Been on here for a few months now, and thought Id throw up a little thread about my wife's '91 LC80. This is really just to keep track of progress and share a bit of what I'm doing.
We got this thing Sep. 2023 after the wife's '04 Mini Cooper S s*** the bed. It had a bad water pump leak, and with the new Minis if anything on the engine goes bad you basically have to take the entire front end off the car and take all the accessories off the motor to get to anything. HUGE pain in the ass. It was also just not in very good shape cosmetically. So it went on the chopping block.
The goal was to replace the Mini with something 4x4 that she could drive to work in the snow, because she always gets super freaked out by cold weather and insists on driving my '17 Tacoma when it gets nasty out. We looked around for a while for all kinds of Toyotas, and finally found this 80 series listed for $3,500. I knew it would be rough, but I knew I could fix anything on it relatively easily compared to modern cars. I'v been working on cars from the 70s-90's for about 18 years now, so I'm very comfortable with most of auotmotive work.
Driving the Land Cruiser back was a bit dangerous but also very enjoyable. Lots of giggles. Every turn was an adventure as the tires were cracked and warn, the shocks were bad, and every suspension bushing was completely warn out. Total boat on the road. The brakes were questionable, the windows wouldn't go up and down, and it had a bad exhaust leak. It had a cracked front windshield, and a warn out interior. The good is that it has no rust at all. Super solid.
I think the PO had used it as a hunting rig in eastern WA because it was very very dirty and dusty inside and there were shell casings everywhere.
The day we got it.
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
I've done a lot of work since that day. Thanks to this forum I got a comprehensive list of all the jobs I had to do together and ordered all the parts. Most of it being fairly strait forward bolt on work, but I battled the exhaust leak for weeks. It was between the manifolds and the down pipe flanges, and just kept loosening up. Turned out the flanges were warped badly so I ground them flat'ish, and then finished them by hand with a file and blue die to mark low and high spots. I also found that the threads in the manifolds for the down pipe were stripped out so the studs kept pulling out when I tightened the nut down. I had to TIG weld a few of the studs in from the top of the flange, like a plug weld. I'm not planning on keeping this motor for ever so I'm not worried about removing those studs.
Right when I thought I had the 80 running tip top, we took it on a trip over to my moms, and on the way back it blew the hell out of the top coolant hose while we were driving. Coolant gauge never moved so I'm guessing the temp sensor was bad. Scared the s*** out of both of us. Had to sign up for AAA on the side of the road, and get a tow home. Then I had the pleasure of of replacing the head gasket and all the coolant parts besides the radiator in a weekend. Got it done in about a day and a half.
Now we are finally at a point where the LC is running reliably and we can have some fun with it. Its a relief.
List of things I'v replaced or upgraded.
Engine:
New head gasket
New coolant pump
Flushed the engine out with Sea Foam and a cheap filter and oil, then did a K&N filter and good oil
Air filter
New intake boots
Painted valve cover (+5hp)
New thermostat
Replaced all coolant sensors
EGR delete
Cleaned IAC Valve
New fuel injectors and plugs
New distributor cap and rotor
New engine mounts
New vacuum hoses
New coolant hoses
New heater valve and heater core flush
Spark plugs and leads
Cleaned TB
New TPS
TIG welded a custom 2.5" stainless exhaust from the manifolds back with a Flowmaster 50 series
New drive belts
Previous owner deleted the AC
Wiring and electrical:
New alternator
New Optima battery
New ground wires
New power wire to starter
New fusible link
Moved the engine bay fuse box farther away from the exhaust with a custom bracket and wrapped it in gold heat reflective tape, cleaned all contacts, no more starting issues
Wired in an AUX Beam 8 gang switch
Atoto head unit and reverse cam
JBL door speakers
Brakes:
New pads and rotors up front
New brake hoses up front
New MC and fluid
Suspension:
ICON stage 1 3" lift kit
New urethane bushings everywhere
Delta panhard lift bracket (this made a surprising amount of difference in handling!)
Steering:
I TIG welded new steering links with DOM tube (steering wheel now stays center)
Body:
Depo lights and indicators
New window motors and lubed rubber tracks
New windshield glass and gasket
Painted grill black with SEM trim black
Wheels and Tires:
33" BFG KO2s on stock wheels (for now...)
This is how the car sits now.
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Plans for this year are to get some bumpers on, and prep the truck for some overland trips. New seats are a must. I have a bad back and the driver seat is missing a lot of foam on the left which makes me sore. Maybe build some drawers for the back, and get a tent mounted up. We have driven most of the WBDR in my Tacoma, and have learned A LOT about what we need to bring and what is not necessary.
I also want to keep improving the look of the 80. Maybe a bed liner paint job as the paint is totally shot. I need to rebuild the axles too, the front axles are leaking.
Next year I want to do new wheels and some 35" KO3s with gears and lockers. Some Rock Jock sway bars are also in the works eventually. I'm also planning an LS swap down the road.
I have to watch my spending and time spent on this project, because I have been working on a Jeep build for over 2 years now and I really want to get it done this year. I have a '81 Jeep DJ5 postal Jeep that I converted to 4x4 with Charokee axles and I put an LQ9 into. Reeeealy want to be driving that soon.
Anyways thats it for now. Ill be updating this thread as I go. Im a welder fabricator and IM hoping to be able to share some fun fabrication projects down the road, and maybe have a few fabricated items to sell down the road.
