Builds Honu. A build thread.

[FFDawson]

Here I will document the build of Honu the 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser.

As she sits today:

Honu is a 3x locked 1994 FZJ80 finished in 6M1 Dark Emerald Pearl. Built in Japan, sold in California and driven a scant 177,000 miles by two owners on the day she became mine. I found her on FB Marketplace in Newark, CA. I messaged the seller, who was listing it for his dad. He claims his father owned it since 2000, and drove it regularly until he parked it in 2020. He changed the oil, put a battery in it and listed it for sale. I managed to talk the seller down a bit and after a short drive and a test of the locking diffs in a dirt parking lot nearby, she was all mine. The seller said he was fairly certain that his dad had never used the lockers, never even knew what the knob was for. I drove it the 65 or so miles home without incident.

The original ad.
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr

 

[FFDawson]

Mods
Suspension
Slinky 75 mm HD coils (1/10/24)
Slinky/Icon CDCV Stage 4 shocks
Delta 5L radius arms
Landtank Lower control arms
Adjustable upper control arms
Ext brake lines
Sway bar drops
Solvefunction bump stop drops
Eimkeith Panhard kit
Ironman 4x4 Steering stabilizer (5/29/23)
Overland Custom Design 7075 Aluminum Tie rod and Drag link (12/20/24)
555 TRE's (12/20/24)

Gears/Axle
RCV 300M front Axles/birfs
Yukon 4.88 front and rear
Part time 4x4 Kit in T case
Sumo 10% Overdrive gears
Marlin Crawler 10% Underdrive gears
Aisin Manual Locking hubs
LandTank Front Diff stud kit
Landtank Knuckle stud kit

Wheels/Tires:
Fifteen52 Patrol in Bronze 17x8.5 ET0
37x12.5x17 Cooper STT Pro

Exterior:
Bellfab Bumper
Baja Designs Squadron Pros
Badlands Apex 12k Winch
Factor 55 Fairlead
Rock Sliders built by Hot Metal Fab
Removable cat skid plate
Red Line Land Cruisers Battery Hold down plate
ARB Roof Rack
ABS/LSPV delete
Trail Tailor ABS sensor plug
Extended Diff Breathers f/r

Interior:
BH3D Dual Cup holder, center console cup holder (1/10/23)
Scoshe magnetic phone mount (1/10/23)
LED dome lights (1/15/23)
Bellfab tire carrier (9/21/24)
OCD tailgate panel (9/21/24)
CDL Switch (9/24/24)
Repairs/replacements:
Steering column cover replaced. (11/20/22)
P/S rear window vent replaced (11/21/22)
Rear hatch struts replaced (11/22/22)
Solvefunction shaky mirror fix (3/3/2023)
D/S rear marker light replaced (4/2/23)
OEM throttle cable replacement (4/22/23)
Pass side front door weather strip (5/29/23)
New Fusibile link (10/2/23)
Hood Struts replaced (Strongarm 4551R/L) (12/20/24)
555 Tie Rod Ends (12/20/24)

Future plans
Interior upgrades
Wheel It!
Maintenance
Oil Change 7.8qt 10w40 Synthetic, OEM Filter 8/20/23 Miles 180,585. Driveshafts greased.
Evap Lines replaced (4/01/24)
Gear Oil in all Diffs (12/20/24)
Birf rebuild (12/20/24) Cruiser Outfitters kit
Powerstop Rotors, Pads, Reman Calipers, OE soft lines, fluid flush (12/20/24)
Power Steering fluid flush and replace 6/24/25 (Mobil DTE 24 Ultra)

 

[FFDawson]

A little backstory on how we came to need a FJ80... I've owned Toyota trucks my whole life, all shapes and sizes, from my dad's 66 Stout to the 2017 Tundra I currently daily drive. About 10 years ago the wife and I were on our way home from a wheeling trip at Gold Lake in my former 08 Tacoma when we passed a nicely built FJ60 on the highway. My wife commented on how cool it'd be to drive one like that... and the hunt was on. We purchased a gold 1990 FJ62 a few months later and thus begun the love affair with Land Cruisers. We built the '62 up pretty well with OME and 33's and it was a great daily. After a few years of ownership, and the arrival of our first child, we decided to part ways. We replaced her with a low mile 5th gen 4runner, which suited our needs perfectly and calmed any safety related fears we had about the new baby in the old cruiser... But the love for the Land Cruiser was deep... fast forward to 2022. The 4runner was gone, the Tacoma sold and replaced with a Tundra. We found ourselves in Bear Valley for a friend's wedding and just happened to pile in a buddy's j@@P for a run on the Sourgrass trail. It was at that moment we knew it was time to get back into a wheeling rig... Although the 62 was special to us, I was looking for something just a bit more trail capable with a pinch more power. So the 80 was the answer. Of course I quickly realized that LC prices had gone straight insane in our 8 year hiatus... Fortunately Honu popped up and the price was right.

The day we brought her home
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr
by Ant Daws, on Flickr
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr
by Ant Daws, on Flickr

The first order of business was to give Honu a solid once over, or as the folks here are calling it these days "Baseline". My experience (albeit limited) with Land Cruisers has taught me that there's none better suited for this task than the legendary Georg @orangefj45 and his team at Valley Hybrids. I swapped out the ancient cracked tires for a set of 285 Hankook MT's. They're worn and loud, but at least they're from this decade... after that it was off to Valley Hybrids for a full inspection. Georg worked his magic on Honu and replaced the following:

New Aisin water pump, Tstat, upper and lower rad hoses, PHH, overflow bottle, fan clutch nut, rad flush and clean, front main seal, oil pump cover, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, wires, disributor cap and rotor, pcv valve, starter, belts, air intake bellow, air cleaner, oil change, brake flush, front drive shaft.

