Updates
3d Printed Backup Camera Mount [12/12/2016]
Going in too Deep / Is rust ever not a big deal?
PFran LED Kit and Speakers [9/11/2016]
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To-Do
(Updated 9/11/2016)
(Feel free to offer your advice or experience)
About a year ago I sold my Jeep ('09 Rubicon 2door). It was an amazingly capable vehicle and even straight off the lot it took on some serious trail. The problem with it, though, quickly became apparent: outside of a small cooler, there's not that much room. Probably something I should have realized before dropping a bunch of dough on upgrades, but hey, at least the guy who bought it from me seemed happy...
Since then, I've halfheartedly been trying to figure out what I wanted in an 'adventure' vehicle. I'd probably "made my mind up" on exactly what I wanted at least a dozen times before changing my mind, or being unsure long enough for someone else to buy what I was looking at. The night before I bought the 80, I'd committed to buying a brand new Tacoma Off Road. It was capable, roomy, had aggressive styling, and would get the job done. I pulled the title to my daily driver, laid in bed, and spent the next 4 hours sweating and fretting over even the thought of taking a brand-new $38k truck into the wilderness and strapping down my soon-to-be daily driver with heavy gear and modifications. After all, I'd had the Jeep and while I built it right and it looked great, it could still be a chore to manhandle the 35" tires and hundreds of pounds of bumper and armor around to the office on a daily basis. Not to mention, on a trail I was constantly worried that I'd incapacitate the same vehicle that took me to work every day. I didn't want to do that again.
Saturday, August 27, I found what I'd been looking for. I'd (once again) decided my made-up mind needed to change and I spent the morning looking at 60s in the area. Found a few interesting options, but nothing that really screamed my name. Then, I got a text from a friend and mud member about an 80 he'd found on Craigslist: a 1995 Land Cruiser with 95,000 miles.
It was so clean, so pretty... I went to kick the tires and was blown away. It looked clean in the photos, but this was like stepping back in time. Almost everything was as it was 20 years ago. The leather was brand new, recently reupholstered by the PO. It had a substantial custom rear bumper and stealth rock rails that retained the original styling of the 80. The engine fired right up and purred; no ticks, no taps. Underneath, not the slightest drop of internal fluids. Nothing. It was as perfect of an 80 as I'd seen while trolling hundreds of CL ads. The decision on what I was going to do was clearer than ever before. Just to make sure it was the right decision, I handed the PO a check before I could change my mind!
The hunt is finally over. Here is how it sits on day 1, in my garage. Just under 95,000 miles, a fresh wash and vacuum, leather conditioned and cleaned, fluids checked:
Right now, I don't have any major mods planned. I'm going to simply enjoy it for a bit. Take it on a few adventures, get a feel for what I think she needs going forward. With our first family camping trip only a few weeks ago, I'm sure I will find the pain points pretty quickly.
Modifications aside, there are some minor maintenance points I'll be tackling in the next few weeks:
Short list of probable 'next-step' mods:
3d Printed Backup Camera Mount [12/12/2016]
Going in too Deep / Is rust ever not a big deal?
PFran LED Kit and Speakers [9/11/2016]
---
To-Do
(Updated 9/11/2016)
- Identify cause of radio interference following RPMs
- Find the damn squeak on the drivers side middle
- Find a new speaker cover for rear right door (i stepped on mine...)
- Identify illicit source of new income to feed mod list
(Feel free to offer your advice or experience)
- Android stereo head units
- Dual battery/interior power solutions
About a year ago I sold my Jeep ('09 Rubicon 2door). It was an amazingly capable vehicle and even straight off the lot it took on some serious trail. The problem with it, though, quickly became apparent: outside of a small cooler, there's not that much room. Probably something I should have realized before dropping a bunch of dough on upgrades, but hey, at least the guy who bought it from me seemed happy...
