Builds Full Circle Reintroduction/Build - '92 FJ80 3FE (1 Viewer)

[2 E L O]

I'm back in an 80 series! Quick summary... I bought an LX450 to use as a daily driver in 2011 that was rough around the edges. I put a lot of effort into maintenance/improvements but ended up selling it in 2013 to a Mud member because I wanted a newer pickup.

This was the last I saw of her as the shipper took her away... I believe the LX450 has now made it's way up into Canada somewhere...

A couple other shots of her...

I was Cruiserless for about 3.5 years but a few months ago I finally broke down my wife and I picked up a 1984 FJ60. It was a project... Didn't run, interior was filthy, and it had the typical 60 series rust. I got it running and driving great and cleaned it up. They're awesome trucks but my wife never bought in to it. Last week this 1992 FJ80 popped up for a good deal so I pulled the trigger and ended up selling the 60 a couple days later. The sale of the 60 covered the purchase price of the 80--pretty amazing...

Here's the 60 when I brought her home...

Moving forward to the 1992 FJ80. 120k miles on the 3FE, interior is in very good shape, body is pretty good except for some minor rust forming on the door bottoms, undercarriage definitely has some corrosion but nothing appears too serious.

The (mostly) good:

• Low miles!
• TJM T17 front bumper (but needs repainted) with light bar
• TJM 2" lift
• Bilstein 4600s
• Interior is in great shape!
• Quite a bit of PM (aluminum radiator, new water pump, rebuilt diffs, some oil leaks addressed, etc.)
• Demogged (still need to dig in a little bit to confirm that it's done properly--at first glance all appears well)
• Viper remote start--but lock and unlock on fob doesn't work...so the stock fob is still used?
• 1996+ brake master cylinder/calipers/rotors and stainless steel brake lines
• EMS stainless steel exhaust (but the flex joints leak like crazy so it is LOUD)
• Spare set of four late 90s/early 00s 4Runner alloy wheels (16"x7")
• Spare set of new door seals
• 1992 LC FSM hard copy
• Hood vents--but poorly installed.

The bad:

• PO reports sunroof leaks (I weed eater lined the front drains and they're fine, still need to check rear drain lines)
• Driver's side floor a little rusty around the dead pedal (related to sunroof drain issue?? Perhaps windshield leak?)
• Driver's side front and passenger side rear doors have a little rust forming at the bottom seam.
• Some sort of rust proofing paint slathered all over the driver side rocker and lower doors...doesn't look like it was prepped at all before.
• Undercarriage surface corrosion. Needs to be cleaned up and coated.
  
• 29" tires on 15" wheels--wayyyyy too small. Tread is good but the sidewalls are severely weather cracked.
• Aftermarket front headlights, one of which has a broken seal. TERRIBLE WIRING.
• Terrible light bar wiring
• Electric pusher fan with terrible wiring. It is switched on with the headlights (WTF?) and uses one of those "add-a-fuse" connectors in the engine compartment fuse box..
• Purple window tint.
• Trailer brake controller with terrible wiring.
• A few weird things with the body (missing 1/4 panel window belt moldings, drip moldings removed on A-pillars, passenger side taillight cracked, holes in the tailgate from a (removed) backup camera, one of the side view mirror housings (not the mirror glass) is caulked into place (WTF!?!), etc.)
• Passenger seat belt doesn't really retract
• A couple dozen other little annoying things, but it's a 25 year old truck, right?

Some photos...

Some of the interesting stuff...

Desmogged!

Wiring...oy...

PO rust proofing fail.

Caulking?...

Not sure that you're supposed to support the LSPV rod like this...Ha!

Rear heater hose clamps disintegrated... Eek! Obviously leaking... Also note...electrical ground strap? Not attached to anything.

Another shot of the ground strap (behind the exhaust)... Can anyone fill me in on this guy?? Is it supposed to be body to frame?

Purpose:
Not a DD but will be used for family camping trips until my wife forces me to buy a travel trailer. Mainly just a toy/project for me since I can't sit still. Won't be doing any rock crawling or serious offroading, but I want it to be very capable offroad.

Plans:
Fix everything, baseline everything, make it awesome, keep it forever.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

 

[suadero]

Great color (I have two in 4K1). Looks like you have some work to do though!

 

[LS1FJ40]

The absolute best 80 series color. And best year of 80 series!

Welcome back!

 

[2 E L O]

Trailer brake controller out. So many zip ties and splice connectors.

