RMP&O's v8 80-series

[RMP&O]

Snow wheeling is always fun!

I need my lockers wired up for this kind of activity. Seems the Inchworm harnesses are on back order.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Had a bit of drama this morning....

The battery terminals have been wasted since I got the truck. Just plain worn out and can't get them tight enough anymore. I believe it has the stock style 80-series terminals and since I have a number of things pulled off them I didn't want to change to a different style. Carquest said they are "military" terminals. So I ordered some up a few weeks ago as they didn't stock them anywhere here in town. I don't have a shop readily available to pull the truck into and work on it, always barrow shop time from a buddy in winter. Anyways, went to start my truck this morning and no go. Check terminals which I had worked on several times trying to make them better and sure enough they were loose again. So I decided no more slacking and time to put the new ones on! Thing is it was a high of 5 degrees today. So I cranked up the woodstove in the workshop, yes I actually have a shop but to small and to much crap in it to pull in the Cruiser. Spend 5 minutes working on the terminals and go inside to warm up by the stove for 10mins. Repeat until done. Brrrrrr, that was cold but I got it done and this should not be a problem any longer.

Exciting I know!

Cheers

 

[krazytoy]

How come you look stuck in all the pictures? Hahahahaha....

Just kidding man, it was a fun day and glad we got to go, good snow and good people! Looks like we both have some work to do!

 

[RMP&O]

How come you look stuck in all the pictures? Hahahahaha....

Just kidding man, it was a fun day and glad we got to go, good snow and good people! Looks like we both have some work to do!

Because I was stuck!

No lockers sucks! One trip snow wheeling is better than none this year though. Funny, a month ago we were at the dunes in t-shirts.

BTW, what goes around comes around!

See ya' this weekend.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

BTW, I have yet to spend the night in the back of the Cruiser. I must say I am jonzing to do that. Have to wait until spring/summer though unless I make it to Baja. Which BTW, may just happen!

 

[Driver-Navigator]

I've spent a few nights in my 80. With the 2nd row seat flipped up, there's still not quite enough room for me to be fully stretched out unless I sleep at an angle. Removing the 2nd row seat gives me plenty of room.

 

[RMP&O]

I've spent a few nights in my 80. With the 2nd row seat flipped up, there's still not quite enough room for me to be fully stretched out unless I sleep at an angle. Removing the 2nd row seat gives me plenty of room.

Thanks for your comments and info. I have not slept in it as I say so can't comment much but my buddy slept in his 80 a bunch, with his 5yr old kid too. So it should work for me no probs. Plus I plan to remove one of the rear seats, build a platform, ect. Keeping one seat for a 3rd person and for my dog, sleep on the side I remove the seat obviously.


I should have added this to the first post.....

I bought my first Cruiser back in early 1991, it was my B-day present to myself at that time. It was an 87 FJ60, bone stock with 40,000 miles on it. I was 17yrs old and it was my first 4wd, I bought it right before my 18th B-day. I lost my virginity in that truck (!) and did my first road trips as an adult in it too. Seattle, LA, SF and many camping trips in the Oregon Cascades. I still got a tattoo from one of those road trips to LA and still have a nice Gerber BMF knife I bought on the warf in Seattle all those years ago. I also got my first and only MIP with that truck, no I wasn't drinking and driving rather camping and drinking when good ole' ranger rick showed up! I think I also experienced my first speeding ticket in that truck too, if you can believe that. Ahhh, the memories! It was an expensive truck back then for such a young guy. I think I paid $13k or 14k for the 87 FJ60 in 91, not a small amount of cash for a young guy or back then but I did beat up the dealership for a couple grand over what they were asking, cash talks ya know! I had been looking at Rovers at the time and am very glad I never bought one, they were just out of my price range at that time. I almost bought a new Jeep Cherokee back then too but luckily didn't! FYI, I was not a trust funder, rather got some money from a few deaths in the family. Fast forward a few years and I was out of cash, still young and so I sold it. A few years later a buddy bought a brand new 94 FZJ80. He was not a trust funder either, he had gotten run over by a semi and got a settlement. That was my first experience with an 80 and I liked that truck a lot too!

Here is a picture of that 87 FJ60, I think this pictures is from 92, the only pic I have of the truck still.

