This will be the 5th 80-Series that I have rebuilt / restored. I never made a build thread for any of the others because I was of the mind that anything I did had been covered dozen of times and I didn't want to pollute the forum with more of the same.
That said, I am aware that the dynamics of the forum has been changing over the past few years and lots of first time owners are discovering their Cruisers for the first time so maybe a fresh rebuilt thread will help people new to the community. It might even inspire new or future owners to start wrenching on their vehicles. I am a process guy and not a mechanic however the Toyota FSM is all about processes which means a few tools and a little understanding can go a long way with maintaining these vehicles.
I bought this Land Cruiser back in October 2024 so much of what I post will be historical. I have tried to stick to a rough timeline but there are probably a few things I have mixed up. There is still much work left to do so the thread will become “live” in due course.
I guess most 30 year old vehicles have a story behind them and this one is no different. The PO lived in Houston and needed to sell the truck due to an impending relocation to Hawaii. She posted asking for advice on selling the truck in March 2024 and I reached out to her via a DM and explained the process that I use to decide what a vehicle is worth. She sent me a lot of photos and by my calculations the truck was worth sub $5K. The twist in the valuation was that the engine had a supercharger. A few members of the forum advised that she should remove the supercharger and sell it separate but I guess there was years of sentimental value in the truck and harvesting parts didn’t sit right with her.
Fast forward 6 months and the lady reached out to me. The truck had not sold and the move was only a few weeks away. I didn’t really want another project vehicle but I made an offer on the condition that she continued to try and sell it – if no sale happened then I would buy it at the agreed price.
1 month later, me and son flew to Houston to face our punishment.
The condition of the truck was brutal – both inside and out. The paint was so badly faded that the only way I could tell the colour was from the data plate on the door – 6M1 – Green.
Every panel had some element of damage. This old girl for sure had lived a hard life.
30 Year old Land Cruisers typically have crap leather seats. This didn’t disappoint. In fact not only was the leather destroyed but so was the dash, all the door cards, the seat belts, sun visors and the carpet. The seat covers not only hid the poor leather they also concealed the seat backs had been chewed to pieces. The interior looked like it had been used to transport a Tasmanian devil.
Anyway, enough of the bad bits. Time to focus on the positives.
-The sunroof worked
-The lights worked
-It started
That was pretty much it. The supercharger was an unknown quantity but it was strapped up and spinning with no weird noises.
Most importantly, and the only reason I took a punt on the truck, was that it was rust free. Absolutely no rust anywhere.
I originally planned to do an oil change before attempting the 1000 mile drive back to Florida but a sticker on the windshield said the oil was changed in March and only had driven 400 miles so we started the trip and headed home.
My son started to document the list of issues – it was long.
First up was the driveline vibration. The truck couldn’t go faster than 60mph without trying to shake itself to death. The exhaust also decided to leave the chat within the first 10 miles of driving.
We pulled into an Autozone and a quick inspection showed the driveshafts were bone dry. They hadn’t seen grease in years. I bought a grease gun and greased up all the U-Joints which made close to no difference to the vibrations.
The exhaust had broken at the point where it entered the muffler - presumably due to the vibration. No amount of exhaust wrap and paste was going to fix that.
With limited choices we set out for Florida knowing 50mph was our max speed. Between the driveline vibration and the excessive noise in the cabin it was the most punishing drive I ever did.
1000 miles with 2 drivers is a simple “leave in the morning – home by the evening” trip. It took us 3 days and 2 nights in a hotel.
I hadn’t finished my other project truck so this Cruiser had to go into storage for a few months before I could start work on it. I had to get the truck registered in Florida so that was a short drive up to the DMV. When the dude came to verify the VIN he looked at the condition of the truck and what I declared as the purchase price and said “most people try and reduce the purchase price to minimize the tax but you appear to have increased it” – there’s always a comedian.
Anyway with the truck in storage it allowed me some time to go through all the service history and build a restoration plan.
