Build My custom 80 build. (lots of pics)

[Grant Woodbridge]

I have been for years a stalker on this forum. I have to say the info here is better than what Toyota them selves have in there work shop manuals. And for that reson I would like to give back with the info I have from working on my 80. I have built my 80 twice now, so will post in stages of my build from start to finish.

My Cruiser started out as a 1998 G.X ''Poverty pack'' U.N Government spec. Which means NO electrics not even E.F.I. No rear disc brakes, Nothing other than power steering and air con, and the steps up the rear to get to the roof.

This is how I bought it. The guy before me fitted the bulbar,mags and had the leather done inside. I looked long and hard for the U.N spec because of the simplicity of it. (this will change later on in life.)
My first thing on my list to do was to paint it. (I only ever go with factory colours) so the green was about the best I could find to cover the blue. so the strip down began.

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

Before the respray I redid all the brakes (new discs and drums) wheel bearings. New carb kit, ARB lockers fitted front and back the whole bang shot.


I had all dent removed and a full respray done. (still think the colour looks great but way to hot for the African sun)

Then came the lift. Spending hours on Mud trying to chose the best I settled on the 4'' with 35'' wheels. Now in South Africa there are little to no options on lift kits. OME 2'' is all that one could get. So with lots of phone calls to the importers and a upfront payment they finally agreed to bring it in for me with a NO return policy. And only the J spring and Long travle shocks would be brought in. the rest I would have to make. Thanks to Mud again on how all ideas on how the modes would be done. (panhard rods , sway bar extentions, brake lines and caster correction.)

Then the assembly began all the interior and exterior had to be put back.

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

After looking around for a spare wheel carrier I realy liked the look of the factory one. But this was something only seen on cars from cross boarders. (North African) But as luck would have it I found one in a scrap yard. (they buy there cars in Botswana and strip them, then sell them here in S.A) Thanks too the silly steps up the rear all the bolt holes and threads were there for me to assemble it straight on.

The ARB air pump for the diff locks. Note the dentist quick coupler I got to connect my air pipe to pump tyres.


Because to get anything decent here in S.A is such a mission I tried my hand at importing a few thing from Snake Racing in Aus. Things went quite smooth till it gets to customs here in S.A and you get hit 60% import charges. (this pic was taken about 2 years after the build was finished.)


My cup holders that I removed from the rear seats if a Ford Ranger. (its the only thing that would ever brake.)


My rollover gauge fitted where the ashtray was.

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

After again begging for a roof console from the agents the got me one from Aus Grey, I sprayed it Brown.


I always hated the head rests in a 80, So I found a set out if a Audi that fitted great, just sprayed the leather to get the colour right.

To transport all the equipment around I made this swing out arm.

I then made myself a draw system in the rear.

Thanks to Mud again got the part number for the grab handle, They only had grey available at Toyota so sprayed it too. Also have a look at my outside inside temp gauge fitted like a glove. Found it in a spares shop here.

 

[Pippylongsausage]

Looks amazing. Reminds me of my trip from Joburg to Capetown and up the western cape to Namibia in a beat up old Hilux.

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

Then saw on Mud that Bead lock rims where the in thing. So I went off and made these. Forgot to mention I hated the look without flairs to imported a set from Aus for my cruiser. In this pic you can see the rock sliders I made. And the Land Cruiser sticker I had made. Saw it on a Jap spec Cruiser over here in S.A.

Again thanks to mud got me the part number for a snorkel. The funny this was I had a new 4x4 hilux at the time that I had fitted a snorkel and when it went for a service they said I would loose the warranty on the engine if I did not remove it. I said why when you sell them for my Cruiser? They said never will Toyota do that. So I walked in to the spare department and orded it. 4 weeks later I took it to the Work shop and asked them for a quote to fit it. The guy nearly ate it. Thanks Mud.

Some wheeling pics back in the day.

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

Here she is in Namib 6000km round trip from my house. Some of the dunes we hit at 128kph to try and get out the top.

some more wheeling pics

 

[SNLC]

awesome!

What does "plus plant hire" mean?

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

This was all done back in 2007. Slowly I began to look at the 80 as a excellent all rounder car. You could modify it ride it hard, load it full and still not break it. I then found this in a scrap yard. It had been left there for 3 years and the scrap yard said I could buy it as a unit. It had the world famous 24V Turbo Diesel engine. This was also a can not available on the S.A market (grey import).

Long story short I bought it fixed it up.

It was then when I started to see all the cool things you could get for these cars from the factory. Things that I had never even seen before in any thing other that a X5 BMW or a ML Merc.

