What Did You Do with Your 80 This Weekend? (41 Viewers)

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Bought a little Miata to get around town. It’s so much fun to drive and it’s amazing driving 275 miles then putting 8 gallons of gas in it to fill it back up.

This will give me the opportunity to do some stuff to the 80 I have been holding off on as I need it ready to go everyday for school.

Basic idea is
New seats
Fix sunroof rattle
PHH finally
New heater valve
Deflare and weld the holes
Maybeeee new front and rear bumper with winch

Nothing to crazy it’ll be nice to be able to take my time with it though and do it right


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Bought a little Miata to get around town. It’s so much fun to drive and it’s amazing driving 275 miles then putting 8 gallons of gas in it to fill it back up.

This will give me the opportunity to do some stuff to the 80 I have been holding off on as I need it ready to go everyday for school.

Basic idea is
New seats
Fix sunroof rattle
PHH finally
New heater valve
Deflare and weld the holes
Maybeeee new front and rear bumper with winch

Nothing to crazy it’ll be nice to be able to take my time with it though and do it right


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Cool, and then when your done with the 80 you can drop a 5.0 in it....
 
Bought a little Miata to get around town. It’s so much fun to drive and it’s amazing driving 275 miles then putting 8 gallons of gas in it to fill it back up.

This will give me the opportunity to do some stuff to the 80 I have been holding off on as I need it ready to go everyday for school.

Basic idea is
New seats
Fix sunroof rattle
PHH finally
New heater valve
Deflare and weld the holes
Maybeeee new front and rear bumper with winch

Nothing to crazy it’ll be nice to be able to take my time with it though and do it right


View attachment 1838369

I’m a big Miata fan. I’ve had 3 NA’s and 2 ND’s. Decided to get back into off-roading, so I sold off the ND’s, and bought a 95 with 172k last year, and a 97 locked LX with 92k on it this past week. Was waiting for AEV to do something with the JL Wrangler, but the LX came along and I couldn’t pass it up. Looking to do a full build on the LX. Currently talking with Delta VS. My old built WJ, and my current 80 and new LX:
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I wanted to follow up to report that after replacing the water pump the knocking noise went away. I used my mechanic's stethoscope but still couldn't pinpoint the sound. I was replacing the water pump anyway as preventative maintenance along with a few hard to reach bypass hoses. Ended up replacing the valve cover gasket,spark plug gaskets, throttle body gasket, and cleaned the throttle body since I had it apart. Also threw some high heat paint on the spark plug covers after degreasing the whole thing. View attachment 1838118
Damn it! I jumped the gun. Heard a little knocking again this morning on cold startup. Seems to show up when it's fairly cold outside. Maybe a pulley bearing?
 
Went to the Junk Yard here by my house. Got the door buttons from a 3rd gen 4runner and a couple off a Previa. The ones off the previa passenger front door have the same plug as the 80 but are too short for the rear doors on the 80. The ones off the 4runner have a different plug, but are the same so they will work anyway, just have to cut and splice the plug.

I have tried and tried to get these damn plugs undone/snapped so that I could clean up my rear button contacts. I have decided just to cut the wires and splice in new connectors.
 
I've got a kodiak too, love it. Upgraded to some 8" lag bolts and an impact for the stakes. Makes it much quicker to assemble
I use 10" x 5/8" power pole step bolts. I strip them off of old power poles sometimes when I'm at work.
 
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Been chasing a noticeable drop in power for a little while. In the process I found a bad fuel pump (replaced), went through the intake system (all checked out), checked timing (all good) and in the end found that my dual Magnaflow cats were both clogged. Replaced them today with new hi flow cats. Wasn't where I wanted to spend money right now but boy the truck runs a whole lot better now that it can breath again.
 
I have tried and tried to get these damn plugs undone/snapped so that I could clean up my rear button contacts. I have decided just to cut the wires and splice in new connectors.
They dont look like they are meant to be removed easily. Luckily, at Disneyland(aka the Junk Yard for car guys) you can break a few panels off or yank on stuff till you figure out how to properly disassemble it. So you have to stick a pick in there to release the little catch.
 
So I am starting to put panels on and already finding out that I may have to redo the way I have the wits End qpm. Just move around the fuses and maybe the Whelen relay controller. But I may just cut out a huge removable panel to ease access. But I will just start assembling things for now to get a feel for where I want things. Then once I am comfortable with the layout and how things work I will tidy up the wiring. Anyhow, this is the Whelen relay control panel up by the mirror.
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I may even go ahead and stick the headliner back on now. I think I will stick the CB and Ham in the center console.
The Relay controller shows an indicator LED when the circuit is on at the relay controller and at the control unit up front. If there is a fault, the one at the relay controller should show a blinking LED.
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New Napa (SKF) u joints for the front driveshaft. No more dropping them to grease or trying to get into them with special attachments on the grease gun.

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Haven’t been here for a while but today we took the cruiser to test drive it’s new shoes to our local mountain in SoCal.
Loved the Nitto trailgrapppers but wanted to try something new. My options were KM3, nitto TG and MTR Kevlar. After tons of research I decided to go with another E rated tire that is almost 10 pounds lighter and has great reviews, the Cooper Discoverer (it also has great looks). It ended up being narrower than I thought but I’m starting to like even more and should be easier on cruiser.


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Holy Jim Fire

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Haven’t been here for a while but today we took the cruiser to test drive it’s new shoes to our local mountain in SoCal.
Loved the Nitto trailgrapppers but wanted to try something new. My options were KM3, nitto TG and MTR Kevlar. After tons of research I decided to go with another E rated tire that is almost 10 pounds lighter and has great reviews, the Cooper Discoverer (it also has great looks). It ended up being narrower than I thought but I’m starting to like even more and should be easier on cruiser.


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Holy Jim Fire

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The Cooper is a good looking tire for sure. I've had the same ones on my cruiser for the past year. I found them to be bit slushy in corners when aired down (duh, I know an aired down tire will not feel totally planted). But the Cooper felt more soft than other tires I've had so they felt less controlled and they would understeer more when pushed hard. But I tend to drive a little faster than some. My favorites have been the MTR, so maybe that will be the next one your try? They had great control and grip and the corner turn-in was better. My Coopers have started to get very loud once they hit about 50% tread.

All that said, they haven't been terrible and I know a lot of people really like 'em. I liked them, just not as much as some others. Hope you have a good experience with them. Definitely look good on your truck.
 
Haven’t been here for a while but today we took the cruiser to test drive it’s new shoes to our local mountain in SoCal.
Loved the Nitto trailgrapppers but wanted to try something new. My options were KM3, nitto TG and MTR Kevlar. After tons of research I decided to go with another E rated tire that is almost 10 pounds lighter and has great reviews, the Cooper Discoverer (it also has great looks). It ended up being narrower than I thought but I’m starting to like even more and should be easier on cruiser.


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Holy Jim Fire

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I ran the Cooper STT Pro on my 02 Xterra and loved them. On the freeway/highway they were not too loud. As far as wheeling they were great too. Several times I had taken the Xterra into some soft mud/slippery rock and never shifted into 4wd. The lugs are spaced well allowing them to toss mud and keep your tires clear to ensure they maintain traction.
 

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