Builds First Land Cruiser - Locked 1994 FZJ80 (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Threads
4
Messages
86
Location
Penngrove, CA
This is my first thread on Mud and my first Land Cruiser build, a 1994 triple locked FZJ80. Even though I'm new here I'm not new to Toyota crawlers or 4WD's, this is actually my sixth 4WD 'yota. My current DD is a stock '17 Tundra Crew max in SR5 trim, it's a great truck. My previous DD was a '04 4Runner, lifted it slightly with Bilstein shocks & FJ springs and had 31" KO2's on it, it served me well for many years. Before that I built a few early-to-late '80's mini trucks and 4Runners, all Rubicon ready, blah, blah, blah...

Anyway on to this new-to-me 80 series which my 5 year old has dubbed "Marshmallow" (I know, there is another member with a white 80 series that is also called "Marshmallow" but my 5 y.o. didn't know that at the time so she gets naming rights in my book). I've been dreaming about getting a Cruiser for about 8 years, basically since I sold my last built-up rig which was a '87 4Runner that sold due to starting a family. I've always liked 40-series but with the skyrocketing prices and not being particularly family friendly I started searching for an 80-series on Craig's List. Low and behold this truck pops up local to me; 258,000 miles with a newly installed '96 engine that has 160,XXX on it. The ad stated it was an unfinished project and transmission was not in it...all for a screaming deal. It has the non-winch ARB bumper on it but that's the only modification to this other-wise stock vehicle. After inspecting it and seeing it was rust free and no signs of major damage I bought it on site. Here is how she looked the day I made the deal:

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The history on this rig is interesting, it's a local Nor-Cal truck with mostly free-way miles that has never really been off-road. According to Carfax it has been in one accident and has plenty of documented dealer maintenance early in its life (I think first owner took it to the dealer but who knows what subsequent owners did with it). From what I can piece together the forth owner blew the HG at 258,XXX miles about five years ago. It got towed to a yard and there is sat, collecting storage fees for a few months before the yard took it on a Lien. It then got passed around between various tow and salvage yards until a local Toyota shop that specializes in early 4WD models bought it for what I assume was the Lien value (towing + storage).

That local Toyota shop basically planned to swap out the blown 1FZ for a V8 from a Tundra (not sure which version though). Apparently the V8 was mocked up in the vehicle but the project stalled, my theory is the trans and transfer case was the stumbling block. They then scrapped the V8 and sourced a used 1FZ from a '96 with 160,XXX on it. They did bolt up the '96 engine and swapped the fuel injectors but other than that the only other thing they did was pull the carpets in preparation for a interior bed-liner treatment. This is where I come into the picture...delivery to my house was a part of the purchase:

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First things first I opened her up to see what I've got and whats missing, a FSM sourced from Amazon to the rescue. Also super glad the Toyota shop had kept the original '94 1FZ, none of the CA required smog equipment had been moved over to the '96 1FZ yet...

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I also spent waaay to much on a jack and tool kit from eBay...
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Just as an FYI, in case it's not in your "Toyota" tool bag, but the spark plug socket is missing from your factory tool kit. It's nothing more than a hollow metal tube, that you turn with that silver "L" shaped tool, that's to the right of your lug wrench in the above photo.
 
And it is also missing a wheel lock key that clips on to the end of the lug wrench. Hopefully you have have one that fits the wheels on your truck. It is a good place to store the key.
 
Oh, one last thing, since it didn't see it in your photos after you got the truck home, i hope you grabbed the air cleaner lid that was laying right next to the drivers side front tire in your first photo. If not you REALLY need to go back and get it, attached to it is your AFM. The computer used on the 93, and 94 are set up for use with the Air Flow Meter, not the Mass Air Flow Meter used on 95 to 97 trucks.
 
Just as an FYI, in case it's not in your "Toyota" tool bag, but the spark plug socket is missing from your factory tool kit. It's nothing more than a hollow metal tube, that you turn with that silver "L" shaped tool, that's to the right of your lug wrench in the above photo.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up, I didn't realize it was missing. I assume this is the one:

1994 Toyota Land Cruiser Standard Tool - Toyota Parts Deal

And it is also missing a wheel lock key that clips on to the end of the lug wrench. Hopefully you have have one that fits the wheels on your truck. It is a good place to store the key.

No key to speak of and no locks on front wheels but...just my bad luck but there is definitely locks on the rear wheels. I read somewhere that an old 6-pt socket of the just the right size can be hammered onto the lock to remove it...

Oh, one last thing, since it didn't see it in your photos after you got the truck home, i hope you grabbed the air cleaner lid that was laying right next to the drivers side front tire in your first photo. If not you REALLY need to go back and get it, attached to it is your AFM. The computer used on the 93, and 94 are set up for use with the Air Flow Meter, not the Mass Air Flow Meter used on 95 to 97 trucks.

Thx and yes, the correct air canister lid and AFM came with the truck, you can actually see it to the left of the driver door laying on the ground in the first picture. That's actually the part that clued me in to the missing PAIR system and prompted me to make sure I got the '94 1FZ along with the truck (at first I was like..."nah, why don't you keep it, I won't need it"... thankfully I wised up...).
 
