Build "OYOT" a budget built 80

[TRDdrew]

Let me start off by saying, understanding I have a problem is the first step to recovery lol. I surely didn't need another cruiser or was I even looking, I haven't even been frequenting the classified section, but when a club member shared this one not to far from home, it makes it really hard to say no.

I Messaged @trinitony about his 94 cruiser he had posted for sale here

For sale 80-series/LX450  1994 TLC

Gaithersburg, MD, US

I bought the truck off a friend who was the original owner in 2004 with 143k miles. A couple years later I took it to iron pig off road and had it lifted and added an ARB bar. Wifey drove her for a few years and retired her from daily use in 2013. Truck sat for a few years, then in 2016 there...

• trinitony (+0 /0 /-0)
• Jul 29, 2026
• Views: 764
• Reactions: 1
• Comments: 7
• Category: 80-series / LX450
• 80-series j80 lx450

$1,750.00

2 watching

She had been sitting for awhile (about 6 years) after his daughter had gotten into an accident with it. Life gets in the way sometimes and he realized he wasn't going to get around to fixing it so we made a deal. Couldn't have found a nicer family to purchase it from, they spent some time talking and telling me old story's about the truck. After all they have owned it since 2004. The accident had cause a good bit of front end damage, tweaking the end of the left frame rail and although he had sourced another hood and fender, nothing was lining up properly. More on that later, I loaded it up and headed home.

 

[TRDdrew]

Why "OYOT" .... well the grille says it all, Tony had bought a replacement grille off eBay and I guess for copyright reasons they cant sell it saying "Toyota". My wife's family is from the Philippines and she took one look at the truck and she laughed and said "oyot" sounds like it should be a word in the Tagalog language.

I got the truck home and started to assess what we have. This truck is definitely going to need some love. I have 2 other cruisers and a fleet of vehicles so this is going to be a back burner kind of project but it does run, drive, and sorta stops. Has a old OME lift and surprisingly the frame is very rust free, body has some rust in the rear wheel wells and lower quarters but that's almost to be expected. Got power washer and vacuum out and got to work.

And of course the first thing you have to do to any 80 is pull the running boards and rusty rear hitch off, this ol' girls towing days are over

 

[TRDdrew]

My career background is in auto body so I disassembled the front end to get a better look at the damage from the accident. The driver inner fender and core support are buckled in several places, after doing some attempts to repair them I figured the best course of action was just to replace. Also got a better look at the frame damage. Its not good but repairable, I'll take the truck up to my shop to handle that seeing how I have a frame machine at my disposal

 

[TRDdrew]

Was able to source a used core support and inner fender from a buddy of mine in Richmond ( thanks again @matzell ). The Core support had a bit of rust on the bottom where mine was clean so I ended up just removing the side panel out of each to make one good one out of the two. That along with the inner fender replacement we started to get somewhere. Front end panels started to line up again, hood was able to close and latch, and the headlight wasn't 3 inches under the hood anymore. I do have the left front body mount disconnected but once the frame is pulled everything will fall into place.

I did do some hammer and dolly work to the turn signal valance but I'm not 100 percent happy with it and would really prefer to just replace it. If anyone around the DMV has one 91-94 please let me know, for the time being ill just reinstall what I have.

Few things I'm currently on the hunt for:
front bumper
Radiator
91-94 turn signal valance
93-94 A/C condenser
93-94 small a/c line from condenser to the dryer

The wheels on the truck are in pretty poor shape, flaking, pitting and dry rotted tires. They would all need refinish so instead I put some late model 80 wheels on and some 285 KO2's that I had on a spare set of 100 series wheels. Ultimately this is a temporary set up with the end being 37's or 35's at a minimum

 

[landtank]

Congrats! I picked up a 97 last year and just pulled in into the garage. No body damage, but repairs were questionable. The break booster has a big warning label that says the check valve has been removed. Don't even know what that's about. I've got a lot of good body panels and other parts and I'll watch to see if I can help. But I'm a ways away.

 

[TRDdrew]

Congrats! I picked up a 97 last year and just pulled in into the garage. No body damage, but repairs were questionable. The break booster has a big warning label that says the check valve has been removed. Don't even know what that's about. I've got a lot of good body panels and other parts and I'll watch to see if I can help. But I'm a ways away.

Thanks @landtank I had one of your fan clutches in an old 80 I had! Worst part is I scrapped an 80 with all the parts I needed like 2 years ago need to get my second shop built so I can continue my normal hoarding habits lol.

Why would someone remove the check valve out of a brake booster lol that's a weird one for sure!

 

[TRDdrew]

Last weekend I decided to de-flare this truck and take a closer look at the rust in the rear wheel wells. I like the look of no flares but also just to be different than my other 80, ill been welding up all the holes prior to refinishing.

Driver side was rusting at the second row seat belt mount and the passenger was in the back where the wheel well meets the floor. I'm no stranger to rust repair and these spots really aren't bad, they won't take long to correct but with plans in the afternoon I just ran out of time on Saturday. There is also some rot in the lower quarters behind the bumper ( I know what a shocking discovery lol ) crawled over the rest of the body and there isn't really any other serious rust to report. I'll document as I get it all repaired.

