Save it or Junk it

[letstryagain]

If you end up in Illinois, get the rust sorted in the warm months then you have options for survival/longevity.

1. Underdcarriage treatment as mentioned
2. Monthly/unlimited car wash service that includes undercarriage spraying, at least in the salty months
3. Get a winter beater and park the Hundy during the salty months. A Porsche 911 Carrera 4S would be an acceptable winter beater IMHO

Yeah will likely move in the summer and buy an acceptable winter beater!
Oh and hit up @ClassyJalopy

 

[kgrove]

I'm going to be brutally honest...but this shouldn't come as a surprise. You stated that you're a car novice... If you're not going to do some work on this yourself its going to be expensive to do the necessary repairs and whatever it needs down the road. These rigs are easy to work on in my opinion....take a dive and buy some tools. Everything you need to know is in this forum.

I'd caveat this with one idea: Teaching yourself auto maintenance is a rewarding hobby, but it doesn't work well if this is your primary transportation. As a rookie, the time it takes you to do a maintenance project is exponentially longer than what the same job takes a skilled mechanic. If this is an "extra" car and it gets stuck on jack stands for a few weeks as you track down the right parts and tools, seek advice, learn new skills, etc, that's fine. If it's you're primary transportation, it's a big problem. Given the rust on this car, you can be certain that many projects will expand once you get started and find unforeseen pieces you decide to replace, bolt heads you break off, etc. - all of which an experience mechanic will better anticipate or avoid. It's a great hobby to learn, but can also make your life difficult in the wrong circumstances.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

"All of these are $15K vehicles.... you either buy one that needs nothing for $15K or you buy one for $9K that needs $6K in repairs and maintenance".

The rust ain’t bad...yet. Buy an angle grinder, wire wheel, and some flap discs and go to town on the frame, rear axle, etc. and paint over. Replace all the other stuff with used (tons of good salvage yards in CA that have good used 100 parts); for example, sway bar - pull it off, throw it in a scrap yard, and go buy a used one that’s not rusty for $50. As someone else noted, you’ll need to do some of this work yourself for your wallet to come out in one piece. You’ll lose your ass paying labor charges for a shop to do cleanup work.

 

[Pucker5]

There’s a ton of good toys yards in rancho Cordova up north and Toyo parts only in Hollywood had lots of stuff. David at Toyo parts only is a good dude.
As for your initial mechanic....lazy...go to someone who ain’t afraid of rusty nuts. He might have to charge you a little bit of time extra on bigger repairs but if his hourly rates are fair it won’t be a big deal. But then again it is California...everything is stupid overpriced. Also when you have to swap/repair something, buy sll
The things touching that part within cost reason. Bolts, brackets, hoses, etc. eventually as you inch closer to 400k the parts will look newer versus crustier

 

[kevin2i]

My advice on this is careful with the bolts - Toyota bolts corrode and break easily. I have a 1998 (no corrosion) and a 2004 that spent some time along the coast - amazed how easy bolts break.

I was a boat mechanic - a propane torch does wonders in loosening up bolts. If you can spray the threads with penetrating oil/pb blaster that helps tool. I use WD 40 because it is predictable around a flame.

$5k for suspension seems ridiculous. Under $800 in parts, add $500 if you need a steering rack (OEM).

 

[lawrence1]

My opinion/advice may be unpopular here but if I were in your shoes, I'd cut my losses and move on to another RUST FREE example. You will dump a ton of money into this car, and when you're done, you'll still have a rust bucket that everyone will run away from if you ever need to sell. Better to lose a few grand now and sell the car, since you'll need to spend that money to fix all the rust issues that will surface down the road, especially since you have rust showing on the body, and good quality bodywork is not cheap.

 

[hickuptruck]

Don't be a pussy Californian with "oh no its too rusty". That 100 you got looks pretty decent, and is a good rig. I don't see a single issue with rust that you couldn't daily drive this thing for the next 20 years in California.

Your first mistake though was buying a 100 when you have 0 wrenching skills. Get learning or this thing will bankrupt you. Front control arms, ball joints, bushings, all shocks and struts is a weekend or two worth of work, along with pads, rotors, stablilzer links etc.

