My first Landcruiser - 1997 (1 Viewer)

[dparnas]

Just introducing myself. Just got married on September 4th. My wife (still getting used to that term) had always wanted a white 80 series Landcruiser. That was her dream car, which if you met her, it would surprise you. I've always been a car guy, but very different kinds of cars. I still own my first car, a 1971 Fiat 124 Spider that I've owned since 1984 (yes, I'm old). My daily driver lately has been a Toyota Mirai, a hydrogen fuel cell car, so I'm all over the map from old school to cutting edge technology. We also just leased a 2021 Tesla Model 3, which seems to be more of a tech gadget than a car, but still a very impressive piece of tech. My kids first car was a car we inherited from my dad when he passed away, a 2001 Toyota Highlander, which took a beating and lasted until both kids graduated high school and went off to college and then some. Anyway, back to the Landcruiser. Finding a white one in good condition proved more of a challenge than we thought, but in July we found one on Auto Trader in Washington state (We're in Northern California) that looked great in the pictures. Got a hold of the seller, he walked around the car on a video chat and everything looked as good as it could from a distance anyway and we bought the car for what we felt was a very fair price and had it shipped to us. When it arrived, it looked even better than we'd hoped. The original paint and bodywork are all clean and in great shape, as is the interior. Fairly new tires, it ran well and everything worked pretty much (except for the antenna of course). But it did have the check engine light on and I took it into an independent shop to do a full inspection where we found that underneath it needed a fair amount of work, but nothing unexpected for a heavy duty car with 233,000 miles on it. It's back from the shop now after a few weeks, as they sourced parts and did the work. Now we need to get it smogged in California, so fingers crossed. Still need to drive it more so that all the codes reset. Be curious for any advice from anyone about anything to watch out for regarding smog in California on one of these rigs. The check engine light has not come back on and they worked on just about every aspect of the emissions system except the cats, which look good anyway. I guess I'll find out soon. I've been very active in other car communities for the other makes I've owned, and am sure that this community is just as awesome. I look forward to learning from you and hopefully even meeting some of you and turning a wrench together at some point. Be happy to hear from any of you if you have any recommendations/suggestions for things I should learn/do as a new owner. Once we get it smogged, have an appt. to get some interior things done, including a new double din apple carplay deck with backup camera, adjust the driver seat for my petite wife, have the wheels refinished to oem and a few other things. And yes, I know that was very very long. Respect if you made it this far.

 

[vsatking]

Congratulations on two new loves in your live! Looks like a clean LC. I always wanted a white one. Maybe 5th times a charm. You are going to find a heck of a lot of help in the forum. Just search for and ask second. That will save some time. Enjoy the journey!

 

[Ogunbodede]

 

[subzali]

Looks like a beauty! This site has a great FAQ for baselining, maintenance, etc., so that would be a great place to start.

What did it need "underneath"?

 

[dparnas]

Looks like a beauty! This site has a great FAQ for baselining, maintenance, etc., so that would be a great place to start.

What did it need "underneath"?

It was kind of a long list. I'm a car show junkie, I've watched so many of them, especially the ones where people buy, fix up and sell cars, so I've heard the horror stories about buying a car without being able to inspect it and then finding out they covered up all kinds of rust and expensive repairs. So, the morning after I dropped the car off, the shop called me and the guy at the front desk said "you better come down here". I was freaking out a bit. The car looked amazing, drove fine, I'm wondering what could be so wrong, but visions of really bad rust on the frame flashed in my head and the guy at the front desk wasn't really very helpful. I couldn't imagine telling my wife that her dream car had to be scrapped after spending a good sum just to buy and ship it. Anyway, went down there and the mechanic had it up on the lift and it wasn't all that bad really. No rust on the frame (whew!!!). The front steering knuckles had to be rebuilt, new front inner axle seals, rear brakes, springs and shocks, driver side front lock actuator, work on the EGR system valve, solenoid and sensor, (cause of the check engine light), and while they were there, had them do a full service of all the fluids, spark plugs, wires, and replaced some leaking power steering hoses. None of that was noticeable when driving the car, other than the check engine light. And then, while they were doing the work, found a couple other things we decided to just address, the antenna and the ABS wiring harness needed to be replaced. Wasn't cheap, but it's an investment for my wife's dream car to last a long time.

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Please allow me to welcome you to the forum.

WELCOME TO MUD!

That's a pretty rig, your wife has great taste in vehicles; good thing you paid attention.

Sounds like you hit all the usual base line stuff right up front. Now just drive it and enjoy.

 

[SirSimon]

Welcome!

Always love seeing a white 80-series. My favorite vehicle in white.

 

[COYS]

Cool 80 and cool wife! UN white is my #1 color choice with black a close second. I love the stock height and conservative tire size on yours.