Before committing to the purchase I had run a Carfax which showed no red flags. Never been in an accident, never stolen and the mileage looked legit.
I decided to change the oil and send a sample over to Blackstone to see how deep into the rebuild I needed to go. The report that came back was excellent.
Truck sat in storage over the “winter” while I finished my ‘96 Cruiser. By March it had finally made in back to my garage. First order of business was to get the interior out.
Seats & carpet first then I could start on the dash and door cards.
A neighbor had offered to help paint the truck on the condition that I did all the prep work. That sounded like a good plan and since the car was completely stripped down it just made sense. It had to be painted over a weekend so all the prep work was done in my garage.
As I mentioned before the paint was a disaster. When I started sanding I realized that it had been painted before. Clear coat and most of the 6M1 was gone exposing a black primer coat. Beneath that was the original factory colour and primer.
I removed all the glass, which still had the original VIN engraving. Same with the body panels which also had the original VIN stickers attached. Headliner came down which allowed me to drop the Sunroof.
Between us we were able to repair the few minor dents but the lower hatch and the passenger rear door just needed to be replaced. I was able to source a the hatch and door from @slow95z. The drivers side fender is far from perfect but for now it will be fine.
Truck was painted as promised over the weekend but still needed to cure properly. I had body panels stacked all over my back yard and anywhere else I had room.
Once the panels were back on the truck I started to rebuild the interior. New dashpad arrived which feels luxurious compared to the sunbaked vinyl on my ‘96.
A new carpet was next on the list which was sourced from @Tupelo Honey
New leather for the front and middle seats along with new seat gears from Gamiviti (@nakman). @slow95z also provided a set of 3rd row seats to replace the ones that I assume had been devoured by the Tasmanian Devil.
I rebuilt the door cards from scratch with new foam, vinyl and leather and recovered the steering wheel.
The front doors got new window runners and new window motors and regulators. I also fitted some new shallow mount speakers that allow me to keep the original speaker covers. New Toyota vapor barriers all round and the doors were finished.
I decided to put in a new windshield as the original was far from perfect. The headliner was cleaned and new sun visors fitted.
Things were starting to come together and I even found myself starting to like the 6M1 paint.
Next on the list was the following:-
1) Driveline
2) Brake system
3) Suspension
4) Body mounts
5) AC System
6) Fuel system
7) Cooling system
8) Steering System
9) Engine
The driveline vibrations on the trip were brutal so this was a priority. Both axles pulled. The front axle hubs hadn’t seen maintenance ever. What was grease was now tar.
Everything was cleaned, painted and completely rebuilt with new bearings and seals. Thankfully the birfs were in great shape.
Both driveshafts were removed and tested. The front had play in the yoke so it was replaced.
I decided to stick with Toyota (Tokico) shocks front and back. Since the original springs are no longer available I decided to clean them up and reuse them. I can always revisit this decision in the future if needed. As it stands the “hub to fender” measurement is 20” at the front and 21” at the rear so more or less what is expected.
All the control arms, front & rear panhards received new OEM busings. Same with front and rear sway bars.
With both axles out of the truck it was a great opportunity to replace the body mount bushes. I did this on 2 of my previous builds and the difference it make to drive comfort is worth every penny. You only need compare the old with the new to see the difference.
Time to focus on everything under the hood. According to the Carfax report the engine was cleaned at 245352 miles. I bought the car with 246076 miles on the clock. So after a mere 724 miles the engine went from clean to not so clean.
Clearly the power steering is leaking however cleaning thing like this is a tough job in a garage. A hot water power hose would fix this in minutes but that’s not an option this time.
A compression check provided the following results :-
C1 -200
C2 -195
C3 -195
C4 -190
C5 -195
C6 -190
This combined with the excellent oil analysis from Blackstone makes my life a little easier. On the journey home she burned through a quart and a half of oil so the valve stem seals are shot. Nothing in the maintenance history shows the head gasket was ever replaced so that will happen now as PM. The spark plugs support this decision.
