Builds My 1993 FZJ80 Build Thread

[haydenwyatt]

I was going to get to this eventually, and I guess now is a good time since I'm stuck on base post surgery and unable to leave for the holidays..

Not sure if the truck has been in the family since it came from the factory or not.. I remember my dad owning it since I was little though. It spent the last couple of years as a work truck that didn't see a lot of work, so when he handed it over to me, it was at 133,xxx miles, never been wheeled either. It is locked and has no rust or accident damage. Everything works electrically but the rear windows aren't sliding. Easy fix though. For getting this handed down to me, I am extremely lucky and have a great base to start this wonderful obsession.

The plans (some of which have already been completed since I'm catching up on 3 months of owning it) are as follows:

- Slee 4" lift
- Dual Swingout Rear Bumper by Sean
- AOE Front Bumper
- Gobi Stealth Rack
- 35 in goodyear duratracs
- re gear to 4.88
- replace head unit and 4 door speakers
- custom rock sliders
- eventually a new exhaust system
- fix rear hatch rust
- monstaline the flares, lower rocker panel and possibly middle of hood??
- seat covers
- tint and custom floor mats

Here come the pics!

 

[haydenwyatt]

Lift and Tires

So it was me and my friend in a shop which gave us all the tools we needed to get the job done in one day.. Sadly, it took us THREE FREAKING DAYS!!!

I knew we would hit some rough spots, but I wasn't prepared for the DS front shock to spin and not come undone.. so we had to manipulate a grinder down to it past the brake lines to get off, or both rear shock bolts to shear off as i was tightening up the new shocks, or the brake lines to go bad and the new steel braided extended lines to be stripped, and so sooo much more.

But we muscled through and in the end, I got a free diagnosis from 4wheel parts and they said everything was in line for the suspension!

Now the truck sits at the same height as his Heep Grand Cherokee with 9 in of lift

 

[haydenwyatt]

Plastidipping the Rims

Eventually, I will take off the plastidip and do this the way it is done here
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/725662-wheel-refinish-krikey.html
I just wanted to make sure I liked the way it looked, which I really do!

That discoloring on the tires is just the rubbing alcohol from when I cleaned the rims, it was wiped off after the pics since I was losing light outside.

 

[musthave]

Wow, what a great thing to have passed down to you. Congrats!!! Looks awesome, no rust, low miles, nice!

 

[93yotasr5]

that jeep will never be able to keep up with your 80. especially after it has the new mods all installed!
nice rig

 

[haydenwyatt]

Wow, what a great thing to have passed down to you. Congrats!!! Looks awesome, no rust, low miles, nice!

Well let me correct myself, a little bit of rust under the rear window
Just nothing that affects the truck structurally!

 

[Duiser Offroad]

Cool, looking good. Your friend will want an 80 soon!

 

[half k cruiser]

that jeep will never be able to keep up with your 80. especially after it has the new mods all installed!
nice rig

Kind of hard to say that given we have no idea what's been done to that ZJ. That guy might have a six inch long arm kit w all the trimmings. In which case the 80 might get its guts stomped in the flex department. He sure as hell has a stronger motor if its got the 5.2L in it. Don't get me wrong, there's a reason I switched from Jeep's to Toyotas, but the aftermarket support for the Jeep line is incredible.

Btw that is a nice looking rig your dad gave you and nice upgrades your doing. I can't wait till my dad gives me his 97 Ranger single cab 4 banger with 240,xxx miles on it

 

[Kaveeks]

The Jeeps front axle looks so wimpy compared to the yota.

 

[93yotasr5]

Kind of hard to say that given we have no idea what's been done to that ZJ. That guy might have a six inch long arm kit w all the trimmings. In which case the 80 might get its guts stomped in the flex department. He sure as hell has a stronger motor if its got the 5.2L in it. Don't get me wrong, there's a reason I switched from Jeep's to Toyotas, but the aftermarket support for the Jeep line is incredible.

Btw that is a nice looking rig your dad gave you and nice upgrades your doing. I can't wait till my dad gives me his 97 Ranger single cab 4 banger with 240,xxx miles on it

stronger motor maybe, but the 80 will go longer and harder any day of the week regardless of whats been done to it.
FZJ80 FTW!!!

 

[half k cruiser]

stronger motor maybe, but the 80 will go longer and harder any day of the week regardless of whats been done to it.
FZJ80 FTW!!!

I do like your enthusiasm !