Heated seats, factory fridge ice maker, electric seats, rear passanger arm rests,aout fold up side mirrors, head light washers, head lights that you can see the road at night. rear air con, compass, long range tank, duel batt. The list was endless. It was then when I thought it would be cool to have a full spec off roader less the things that I did not want. So after about 5 years of hard wheeling my Cruiser it was time to tear her down again. This time White was the only colour for Africa as the green was just to hot. Now the 35'' wheels where great but Mud was running talk of 38" wheel and this looked better.

There will be more to come I need to get my pics in order of the next build.

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

awesome!

What does "plus plant hire" mean?

It was just advertising for our company. We do heavy earth moving plant hire.

 

[CRUISER CARTEL]

This was all done back in 2007. Slowly I began to look at the 80 as a excellent all rounder car. You could modify it ride it hard, load it full and still not break it. I then found this in a scrap yard. It had been left there for 3 years and the scrap yard said I could buy it as a unit. It had the world famous 24V Turbo Diesel engine. This was also a can not available on the S.A market (grey import).View attachment 1012289 View attachment 1012287

Long story short I bought it fixed it up.

View attachment 1012291

It was then when I started to see all the cool things you could get for these cars from the factory. Things that I had never even seen before in any thing other that a X5 BMW or a ML Merc.

Heated seats, factory fridge ice maker, electric seats, rear passanger arm rests,aout fold up side mirrors, head light washers, head lights that you can see the road at night. rear air con, compass, long range tank, duel batt. The list was endless. It was then when I thought it would be cool to have a full spec off roader less the things that I did not want. So after about 5 years of hard wheeling my Cruiser it was time to tear her down again. This time White was the only colour for Africa as the green was just to hot. Now the 35'' wheels where great but Mud was running talk of 38" wheel and this looked better. View attachment 1012296 View attachment 1012301

There will be more to come I need to get my pics in order of the next build.

Both very cool cruisers,,, clean work.

CRUISER CARTEL

 

[SNLC]

Right on, looks f'ing mean with the treps!

Cheers

 

[RS6tofj80]

Awesome ...... I lived in Durbs' a few months a year and loved exploring the bush and 'veld and would've killed for a rig like that.... I was typically in our 2wd Hilux ....

Where are you ?

The trepadors will keep folks from walking out in front of the rig !

 

[yotasavg]

Sub'd!

 

[Delancy]

The irony.....

It was then when I started to see all the cool things you could get for these cars from the factory.

'cause what I want is the less things you don't.

less the things that I did not want.....

Nice rig!

 

[HIKCM]

Solid build!!!

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

So my list started to go together of what factory goods I wanted.
1. 4.5 carb engine. (I can fix it) E.F.I would be great but lots of work to fit into my Cruiser.
2. Manual gearbox. (I can fix it)
3. Manual locking front hubs. (IMHO the only way to go with any 4x4)
4. Electric windows, side mirrors, central locking, rear wiper, rear glass demister. (mine did not have any of this.)
5. Fridge and Ice maker between the seats.
6. Heated front seats. Must be manual not electric.
7. New interior mine was shot. (would have liked leather.)
8. Grey interior the brown is just old.
9. Factory spare wheel carrier.
10. Sliding boot side windows. with the factory bars to stop them braking from goods inside. (some jap spec cruisers have glass that cant open.)
11.The headlights that work at night the large one. (if you think they crap don't try the small type they hopeless.)
12. V.X ltd beading down the side.
13. Factory diff lock switch.
14. The console around the gear leaver.
15. Rear disc brakes. (mine had drums. looking back not a ''must have'' the drums worked just as good.)
16. factory sump guard.

Looking at my list the only option would be to find a donor car and swop over. So I sold the diesel and started looking for a parts car.
My first job was to look for a new 4.5 motor as mine was putting oil into the water and looked like hell.

As luck would have it on a S.A Land Cruiser forum. There was a guy doing a v8 swop. His 4.5 had 160 000 Km on the clock, and full service history. It could also be tested in the car still this was a sales point for me. So I bought the engine tor it down did a full restoration on it. Including sand blasting all the parts and painting them with high heat paint. And getting all the bolts re anodized. While the engine was on the bench I fitted a 120 amp alternator. All I had to do was modify one bracket

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

It was soon after this engine rebuild that I thought. If I was going to redo my Cruiser I would need a workshop that only I was going to go into.
A ''MANCAVE'' for the like of a better word. So I built a w/s that could take my Cruiser with the wheels and lift. At 3m high and 12m wide this would work.

Got some tools and nuts and bolts and the Man Cave was done.

 

[Gorilla]

wow, loving this build mate! Well done so far!!! What happened to the Japanese import car?

 

[scrowley]

Nice build.