And so it begins...
**Warning, lots of pictures incoming**
Hi my name is Aaron, and I'm an addict, a landcruiser addict. The sickness is real. Not like I needed it, but I found it and couldn't help but pull the trigger even after a fair amount of warning by others on here. I came across 1991 FJ80 while perusing the facebook market near me. Seller said it needed a lot of work and boy they weren't lying. Some may have seen a couple previous posts of mine asking for opinions and encouragement to buy this or not (post1, post2).
So with the help of my brother in law, we go and pick this thing up. When we get there we look around the landcruiser opening doors as if it was already mine before the seller comes out. When they finally come out they put a battery in it and had previously informed me they thought it might run long enough to get up on the trailer. Let me just say this thing had absolutely no chance in hell of making it even 2 ft from where it sat, under it's own power. I turn key and the narliest sounds starts coming from the motor. Think of an un-oiled see saw spinning in a dryer, that's the sound this thing made.
My bro-in-law and I make eye contact as if to say what the hell was that? I turn the key over again and it sounds even worse than before, but bless her heart she turned on for about 6-10 seconds all the while wanting to spit some metal out the side wall of the motor by the sounds of it. The motor was always in my mind a wash basically I knew it would need to come out, but now I don't even think this thing is rebuildable or worth the money to try to bring it back. So it's going to either need to be a swap, or try to get another 3FE down the line.
We eventually determined there was no way this thing was going to move on it's own, so we get the help of an old pick up truck they had and strapped it up and pulled it onto the trailer like a tug boat pulling a giant boat along the side of the trailer. That's it, it's mine now. Maybe I messed up, maybe I'll still be ok, but it's mine now and gotta move forward. Overall I'm still pleased with the integrity of the body, frame, and some of the interior, and I'm still convinced I still did ok for a $1k purchase. Maybe that's because of my coming from a FJ40 perspective. I've seen much older landcruisers in much worse off shape and seen how they can com back from that, so in my opinion I think we can do it. Yes I said we, it takes a village.
It is going to take a while and isn't exactly my priority right now, so the updates may come slowly, but I will be slowly working on this and as the weather gets better, and I get time to work on it, I'll post a bunch of pictures of my progress on this thing, which takes me to my next point, what to name it. Given it's short back story, and how she's been received, I'm still thinking of names, so any ideas are welcome. My daughter said it looks like a Poop Cruiser , but I'm not too fond of that name.
Without further adieu...
**Warning, lots of pictures incoming**
Hi my name is Aaron, and I'm an addict, a landcruiser addict. The sickness is real. Not like I needed it, but I found it and couldn't help but pull the trigger even after a fair amount of warning by others on here. I came across 1991 FJ80 while perusing the facebook market near me. Seller said it needed a lot of work and boy they weren't lying. Some may have seen a couple previous posts of mine asking for opinions and encouragement to buy this or not (post1, post2).
So with the help of my brother in law, we go and pick this thing up. When we get there we look around the landcruiser opening doors as if it was already mine before the seller comes out. When they finally come out they put a battery in it and had previously informed me they thought it might run long enough to get up on the trailer. Let me just say this thing had absolutely no chance in hell of making it even 2 ft from where it sat, under it's own power. I turn key and the narliest sounds starts coming from the motor. Think of an un-oiled see saw spinning in a dryer, that's the sound this thing made.
My bro-in-law and I make eye contact as if to say what the hell was that? I turn the key over again and it sounds even worse than before, but bless her heart she turned on for about 6-10 seconds all the while wanting to spit some metal out the side wall of the motor by the sounds of it. The motor was always in my mind a wash basically I knew it would need to come out, but now I don't even think this thing is rebuildable or worth the money to try to bring it back. So it's going to either need to be a swap, or try to get another 3FE down the line.
We eventually determined there was no way this thing was going to move on it's own, so we get the help of an old pick up truck they had and strapped it up and pulled it onto the trailer like a tug boat pulling a giant boat along the side of the trailer. That's it, it's mine now. Maybe I messed up, maybe I'll still be ok, but it's mine now and gotta move forward. Overall I'm still pleased with the integrity of the body, frame, and some of the interior, and I'm still convinced I still did ok for a $1k purchase. Maybe that's because of my coming from a FJ40 perspective. I've seen much older landcruisers in much worse off shape and seen how they can com back from that, so in my opinion I think we can do it. Yes I said we, it takes a village.
It is going to take a while and isn't exactly my priority right now, so the updates may come slowly, but I will be slowly working on this and as the weather gets better, and I get time to work on it, I'll post a bunch of pictures of my progress on this thing, which takes me to my next point, what to name it. Given it's short back story, and how she's been received, I'm still thinking of names, so any ideas are welcome. My daughter said it looks like a Poop Cruiser , but I'm not too fond of that name.
Without further adieu...