Build Arizona Jeff - Build Thread

[Arizona Jeff]

The Start of a New Adventure
by: Arizona Jeff

After months of searching and near-misses, I finally found the one. I owe a lot to this site, as my purchase was due to a wanted ad I posted here. I purchased my 1996 FZJ80 from Jiminsac and I promised him I'd post from time to time.

The rig:
1 owner
Stock
118k miles
No lockers (yet!)
Zero rust - truely unbelievable how clean the undercarrage and engine are.
Purchase Date: 2/28/14

Purpose:
-Daily Driver for the next couple of years
-Trail rig to take my wife and 4 boys out in- camping, etc. I will actually use the third row seats!
-Hopefully never sell it as I've regretted selling my past Toyotas

Purchase Price: Fair
One way ticket to Sacramento followed by a 13 hour drive home...priceless! It ran great.

Anticipated build items - Always looking for input here:

Baseline:
-Replace all fluids.
-New plugs & wires.
-New front brakes.
-Window Tint.
-Fix passenger side visor - (magnet trick found on this site)

Baselining is complete as of 3/14/14

Phase 1
-Lift - OME 2.5" heavy.
-Tires - 315/75R 16 BFG KM2. I want to keep my flares. I believe this size tire will work great but appreciate input.
-Rear Bumper - I like the ones from 4x4 Labs. I tow a boat as well. Tire carrier & gas can or cooler options with ladder.
-Front Bumper - ARB Bull Bar
-Sliders - 4x4 Labs or Slee or similar
-Roof Rack - Baja Rack (full with sides). Tough to beat their $$
-Stereo - TBD
-Replace cracked dash - looking for one!

This will keep the body protected and hope to do these over the next few months. Then on to Phase 2...

Phase 2:
-Winch - Warn or similar. 10,000 lbs
-Lights - LED Light bars. Type - TBD
-On board compressor - TBD
-Additional skid plates / Undercarriage protection.
-Lockers - I'll be doing some research on this. Find factory lockers off an old rig, Aussie Lockers, ARB Lockers. Lots of pros/cons on each. Wish it had factory lockers but I got a good price on it so I'm not complaining.

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Fixed the netting with simple zip ties!

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Painted the emblems!

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Repainted the center caps - I'm not too happy with the result. They look a lot better in the daylight. Think I'll eventually paint them flat black.

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Repainted part of the grill. Still debating if I should go flat black over all the chrome on the front end.

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Peeled off the factory stickers. I think one of these is for the undercarrage coating. The original owner said they coated it at the dealership before he bought it. The pictures show some dirt. It rained off and on from Sacramento to Phoenix.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Nice low mileage find.

 

[iptman]

That's a good one. No roof rack or spoiler/dust deflector. And you're right, that engine bay is clean.

 

[WarWagon]

Geez great find....like the color

 

[DSRTRDR]

and, grass in Phoenix ? [applicable smiley left out]

 

[TYM4FUN]

Great looking truck, congratulations!

 

[stu8319]

I have the same exterior color. Love it!

 

[musthave]

Wow, that's a nice find with those miles on it. Congrats. Open up a new line of credit for mods

 

[Tapage]

that engine bay it's pristine !!!

 

[rocktoy74]

X3 on the color! I am biased though as I own one too! Nice low mile find look forward to the build, sounds like you know what you want and I agree with your list all good stuff!

 

[NM Frontier]

What a nice find! I like that color with the black emblems keep it up!

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Getting ready to pull the trigger on a lift, rack, and some other goodies. In the meantime, I've done a few minor mods, which are low cost - but big bang for the buck.

Interior lights - I replaced them with ones I found on Amazon. They are great - $9 for a pair, I bought two pairs. They all fit great into the existing openings and the front map light was a perfect, perfect fit. I think I will find some smaller ones for the door lights. They can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FKPJJNY/?tag=ihco-20

The picture shows the new with the old. I think you can figure which is which.

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Fire Extinguisher - I went with a 2.5 lb H3r. $132 on Amazon. I mounted it on the drivers seat. In my research on this, I found a lot of people talking about how it should be within arms reach. Some others on this forum mounted it here and I find that it is not in the way at all.
It can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TPOU2W/?tag=ihco-20

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Chirp Chirp - My chirper wasn't working when I bought it. Found one at Radio Shack. If I was to do over again, I would get a louder one. It's 90 db and does fine, but a little louder would have been preferred. I hooked it up to the battery to test it, and it didn't work. A couple of taps and it worked! Worked fine ever since.

 

[Arizona Jeff]

Alarm Antenna - There is some info on this on this forum. Lot's of people trying different things to get better range. At first I ran a wire up the B column and around the top of the driver's window. It helped, but once I covered it all back up with the trim the range was cut down again (still way better than stock). I then thought to try an easier approach. Hook the wire to a ground source - I used the seat bolt. This is WAY better than the wire I ran, so I left it. If anyone sees a down side to this, please post.