All in all he said it was a pretty clean truck and didn't need much more to be happily driven on a daily basis. Knowing that the crew at Valley Hybrids had gone over it with a fine tooth comb was worth its weight in gold. I am a fairly serviceable mechanic in my own right, but when it comes to determining the safety and operability of this LC, it was worth every penny to have them do the work.

Here are some pics of the condition of things as I found them...
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr


...And after the magic happened at VH
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr

We also deleted that awful grille guard.
Untitled by Ant Daws, on Flickr

 

[FFDawson]

Once we got her home with a clean bill of health, it was on to a deep clean, some minor fixes and LOTS of research here on Mud to start planning the build.

Pulled the carpets up, vacuumed and washed out all the rockers and floor pans. Power washed the undercarriage and deep cleaned the seats.

Replaced all the dome lights and map light with LED panels, along with the license plate lights and reverse bulbs.

Replaced the p/s rear window vent trim with an OEM piece. Also installed a fresh steering column clamshell from Cruiser Parts. Pulled the roof rack and resealed all the holes with silicone sealer.

Next up is the removal of faux wood trim… the center console trim was pretty awful so I started there. Took forever to get all the goo off from the sticky tape.

And of course I added the must have cup holders from @bhicks

 

[FFDawson]

I’ve taken her off road a hand full of times, just enough to stretch her legs.

Can’t wait to hit some challenging trails as soon as I get some armor installed.

 

[Comet]

Looking forward to the journey. So amazing that your spouse is on board. Let the fun begin!!

 

[FFDawson]

Pulled off the running boards today in preparation for rock sliders!

Loaded up on the trailer. Headed for the fab shop tomorrow to get the sliders welded up.

Putting a set on Sandra (the tundra) as well. Prepped them with self etching primer and a few coats of bedliner.

 

[bj70bc]

nice tundra LC combo

 

[OffRoadScott]

Pulled off the running boards today in preparation for rock sliders! View attachment 3253204

Loaded up on the trailer. Headed for the fab shop tomorrow to get the sliders welded up.

View attachment 3253205View attachment 3253206
View attachment 3253207View attachment 3253208
Putting a set on Sandra (the tundra) as well. Prepped them with self etching primer and a few coats of bedliner.

With the removal of the running boards changes the look of the LC a lot huh? Great looking Tundra, still my favorite body style of the Tundra. New Tundra looks like a Silverado.

 

[FFDawson]

nice tundra LC combo

With the removal of the running boards changes the look of the LC a lot huh? Great looking Tundra, still my favorite body style of the Tundra. New Tundra looks like a Silverado.

Thanks! I shoulda pulled those running boards off long ago... sliders are being welded on today or tomorrow. Can't wait to see how she looks. And thanks for the kind words on Sandra, I'm a big fan of that truck.

Next up, gotta start planning the suspension build. Also want to do axles, gears, tcase regear...

 

[OffRoadScott]

Thanks! I shoulda pulled those running boards off long ago... sliders are being welded on today or tomorrow. Can't wait to see how she looks. And thanks for the kind words on Sandra, I'm a big fan of that truck.

Next up, gotta start planning the suspension build. Also want to do axles, gears, tcase regear...

When you do the transfer case are you doing the overdrive and under drive? With the under drive high range gears it will change your stock 4.10 to 4.56 that is a 10% difference. If you want to regear to 4.88 I would go with 4.56 because with the underdrive high range gears that would put you at 5.0.

Straight from Cruiser Teq website: "These gears offer a 10% underdrive in high range, equivalent to converting axle gears from the 4.10 to 4.56 gears without having to do ring & pinion work."

 

[FFDawson]

When you do the transfer case are you doing the overdrive and under drive? With the under drive high range gears it will change your stock 4.10 to 4.56 that is a 10% difference. If you want to regear to 4.88 I would go with 4.56 because with the underdrive high range gears that would put you at 5.0.

Straight from Cruiser Teq website: "These gears offer a 10% underdrive in high range, equivalent to converting axle gears from the 4.10 to 4.56 gears without having to do ring & pinion work."

I wasn’t aware of the hi range gear reduction… I was just thinking I’d do the 3:1 low range mod. With 37” tires I’ve read that 4.88 is the desired ratio, and 5 is pretty close. Question is: is the 10% worth the $500 in parts (plus labor?) I guess that would be a good question for the 37” tire crowd. I appreciate the input!

 

[FFDawson]

Slider update! They’re welded on… and feature a removable cat skid… I’ll be picking her up in a few days. Let’s go wheeling!

 

[dsmud4u]

Whoa! Change that heater control valve quickly.

Never mind, upon further inspection it looks like it was done.

 

[FFDawson]

A closer look at the sliders. Built and welded on by Hot Metal Fab in Loomis. Dual gussets on the attachment arms and a nice beefy bolt on cat skid plate. I’m very happy with how they turned out! Can’t wait to go scratch em up!

 

[FFDawson]

No pics, but I installed the shaky mirror fix from @Outsane man what an improvement. The little things go a long way!

 

[FFDawson]

Churched up a set of center caps I had. Looking pretty sharp in my opinion! Now I just have to clean up the wheels and tires to match.

 

[AgentOrange]

Slider update! They’re welded on… and feature a removable cat skid… I’ll be picking her up in a few days. Let’s go wheeling!

View attachment 3256946

I really like the jack extension you used

 

[FFDawson]

Picked up some new meats for the girl… I might need to go looking for some lift now!

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I love it.... tires first than a lift