The Restoration And Build Thread For My 1992 FJ80

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Roof Rack Part 3

Shortly before finishing the rack, my CVT tent showed up. In order to help out the little bit of power the 3FE produces and save some much needed fuel mileage, we built an even larger fairing that can be removed completely or pivot out of the way when the tent is deployed.


Here is how the rear light bars are wired up and the routed through the rack.

The tolerances for these lights took a long time to figure out. They had to fit without the rear hatch wind deflector hitting them when the hatch was opened, and they had to be below the top of the roof rack, and they had to project unblocked light.

Then all the wires converged onto one spot in the rack that allowed them to drop straight down into the one enlarged factory roof rack hole.

Siliconed out of the way of the sunroof and then routed down the B pillar and under the carpet up to the dash.

Had a color matching CVT decal made for the fairing, and a smaller one for my rear window

Here it is without the large fairing. Pretty much a 14" wall on the roof.

Here it is with the big fairing. I also picked up some amber light bar covers off eBay to match the front LightForces.

 

[redthies]

Awesome build! I love the older F motors, and it's incredibly refreshing to see somebody build one up without spending hours complaining about how it doesn't accelerate like a Corvette! Yes, I know their not fast, but they're not supposed to be!! I'd love to get one and tinker, but I'll have to stick to the 100 for now...

 

[Matttathome]

That is a beautiful 80!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

That is a beautiful 80!

Awesome build! I love the older F motors, and it's incredibly refreshing to see somebody build one up without spending hours complaining about how it doesn't accelerate like a Corvette! Yes, I know their not fast, but they're not supposed to be!! I'd love to get one and tinker, but I'll have to stick to the 100 for now...

Thanks! I haven't stated posting about the supercharged Corvette motor swap yet...jk. Yeah, it is slow, but it could be slower. It really bugs me when people with the 1FZ-FE complain about it being slow, or even when people with the 2UZ-FE complain about slowness. Just wait until you drive an old 3FE...

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Excellent build! Love the attention to detail!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Tent and First Trip



With the tent finally on, I was dying to set it up. The annex was a PITA to put on the Mt. Bachelor. Instead of zipping on like the larger tents, you have to slide runners all around the outside and remove the tent cover. I slept in the tent the next couple of nights. During one of the nights, some of the hardest rains to hit Oklahoma that year made their presence known. It was amazing being on a tent in 40 mile per hour winds with even larger gusts in a downpour and staying dry.

Shorty after putting on the tent, I swapped my smaller nitro gas shocks for the nearly new foam cells that my brother had on his triple locked 94. Metaltech ran out of stock when the nitro gas shocks were ordered for my brothers so they sent us the foam cells instead. His rode quite a bit stiffer than mine, so I figured we could swap shocks...added comfort for him and added stability for me. Kind of a win/win.

Looking a lot beefier.




Also took care of a few last minute details. Since there were only three of us going on the Colorado trip, I removed the passenger middle row seat and put my Yeti there and made a couple tie down spots that bolted to the seat bolting locations.

With the Colorado trip approaching in less than a month, we decided to make the drive out to the Roman Nose State Park to get some camping and mountain biking in.
Campsite wasn't anything special. All throughout the hot and muggy night, there was an Indian pow wow going on and the drum beating and chanting was a unique experience.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Head Unit, Speakers, and Cameras

After dealing with the poor sound quality and lack of features on the head unit for years, I got a Kenwood DDX470 head unit and four Kicker KS65 series speakers. I wanted some speakers that looked stealthy and went with the overall look. I didn't want some brightly colored tacky speakers with triangles in the grilles. Same went for the head unit. I wanted it to look factory or at least fit with the overall theme of colors and body lines.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UntIXwXcUS5/p_206KS65/Kicker-KS65.html
I had previously installed a Kicker shallow mount sub http://www.crutchfield.com/S-yEQ9cEsEp9f/p_206CVT651/Kicker-10CVT651.html
in the third row so I figured I would stay with Kicker, and I liked the look of the speaker grills.


The front doors did not have speakers in them to begin with, but they had the wires, and the rear doors had 4" speakers. I wanted to keep all the speakers looking the same and use the grills, so we made plates to mount the speakers away from the dash. I started with cardboard until I got the shape that I needed, and then cut it out with the plasma cutter and smoothed the edges down with the bench grinder.

Carefully measured out where the hole would be and then cut it with a hole saw. I had to lengthen the speaker wires to reach the new location.

Had to use 1" spacers to keep the speakers from hitting the window when it is lowered.

Installed with speaker covers.


For the rear door speakers, I used an air saw to cut out enough to fit in the new speakers. Then the speaker holes in the doors were enlarged and spacers were installed.

Just looking at the old speaker and the new one that was replacing it, it was obvious that there would be an improvement in sound.


I was between a Pioneer HU and the Kenwood DDX470. The 470 has been great and having an actual volume knob is really nice. I was able to adjust the LED color to a near match to the dim yellowish bulbs of the interior.

