Size may be a problem but I believe that all pieces of belt molding were originally chrome coated with a black vinyl over the chrome. Due to age the vinyl failed. That is my experience on my 94.
A new Cruiser appears...
- Thread starter t00manyuserz
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- #62
All right. I've slacked off doing updates for a year. I better get on it, as there's so much more that has happened to this car in the interim that I feel like I should share 
So here we go, the story goes on.
While the car was parked waiting for the inspection, I kept looking around for stuff I should do. One day, I was walking around the open trunk... and thoughts started coming to me. Thoughts that involved spending more money. I pushed them away and opened up the Amazon app... and here we went. I mean, I did the doors and the floor, right? I couldn't just leave the back unfinished, right?...
The inner foam padding was surprisingly nice for a 30 year old car.
Underneath was the usual metal, a bit of foam padding stuck to it, but nothing some brake cleaner wouldn't solve. (ha, I made a pun there)
A fwe hours later
Final product!!!
So here we go, the story goes on.While the car was parked waiting for the inspection, I kept looking around for stuff I should do. One day, I was walking around the open trunk... and thoughts started coming to me. Thoughts that involved spending more money. I pushed them away and opened up the Amazon app... and here we went. I mean, I did the doors and the floor, right? I couldn't just leave the back unfinished, right?...
The inner foam padding was surprisingly nice for a 30 year old car.
Underneath was the usual metal, a bit of foam padding stuck to it, but nothing some brake cleaner wouldn't solve. (ha, I made a pun there)
A fwe hours later
Final product!!!
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- #63
Meanwhile, another checkpoint came. The car had to be weighed. Turns out my guy had a mobile scale system, which was actually pretty cool.
This is what the car weighed with both spares, damage multiplier, and both tanks full (2,427 kg). Damn, Champan would NOT approve.
This is what the car weighed with both spares, damage multiplier, and both tanks full (2,427 kg). Damn, Champan would NOT approve.
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- #64
As the inspection process slowly continued, I decided I wanted to do some minor housekeeping. The driver side window switch started acting up (windows weren't always opening, and the auto down thing started getting stuck), so I got a spare one off eBay and decided to see if I can clean/merge them together.
I also decided to replace the windshield wiper nozzle with Honda part 76810-TK8-A01, which would give me nice coverage for the whole windshield rather than the squirts the OEM nozzles gave. I took the opportunity to replace all the piping under the hood, as well - for a few cents, it was well worth it.
I then started looking for more stuff I can do to a car that can't legally drive anywhere. Hey, I know! Why don't I add overlanding features to it? Because I am SURE I will want those, like extra outlets, lights, you know. The stuff you absolutely need when the car is constantly parked!
I hit up Aliexpress and came across a shop that was selling aluminium panels with sockets for yachts. Decided to give them a try, and boy, were they well-made. Out came the Dremel (and I sourced a side panel from a local scrapyard, because I didn't want to destroy the original one):
What does a parked car need? Well, of course, AC, USB and 12V outlets!
Of course, it also needs eventual light switches, and MORE USB outlets! Never know when there's a power failure in the house.
I also decided to replace the windshield wiper nozzle with Honda part 76810-TK8-A01, which would give me nice coverage for the whole windshield rather than the squirts the OEM nozzles gave. I took the opportunity to replace all the piping under the hood, as well - for a few cents, it was well worth it.
I then started looking for more stuff I can do to a car that can't legally drive anywhere. Hey, I know! Why don't I add overlanding features to it? Because I am SURE I will want those, like extra outlets, lights, you know. The stuff you absolutely need when the car is constantly parked!
I hit up Aliexpress and came across a shop that was selling aluminium panels with sockets for yachts. Decided to give them a try, and boy, were they well-made. Out came the Dremel (and I sourced a side panel from a local scrapyard, because I didn't want to destroy the original one):
What does a parked car need? Well, of course, AC, USB and 12V outlets!
Of course, it also needs eventual light switches, and MORE USB outlets! Never know when there's a power failure in the house.
- Thread starter
- #65
The wiring of the switches I got off AliExpress was actually surprisingly good quality, and the overall switches and aluminium panel were all together VERY good. I am very impressed, and would use them again without a doubt.
All of this got hooked up to a BlueSea fusebox (and a AC inverter - went with 500W because, well, ok, I don't expect to make coffee or use a hairdryer in my backyard...)
... and it all worked and nothing set on fire!!!
Completed setup looks like this, with the subwoofer as well.
