Hi there fellow mudders!
For quite some time now I've been watching you from the shadow and I have finally decided to share my own Land Cruiser experience with you.
As a small intro my name is Cristian I'm a 22-year-old guy that lives in Romania, eastern Europe and that's how I ended up here:
For the past years I've struggled with a very bad Romanian 4x4 called ARO (knows as Cross-Lander in the USA). It has factory fitted Toyota Hilux 2,4 turbo diesel 2L-T drivetrain which is absolutely marvelous but apart from that, the whole car is a mess! After modifying it heavily and constantly improving its off-road capabilities for a few years the mechanical failures and wasted trips kept coming so I eventually got fed up with it and decided to look up for the best 4x4 ever built. After several months of intense research for me it became very clear: the Land Cruiser 80 series is probably the best 4x4 ever made. Once the model had been decided, the other (even tougher maybe) decision was choosing the powertrain. In Europe there are 4 commonly available engines: 1HZ, 1HD-T, 1HD-FT and the mighty 1FZ-FE. Since the 2,4-turbo diesel in the Aro was truly awesome I obviously wanted to stick with the diesel and go for the 1HD-FT with manual transmission but all the ones that I found had well over 250.000 km (155.000 miles) and although I've read that this kind of mileage is nothing for a Land Cruiser it was still tough to pay that much money for just a "used 20-year-old 4x4". The diesel ones in good condition are very expensive over here. Even more, I had the impression at the time that if the 2.4 diesel has that much power, a 4.5 liter petrol should be really fast (worst assumption I ever did ).
After around one year of intense searching I eventually found a really nice 1996 FZJ 80 in France with only 153.000 km (90.000 miles) that had: oem PTO winch, diff-locks, headlight washers and a really nice tan interior (nearly all the diesel ones had horribly used grey interiors) plus it was already equipped with a + 2' OME suspension, Pioneer multimedia system, sequential LPG system and a snorkel.
It was only after the purchase that I discovered the IH8MUD community but it was already too late.
After the 3.000+ km trip home it proved to the biggest disappointment in terms of engine power and fuel consumption. I just couldn't get how such a large amount of burnt fuel would not get to the wheels... The 2.4 turbo diesel of the ARO was also really slow when I got it but after an intercooler upgrade and a good tune-up of the turbo and the injection pump made a huge difference so I imagined there had to be some upgrade for the 1FZ-FE as well and amongst the first things I discovered on IH8MUD was about the existence of the TRD Supercharger kits. The suspension setup proved to be horrible, the back of the car sat almost 2" higher than the front and it looked like an empty lorry and felt like one going over bumps. Apart from that, the 80 truly was everything I expected it to be and I was falling in love with it the more I drove it.
The first thing that I did once I got it home was some general maintenance, changed the engine oil and filter (Toyota 5W-30 and Mann filter) and found myself having the timing chain rattle upon cold start-ups so I had to go back to an oem oil filter. The next oil change I noticed that the 5w-30 Toyota oil was being burnt by the engine, so I decided to go with the Motul 5W-40 LPG Specific. The oil consumption nearly went away (it now uses a max 1L per 10.000 km), and the chain rattle went away as well. Also installed a CDL switch using a hazard switch, changed the rear windshield washer valve and canceled the EGR since the LPG is known for blowing cylinder head gaskets and it apparently already blew 2 before I bought it...
Next on the list was the suspension. I wanted to have it leveled and to upgrade to 35" tires so I ended up with a +4" OME kit along with OME steering damper, front and rear adjustable panhard rods, double cv front and rear drive shafts, OME adjustable rear upper control arms and I have yet to make front caster correction plates. I enjoy fabricating stuff my way so I bought a chunk of polyamide and built the bump stop spacers and sway bar spacers.
The brake lines also needed some 5 cm / 2" extensions and after some research I found longer OEM replacements.
Here are the part numbers:
Front right: 90947-02447
Front left and rear axle (it works for both) 90947-02589 / 96940-34305
For the bump stop spacers, I noticed that all the suspension kits available on the market have spacers for the ones inside the springs for the front end but for the rear end they have spacers for the bump stops next to the springs. I made the spacers for both axles for the bump stops inside the springs, since I thought it would be more sensible to have the same bump stops lowered, and in the future, I plan on also lowering the ones next to those by the same amount (~2"). I also made drain channels in the spacers. I’ve noticed upon removal of the original bump stops that there is a hell of a lot of dirt sitting on top of them with no way out but there are however drain holes in the chassis.
Along with the lift, I also extended my diff breathers and winch breather to the top of the engine compartment using the oem front diff expansion tank as the main air source.