Truck had a gnarly dent above the passenger taillight that I "roughed out" I'll do the finishing body work as I get closer to the refinishing portion of this build. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but this truck is primarily going to be an off road toy so the plan is a full raptor coat finish. If I make it that far.... maybe it will just stay ugly forever

 

[onemanarmy]

Love a good budget build!

 

[TRDdrew]

Love a good budget build!

As does my wallet lol

 

[landtank]

Thanks @landtank I had one of your fan clutches in an old 80 I had! Worst part is I scrapped an 80 with all the parts I needed like 2 years ago need to get my second shop built so I can continue my normal hoarding habits lol.

Why would someone remove the check valve out of a brake booster lol that's a weird one for sure!

This guy ran some big heavy power cable down the left fender into the cab. Haven't traced it out but he grounded the circuit to the top of the charcoal canister bracket .

 

[TRDdrew]

This guy ran some big heavy power cable down the left fender into the cab. Haven't traced it out but he grounded the circuit to the top of the charcoal canister bracket .

O boy, old amplifier cable maybe?

 

[MilkEel]

Last weekend I decided to de-flare this truck and take a closer look at the rust in the rear wheel wells. I like the look of no flares but also just to be different than my other 80, ill been welding up all the holes prior to refinishing.

Driver side was rusting at the second row seat belt mount and the passenger was in the back where the wheel well meets the floor. I'm no stranger to rust repair and these spots really aren't bad, they won't take long to correct but with plans in the afternoon I just ran out of time on Saturday. There is also some rot in the lower quarters behind the bumper ( I know what a shocking discovery lol ) crawled over the rest of the body and there isn't really any other serious rust to report. I'll document as I get it all repaired.


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Truck had a gnarly dent above the passenger taillight that I "roughed out" I'll do the finishing body work as I get closer to the refinishing portion of this build. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but this truck is primarily going to be an off road toy so the plan is a full raptor coat finish. If I make it that far.... maybe it will just stay ugly forever

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Great build log....I'm enjoying it!

 

[TRDdrew]

Great build log....I'm enjoying it!

Thanks buddy, I promise and update is coming for that bumper install, thanks again. Had a busy weekend so no progress was made but this weekend I'll be swapping out the disintegrating radiator for a good use one that I got from @CrabCake might start on some patch panels as well

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

If you find a replacement PS fender with same color as the replaced DS one, it may avoid you painting it. Has a “panda” like front end then! All front panels of the same color! Love it has the cloth seats!

 

[TRDdrew]

If you find a replacement PS fender with same color as the replaced DS one, it may avoid you painting it. Has a “panda” like front end then! All front panels of the same color! Love it has the cloth seats!

You might be onto something CD lol. With the intention of it being a toy, I could honestly care less about all the mismatched panels. The cloth interior was a very pleasant surprise and just of how good of shape it was actually in! (still needs a proper clean) I searched awhile for a good set of 94 seats for my 91 and got extremely lucky finding some in a set local salvage yard

 

[TRDdrew]

Had a little bit of time this afternoon and was able to swap in the "new used" radiator from @CrabCake Huge improvement of the original, all the fins were deteriorated. Figured while everything is out I could clean up the front of the motor a bit. Buttoned everything up and no leaks. Sorry this isn't a very exciting update lol

Finished up with a bit more hammer and dolly work on the front turn signal valance and reinstalled, it actually came out better than I had hoped giving how mangled it was

 

[CrabCake]

had a little bit of time this afternoon and was able to swap in the "new used" radiator from @CrabCake Huge improvement of the original, all the fins were deteriorated. Figured while everything is out I could clean up the front of the motor a bit. Buttoned everything up and no leaks. Sorry this isnt a very exciting update lol

Finished up with a bit more hammer and dolly work on the front turn signal valance and reinstalled

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Nice to be able to help out with the build! I'm such a parts hoarder and it came with my rig when I drove it home from AZ over 4 years ago....glad to see it put to use and that it wasn't just a waste of precious space on the cross country trip...more goodies coming available per our call last night!

 

[TRDdrew]

Nice to be able to help out with the build! I'm such a parts hoarder and it came with my rig when I drove it home from AZ over 4 years ago....glad to see it put to use and that it wasn't just a waste of precious space on the cross country trip...more goodies coming available per our call last night!

Thanks again that rad was was definitely crying for help, and also the original reason for the call last night... you were correct, completely normal lol

 

[captainva]

Nice to be able to help out with the build! I'm such a parts hoarder and it came with my rig when I drove it home from AZ over 4 years ago....glad to see it put to use and that it wasn't just a waste of precious space on the cross country trip...more goodies coming available per our call last night!

Eric is the man as always!

 

[CrabCake]

Eric is the man as always!

I try! @captainva if @TRDdrew isn't interested...I'll have my ZF scan tool (OBD1 reader) available to a good home (club mates & friends) for a gift. You'll need a phone or tablet running Android to use with Bluetooth. When I get mine over to C&C in CO soon, they're going to do the EMU Black ECU for me.

Unfortunately I just found out that my trip, leaving Sunday, is delayed for at least a week...not a problem, just anxious to get my rig to them for the 5 speed and ECU upgrades!