All of this got hooked up to a BlueSea fusebox (and a AC inverter - went with 500W because, well, ok, I don't expect to make coffee or use a hairdryer in my backyard...)
... and it all worked and nothing set on fire!!!
Completed setup looks like this, with the subwoofer as well.
- Thread starter
- #66
So while I was on electric work, I decided that it was high time to improve the illumination of the car. After all, it was important to light up the neighbours' living rooms at night, so I could cause havoc and irritation to the entire neighbourhood. I managed to (quite accidentally) find a set of brand new Bosch fog lamps that were standard (optional) equipment on 80s back in the day, so they were enitrely period correct, and totally unused... the only issue was that there is no wiring in the car for fog lamps. But never fear! The Internet is here. Ordered a bunch of wiring and weatherproof connectors. I love, btw, how products are delievered here. Leaving aside the exuberance of plastic for a second, everything is individually wrapped and identified, so you know EXACTLY what you are getting.
The original connectors on the Bosch lamps looked a little bit like the window motor ones... but doesn't matter, I was going to rip them out anyway.
For this exercise, I sourced the original fog lamp bulb - I have an allergy to random anonymous switches on the dashboard, and if there is an OEM spot to be used, I would much rather use that. Thanks to a thread here, I got a great explanation of the wiring pattern for the OEM switch, and so I figured hell, I should just mount the fog light using the OEM switch and a relay. And well, while I'm at it, I had that roof bar sitting around... let's mount that too!
Goes kinda like this...
... and then like this! (oops, next post)
The original connectors on the Bosch lamps looked a little bit like the window motor ones... but doesn't matter, I was going to rip them out anyway.
For this exercise, I sourced the original fog lamp bulb - I have an allergy to random anonymous switches on the dashboard, and if there is an OEM spot to be used, I would much rather use that. Thanks to a thread here, I got a great explanation of the wiring pattern for the OEM switch, and so I figured hell, I should just mount the fog light using the OEM switch and a relay. And well, while I'm at it, I had that roof bar sitting around... let's mount that too!
Goes kinda like this...
... and then like this! (oops, next post)
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- #67
... and then like this!
Then it was time to hook up the roof bar. First, I tested it with the original lights that sat on it (a set of four IPFs):
It worked, but it was a) fairly energy intensive (50W x4 = 200W, which meant 16A of wiring at 12V, which needed pretty thick wiring for safe transport) and b) (more importantly) nowhere nearly obnoxiously bright. Importantly, there were _five_ mounting spots on the bar, but only _four_ IPF lights, which means I was leaving light on the table and so I trawled Amazon for some cheap, ultrabright (but probably not very good) LEDs, and a short time after, they showed up!
Mounted them on the bar and tested them...
Yep, this looks like about the right level of annoying. Perfect! Threw on a BlueSea fuse onto the battery clamp...
Then it was time to hook up the roof bar. First, I tested it with the original lights that sat on it (a set of four IPFs):
It worked, but it was a) fairly energy intensive (50W x4 = 200W, which meant 16A of wiring at 12V, which needed pretty thick wiring for safe transport) and b) (more importantly) nowhere nearly obnoxiously bright. Importantly, there were _five_ mounting spots on the bar, but only _four_ IPF lights, which means I was leaving light on the table and so I trawled Amazon for some cheap, ultrabright (but probably not very good) LEDs, and a short time after, they showed up!
Mounted them on the bar and tested them...
Yep, this looks like about the right level of annoying. Perfect! Threw on a BlueSea fuse onto the battery clamp...
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- #68
... threw a couple of relays into the engine bay...
... hooked up my weatherproof connectors...
... threw the actual light bar on the car...
... and here we go, for a test!
Lights off...
... lights on, oh boy, the neighbours are going to love THIS!
... hooked up my weatherproof connectors...
... threw the actual light bar on the car...
... and here we go, for a test!
Lights off...
... lights on, oh boy, the neighbours are going to love THIS!
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- #69
In the meantime, I got a call from my guy. Somewhat anticlimactically (after all THIS), the inspection was complete, and the car was ready to be plated. I mean I was happy at this point, but it took me into uncharted territory - I was so used to it being an object of constant modification without actually doing anything with it, such as driving it, that what was I going to do with it now that it would be street legal? Would I stop modding it? Would I offroad it? Would I go on a cross-country trip in it?
I went to the license plate bureau first. The plate was waiting for me!!! A long journey, complete.
