kalebob's 2000 Land Cruiser Build (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Threads
1
Messages
4
Location
CDA, ID or Prescott, AZ
The Orgin Story

Hello all - new to these parts and to LC/off-road vehicles in general. Went though high school driving a string of turbo Audis from the 80s and currently have a 2001 A6 with the 4.2L V8 that I swapped from an auto to a 6 spd manual. After realizing that 2 inches of clearance (with stiff coilovers no less) wasn't enough to get me to trail heads and into the areas I enjoy exploring the search was on for a new vehicle.

First I looked for a higher mileage Heep XJ or 3rd gen t4r but after driving a friend's XJ ~300 miles to the Grand Canyon I decided interior quality and on road comfort matters to me more than I had originally anticipated. (sidenote: almost pulled the trigger on a white 99 t4r with the rear elocker and a 5 speed, 349k with records for $2500 in prescott valley in case anyone here bought it) I initially thought I wanted a vehicle to primarily build as a purpose built off-road rig for short local trips and trails. After some soul searching (hah), deliberation with some friends, and discovering XOverland YouTube channel I decided the primary use case for the vehicle would be longer, less technical trips involving significant highway stretches.

I started the new search focused on either an 04 or 05 Ford Explorer Limited with the V8, only because my mom had one and I knew they performed well on road. Logic caught up and I figured independent rear suspension and the lack of aftermarket made it a tough sell. In the meantime I had watched all three major series by XOverland and my interest was piqued in the land cruiser direction. Lusted after a clean 60 series, thought I'd compromise on price by going 80 series and I didn't even look at 100 series as they were predominantly out of my price range. I spent 2 or 3 months looking and researching before I found this beauty in Denver by accident.

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The Purchase

The Land Cruiser had 143k and was listed for $5300. This was a slight amount over what I had hoped to spend on a vehicle but exceedingly reasonable for a lower mileage 100 series. Early November I drove to Denver with two friends and a cashier check. The Land Cruiser was slower than I had expected but otherwise ran flawlessly. My reference frame was a 360 hp awd manual car with 4.11s and the parent's Cayenne Turbo S so I kept an open mind. I took it on an extensive test drive including low range and center locker engagement on dirt with lots of poking around under the car debating the rust.

Being a 2000 I had a slight concern about the transmission when I saw a single small fleck in the fluid from wiping the dipstick. After some minor negotiating I drove away without the safari rack for $4600, thank you body damage!

Here is a picture from the drive back with a stop to mountain bike in Moab - this is in the Lazy Lizard Hostel parking lot.

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Finally Home!

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The deets:

  • 143,300 at purchase
  • 90k service done
  • alternator replaced
  • starter rebuilt
  • decent tread on Cooper AT3 285/75r16
  • aftermarket cheap-o LED headlight bulbs (can't decide if this is a pro or a con)
  • body damage from a trailer jackknife incident (icy mountain pass)
  • terrible BOSS touchscreen headunit
  • brakes slightly warped
  • more rust than wanted
  • rip on pass seat at bolster seam
  • but Land Cruiser!

Hopefully in the next post I can detail the mods up to current and discuss the philosophy and future of the build. Also please forgive me if this post is too wordy and/or too picture heavy.
 
Welcome to Land Cruiser world. It looks like you have quite a project ahead. Given your history with the Audi mods you should do just fine. I'm also an Audi fan having had an 89 200, a 93 S4, and now an RS5. Keep us posted as you work on your build. Lot's of helpful people here.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome all! This form seems to have one of the most tight knit and supportive cultures I've seen in all my experience with cars and car forms! I might have put this thread in the wrong place though... not sure yet hah!

having had an 89 200, a 93 S4, and now an RS5

My all time favorite engine is the Audi inline 5 cylinder of most any generation. I had a 87 5000s, 5000tq and a 89 200tq with a Ben Swann 19psi chip. Fun car, it would walk a c5 corvette to 110 on the weekend trips to Mexico during high school heh heh. Does your RS5 have the V8?

To keep it on topic a bit I definitely warped the rotors worse than they were on a recent trip to California. Lots of learning to do with the new to me off road capabilities. We did the whole South Coast Ridge Road from Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd heading south towards Plaskett, CA. The first 15 miles on the way up is really easy. First experience airing down the tires too and boy it really helps with the little bumps. The Cruiser handled the uphill and flat road sections without breaking a sweat. It struggled with brake fade on the longer downhill sections enough I had to stop to let them cool. It was loaded with 2 peoples gear for a 10 day trip with 3 adult passengers at the time as well.

I'll need to do some digging as I've seen some talk about 1st gen tundra take offs being an upgrade. Braking performance has never seemed impressive by any standards but certainly acceptable for dd duty. I imagine this oracle of a forum has all the info I need. The pads have sufficient life at this point so this upgrade may be postponed to fit better with future plans (if I can handle to shimmy).

One other thing I will ask the general populace - are there any forms with resources about off road driving in principle? Perhaps answering things like: what do you do when on long descents that are too rough to let off the brakes but fast enough to cook them? Didn't see much using the basic search or poking around in different areas. Any non-MUD resources anyone recommends as well? I'd like to learn at least enough to not kill myself, passengers, and/or vehicle. Thanks!
 




I would start looking on youtube, tons of great info from different channels. Ronny Dahl is from Australia and makes some great videos.

As far as brakes, if you're offroad I would use low range and shift into first or second to slow down as much as I could before using brakes. If you're on road, like on a long canyon descent, shifting gears may help as well. For on road braking, you may want to look into new rotors/fluid/pads.
 
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low range and shift into first or second to slow down

I assume the consensus is that engine braking thru the auto trans is okay then? I figured if it didn’t truly lock up and was going thru a torque converter or something similar it may over heat the fluid due to low airflow vs rpm/load. I have driven and owned exclusively manual vehicles save for a Toyota Supra for all of about 6 weeks so I genuinely am not familiar with auto trans do and don’t. Didn’t have service to check on the trail either! Good to know though, definitely would solve the problem on that particular road.


First gen Tundra is 6 lug, no swapping there.

Right you are. I confused the 100 series parts onto 80 series swap. Or potentially Tundra to t4r, too much research before I settled on the 100 series to remember clearly.

After reading thru this thread it sounds like some halfway decent pads on slotted rotors with SS lines all around is in order. Or even OEM and not driving like a noob I guess hah! I’m just glad to hear the bbk isn’t a near necessity for any spirited driving as it is in much of the Audi world.
 
Low range and first / second gear will be fine for long technical descents. When the trail smoothes out you may pop it into third and have to tap the breaks here and there. Enjoy the scenery and you'll be fine.
 
Does your RS5 have the V8?
Yes it does. May not sound like the turbo I5 (nothing does) but the sound is music to my ears

DSC_2074.jpg
 

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