My "new" FZJ80, or, I scratched the 80 itch

[MrMikeyG]

And, seat madness. After scouring posts, and scanning craigslist a bit, I thought I would do a more thorough inspection of the 80 series power seats. I had the passenger pulled already to investigate rear heater full delete process.
I also had these 2 bolts in the glove box

 

[MrMikeyG]

Looking at the seat underside, I thought I had a ureka! Moment. Well, it seems that when the seat starts to bind, the quick fix is to disconnect the bracket from the long worm gear screw on the faulty side, because I spent the time realigning the bracket putting bolts back in, re-installing seat and it basically doesn’t work with everything put together. And yes, both seats have this awesome fix.
My short thought is F these power seats with a side order of “ why didn’t
I read up a bit more and get a truck with manual seats?”
All of you seat swap explorers fab guys and pioneers are going to love this next bit;
Also while poking around with the “loose” seat slide, I saw 4 bolts and thought “ could it be that simple?” I then proceed to unbolt those 4 and quickly realize that the sliders are welded/riveted to the seat sub assembly that supports the seat bottom/back connection and pivot point, the seatbelt mount, and a bunch of metal. In short, I now know full well why there are people on here who have spent hours simply getting pieces off of these things.
Again, for good measure F these power seats.
Here’s a seat undercarriage just for good measure.

 

[Fj81]

Looking at the seat underside, I thought I had a ureka! Moment. Well, it seems that when the seat starts to bind, the quick fix is to disconnect the bracket from the long worm gear screw on the faulty side, because I spent the time realigning the bracket putting bolts back in, re-installing seat and it basically doesn’t work with everything put together. And yes, both seats have this awesome fix.
My short thought is F these power seats with a side order of “ why didn’t
I read up a bit more and get a truck with manual seats?”
All of you seat swap explorers fab guys and pioneers are going to love this next bit;
Also while poking around with the “loose” seat slide, I saw 4 bolts and thought “ could it be that simple?” I then proceed to unbolt those 4 and quickly realize that the sliders are welded/riveted to the seat sub assembly that supports the seat bottom/back connection and pivot point, the seatbelt mount, and a bunch of metal. In short, I now know full well why there are people on here who have spent hours simply getting pieces off of these things.
Again, for good measure F these power seats.
Here’s a seat undercarriage just for good measure.

View attachment 1740192

Stick after market seats in it! Problem solved.

Those are Corbeaus

 

[MrMikeyG]

Yes, the Corbeaus are very nice. I’m trying to be on a budget. Are your brackets for those ok? I feel like there are a couple of mud members who have seemed a bit disappointed in the brackets.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Not much happening with my truck. Taken a bunch of stuff apart, went to pick n pull for some Toyota switches,
I did get a goodie box or two from @beno
Great guy. I’m very happy with my first wallet emptying experience with him, and look forward to many more.
I did get the new plugs,cap,rotor,plug wires, heater control valve, pcv valve, grommet, hose,half of rear heater bypass, and drained all coolant accomplished.
How the heck did I forget to order a t-stat?

 

[OGBeno]

View attachment 1767688 Not much happening with my truck. Taken a bunch of stuff apart, went to pick n pull for some Toyota switches,
I did get a goodie box or two from @beno
Great guy. I’m very happy with my first wallet emptying experience with him, and look forward to many more.
I did get the new plugs,cap,rotor,plug wires, heater control valve, pcv valve, grommet, hose,half of rear heater bypass, and drained all coolant accomplished.
How the heck did I forget to order a t-stat?

Glad I served my God-intended purpose on Earth.

I'd say not really necessary as of yet unless you know you have an overheating issue (or an underheating issue).

That said, got them in stock with the gasket. Let me know Mike.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Thank you sir!
I guess I've landed on that slippery "while I'm in there slope."

 

[DylanTheVillain]

Following!

