Builds Sweet Brown 80 & Sweet Brown Buggy - Dual Build Thread (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

NCTrey133

@Sweet_Brown_80
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Threads
9
Messages
258
Location
Mebane, NC
Website
www.instagram.com
Hey Ya'll,

My name is Trey Williams here is where my money goes.

I have a 3/4 linked UTE chopped 80 series landcruiser named Sweet Brown 80 (Sweet_Brown_80 on Instagram) that I have dedicated some good chunk of my life to. Because I really hate money, I've also started a trail buggy build which I will (very creatively) title Sweet Brown Buggy. I love Ih8mud so I'm going to document both builds here.

The 80 story (below):

A while back I picked up a 1996 LX 450 in Alabama with some friends and we turned around and drove it all the way back to North Carolina. Ever since getting it back into NC, its been practically the only thing I think about... and spend money on.

1651254813577.png


Here is a rough run down of what she's had done to her:

Maintenance History:
- Fixed distributor
- Fixed intake manifold
- Replaced radiator
- Replaced Master Brake Cylinder
- Replaced brake lines w/ slee stainless braided lines
- Replaced calipers / rotors / pads
- New hoses everywhere
- Replaced heater valve
- Rear heater hose delete
- PHH
- All fluids replaced
- New belts
- Front full knuckle rebuild
- Chromoly up front
- Fixed exhaust & re-routed over frame
- Replaced LSPV Valve
- Replaced Front & Rear Locker Actuators
- Mega rust repair
- Replaced OEM Tie rod ends
- Rebuilt engine, bored .20 - now have a 4.6L ;)
- Replaced brake booster
- Pulled ABS
- Pulled LSPV
- Re ran power cables (from Hudd Expo)
- Replaced a billion batteries
- Replaced starter

Mod History:
- Trailgear front bumper
- Apex overland lights
- Superwinch
- ARB Twin Compressor
- Apex overland fuse block
- Maxxis Trepadors 40"
- Battleborn Beadlocks 17"
- Metaltech Sliders
- Rackless Gang
- Re-geared to 5.29
- DC Front Driveshaft
- DC Rear Driveshaft
- Hellfire Knucks
- Juanstopshop wooden shift knob
- Monstaliner paint job
- HuddExpo tcase skid
- Front 3 Link Suspension
- Radflo 14" dual rate coilovers in the front
- Rear 4 link double triangulated suspension
- Radflo 16" dual rate coilovers in the rear
- Diamond Axle 9.5" Front Axle w/ chromoly shafts & chromoly flanges, ARP studs & ARB Airlocker
- Diamond Axle Ford 9" Rear Axle w/ 35 spline chromoly shafts & D60 35 spline hubs, Currie 3.250 housing w/ ARB Airlocker
- Chopped that thang in half & ute'd it
- Northwest Fab Doubler installed!
- Custom tcase skid & trans skid made by Apex Overland
- New aluminum links from WOD & FK Heims up front

Whats on tap:
- Will need new driveshafts... :(
- Apex Overland working on a cool center console

Here is whats going on with the buggy:

1. FABN801 Chassis "Sin City" model
2. LS 5.3 build with a torquey cam sitting right around 400 HP
--> building this absolutely racked my brain, I'm not good with engines
3. Monster Transmission Turbo 400 (reverse manual valve in it)
4. Midnight Metalworks Rockbox 4:1 tcase
5. Running on a set of Tons with all crane axle goodies including high steer, diff covers, 13 bolt shave, yukon super joints, chomoly 35 spline errrr thang, 5.38 gears, running an ARB up front and the factor detroit in the rear on the CUCV 14 bolt.
6. Got 42" Iroks mounted on battle born beadlocks
7. Using the holley terminator kit for wiring everything
8. Got a switch pro's cluster for all things ignition, lights, fuel & fans
9. PSC full Hydro steering with the fancy PSC CBR power steering pump mated to the LS using the WOD high clearance FEAD
10. Using Heims on 2" .250 wall DOM linkage
11. Corbeau suspension seats will ride in this sucker
12. Barnes trusses with FABN801 link & chassis tabs
13. Johnny's custom motor sports scratch designed radiator w/ trans cooler running on brushless fans will be sitting behind me

Haven't yet thought through brakes (may go hydroboost from busted knuckle offroad) and fuel cell (may have to go custom here).

1651254647542.png
 
Last edited:
And away we go! Shortly after getting it back to NC - my main goal was to baseline it and make sure I could rely on a 20+ year old truck.

Took it over to my friend JD at Midstate Offroad and let them dive into it and report back findings:
- Ended up tackling the manifold, distributor, Leaks, Fluid ...etc.

After that it was time to get modding!

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.49.40 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.49.57 AM.png
 
About time. I think you tagged the wrong Max though! You think you could dig up the part numbers for the coils and shocks when you get a chance?
 
Immediate goals were roof rack and strip the interior to see what rust awaited me.

Rust all up in the wheel wells and some entering the floor of the truck. Definite leaking coming from the sunroof. Got the hoses re-routed out of the rocker panels and through a hole in the floor close to the deadpedal. POR15'd all the rust that I could get to and grind. Got my friend Josh at Apex overland to cut off the dogleg in the rocker and ordered a cut off dogleg that was rust free from Landcruiser Junktion. While I was in there I went ahead and laid down some sound deadening and then we got a Frontrunner roof rack put on (purchased through Apex overland).

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.50.10 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.50.33 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.51.15 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.52.20 AM.png
 
After the roof rack I think the next thing we did was head down to the beach for some camping. One day going to work I was driving the 80 and my wife had my daily, I went to hit the brakes and the car just kept on going straight. I had blown out a rusty hardline and didn't have much brake left.

