RMP&O's v8 80-series

[RMP&O]

Got a bad cat, it started rattling within the last month. It is an OEM Chevy cat so either stock from 97 or 2002 when the swap was done. I recently started renting a room to an old friend in the house. He has tons of exhaust experience, his family owned Jardine Exhaust. So we plan to re-do all my exhaust, get some headers, new cats (or delete them) and a few other things.

I will be moving into the shop next to my house on June 1st. Beyond the front axle and castor work I am also planning on a few other things. Going to do a full go through on all my doors. New window channels, fix some issues, ect ect. I am also planning to do a Monstaliner, a cut & buff on what is not lined and an accent stripe down the side of the truck. Been talking to a buddy who does body work about this and got a quote for what I want to do.

Going to be a few months before much happens but by July I plan to have a lot if not all of this done and be moving on to building bumpers and doing front seats.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Just bought new wheels. Don't care for my current polished aluminum ones.

Went with Mickey Thompson Classic 3s, 15x8 with a 3.63 bs. Originally I had wanted to go with a 17 but since I wasted a tire in JV and had to replace it I got a new Cooper STT. Found the STT online for $185 a tire so went ahead about bought 4 more. That kind of made the decision for me to stick with 15" wheels. My calipers are already ground for 15" wheels so what the hell why not stick with it!? Way cheaper too than going 17s and new tires.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Got my new wheels mounted up. I like the look of the truck about 10x more now! Little to much rubber and not enough wheel for my tastes but it will do and was the cheapest option. Now I just need to build a rear bumper with tire carrier for my spare!

It really doesn't have this much stink bug, just the angle of the dangle.

In case you are wondering, the wheels are Mickey Thompson Classic 3's. 15x8 with 3.63ish b/s. Tires are Cooper STT in 35x12.5R15.

Slightly narrower wheel than I had before, pics don't show the slightly narrower stance but I like it. Would have rather went 37's on 17" wheels but just didn't feel like shelling out the cash for that on this truck and these will suit me for my planned uses of the truck.

Cheers

 

[skibum315]

Looks great with the new wheels.

 

[RMP&O]

Looks great with the new wheels.

Thanks! Again, much rather have 17's but they are nearly 2x the cost.

I looked back and I mentioned it a bit but didn't go into detail much on the subject. My 80 was painted by the p/o, clear coat peal? It seems like a soso paint job at best. The clear coat on it though is pretty shoddy. I had my buddy look at it who restores cars for a living and we came up with a game plan. After a winter of driving 80 miles a day comute in the truck I have bad chipping on lower panels and on the front of the hood. So here is the plan...

Cut & buff the truck but only on the portion I don't plan to paint/monstaline. If the clear coat begins to fail when the cut & buff is done we are going to re-clear coat it on the portions I am not doing other stuff with. I found one small rust spot center of windshield top half under the gasket. I need a new windshield and have a OEM gasket. So we are going to kick out the windshield and fix that rust spot. Then monstaline in flatish black the lower portion of the truck up to the body line. The hood is going to get lined too but not the whole thing, only the center. The body line/accent above this I will paint white with a stencil made of the rear "Toyota Land Cruiser" emblem in it. I also plan to get a 100-series v8 emblem and also stencil it in to the side stripe. It appears that when the truck was painted some dirt got in the roof and paint. So I am going to sand it back and spray it white. I seen a few 80's done with a white roof and think it looks ok. With the white side stripe I think it will look even better. On the hood I got a lot of rock chips in the last 6 months so that is why I am lining. The liner is going to be sprayed on in a booth. I got a quote from my buddy and know where I am at to do all this and I am on his schedule. I could do it myself but am just to busy. It is looking like this will all happen in June. When it is all done I will get a new wind shield installed with the OEM gasket. My gasket looks 23yrs old and it leaks! I may de-flare the truck at the same time, I just have not made up my mind on that yet. With all the gravel and rocks we have on the roads here I am hesitant, even after lining.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Bought two new 3" cats today and 4x o2 sensors. I got at least one bad cat and one bad o2, changing it all out. Also doing new muffler and all new exhaust. Going to try and find some headers that will work too, block huggers seem to be my only choice. Doug Thorley makes a set for the 5.7L although I am not sure if they are huggers, just need to call them and chat about the set and try to figure out if they will work on my truck.

