FJ80 (Thing 2) Build

[jasonc]

Hello everyone! My name is Jason, and this is hopefully going to be the start to a long build.

I'm currently 16 years old, and bought my first Cruiser when I was 15. Shortly after my dad bought a '91, which we named "Thing 1," I fell in love with the 80 series trucks, and knew I had to buy one for myself. I bought a '91 with 234k miles a few weeks later, and we named it "Thing 2." I've decided to keep a record of my progress over the next few years, and hopefully get some help along the way.

Here's the first picture of Thing 2, with Thing 1 in the front:

 

[jasonc]

Here's the most current picture, with 33x10.5 BFG mud terrains on.

 

[Seth Derrick]

Welcome to the sickness!

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

rabbit hole. good on ya for starting early...your generation needs more people like you.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi all,

Wow! Good for you!

JasonC what do you want to do with your FJ80? Just drive it around? Take it off-road? Go expo?

I'd say get some manuals, read-up, and do a bunch of basic, preventive maintenance on the truck.
Getting familiar under the hood will help you feel more comfortable and confident with the vehicle.

Good luck,

Alan

Hello everyone! My name is Jason, and this is hopefully going to be the start to a long build.

I'm currently 16 years old, and bought my first Cruiser when I was 15. Shortly after my dad bought a '91, which we named "Thing 1," I fell in love with the 80 series trucks, and knew I had to buy one for myself. I bought a '91 with 234k miles a few weeks later, and we named it "Thing 2." I've decided to keep a record of my progress over the next few years, and hopefully get some help along the way.

Here's the first picture of Thing 2, with Thing 1 in the front: View attachment 1066257

 

[jasonc]

Hi all,

Wow! Good for you!

JasonC what do you want to do with your FJ80? Just drive it around? Take it off-road? Go expo?

I'd say get some manuals, read-up, and do a bunch of basic, preventive maintenance on the truck.
Getting familiar under the hood will help you feel more comfortable and confident with the vehicle.

Good luck,

Alan

Thanks!

So far, I've just been driving it around town, and haven't really gotten it off the road yet. I'm planning on making it into a camping/expo vehicle, but can't decide where to start!

I also haven't actually done much maintenence work on it so far, besides replacing some hoses, but on my dad's truck, we've done valve and timing adjustments, brake work, a lot of cleaning, and we are going to do a knuckle rebuild in the next few weeks. Hopefully we'll get around to working on my truck sometime [emoji14] We have the factory Toyota service manual along with a few others, and they have been very helpful.

What would you recommend doing to start getting it ready for some trips?

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi all,

Do some basic maintenance to be sure everything is in order. Read the FAQs in the 80 Series section here on MUD.

Consider taking a basic 4X4 driving class, or joining a 4wd club in your area.

Have fun with your "new" Land Cruiser!

Regards,

Alan

 

[jasonc]

Sorry I got so behind on this thread, I bought another Cruiser and have been focusing my attention on it. Here's a few things I did on this TLC in the last couple months:

Swapped out a broken window switch panel

Repaired some rust

Tried on some different tire and wheel combos

Took off rear bumper covers due to rusted body panels

 

[jasonc]

This truck just rolled over to 235k, it's still running great, and still getting terrible milage [emoji14]

 

[jasonc]

Just took this truck up a very long climb, probably about 10 miles uphill. It was getting hot once I got to the top, but it was still doing great. I ran it in 2nd and drove between 20-30 mph for almost an hour. Fluid check revealed that I'm not dropping as much oil as I previously thought, which is always a good thing. Nothing appeared to fall off after hitting some washboard patches, but I have some new rub marks on the tailgate area [emoji49]

 

[jasonc]

Swapped out a few things from the parts truck, including the tailgate. Next will be interior stuff, and then hopefully selling. I have too many Cruisers...

 

[4x4Johnny]

nice rig. got any new updates about your ride?

 

[jasonc]

nice rig. got any new updates about your ride?

Not for this one, sorry. I've just been using it as my DD while I fix the other two. As far as the other two go:

Tearing this one apart:

Still waiting for the HG:

I'm on mobile right now so I'm not sure if my signature is showing up, but there should be build titles for the other two in it.

 

[jasonc]

This truck got a new hood ornament [emoji6]

 

[JCruse]

Damn son, that's looking GOOD! It's come a long way. Congrats!












.

 

[jasonc]

Damn son, that's looking GOOD! It's come a long way. Congrats!












.

The white and tan trucks are different vehicles, if that's what you're talking about [emoji13]

 

[jasonc]

Finally did the EGR delete on this truck! Doesn't look perfect, but for a $6 piece of stainless and $8 in vaccuum caps, definitely worth it. Idle bumped up to 1100-1200 from 600 and is infinitely smoother. Love it!

 

[ATXLX]

Mind going into a little more detail about the EGR delete?

 

[jasonc]

Mind going into a little more detail about the EGR delete?

I will, I really didn't follow what everyone else did, so I'll do a short writeup in this thread soon.

 

[jasonc]

I've been very busy fixing this truck up before I sell it, so here's a few little things I've done so far

To start with, the passenger side rear door had a dent and a rust spot, so I swapped the door out. One slight problem: the door was from an early '91 two tone Cruiser, so some repainting was needed. I sanded it down, made sure everything was nice and flat, primed it, and then painted it.

Another small issue: the paint that I had custom mixed at a body shop was completely off. I called the shop, and they explained to me that the paint would lighten up once it dried. I painted the door, and waited.

YIKES! Not even close. Two more hours of sanding, a few trips to AutoZone, and a few days of painting later, still not quite right. Not much I can do about it now until the body shop opens up again after this long weekend.

After the door was dry, I moved on to a few more things. I started putting the bumper wings back on, but ended up repainting the rear crossmember and polishing the aluminum step while everything was off.