Build: 40th Anniversary Restoration

[Xland]

Honestly, I just looked at the locked body harness and the unlocked harness. Found the 6-wires in the locked harness that weren’t in the unlocked harness. Then swapped them in one at a time so I didn’t screw it up. That kept everything OEM including wire, wire position, wire colors, etc.

And they were just through-wires? From the rear connection to the main plug under the driver dash? When I harvested the body harness off the donor rig it had a couple lines that were routed up to the shifter column area. I think for the second gear start function (1995+). Lines were routed from the passenger side body harness as well. I’ve lost sleep imagining the locker wires travelled that path somehow and I needed to have kept the passenger body harness..

 

[Charles4x4]

And they were just through-wires? From the rear connection to the main plug under the driver dash? When I harvested the body harness off the donor rig it had a couple lines that were routed up to the shifter column area. I think for the second gear start function (1995+). Lines were routed from the passenger side body harness as well. I’ve lost sleep imagining the locker wires travelled that path somehow and I needed to have kept the passenger body harness..

I didn’t remove my 97 body harness. Instead, I just spliced in the 6 missing wires from the locked body harness into the 97’s unlocked body harness. That way I didn’t have to mess with anything else.

 

[Charles4x4]

Update:
The Antique Sage Pearl 40th Anniversary cruiser is still getting paint work done but I finished up my Black 85 and got it out of the garage. So, the Dark Green Emerald Pearl finally gets to move into the garage and get some work done. More to come soon!

 

[Charles4x4]

The Antique Sage Pearl 40th LC is still in paint, so I’ve been working on the Dark Emerald Pearl 40th instead. Knocked out a ton of small fixes, removed aftermarket stereo and swapped in OEM Equalizer one. Also got the 40th Anniversary Molding on today. Bumpers for it are at paint, but I’m maybe 50% through my list of items it needs.

 

[Charles4x4]

Finally got the OEM Muffler / Tail Pipe sections mated correctly to the Magnaflow Y-Pipe and Cats. First time the Y-Pipe wasn’t sealing to the Manifolds. Eventually I broke a few studs off and one of them I couldn’t get out after welding 10x nuts to it. Had to drill it out and re-tap the manifold. Then new OEM studs and nuts made all the difference. It’s back to factory quality, performance, and sound.

Also did new belts, fan shroud, and and a few other things while I was in the engine bay.

Today I spend an hour cleaning the interior floor pans really well before new carpet goes in. More to come soon!

The Antique Sage Pearl is still at paint.

 

[duece71]

Nice, are you going with some sound deadening before the carpet? This is just another project on the list for me.

Finally got the OEM Muffler / Tail Pipe sections mated correctly to the Magnaflow Y-Pipe and Cats. First time the Y-Pipe wasn’t sealing to the Manifolds. Eventually I broke a few studs off and one of them I couldn’t get out after welding 10x nuts to it. Had to drill it out and re-tap the manifold. Then new OEM studs and nuts made all the difference. It’s back to factory quality, performance, and sound.

Also did new belts, fan shroud, and and a few other things while I was in the engine bay.

Today I spend an hour cleaning the interior floor pans really well before new carpet goes in. More to come soon!

The Antique Sage Pearl is still at paint.

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[Charles4x4]

Nice, are you going with some sound deadening before the carpet? This is just another project on the list for me.

I got the Mass Backing Option with the new ACC Stock Interiors carpet, so that does the same thing as Sound Deadener (but is more easily removed of course). I've had good luck with Mass Backing on my other restorations and really hate installing sound deadening!

 

[duece71]

I got the Mass Backing Option with the new ACC Stock Interiors carpet, so that does the same thing as Sound Deadener (but is more easily removed of course). I've had good luck with Mass Backing on my other restorations and really hate installing sound deadening!

Those Stock Interiors carpet set ups look very nice, my old tired carpet might have to get replaced.

 

[Charles4x4]

Pulled the sunroof as the Drivers side mechanisms aren’t working. Will be diving into it soon.

This is about as stripped down as it gets (I already put the dash and doors all back together but they were apart earlier too)!

 

[Charles4x4]

Realized that I never closed out the Green 40th Anniversary restoration. Here’s some finished product pics. Still have axles, suspension, and wheel restoration left. But we’ve been driving and enjoying it since May!

Exterior:

 

[Charles4x4]

Interior:

 

[ERG80]

Speakers are mostly done. Adding in my Amazon order in case anyone wants to replicate it (only 1 of each is needed - I also bought a set of speakers for my black 1st gen while I was at it).

The Sub was disappointing though. Maybe a) the stock amp isn’t strong enough, b) the lack of a box is killing it, c) the OEM wiring is too tiny, or all three. But other than looking good and fitting nicely, it wasn’t worth the cost so far. I’m going to work on a box that fits behind the rear cargo panel and then might add a new amp if that doesn’t do the trick (the OEM amp cannot be very strong given how tiny it is).

