New B (2 Viewers)

[cbbr]

Hey there, long time lurker and new 100 owner. So the thread title...

I grew up spending a lot time between a small family farm in Louisiana and a boat dealership, so being in mud working on things was my life. My first truck was in high school and was a 1984 S-10 blazer which I buried al over the SE US. With school taking all of my time I swapped that for an RX-7, went through an Acura/Honda (Ricer!) phase and started a family & career.

Sometime in the very late 90's, my BIL invited me on an annual week long camp out that he and a group of his friends went on in the desert outside of PHX. I flew out, spent the week in the desert rock crawling and was absolutely hooked. The minute I had the chance, I bought another truck to build. That truck became known as "B".

B is short for B!tch. By this time I had a young family and may have spent a little too much time building/working on/breaking B. My wife wouldn't call it "the other b!tch" in front of the kids, so that became her joke and they still refer to it b that name today.

B was a 1990 K2500 Suburban with, at the end, hand built armor end to end, a big BDS/ORD lift, a 60/14BFF & custom driveline, 4 wheel disks... many weekends of welding/grinding/blood/sweat/beers.

B ultimately served me well for years (pics below), but as the kids got older, I didn't have the time to use it, so I sold it. I took my XTerra and flew/borrowed a 4Runner to a couple more trips, and then it was the 24/7 kids phase.

The kids are now all in/out of college, so I have some time. The career worked out okay, so I have a little disposable income. The itch to be out west in the desert never left. So meet the new B -

 

[cbbr]

So now I have a 2000 LC100 with 290K. You may recognize it, I bought it here and its staying in the Mud Family. IDK what my plans for it are as those seem to evolve (my middle name could be "mission creep") and it is my first LC. I do plan on having it out exploring by Spring.

I will use this as a build/progression thread as I go.

So more about me just to help when I ask some of the millions of questions that I no doubt will - I would rate myself as follows.

Welding - meh
Grinding - Rock Star!
Torque wrenche - Huh?
Blue tip wrench - YES!
Driving a car on twisties - Bring on the Dragon!
Rock Crawling - Bring on the winch!

Get the picture?

An FWIW, I grew up with advice from Pirate4x4, so I have a thick skin and a sense of humor. Bring it.

 

[cbbr]

And finally, the shots that you may want to see for reference so that you know where this story is likely to end up - B v.1

 

[cbbr]

Week 1

Just a few small projects to introduce me to the world of Land Cruisers with a few prices just for fun:

Truck - $7300 (Inc TTL). Not a bad deal for a completely rust-free truck with "only" 289K miles. The leather looks like someone took a weedeater to it, but the truck is almost spotless otherwise and ran great (more on that later).

Window Tint $500. If you live in an area that is frequently like being on the surface of the sun, you want tint. Blacked out in back, legal on the drivers' windows and while I have done my own tint in the past, I paid for this one because I just didn't want to spend the time.

Battery bolt - the front bolt to the battery tie down was missing which seemed like a bad idea.

Sinhestu Silicone for all of the seals. The sunroof had a trickle of a leak because the seal was filthy. I cleaned all of the seals and treated them with the same silicone that I use on out convertible daily drivers (Miata & a Del Sol).

Cleaning - I took the rear interior out and cleaned everything.

Hose - $50. I haven't replaced it yet because the truck won't start, but I did become familiar with PartSouq which I suspect will be a good thing.

LED Lightbulbs $75ish so far. The next set are here and are HID's. The stock headlights suck.

Hood struts. Because there is nothing so fun as being hit in the back of the head by the hood.

Finally, I installed Victory 4x4 Molle Panels for some storage that is off of the floor and I removed rear seatbelts because they were just in the way. My wife's 4Runeer has rear molle panels and I find them very useful for keeping EDC stuff out of the way. Around $500.

And to end my first week, its dead in the driveway with what appears to be a fuel issue, so my wife got to say "I told you so" which is damn near priceless. I think that she would rather that I take up a cheap hobby like an airplane or open wheel race car. Welcome NewB...

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Welcome to madness! Looks like you have the skills to do everything your typical old cruiser would need to keep it on the road. Looking forward to where you take this next.

 

[cbbr]

Over the course of this week, I managed to get my fuel issue resolved and am the proud new owner of a better multimeter which will live with the tools in the Cruiser. I'm pretty sure that it will come in more useful than the compressor and plug kit that I bought for her.

But the coolest upgrade this week is the new key from YotaMD. I inherited a key held together with tape and a bag of "key stuff" when I bought the truck, so this is a major upgrade even if its a small one. Plus, its cooler than most keys -

 

[cbbr]

Things slowed down over the holidays because.... well I like being married.

I have been using some HID's which suck, but suck less than the OEM bulbs or the Hella's. And I have completely changed the rest of the lights to LED's which are far better.

The big change is the recycled Gamiviti Roof Rack! I got lucky and bought it from a local member. A quick hit with a brass wire wheel and some touch up Krylon - It's awesome! I do need to get another decal @nakman , but no big deal for now.

I also cut some wood from a neighbor's tree that fell to take to some older neighbors and used the Cruiser as a hauler. Not sure of the tailgate capacity, so several trips. Pics below.