Build Costs?

[Kungpaodog]

Hi, all. I'm finally moving on getting myself a Land Cruiser. I need to do a few things to my car before I sell it, and then I'm going to be hunting for a 62. The agreement is that I can get whatever "old piece of crap" I want as long as my wife gets a car built inside of the last decade. I'll be starting with around $8000 for my budget and doing all (most) work myself.

DO NOT let your wife or my wife see this cost break-down!!

So here's the five-ish year plan for my yet-to-be-found cruiser:
Item Item cost Running total
Purchase 4000 $4,000 PM 1500 $5,500 Lift 1300 $6,800 Tires 800 $7,600 Rear sliding windows 600 $8,200 Bumper, front 1000 $9,200 winch+accessories 700 $9,900 Sound Deadener 150 $10,050 Interior restore 1700 $11,750 WagonGear 900 $12,650 Stereo 250 $12,900 H55 3500 $16,400 Tint 250 $16,650 Paint/body 2500 $19,150 Engine rebuild 3500 $22,650
The items are more or less in the order I want to do them and may change based on need. All costs are ball-park based on what I've read here.

Do any of my costs look way out of line?

 

[Kungpaodog]

fixed that

Hi, all. I'm finally moving on getting myself a Land Cruiser. I need to do a few things to my car before I sell it, and then I'm going to be hunting for a 62. The agreement is that I can get whatever "old piece of ****" I want as long as my wife gets a car built inside of the last decade. I'll be starting with around $8000 for my budget and doing all (most) work myself.

DO NOT let your wife or my wife see this cost break-down!!

So here's the five-ish year plan for my yet-to-be-found cruiser:
Item Item cost Running total
Purchase 4000 $4,000
PM 1500 $5,500
Lift 1300 $6,800
Tires 800 $7,600
Rear sliding windows 600 $8,200
Bumper, front 1000 $9,200
winch+accessories 700 $9,900
Sound Deadener 150 $10,050
Interior restore 1700 $11,750
WagonGear 900 $12,650
Stereo 250 $12,900
H55 3500 $16,400
Tint 250 $16,650
Paint/body 2500 $19,150
Engine rebuild 3500 $22,650

The items are more or less in the order I want to do them and may change based on need. All costs are ball-park based on what I've read here.

Do any of my costs look way out of line?

Couldn't figure out how to edit my post, so here's a nicer version, I hope.

 

[The Machinist]

You can do the interior for a few hundred bucks, go to the link in my signature line for my project thread.

 

[Michael Browning]

You have a PM

Check your PM's....I might be able to help you...

 

[robustbambi]

why not spend more initially, and buy a truck that already has some of those things done?

 

[Kungpaodog]

I have no problem spending more initially to get a truck with some of these things done. If I could find one for sale in a month or so with most of these things done I will jump on it.

The Machinist- I was rounding up to a worst case scenario for a dash cap, all new carpet, new seats or at least new seat foam, etc. I think I have already read through your interior restore thread. It's good to know that it can be done cheaper, but it is also easier to estimate high than low, right?

 

[The Machinist]

The Machinist- I was rounding up to a worst case scenario for a dash cap, all new carpet, new seats or at least new seat foam, etc. I think I have already read through your interior restore thread. It's good to know that it can be done cheaper, but it is also easier to estimate high than low, right?

Very true! I always do that when I'm pricing things out in my head or helping friends lay out budgets for projects. Good luck with whatever you do end up with man!

 

[jpeg]

i recently upgraded my interior (https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/565042-extreme-makeover-landcruiser-style.html) and am thrilled with how it turned out. i spent more than i planned but i would do it again. you can do it in stages so the expenditure will be gradual, and therefore maybe not as noticeable

 

[Heckraiser]

My first thought is if you buy a $4000 truck, you should not need:

1) Engine rebuild $3500
2) And hopefully less than $2500 in paint & body
3) Definitely not $1700 in interior refurb. Dash cap is $60 from cruiser corps. Nice seats in the junyard.


I think you're about $1000 over on the H55, unless you're trying to buy a new one (can these even be found?) Also, is PM baseline maintenance? If you're doing it yourself a $4000 truck should not come with $1500 worth of stuff to fix. Maybe a knuckle rebuild and a few seals here and there.

I guess it also depends on your income, but I would immediately scrap $900 of wagon gear off the list. Great products, but if you're handy you can build a suitable substitute for more like $100. I would also scrap sliding windows as not necessary.

Or maybe I'm just cheap?

 

[Kungpaodog]

My first thought is if you buy a $4000 truck, you should not need:

1) Engine rebuild $3500
2) And hopefully less than $2500 in paint & body
3) Definitely not $1700 in interior refurb. Dash cap is $60 from cruiser corps. Nice seats in the junyard.


