Build Box Rocket 1995 FZJ80 Build

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I have recently been reading about some LED headlight upgrades and I went ahead and ordered a set. Label says they are 2000 lumens and they're straight up plug-n-play so it won't get much simpler. Should make for a much brighter whiter headlight. They are CREE LEDs. I ordered them from ebay.
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Came in this box

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packed like this

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mderrick said:
posted at 9:30 PM with out being installed? shame shame..
I cant wait to see them in and on! post up a before and after picture of the lighting..
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Some of us are still working at 9:30pm. :) I should have some time tonight to get them plugged in and I'll get some pics.
 
Box Rocket said:
I have recently been reading about some LED headlight upgrades and I went ahead and ordered a set. Label says they are 2000 lumens and they're straight up plug-n-play so it won't get much simpler. Should make for a much brighter whiter headlight. They are CREE LEDs. I ordered them from ebay.
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Came in this box

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packed like this

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Click to expand...
Where did you get this one?
 
It was linked in the LED headlight thread.
 
Headlights installed tonight. Conveniently I had one of the stock headlights that was burnt out so the following pics are of the one working headlight.

Before


After


Also, blacked out the grill




 
Lovin the bulbs so much I just ordered a set! Thanks for the info on them!
Really liked ur blacked out grill and trim, think that would look sweet on my white one, what was ur method used to remove the chrome plating, if at all?
Was planning on doin mine cuz it's staring to chip and flake and look awful,
Curious about the chrome trim around the corner lights, didn't think it was removable? Skinny masking tape to contour the corner then cover the rest of the lens to spray?
 
for the grill I went simple. On my old 80 I pulled the grill and sanded it down and painted it with Rustoleum satin black. It was time consuming but turned out pretty good. Over time the paint would still chip and need to be touched up. On my Tacoma I blacked out the grill using Plasti-Dip. It didn't require stripping the chrome or the time consuming sanding of the grill. The plasti-dip adheres well with just a good cleaning of the grill. the other nice thing about the plasti-dip is it is somewhat rubbery so it doesn't chip like the paint did. So it is much more durable to rock chips etc. I've had it on my Tacoma for over 3 years now with no touch-ups needed so I decided to use it on the 80.

If you haven't used plasti-dip before it is really cool how it works. You don't need to perfectly mask everything. Actually you want to mask things to allow roughly an inch or so of overspray. So I opened the hood and covered the radiator and core support, I masked the fenders and headlights but left about an inch of fender exposed around the grill and corner lights. Same thing with the headlights. I masked them but left about 3/4" of the headlight exposed. Then you want to spray several LIGHT coats of the plasti-dip, slowly building up the coverage. When you have everything covered well you can remove all your masking tape. You'll see how the plasti-dip starts to pull away around the masked edge. Use your finger and rub the edge of the plasti-dip like you would to remove rubber cement. Then when you can grab the edge of the plasti-dip on the overspray on the fender or light just start pulling it. It will tear on it's own right along any seams leaving a clean finished edge. So the seam of the fender/corner light will tear as you peel the overspray off the fender and leave a perfect edge on the painted corner light. Repeat for the overspray on the lights. Viola!
 
the other nice thing about the plasti-dip is if you decide you don't like it, just peel it off and you are back to the original surface. No harm done.
 
I got to work on the suspension swap yesterday. Turns out the suspension that is on the new cruiser is Skyjacker coils/shocks NOT Rancho like I thought it was. I was only able to get the rear suspension swapped last night, but hope to get the front done in the next couple days. The details of the rear suspension I'm putting on the new cruiser is some *well used* OME J springs, some 1.5" spring spacers, OME L shocks, Slee 2" bumpstop extensions, Slee swaybar brackets, Slee adjustable panhard. I took some measurements of the rear of the truck prior to starting and from the ground to the bottom edge of the fender flare was 38 5/8". After the rear J springs etc were swapped in the measurement was 42 1/2" so I got almost 4" of extra lift. It may settle a bit, but that's probably what it will be.
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Here's the BEFORE photo with both 80s in the garage ready for the swap, along with the Tacoma patiently waiting.

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In case anyone is curious my Goodyear MTRs are about an inch larger diameter than the used BFG ATs that have been on my old cruiser. Both are 315s.

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Skyjacker 2.5" lift coil

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Old Skyjacker shocks

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Here's the comparison of the OME J spring and 2" spacer next to the 2.5" Skyjacker coil.