Once completed I had a huge truck sitting on 35" (Hankook Dynapro) that was unable to gain speed (the engine felt like it was dying when going up-hill), unable to stop (the brakes were horrible although I thoroughly bleeded the system, adjusted the LSPV after the lift and checked it for leaks) and undrivable on the road (because I have yet to build the caster correction plates). It felt like driving an old train… So after having tasted the 35" hype myself I decided to be reasonable and drop down to 33” which suited my needs much better.
While trying to figure out the horrible braking and having the whole experience with the very bad system of the Aro, I studied the braking circuit of the 80 and observed something that I considered strange about it. The circuit for the front end of the truck has a T piece just under the master cylinder that sends pressure to the ABS unit for the front end and the other exit goes all the way to the LSPV and has a bleeder. The LSPV however has its own line from the master cylinder that goes to the ABS unit first then to the LSPV for regulating pressure for the rear axle depending on the weight. I decided to block the T piece under the master cylinder leaving the front end of the circuit completely independent so using two M10 caliper bleeders I blocked the exit of the T piece and the correspondent entrance of the LSPV. It sure made a big improvement on the brake feel !
As for the engine it was clear that something was not right with it. The idle was sometimes rough and was lacking power big time although there were no CEL codes. So, I again searched all over MUD and saw that there is a big impact after cleaning the MAF… and so it was, it idled fine afterwards but still had no power especially when it got up to working temperature so I decided to renew the O2 sensor (the EU version only has one O2 sensor) along with spark plugs (NGK Iridium) and that was it! It was finally running fine, wasn’t sluggish anymore and was able to go from 0 to 100 km-h (0-60 MPH) in around 11 sec, and was able to go up slopes with ease… but I obviously wanted more . After quite some time searching, I found on mud an incomplete TRD S/C kit (missing water pipe, tensioners and bracket, bolts, hoses, fan spacer, fan) but had all the main parts there so I went for it and after filling the missing parts I now run a supercharged LPG environmentally friendly Land Cruiser haha.
I’ll try to keep it short so I will present the other mods and maintenance in future posts.
It seems also like I can't upload photos; I'll sort it and get back.
For quite some time now I've been watching you from the shadow and I have finally decided to share my own Land Cruiser experience with you.
As a small intro my name is Cristian I'm a 22-year-old guy that lives in Romania, eastern Europe and that's how I ended up here:
For the past years I've struggled with a very bad Romanian 4x4 called ARO (knows as Cross-Lander in the USA). It has factory fitted Toyota Hilux 2,4 turbo diesel 2L-T drivetrain which is absolutely marvelous but apart from that, the whole car is a mess! After modifying it heavily and constantly improving its off-road capabilities for a few years the mechanical failures and wasted trips kept coming so I eventually got fed up with it and decided to look up for the best 4x4 ever built. After several months of intense research for me it became very clear: the Land Cruiser 80 series is probably the best 4x4 ever made. Once the model had been decided, the other (even tougher maybe) decision was choosing the powertrain. In Europe there are 4 commonly available engines: 1HZ, 1HD-T, 1HD-FT and the mighty 1FZ-FE. Since the 2,4-turbo diesel in the Aro was truly awesome I obviously wanted to stick with the diesel and go for the 1HD-FT with manual transmission but all the ones that I found had well over 250.000 km (155.000 miles) and although I've read that this kind of mileage is nothing for a Land Cruiser it was still tough to pay that much money for just a "used 20-year-old 4x4". The diesel ones in good condition are very expensive over here. Even more, I had the impression at the time that if the 2.4 diesel has that much power, a 4.5 liter petrol should be really fast (worst assumption I ever did ).
After around one year of intense searching I eventually found a really nice 1996 FZJ 80 in France with only 153.000 km (90.000 miles) that had: oem PTO winch, diff-locks, headlight washers and a really nice tan interior (nearly all the diesel ones had horribly used grey interiors) plus it was already equipped with a + 2' OME suspension, Pioneer multimedia system, sequential LPG system and a snorkel.
It was only after the purchase that I discovered the IH8MUD community but it was already too late.
After the 3.000+ km trip home it proved to the biggest disappointment in terms of engine power and fuel consumption. I just couldn't get how such a large amount of burnt fuel would not get to the wheels... The 2.4 turbo diesel of the ARO was also really slow when I got it but after an intercooler upgrade and a good tune-up of the turbo and the injection pump made a huge difference so I imagined there had to be some upgrade for the 1FZ-FE as well and amongst the first things I discovered on IH8MUD was about the existence of the TRD Supercharger kits. The suspension setup proved to be horrible, the back of the car sat almost 2" higher than the front and it looked like an empty lorry and felt like one going over bumps. Apart from that, the 80 truly was everything I expected it to be and I was falling in love with it the more I drove it.
