Builds Maroon 95 mild build... New shop truck/beach cruiser

[amgraham]

I've been casually looking for an 80 for a new shop truck. Something I can build a little bit and use to pick up parts, loan to others, and to take to the beach and maybe light wheeling. I still wheel my 1st gen 4runner hard so this one doesn't have to be anything crazy.

This one popped up on Craigslist and I couldn't help but jump. 1995 Fzj80. 140K, no lockers, typical problems. No significant rust but definitely in need of love. Hopefully this thread will get me some help with correcting issues as well as documenting what is done and still needs attention.

Here is the list of issues off the top of my head:

No heat (someone has been chasing this.. New valve, thermostat, and lots of hoses in place)
Wet floors (hoping for sunroof drains.. letting it dry out in the shop now)
Exhaust leak at y pipe (magnaflow ordered)
Front u joints (lots of play and vibes)
Front axles knuckles leaking (ordering rebuild kit tomorrow)
Oil leak somewhere on front of motor
Drivers seat not moving one screw (ordered new gears and plugs)
Hood and hatch struts (ordered)
Original plugs, wires, cap, and rotors
Taped, broken intake tube (ordered)
Rear shocks
Play in steering
Steering stabilizer
Center diff lock switch (ordered)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff. I'm going to try to keep this updated. Feel free to chime in with advice, comments, criticism, etc.

 

[amgraham]

I started with making sure to get any air out of the cooling system to try and get the heat to work. I did get quite a bit out of it but the heat is still luke warm at best. I think my next step will be bypassing the rear heat because the lines look pretty rough and flushing the system out well. Hopefully that will fix it. I will do the phl (or whatever it's called) at the same time.

Decided to tackle the tune up next. It ran surprising well for all original parts. You can see how rough the plugs looked compared to a new Denso. Replaced those, ran new NGK wires, and an oem cap and rotor. Replaced the distributor o ring (hard as plastic) and also the formed rubber hose from the valve cover to the throttle body. Someone had already replaced the pcv hose but the grommet was broken so I replaced that and the valve. Installed a new air filter and am still waiting for the new intake hose but put the old one on just to fire it up and make sure I got the distributor back in right. Runs great.

Removed the damage multiplier (brush guard) from the front and taillights. They are for sale if needed. It already has 285/75s on it and I will probably keep it that way. I'm considering the OME stock height kit but also considering just replacing the shocks and steering stabilizer with quality units. Is it really worth it ride quality wise to swap springs if I don't want lift?

Started chipping off all the fake wood in the interior. That sucks.

Forgot to mention the left rear window doesn't work and I have the wobbly mirrors. Will need to dig into that.

I probably won't drive it any more till I rebuild the knuckles and driveshaft. Plus I want to make sure all bolts are tight after reading about steering arms falling off and such. Until the kit comes in I'm going to continue to clean and let it dry out, plus go ahead and clean the sunroof drains and check the windshield. Would also like to figure out if it has keyless entry. Will need to hunt around for the box.

 

[Rifleman]

Looks like a nice truck, but it sounds like it has the same common problems that all "new" Land Cruisers owners encounter, with a 20 plus year old truck. Just remember, all it takes to fix those problems is time, and money.

 

[amgraham]

Looks like a nice truck, but it sounds like it has the same common problems that all "new" Land Cruisers owners encounter, with a 20 plus year old truck. Just remember, all it takes to fix those problems is time, and money.

Thanks. At least since I own a shop I can get pretty good deals on parts and do the work myself (or have one of my guys do it if I'm feeling lazy ). I'm just going to peck away at all the little issues and hopefully have a pretty nice truck at some point.

One question I've not answered searching around though... Are the buttons for the power seat replaceable and/or available? You can see in one of the pics I'm missing the seatback recline button. It works, you just have to move around the screw.

The other interior things I need to tackle other than some missing trim is the steering wheel. That thing is awful.

 

[LS1FJ40]

Front oil leak is probably the oil pump cover. Not a horrible jump. There is also the distributor O ring. And crank shaft seal.

TexasKnowHow has a nice video on doing all three at once. Good tricks.

 

[amgraham]

Front oil leak is probably the oil pump cover. Not a horrible jump. There is also the distributor O ring. And crank shaft seal.

TexasKnowHow has a nice video on doing all three at once. Good tricks.

Yeah, I did the distributor o ring. It was definitely was leaking and in rough shape. I got an oil pump seal but need to pick up a front main. Before I do all that I'm going to clean off the grime and make sure the timing cover isn't leaking as well.

Another thing I need to find is a passenger exterior door handle, preferable already in maroon. If it's not I guess it's not really a big deal because I can have it painted when I get the right rear door done (which I'm guessing was replaced at some point since it is white underneath).