I think you're about $1000 over on the H55, unless you're trying to buy a new one (can these even be found?) Also, is PM baseline maintenance? If you're doing it yourself a $4000 truck should not come with $1500 worth of stuff to fix. Maybe a knuckle rebuild and a few seals here and there.

I guess it also depends on your income, but I would immediately scrap $900 of wagon gear off the list. Great products, but if you're handy you can build a suitable substitute for more like $100. I would also scrap sliding windows as not necessary.

Or maybe I'm just cheap?

Good points. I'm Cheap (with a capital C), too!

PM is baseline/preventative maintenance. Probably including the relay mod for windows/locks, knuckles, seals, plug wires, vacuum lines, brake lines, new radiator if needed, etc.; all the stuff that will make the truck last another 20 years. I'm glad that you think $1500 is a bit high for those items, because the sooner I get that out of the way the sooner the fun stuff can start!

I was thinking new H55, and yes they can be had new. The 86-87 donor parts might be harder to come by at times.

I think I'm pretty handy, and i probably could fab up something like Kevin's Wagongear panels, but by the time I put the effort in to something that works as well as his seem to work, I think I'd rather buy his panels than do my own R&D on making my own.

The rear sliding windows are maybe more want than need, but the dogs would like them. Part of the plan is to be able to seat four people and our two cattle dogs in the back. Storage in the tailgate and rear quarters would be great. Then is going to come something on the roof (rack or cargo box). The last thing I want to work out is a divider so that we can stack some gear on one side in the back.

I've gone around and around about what vehicle would be best for this kind of expedition, and I keep coming back to a Cruiser. Small enough to be nimble, large enough to hold people/gear/dogs, and tough as heck.

 

[Kungpaodog]

Oh, and the items are listed in to-do order over the next five years or so. Is it a huge stretch that a 250,000 mile Cruiser would need an engine refresh/rebuild?

 

[jleeFJ62]

For a budget of 8k, you should be able to find a pretty nice 62 already built. Even though i learned a ton building my own 62, if i had to do it over again, i'd buy already built. It will save you a good amount of money.

This is how my break down has gone:

3500 88 fj62 150k - Pretty good shape
700 All new colling system. OEM minus the rad, purchased from rad barn
300 miscellaneous OEM parts
100 Used Aussie locker
400 Used Front ARB Bumper
500 New/used SROR rear bumper with dual swing outs
200 Used rub rails/sliders
1500 New Ultra heavy OME lift
450 New 33x10.5 BFG MT's
Free New Warn 8000 (Raffle ticket-get with your local club, lots of good guys on here willing to help)

Probably some other stuff i'm forgetting but this is the bulk of it. Luckily i've been able to find good deals on used parts. Just keep any eye out and live on mud.

 

[Kungpaodog]

For a budget of 8k, you should be able to find a pretty nice 62 already built. Even though i learned a ton building my own 62, if i had to do it over again, i'd buy already built. It will save you a good amount of money.

This is how my break down has gone:

3500 88 fj62 150k - Pretty good shape
700 All new colling system. OEM minus the rad, purchased from rad barn
300 miscellaneous OEM parts
100 Used Aussie locker
400 Used Front ARB Bumper
500 New/used SROR rear bumper with dual swing outs
200 Used rub rails/sliders
1500 New Ultra heavy OME lift
450 New 33x10.5 BFG MT's
Free New Warn 8000 (Raffle ticket-get with your local club, lots of good guys on here willing to help)

Probably some other stuff i'm forgetting but this is the bulk of it. Luckily i've been able to find good deals on used parts. Just keep any eye out and live on mud.

That's a good point, and some good numbers for what I might be able to pay for parts.

Your build sounds quite a bit like what I want my Cruiser to be like in the end.

This local CL ad has me interested, but it sounds a bit pricey to me:
Superior CO LC

$7500
Is that a realistic price for a Cruiser like that? I've seen FZJ80s in similar shape for near that price.

 

[Michael Browning]

My first thought is if you buy a $4000 truck, you should not need:

1) Engine rebuild $3500
2) And hopefully less than $2500 in paint & body
3) Definitely not $1700 in interior refurb. Dash cap is $60 from cruiser corps. Nice seats in the junyard.


I think you're about $1000 over on the H55, unless you're trying to buy a new one (can these even be found?) Also, is PM baseline maintenance? If you're doing it yourself a $4000 truck should not come with $1500 worth of stuff to fix. Maybe a knuckle rebuild and a few seals here and there.

