Builds Merl the Pearl Build (1 Viewer)

[Ecliff5]

Sup Mud. Figure it's time to start a build thread to keep track of my bull****.
My first 80, Shannon, was a 97 Desert Dune Collectors Edition that I picked up in Dec. 2018 with 320K miles, 4.88 gears and ARB lockers. Picked her up and the next day drove up to @OGBeno house in upstate NY and down the rabbit hole I went...
When I got home from upstate I had 3 lug nuts holding my front tire on... yikes. Onto jack stands she went for my first ever knuckle job. Wonderful job to tackle outside in December =)

 

[Ecliff5]

After some maintenance I was able to start adding the fun bits. Added some Dobinsons 4" flexi coils, OME L shocks some caster correction plates and took her wheeling.

 

[Ecliff5]

Fast forward a few years and Shannon decided to no longer hold oil pressure =)
Ring ring.. @OGBeno I need some parts... the list kept growing.
First round of parts. New short block, engine gasket kit and everything else needed for a new engine build.

 

[Ecliff5]

Second round of engine parts...
New head, valves, springs, cams, engine harness.

 

[Ecliff5]

Third round of parts included everything I should have ordered the first time.
New timing cover, water pump, oil cooler, starter, alternator. Everything new, everything OEM.
Look at all the glitter in the oil pan.. so pretty!
Finally the engine started taking shape.

 

[Ecliff5]

After about a year after this whole ordeal started, Shanon was back up and running.

 

[Ecliff5]

With 1,400 miles on the new engine, we drove west to visit the homie @OGBeno in Patagonia, AZ and check out the OLC shop.
I stopped for gas in New Mexico and popped the hood only to notice a giant vacuum leak, hissing like crazy... wtf. Kept driving to Patagonia. Got to OLC and had Onur take a look. Injectors 3 & 4 both decided they no longer wanted o-rings... sweet. Kept on driving.

 

[family80]

Nice looking rig

 

[Ecliff5]

From Patagonia we trekked up to Sedona, then over to Santa Fe and hit Great Sands in Colorado before driving back to NY.

 

[Ecliff5]

Put about 6,000 miles on Shannon on this road trip. Straight into wrenching when I got back to NY, ordered up all new injector seals and EGR block off plates (Wish I did that when the engine was out) Had the injectors sent out for testing and cleaning, got her all buttoned back up.

 

[Ecliff5]

Picked up an ARB bumper for her and took her on some wheeling trips, Coal Mine and Daves Place.

 

[Ecliff5]

Another wheeling trip, December 2022. Turned out to be Shannons last wheeling trip. Got home from this wheeling trip and the tcase was puking gear oil. The rust holes in the frame started to turn into cracks around the body mounts. East coast rust SUCKS! The search for Shannons replacement has begun.

 

[family80]

That’s a shame…

 

[Ecliff5]

That’s a shame…

A shame indeed.

 

[Ecliff5]

Enter 2023, I was extremely torn on what to do with Shannon. She was rusty when I got her in 2018 but I never noticed how quickly it progressed. I had just put a new engine in her last year and now I am looking at a possible frame swap! Do I just keep driving it and let her rot away, do I get the frame repaired? Then what about the rust on the body? Do I frame swap it? How much will all of this cost?? Pull the new engine out after all that?! She was a real looker from a distance but get up close and underneath and her ugly side appeared. My head was spinning.

 

[Ecliff5]

In February, covid finally got me and I was out of work for two weeks. What does one do when they are home on the couch for two weeks… you look for cruisers. Lol. Everything on the east coast was just insane, rusty and overpriced. I talked to my mechanic and we came up with a plan for a frame swap, he had a parts 80 at his shop with a good frame that he could tidy up. We talked dollars but I wasn’t stoked that after all that I’ll still have a rusty body. Then one night scrolling Instagram, I DM a shop Fit Garage out in Oregon, they posted up an 80 for sale. He got back to me and unfortunately it was a 94, not dealing with that OBDII conversion. BUT he personally had a 96 that he was thinking about selling. What are the odds. He said it ran great and was rust free and sent me some pics. A 96 night shadow pearl, I don’t think I had even seen a blue 80 before. My first look at Merl…

 

[Ecliff5]

So here I am, having an internal battle on what to do. I had sold my tacoma last year to someone in Nevada, sight unseen over a zoom call. It was a process to say the least dealing with the communications and shipping, after it was over I told myself I would never buy a truck sight unseen from across the country. Yet here I am, not wanting another rust bucket so my options are shop for cruisers across the country. Not having anymore time off work to fly out west and check out the cruiser I had to make a decision. Do I buy this thing sight unseen? Do I just say screw it and move on with my life. Nah... cruisers are life and I am committed. I mean... I just built a brand new OEM engine. So I was committed even if I didn't want to be committed lol. Fit Garage and Yota Imports worked together on getting me the best price to haul the 80 from Oregon to New York, quite the distance. I pulled the trigger. A week later she arrived at my front door.

 

[Broski]

After about a year after this whole ordeal started, Shanon was back up and running.
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Cruiser candy

 

[Ecliff5]

It was the middle of February and it was freezing but I went straight to work. The plan is to swap over every part of Shannon onto Merl. Start with the easy stuff, wheels tires, suspension. She came with brand new OME 2” coils and fox 2.0 shocks so I was stoked on that. I made as much space in my tiny garage as possible to get cracking. First thing to go was the trail gear bumpers and the tiny rollers that it came in on. It came with a super clean stock front bumper so I tossed that on there, pulled her into the garage and started crawling around underneath. I had never seen such a rust free 80 before, I just laid on the ground underneath it and kept saying… WOW. Factory paint covered the whole frame, every bolt came out with ease. I felt like I was dreaming. The blue paint is shot, lived its whole life in California, sun faded into a nice blurple color. I dig it. She even came with some originally documents on the glove box. OH and the TOYOTA TWIN CAM grill… never seen that. Love that.

 

[Broski]

It was the middle of February and it was freezing but I went straight to work. The plan is to swap over every part of Shannon onto Merl. Start with the easy stuff, wheels tires, suspension. She came with brand new OME 2” coils and fox 2.0 shocks so I was stoked on that. I made as much space in my tiny garage as possible to get cracking. First thing to go was the trail gear bumpers and the tiny rollers that it came in on. It came with a super clean stock front bumper so I tossed that on there, pulled her into the garage and started crawling around underneath. I had never seen such a rust free 80 before, I just laid on the ground underneath it and kept saying… WOW. Factory paint covered the whole frame, every bolt came out with ease. I felt like I was dreaming. The blue paint is shot, lived its whole life in California, sun faded into a nice blurple color. I dig it. She even came with some originally documents on the glove box. OH and the TOYOTA TWIN CAM grill… never seen that. Love that.
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That's not the correct Grill for that year, It's a 91-94 grill you can see that it dose fit the lower valance correctly. You can see the gap on both sides.
If you decide to put your correct fitting grill in and want to sell it I have a 94 that it would fit in perfectly.