 

[cowboyjack]

Good looking truck! Mine’s a maroon 95 as well. I’m looking at fixing up and maintaining the cruiser as a hobby in and of itself, just part of the journey in addition to wheeling. Would NEVER have purchased an 80 series if it weren’t for the incredible wealth of knowledge here on Mud. Along with a couple of calls to vendors and the FSM, there has been an answer for every issue I’ve found on mine so far. Have you tried your regional club for any of those parts?

 

[LS1FJ40]

Yeah, I did the distributor o ring. It was definitely was leaking and in rough shape. I got an oil pump seal but need to pick up a front main. Before I do all that I'm going to clean off the grime and make sure the timing cover isn't leaking as well.

Another thing I need to find is a passenger exterior door handle, preferable already in maroon. If it's not I guess it's not really a big deal because I can have it painted when I get the right rear door done (which I'm guessing was replaced at some point since it is white underneath).

Hit up @arcteryx for good, rust free parts at a fair price with good service. He’s a good dude. His website is www.cruiseryard.com If you don’t see something on his website he very well May have it but hasn’t posted it yet.

 

[IndecentExposur]

Did you buy this rig already? The issues seem to be of a truck with 300k. Perhaps the odometer fluid is low.

On a serious note, love the idea of outsourcing the labor in my own garage. My kids give me a dirty look when I ask them to change the blinker fluid.

 

[amgraham]

Good looking truck! Mine’s a maroon 95 as well. I’m looking at fixing up and maintaining the cruiser as a hobby in and of itself, just part of the journey in addition to wheeling. Would NEVER have purchased an 80 series if it weren’t for the incredible wealth of knowledge here on Mud. Along with a couple of calls to vendors and the FSM, there has been an answer for every issue I’ve found on mine so far. Have you tried your regional club for any of those parts?

Thanks! I've been involved with Toyotas for years and this is my second 80 (first Z). I didn't have the other 80 for very long because I already had my 4Runner and couldn't afford 2 rigs at the time.

Hit up @arcteryx for good, rust free parts at a fair price with good service. He’s a good dude. His website is www.cruiseryard.com If you don’t see something on his website he very well May have it but hasn’t posted it yet.

Thanks for the tip. I will hit him up for some of these dumb trim parts.

Did you buy this rig already? The issues seem to be of a truck with 300k. Perhaps the odometer fluid is low.

On a serious note, love the idea of outsourcing the labor in my own garage. My kids give me a dirty look when I ask them to change the blinker fluid.

Yeah, I was skeptical as well but the title shows actual mileage and I've yet to find any discrepancies with some of the receipts and records I found in the truck. I think it's just had no maintenance other than a few oil changes and it seems to have sat a lot the last few years. Being that I own a shop I'm willing to gamble on it. Also, it was dirt cheap so I could easily flip it if I wanted out.

 

[amgraham]

My intake hose came in yesterday so I put that on. Also found that little dirt catcher pan on the bottom of the air cleaner and wiped that out. Also found some clips to replace the broken ones on the hood insulation and pinned that up.

Hosed off the right knuckle with brake clean and checked the steering arm bolts and they seem tight. They'll get a further cleaning and torquing when I rebuild the knuckles (which I ordered the rebuild kit from cruiser outfitters today.. I already have new koyo wheel bearings waiting). Also ordered clips to flip the birfs.

While I was going to town with brake clean I hosed off the area around the crank pulley to try to id the leak. Replacing the distributor o ring slowed it a lot but it is still leaking from the oil pump cover (see pic) so I guess I will need to dig into that.

While I was underneath with it running on noticed coolant dripping on the cats from the rear heater piping. Good thing I already decide to delete all that. Hopefully that's a contributor to my heater woes.

Ran a wire down the front sunroof drains. There was some debris up top that I vacuumed out and they felt free with the wire. Confirmed pouring some water down them and it came out the rockers (already checked to make sure they weren't holding water). I ran the wire up the rear drains but it's kind of hard to tell if I got all the way to the top. I didn't see the wire come out the top so I'm guessing they're tucked in the back where I can't see them. I'll have to verify those are clear later.

Popped some leds I had around in the door lights. I have a weird problem with the lights though. The driver only works if the passenger door is open. The rear doors don't work at all with incandescents and the leds just barely glow when I put them in so I have some type of voltage drop there. Dome light doesn't work either but I didn't check to see if that's just a blown bulb.

Lastly I took off that goofy trailer hitch. Also replaced a missing shoulder bolt for one of the tailgate stays. I robbed one off of my spare 4runner tailgate. It threads in but the shoulder was a little bigger so I drilled out the stay a little bit to fit. Seems to work.

Oh, and got my Magnaflow y pipe in (found one for $200 on Amazon warehouse.. Seems to be unused and has the gaskets and all). I started hosing down the bolts in pb blaster so hopefully they won't fight too much. I'm thinking I'll bolt it to the stock exhaust for now and upgrade the rest later.