Took the truck immediately to my friend Max Robertson at Johnson Lexus and he jumped in to get the hardline needed. While I was there, I asked him to order up some toyota red and flush my radiator. When I had installed the new radiator I knew nothing about mixing prestone yellow with red and after reading some horror stories post new radiator install I wanted to play it safe.

The pics below were of a crime scene with a radiator and the beautiful BEAUTIFUL garage of Johnson Lexus!! Where Max took great care of my ole girl. He even found me a reman power steering pump on the cheap.

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.50.59 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.51.15 AM.png
 
Had fun at the beach! Once we were back it was time to jump back into the truck.

Rust repair had me wanting to pull all of the cladding and make sure nothing else was there growing. This spurred the decision to go ahead and fill the holes on the lexus (holy moly....) and monstaline everything after fixing rust.

The main rust areas were the oem roof rack (terrible), behind the rear hatch glass (needed to pull the glass and really cut that stuff apart then get a new gasket and replace), all in the floor driverside, driverside wheel wells and rear quarter. After that smooth sailing!

After the cladding was pulled, rust was fixed, it was time to go ahead and start prepping for monstaliner. During this time I also went ahead and upgraded TREs and got HD tie rod & drag link.

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.52.39 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.52.51 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 10.27.41 AM.png
 
Somewhere around that time I added on a 4x4 Labs rear bumper.

The previous previous owner ended up cutting too much of the rear frame, so Luke worked out a plan to do a sandwich plate instead of utilizing all the original nutsert areas. So far after a year of bashing, dropping and carrying a 37" tire & 2 mostly filled gas cans, the sandwich plate is working!

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.53.02 AM.png
 
Monstaliner! Prep & Paint:

Ok - all cladding pulled off, it was time to go ahead and start sanding down the truck. I grabbed an orbital sander and some varying grit and went to town. Monstaliner was ordered in advance so I had it ready when needed.

Steps for me:
- Sanded everything
- Used stainless steel tape over the holes (I know its janky but it works)
- Took the truck to my friend Wylie's shop and disassembled everything
- His friend Logan took the truck into a paintbooth in a neighboring shop and they sprayed on the monstaliner vs. rolling
- Results came out great!

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.53.23 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.53.33 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.53.48 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.53.58 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.54.08 AM.png
 
After painting it was time to wheel this sucker!

Then I broke a knuckle stud :( - that went ahead and started the conversation of going ahead and re-building the knuckles before bumping up in tire size. I also went ahead and got started on getting sliders from metaltech prepped and painted for an install later down the line. The delay on slider install was that the previous previous owner installed a side pipe on the 80 along the outside of the frame under the passenger rocker. More to come.

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.55.35 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.58.48 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.59.32 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 8.59.42 AM.png
 
OK knuckles rebuilt! That was a fun messy project but my friends Jason & Graham helped me through it in Jason's garage.

Got a package in the mail from stealth custom series which then meant, it was time to go up in tire size. My friend Rusty over at Taylors discount tire got me a hookup on some STT Pros and it was off to the races to get them installed. Immediately upon installation I couldn't turn all the way to the left and my rear up-travel became non existent.

Next saga - wheel well chop!

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.02.35 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.02.58 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.03.33 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.04.31 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.04.50 AM.png
 
Last edited:
Chop time!

Took the fronts up 2.5" with an angle grinder and a lot of patience and with the help of my friend Josh at Apex Overland we took the rears up till it touched the doors with a sawzall. One day, I'd like to go further and allow myself more uptravel. That story for a different post. Along with the chops and re-welding the gap in the rear, I added a 2" bumpstop and boom - we're good again!

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.05.10 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.05.43 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.13.18 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.13.30 AM.png
 
David Otero and Josh Schaible worked out a business deal so that Apex Overland could be a distributor for Dobinsons suspension. During this time I was knee deep in looking at suspensions to replace the OME setup that was currently on it. Dobinsons makes a tapered coil setup that was touted to be killer so I went for it!

New suspension setup is as follows:
Front coils C97-144vt (75mm)
Rear coils C97-145vt (75mm)
MRR 2.6" monotube remote reservoir shocks
Dobinsons adjustable front & rear panhards
Metaltech adjustable lower & upper rear links
LSPV relocation bracket
Sway bar drops (for the front, rear is removed)

^^ In addition to that I added in a double cardan driveshaft from Wits End

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.17.39 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.18.00 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.19.34 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.20.35 AM.png
 
After the new suspension it was time to go to the mountains! Ended up needing to replace the rear locker actuator (partsouq.com - much cheaper than I've seen in the states!) Also added some lights from Apex Overland and an Engo SR12 which and replaced the rear heater valve.

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.19.12 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.19.54 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.21.07 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.22.04 AM.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: RFB
We're almost at the present moment of the build. I've gone quick but this will at least catch you up to where Sweet Brown is at in life.

I recently took a trip to Moab with the 80gang and I'll drop some pics. Did the drive from NC to Moab out there with my wife in 3 days, we stopped along the way in the Appalachian mountains, at the woodford reserve distillery, in Mt. Vernon Illinois, at Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, Burlington Colorado, Denver Colorado, and finally on into Moab.

Did a weeks worth of wheeling out there and had a blast! Lots of pictures being shared on Instagram documenting that trip so I won't post them all here.

After the trip, my friend Matt and I drove 32 hrs straight to get home. Left at 5:30am, saw the sun rise, saw the sun set, saw the sun rise again and finally we were back home. I haven't done much of anything to Sweet Brown since, just let her rest and changed the oil and went wheeling with some friends.

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.22.56 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.23.08 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.23.20 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 9.23.33 AM.png
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom