Well where do I start? I first took an interest in Land Cruiser's as a boy. In fact everytime I saw this exact cruiser, I would admire how awesone it looked. I loved the lines and the "classic toughness", and as I grew wiser and became more "car saavy", I learned how durable and able they are. My 1988 FJ62 was owned by the parents of a very good friend of my sisters, who later in life became a long time girlfriend of mine, and we are still good friends today, so I had many opportunities to oogle over it thru the years. They were the original owners, and it was a true kitten. I got the opportunity to purchase it in Oct. of '05, and I jumped on it. She was a true kitten, having only 82k on the clock, bone stock, born in So. Cal before coming to OR, mostly garaged raised, and probably never seeing more than a gravel road as far as off highway use. Included with the purchase was a manila envelope full of receipts from every oil change, repair, and mainteance item ever purchased, the original owners manual, and even more impressive, the original dealer papers! The very night ( a friday ) I went to pick it up, I started my ownership with a 100+ mile trip down the 5 to go the the UO-Cal game, and driving it made me fall more in love with her. Oregon won the game in overtime, on a windy, cold, rainy fall NW day, btw. It made for a good weekend.
The very first thing I had to do to it, which was known at the time of purchase, was replace the turn signal/headlight/wiper switch. Other than that, repair wise, it has been mostly routine stuff, tune's, replaced spring/shackle bushings, and a lot of little miscellaneous's, aside from a few alternators and a starter.
The list of mods in the just under 2 years that I've had it include:
-K&N filter
-3" total lift
-33x12.5 Firestone Destination MT's
-15x8.5 2 piece Centerline's
-Pro Comp ES9000 shocks
-Custom Dual battery system (just completed this past week)
-Optima Blue Tops
-De-swayed
For the near future I intend on doing a 1" body lift, which should be happening very soon, then sliders, and I hope to get a rear bumper with swing-away built before hunting season get started. From there I would like to do some exhaust work, then probably will end up re-doing the entire suspension with either an OME, or look more into the custom market, like Alcan, etc. I would also like to eventually get a winch and build a front bumper to house it, and to match the rear. All it takes is money.
Now the pics:
First is a stock shot cruisin' on the beach.
Second is just before lifting.
Third is just after lifting, and a little dirt.
The very first thing I had to do to it, which was known at the time of purchase, was replace the turn signal/headlight/wiper switch. Other than that, repair wise, it has been mostly routine stuff, tune's, replaced spring/shackle bushings, and a lot of little miscellaneous's, aside from a few alternators and a starter.
The list of mods in the just under 2 years that I've had it include:
-K&N filter
-3" total lift
-33x12.5 Firestone Destination MT's
-15x8.5 2 piece Centerline's
-Pro Comp ES9000 shocks
-Custom Dual battery system (just completed this past week)
-Optima Blue Tops
-De-swayed
For the near future I intend on doing a 1" body lift, which should be happening very soon, then sliders, and I hope to get a rear bumper with swing-away built before hunting season get started. From there I would like to do some exhaust work, then probably will end up re-doing the entire suspension with either an OME, or look more into the custom market, like Alcan, etc. I would also like to eventually get a winch and build a front bumper to house it, and to match the rear. All it takes is money.
Now the pics:
First is a stock shot cruisin' on the beach.
Second is just before lifting.
Third is just after lifting, and a little dirt.
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Clever, though clearly I am talking about the rig prior to the story of the former regime...
