MoGas
Central Scrutinizer
Well, I realized that I have no "Official" build thread, so here goes:
A little background:
I have been around motorized "stuff" all my life. My dad was a hot rodder in the 50's and a Musclecar guy in the 60's and beyond. We have run the gamut of vehicles around my childhood home, from the benign (1974 gremlin) to the insane (1962 Impala SS 409, '66 GTO, '70 GTX, etc.) I have historically been a Jeep guy. I have had: 43 MB, 72 CJ5, 77 CJ5, 79 CJ7, and an '87 Grand Wagoneer.
My old Waggy-
Anyhow. One day, my buddy Andy (Hltoppr) was giving my Waggy a tow home with his 80 after my fuel pump puked out. When I go to get my girls out of his truck, they asked "Daddy, when are you going to get a Land Cruiser?" I started looking then....
Serendipitously, there was an Engineer at my office that was getting ready to sell his 80. I bought it. That was December of '05. Here is the story of her evolution.
She was born in the Fall of 1992, one of the first FZJ80's built. Shipped off to the US and Camelback Toyota. The first owner was an Anesthesiologist in Paradise Valley. He had her for about 8 years and sold her to the Engineer that I bought her from. That said, I received impeccable documentation from day 1 forward.
There was not much more than regular maintenance for the first few years, except.....
Around 30,000 miles, the good Doctor noticed a puddle of antifreeze in his garage while backing out. Turned out to have a small crack in the block at one of the freeze plugs. Toyota installed a new engine at that time under warranty.
Around 50,000 miles, he had had a brake job done at the dealer prior to a trip to California. Somehow, the caliper bolts backed out, The caliper came loose, trashed the left wheel, knuckle, birf and hub. All was replaced at a dealer in California.
Other than that, no major issues.
The Engineer had no issues other than when his wife hit a concrete bollard at the bank and pushed the bumper into the condenser.
So I bought her with ~170k on the clock, a 140k engine, a dented front bumper and no A/C.
My first photo of her:
I got a bumper from a buddy that was the pull off as he put an ARB on his. I bought a new condenser and receiver/drier, flushed the system, and filled it with some fresh R-12.
First "Mod" Aussie Spec 4500 Twin Cam decals-
Fire Extinguisher-
Second Battery tray, Washer bottle relocation, and PAIR intake routing-
Some wheeling in Sedona- It looks like I had removed the factory roof rack by then. I just installed some Metric buttonhead screws with a little dab of silicon on the threads. They have never been any trouble.
She did really well stock-
Smiley Rock:
More Sedona:
But of course, I had to fiddle with things...
OME 850/863 Heavies with requisite "Stinkbug" stance. Still on 265s
Then the ARB Commercial bar and Hanna Quality Sliders and 285s
I had also swapped in some JDM clear front corner markers that I wired up as turn and marker lights-
The first real road trip to Colorado...
Warn 8274-
Another trip to CO.
Hella 4000s
Out of room in this post.... Stay tuned
A little background:
I have been around motorized "stuff" all my life. My dad was a hot rodder in the 50's and a Musclecar guy in the 60's and beyond. We have run the gamut of vehicles around my childhood home, from the benign (1974 gremlin) to the insane (1962 Impala SS 409, '66 GTO, '70 GTX, etc.) I have historically been a Jeep guy. I have had: 43 MB, 72 CJ5, 77 CJ5, 79 CJ7, and an '87 Grand Wagoneer.
My old Waggy-
Anyhow. One day, my buddy Andy (Hltoppr) was giving my Waggy a tow home with his 80 after my fuel pump puked out. When I go to get my girls out of his truck, they asked "Daddy, when are you going to get a Land Cruiser?" I started looking then....
Serendipitously, there was an Engineer at my office that was getting ready to sell his 80. I bought it. That was December of '05. Here is the story of her evolution.
She was born in the Fall of 1992, one of the first FZJ80's built. Shipped off to the US and Camelback Toyota. The first owner was an Anesthesiologist in Paradise Valley. He had her for about 8 years and sold her to the Engineer that I bought her from. That said, I received impeccable documentation from day 1 forward.
There was not much more than regular maintenance for the first few years, except.....
Around 30,000 miles, the good Doctor noticed a puddle of antifreeze in his garage while backing out. Turned out to have a small crack in the block at one of the freeze plugs. Toyota installed a new engine at that time under warranty.
Around 50,000 miles, he had had a brake job done at the dealer prior to a trip to California. Somehow, the caliper bolts backed out, The caliper came loose, trashed the left wheel, knuckle, birf and hub. All was replaced at a dealer in California.
Other than that, no major issues.
The Engineer had no issues other than when his wife hit a concrete bollard at the bank and pushed the bumper into the condenser.
So I bought her with ~170k on the clock, a 140k engine, a dented front bumper and no A/C.
My first photo of her:
I got a bumper from a buddy that was the pull off as he put an ARB on his. I bought a new condenser and receiver/drier, flushed the system, and filled it with some fresh R-12.
First "Mod" Aussie Spec 4500 Twin Cam decals-
Fire Extinguisher-
Second Battery tray, Washer bottle relocation, and PAIR intake routing-
Some wheeling in Sedona- It looks like I had removed the factory roof rack by then. I just installed some Metric buttonhead screws with a little dab of silicon on the threads. They have never been any trouble.
She did really well stock-
Smiley Rock:
More Sedona:
But of course, I had to fiddle with things...
OME 850/863 Heavies with requisite "Stinkbug" stance. Still on 265s
Then the ARB Commercial bar and Hanna Quality Sliders and 285s
I had also swapped in some JDM clear front corner markers that I wired up as turn and marker lights-
The first real road trip to Colorado...
Warn 8274-
Another trip to CO.
Hella 4000s
Out of room in this post.... Stay tuned