I'd be curious what parts they used as I'm an OEM parts junkie. If I were in your neck of the woods, I'd entrust my 80 in the hands of Georg at Valley Hybrids. When I do a powertrain refresh, I'm dropping mine off at his shop.

Valley Hybrids - Stockton, CA

Specialties: Landcruiser Parts, Repairs and Upgrades. Established in 2005.

www.yelp.com

Enjoy the 80 series journey, friend.

 

[FMC80]

Welcome, very nice looking 80. White is a great color but everyone agrees, it comes in second to the Dark Emerald Green. I assume you're keeping her stock? Do you have any other plans for it?

 

[dparnas]

Cool 80 and cool wife! UN white is my #1 color choice with black a close second. I love the stock height and conservative tire size on yours.

I'd be curious what parts they used as I'm an OEM parts junkie. If I were in your neck of the woods, I'd entrust my 80 in the hands of Georg at Valley Hybrids. When I do a powertrain refresh, I'm dropping mine off at his shop.

Valley Hybrids - Stockton, CA

Specialties: Landcruiser Parts, Repairs and Upgrades. Established in 2005.

www.yelp.com

Enjoy the 80 series journey, friend.

We took it to the Service Outlet in Lafayette. They specialize in Toyota and Hondas and always use oem parts if they are available. That's where we took my kids 2001 Toyota Highlander which lived a long and happy life. The abs wiring harness they said was the last one that existed on the West Coast. It wasn't cheap.

 

[dparnas]

Welcome, very nice looking 80. White is a great color but everyone agrees, it comes in second to the Dark Emerald Green. I assume you're keeping her stock? Do you have any other plans for it?

Yes, we'll keep her stock for the most part. Just the Apple Car Play stereo with backup camera and remote lock/unlocking and that'll do it. She loves it just the way it is. I forgot to mention that this will be our road trip car with our 4 year old Australian Shepherd, Lola. We love to take drives up the coast of Northern California and also to Tahoe and this will be perfect for those road trips.

 

[flintknapper]

Very nice! I say you did well.

And of course...you already understand, you can't put a price on the importance of keeping the Wife happy.

Welcome to the forum.


Flint.

 

[COYS]

The abs wiring harness they said was the last one that existed on the West Coast. It wasn't cheap.

Picked up a new one last year myself. Guess we lucked out!

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

Just introducing myself. Just got married on September 4th. My wife (still getting used to that term) had always wanted a white 80 series Landcruiser. That was her dream car, which if you met her, it would surprise you. I've always been a car guy, but very different kinds of cars. I still own my first car, a 1971 Fiat 124 Spider that I've owned since 1984 (yes, I'm old). My daily driver lately has been a Toyota Mirai, a hydrogen fuel cell car, so I'm all over the map from old school to cutting edge technology. We also just leased a 2021 Tesla Model 3, which seems to be more of a tech gadget than a car, but still a very impressive piece of tech. My kids first car was a car we inherited from my dad when he passed away, a 2001 Toyota Highlander, which took a beating and lasted until both kids graduated high school and went off to college and then some. Anyway, back to the Landcruiser. Finding a white one in good condition proved more of a challenge than we thought, but in July we found one on Auto Trader in Washington state (We're in Northern California) that looked great in the pictures. Got a hold of the seller, he walked around the car on a video chat and everything looked as good as it could from a distance anyway and we bought the car for what we felt was a very fair price and had it shipped to us. When it arrived, it looked even better than we'd hoped. The original paint and bodywork are all clean and in great shape, as is the interior. Fairly new tires, it ran well and everything worked pretty much (except for the antenna of course). But it did have the check engine light on and I took it into an independent shop to do a full inspection where we found that underneath it needed a fair amount of work, but nothing unexpected for a heavy duty car with 233,000 miles on it. It's back from the shop now after a few weeks, as they sourced parts and did the work. Now we need to get it smogged in California, so fingers crossed. Still need to drive it more so that all the codes reset. Be curious for any advice from anyone about anything to watch out for regarding smog in California on one of these rigs. The check engine light has not come back on and they worked on just about every aspect of the emissions system except the cats, which look good anyway. I guess I'll find out soon. I've been very active in other car communities for the other makes I've owned, and am sure that this community is just as awesome. I look forward to learning from you and hopefully even meeting some of you and turning a wrench together at some point. Be happy to hear from any of you if you have any recommendations/suggestions for things I should learn/do as a new owner. Once we get it smogged, have an appt. to get some interior things done, including a new double din apple carplay deck with backup camera, adjust the driver seat for my petite wife, have the wheels refinished to oem and a few other things. And yes, I know that was very very long. Respect if you made it this far.

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I’m old, too, but still made it to the end of your post! There are some great 80 guys in Cali. I got to wheel with some this summer in CO. I think you’ll find this community MORE awesome! Congrats (x2) and welcome!

 

[DSRTRDR]

Congratulations on the wife with such great taste - that woman knows stuff, listen to her