 

[MrMikeyG]

I've been throwing random posts out here and there on mud, but haven't updated the "build" in a while.
Most of my parts from @beno have been installed. (Thank you!!!). I still have what could be termed simple stuff unfinished; cooling system refresh partially complete. oil drained and new filter installed, but no oil added.
New head unit installed. (priorities)
new speakers not yet installed (priorities again)
Shocks replaced (OEM with no lift)
Tacoma/Tundra/etc antenna mod installed parts courtesy of @bryson (Thank you!!)
Gamiviti seat gears finally ordered.
Pair system deleted.
Rear heater deleted
new plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor
Silly plastic plug missing from transfer case access hole purchased and installed
O2 sensors abandoned in place due to very rusty studs, and new Bosch #15728 sensors installed at pair location. (non OBD2 truck), lots of back and forth about non oem sensors on the forums, but I got both sensors for 35 bucks. For that price, I'll try them out.
new hood and hatch struts installed
new pcv valve, grommet and hose installed
new other top side vent hose installed.
new radiator #1,2and 3 hoses installed
3 v belts replaced with oem (the Po had a toothed belt on the AC)
Center diff lock switch installed
factory alarm horn removed (security system had already been dismantled by the PO)
I'm pretty close to the point where I will start shelling out money for parts and labor. I really need to get some things on my house in motion again, and working in my driveway is getting pretty old plus, I already only have a bout an hour and a half daylight when I get home as it is.
I'm really on the pendulum regarding the '95 and up (non pair) water hard line. It's such a clean look, but seems rather expensive. @NLXTCY does the York kit render that hose useless?
I guess I should rename this my "herky jerky wishy washy build thread"
I'll get some photos up soon.
Happy Land Cruising everyone!

 

[MrMikeyG]

It's alive again! I moved the rig around in my driveway last week. Oh the excitement!
Still not registered to me, I have my state patrol vin inspection scheduled though. (ownership in question madness)
I did upgrade to the non-pair water bypass hardline.
I did a successful install of Gamiviti seat gears on the passenger side, oh, my Marathon seat covers showed up yesterday with no warning.
(still in the box, will post pics when opened)
I did one pretty shoddy front door speaker install.
Here will follow what I hope will be helpful info to someone:
For those doing any deleting of vacuum type stuff (Pair, egr, etc) I found these at O'Reillys, and they seem decent quality:
I think it was $7 and change for the whole box, which is cheaper than oem for sure. They do have individual boxes of various sizes as well, but I wasn't exactly sure which size (ended up being 3/32nd I think).

 

[MrMikeyG]

As for stereo stuff, I'm not audiophile. I've been in some cars/trucks with ridiculous systems, but I've just never felt the need. In my '94 though, almost every paper cone was torn, and I wanted the new crop of convenience features (blue tooth, nav, blah,blah).
I chose the Kenwood DDX 595 back when it was on sale
JBL club series (silly name) 6520 for front doors, and 4020 for rears, under stock grills. I can't remember where I finally pulled the trigger, but all 4 speakers were under 100 dollars. They also have a reasonably shallow mounting depth. 1-3/4" for the front, and 1-7/8" for the rears.
I made a hatchet job of the passenger front;(lets just say that the speaker needs to be removed to get the door card off) so no pictures of that
Here are 2 shots of the rears and the typical issues I get into (by not thoroughly reading peoples posts on here I'm sure)

 

[MrMikeyG]

As you can see, I "forgot" about the screw that holds the abs speaker mount cage to the speaker in the center rear of the magnet. I was quite confused for a moment.
I will also use one of the JBL Basspro SL compact 8" powered subwoofers. It will mount perfectly to some one's quarter panel mount
whenever the next batch gets going. Hint Hint @NLXTCY
Any of you stereo gurus; is an oem fusible like appropriate for a small sub? Or should I use one of those "fancy" ones from the car stereo shop?
In other build news, my vin tag on my engine does not match the vin sticker on my door, which means the truck itself may well have 400k
but the engine has 183k I guess.
I'd really like to find a sneaky way around the core charge for brake calipers, as it looks like I'll be around 110-160 each out of pocket depending upon sales and source.
Brakes for Christmas maybe?
Ok, more later...

 

[MrMikeyG]

Here are some more details;

Head unit installed, center diff lock switch, antenna is now Tacoma mod, so "up/down" should get pulled I guess, but I don't have any blanks right now.

One of the rear door speakers; JBL Club series 4020.

Neatly hidden under factory grill. I used nylon spacers and trimmed them to just shy the width of the factory bucket, then a little rubber washer in between speaker tab and spacer. (picture is of first attempt when factory grill did not fit due to spacer length) then some black coated t25 (I think) machine screws at about 1-1/8" long. I will be able to get a screw into the 3rd speaker tab that uses the stock anchor as well, but I didn't account for that, so do not have the appropriate screws in hand yet.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Jeepers, sorry everyone. How the heck do I edit extra jpgs out of my post?
Also, I no longer get any options in the "insert every: full, half, etc" tab.

