Builds The Beast - 1996 FZJ-80

[Xylonmedia]

Joined the club on 2.16.24 as a birthday present to myself. I’ve known this truck since new, it’s a one family truck, bought new in San Antonio in 1996, and driven more than 367k miles on the original drivetrain. As a kid I remember seeing it for the first time in our church parking lot, window sticker still applied. I remember thing it was the coolest truck ever, that started my appreciation of the 80 series. One of the owners daughters ended up with it in the early 2000s, and I saw it almost daily for years in high school and early college years.

About 15 years ago I told the owner that if they ever decided to sell their 80, I’d love a crack at it.

Two weeks ago I got the call, the 80 was cruising down the highway and “just died” unfortunately after 367k miles, the engine decided to exit stage left. They offered to sell it to me, on the condition that I get it back on the road… and I jumped at the chance!

I rented a truck and trailer, conned my brother into helping, stopped at harbor freight for a come along and went on the recovery mission.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished and we had a blowout on our rental trailer, thankfully while we were on a round about Highway exit at relatively low speed.

Once unloaded, I used my “daddy-wagon” and a couple shipping blankets to get it pushed up my steep driveway and snuggled in next to the 40 series my wife affectionately calls “the mistress”…

Hey, two major projects are better than one!

Overall the 80 is very rust free, never been in an accident or off road for that matter, it’s bone stock and pretty much all original/OEM serviced.

For now, the plan is:
1. gather parts to LS/4L80E swap it.
2. Strip and refresh interior.
3. Fix slow windows regulators
4. Fix slow lock actuators
5. Fix tail gate latch
6. Fix sunroof
7. 2” Dobinsons lift
8. Rear bumper
9. Long range fuel tank
10. Exterior paint and minor body work
11. Sliders and mud flaps.


That list is in no order, I’ve got a long road in front of me for this project, and honestly have probably bitten off more than I can chew, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

The end goal: to have a reliable family Cruiser capable of taking my wife and two young children on adventures around South Texas. It will be more overland focused than a crawler build.

Wish me luck, these 80s are way more involved than the FJ40 I’ve owned for the last 15 years!

 

[Fj80oregon]

Nice ride, why not just fix the engine? What is wrong with it?

 

[Xylonmedia]

Nice ride, why not just fix the engine? What is wrong with it?

Great question, I haven’t even popped the hood yet to look, but, the previous owner said their mechanic (a reputable independent toyota mechanic) recommended a $9000 engine change after it was run on the highway with zero oil pressure…

I’ll definitely be diagnosing that myself before I go all out on a full swap.

 

[Pippylongsausage]

Nice color! Your story is very similar to mine. Mine was bequeathed to the family’s 16 year old who didn’t keep up with the oil and it spun a bearing and seized.

I don’t disagree with the LS swap but rebuilding the 1fz was a fun experience and I wanted to keep mine mostly Toyota so I ended up restoring it to perfection (mechanically at least) and then after a year decided to open the turbo can o worms.

Either way you go, congrats on a nice truck!

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

Great story! Good for you!

 

[COYS]

Awesome! Enjoy!

 

[1MAC]

Any progress on the engine swap? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[Xylonmedia]

It’s been more than a year since my last update on this project. And while I have made some progress, it has been a lot slower than I would like.

Like with any major project, it’s snowballed.

From my last update the cruiser sat pretty much untouched in my garage. Thought it quickly became my kids favorite jungle gym while working out in the garage:

On June 16th 2024, I found a sweet deal on a 2018 L86 and 10L80 take out from an Escalade with 36k miles. I rented a trailer, made the 4 hour trek to Houston and picked up the new heart for the Beast

The drivetrain came on a plastic pallet… which collapsed in marvelous fashion. Then I put it on a set of overpriced LT engine stands which were advertised to support an LT engine and transmission… this thing failed the second I put the weight of the engine on it.

So the drivetrain ended up on a tire for a few months… but between the tire and the hoist, I was losing a ton of space in my cramped two car garage.

I bought a much heavier duty LS engine stands which from Speedway and a set of ICT Billet engine conversion plates. This solution has held up much better. It’s easy to move around the shop.

 

[Xylonmedia]

From there. I started stripping the drivetrain from the truck. An hour here, an hour there… it was about this point that the sheer cost of the work to be done started coming clear… I have been meticulously tracking my build plan, including cost, labor hours, and side projects.

I decided that it would be wise to find some labor intensive projects to work

On while I saved for expensive LT swap components and research time.

So naturally, I decided to strip the body down and remove the interior. I removed the majority of the interior until I realized I can’t get the headliner out with the 80 in my garage.

I need to recover the headliner. While it’s out, I also want to plug weld the roof rack holes… and (horrors) I plan on welding a patch panel in place Of the Sun roof. I’m hoping this work will result in a more weatherproof future of the rig.

While the interior is out, I’ll redo the window runs and insulate the heck out of it and replace the carpet. I’m still undecided kn the seats. At least for now I may just put covers on the existing seats. Eventually I’d like to do something more comfortable that doesn’t cost Scheel-Mann money…

While striping the interior, I managed to remove all the peeling faux wood grain from the interior. Mine had delaminated over the years and colored into some weird yellow tone. I did basically destroy the key panel around the steering wheel. Thankfully I found a $50 replacement in perfect shape:

 

[Xylonmedia]

I removed the steering wheel and installed a Loncky steering wheel cover. All in, I spent about 6 hours labor on this little project. While not perfect (thanks to me learning as I was going) the final result is phenomenal and miles better than the slip on cover hiding the beat up steering wheel. This steering wheel project was the first component I’ve finished and put back on the truck. After months of either staring at the truck, or disassembling things, it felt good to complete something for a change.

