sure if it had ever been changed. Surprisingly, the old grommet was not hard as a brick and the valve did rattle like it was supposed to. The hose was pretty hard though. Evidently the PO had had this done at some point. I guess I wasted $27 but at least I know it has been done and I can check that off the list.

I have not verified the PHH and whether it has ever been changed. My guess is no. Also, Cotton leaves a couple of drips of oil on the driveway under the battery tray area. My guess is that the issue may be either the oil pump seal or distributor seal or both. I can live with it for now, but I'd like to address the oil leak sooner than later, even though it is not terrible.

Nice find on the rotor/pad set.i just checked and they dont offer a set for the front, nor does Napa. Have you found any other sources for affordable rotors other than Slee's $180 a pop Kangaroo Paw rotors or Toyota?

 

[baldilocks]

It seems you are well connected with the cruiser gods. Your white 94 is the perfect issue in my opinion Mine is a white 93.

The score you made on the rolled rig is a sweet deal too.

 

[LCHardriver_02]

Subscribed, since I repurchased my white '95 and now I'm going from front to back getting it back in shape after my son had it for 4 years. You are giving me ideas... oh, the ideas....

 

[ROBsSON]

Your cleaning skills are out of control...

 

[roadstr6]

Nice find on the rotor/pad set.i just checked and they dont offer a set for the front, nor does Napa. Have you found any other sources for affordable rotors other than Slee's $180 a pop Kangaroo Paw rotors or Toyota?

Powerstop does indeed offer an OEM replacement rotor and ceramic pad kit for the 80 series fronts. It is PN KOE1154. I found that Summit Racing has a better price than Amazon. Summit has the KOE1154 for $115.97. Free shipping. I have used the Powerstop rotors and pads on the wife's LX470. They work well. I'd say they are just as good as OE pieces.

 

[yotasavg]

Sub'd, great looking truck. Very nice score indeed.