 

[MrMikeyG]

My solution to the extra bung at air intake now that I have deleted pair:
A PVC cap, with a stainless set/retainer screw, and a bead of silicone to seal the back. To help with the rib that is molded into that tube end, I used a small strip of Grace Vycor (house water sealant peel/stick product), to get my a roughly constant diameter of tube inside the cap. Everything I did is completely reversible should the need arise. I guess I should at least paint the dang thing.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Why do I have one "mini-me" lug nut at each wheel? Luckily I have replacements in hand. Thanks @NLXTCY

 

[MrMikeyG]

if you delete pair, this is what you will have lying around;

 

[MrMikeyG]

swapped out the napa gold(wix, Mann+Hummel) oil filter for oem today. Got my method seat covers installed, went for a quick "illegal" roll.
Got to napa (to return oil filters and buy more fluids), no wallet. D'oh! Could not retract seatbelt. unbolted top anchor nut to get out, got the belt re extended. My driver's belt turns out to be a modified 3rd row belt. I will most likely pony up for a new oem belt from @beno. Drive home with check engine light on. Couldn't read codes as voltage wasn't high enough when not running I guess. I was all excited to use my Wits End diagnostic jumper too. Also, had a bit of nice new coolant resting in very top rim of tank-tank top seam of radiator, luckily it looks like I may just need a new section of hose from lid nipple to overflow tank.
Steering felt a bit dodgy, but I know there's still a questionably old oem damper on the truck, and I never made it to a shop this past week with work being crazy.
I'm in that odd mental state right now of regretting my purchase, but I think it's due to time of year, and just not quite being over the baselining hump and the feeling in the back of my head that if I had never touched anything the truck would be fine. (my house gives me the same feeling with every project).
Idle seemed smooth (right around 900 sitting at lights)
Oil pressure gauge was reading pretty low. (reads better with a bit of throttle, but still down around second line up from bottom) oil level triple checked and is fine.
Throttle response is not awesome, but I'm not sure what to expect with these? (I do have a new oem cable to install that I've been putting off)

 

[jatree]

Following your thread - we seem to be in very similar situations (both house and truck wise). I also had some buildup between the radiator and overflow but cleaned it up with brake cleaner and am monitoring - same for the seam on the rad.

What did you end up deciding for brakes? I bought re-man calipers from Napa for the rear and got my full core refund when I returned the somewhat rusted originals. The Napa Eclipse looked good in the box, installed easily and I paired them with Toyota pads and rotors. Oh I did buy the copper washers from Toyota as well. Anyway, something must have gone wrong during the bleed process because the second day my pedal started going down to the floor after a bit, made driving downhill or in crowded areas tough. I haven't troubleshooted whether it just needs another bleed or something wrong with the master cylinder or booster. I won't be using that neighborhood mechanic again, that's for sure.

I also know that the Front pads are pretty low, the rotors look like they could be resurfaced but the calipers is where I'm nervous. The front is more important so I'd like to get OEM but those are $$$.

I sometimes have that regrettable feeling as well but then I get some small thing done or learn something new on mud or youtube and it gets me ready to tackle the next thing. It's really tough this time of year with the cold/wet/dark trifecta but I feel this is a slow and steady project. I used to go on 30-min drives to nowhere when I first got it (with a stuck caliper, and loud gouged rotors) and it still put a smile on my face - I think there'll be more where that came from once it's finally ready for a day trip.

Good luck!!

 

[MrMikeyG]

jatree; I'm waiting on some more info, and the time to finally bring it into a shop for a really thorough inspection before I make the decision on brakes. To my novice eye, the rotor surfaces are all fairly good (shiny, with relatively even wear), I think the rear pads are getting pretty thin and the fronts are ok for now. Aside from a slightly soft pedal, the braking is pretty even and smooth.
There was a telltale drip line from the little rad tank/overflow bottle, so I'm not concerned about a failing radiator. The coolant I drained from the system was in pretty good shape too.
many have said on here to find/buy the best example you can afford, or be willing to work. The seats really piss me off (power, leather),
and the whole seatbelt dilemma I now have. Granted, both of these issues are sheer age, and almost all of us will have or have had similar issues.
Leaving the house without my wallet yesterday put me in a foul mood regardless of truck issues.