I guess it also depends on your income, but I would immediately scrap $900 of wagon gear off the list. Great products, but if you're handy you can build a suitable substitute for more like $100. I would also scrap sliding windows as not necessary.

Or maybe I'm just cheap?

I highly doubt you will find a truck with a rebuilt or low mileage (under 100K), no rust, good paint and clean interior for $4000.....

But, I do agree that spending more on a truck with the heavy lifting done, like engine rebuild, tranny/transfer done, etc is a better way to go...

Mike

 

[Heckraiser]

It's not that I think $4k will get you low mileage, it's more that I don't see why low mileage is necessary when talking about a land cruiser. The F-series should be good for 350k if well maintained IMO.

 

[Max.Powerzz]

If you're not dying to do the work yourself you can definitely find a built 62 with PM done for around $10k, and that's with a low-mile Vortec conversion. If you want to keep the 3FE then you should be able to get one 100% ready to go for around $8k, and that's rust-free too. My wife spent the weekend going over all the work we've done on our Cruiser over the last 7 years and we're $20k into it, yikes! I wouldn't trade any of it and it's been an adventure but if you can buy one already built I would go that route. RMP&O has an amazing rig for sale, not sure if it's still available but it's good to go. We couldn't go this route because we were poor college students when we first bought our cruiser and it's been a fun ride building it up, but definitely more expensive in the long-run.

 

[alaska60]

. My wife spent the weekend going over all the work we've done on our Cruiser over the last 7 years and we're $20k into it, yikes! I wouldn't trade any of it and it's been an adventure but if you can buy one already built I would go that route. .

The way I see "this" is, you are 10 grand ahead.......

Lets talk about a brand new rig over 7 years.

$350 a mont at 12 months...=$4200

$4200 over 7 years....=$29,400


And you still have your cruiser that will out last anything built now. besides the COOL factor of the 60 series.

JMO

 

[jpeg]

there is a super clean, low-mileage arizona truck on ebay right now (not mine):

Toyota : Land Cruiser FJ62 Toyota : Land Cruiser FJ62 | eBay

 

[Zombie Weenis]

That's a good point, and some good numbers for what I might be able to pay for parts.

Your build sounds quite a bit like what I want my Cruiser to be like in the end.

This local CL ad has me interested, but it sounds a bit pricey to me:
Superior CO LC
$7500
Is that a realistic price for a Cruiser like that? I've seen FZJ80s in similar shape for near that price.

That truck looks okay, but being out of Colorado, you'll want to see the underside. I've seen a Cruiser out of Colorado and it looked okay with a little rust. When I got underneath it, the frame looked like it spent three decades at the bottom of the Atlantic. There was one hole large enough for me to fit my fist in. I would ask to see pictures of the undercarriage. I lived in NY my whole life and I know what winters can do to cars, and Colorado has got to be worse than NY! As a reference, I picked up an '89 FJ62 with 150k on the clock about a month ago. It was out of
California and was worked on by TLC. (I live in the Knoxville, TN area). It has this as the only rust spot on the body:


View attachment 635005

It's between the hood and windshield.
It has a 2" OME suspension lift, ARB front bumper an 8,000 lb Warn winch and 31" BFG all terrains. The underside was rust free except a small hole on the passenger side floor about the size of a golf ball. The rest of the floor is like new. For all this, I paid $6,200 which I think is fair. It's a lot harder to find them basically rust free out here in the East end of the US. Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to be somewhat detailed. I think if you can be patient, take your time and wait, you WILL find the right Cruiser for you and you will be happy you waited. Here's a picture or two of my rig so you can see what I mean. Good luck man, and definitely keep an ear out on this site!


View attachment 635008



View attachment 635009

---"Wait Master, it might be dangerous.....You go first."--

 

[Max.Powerzz]

The way I see "this" is, you are 10 grand ahead.......


JMO

Or see if you can twist Alaska60's arm to do a Vortec conversion for you and end up with a muscle car/expedition rig/ all-around awesome cruiser that turns out the way Toyota should have made the FJCruiser

I should note that I would only get a pre-built cruiser if you are starting from scratch with no cruiser love. If you already have a cruiser that's part of your family then I think it's absolutely worth saving it and building it up to what you want. Alaska60 has done tons of labor-intensive body work on ours to cut out the rust, build a completely custom Vortec conversion, keep cool details like our stock shifter, etc. I don't regret it at all and we are looking forward to keeping "Bullwinkle" a part of our family till I can't drive anymore. Then we'll put it in a Museum . It will be way better than anything we could have bought!

Here's our build-up thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-...ax-power-watch-me-pull-rabbit-out-my-hat.html