Land Cruiser Heaven - Escape from NY (EFNY) 40th Anniversary Build (1 Viewer)

[FloridaFJ80]

So for those don't know me, I have been on MUD as an active member for over 12 years and up to until 2 years ago I was just a normal active member. A layoff from my day job, sparked me to go on a big parts search expedition.

My Toyota Parts search Expedition

This trip started Land Cruiser Heaven. LCH has been my side gig since then. I got fired from my first job because of LCH, then I got moved up to NoVa for another job and this has been my 8-5 for the last 18 months. Well life has a way throwing you a lot of signs each day from tons of LCH calls, texts and emails, stuff falling through the cracks, customers both happy and pissed, throw in family life, my normal job, a restoration shop stateside and in Colombia. You get worn down rather quick. Well to make a long story short LCH has caused me once again to be unemployed, but this time of my own choosing. I am finally saying goodbye to corporate America and with that my $100k+ a year salary to do what I love the most.

The most important thing in life for me right now is to follow my passions. Those passions are what started this whole ordeal to begin with. LCH has been moving along on its own without much pushing on my end and I owe it mainly to all my customers who have believed in me, I know it hasn't come without a lot of hiccups. But I owe it to this community for taking me where I am now. Not many are so lucky to do what they love. So to all of you out there wishing you were doing what you love, get out and do it. Life is too short to just let it pass. Ok enough of that, on to the build.

A customer of mine out of Brooklyn NY, approached me looking for a rig for his own escape. He wants a rig where he can getaway from it all at any given moment. What better way to start my getting away from Corporate America with a build for a customer who wants the same. Almost like it was meant to be. So after much deliberation, we settled on a rust free 1997 40th anniversary from Miami. For those that know me, 40th Anniversaries seem to follow me. This will be my 3rd 40th Anniversary build and Land Cruiser Heaven's first customer all out build.

The main objective of this project is to build a rig that will live trouble free for the next 25 years. We plan to completely redo the whole rig from the ground up adding some upgrades along the way. This 80 would be an ih8mud built rig as it will have a lot products and components from many ih8mud vendors this is my way of giving back to the ih8mud community.

Here are the specs of the current rig:

1997 40th Anniversary
298,000 on the clock
unlocked
ARB Bullbar
7" Led Lights on Bumper
Smittybuilt 12,000 lb winch
Smittybuilt roof rack
Smittybuilt awning
OME Suspension
Procomp 285/75/16 MT tires
Safari Snorkel
Double Din Pioneer HU with sub and 2 amps
Aluminum radiator

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Flew down to Miami from DC after not even being back from an LCH trip to the mother land (Colombia). Met up with my customer and went and looked at the truck. The 80 was what we were expecting with a few unexpected surprises but we were ready. I then proceeded to take it on a 1000 Mile test drive from Miami to DC. She didnt skip a beat. Made it home safely with my family in tow. The next day took her up to the shop to her final resting spot for the next few months.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Reserved

 

[EFNY]

Flew down to Miami from DC after not even being back from an LCH trip to the mother land (Colombia). Met up with my customer and went and looked at the truck. The 80 was what we were expecting with a few unexpected surprises but we were ready. I then proceeded to take it on a 1000 Mile test drive from Miami to DC. She didnt skip a beat. Made it home safely with my family in tow. The next day took her up to the shop to her final resting spot for the next few months.

View attachment 1553804 View attachment 1553805

I can't wait to see this creation!!

 

[cme4lyt]

Frank, wishing you well on your new adventure !

Keep the stories and pix coming, I’m sure this we be an awesome build. For all of us who have ‘invested’ in you, make us proud !

 

[jonheld]

So to all of you out there wishing you were doing what you love, get out and do it. Life is too short to just let it pass.

Very true. The clock is always ticking and none of us get out alive. Carpe diem bitches.
Good luck to you Frank.

 

[NCFJ]

So to all of you out there wishing you were doing what you love, get out and do it. Life is too short to just let it pass.

Congrats Frank! Never look back.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Frank, wishing you well on your new adventure !

Keep the stories and pix coming, I’m sure this we be an awesome build. For all of us who have ‘invested’ in you, make us proud !

Very true. The clock is always ticking and none of us get out alive. Carpe diem bitches.
Good luck to you Frank.

Congrats Frank! Never look back.

This is why I love this community!!! It never seizes to amaze me how selfless we are. Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

 

[jdayment]

Cant wait to watch this build sounds like alot of fun!

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Ok time for this weeks update.

Started the tear down of the truck. Removed the front ARB bumper with a 12k Smittybilt winch to make way for a Slee short bus front bumper. This look has me drooling. Next 80 I build for myself would have a small lift, 33" KO2s and thats it. Love the plain mildly stock look of the 80 series and of course a naked roof.

The interior will see a complete renewal from a 2 row Land Cruiser Heaven 40th anniversary leather seat cover kit. The steering wheel will also get rewrapped in Factory brown with LCH steering wheel leather. The carpet will be replaced withh all new OEM carpeting up front and underneath will be covered with some sicks ass sound deadener as well as above the headliner. We want to bring modern utility to this beautiful classic.