 

[Marine7]

Good luck! I'm in the same boat with my 91..... PO *had* to be on crack!! Wiring flipping everywhere!
I went down to West Marine and bought 2 300' spools of marine grade wire.... 12 gauge and 10 gauge..... overkill? Yea!..... but I only want to redo this once! I'm going tomorrow to grab 20' of 2 gauge.... then I'm going to run it into the cargo area and put a marine grade fuse box in.
*I do have some wiring to do on my boat this winter also, so the cost isn't entirely for the 80!
Good luck on your project! I plan on making a thread on my wiring journey.....unless I get pissed off, and just blow it up!!

 

[2 E L O]

Good luck! I'm in the same boat with my 91..... PO *had* to be on crack!! Wiring flipping everywhere!
I went down to West Marine and bought 2 300' spools of marine grade wire.... 12 gauge and 10 gauge..... overkill? Yea!..... but I only want to redo this once! I'm going tomorrow to grab 20' of 2 gauge.... then I'm going to run it into the cargo area and put a marine grade fuse box in.
*I do have some wiring to do on my boat this winter also, so the cost isn't entirely for the 80!
Good luck on your project! I plan on making a thread on my wiring journey.....unless I get pissed off, and just blow it up!!

Good luck to you, as well! As bad as the wiring is on mine, it's really pretty minor to fix. Surprisingly--and thankfully--they didn't get crazy with a stereo system or anything like that. All the audio wiring and equipment is stock.

Another example of awesome craftsmanship... The windshield washer motor doesn't work, so I started looking at it. The PO must have needed to replace the windshield washer motor at some point...but maybe couldn't get one with the right connector? Well, rather than spending the time to find the right one, why not splice in some new wires with connectors? Well, multimeter says the OEM connector is all good, but the splices must have failed because there is no juice at the motor with the added connectors. Imagine that... Time to rip out the splices and get the correct motor...

 

[Marine7]

I wanted to point out though..... that pic you have labeled "caulking"? I believe that is CORRECT, but it's called "Seam sealer" in the auto body world. (I think(?) again... what do I know?!) anyways...... that should be there.... napa or your local auto body parts supplier should have it. Great for sealing up after cutting on your body!

 

[Marine7]

I wanted to point out though..... that pic you have labeled "caulking"? I believe that is CORRECT, but it's called "Seam sealer" in the auto body world. (I think(?) again... what do I know?!) anyways...... that should be there.... napa or your local auto body parts supplier should have it. Great for sealing up after cutting on your body!

Ok...., I'm an idiot.... I just went back thru the pics, NOW I realize that's the f'ing mirror!! Lol.... seam sealer IS NOT used here! Lol....duh.... I'll refrain from passing along further wisdom, and concentrate on step 6 a little better!

 

[2 E L O]

Does anyone have any clever ideas how to seal up these holes in the tailgate (from a backup camera) without it looking like garbage? I'm just not coming up with anything that I like...

My initial thought was to just throw some of the aluminum tape over it and then get a license plate frame to hide it...but I just can't stand license plate frames...

 

[2 E L O]

1.) I figured out that the ground strap in my original post goes from the body to the transfer case. I'll get it repaired/replaced.

2.) Exhaust flex joints have been replaced. However, I think there's a little pinhole leak in the shop's weld. I'll throw some dish soap on there and see if I can find them. Either way, much better! The EMS is still louder than I'd prefer, but at least it doesn't sound like I'm running open headers anymore...

3.) I looked a little further into the sunroof drain issue the PO told me about. The drain lines from the sunroof and slot drains in the rocker panels are clear and work, but there must be a crack up high in the tube somewhere because I get water coming out of the headliner near the a-pillar handle. Argh.

So...maybe someday I will spend the money/effort to remove the headliner and fix everything all up, but for now I think I'm going to just seal the sunroof up 'semi-permanently' (ha!) and disconnect the switch or pull the fuse to the sunroof motor. This drives me and my OCD absolutely bonkers, but I have bigger fish to fry (read: more fun things to do) and I have to leave this thing out in the rain/snow sometimes so such is life...

Also, after pulling up the carpet it's evident that it's been doing this for a loooong time... Off to go get that all cleaned up and fixed!

 

[chap79]

Looks like a good project. Good luck.
I wonder is the mirror was loose and they just caulked it in place.

 

[2 E L O]

I got the sunroof all sealed up. I also sealed the windshield gasket around the glass. I used Dap roofing/flashing polyurethane sealant.