A year or so after I sold the FJ60 I got an old 1967 Nissan Patrol. It sat on jack stands more than I drove it. I had it about 5yrs before leaving my home state and moving to the rockies. Then came a few years of no trucks for me, I litterally lived in an old van down by the river! Fast forward a few years and I got back into Nissan Patrols. Over the next 15yrs, I had many Patrols including several non-USA ones, a couple I imported myself. Then along comes that silver v8 FJ60 you see above and well, what can I say, I got the bug and am loving Cruisers all over again! So there is my back story for any who care to read it.....

My first Nissan Patrol in about 1992...

And that van I lived in down by the river! Circa 1996.

I know a lot of Cruiserheads are not big fans of Chevy v8's. Myself, I have owned 3 Chevy work trucks for 15yrs. I bought an 2001 2500HD new back in 2001 and it has been a great truck for me, I have put 180,000 on it now since I bough it new. So needless to say I am a big fan of Chevy v8s and after owning two Chevy v8 Cruisers feel they go perfect with the Cruisers.


MR. UPS brought me a nice box the other day. All Toyota parts.

-New windshield gasket
-2nd overhead light assembly
-clamshell
-front radius arm bushes & outer axle seals
-new fuse box cover, sweet!
-and some other nice goodies!

After so many years with such a rare truck as the Nissan Patrol, I am really enjoying being able to buy factory parts for my truck easily. It truly is bliss to a guy like me!

I just bought a clean used uncracked dash cap and some inner door handle backing plates. Both are cracked on my truck. I also bought a clean used e-brake handle as mine looks like a dog chewed on it.

Not long ago I got some Metaltech 2" spacers for the front, I am not a fan of stink bug. Hope to put those in soon.

I am real picky about the interiors on my trucks. This Cruiser is 23yrs old. Georg had it painted not all that long ago so the exterior is super clean and nice. But the interior shows 23yrs of use. It is not bad but certainly not perfect. So that is near the top of my list for the next 6 months or so. IE, slowly get everything together to restore the interior. I think I found a nice clean used dash cap, mine has three nasty cracks in it so I plan to buy the cap next week. And once I have all the bits in hand I plan to tackle taking the whole dash apart, replacing stuff, cleaning up P/O wiring, get heater vents all sealed up and working perfectly, ect ect ect. The truck also has 20 or so odd years of smog stains inside it. It lived a life in the city and whomever owned it drove with the windows down a lot. So cleaning the smog stains off everything is part of the overall plan too. Beyond this I do have some plans on the mechanical side of things too. Remove the drop brackets on the front axles and cut & turn it instead. Wire up my e-lockers. Sliders, belly skid, 37s, blah blah blah.

I also probably should have pointed out that Georg did not do this conversion. Rather he bought the truck already converted and just did some things to it while he owned the truck. However, I got to say, I love the v8 and 4L60e. The split case is awesome too. The t-case shifts very nice in and out of 4wd which I do that daily this time of year. With the FZJ80 center console, the split case shifter is right there in the perfect spot with my arm resting on the console. I really like it! The 5.7L has stock exhaust manifolds and they put the exhaust right over the frame rail on the LHS. Which results in a sharp 90 in the exhaust as it comes off the manifold and drops down outside the frame rail. I don't like this along with some of the exhaust routing, not to say it doesn't work and sound good, it does. I just have some pipe hanging down in locations that won't suit me for off-roading. So I hope to re-route or re-do a fair amount of the exhaust within the coming year. More research is needed but I think block hugger headers is the route I will end up going.

Cheers

 

[java]

As always, look forward to your mods!

 

[RMP&O]

I had/have an issue I posted about earlier in the thread, bit of rmp blip or surge. I was sure it was the leaking windshield gasket because it was doing it a ton in heavy rain. Seemed like the leak was dripping on the ECM behind the dash on the RHS. The reason I was sure this was it was because I put a rag on the leak and it stopped the blip immediately.

I talked to Georg about this issue before the road trip in the heavy rain and he said vss. Which totally makes sense. However, after the heavy rain and rag on the leak it stopped so I was sure that was the issue. However, it has now done it again a few times with zero rain. So I am now thinking vss again. That or a combination of the two or perhaps even a damaged ECM from the water.