Also bought the adapter for my iPod to allow me to hook it up to the OBD2 port. Just need to buy and d/l the software. I have heard people raving about it so figured I would give it a shot.

Not much else in my plans for the truck in the next 30-45 days besides buy some OEM parts, figure out front shocks and buy those, new air filter box and perhaps explore my castor riddle more.

Getting a keg of Fat Tire on Saturday and having a moving party this weekend. Moving into my new shop so things will be happening more on this truck and all my other ones too!

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

I replaced my bad cat yesterday. Found that the old one was just a hollow tube, nothing inside it at all. Replaced both rear o2 sensors too. Cleared codes with the new Easydiag app on my iPhone. Did a live monitor on the truck after that too while driving around. All is well!

Installed my Wheelskin last night too, only had it for like 5 months!

Will post a few pics later. Been cleaning and moving in the new shop this last week.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

I just ordered a ton of stuff from CruiserDan. All the rubber to rebuild all 4 doors and the tail gate. Overhead light switches for all 4 doors too. Weather stripping, window runs and more! Also ordered up all new front turn signals and running lights.

Last bit I ordered up was a gallon of Monstaliner.

Tomorrow my body guy/restoration buddy is taking the Cruiser. He will have it a few weeks. I know I went over it but the truck is getting cut & buffed, Mostalined and some white paint in a few areas. Hopefully the clear coat is savable or we will have to re-clear it in the areas not getting covered up.

The Cruiser is also running excellent since the recent cat & o2 install. Hopefully in a month or so I can re-do the entire exhaust system and install some new headers.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

The new Wheelskin, wasn't all that impressed with fit. The last one I did on a FJ62 steering wheel fit better.

My weather stripping is getting shot, hence why I ordered up all new stuff.

Lots of chips in the paint down low, hence why I am Monstalining. Going with straight black.

For now my plan is to keep the fender flares and the mud flaps due to the amount of rocks and gravel we have here on the roads. The truck is also used more as a DD and weekend camper than serious off-roader so I don't think destroying my flares or flaps is in the cards. Time will tell.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Sent the Cruiser off this morning with my body/paint buddy. Spent an hour going over it all with him. The clear coat on my truck is so iffy we are just going to re-clear it all. Decided grill is getting blacked out too, probably with Monstaliner. Also going to detail out the roof rail and upper window trim which is all black. It is getting painted with a coat of fresh semi-gloss black. Stencils getting made soon for the side accent. All the new rubber is going in, window channels and then the doors sealed up with fresh plastic. After it is done with the body dude it gets the new windshield and I think I will also get the front side windows tinted.

Pretty excited but have to wait 2-3 weeks to get the truck back!

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Few more parts ordered up today to complete the work in progress. My door handle has been acting up, upon inspection it is busted. So I bought a new one today. I also bought the last remaining window rubber and trim. This being the triangular shaped window in the rear door, it's rubber seal. As well as the trim/seal below the rear sliding windows. Last bit was both 9ft long roof rail trim pieces. I discussed with the body guy re-painting my 23yr old ones but he suggested replacing if price wasn't to bad. Under $100 per side so I went for it.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Just ordered up a Slee short bus front bumper, Warn 9.5 winch and 14" LED bar to top it all off. Bumper is back ordered until the end of the month but otherwise done deal. This should bling bing the truck up a bit!

Now if I get super lucky I will have it all done and ready to go for a trip on the 4th of July.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Sneak peek at what is in the works...

The rust spot that needed repair was just to the right of the inside mirror along the seam where the windshield gasket goes. You can see it is long gone now!

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Huge box showed up from Toyota yesterday. I took everything out, ooggled and awwwed over all the nice OEM parts. Then put them back in the box and sent them off today to the body guy.

Been missing my Cruiser, looking forward to getting it back next week!

Cheers

 

[jonnyquest]

Looking forward to plenty of long shots when she's done.