The first thing that I did once I got it home was some general maintenance, changed the engine oil and filter (Toyota 5W-30 and Mann filter) and found myself having the timing chain rattle upon cold start-ups so I had to go back to an oem oil filter. The next oil change I noticed that the 5w-30 Toyota oil was being burnt by the engine, so I decided to go with the Motul 5W-40 LPG Specific. The oil consumption nearly went away (it now uses a max 1L per 10.000 km), and the chain rattle went away as well. Also installed a CDL switch using a hazard switch, changed the rear windshield washer valve and canceled the EGR since the LPG is known for blowing cylinder head gaskets and it apparently already blew 2 before I bought it...
Next on the list was the suspension. I wanted to have it leveled and to upgrade to 35" tires so I ended up with a +4" OME kit along with OME steering damper, front and rear adjustable panhard rods, double cv front and rear drive shafts, OME adjustable rear upper control arms and I have yet to make front caster correction plates. I enjoy fabricating stuff my way so I bought a chunk of polyamide and built the bump stop spacers and sway bar spacers.
The brake lines also needed some 5 cm / 2" extensions and after some research I found longer OEM replacements.
Here are the part numbers:
Front right: 90947-02447
Front left and rear axle (it works for both) 90947-02589 / 96940-34305
For the bump stop spacers, I noticed that all the suspension kits available on the market have spacers for the ones inside the springs for the front end but for the rear end they have spacers for the bump stops next to the springs. I made the spacers for both axles for the bump stops inside the springs, since I thought it would be more sensible to have the same bump stops lowered, and in the future, I plan on also lowering the ones next to those by the same amount (~2"). I also made drain channels in the spacers. I’ve noticed upon removal of the original bump stops that there is a hell of a lot of dirt sitting on top of them with no way out but there are however drain holes in the chassis.
Along with the lift, I also extended my diff breathers and winch breather to the top of the engine compartment using the oem front diff expansion tank as the main air source.
Once completed I had a huge truck sitting on 35" (Hankook Dynapro) that was unable to gain speed (the engine felt like it was dying when going up-hill), unable to stop (the brakes were horrible although I thoroughly bleeded the system, adjusted the LSPV after the lift and checked it for leaks) and undrivable on the road (because I have yet to build the caster correction plates). It felt like driving an old train… So after having tasted the 35" hype myself I decided to be reasonable and drop down to 33” which suited my needs much better.
While trying to figure out the horrible braking and having the whole experience with the very bad system of the Aro, I studied the braking circuit of the 80 and observed something that I considered strange about it. The circuit for the front end of the truck has a T piece just under the master cylinder that sends pressure to the ABS unit for the front end and the other exit goes all the way to the LSPV and has a bleeder. The LSPV however has its own line from the master cylinder that goes to the ABS unit first then to the LSPV for regulating pressure for the rear axle depending on the weight. I decided to block the T piece under the master cylinder leaving the front end of the circuit completely independent so using two M10 caliper bleeders I blocked the exit of the T piece and the correspondent entrance of the LSPV. It sure made a big improvement on the brake feel !
As for the engine it was clear that something was not right with it. The idle was sometimes rough and was lacking power big time although there were no CEL codes. So, I again searched all over MUD and saw that there is a big impact after cleaning the MAF… and so it was, it idled fine afterwards but still had no power especially when it got up to working temperature so I decided to renew the O2 sensor (the EU version only has one O2 sensor) along with spark plugs (NGK Iridium) and that was it! It was finally running fine, wasn’t sluggish anymore and was able to go from 0 to 100 km-h (0-60 MPH) in around 11 sec, and was able to go up slopes with ease… but I obviously wanted more . After quite some time searching, I found on mud an incomplete TRD S/C kit (missing water pipe, tensioners and bracket, bolts, hoses, fan spacer, fan) but had all the main parts there so I went for it and after filling the missing parts I now run a supercharged LPG environmentally friendly Land Cruiser haha.
I’ll try to keep it short so I will present the other mods and maintenance in future posts.
It seems also like I can't upload photos; I'll sort it and get back.
Last edited:
I had no idea why the heck I can't upload images!
And right now I am running on the genuine suspension, since I wasn’t able to drive it without caster correction plates.
. Very nice. Looks like your off to a very good start. Couple of questions. What is the OEM PTO used for, and what make is the 4 door vehicle in your second post? 