My dad had ordered a new green "D" bulb awhile back since it had been burnt out for as long as they had owned the truck so I put that in while the dash was apart.

I used a metra wiring harness to adapt the head unit's wiring harness to the existing Toyota harness via soldering and heat shrinking all connections. With the main stuff completed, it was time to add the accessories.

Esky Backup Camera model number: EC170-07

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Head Unit Part 2

With another video input spot on the back of the head unit, I couldn't let it go to waste. I found a 170 degree non-mirrored camera without parking lines on eBay to mount on the front bumper.


I also got a flush mount USB/AUX extension that I plugged into the back of the head unit and ran up and under into my console. Then I mounted it in the coin holder area and purchased a 6" lightning cable to connect my phone.

I then ran the microphone through the dash and placed it on the center of the steering column. Small enough to not notice, but in the perfect location for great voice clarity for other people.

The faceplate Kenwood included with the head unit would never have worked, and I could not stand the sight of gaps between the dash and head unit. I finished the install by cutting some plastic we had lying around to fill the gaps. It fits so tightly in place that it doesn't need glue.

All done. Looks like it was there from the factory.

 

[j.stramler]

Wow, what an amazing rig. I love the color. How do you control the front facing camera? Is there controls through the head unit?

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Wow, what an amazing rig. I love the color. How do you control the front facing camera? Is there controls through the head unit?

Thanks! The front camera is powered by the lower valence lights...I pulled the bulbs out because the lights annoyed me and they served no purpose. Once there is power going to the camera, I just click AV-1 on the head unit's menu and it opens up the camera.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

York OBA system and Rear Storage

My dad read online about someone else using a York 210 compressor out of an old Volvo for a belt driven air compressor. Mounting it is the tricky part. My dad desmogged the truck awhile ago, and the compressor went right where the smog pump was. A custom bracket had to be made that held the side of the compressor where it wasn't rubbing on anything. At first, we thought that was fine. At 950 rpms, it would vibrate really loudly. It was only at that RPM. It annoyed us enough that we came up with another small mount was made to secure it to the alternator mount. The air comes in through a hose that is connected to the air filter. It gets compressed, and is then fed to a 6:1 air manifold with a 175 PSI relief valve, gauge, pressure switch, and then goes to a water/oil removing coalescent filter and a one-way check valve. From there, it T's out to the back of the vehicle where it runs through the frame and to a tank, and front of the vehicle where an air outlet resides in the bumper, and then to the air horns below. All fittings are 1/4" brass push connect utilizing semi trailer air lines. I also have a pressure gauge installed in the cab as well as an air compressor switch to turn it on/off.



Air Manifold

Coalescent Filter

Switch and inside gauge


To make sure I always had air available, I planned to have a tank stored in the rear. At the time I still had the third row seats in, and with them reclined all the way (with reclining mod) I wanted the box to fit. If I were to do this today, I would just build drawers.

Made cradles on the band saw to hold the air tank. Fits in real snug.
Originally painted it black, but planned to carpet it for durability and looks.

All hardware was recessed to keep the overall texture smooth, and I bolted it to the bottom of the truck using some existing tie down bolt holes. Locking latch keeps everything inside secure.


When the truck is running at idle and the compressor is on, it will air up one of my tires from 15 psi to 45 in a minute.

 

[rocrunr]

Nice truck! The york compressor looks like it belongs there. Could you tell how you set up the pulley and belt? Pics would be great as I am considering this mod next on my 80. Keep up the good work.

 

[NCtrail4R]

Really nice truck and some well thought out mods.

 

[redthies]

Thanks! I haven't stated posting about the supercharged Corvette motor swap yet...jk. Yeah, it is slow, but it could be slower. It really bugs me when people with the 1FZ-FE complain about it being slow, or even when people with the 2UZ-FE complain about slowness. Just wait until you drive an old 3FE...

I've owned all three. The 2UZ is like a nitro burnin' funny car!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Nice truck! The york compressor looks like it belongs there. Could you tell how you set up the pulley and belt? Pics would be great as I am considering this mod next on my 80. Keep up the good work.

Thanks! This compressor itself was off a mid 80s Jeep Grand Wagoneer. A new clutch had to be purchased for about $100 to fit the larger belts of the Land Cruiser. I'll take some pictures later today when I have a chance. For the belt, I found the length by running a string though all of the pulleys and measuring the length. I ended up finding a Gates Bus and truck series belt. I'll see if I have the packaging from that in the back of my truck and post that up to.

Really nice truck and some well thought out mods.

Thanks!

I've owned all three. The 2UZ is like a nitro burnin' funny car!

Haha yeah! I've have driven an Fj40, FJ62, fj80, FZJ80, and an LX470 and my weighted down 80 was the slowest accelerating out of them all. I didn't realize the FZj80 had as much power as it did it until I drove it because people would always complain about it. It was quite close to the Lx470, just not as smooth through the RPMs. I have the words off someone complaining about the power of a 5.7 in 200 Series forum burned into my mind. That just doesn't make any sense...