New member psyched to have joined the club (1 Viewer)

[lasoundguy]

Hey everyone, I decided one white Toyota 4x4 was one too few, and jumped on this when it popped up on Craigslist over the weekend. Guy said he had 6 calls in 45 minutes after listing it Monday afternoon.

It joins its much younger brother.

One is a 2017 w/ a stick shift and IFS, the other is a 1997 w/ an automatic and a real front axle . Will be interesting to compare and contrast. Have some build plans in the works for the new baby (the FJ) but probably will spend the next six months on maintenance projects (valve cover gasket, sorting out some shudder under hard braking--tie rods? rotors? So many threads here to review!)

I'm the third owner, 208K on the odometer, pretty good service history, previous owner fixed all the leaks (so he claims), added Old Man Emu springs, and BFG AT/KOs. Original head gasket though, so will keep my eye on that.

Changed the oil yesterday, realized I should have waited so I can send a sample to Blackstone (oops.) . Maybe I can suck some up from the dipstick with a long tube or something after I drive a few hundred miles rather than changing the oil prematurely.

Looking forward to the community here, I've looked on from afar over the years but no longer!

Cheers.

 

[Jroc561]

Looks super clean, more pictures

 

[lasoundguy]

Don't have too many yet, drove it home last night and had to head out of town for work this morning.

I screenshot the CL ad before the PO took it down, here are some interior shots. Seat has some wear but much better than many of the other FJ80's I looked at.

So far the things on my list to investigate:
-oil pressure indicator runs a tad low when idling--saw a few threads with others saying this is pretty common and probably not a real issue (?)
-antenna doesn't go up--I can hear the motor turning so I think I need a new piece of plastic for it to run up and down
-"D" light in dash doesn't light up
-Shimmy under hard braking
-Bit of a stinkbug rake w/ the OME springs, going to load it up with gear and see how it sits then before I worry about it.

The good is it drives like a dream, no rattles/squeaks, and just feels great. I'm excited about it.

 

[BILT4ME]

Congrats and Welcome!

 

[blahblahblah]

I recall my interior looking that clean at one point in time. Those days are long gone.....

Congrats!

 

[RFB]

Nice looks sweet.

 

[landcrshr]

Nice find!

As a fellow 3rd gen owner, I just want to say, " Welcome to your new favorite truck! "

 

[Zdeech]

Nice work man! That rig looks great. That is always torture, going to work the next morning after you buy a new vehicle. Welcome to mud Nice tacoma too. I think you will like your tacoma better for long highway runs. Although, here is an idea: get your new 80 up to where you want it, then sell the tacoma. After that, do yourself a favor and get a sports or performance car. Have a sweet 4x4 and an asphalt ripper. If you need a pickup bed, just a rent a trailer and tow it with the cruiser.

Lastly, I will address the elephant in the room......what did you pay for the LX450?

 

[lasoundguy]

Funny you should mention it, I actually do have a fast car as well! It has 5000 miles and I’m halfway through its third set of tires. (I do a lot of autocross and some track days with it...most of its miles are from driving to events/tracks as I don’t DD it.)

I paid $8200 for the LX450. I’ve seen better deals in other parts of the country and checked out some cheaper ones here in LA but they all seemed to have been less well kept. It’s actually about the same amount the PO paid for the vehicle four years ago with 25k fewer miles but he’d put in about $6000 in maintenance and fixes over that period so it seemed like a solid deal to me (especially when there’s this guy around...
1997 LEXUS LX450 like LAND CRUISER LX 450 DIFF LOCKS!!! )

 

[Rifleman]

So far the things on my list to investigate:

Don't forget to investigate the magic dial too, to make sure your front and rear lockers work. It's not to uncommon to find that they may not want to engage, especially if the PO never used them.

 

[shocktower]

Hey everyone, I decided one white Toyota 4x4 was one too few, and jumped on this when it popped up on Craigslist over the weekend. Guy said he had 6 calls in 45 minutes after listing it Monday afternoon.
View attachment 2075569
It joins its much younger brother.
View attachment 2075575
One is a 2017 w/ a stick shift and IFS, the other is a 1997 w/ an automatic and a real front axle . Will be interesting to compare and contrast. Have some build plans in the works for the new baby (the FJ) but probably will spend the next six months on maintenance projects (valve cover gasket, sorting out some shudder under hard braking--tie rods? rotors? So many threads here to review!)

I'm the third owner, 208K on the odometer, pretty good service history, previous owner fixed all the leaks (so he claims), added Old Man Emu springs, and BFG AT/KOs. Original head gasket though, so will keep my eye on that.

Changed the oil yesterday, realized I should have waited so I can send a sample to Blackstone (oops.) . Maybe I can suck some up from the dipstick with a long tube or something after I drive a few hundred miles rather than changing the oil prematurely.