It happened to be a REALLY crappy day to be out, too - the rain was unforgiving, and I very quickly found out that no, my modding is NOT going to stop - not even CLOSE. Because I was experiencing another 80 series cancer.
Leaky sunroof!!!
Meh. If it moves and shouldn't, duct tape, right? Sames goes for water ingress.
I went to the license plate bureau first. The plate was waiting for me!!! A long journey, complete.
It happened to be a REALLY crappy day to be out, too - the rain was unforgiving, and I very quickly found out that no, my modding is NOT going to stop - not even CLOSE. Because I was experiencing another 80 series cancer.
Leaky sunroof!!!
Meh. If it moves and shouldn't, duct tape, right? Sames goes for water ingress.
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- #70
I figured it would be very appropriate to make access more difficult to the sunroof by attaching a moderately priced roof rack to sit behind the light bar, so I did!
And of course, mandatory pictures of the car on a public road with actual road legal license plates! (that are censored because there's a general paranoia of being somehow identifiable by license plates, lol).
And of course, mandatory pictures of the car on a public road with actual road legal license plates! (that are censored because there's a general paranoia of being somehow identifiable by license plates, lol).
Nice troop carrier you got there.
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- #72
Next up on my list was more sound deadening. After I started driving the car, I realised just HOW loud it is, and while I'm all up the sound of a good V8 (or larger), simple road noise doesn't float my boat. And since the car already weighs 2.4 tons... what's another few hundred pounds of sound deadening, right? Right! Out the seats went, and in the mat went.
The other reason I wanted to take the carpet out is to see how the floor was doing in terms of rust and so on (especially passenger side, considering the high likelihood of the heater core failing one day):
But everything was fine. The passenger side is not rust - it's the foam type material that stuck to the floor and I had to rub off with brake cleaner. Worked out fairly well.
... and on went the sound deadening.
The other reason I wanted to take the carpet out is to see how the floor was doing in terms of rust and so on (especially passenger side, considering the high likelihood of the heater core failing one day):
But everything was fine. The passenger side is not rust - it's the foam type material that stuck to the floor and I had to rub off with brake cleaner. Worked out fairly well.
... and on went the sound deadening.
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- #73
This was a good opportunity to take apart the seat rails and fix the guaranteed-to-break plastic gear on both sides. On one seat my gear had already broken, and the seat wouldn't move, and while the other one worked fine, you KNOW it's a thing that will go, so might as well do it while everything is out of the car.
You can actually see how the plastic endcap had already fallen off and someone bolted it up with a weird metal contraption.
Got a used one from a forum member - functionally just fine, just dirty.
Came across some unknown garbage under the carpets. I don't even imagine what this might be.
Next up was the steering wheel. It occurred to me that now that I'm going to be driving the thing, I should do something about the steering wheel, since I want something thicker and more pleasant to the touch than the OEM steering wheel (that I had a weird wheel cover on, as you can see in the picture above). So I went and sourced an old, decrepit replacement wheel (keeping with my mantra of keeping all original components, because apparently I have unlimietd storage space...)
You can actually see how the plastic endcap had already fallen off and someone bolted it up with a weird metal contraption.
Got a used one from a forum member - functionally just fine, just dirty.
Came across some unknown garbage under the carpets. I don't even imagine what this might be.
Next up was the steering wheel. It occurred to me that now that I'm going to be driving the thing, I should do something about the steering wheel, since I want something thicker and more pleasant to the touch than the OEM steering wheel (that I had a weird wheel cover on, as you can see in the picture above). So I went and sourced an old, decrepit replacement wheel (keeping with my mantra of keeping all original components, because apparently I have unlimietd storage space...)
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- #74
Ordered a leather and foam set from RedlineGoods, and set off to work. It was surprisingly not TOO difficult, though I ended up cutting more foam than I shoudl've, which created some slightly odd cavities in the final product that I will just have to get used to.