 

[93yotasr5]

what can i say. I have a very biased opinion lol

 

[haydenwyatt]

Little offroading in CO

So my buddy and I took our rigs out for a little ride after I got my lift done and had it looked over by 4wheel parts

It drives smooth with little to n vibration and is a still drive-able unlike his heep lol

I got a dent in the step rail from a seemingly easy obstacle so I knew I'd be getting rock sliders fast!









leading from the front as always

 

[haydenwyatt]

Unorthodox Stereo and Speaker Upgrade

I've always been a music lover and I doubt that will change so I felt I needed a serious improvement from the original equipment.
I decided to go with the single din kenwood headunit found here
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/In-Dash_CD_Receivers/1-DIN_CD_Receiver/KDC-BT955HD

The install for this was pretty straightforward.
I had a hard time popping the entire dash panel off as a whole and actually cracked it right where the ignition is
so to make my life a little easier I just sawed it at the crack to make it into a multi piece dash lol:whoops:

This was the side that was giving me a hard time. I could not get my hands behind there to get any of the switches disconnected and I didn't want to yank anything out


I got this crack and decided to just finish it off and cut through to separate the pieces




I decided to use a wiring harness from scosche as well as their single din universal frame and cubby, found here and here
http://www.amazon.com/Scosche-Harness-1987-Up-Speaker-Connector/dp/B00009UHKW

http://www.amazon.com/Scosche-1978-Up-Toyota-Replacement-Pocket/dp/B0007KK2NI/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1389408610&sr=1-7&keywords=scosche+single+din

I do not feel confident soldering so I bought some higher end butt to butt connectors to keep everything nice and clean




There are obvious a lot more wires now so it was a tight fit back behind the dash


There was a little bit of a spacing issue one I put it back together because I broke off the insert where the screws go in behind the ashtray.
All in all, I'd say it looks good enough for a truck that is mostly a beater anyway and it made the stock speakers sound 100x better with the extra power


The last thing I care about is finding a speaker to fit behind the stock grille so I did not have to sacrifice on sound too much here.
I opted for the Alpine SPS 610's in the front and then went with the 510's in the rear. These speakers are built very well and I think they produce great mids and highs which is fine since I have a sub in the back for the lows
Got a package deal on Amazon for the four of them for less than $120 shipped
As a matter of fact, here is the link for the deal!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0059AGXJ8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm assuming you will all know how to take off the door panel.
There is a small screw behind the door opener which lets you take that tray out, a screw behind the top of the handle and two screws under the cover of the arm rest which needs to be popped off.

There was a bit of a clearance issue with the existing opening and the back end of the speaker. I believe it was the crossover and females ends of the connector that kept making contact with the opening.
I decided to take a grinder to it and shave off as close to a half inch circle. It was not pretty, but who cares? Its back behind the door panel anyway.




I only did that for the 2 rear doors, just to get the proper opening for the speaker. The front doors cleared with a little angling and adjusting to get it in the hole
However, the speaker still had too much depth and was hitting the window frame so there was no way I was going to get it to mount like the original.


So I decided to mount the speakers on the outside of the door panel.
I know I may catch a lot of crap from the purists but like I said before, I could care less about stock speaker grilles and the speakers do not rattle or move around how I have them set up. They are secure and I could not be more pleased. so

I first lined the speakers up to the panel and made small holes where the speakers mounting holes were. I then cut away some material and made the holes bigger in the wood so that I could fit the clip exactly where it needed to go.


The front two went on just fine but the rear speakers still had a little bit of clearance issues so I used the supplied spacers for the 6.5" speakers on the two rear speakers.
I figure when I buy the grills for them, I will just buy all four 6.5" inch grilles and that will cover the smaller ones with the spacers


There also isn't any noticeable bulging in the door so I am very pleased with how it all turned out.
Hopefully this will be helpful to somebody who is like me and wants great sound without worrying bout cutting the truck up a little

 

[haydenwyatt]

Removal of OEM rack and new Gobi Rack

Here is a link to the pictures and details of how I removed the original rack.
There is also a parts list of all the equipment I used.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/781850-roof-rack-removed-opinions-needed.html

Here it is rackless for the time being


I decided to go with the Gobi Stealth rack for its low profile, great look, sunroof opening with optional insert and the fact that it accepted yakima/thule accessories.
I'm only a 50 min drive from their shop too so I got free install and didn't have to worry about shipping. That made me feel real warm inside!
Maybe I don't know what I'm listening for, but I don't hear any noise coming from the rack at any speed. Then again, I do always have the music up loud! ;p

Here is some eye candy. Let me know if you have any idea as to what types of lights I should run on there. I'm not too skilled in that area so I don't know the type of light, what will give the driver glare, or any of that technical info! Any help is appreciated!



from the back



from the front, obviously!!