Builds BUILD THREAD FOR THE "German Shepherd"

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Time to start a build thread for the 1992 Aka the "German Shepherd."

The beginning

Current Basic Info as of May 2014
1992 Toyota Land Cruiser
360,000 miles on original motor and transmission.
Maintenance up to date.
2 inch Ironman lift, leveling spacers, and 1/2" body lift with 33x10.5 BFG KM2s and 4.88s
York 210 On board air system.


Painting thread
Black and Tan (Dune Beige) painting completed

Bumper/lights/winch
What are the chances? Last day of school and girl backs into my son's FJ80.

The First 80 series Grand Prix GTP Hood Vent Install
Grand Prix GTP hood vents installed

Keyless Entry
$ 22.00 keyless entry system installed on my 92 fj80

Flat Rack Build Thread
Roof Rack Build Completed!

Just finished the sliders last weekend. We used 2x2 square tubing for the main slider and the outriggers to the frame. The frame mounts are made out of 3/16 steel and they cradle frame on the bottom and sides. Then bolts slide through the cradles and over the top of the frame to hold them in place. First coated in POR-15 and then in VHT Graphite and clear coat to match the wheels and trim.

Took off the old roof rack and filled the holes with JB Weld quick steel. Then we started the roof rack build. 1.5" tubing and seven 1.5" square tubing cross bars. All mounted up with eight 4" Kargo Masters gutter mounts.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Body work over the plugged roof rack holes and hail damage. We left one hole in the roof to run the wires for the front and rear light bars.

After wet sanding and buffing the roof, it now looks a lot whiter than the old dingy white that was up there.

 

[bigfj62]

I really like the white with the tan. Were you wanting the 40 hardtop look??

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

@bigfj62 Yeah that's what we were going for. It was originally white and we didn't bother repainting it with the rest of the vehicle.

 

[Copenhagen1]

I follow this truck closely. It is one of my favorite 80 series trucks. I love the paint scheme. Keep up the good work.

 

[Matty]

View attachment 894420

nice breck sticker! truck looks great

 

[Kernal]

Nice job; noticed the holes in the rear hatch, appears that the nutserts were removed, are you installing larger nutserts for the wing? What paint and additives are you using, color codes?

 

[Young Bull]

Great looking rig! I am now following your progress.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Head unit and Speakers

After dealing with the poor sound quality and lack of features on the headunit for years, I got a Kenwood DDX470 headunit and four Kicker KS65 series speakers.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UntIXwXcUS5/p_206KS65/Kicker-KS65.html
I had previously installed a Kicker shallow mount sub http://www.crutchfield.com/S-yEQ9cEsEp9f/p_206CVT651/Kicker-10CVT651.html
in the third row so I figured I would stay with Kicker, and I liked the look of the speaker grills.


The front doors did not have speakers in them to begin with, and the rear doors had 4" speakers.
I wanted to keep all the speakers looking the same and use the grills, so we made plates to mount the speakers away from the dash.

Then we measured where the hole would be and cut the door panel.

To keep the speakers from hitting the window when it is lowered, we had to use plastic spacers on each side.

Then we plugged them in to the existing speaker wires and screwed them in.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

For the rear speakers, we used the same Kicker KS65 speakers. We had to enlarge the hole because the rear doors originally had 4" speakers.
Old vs New

We also had to use 1" spacers in the rear door to space them away from hitting the window when it is lowered.

There was a pretty noticeable improvement in sound, but the biggest improvement came from the new head unit.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

I was between a Pioneer HU and the Kenwood DDX470. The 470 has been great and having an actual volume knob is really nice. I was able to adjust the LED color to a near match to the dim yellowish bulbs of the interior.

I used a metra wiring harness to adapt the head unit's wiring harness to the existing Toyota harness. Then it was time to add the accessories

Esky Backup Camera model number: EC170-07

The back up camera was one of the options I was looking forward to the most because I usually have mountain bikes on the back of the truck and visibility isn't that great. It is nice to have another viewpoint. This head unit also has an extra video input, so I found a 170 degree non-mirrored camera without parking lines on eBay to mount on the front bumper.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Here's a photo right before the old HU was pulled. While the dash was apart, we also replaced the "D" light.

I also plugged in a flush mount USB/aux extension to the back of the headunit and installed it into the console.

I ran the wire for the microphone through the dash and mounted it on the steering column cover.

The faceplate Kenwood sent was never going to fit and look right. Using a micrometer and measuring all the corners, I made a paper template and then cut it out of some matte black plastic. It fits so tightly, it doesn't need to be glued in or snapped into place.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Full length roof rack finished.
More info in the build thread
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/roof-rack-build-completed.807118/

 

[vladi80]

Like!

 

[NLXTACY]

Cameras ordered

 

[1shot1kill]

Sweet LC! Thanks for the write up!

 

[Aggiesdm]

Great build. It gives me some inspiration!!

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Headlight disassembly/cleaning
Tools used:

I have always been annoyed with the dirt and bugs that have gotten into my headlights causing them to look dingy and nasty. I've always put off doing this, but I'm glad I did.

I read about opening up the headlights by taking off the clips and baking them. I wasn't sure on how long or at what temperature. Thanks to @2000UZJ's post saying he does 8 minutes at 280 degrees. He also mentioned setting them glass down on a baking sheet.

After baking them, I put them on the kitchen table and started prying it open from the grill side of the headlight. It wasn't difficult, but it does take patience to slowly work the lens off without chipping or cracking it. Once the lens was lifted up I took a box cutter to the adhesive to slice through it cleanly. I got about half way through and had to warm it back up. I stuck it back in the warm over for two minutes and started prying and slicing until it was fully apart.

Then I used a microfiber cloth to wipe the dust away, and then spray-a-way glass cleaner on the inside of the glass and lower portion of the reflectors. I'm not sure if that's the best thing to put on the reflectors, but the bottom of my reflectors were oxidized/dull and they took a little bit of light rubbing to bring back the shine. A bit too much and it will take the chrome off. I didn't do the cone parts, just the lower flat portion.

The graveyard of bugs resting in the bottom of the headlight.

To seal them back up, I put a small amount of black silicon in all four corners on each light and then set the glass into place. Glass down, I put them back in for 8 minutes at 280 degrees and then pulled them out and put the clips on (much easier if you have someone to snap the clips on while squeezing the light).

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Before and after:

After I put in the passenger light, I noticed it the driver's light was missing boots around the back after comparing it with a spare light. Who knows how long they have been off the lights, but eventually I will order new boots and put them on if I buy Depos. That explains how the mud and large bugs were getting in.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

After a little incident in a river, my unsealed headlights took on some water and instead of cleaning them again, I figured I would upgrade to some fresh depos.

The FedEx guy just dropped them off 15 minutes ago, and I am pleased with the build quality. Feels really solid and well made.

Here's a little comparison of the looks.

I couldn't agree more with @jcardona1 on his opinion about chrome, "chrome is for faucets, not trucks." Time to open them up and get the ready for paint. I'll update tomorrow when I should have the surrounds painted.