We got this thing Sep. 2023 after the wife's '04 Mini Cooper S s*** the bed. It had a bad water pump leak, and with the new Minis if anything on the engine goes bad you basically have to take the entire front end off the car and take all the accessories off the motor to get to anything. HUGE pain in the ass. It was also just not in very good shape cosmetically. So it went on the chopping block.
The goal was to replace the Mini with something 4x4 that she could drive to work in the snow, because she always gets super freaked out by cold weather and insists on driving my '17 Tacoma when it gets nasty out. We looked around for a while for all kinds of Toyotas, and finally found this 80 series listed for $3,500. I knew it would be rough, but I knew I could fix anything on it relatively easily compared to modern cars. I'v been working on cars from the 70s-90's for about 18 years now, so I'm very comfortable with most of auotmotive work.
Driving the Land Cruiser back was a bit dangerous but also very enjoyable. Lots of giggles. Every turn was an adventure as the tires were cracked and warn, the shocks were bad, and every suspension bushing was completely warn out. Total boat on the road. The brakes were questionable, the windows wouldn't go up and down, and it had a bad exhaust leak. It had a cracked front windshield, and a warn out interior. The good is that it has no rust at all. Super solid.
I think the PO had used it as a hunting rig in eastern WA because it was very very dirty and dusty inside and there were shell casings everywhere.
The day we got it.
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on FlickrI've done a lot of work since that day. Thanks to this forum I got a comprehensive list of all the jobs I had to do together and ordered all the parts. Most of it being fairly strait forward bolt on work, but I battled the exhaust leak for weeks. It was between the manifolds and the down pipe flanges, and just kept loosening up. Turned out the flanges were warped badly so I ground them flat'ish, and then finished them by hand with a file and blue die to mark low and high spots. I also found that the threads in the manifolds for the down pipe were stripped out so the studs kept pulling out when I tightened the nut down. I had to TIG weld a few of the studs in from the top of the flange, like a plug weld. I'm not planning on keeping this motor for ever so I'm not worried about removing those studs.
Right when I thought I had the 80 running tip top, we took it on a trip over to my moms, and on the way back it blew the hell out of the top coolant hose while we were driving. Coolant gauge never moved so I'm guessing the temp sensor was bad. Scared the s*** out of both of us. Had to sign up for AAA on the side of the road, and get a tow home. Then I had the pleasure of of replacing the head gasket and all the coolant parts besides the radiator in a weekend. Got it done in about a day and a half.
Now we are finally at a point where the LC is running reliably and we can have some fun with it. Its a relief.
List of things I'v replaced or upgraded.
Engine:
New head gasket
New coolant pump
Flushed the engine out with Sea Foam and a cheap filter and oil, then did a K&N filter and good oil
Air filter
New intake boots
Painted valve cover (+5hp)
New thermostat
Replaced all coolant sensors
EGR delete
Cleaned IAC Valve
New fuel injectors and plugs
New distributor cap and rotor
New engine mounts
New vacuum hoses
New coolant hoses
New heater valve and heater core flush
Spark plugs and leads
Cleaned TB
New TPS
TIG welded a custom 2.5" stainless exhaust from the manifolds back with a Flowmaster 50 series
New drive belts
Previous owner deleted the AC
Wiring and electrical:
New alternator
New Optima battery
New ground wires
New power wire to starter
New fusible link
Moved the engine bay fuse box farther away from the exhaust with a custom bracket and wrapped it in gold heat reflective tape, cleaned all contacts, no more starting issues
Wired in an AUX Beam 8 gang switch
Atoto head unit and reverse cam
JBL door speakers
Brakes:
New pads and rotors up front
New brake hoses up front
New MC and fluid
Suspension:
ICON stage 1 3" lift kit
New urethane bushings everywhere
Delta panhard lift bracket (this made a surprising amount of difference in handling!)
Steering:
I TIG welded new steering links with DOM tube (steering wheel now stays center)
Body:
Depo lights and indicators
New window motors and lubed rubber tracks
New windshield glass and gasket
Painted grill black with SEM trim black
Wheels and Tires:
33" BFG KO2s on stock wheels (for now...)
This is how the car sits now.
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on Flickr
Untitled by Jeremy Nugent, on FlickrPlans for this year are to get some bumpers on, and prep the truck for some overland trips. New seats are a must. I have a bad back and the driver seat is missing a lot of foam on the left which makes me sore. Maybe build some drawers for the back, and get a tent mounted up. We have driven most of the WBDR in my Tacoma, and have learned A LOT about what we need to bring and what is not necessary.
I also want to keep improving the look of the 80. Maybe a bed liner paint job as the paint is totally shot. I need to rebuild the axles too, the front axles are leaking.
Next year I want to do new wheels and some 35" KO3s with gears and lockers. Some Rock Jock sway bars are also in the works eventually. I'm also planning an LS swap down the road.
I have to watch my spending and time spent on this project, because I have been working on a Jeep build for over 2 years now and I really want to get it done this year. I have a '81 Jeep DJ5 postal Jeep that I converted to 4x4 with Charokee axles and I put an LQ9 into. Reeeealy want to be driving that soon.
Anyways thats it for now. Ill be updating this thread as I go. Im a welder fabricator and IM hoping to be able to share some fun fabrication projects down the road, and maybe have a few fabricated items to sell down the road.