You're getting dicked around by shops and you'll continue to get dicked until you wrench on it yourself. The first mechanic's inspection is right and the local guy just doesn't want to deal with you, or knows you lack knowledge and is taking advantage of you.

 

[fjcruising]

Thanks for the suggestions. The body has a couple of dings but nothing bad at all, very little bubbling right behind the front driver side wheel well and some rust on the inside of the liftgate. View attachment 2601333 paint is in great shape.

You’ll be fine. Rust is not great but if you are moving to IL, you’ll be right at home. Better than bringing a west coast non rusty cruiser and then subjecting it to the salty roads in Chicago. That sounds painful.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Don't be a pussy Californian with "oh no its too rusty". That 100 you got looks pretty decent, and is a good rig. I don't see a single issue with rust that you couldn't daily drive this thing for the next 20 years in California.

Your first mistake though was buying a 100 when you have 0 wrenching skills. Get learning or this thing will bankrupt you. Front control arms, ball joints, bushings, all shocks and struts is a weekend or two worth of work, along with pads, rotors, stablilzer links etc.

You're getting dicked around by shops and you'll continue to get dicked until you wrench on it yourself. The first mechanic's inspection is right and the local guy just doesn't want to deal with you, or knows you lack knowledge and is taking advantage of you.

This is the best post ever put in the 100 series forum

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Don't be a pussy Californian with "oh no its too rusty". That 100 you got looks pretty decent, and is a good rig. I don't see a single issue with rust that you couldn't daily drive this thing for the next 20 years in California.

Your first mistake though was buying a 100 when you have 0 wrenching skills. Get learning or this thing will bankrupt you. Front control arms, ball joints, bushings, all shocks and struts is a weekend or two worth of work, along with pads, rotors, stablilzer links etc.

You're getting dicked around by shops and you'll continue to get dicked until you wrench on it yourself. The first mechanic's inspection is right and the local guy just doesn't want to deal with you, or knows you lack knowledge and is taking advantage of you.

Damn! I have all the same thoughts but none of your eloquence!! Well said!

 

[Exiled]

While I share @JunkCrzr89 's opinion, I'm going to temper it with the fact that you CAN learn to wrench on your rig (Land Cruisers are relatively simple and easy to work on, even 100s), and this forum is a HUGE source of information. Buy the FSM and a good set of basic tools, start with the small projects, and you'll pick it up. If you want to build an Overland rig, you need to know how to work on it anyway, you don't want to be in BFE when something happens.

My suggestion is to start with the simplest of stuff. Someone suggest a grinder with flap wheels. That's a perfect start. Grinding, cleaning and painting doesn't require tremendous mechanical skills and your confidence and satisfaction will soar as you complete these projects. Removing a tie rod, cleaning all the rust off (assuming it's not delaminating), painting it with Rustoleum, adding new TREs and greasing everything well is mostly labor on your part, and can be done while playing some good tunes or listening to a favorite podcast. If at some point you get to a step that you absolutely don't want to tackle and take it to a mechanic, it will be just that step and MUCH cheaper than the initial quote.

Good luck and keep us posted on your decision!

 

[MJK]

I agree with everything these guys said. To me this boils down to 'do you want to learn how to work it yourself or not'

If yes, keep it and get going on your own time. You bought a project depreciated by roughly the amount of tools and parts needed to make it right. All the knowledge to do so is here. And if you are taking it out to the sticks, you probably want to know a little about it anyways.

If no, then sell it as is. You don't want to pay shop rates to make this what it can be. And even after that, there are much cheaper platforms to 'shop maintain' than a 100.

 

[lawrence1]

Don't be a pussy Californian with "oh no its too rusty". That 100 you got looks pretty decent, and is a good rig. I don't see a single issue with rust that you couldn't daily drive this thing for the next 20 years in California.

Your first mistake though was buying a 100 when you have 0 wrenching skills. Get learning or this thing will bankrupt you. Front control arms, ball joints, bushings, all shocks and struts is a weekend or two worth of work, along with pads, rotors, stablilzer links etc.

