Build US Spec. February 1990 Poverty 80 2uz/h151f swap

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Congratulations finding your 80. My gets driven regularly but I have not made any changes to it. I have put all my efforts into getting my 45 done.

I bought a non-cracked dash and some nice replacement door panels for it. I have a full 2uz drivetrain to swap into it at some point as well. Hopefully I will have to time for it next year.

Thank you.

The 2uz will be nice. I’ve always wondered why more people don’t go this route? I sub to this thread for updates.
 
I can clarify the seat situation. It did come with second row seats, but the "bench style" long second row seat rather than the split seats. With that style, you only had the six bolts, not eight. No third row seats though. That config was common in Australia for "poverty pack" models.
Quite interesting. I’ll be pulling out my bench seat to clean my carpet and I’ll check my seat bolt configuration.

Question, how difficult is it to find a rear bench seat in Australia?
 
Keep in mind that when the 80 Series started shipping in the US market, everything was an a-la-carte option and they were extremely difficult to get as the majority were being shipped over to the gulf war as UN vehicles. I had to special order mine months in advance from the dealer in 91. The standard package had no sunroof or 3rd row seating or fender flares or transmission cooler and came with a basic AM/FM/cassette. I have my original sales order floating around somewhere.

that would be cool to see.
 
Keep in mind that when the 80 Series started shipping in the US market, everything was an a-la-carte option and they were extremely difficult to get as the majority were being shipped over to the gulf war as UN vehicles. I had to special order mine months in advance from the dealer in 91. The standard package had no sunroof or 3rd row seating or fender flares or transmission cooler and came with a basic AM/FM/cassette. I have my original sales order floating around somewhere.
It's stories like these that I geek out about, original owners special ordering theirs brand new out of the factory. If only they kept the bare bones approach today with the US Spec 200. Same buyer, different time and prices.
 
Well the 2uz swap may happen sooner than I planned if I cannot figure out what I broke!

I took the 80 on a local Christmas Tree Run with the Hgh Desert Cruiser club and this happened.
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So at some point one of the battery hold down “J” hooks came off freeing the battery to bounce around.

While it bounced about it appears it started contacting the hood and welded the loose end of the battery hold down bar to the bottom of the hood. The continual contact of the terminals to the hood also started both the positive and negative winch cables on fire. The positive battery terminal also partially melted and the cable end came loose killing the truck at which time I could see smoke coming from under the hood. I sprang to action and pulled the hood release to see what the smoke was from and found the winch battery cables a blaze. I huffed and I puffed until the flames went out. Wow almost burned my Cruiser up?

I removed the winch cables, reconnect the positive cable, and used a bungee to secure the battery. After that, to my surprise, the truck started but not with out a few quirks.

It would not drive with the lights on and the few times I tried it would cause the check engine light to come on and the truck would start to sputter erratically and die. Turn the lights off and it would start back up just fine. It was getting dark so I drove it home without lights with one club member following me and one in front using their lights the rest of the way out.

I go the cruiser home and swapped out the fusible link with a new one hoping that it could be the problem, nothing changed. I also checked the battery and it is holding 12plus volts just fine and the alternator is charging as it should. I checked the fuses and everything checks out. I am not sure where to start digging next.

  • It starts just fine as long as the light switch is off.
  • With the 80 in Park the engine idles just as it did and revs up to high idle using the throttle pedal just as it did before.
  • This morning if I put it in gear and turn the lights on the check engine light comes on and the rpms get erratic until it dies. It only takes a second or two.
  • This morning I put it in reverse and it kept dyeing with the check engine light coming on.
I am not sure what to check from here. I would like to try and solve this before I do the engine swap but if is going to be costly I would rather sink the money into the 2uz swap.

Any ideas?
 
Do you have a spare ecu that you could try?
 
Open up the ecu and check for fried components or trace on the board.
 
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Did you poop a little?

I bet that was a scary moment seeing smoke coming out of your hood.
 
