Builds Just another 80 series build..... (1 Viewer)

[c2dfj45]

I wasn't going to do a build thread on this one but then I thought, maybe I should. There wont't be a cool diesel swap or a manual trans install......so if you want to duck out now....go for it.

A little background on us....my shop, C2 Design(www.c2dusa.com) has been in the high end custom/performance arena for a long time. We primarily deal in new stuff but we end up working on any number of things my clients have in their collections. I've got talented guys that can work on it all....very fortunate to have them. My passion is and has always been Land Cruisers....and over the last four or 5 years, I have been on an all out buying spree. It's probably time for an intervention....so if my family or friends are reading this.....I can quit at any time. I swear.

Found this 80 on Craigslist....local Tampa truck so no rust. No mods at all. 166k miles I think. 2 owners. Nice enough condition. interior had just been redone. New window motors, new seat motors. Some miscellaneous mechanical work had been done but none of the big stuff(cooling system, knuckles, head gasket).

I figured the 80 would make a nice 4 door ....I had 80s in the past, 3FE 91...and a 1FZ but that got turned into a 79 series pickup(see build thread)....so it came home with me. Drove it for about 8 months on and off. Decided that I didn't want to deal with all the things it needed and moved on to an LX570 with 57k miles. Pretty much sealed the deal on the 80....into the warehouse it went.

About 2 months ago I decided I wanted the 80 to be put back on the road.....here's how it went....

 

[c2dfj45]

This truck was clean.....paint had some clear coat fading on hood and roof. Must have had some repaint on the right front fender. She cleaned up really nice.

Mechanical issues were horrible knuckles, terrible oil leak on the upper pan(and lower), suspension was blown out.

I had put a OME stock height suspension on it....these pics are with that suspension.

 

[c2dfj45]

At some point, I did a quad headlight conversion. Used good glass lights, good bulbs......man those things sucked. Light output was awful. I suspect I was sold a set of JDM ones or something.....the lights just never seemed right. The OEM US ones were about 1000x better. Took those off after a few months and sold them.

 

[c2dfj45]

2 1996 FZJ80s in the same driveway.....one of them went down a very different build path.

 

[c2dfj45]

I decided that a 2 tone look would be cool with the quad headlights....so I had the flares wrapped in a gloss battleship grey...along with the bottom of the doors. Taking the flares off obviously became much more of a job....broken clips, broken tabs, lots of swearing, lots of epoxy. Got them back on with new seals...but they weren't right....that right front flare was losing it's clear coat and the wrap looked stupid. It always bothered me(very OCD....I sometimes pretend that I can overcome it.....I can't).

I also bought the bootleg 4 Wheel Drive trim from ebay. For those into leopard patterns, they would love it. The sun turned all of it into some kind of weird leopard blotches.

Looked cool though....they fell off right after this pic. I have been able to stick things together for a long time....I'm a professional. I could never get these to stick. I'm frustrated now just thinking about them! Fortunately they are in a land fill now. I know better than to buy stuff from China on Ebay.

 

[scottryana]

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU COME UP WITH!

 

[c2dfj45]

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU COME UP WITH!

It's not going to be as neat as the LV or 79 build. Just a refresh on an old 80. A couple of neat things. There is another 79 build coming up though...and this one is going to be fun. Really excited to start it. Need to knock out a few before it though.

 

[c2dfj45]

Found some other pics of the 2 tone and quad lights.....you can see how rough the hood was. Zero clearcoat left.

 

[c2dfj45]

Not the first time the flares would come off....this is for when we first wrapped them.

 

[c2dfj45]

Amongst some of it's brothers....

 

[c2dfj45]

I seem to recall spending one of my Xmas weeks doing all the door gaskets, window felts and seals on the truck...while I had it apart, I did a stereo in the truck.....double DIN with the speakers that everyone seems to use...Kenwood or Sony...can't recall which ones. Allowed us to keep the stock speaker grilles which was really important to me. We've had a few of these trucks come in with spacers and aftermarkets grilles...not my cup of tea. I'm by no means a stereo guy...if I have a speaker and my bluetooth connects, I'm as happy as can be.

IF you go down the road of new speakers...do yourself a HUGE favor and dynomat those doors. Use it inside on the door skin and then make a vapor barrier out of the stuff. This truck sounds amazing and the decrease in road noise is substantial. Sounds like an armored car.

Buy new door panel clips too....you can get them on Amazon.

 

[c2dfj45]

During that Xmas week(we're typically closed....so the shop is very quiet), I seem to recall doing the upper oil pan, lower pan, motor and trans mounts. Was fighting a constant and annoying vibration in the truck....never could quite figure it out which frustrated me. I seem to recall the knuckles needing to be done.....probably hadn't been touched in 20 years. That was the beginning of the end for the 80.....it went into it's new resting place.....

 

[c2dfj45]

And here it would sit for a year or so while we built other trucks....

 

[c2dfj45]

Here's the truck that got the 80 mothballed and what a truck it is. It's not everyone's cup of tea but this thing is quiet, smooth and powerful. Kind of wished I had bought a LC200 but they're hard to find in FL and some of the options(ventilated seats) didn't come around for a few years on the 200. This thing has it all and with only 57k miles on the clock, it was nearly new. One hell of a truck. Roof rack was the first thing to go....

 

[c2dfj45]

Over the year, we had finished up a big 45LV project.....after wrapping it up, I was thinking that I would sell the 80 and find something else to play with. The 80 still needed some mechanical stuff to be done and the paint was horrible now...how it deteriorated even more while parked in a warehouse is beyond me. I'd have to put in some $$ to sell it.....figured if I was going to do that, why not really build it out. 80s are doing well on the resale market and that's not going to change. So the decision was made, the 80 stays! And I thought, "maybe I'll do a couple things to it here and there......"

 

[Mdej3]

MAN! Im right here in Tampa!!! I KNEW i saw that 79 in here and that my cocaine dose wasn't low that day!

I would love to see it!

 

[c2dfj45]

MAN! Im right here in Tampa!!! I KNEW i saw that 79 in here and that my cocaine dose wasn't low that day!

I would love to see it!

Hahahaha.....yeah....swing on over any time M-F. Might even get to see a pair of 79s.

 

[jfz80]

Man this is gonna be good. Have really enjoyed following along the other builds.

 

[c2dfj45]

Man this is gonna be good. Have really enjoyed following along the other builds.

It won't be like the other builds but I promise the next build WILL be a good one. This one just has a couple of cool things on it that I think some people will like.

 

[c2dfj45]

So in the pursuit of doing "a few things here and there", we made a trip to Miami to pick all of this up. As well as becoming a dealer for Dobinsons....great products, great service.

For 2019, we're going to make a bit of a push to branch out and do more in the 4x4 world...kind of a specialty 4WD shop somewhat focused on Land Cruisers(OK...totally focused on Land Cruisers). I want to take what we've done with our high end car business and offer that to 4wd guys. We've been doing it all along but now it's time to spend more time with it. So with that in mind, of course we needed to build a kick ass 80 series...