You're getting dicked around by shops and you'll continue to get dicked until you wrench on it yourself. The first mechanic's inspection is right and the local guy just doesn't want to deal with you, or knows you lack knowledge and is taking advantage of you.

I have to laugh at this because you know it's terrible advice to give someone that doesn't even change his own oil, probably owns no tools, may or may not have a garage, and will be taking this thing to a shop for any repairs. You don't just go from 0 to hero when it comes to wrenching on your own car, and you certainly wouldn't want to start with a rust bucket Land Cruiser if you can help it. But if you own a rust bucket yourself (do you?), I can see how it can be tempting to try and "save" it. There's a ton of people getting into these cars because they read some article or watched a youtube video where they've been told they're "bulletproof". They go out and look for the cheapest example or "best deal", which generally ends up netting them a near 200k mile (or higher) car, and they are totally unprepared for the absolute s*** ton of deferred maintenance and repairs that typically need to be done on one of these mostly neglected cars around that mileage. Throwing rust in the mix only compounds the problem when many of these lower priced cars need $5K or more worth of work right off the bat just to get them driving properly/reliably.

If he ends up in IL with this truck, I guess it's it won't be as bad since midwestern mechanics are used to dealing with this stuff. In CA, a lot of mechanics won't even want to work on this car, or will charge more because it'll take them more time to deal with rusty hardware, etc. Sure, he can and should learn to do some work himself, and maybe it'll all work out and this will be a bargain, but chances are this car will cost him A LOT more than it's worth when it's all said and done, and significantly more than dumping it now and acquiring a rust free example.

 

[hickuptruck]

I have to laugh at this because you know it's terrible advice to give someone that doesn't even change his own oil, probably owns no tools, may or may not have a garage, and will be taking this thing to a shop for any repairs. You don't just go from 0 to hero when it comes to wrenching on your own car, and you certainly wouldn't want to start with a rust bucket Land Cruiser if you can help it. But if you own a rust bucket yourself (do you?), I can see how it can be tempting to try and "save" it. There's a ton of people getting into these cars because they read some article or watched a youtube video where they've been told they're "bulletproof". They go out and look for the cheapest example or "best deal", which generally ends up netting them a near 200k mile (or higher) car, and they are totally unprepared for the absolute s*** ton of deferred maintenance and repairs that typically need to be done on one of these mostly neglected cars around that mileage. Throwing rust in the mix only compounds the problem when many of these lower priced cars need $5K or more worth of work right off the bat just to get them driving properly/reliably.

If he ends up in IL with this truck, I guess it's it won't be as bad since midwestern mechanics are used to dealing with this stuff. In CA, a lot of mechanics won't even want to work on this car, or will charge more because it'll take them more time to deal with rusty hardware, etc. Sure, he can and should learn to do some work himself, and maybe it'll all work out and this will be a bargain, but chances are this car will cost him A LOT more than it's worth when it's all said and done, and significantly more than dumping it now and acquiring a rust free example.

Former-Californian here. Yeah, even the 100s that are $15-25k that OP would find will still need at least $2-5k right off the bat unless it was the 3% of them that were enthusiast owned off here on Mud. However, those don't come easy and at a premium. Most 100s that aren't enthusiast or DIYer owned go into the shop when things are broken and have failed.

I have a rusty 100 series. Here's mine and its got lots of life left:

 

[letstryagain]

I think it's finally time for an update.
It took me a couple of weeks after posting this thread to make a decision and I really wanted to think it through., and 3 months to get to a point where I was ready to share my experience.

Don't be a pussy Californian with "oh no its too rusty". That 100 you got looks pretty decent, and is a good rig. I don't see a single issue with rust that you couldn't daily drive this thing for the next 20 years in California.

Your first mistake though was buying a 100 when you have 0 wrenching skills. Get learning or this thing will bankrupt you. Front control arms, ball joints, bushings, all shocks and struts is a weekend or two worth of work, along with pads, rotors, stablilzer links etc.

You're getting dicked around by shops and you'll continue to get dicked until you wrench on it yourself. The first mechanic's inspection is right and the local guy just doesn't want to deal with you, or knows you lack knowledge and is taking advantage of you.