 

[Xylonmedia]

Accessory drive:

Let it be no secret, I set out on this project closely following Matt’s project Sparkles Build and the Project Wintergreen build threads. These two trucks and installed methods are pretty much directly copied here. One area where both builds have commented needing improvement is the L86 power steering solution. I too ordered the Tejas Steelworks kit, pump, and pulley. And I was pretty much resigned to the reality of a tight fit to the steering gear box and pump/frame.

Then I learned that Mitch at Swaptime Offers a “swaptime drive kit” for the L86 which mounts the pump up high like an oem integration. Being a frugal(ish) guy, I started researching other options.

I learned that you can swap an L87 water pump into your L86 (just swap out the temperature sensor for the l86 temp sensor) and in doing so, you get rid of the weird offset water pump, you can get a high volume HD water pump with threads for a fan clutch (doubt this will fit in the 80 but a nice option) and you get rid of the dumb separate ac compressor/alternator bracket. They both mount directly to the L87 water pump.

Accessory drive Before:

Finally, ICT Billet offers a power steering kit for the L87, this bracket uses the same power steering pump the Tejas Steelworks kit uses, and it puts the power steering pump basically where the L86 water pump pulley was… this swap costs about 1/3 the price of the Swaptime Drive kit, and I think looks a lot more polished. The bracket sandwiches the pump and holds it extremely securely.

L87 water pump TOP
L86 water pump BOTTOM

ICT L87 power steering mock up

Final mock up accessory drive. I’m very happy with how tight it is to the heads.

Note: I spent a ton of time researching this and while it is not installed and working on the truck yet, I do not foresee any issues with it physically sitting in the truck. One item k lost a lot of sleep about, the AC compressor. In all the power steering kits I researched, nobody specifically mentioned compatibility with factory AC… pictures, schematics, etc, all excluded it. I pulled the trigger on the purchase and then realized I was way over complicating the whole swap. The AC compressor runs on a dedicated belt slightly behind the serpentine belt. It’s excluded from all the diagrams because it’s totally separate. Lesson learned, go outside and look at the motor for a bit before losing sleep over it!

One additional concern: there are a couple harness connectors behind the center of the water pump. On the L86, these were very easy to access. With the L87 pump; these will be next to
Impossible to service without removing the water pump.

While installing the new accessory drive and tensioner/idler I also removed the vacuum pump and installed plugs and a ICT Billet block off plate.

<ICT Billet vacuum block off plate>

 

[Xylonmedia]

Transfer-case:

With accessory drive solutions in place… I decided it was time to get eyes on the Transfer-case. Originally I was planning on just removing the Transfer-case then installing it directly on the swap. BUT, at 367k miles, it was leaking… from everywhere. I’m 99% certain it has never been apart based on its condition.

Removing it was a challenge, the whole underside of the truck is coated in just about every fluid you could imagine. And every connector or hose has crumbled when touched. As the truck sits today, I’m going to need to rehab the entire Transfer-case sub-harness.

When I started this project the goal was to do as much of the work myself as possible. For me, this is about developing a real skillset and understanding the hobby. So naturally, I started looking into what it would take for me to rebuild the Transfercase on my own.

That’s when I found Benjamin Draper’s (project wrongway) Transfercase rebuild video with Georg Esterer on YouTube… closely followed by Timmy the Toolman and Georg Esterer’s subsequent HF2AV rebuild video series… I called Georg, he provided some really great advice for my specific build. And I ended up purchasing a complete Transfercase rebuild kit from him. Overall, I was and still am thoroughly impressed by the integrity and speed with which Georg runs Valley Hybrids. I’ll be purchasing a bunch more from him in the future.

A couple things to note if you choose to follow my adventure. The video series installs a lower gear set and part time kit.

80 series transfer case rebuild - Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I did a straight rebuild of my Transfercase. This meant reinstalling my original center diff. There is a bearing inside that component that is not included in the rebuild kit. I’m pretty sure this is because the majority of guys rebuilding these are part time swapping them. The bearing is NSK DB503305, and by chance, was the only bearing in my Transfercase that actually showed wear and was near failure. The bearing proved to be slightly difficult to obtain using the open web. I finally found an eBay listing for it and had it shipped from Australia before the Tariffs took effect

I took my time on this project. Lots of watching the videos, following the steps, cleaning, scrubbing, painting, etc. Georg mentions in the video series that it takes about 15 hours for them to rebuild a case. I did it in 47… and still need to install a couple external bits.

 

[Xylonmedia]

Torfab kit:

Earlier this spring, the Torfab swap kit came back in stock, I was quick to order it and put it on the shelf for when we get to the install portion of this project. I’m impressed with the overall quality of the kit. I Notice that now the kit doesn’t include any of the transmission shifter components that it used to.

After watching the different solutions everyone has come up with, and the fact I’m not overly committed to keeping the 80 factory appearing… I’m toying with changing the shifter to a modern 10L shifter that has the tap shift buttons built in. They are also cable shifters, making them a lot more adaptable to the 80 series. I haven’t bought anything yet. I may change my mind when it comes time to execute.