DS floor pan is all cleaned up. Scraped, wire brushed, chipped, etc. then sprayed with Permatex rust converter. Top coat is just a silver Rustoleum so I can keep an eye on any future corrosion. Also, I used some of the polyurethane to seal up some pinholes--not worth cutting/patching at this point.

Off to study the EWD to figure out how to disable the sunroof...

EDIT: Sunroof successfully disabled per this thread. Disable sunroof -- need the elec gurus

 

[2 E L O]

A little progress lately...

1.) Checked throttle cable adjustment--it was perfect. Tightened kickdown cable a few mm. I didn't have enough seat time to tell much of a 'performance' difference, but it did eliminate the little 2-3 shift flare up.

2.) Replaced the windshield washer pump with OEM and got rid of the crappy wiring from the PO.

3.) Replaced the transfer case ground strap. Used slightly different mounting points than original due to some corrosion.

4.) Replaced the steering shaft firewall seal.

5.) Changed the oil/filter.

 

[Alleycats]

Gettin after it on the 3FE.

 

[mehbohdi]

For exhaust leaks take a length of hose say 2-3 ft any size stick one end to your ear and just take other end and put it near welds and move it around area. You will be able to pin point leak rather quickly and not have to smell burning soap. Doing a great reserection

 

[2 E L O]

For exhaust leaks take a length of hose say 2-3 ft any size stick one end to your ear and just take other end and put it near welds and move it around area. You will be able to pin point leak rather quickly and not have to smell burning soap. Doing a great reserection

That's a good idea. I found a pretty good hole yesterday, about a mm or so in one of the welds. I'm just going to take it back to the shop and tell them it's garbage and to do a thorough check and to make it right. I already took it back to them once on the day they originally did the work to have them weld up a hole... Pretty ridiculous.

After they get it fixed to my liking, I may have them give me a quote to install rubber hangers for the pipes behind the flex. They're all solid mounts and there are a few harmonic RPMs that cause some vibration... Not noticeable outside the vehicle, but super annoying when inside it.

 

[2 E L O]

Let there be light!

I learned when I had my LX450 that the lighting in the cargo area was subpar. On that truck, I added an OEM dome light to the upper hatch near the handle. It was great for working on the tailgate at night while camping and stuff like that, but it didn't really help too much for the cargo area.

So, priority on the '92 was to get more light in the cargo area. I may add another dome light on the hatch at some point but for now I'm content...

I used the factory harness. It was just BARELY long enough to mount the light centered on the roof above the hatch. If it was 1/4", maybe even 1/8" shorter it wouldn't have worked. I also had to swap the terminals on the plug to make it work properly as documented on Mud in previous threads.

Found the harness...

Cut the hole...

Done.

 

[Marine7]

Let there be light!

I learned when I had my LX450 that the lighting in the cargo area was subpar. On that truck, I added an OEM dome light to the upper hatch near the handle. It was great for working on the tailgate at night while camping and stuff like that, but it didn't really help too much for the cargo area.

So, priority on the '92 was to get more light in the cargo area. I may add another dome light on the hatch at some point but for now I'm content...

I used the factory harness. It was just BARELY long enough to mount the light centered on the roof above the hatch. If it was 1/4", maybe even 1/8" shorter it wouldn't have worked. I also had to swap the terminals on the plug to make it work properly as documented on Mud in previous threads.

Found the harness...
View attachment 1367249

Cut the hole...
View attachment 1367251

Done.
View attachment 1367253

Is that factory harness just sitting above the headliner? Un-used? If they went that far, I wonder why they didn't just finish it, and add the 3rd light?! Now I have to go check my 91, your light looks great!

 

[2 E L O]

Is that factory harness just sitting above the headliner? Un-used? If they went that far, I wonder why they didn't just finish it, and add the 3rd light?! Now I have to go check my 91, your light looks great!

Thanks! Yes, the harness is just taped up there in the roof cavity unused. It's there on 91-94 models, I believe. The later trucks didn't have it. Who knows why Mr. T went to the trouble to have the harness but not install the light. Maybe the light was only installed on trucks that had barn doors? Pure speculation...

 

[Marine7]

Thanks! Yes, the harness is just taped up there in the roof cavity unused. It's there on 91-94 models, I believe. The later trucks didn't have it. Who knows why Mr. T went to the trouble to have the harness but not install the light. Maybe the light was only installed on trucks that had barn doors? Pure speculation...

OUTSTANDING! I know what I'm doing today! Lol