And funny enough this might have been the comment that made me calm the eff down and helped me make my decision to keep the truck.

After that, I took my truck down to a friend's mechanic and he stripped my list down to the essentials - Brakes, rotors, calipers, ebrake, rear sway bar link, and freon and charged me $1700 total. I decided not to mess around with the brakes this early in my experience and wanted to start with the shocks. Apparently, the control arms and sway bars were "just rusty" and don't need replacement yet. So I'm thinking of doing a full overhaul in a year or two when I do the lift kit.

But, I did have several challenges as @lawrence1 mentioned. I have never changed the oil, the garage was not big enough to fit the truck, had no tools, and yes had 0 wrenching skills.
So I decided to start there as it was essentially a list for me to solve.

I was fortunate enough to have a very nice neighbor in the same Multi-unit who was nice enough to let me borrow his driveway for a few weeks at a time when I offered to pay him.
And the first thing I did was change the oil+filter. Which was cheap enough to make me feel better.
Then I spent about $500 to get all the tools I needed.
Spent a weekend removing the rust with an angle grinder, a weekend applying corroseal, and another weekend spraying the frame with rustoleum.
In the process, I did open up a big hole in the rear cross member which seems to be a very common rust point for hundys. I'm thinking I'll get it welded when I move to IL. Let me know what you guys think?

Took me a day to figure out how to remove the front shocks which were easy enough, but the rear shocks were an absolute pain in the butt as the factory shocks were replaced with Monroe shocks and I couldn't use the retainers. It took me and the parts supplier 2-3 weeks to figure out which retainers($$$$) I'd need. But I was finally able to get all this sorted out last week.

This is how things look now.

In the process, I did find some other issues with the body that I need to figure out how to handle. The rust on the body is a little more than I thought.
Front Left Fender:

Rear Left wheel well:

Rear right wheel well: by the running board

Rear right wheel well: The plastic above the mudguard was missing which seemed to have caused this.

The running board bracings seem to be disintegrating as well. Which doesn't bother me as I'll replace them with some sliders eventually. But the frame in the picture seems concerning.

The Valve cover gasket is the next big thing for me to replace. Debating if I'm ready to take it on or if I should pay someone to replace it.

So anyway I'm extremely happy for not selling it as I knew that I wouldn't have gone through this all over again. It was definitely scary the first couple of weeks till I posted here.

And it has been truly rewarding. Not to mention how hot my wife found me while I was wrenching !!!

Thanks for all the support @ClassyJalopy, @tshandonay, @ramagain, @213374U, @LXKevin, @Bisho, @tshandonay, @JunkCrzr89, @kgrove, @Pucker5, @kevin2i, @lawrence1, @fjcruising, @Exiled, @MJK
And a special thanks to @hickuptruck.
I owe you all a beer!

And with this, the truck has been named Black Bear(Brown Belly) or just BB!!

 

[213374U]

Not to mention how hot my wife found me while I was wrenching !!!

Always a plus when your lady can appreciate a man who puts in work.

Looks good though!

 

[MJK]

Good on you for taking the plunge into DIY!

The rig looks great, those skills last a lifetime, and you have new ih8friends all over the world. Plus, you get to drive around in a sweet 100 for reasonable money. Keep going - its a fun journey!

A little unsolicited advice: Don't be intimidated to grow your skills. We all started from where you are at some point, and there are TONS of resources to help you out that didn't used to be a thing. Forums, manuals, YouTube, etc. As long as you don't hurry and stress - things will generally be OK. Give yourself plenty of time and if you get to a point where something doesn't feel right, stop, think, breathe and research. Don't just get frustrated and lean into it harder. 'Frustrated / gotta get it done' is where most of my big oopsies happened.

 

[johns94cruiser]

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. And that one sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that’s what you’re going to get, Son, the strongest castle in all of England.​

All life can be explained by Monty Python quotes.

Good call, my Ohio rig, owned by my wife since new, looked way worse. Scrape, paint, replace what needs replaced…

 

[Bisho]

It’s just a flesh wound…