As I understand it, the vss can be very finicky if it gets a tiny bit of water on the connection or if it gets a tiny bit of steel shaving on the actual sensor inside the trans. So I am now thinking, flush trans, clean vss, seal wire connection with dielectic grease, replace windshield gasket and stop any leaks, check ECM for damage and also try to get it to do it with a laptop or code reader hooked up. If none of these things fix it, I am at a loss and will have to brain storm some more. The issue though is certainly not causing me any breakdowns or major dramas yet but it is very annoying. I suppose it could also be a throttle body sensor but really doubting that is the issue. Perhaps a wire ground or shorting out. Unsure at this time but again, very annoying and it is also very random.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

This evening I installed a new VSS.

In my application the VSS is located on the adapter between the trans and the split case. No need to drain trans. However, I *****, the VSS is sunk so deep into the adapter no room for a wrench/socket. I lucked out though as it was not tight, crescent wrench on the plug for the sensor and it came right out, installed new one same way.

I changed it and a few other things. I then went for a drive....

Holy crap! I slide into a large deep ditch! I thought no way I am driving out of this, going to have to call a buddy for help. Drove into the deep ditch, drove up the ditch towards the only exit, failed. Backed up and gave it the berries, and out she popped from the ditch! I am talking a ditch that started with a 5-6ft hole and then tapered off to a ditch 5-7ft wide by 4-5ft deep. Full of snow & ice, I figured I was screwed but man she pulled out no worries. Impressive considering my tires suck and I have no lockers.

did a 15 mile drive down the road, HWY speeds, and down shifting hard. All seems well with the trans now. Real test will come tomorrow when I drive the truck 200 miles.

Additional work:
-New clam shell installed
-changed oil & filter, 300 miles ago I put 1/2 can of seafoam in the oil
-new 2nd overhead light, works tops now!
-I found a burnt wire harness for the o2 sensors, cleaned and repaired and re-installed.
-New nozzles for windshield washer, super sweet as mine were toast!
-New retaining clips for sun visors, also sweet as mine were cracked and aged.
-New cap for windshield washer reservoir, mine was aged and cracked, new is nice
-Installed dash cap carpet from SOR. Pretty sweet in my opinion.
-Few other misc. things.

All in all, happy! Baby steps but every little bit is progress.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Well, rack this one up as a lesson learned. It would seem the vss was my problem. Two hundred mile drive yesterday, up and over the rockies and not a single problem. Keeping my fingers crossed for the next 500 miles I got to drive this week but I am fairly sure the issue I had can be checked off as fixed.

Cheers

 

[upcruiser]

Truck is looking sweet. Can't say I wouldn't love to do a SBC conversion in my 80 as well. Sounds like you guys are getting some good snow up there so far this season. We are missing Jackson.

Regarding sleeping in the back, I am 6 foot, can't sleep comfortably with the seats fold forward but if you remove the second row it is sweet. I built a 1 person bed in the back of mine, it is just below the window line and extends from the rear hatch to the back of the front seat. It is exactly 6 ft. Works well since I can leave the driver side second row seat portion in, like you are talking about and have two to 3 passengers. Spent months at a time living out of my 80 since I bought it in '01.

 

[RMP&O]

Truck is looking sweet. Can't say I wouldn't love to do a SBC conversion in my 80 as well. Sounds like you guys are getting some good snow up there so far this season. We are missing Jackson.

Regarding sleeping in the back, I am 6 foot, can't sleep comfortably with the seats fold forward but if you remove the second row it is sweet. I built a 1 person bed in the back of mine, it is just below the window line and extends from the rear hatch to the back of the front seat. It is exactly 6 ft. Works well since I can leave the driver side second row seat portion in, like you are talking about and have two to 3 passengers. Spent months at a time living out of my 80 since I bought it in '01.

Thanks! Everybody I know who likes 80's should try driving one with a v8 in it. It is simply divine!

Not as much snow here as we would like at all. Lacking actually.

If I could sleep in the back of a dbl cab Taco, I think I can manage alright in an 80!

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Getting a bit tired of waiting for the inchworm e-locker kits to come in. Thinking I may just go with one of these soon.

12-volt Guy
http://www.12voltguy.com/DUAL-E-LOCKER.html

Low Range Off-road
http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/inde...rness-kit-by-low-range-off-road-tdi-elwh.html

Cheers

 

[shmabs]

I ordered my single e locker from 12 volt guy without the big panel, he makes some nice stuff! Im generally an DIY guy, but for the price and not having to source the right connectors, it was too good of a deal.

Mike