My impressions:
- Sub just not enough bass to justify cost…yet
- 3rd row roof speakers are surprisingly loud and worth it IMO
- 2nd row door speakers have to be glued in and sound good (wish they had a bit more bass though)
- Front door speakers sound amazing but do need longer screws (I just used some I had laying around). Best bang for the buck IMO
- Dash speakers are a big upgrade too, but the passenger side had to be glued in as it hits stuff under the dash when using the OEM screws and tabs

Pretty easy installs, big upgrade in sound, budget friendly, and maintains the factory OEM look and feel. Mission accomplished.

Just gotta solve for a bit more bass in the rear without modifying the OEM cargo side panels.

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Which speakers went in the rear headliner?

Thanks

ERG80

 

[Charles4x4]

Which speakers went in the rear headliner?

Thanks

ERG80

It was the 3 1/2" ones.

 

[ERG80]

Thank you.

 

[Charles4x4]

Finally got the Antique Sage Pearl LC out of the paint shop:

 

[Charles4x4]

More:

 

[Charles4x4]

Then the other half of my work begins again! To start, I put in 100% OEM seals for 100% of Doors and Windows. Looking back, this was probably overkill as some of the seals weren’t that bad but I was getting them shipped from Japan/UAE so figured I’d rather have them all and save on shipping than miss a couple later on and have to pay for shipping again. Some came from local dealerships, but most I think came from Partsouq. BTW, the ones from Japan have cool labels and are always boxed amazingly compared to US!

 

[Charles4x4]

Also, knocked out the passenger door small windows - a bit of a pain honestly! Then tons of cleaning and a few small repairs on the door panels.

Then, next up was my least favorite interior job, new ACC Carpet. I went with the same Dark Brown - Nylon Loop with Mass Backing from Stock Interiors as I did with the Green 40th Anniversary cruiser.

Each time I do it, I tell myself I need to start a company that actually makes Ready-To-Install carpet. All they do is place the carpet in a molder. We literally have to cut every single edge, random cut, and bolt hole. This was probably one of my best carpet jobs I’ve done but inevitably it’s never perfect. I really wish someone would create a company that does all that for you and is truly “Plug and Play”. Maybe when I retire… . But it is truly painful to get ACC to fit and work to my standard!

 

[Charles4x4]

More carpet install pics. PITA!!!

While this is happening, I began noticing a gear oil leak below the transfer case and immediately suspected the rear output seal. This is a super simple project on my old forerunners that I restore, but through this forum, I immediately found out it’s not quite as simple on the 80 series.

Long story short, I pulled the rear transfer case assembly out, made my way through the maze of hard to reach C clips, and finally got a new OEM oil seal plugged in. I then went to put it all back together and was looking forward to a cold refreshment at the end when I heard a pop as I was tightening the bolts down. My best gas is one of the 3 inch round metal shims somehow moved slightly while I was tightening down the bolts and because I had RTV already in place I didn’t realize it. I had them secured with some red tacky grease as instructed on the install thread, but really should have done a dry fit without RTV sealant first. Upon inspection, I confirmed I had cracked the rear assembly housing. It honestly wasn’t a bad crack - more faint hairline only around one of the bolts that sticks out on the drivers side, but I don’t want a crack anywhere. So, I immediately knew I need to replace it or I’d be worried about it down the road.

So, I went to Facebook and immediately found out from some of the experts that you can’t just stick a new rear assembly on your case, as they are somehow mutated together at the factory. Supposedly it can work, but it is not ideal. Given how far I am into this build, I’m still going after ideal in all situations.

So, luckily I found a guy in Georgia with a low mileage transfer case. So after a 10 hour round-trip drive on a Friday when I had taken off work, I snagged the new transfer case and the following day spent a few hours plugging it in. Those things are heavy and the way you have to install it with the driver side tilted up is a bit of a pain. But I got it done!

 

[Charles4x4]

I forgot to mention that I loved the sound and performance of the new OEM/magna flow Exhaust set up on the green Land Cruiser, as documented earlier in this thread, so much that I went ahead and repeated the exact same thing for this land cruiser. It’s expensive and super time-consuming, especially when a stud breaks off in a manifold, and you have to source a new manifold from eBay because you have failed to extract it after 30 or so bolts welded onto the exhaust manifold stud with no luck, lol. That wasn’t a fun day, but the performance gains are incredible. Smooth power, quiet sound, Steady performance. One of the best upgrades I’ve done.

With all the mechanical stuff out-of-the-way, I just started reassembling the rest of the interior. For some reason, my passenger seat won’t slide forward or backward, even with the new gears, so I’ll have to dig into that more later. Luckily, it’s actually in a really good spot as it is. I think the transfer case issue wore me out, so it looks like I didn’t take any pictures of the interior install so here’s where we stood earlier this week.