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I didn't get any other photos during the process but here's a dark photo after the rear ends were all buttoned back up. Skyjacker stuff is now on the white cruiser and the OME stuff is on the new Grey cruiser. Pretty big change if you ask me (check out the height of the taillights compared to the BEFORE photo). It's stink bugged really bad right now until I can get the front swapped out, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it rides.
 
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Sick, really coming along nicely. Wish I'd read about your plasti dip experience before touching up the taco grill with more spray paint... Hoping the rustoleum will at least be better than the crappy duplicolor from before. It's a mess anyways, need to get a new grill. And cut for winch better.
 
I hate the shocks with the pin ends on these trucks. I'm very motivated to change them out for some shocks with eyes on the ends. It's taking me FAR too long to get the front shocks off of both trucks. Nuts are seized and trying to keep the pin from spinning while I break them loose is getting ridiculous.
 
Box Rocket said:
Last night Zach Scott from PrInSu Designs came over to measure it for one of his roof racks. He's been primarily focused on Tacomas and FJ Cruisers so this will be the first rack for a 80 series. I really like the design of his racks. All aluminum, low profile, very sturdy with good lines. One thing that will be great about it is the side rails will not have individual feet but a rail that runs the entire length of the gutter so the load will be spread out well and the load capacity should be outstanding. I think it will be the best looking rack option of 80 series cruisers on the market. He should have a prototype worked up to test fitment in a couple weeks and then the final version will be built.
Here's a photo of one of his Tacoma racks. This is actually two racks, one on the truck and one on the camper. But should give you an idea of the basic look of the one for the cruiser.

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Damn that has to be the best looking rack i have ever seen...on a truck!
 
Box Rocket said:
I hate the shocks with the pin ends on these trucks. I'm very motivated to change them out for some shocks with eyes on the ends. It's taking me FAR too long to get the front shocks off of both trucks. Nuts are seized and trying to keep the pin from spinning while I break them loose is getting ridiculous.
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Word. Stem mount shocks are stupid
 
nukegoat said:
Word. Stem mount shocks are stupid
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Couldn't agree more. Several hours again last night on the front suspension. That strap wrench I bought to help remove the shocks?...............Yeah I broke it in about 2 min. :( Ended up using a pipe wrench and finally got the shocks removed, but not until one of them busted a stud in the process. So my old cruiser will get sold without front shocks. Shouldn't matter since those shocks were toast anyway and would need to be replaced. Also, needed to move the extended brake lines from the old truck to the new one. Not sure how I over looked that, but it became obvious pretty quickly that it needed to happen. The only issue with that was that my '93 only had 1 brakeline from the frame to the axle, where the '95 has two so I need to source one more extended brake line. I think I actually have one packed away somewhere I just need to go do some digging.
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But the new truck has springs and shocks all installed and is back on all 4 tires. Other than the brake lines, I need to install the caster plates and front panhard this weekend and it should be good to go.

DHwreckage said:
Damn that has to be the best looking rack i have ever seen...on a truck!
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Yep it's good looking. We test fit the prototype on the cruiser this past Saturday. Made a couple tweaks and it should be ready to install in the next 2-3 weeks. It's going to be really nice.
 
I am impressed by this as well. So are these going to be available to the rest of us and if so is there a estimated price? Just got a 92 few weeks ago, have one stubborn screw left to remove the factory rack and have yet to find a rack I want to replace it with to house my future RRT.
 
Yes the plan is to make them available for sale. One caveat that should be noted if the design is the same is mine will be then you'll be required to remove the factory luggage rack. I wanted a rack that was as low profile as possible and fortunately my cruiser never had the factory rack so I didn't need to remove it. Zach (who is building them) has discussed building two versions so there could be one that would still work with the factory rack. I'm not sure what the final decision on that will be.

One of the features I like most about it is the rails run the full length of the gutter so the load is spread over the entire length of the roof rather than at just a few points with multiple feet like many other racks. This should make for an incredible load capacity, although I don't intend to carry a lot of weight up there. Mainly just a RTT. Regardless the rack will be very strong.
 
Suspension swap is complete!
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Damage report:
Only 3 broken bolts
Two broken 3/8 Drive Ratchets
one broken strap wrench
one broken shock
One smashed finger
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So besides a few unexpected hiccups (what can you expect when dealing with 20 year old components?) it came together alright. So other than the springs and shocks, the new cruiser has longer brake lines, adjustable panhards, caster correction plates and some 2" spacers.
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Before:

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After:

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