Wyoming 1997 FZJ80 AE Build

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residualboulders

residualboulders

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Joined
Apr 2, 2003
Threads
138
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2,012
Location
Wyoming
With my youngest about to turn 16 I started looking around for a vehicle for her. After several months a low mile 1997 popped up for sale in Jackson Hole. An older couple kept it at their summer home up there and had decided to part with it. I drove up to check it out. Made the seller an offer. He was acting weird about it, like he didn't want to make a deal. He didn't seem like he had a connection to it like you know a cruiser head would so not sure what his hesitation was. It had a couple of cosmetic issues, smelled like dogs. I wasn't too upset about it and left.

The next day he texted me wondering if I was still interested. I said yeah not really, but probably would take it at a lower number. He called later that night and wanted to do the deal. In this case it paid for me to not be too invested and walk, ha ha.

As soon as I got home I grabbed my daughter from school and we took the daddy daughter 80s out for a quick overnighter with her siblings.

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It's a 1997 Anniversary Edition without front and rear locking diffs. 134k miles when we picked it up. It has a little dent in the rear quarter. The front and rear bumpers were in great condition but a bit tweaked on their mounting brackets. The interior smelled like dogs. I'm not a dog person, but I recognize that most people are - including my wife and kids. Financially pets make no sense to me, but I'm getting old and grumpy. My point is it stunk when the sun warmed it up. It needed a good cleaning. The rear quarter dent was the biggest issue to me, but repairable. Engine was very clean, no leaks and it ran great.

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The front seatbelts were not retracting properly anymore so i pulled them out to send off to safety restore. Then I decided to send the steering wheel off to craft customs to restore while it had no seatbelts. Then decided to clean the carpets. One thing lead to another....

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Used a steam cleaner to get the floor all cleaned up then installed some sound deadener. Replaced the factory head unit with an alpine screen, back up cam, new door and dash speakers, amp and subwoofer.

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Mosely Motors reupholstery kit, which is Katskin. It took 2-3 weeks from the time of order to delivery. I went non stock nuts and ordered the perforated center section. The kit seems to be a great color match to the factory seats. The lighter color is a bit warmer, but I prefer it. The leather is soft and pliable and the fit seems to be nice and snug. I have only done one of the rear seats so far.

Here is the color comparison with the factory front seat leather.
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The carpet beneath the back seats is not at all close to the factory carpet, but close to the light leather. I'm thinking they couldn't match the dark carpet like factory so this would look better than being inaccurate on the dark. I wish it matched the factory carpet, but this part of the seat will be hidden 99% of the time.
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One thing I prefer with the Mosely kit is the seat backs of the middle row are the dark leather instead of light which is stained and marked from stuff being in the cargo area. I think the darker back looks nicer.

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Amateur Advice: make sure you have the orientation of the headrest sleeves correct. That was the last step for me last night at midnight, then realized I put them in wrong. Have to disassemble part of the seat now to get them removed and done right.
 
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COS80 said:
How does this work? My PS belt barely retracts and is a pita.
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I just pulled them out and shipped them to Safety Restore. They repaired and shipped back within 48 hrs, I think. It was pretty quick. They just replaced the webbing and fixed the mechanism so it works again. At least I hope, I haven't reinstalled them yet, but that's what I asked them to do with them. I've never had luck with Seatbelt Planet type seatbelts, they just aren't great quality. So this time I decided to have the OEM sets restored. In my 1994 (which is grey) I was able to buy new OEM from Toyota but it took a whole ordering from different dealers until I found one that had them in stock. Seatbelt restore was more affordable.
 
I had ordered a carpet kit from stock interiors in the sandstone color which was supposedly the closest color match. It was fairly close I guess but I didn't love it and the vinyl trim they used on the tailgate piece was very orange like they didn't even try to get a close match. The carpet is also not the same quality as OEM.

My cargo area carpet was not stained, just dirty so I cleaned it up really well and will keep it. For the front I was able to find a dealer that had the OEM carpet. This is the way to go if it's in your budget. All the holes already precut, perforated sections that are optional to remove (like the rear heater if you don't have one) all the channels attached, sound deadening mat attached on the back too. And of course exact color match.

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Kabanstva said:
That’s beautiful. Did you sew that yourself? That looks professionally done.
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Thanks. It was professionally done. I did my 94 by myself. It turned out ok but not nearly as nice as this. Craft Customs did this one.
 
Custom Craft did an excellent job. Steering wheel matches perfectly. New OEM carpet, heated seats, ambient lighting, carplay, Mosely (katskin) upholstery going back in. It feels like a brand new, old 80 series. Starting to wonder if I want my daughter driving this one, lol.

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While I had everything taken apart I decided to add a USB / USBC charger. Depth was an issue. The blade connectors on the back of the charger were hitting components in the dash behind it. The most shallow charger I could find was this one from amazon. It was still pretty tight, so I used a 1 1/8" dia bike headset spacer to space it out and keep a clean look. I also used some 90 degree blade connectors on the back to minimize the depth. Turned out alright. Added one to the back of the center console as well - no spacer needed there. Considered adding a wireless charger for the top compartment of the center console. Still debating on that.

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bhsdriller said:
How much was the OEM carpet
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I had to search around to find a dealer that had it. Only the front section was available. $700-1200 depending on which dealer you can buy it from and what they will charge for shipping. Landcruiser Heaven lists it at $1599. Mine was around 800 shipped. For reference, the kit I bought from Stock interiors was the entire carpet kit. The tailgate trim was not even close to matching, carpet was a bit lighter and no holes are cut in anything - cost was almost $500 shipped to me. My cargo, tailgate and wheel well pieces were in great shape so it was worth the extra $300 to me to have it be a perfect match and all the holes pre-cut. It's better quality carpet too, and a much faster install. But not the cheapest option for sure.
 
residualboulders said:
Used a steam cleaner to get the floor all cleaned up then installed some sound deadener. Replaced the factory head unit with an alpine screen, back up cam, new door and dash speakers, amp and subwoofer.

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Happy with how the Amazon sound mat installed and reduced sound? Thinking about going this route.
 
hisandhers80s said:
Happy with how the Amazon sound mat installed and reduced sound? Thinking about going this route.
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I will let you know here shortly. Haven't been able to drive it because I just got my steering wheel back last night. It took about a month. I've been doing all these mods while it was undrivable. I went that route as I found an article reviewing the top 15ish sound mats available and amazon ranked fairly close to the top but it more on the inexpensive end. I also used Silas closed cell foam deadener on top.
 
bhsdriller said:
Thanks. With the toyota sale going on right now looks like could get it for under 700 shipped.

If they have it
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nice! Part of the problem was finding someone that had it. I bought mine from Lakeland Toyota in FL. They shipped it within 24 hrs. But I called 3 other dealers before them, they all said it was discontinued and not available.
 
Wow, great find and nice "all in" approach. Good inspiration for refurbishing mine...
 
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