Should I Buy This? (1 Viewer)

[snye]

Hello 80 crew. Fellow 60 owner here with an opportunity to buy an 80 project. It's a 1997 FJ80 with 146k miles. Owner reports a blown head gasket and/or bad water pump. Cant give any more details yet because i haven't talked to the seller. Asking $2,300 for it.

My questions are:
1. Is this a fair price?
2. How much work (time and money) is involved with a new head gasket/water pump? I've already done a bunch of wrenching on my 60, but moving up to the more complicated 80 is a bit intimidating.
3. What other problems/issues should I be concerned/looking out for with on a truck like this?

Thanks in advance. I'm hoping for good news, because I would love to have an 80 under 150k miles. She's just getting broken in!

Thanks,
Steve

 

[snye]

Sorry, don't have any pics yet, but will post when I get some to help with my questions.

 

[neal0124]

If it were me I'd jump on that. As long as the rest of the car is clean that is.

 

[LandCrawler]

If you know what you are doing, that is a pretty good deal.

 

[BlackLS1]

very very good deal if you do the HG job right. i thought i got a good deal on mine. and you would have to take the head to a machine shop to resurface and most likely do a valve job. if it has the factory lockers then you are getting a super killer deal.

 

[ToyotaDon]

You may have seen this already? Slee - 80 Series Land Cruiser Newbie Guide It has a lot of good information.

I got mine for about the same price, but with a lot more miles and some different issues. You can see the early pictures, etc. by clicking the link below. There are threads here about almost anything you would need to do, a lot of them are linked through the FAQ. https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-...50-mar-2012-added-diff-actuator-overhaul.html

 

[djbrown01]

Does this happen to be in Arkansas? There was two there last time I saw, both with bad head gaskets, and there was a 97 40th anniversary for sale with a blown motor in Georgia for 2500 or so

Searching for the right one IH8MUD

 

[MARKTLC80]

Buy it in my opinion, its a good year, good millage, repair will run you close to $1400.00 if you take it to a shop, that's how much I paid wen mine HG went to hell and that included new water pump, head machining valve PM, labor, set of arp's. Make sure you low ball it, I will offer the guy $1800.00 and see what happens or let me know where the truck is at and I will take it with a big smile

 

[snye]

I just called a local mechanic shop for an estimate an a head gasket job for this, thinking if it wasn't too much then I wouldn't have to do it myself. He said he recommends putting in a used motor instead because there is no way of telling what type of damage the engine block sustained before the gasket blew.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Bearcat80]

Complete and utter bulls$%t. Find a different shop. There's no way to hydrolock an engine with a bad head gasket. Hundreds have been reported here and I can't recall anyone having issues with the lower end.

 

[Yotaonly]

I just called a local mechanic shop for an estimate an a head gasket job for this, thinking if it wasn't too much then I wouldn't have to do it myself. He said he recommends putting in a used motor instead because there is no way of telling what type of damage the engine block sustained before the gasket blew.

What are your thoughts on this?

That mechanic sounds like an idiot! A head gasket job is nothing unusual.

So, he can't verify the condition of the bottom end, but he'll install a used engine that you also can't verify the condition of the bottom end, sounds great, call another shop.

 

[ToddD]

I want a 97 with a blown hg in a bad way. Wish I was sitting on a couple grand that I could throw at a project.
If you like the rest of it, buy that thing and fix it, if not wait for the next one!
My $0.02, keeping in mind the saying "to each his own", next time I do a hg job I'm planning on pulling the engine and doing as much as possible, e.g., replace all gaskets and seals, inspect/ replace bearings, so on...
I didn't pull the engine when I did the hg in my 93 but I was pressed for time. If I could go back in time, I would lift out the motor. Makes everything easier but it's just not necessary if you only want to to only the hg, just my thoughts.