Yes that's the spark plug wrench, and I'm sorry to say i screwed up, another item missing from your photo is the wheel cap wrench, it's used to remove the plastic center caps from the factory wheels.
09183-00030 - Toyota Parts Deal
 
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I saw that and even though my OCD is all about having every single piece of OEM gear that rightfully comes with the truck I may not spend the $8 on that piece. Especially when the stock wheels may not live on the rig all that long (we'll see though, the OEM - OCD thing is a powerfully strange beast).
 
OK, so fast forward a couple weeks... I spent a boat load of time on this forum reading thread after thread soaking up all the valuable knowledge that is MUD, as well as basically reading the entire FSM front to back just to get a grip on what parts were missing when I got the truck. The missing stuff basically boiled down to the following:

- All of the nuts, bolts and washers required to secure the trans to the engine.
- All of the drive shaft hardware and transfer case to trans bolts.
- The DISCONTINUED heater bypass hose that snakes around the PAIR valve on the front of the engine.
- The EGR modulator.
- The trans fill tube and dip stick.
- The trans cooler return hose.
- The entire exhaust system including the two front down pipes (with O2's), cats, heat shields etc...

Thankfully a quick call to the PO yielded the trans fill tube + dip stick and the two front down pipes (with at least one of the two OEM O2 sensors still bolted to it). They also dug up a set of used OEM tail light lens, new center diff lock button, and after market radiator (I was super stoked)!

I then placed an order for a used heater bypass hose assy., EGR modulator and a OEM O2 sensor from SOR.com. I also gathered a quick list of other worn and/or broken stuff like power antenna rod, drivers seat belt, accelerator cable, windshield washer pump. And placed that all on order along with a bunch of assorted seals & gaskets and the trans and transfer nuts, bolts, screws, and washers from ToyotaPartsDeal.com.

While waiting for the parts to start rolling in I got to work with the power washer taking off a 1/4" layer of five year old moss from the roof and a 1/2" layer of 25 year old caked on oil and road dirt from the front axle. I also cleaned out the interior a bit and then blasted the trans, engine bay, cross member, drive shafts, etc...

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Congrats on a great find and pretty cool story. White/93/94 = Win. Any idea what type of build your going to end up doing?
 
Congrats on a great find and pretty cool story. White/93/94 = Win. Any idea what type of build your going to end up doing?

Thx, my plan is to build a clean and capable overland rig. Typical stuff really; 3” lift (debating OME vs Icon), 315/75R16 KM3’s, White Knuckle sliders, Bowfin rack, OBA, lights, etc...you know the obligatory Mud influenced 80-series build
 
I got switches bitches:

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You ever seen what a $1000 box of nuts, bolts, screws and washers look like....

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Yesterday I started the PAIR system install, first swapped out the ‘96 manifolds (right) for the ‘94 (left)

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Of course while I’m in there I’m going to do some baselines and prep for smog. New plugs, cap & rotor, thermostat, the three large radiator hoses are all in route.

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Ended the day with a couple squirts of etching primer then matte black enamel on the wiper arms:

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Got a late start today but did make some progress. First i rebuilt the trans and TC wire harness, some new 1/2” split loom and 3M tape never hurt anybody.

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Then I replaced the trans input and out put seals as well at the transfer case input seal.

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After attaching everything to the trans I went ahead and test fit the oil cooler lines before bolting them in the truck. Glad I did too since it turned out they were all bent out of shape and missing an attachment bracket. A little manual manipulation and found the bracket attached to the ‘96 1FZ

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I my last planned task for the day hit a small snag just as it was getting dark. I pulled the flex plate so I could replace the rear main seal and noticed the Front Spacer on the end of the crank is in the way of the seal. Anyone know if this just comes right off with a puller?

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I'm always impressed by you guys that take on the big challenge. How do you find the time?
 
Got a late start today but did make some progress. First i rebuilt the trans and TC wire harness, some new 1/2” split loom and 3M tape never hurt anybody.

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Then I replaced the trans input and out put seals as well at the transfer case input seal.

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After attaching everything to the trans I went ahead and test fit the oil cooler lines before bolting them in the truck. Glad I did too since it turned out they were all bent out of shape and missing an attachment bracket. A little manual manipulation and found the bracket attached to the ‘96 1FZ

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I my last planned task for the day hit a small snag just as it was getting dark. I pulled the flex plate so I could replace the rear main seal and noticed the Front Spacer on the end of the crank is in the way of the seal. Anyone know if this just comes right off with a puller?

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@cjmoon can you answer his question on the spacer?
 
@cjmoon can you answer his question on the spacer?
Actually I don’t recall removing the spacer on the last one I did I seal puller or a small self taping screw can be put on each side in the metal frame and back and forth on the seal and it will come out. The spacer should come off pretty easy it’s just sandwiched in there locates with light fit on the inner locating nose.

We did not remove the seal housing.
 

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