 

[LS1FJ40]

Good luck Frank!

That's a great rig to begin with! Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[EFNY]

As the song goes " more more more, how do you like it how do you like it". looking sweet frank.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

So in preparation for the rebuild. We placed a nice hefty order with a few vendors. We broke down this build into different stages.

Stage 1 : Safety and Reliability

• Engine - Current engine has just about 290k miles on it. Even though she doesnt leak or smoke, we dont have much history on it other than what the PO said he did to it. So in order to have peace of mind and to prolong significantly this rig we opted to do a complete rebuild using only OEM parts with the exception of the block. We ordered a complete 1FZ short block assembly and will be building the rest off of that. We want the engine to be in perfect condition for when we add the Magnuson Supercharger kit to it.
  
• Cooling - The cooling system will be headed up with a 93-94 Brass 3 Core Toyota OEM Radiator with a modified blue fan Clutch.
  
• Brakes - The brake system was in great shape, but we wanted to again baseline it and upgrade it so we went with some Cross drilled rotors new Calipers and pads. Along with all new soft brake lines upgrading them to the Slee Extended stainless Brake line kits for both frame to axle and axle to caliper.
  
• Axles - The axles will also get rebuilt. We ordered a complete front and rear knuckle rebuild kits from Cruiser Outfitters.
  
• Suspension - The EFNY truck came with an OME J spring kit. We will be upgrading this to a 4" Dobinson Heavy kit running C59-312 and C59-313 coils, Dobinson Adjustable Panhard Rods, and Castor Plates
  
• Driveshaft - Since we are going with a Dobinson 4" Heavy suspension kit, we upgraded the front driveshaft with a DC driveshaft to remove any vibration from the added lift.
  
• Tires - This rig will see alot of miles, so we wanted to keep it to where she wouldnt be hurting for power and MPG. So we chose the BFG KO2 tire in a 285/75R16. I have used this tire extensively on all my rigs and by far my favorite tire.
  
• Transmission will stay automatic, but I am leaning towards a 5 speed conversion. Stay tuned**

Stage 2 : Longevity

• EFNY will get a complete paint job, we will retain the 40th anniversary Sage color, but we want this rig to be ready for the next 20 years. All window and door weatherstripping will be replaced with new OEM seals and belt moulding. Front windshield will be replaced as it has cracks.
  
• Seats - Like I stated before the seats will get redone in LCH 40th anniversary Combo Leather. The power motors will get fresh gears from Gamiviti.
  
• Floor - The floor is already covered on a fatmat sound deadener but we will be taking it to the next level with more layers of sound deadening. The floor and doors will also see these. More to come on this. This will all be covered with a brand new OEM Oak 3/4 carpet.
  
• Sound - Headunit and speakers will see a huge upgrade. More to come on this.

Stage 3 : Build out

• Armor - We will be going with Slee for all our armor needs. Slee front and rear bumpers and slee step sliders.
  
• Gullwings - For easy access to the rear, anyone with a rear bumper knows that it can be a pain going to the back to grab something. So to resolve this we will be installing the Yodateq Gullwings on EFNY.
• Power - This will be our biggest project. We will be doing a dual battery system and the electrical system will have to be able to account for a fridge, sound system, inverter, lights, winch, solar power, HAM radios and USB outlets. More on this later.
  
• Storage - We are developing a custom storage system for this rig. The idea is functionality and the best use of space. This will hold a fridge and an integrate cooking setup.
  
• Roof Rack - We will be going with a light weight modular roof rack where we can house a RTT and an foxwing awning along with LED perimeter lights.

We have a lot of work to do and look forward to sharing this build with the MUD community.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

So last week was a busy week placing orders with all my vendors. I needed tires for various builds so called up BFG and placed a tire order. Also mated EFNY's new tires with some dark gray 80 series wheels. They will look amazing when its all said and done.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Next call was to Toyota. We needed some parts for our Stage 1 build. So 3 days later we had everything show up. This 1FZ short block is such a beauty.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

The next call went to Dobinson. We are a Dobinson Reseller but needed some parts drop shipped for EFNY. It always great to deal with them!! @David Otero Thanks for great service. We have put Dobinson Suspensions on all our rigs and have been really happy with the outcome.

Cant wait to remove that old OME suspension.

 

[Jungle80farmer]

This is awesome! As I sit on my ASS chilling all comfy like with my coffee. I get to watch you make some magic! Subscribed & watching like a Netflix episode.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Our next call was to Cruiser Outfitters. We needed to start work on the knuckle rebuild and the rear axle. Spoke to @cruiseroutfit Kurt and he had me all taken care of in no time. Another amazing company and cruiser head!! A few days later everything arrived and we got to working.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

This brings us up to speed. More to come next week as we continue to move forward. Hopefully by my next update the engine will be out and the engine tear down will begin. Stay tuned. If you guys are on instagram check us out at Land Cruiser Heaven (@lcheaven) • Instagram photos and videos for quicker updates.

 

[Jungle80farmer]

Landcruiser Porn at its finest! Those pics of parts is pure beauty. Every Landcruiser owners dream.