Looking forward to the community here, I've looked on from afar over the years but no longer!

Cheers.

Welcome now sell the other one because you'll need the extra cash to buy all of @NLXTACY zinc plated disco farkles that actually work very well

 

[surfpig]

Welcome to the stinkbug team!

 

[Outsane]

Welcome to the club! nice rig

 

[Zdeech]

Funny you should mention it, I actually do have a fast car as well! It has 5000 miles and I’m halfway through its third set of tires. (I do a lot of autocross and some track days with it...most of its miles are from driving to events/tracks as I don’t DD it.)
View attachment 2075965

I paid $8200 for the LX450. I’ve seen better deals in other parts of the country and checked out some cheaper ones here in LA but they all seemed to have been less well kept. It’s actually about the same amount the PO paid for the vehicle four years ago with 25k fewer miles but he’d put in about $6000 in maintenance and fixes over that period so it seemed like a solid deal to me (especially when there’s this guy around...
1997 LEXUS LX450 like LAND CRUISER LX 450 DIFF LOCKS!!! )

Ha ha, nice Civic Type R man!!! I bet that is a blast! This is a hilarious foot in my mouth case. You could have just said, how about this MF'er? I was not expecting that response, but I shouldn't be too surprised since this is a car enthusiast forum. I guess I should know better, dolling out unsolicited advice! I had a 2015 Civic SI that I bought new and really liked. I know that is different since it had an NA engine, but i do really like civics. I stupidly sold it in early 2017 before moving to another state. (picked up a '16 VW GTI this summer to fill the void).

I think the price you paid for the LX450 sounds awesome man, especially with the recent $6k in work the previous owner did. I paid $5,000 (or maybe $5,500?) for my 91 FJ80 in early 2016. More bare bones vehicle with less power. It ran well at the time, but didn't have a huge stack of recent receipts to go along with it. So your deal sounds great. I had a similar experience too, I was the first to look at the one I bought, and the sellers phone was blowing up like crazy. He was still pretty cool about the whole situation even though he was definitely "in the catbird seat."

Anyhow, it looks like you are having fun........carry on.......

 

[Zdeech]

Funny you should mention it, I actually do have a fast car as well! It has 5000 miles and I’m halfway through its third set of tires. (I do a lot of autocross and some track days with it...most of its miles are from driving to events/tracks as I don’t DD it.)
View attachment 2075965

I paid $8200 for the LX450. I’ve seen better deals in other parts of the country and checked out some cheaper ones here in LA but they all seemed to have been less well kept. It’s actually about the same amount the PO paid for the vehicle four years ago with 25k fewer miles but he’d put in about $6000 in maintenance and fixes over that period so it seemed like a solid deal to me (especially when there’s this guy around...
1997 LEXUS LX450 like LAND CRUISER LX 450 DIFF LOCKS!!! )

Oh, and I just looked at the craigslist ad you linked for that other LX450 for sale for $17k. Wow, that is nice it has diff locks, but that is pretty steep.

The thing that really stinks is the last pic in that ad where they show 10 cruisers lined up for sale. It really sucks to see this. Someone buying up land cruisers and flipping them for ridiculous money. Uggh.

 

[Marco Lau]

NICE rig!

 

[whaler]

Oh, and I just looked at the craigslist ad you linked for that other LX450 for sale for $17k. Wow, that is nice it has diff locks, but that is pretty steep.

The thing that really stinks is the last pic in that ad where they show 10 cruisers lined up for sale. It really sucks to see this. Someone buying up land cruisers and flipping them for ridiculous money. Uggh.

View attachment 2077089

It only sucks if you're in the market. If you already own one its a good thing.

Nice 80 you got there @lasoundguy

 

[Tanner H]

I think 8200 is a good deal with the current market. Anything less than that is generally clapped out or something is wrong. So its no surprise the guy had a bunch of calls within the hour.

An unlocked '93 with 180k just sold on Saturday for $11,600. had over 50 bids.

 

[84shortyota]

Very nice FZJ! I wouldn't know what to do with one that clean! You will love it. Any issues you have, it will be well documented here. There's no better place for information on Cruisers.

 

[lasoundguy]

@Tanner H wow, that's a lot for the '93. I feel better now lol. I keep stumbling on the old "paid $3K for my 3x locked '96 in good condition" threads and thinking I'm always five years behind the market for the cars I wind up wanting. Hoping not to be in the market for anything for a while now.

@Zdeech Yeah, that guy buys up a lot of the Land Cruisers in LA, I've been eyeing stuff long enough to watch them go from $7500 private party to $14K dealer for the same truck (seems to take 6-8 weeks for the reconditioning/detail so the pics look better, not sure if he puts any actual service into them or not.) He's also into old Volvos and W123/W124 Mercedes which I've eyed over the years. Everywhere I go he pops up haha.