And the final product installed:
Colour doesn't match completely, but I don't care - it's REALLY nice to the touch, and hey, it's basically a brand new steering wheel, so I can claim to be the first to lay my hands on it
And the final product installed:
Colour doesn't match completely, but I don't care - it's REALLY nice to the touch, and hey, it's basically a brand new steering wheel, so I can claim to be the first to lay my hands on it
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- #75
Kinda doubt anybody remembers where I started this thread, but on the off chance anyone does, you might remember that I had to start my voyage on the new continent with buying an overpriced local battery. I've always had the Omani one sitting around, used it for some random testing and so on, but it now occurred to me that 1) HZJ80s came with dual batteries, 2) I added a bunch of "extra" crap to the car (USB sockets, light bar, audio amp, etc), even got a fridge, so it would be logical to explore the option of switching to a dual-battery setup: maybe nothing so hardcore as using the second battery for starting and so on, but at least separating two circuits so that I can run all my "added" crap off the second battery and not worry about not being able to start the car. And when I say "explore the option", it means I ran to my drug parts dealer and ordered all the parts that the HZJ80 would've had in the space for the second tray. The windshield washer fluid reservoir was obviously in the way, and I know Slee sells a kit to convert it... but after staring at it for an inordinate amount of time, it occurred to me that there's no rocket science there, and a simple bracket to hold it further back in the engine bay should work just fine, considering the hose is long enough... and it did. $5 to the rescue!
The M8 bolt worked fine to mount it at the back of the engine bay.
The space was now clear! And just in time, the parts arrived to feed the addiction.
Test fit the battery...
... and we're in business!!!
The M8 bolt worked fine to mount it at the back of the engine bay.
The space was now clear! And just in time, the parts arrived to feed the addiction.
Test fit the battery...
... and we're in business!!!
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- #76
Of course, it immediately occurred to me that simply putting a battery there isn't really useful if you don't actually connect it to something, so I quickly planned out the wiring for this. I decided to use one of those cheapie battery switches that flips to charge the secondary at 13.3V and otherwise keeps the primary charged; once again, I know Slee has some really cool kits for several hundred dollars that can mesh the secondary battery into the system for things like starting if the primary is dead and so on, but considering how much money I've sunk into the car by now with no sign of it ending, I figured I'll stay on the cheap and just carry some boost cables around if I need them (to just connect the secondary to primary). So I went and ordered some 0 gauge cabling and some terminals. Although many threads I've seen seem to somehow omit discussions of fuses, I worry about hundreds of amps of electricity running around unfused, so I also got what probably is a little bit too many fuses, but hell. Better safe than fire, right.
Thick, thick wiring. However, I'm well aware that this is the "cheaper" kind of 0ga - copper plated aluminium or whatever they call it, rather than pure copper, but in fairness, I needed to route it through some convoluted spots, so pure copper wouldn't have worked, and it would be overkill anyway. Or so I figure.
This is the battery isolator I'm using:
I ran the ground from the new battery to the frame down around the suspension bolts, and the red positive in front of the radiator cavity to the battery isolator.
I also had previously connected everything to the main battery (the amp, etc) but now I undid the fuse->battery cable and replaced it with a longer run over to the secondary battery, so I can run my fridge / lights / whatever without worrying about the main battery dying (blue wire).
And it all worked! Amazingly, without setting anything on fire once again.
Thick, thick wiring. However, I'm well aware that this is the "cheaper" kind of 0ga - copper plated aluminium or whatever they call it, rather than pure copper, but in fairness, I needed to route it through some convoluted spots, so pure copper wouldn't have worked, and it would be overkill anyway. Or so I figure.
This is the battery isolator I'm using:
I ran the ground from the new battery to the frame down around the suspension bolts, and the red positive in front of the radiator cavity to the battery isolator.
I also had previously connected everything to the main battery (the amp, etc) but now I undid the fuse->battery cable and replaced it with a longer run over to the secondary battery, so I can run my fridge / lights / whatever without worrying about the main battery dying (blue wire).
And it all worked! Amazingly, without setting anything on fire once again.
- Thread starter
- #77
I celebrated adding my new wiring by buying more random crap!
First, some reverse facing lights, hooked up to the new circuit...
Second, an ARB awning, because it's very important to have an ARB awning when you're waiting for groceries in a supermarket lot...
And in the spirit of pointlessly renovating most of the car, I also got some chrome trim (which is sure to be discontinued in not so long a time), some coolant hoses, the two idle pulleys (figured it's time to replace the belts too...), a bunch of random gaskets and things, and the winch gear gasket which exploded on me and leaked all over my driveway. Woohoo.
First, some reverse facing lights, hooked up to the new circuit...
Second, an ARB awning, because it's very important to have an ARB awning when you're waiting for groceries in a supermarket lot...
And in the spirit of pointlessly renovating most of the car, I also got some chrome trim (which is sure to be discontinued in not so long a time), some coolant hoses, the two idle pulleys (figured it's time to replace the belts too...), a bunch of random gaskets and things, and the winch gear gasket which exploded on me and leaked all over my driveway. Woohoo.
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