Purchasing an FJ80 Today, Bay Area Mechanic Recs?

[lswanie]

@iswanie what is the current status of your rig? How did your visit to A+ go?

Weird, I was just about to hop on here and post some pics. Just got back from its first road trip down to Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite. Basically had A+ take a look and do some make up maintenance work and throw on new rubber (Yoko Geolander AT-S). All said and done it was about 3k worth of parts and labor, ouch, but it drives like a dream. Most importantly, they confirmed the truck is mechanically in great shape and will hopefully last a long long time still. Whoever had it before the last owner took really good care of it.

The cig stink is still there, but it is way better than it was, and I feel like it has really faded with time as well. If I use the car regularly you can't really tell, but if it sits for a while (especially in the heat) the first time you open it up, the smell hits ya pretty hard.

On the way home from the mountains I cooked the brake fluid, and it was scary as all hell, but I now know the limits...don't try and keep up with any newer trucks going down a mountain in this thing! I was able to pull off and let it cool down without incident.

Since the lady was with me, I didn't really do anything off road beyond taking it on some gravel.

What are some good trails around here (Pac NW in general) for a buddy and I to take the truck out on? I decided to keep everything stock for a while, since I have 0 experience doing any kind of off roading, and the thing seems pretty darn high up there stock.

At the shop.

Scenic shot in Inyo

 

[TrickyT]

When I bought my 1997 FZJ80 in June 2007 it had intensely bad odor throughout the interior. Mine was not from cigarettes, but rather mildew. The sun roof had inadvertently been left open 2" by the previous owner during one of our bay area winters and the carpets left wet/damp for 2-3 months. The smell was so bad that if you got in after it had been closed up for a day or two you would gag. My wife refused to ride in it. I removed the seats, took out the carpets, and cleaned them with a pressure washer using water and chlorine bleach and then left them in the sun for a couple of days. The smell was better, but still strong. I rented a ozone generator from Big Four Rents one weekend and left it running inside with the windows up for a couple of days. The smell definitely got better, but was still very noticeable. Then I heard about Vaportek (VAPORTEK | Pioneering Simple Solutions for Tough Odors Naturally Since 1979). I called them and bought a few spray bottles of their Enzo-Tek that I sprayed on the carpet. (My memory is a little vague here, but the carpet may still have been out of the vehicle and so I may have sprayed the Enzo-Tek on the padding too.) They also threw in a Ex-Twist disk holder and a few sample refills. Long story short, the mildew odor was unnoticeable a few weeks later and now you'd never know it had ever been there at all.

I commute into SF 4 days a week and still have a Ex-Twist disk left that I would be happy to pass on to you. But before that give the tech support staff at Vaportek a call and see what they say. The details of what they recommend may be different because it's cigarette odor, but I'll bet they can help with your problem.

BTW, very nice looking 80! Your love will only grow stronger.

 

[landcrshr]

What are some good trails around here (Pac NW in general) for a buddy and I to take the truck out on?

This is happening next weekend: Third annual Cruiser Gold Rush - 2016: Back To Gold Lake For a Third Year! :NorCal:

 

[lswanie]

This is happening next weekend: Third annual Cruiser Gold Rush - 2016: Back To Gold Lake For a Third Year! :NorCal:

Nice, unfortunately I am tied up next couple weekends, and my buddy I want to ride with is backpacking the Muir trail for three weeks or something crazy like hat. Would that be a good trail for a stock ride height 80?

There are a plethora of threads already about the capabilities of stock 80s. The few I have read sort of indicate something like this, "if it was designed in the last 100 years for a car to drive down it, then an 80 can probably make it."

Then limitations are, "If it was designed for wagons, horses, and donkeys circa 1805, you probably need at least 33 inch tires and small lift."

So those are my broad stroke understandings; am I illuminating on the information correctly or am I off in one direction? I noticed there are not many stock 80s in good shape around anymore, so it is kind of difficult to find information about what people are doing with stock ride height 80s.

A+ has been awesome in that they have never made me feel like they are pushing me to do something with my car that is unnecessary, if anything, they encouraged me to stay conservative until I learn more about the truck.

Honestly though...I kind of do wish I had lifted it a little to fit 33's...but then I would be looking at re gearing it at a minimum, getting more powers somehow, definitely upgrading the brakes in some capacity. Basically I wouldn't feel safe popping it up two inches, throwing on 33s, and calling it a done day (although it would looks so so so sweet...).

I am not used to driving a car this slow with such weak brakes, it is definitely a dangerous quality while I learn the ropes.

 

[landcrshr]

Would that be a good trail for a stock ride height 80?

On the trail into the OHV camp, you'd be OK.

I won't get into the tire size debate, but I will add that my 80 is happy on 33's with stock gears (for 90% of what I do).

 

[lswanie]

On the trail into the OHV camp, you'd be OK.

I won't get into the tire size debate, but I will add that my 80 is happy on 33's with stock gears (for 90% of what I do).

Yea...it was a tough call. Oh well, they aren't permanent...although they do appear to last quite a bit longer than the 255/45/17's I stretch on my 17x10 inch Kinesis on the 951! Lucky to get 10k on those things haha