Since then, I've halfheartedly been trying to figure out what I wanted in an 'adventure' vehicle. I'd probably "made my mind up" on exactly what I wanted at least a dozen times before changing my mind, or being unsure long enough for someone else to buy what I was looking at. The night before I bought the 80, I'd committed to buying a brand new Tacoma Off Road. It was capable, roomy, had aggressive styling, and would get the job done. I pulled the title to my daily driver, laid in bed, and spent the next 4 hours sweating and fretting over even the thought of taking a brand-new $38k truck into the wilderness and strapping down my soon-to-be daily driver with heavy gear and modifications. After all, I'd had the Jeep and while I built it right and it looked great, it could still be a chore to manhandle the 35" tires and hundreds of pounds of bumper and armor around to the office on a daily basis. Not to mention, on a trail I was constantly worried that I'd incapacitate the same vehicle that took me to work every day. I didn't want to do that again.
Saturday, August 27, I found what I'd been looking for. I'd (once again) decided my made-up mind needed to change and I spent the morning looking at 60s in the area. Found a few interesting options, but nothing that really screamed my name. Then, I got a text from a friend and mud member about an 80 he'd found on Craigslist: a 1995 Land Cruiser with 95,000 miles.
It was so clean, so pretty... I went to kick the tires and was blown away. It looked clean in the photos, but this was like stepping back in time. Almost everything was as it was 20 years ago. The leather was brand new, recently reupholstered by the PO. It had a substantial custom rear bumper and stealth rock rails that retained the original styling of the 80. The engine fired right up and purred; no ticks, no taps. Underneath, not the slightest drop of internal fluids. Nothing. It was as perfect of an 80 as I'd seen while trolling hundreds of CL ads. The decision on what I was going to do was clearer than ever before. Just to make sure it was the right decision, I handed the PO a check before I could change my mind!
The hunt is finally over. Here is how it sits on day 1, in my garage. Just under 95,000 miles, a fresh wash and vacuum, leather conditioned and cleaned, fluids checked:
Right now, I don't have any major mods planned. I'm going to simply enjoy it for a bit. Take it on a few adventures, get a feel for what I think she needs going forward. With our first family camping trip only a few weeks ago, I'm sure I will find the pain points pretty quickly.
Modifications aside, there are some minor maintenance points I'll be tackling in the next few weeks:
- Replacing the window channel gaskets on FR & RR windows. PO bought them, but never put them in and was nice enough to include them in the sale. The two windows lift/lower pretty slow so I hope this addresses that problem.
- The 12v power socket under the radio wants to pull out along with whatever you're removing from the socket. I haven't figured out exactly why yet, and it's a low-priority problem but I'd like to remedy that.
- Some surface rust under the carpet on the drivers side. I want to get this taken care of before it becomes a real problem. Any suggestions on handling rust in this location would be appreciated.
- Upgraded headlight bulbs. Going to throw in some Sylvania Silverstar Ultras. They're always a first-step upgrade on any vehicle for me. I don't see that great at night and so far they're the best bang for the buck I've found without upgrading the whole assembly to projectors (which may come later, once some more critical gear is checked off the list)
Short list of probable 'next-step' mods:
- Upgrading the electrical offerings. I need more than one power port. I'd like to have a inverted outlet in the rear with USB connections scattered between there and the driver/passenger up front along with a dual battery setup.
- New vehicle audio setup. I enjoy good sound in my vehicles. I'm starting to research some of the double-din offerings as I'd like whatever it is to have some GPS/Navi capability. I'm becoming intrigued with the Full-Android options. Easy to root, there's a lot of customizing available which can create an extremely powerful 'central command center' for the entire vehicle.
- I'd like to have a front bumper solution by early next year and will be trying to find someone who can design/fab a tire carrier for the rear bumper fabbed by the PO. If anyone has suggestions on local metal/fab shops in the triad area, I'd welcome those referrals.
- I need a name for her... any thoughts?
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The amount of force required to screw in the speakers flush just didn't sit right, so I'm not going to put them back in.![20160907_183431[1].jpg](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='1280' height='1080' viewBox%3D'0 0 1280 1080'%2F%3E "20160907_183431[1].jpg")
