Builds Just Another 97 Camping/Overland/Wheeling build... (1 Viewer)

[Emmanuelgt5]

Hello everyone,
Wanted to start a build thread for a while and being stuck at home because of COVID-19 seems to be a good reason/excuse.
I bought my 97 Locked FZJ80 on June 16,2018. It was my graduation ceremony day for my bachelor's, but whos gonna spend money and waste a day for that? not this guy...
I paid 5400$ for it, came with a full tank of $4.20 gas and 4 sequoia wheels that I sold for ~$300. There were small things wrong, CEL and not the prettiest one , but I will take it for that price. Will discuss all that was wrong below.

I do not have a very good pic but here she is on the first day.

not bad for complete abuse and neglect for years. Valve cover was leaking ALL the way around, so did that, intake pipe piece and throttle body cleaning. kickdown cable was dangling freely in the bay, attached only at the end (not retained so didn't exactly work). CEL was P0402, cleared it, was able to pass CA smog with one incomplete monitor no problem. I have since gone through and fixed it.( A couple of weeks ago, I know i'm lazy)

I bought it with 235k miles and plan on at least 500k miles.
Plans are to continue the upgraes and maintenance/repairs as they come up and maybe eventually a v8 swap. I have done 2 swaps so far, my 92 Cressida with a 2JZ-gte and a Mazda rx-8 with a LS2. we will see as budget is tight given my strict saving strategy.

what a mess this was... had to get done though. I have a good friend with a shop and lifts and tools, so I am spoiled...

cheap "used" (not really) KO all terrains, 33s , work for now
did the cheapy tail light lens replacement off ebay, it was a pain but budget friendly.
Since then I have done ARB bull bar , used warn M12000, slinky 75mm lift, All the bushings, and more . I will update with more posts and pictures as I have reached the 5 pic limit.

 

[Rusty Marlin]

The short hose looks a little swollen, and the valve looks original, its gone "brown" from age.
Might want to think real serious about going through the coolant system and put new hoses and other bits in.

Oh, and Good Looking rig, its in the "right colour".

 

[Emmanuelgt5]

When I bought the truck, the diff locks did not work , including the CDL light, a quick inspection and come to find out that the CDL indicator switch thingy on the transfer case was unplugged, easy fix. not sure who was in there doing what...

The short hose looks a little swollen, and the valve looks original, its gone "brown" from age.
Might want to think real serious about going through the coolant system and put new hoses and other bits in.

yea Im gonna get both hose kits and PHH from wits end soon.

 

[Emmanuelgt5]

Looks and rides great with the Slinky 75mm heavy setup and all new bushings in all arms and sway bars. more comfortable than any solid front truck that I have been in.
For this summer plans are to install the Marlin Crawler Low range gearset that I have had for a while, refresh cooling with new hoses, coolant and also a new clutch fan, belts and redo the seats as they are torn and hard. Sent my wheel and shifter to craft customs to get redone yesterday.
ah and also re-grease the driveshafts, possibly new u joints.

 

[Emmanuelgt5]

Oh, and Good Looking rig, its in the "right colour".
[/QUOTE]
Thank you,Speaking of color, my best friend is attending body shop school and will repaint it in the original color and fill in the holes for flares and roof rack for basically free just material cost of sandpaper and tape. If was gonna happen now but pandemic and all ... Have to wait till fall/winter.

 

[Emmanuelgt5]

wanted to share the escape gear dash cover. Comes from South Africa I believe. Fits great, protects dash from the sun and very handy in keeping small items out of sight during road trips. Also great for the "safari" looks.

 

[Emmanuelgt5]

much needed late update. excuses are lost the job, looking for another every day and meanwhile had time to work on stuff. I finally have the seats done. Thank you Cameron from Mosley Motors , the seats turned out great. Leather is soft, color match is more than fine. Process was time consuming and a lot of pulling involved, but not overly difficult. Do yourself a favor get the Knipex hog ring pliers, they are NICE. I found some OEM new foams from a dealer in Roseville, CA. They had the best price so ordered from them. While I was in there added the heated elements. For wiring I used the wiring that came with the kit, but hooked it up to the power supply for the seats that comes right under the center console. Reason for that is I'm not paying 150$ for two switches and even if I got the factory switches I would still have to use the relay for the low/hi function under the seat. for mounting the switches I used two blanks that I saved when I installed the winch relay and and Aux condenser fan, yeah did that mod too.
The Fan combined with washing the condenser helped out the A/C a bunch , now its ice cold in traffic in anything under 100 F. I think it still needs a recharge. will probably do that for next summer.

shout out to @FJ60Cam for the seats, he took my order even though he was really busy, gave me updates each week and delivered the goods!
and another to @LandCruiserPhil for the fan bracket idea. I stole it, but hey you didn't have it in stock.

 

[Emmanuelgt5]

More pics!!!