1994 Land Cruiser Build! Pic heavy.

[DesertFZJ80]

Hi all, being a lurker on here for a while I thought I'd post up a build thread for my 80!

After scanning craigslist everyday for a couple of months I found what I had been looking for, a white 1994 Land cruiser with 247k on the clock, although it doesn't have lockers we got a great deal from the seller that we couldn't refuse. Cloth interior in near mint condition apart from the cracked dash which is typical from being in arizona, the truck is originally from phoenix and is 100% free of any rust.

Heres some pics from the ad, as well as when we picked it up -

I have a few months of progress i'll be uploading here shortly, let me tell you it looks much different :victory:

 

[DesertFZJ80]

The day I brought it home the side steps came off and I hand waxed the paint to pull the 20 years of oxidation out of the clear, it came out amazing and shines like new, soon I will be hitting it with the buffer to really make it pop. A few weeks later after the full tune up with fresh toyota parts, I found myself wanting to paint the wheels, they were flaking and couldn't be saved.

Over the next week I spent each night individually pulling each wheel and hand sanding it to smooth all rough edges, I knew I wanted the wheels a darker color but I didn't want to do black, so I went to Home Depot and found a nice dark silver/grey that compliments the color of the bumpers.

About 6 coats of paint later and this was the result-

The following week an awesome box came in the mail, I'm sure we can all guess what that was -

 

[LifeOverland]

Good Looking cruiser!

 

[bernardbarbour]

Great, I'm looking forward to following this thread. I had a 94 also. I built it up for an expedition in which we drove all through Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. They are great trucks and watching you do this one brings back good memories. When I sold my truck, the guy that bought it shipped the truck to Africa. He said they are hard to find in Africa especially with all the modifications. Good luck with your build. I'll be watching.

 

[DesertFZJ80]

Great, I'm looking forward to following this thread. I had a 94 also. I built it up for an expedition in which we drove all through Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. They are great trucks and watching you do this one brings back good memories. When I sold my truck, the guy that bought it shipped the truck to Africa. He said they are hard to find in Africa especially with all the modifications. Good luck with your build. I'll be watching. View attachment 227041

Wow thats awesome! Such a great looking cruiser, I hope to take mine on trips out of the country some day. Hope you enjoy the coming updates, I have quite a bit to post to get to how the truck looks now.

 

[DesertFZJ80]

The good ol' michelins had reached the end of their life, badly dry rotted and cracked on the inner and outer sidewalls; it was time for some new tires.
Decided on 33in Cooper Discoverers and couldn't be happier, kind of dumb on my part to paint the wheels before getting new tires but to my surprise the paint stayed perfectly intact. Very smooth ride with little noise, no loss of power, no rubbing. -

 

[DesertFZJ80]

The land cruiser stayed in that state for about a month and a half, took it on a couple of outings to the local trails and to the lake with friends. Next up was prepping for overland expo! Started gathering storage boxes, padding for sleeping, lights, new ice chest. A trip to bass pro took care of that. My dad got me an awesome 2 row 30 inch LED light bar for my birthday and I decided to mount it on my bumper as it was the same width as the grille.

Next post I'll be showing my prep for overland expo, My girlfriend and I took the Land cruiser, My mom and dad took my dads Raptor, and a friend took her families very clean 97' Land cruiser, OME lift, ARB rack, factory lockers, with a very comfortable 125k miles!

 

[CYK]

Nice find. Keep posting. Many thanks.

 

[DesertFZJ80]

Nice find. Keep posting. Many thanks.

Thanks!

 

[DesertFZJ80]

I had started the prep for overland expo, took a trip to the bass pro shops Great outdoors store to pick up some stuff for the land cruiser, and some basic survival stuff I couldn't live without!

Bought a small ice chest for food and drinks, a waterproof box for the basics (lighters, flashlights, map, life straw, knife, etc.) Two life straws, a 7gal water can made of thick plastic, and a pack of LED flash lights for $9.00 on sale, which always come in handy -

Obviously this is a very temporary sleeping set up, 3 comforters plus a sleeping bag was barely enough, I'm also too tall so I was practically bent in half. Very happy with the mummy bag though, good for up to 30 degrees and did nicely in the 46 degree weather up north. My next post will be of my journey to overland expo from Phoenix, should be up shortly! Thanks for reading.

 

[Gone2Baja]

Nice find! I've been drooling over 80 series Land cruisers myself for some time now, it will be fun watching your build.

 

[marshal]

more more more more!

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

More... More...

 

[DesertFZJ80]

We woke up bright and early and hit the road to Overland Expo!

A very quick change of scenery as the elevation rises!

The map took us off of I17 North and put us on an awesome 15 mile dirt road through the trees and put us on Highway 87

Finally made it! Perfect scenic drive in the last hour or so.

Waiting in line to get over to the camping area

Next post coming shortly!

 

[DesertFZJ80]

Wish I had gotten a chance to experience the course, it was very cool to watch!

A temporary parking spot while we went and enjoyed the show :sombrero:

Very motivational walking through the camp grounds! Awesome trucks left and right -

Envious of anything diesel and right hand drive :drool:

Cool seeing this one in person

Love the boxes on this one!

More in the next post!