Are they hard to come by? If it were a 100 I could help.
I have not looked for one yet, so not sure. It could have a 100 ecu in it soon.
Open up the ecu and check for fried components or trace on the board.
I will do this tonight.
View attachment 3178370

Did you poop a little?

I bet that was a scary moment seeing smoke coming out of your hood.
I wasn’t really alarmed until I saw flames. Luckily I got to it quickly.
 
I did some things and so far have not figured it out. What I have done to this point:
  • Swapped out the fusible link for a new one
  • Checked all the fuses and swapped out a number on of them to to be sure
  • Swapped the EFI main relay for a known good one
  • Swapped the headlight relay for a known good one
  • Swapped out the battery for another
  • Pulled the ECU and looked at all the solder connections and every chip or resister in it and don’t see anything out of place, no bulging, no discoloration, melted or discolored connections. It looks clean but it is still possible something is not working inside it as it should.
C81730CB-793D-4079-B528-21A5D0193592.jpeg

I have been looking at a wiring diagram and can’t see how the light switch and wiring for them would affect the engine under load.

My next move might be to open up the harness between the battery and the relay box to see if there is something damaged.

Open to ideas?
 
The lights are where you should start looking. Work out what's wrong with that circuit and trace it back. With what happened here you might very well be looking at a melted wire somewhere, my bet would be up the front right around your battery. When you engage the lights (or apparently the reverse lights), 12v is apparently ending up somewhere else.

I once replaced a floor wiring harness with my 80 with one I bought from a wrecker. I didn't spot it during the install, but a small section was partially melted, fusing some wires together. Worked fine.... unless you turned on the radio. At that point, the speakers kept the ACC circuit powered, even if you removed the key! Turning off the radio turned off the ACC circuit.
 
The lights are where you should start looking. Work out what's wrong with that circuit and trace it back. With what happened here you might very well be looking at a melted wire somewhere, my bet would be up the front right around your battery. When you engage the lights (or apparently the reverse lights), 12v is apparently ending up somewhere else.

I once replaced a floor wiring harness with my 80 with one I bought from a wrecker. I didn't spot it during the install, but a small section was partially melted, fusing some wires together. Worked fine.... unless you turned on the radio. At that point, the speakers kept the ACC circuit powered, even if you removed the key! Turning off the radio turned off the ACC circuit.
Thanks for sharing your experience. This was my next guess. I will be pulling the loom off the front harness today that would include the head light wiring all the way to the relay box, looking for some damaged wiring. I will share my findings later today.
 
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If all else fails, run a new light switch on a new circuit and leave existing light switch/circuit in off position as an interim.
 
If all else fails, run a new light switch on a new circuit and leave existing light switch/circuit in off position as an interim.

As of last night with the lights of just shifting it into gear was enough to kill the engine, so the problem appears to be bigger than the light switch.

I have almost cleared the harness back to relay box and have not found any damaged/ fused wires. After lunch I will remove the relay box, so I can insect it from the bottom side and see all the wires going in.

I just told my wife that the 80 may be down for a while and she said, "you should just engine swap it." So I now know what I will be doing. unfortunately I I cannot start on it right away becuse I need to finish the the bed for my 45 first. I don't have the room to work on both vehicles until the bed is done. I will keep poking at the 80 to try and figure it out but I am not in a rush to solve the problem now.

I will have a 3FE and A440 for sale in the near future if anyone is looking!
 
After lunch I went back out decided to move the 80 to a better long term parking spot. I plugged the ECU back in and put the battery back it to move it. It is acting completely normal now! No issues with the lights on even with the high beams. Lights on and putting it in drive or reverse it acts like nothing is wrong. I expect what ever was causing the problem is hidden and I may not be able to identify it. Could there have been some glitch in the ECU that got reset when I plugged it back in?

Maybe one of the wires I unwrapped has a problem I cannot see, who knows?
 
The two closest to the battery box looked fine but I will check the others.
 
Could be Voltage. Have you checked it with the engine running? Alternator working?
 
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