Also found the passenger seat doesn't adjust fore and aft either. Hopefully I can free that up.

 

[Rifleman]

After looking at that second to last photo, I think you may be needing some new power steering hoses, and a power steering pump rebuild in your near future. Both of those items are known causes of leaks on these trucks, and if they are not part of that leak now, they will be a source of a leak later on.

 

[mreedbmwm3]

Great looking truck! nice find!!!

 

[amgraham]

After looking at that second to last photo, I think you may be needing some new power steering hoses, and a power steering pump rebuild in your near future. Both of those items are known causes of leaks on these trucks, and if they are not part of that leak now, they will be a source of a leak later on.

Yeah I read a little about that. I'll probably do all of that when I do the seals. I'd rather do it all once rather than pull it apart multiple times.

Great looking truck! nice find!!!

Thanks!

 

[amgraham]

Ordered OME 861/862 springs today. Now I just need to decide on shocks. I've run Bilstein 5100s on everything else but from what I can find they don't make them in stock length for the 80. I may just go with stockers since they're cheap. Will weigh out my options when I get back to the shop on Tuesday.

Also adding a pic of my wife's rig. We usually take that to the beach every year and it's always a fight of "I don't want sand in my car! Don't hurt my car offroading!" Haha. Hoping this 80 will fix that issue (and give us more cargo room now that we have a baby). On that note anyone got a 2" hitch laying around? Would like to have one for a hitch hauler or pulling my popup.

 

[amgraham]

Came in today to some parts waiting for me including my center diff lock switch. I was crazy busy today but did take a few minutes to put it in and also take a heat gun to the center panel and remove all the wood. Still needs some more cleaning but looking better already. I do have some blown bulbs I need to replace (I'm picky about stuff like that).

My new hood and hatch shocks came in finally. I just got some cheapies off of Amazon and, of course, the fronts didn't come with the ball stud. Contrary to popular belief you can remove the ones from the stock shocks by grinding down the end of the shock and the popping them out with some pliers. The rears bolted right on. Nice to have everything stay up without props. Also I really dig how it looks without the brush guard and taillights guards.

 

[amgraham]

My knuckle rebuild kit and new birf clips came in from cruiser outfitters (incredibly fast shipping especially over the holiday). Also got an OE crank seal. Decided on OE shocks for now. For like $150 for all 4 I couldn't really go wrong. Local dealer is bringing those tomorrow and I should have my springs later this week or early next.

While I had it running tinkering with some stuff the coolant leak from the rear heat really increased, leaking right above the cats. Good thing I was planning on bypassing that. I'll check out what's actually leaking when I swap out the downpipe. However with as rough as the heater lines look I think I will probably still bypass it for reliability's sake. I can't imagine the rear heater helps a ton anyway.

Finally, I bought a roll of 3.5mm silicone hose and started replacing some vacuum lines (just because they're all original) while I wait for parts and some time to actually tear into this thing. In the meantime I'm going to continue to plug away at the little stuff and clean.

 

[FloridaCruiser22]

View attachment 1603057

My knuckle rebuild kit and new birf clips came in from cruiser outfitters (incredibly fast shipping especially over the holiday). Also got an OE crank seal. Decided on OE shocks for now. For like $150 for all 4 I couldn't really go wrong. Local dealer is bringing those tomorrow and I should have my springs later this week or early next.

While I had it running tinkering with some stuff the coolant leak from the rear heat really increased, leaking right above the cats. Good thing I was planning on bypassing that. I'll check out what's actually leaking when I swap out the downpipe. However with as rough as the heater lines look I think I will probably still bypass it for reliability's sake. I can't imagine the rear heater helps a ton anyway.

Finally, I bought a roll of 3.5mm silicone hose and started replacing some vacuum lines (just because they're all original) while I wait for parts and some time to actually tear into this thing. In the meantime I'm going to continue to plug away at the little stuff and clean.
View attachment 1603058

If you're still on stock, would you mind comparing how the new shocks compare as far as ride quality? I'm thinking about going that route myself.

 

[amgraham]

If you're still on stock, would you mind comparing how the new shocks compare as far as ride quality? I'm thinking about going that route myself.

Sure. My rears are completely blown out so it's definitely going to be a big difference. But, I am a pro and normally pretty good at evaluating that kind of stuff so I'll make sure to report back.

 

[amgraham]

Got the shocks today. Was out hauling cars all afternoon so didn't get any more time to tinker. Still need to order hoses and clamps for the rear heat bypass and other odds and ends.

One question I haven't found a straight answer for.. steering stabilizer. What are some good options? Mine is definitely worn out and leaking. The oem one is pricey and the only other one I've run across is the OME one (other than the crappy Monroes and such). Any othere suggestions?