The Restoration And Build Thread For My 1992 FJ80

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

LED Brake/Turn/Running Lights

I also added a forward facing 1/4" gusset/support that goes from the outrigger to the frame.

The next issue to deal with was the covered up taillights. I spaced the tire over far enough that I could fit my Yeti Tundra 45 on a swing out next to it, so we knew part of the taillight/brake light/turn signal would be covered up. I planned to use LEDs in the bumper wings. I tinted them with Rustoleum lens tint and a matte clear.

We measured out where they needed to be and where they would fit without cutting too much out of the inner bumper skeleton. A Rotozipp made quick work of the bumper wing plastic, and a plasma cutter did the skeleton.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Completed Swing Out Pics

Slight angle




Extra taillights looking stealthy



Turn signal


Brake Lights


Trasharoo!

 

[JPsLC]

All the hard work is paying off, but several links to the pictures you posted do not work.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

All the hard work is paying off, but several links to the pictures you posted do not work.

That's strange. I uploaded them like usual and they all showed up normally and then they stopped working. I'll look at fixing the photos soon

 

[Mushin_Noshin]

That seems to happen alot when Tapatalk does an update. It sucks because I wanna all the nice work your doing!

 

[JPsLC]

That's strange. I uploaded them like usual and they all showed up normally and then they stopped working. I'll look at fixing the photos soon

All the photos appear now. Looks good!

 

[Deleted member 9101]

I love the extra break lights int he bumper.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

All the photos appear now. Looks good!

I love the extra break lights int he bumper.

Thanks!

Went out to the Ouachita Mountains last weekend and camped in the Ouachita National Forest. The truck performed flawlessly for the over 600 miles of driving.

After getting stuck in stop and go traffic on I-40 and hunting for ethanol free gas stations, we probably spent 5 and a half hours on the road.


The LightForce were awesome in spotting wildlife on the roads in. There was no one around and I was able to run them mostly uninterrupted for over an hour through the tight twisty roads.


Once we saw National Forest Access, we pulled off onto the first road we found and started hunting for a campsite. We planned to ride as much of the Womble Trail as possible the next day and we were needing to get to sleep.

Once on the trail, the light bar became priceless.

First night's campsite

Part of the Womble Trail. We ended up riding 25 miles that day. This was the river bluff area. 200-300 foot drop down to the river.

While riding the Womble, we came across this area right by a lake surrounded by tall pines. I took screenshots of where that place was on my phone in hopes to be able to find it later. On the way, I took a wrong turn and found a huge quarry.

The trail leading to our campsite.

Almost there

 

[Townsend]

View attachment 280357

Killer shot. I'm out of town and these updates have me itching to get home to my 80 and explore...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Killer shot. I'm out of town and these updates have me itching to get home to my 80 and explore...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I am ready to go somewhere new already!

So I had plans to spend last weekend in the Arbuckle Mountains off-roading and camping, but with the impending storms and hail, I decided to go home and finish the swing out. When I finished building it, I measured that I needed a 17" extended and 11" compressed gas strut. I found what I needed from strong arm, but the ball stud kit wasn't available locally. A trip to pull-a-part later, and I had two Hyundai gas struts and what I needed to mount them.
Part Number: 81161-25000


Then instead of using the small weak looking bolt that came on one of the ends, we sleeved it and used a 10mm 1.5 pitch stud into a 1" sleeve we cut out of this random part we had lying around.

Then threaded and tack welded the stud in and had a much more strong ball stud.

Then we drilled through the bumper wing and the 2x4 underneath. Then we tapped it for the stud.

Then we drilled two holes in the swing out and tapped them for 8mm 1.25 pitch 12mm bolts.

Bolted on and closed

I felt like it might have been a little constraining to have it only open at 90 degrees so I designed it to open roughly 120 degrees. As I write this, I think that might not have been the best idea if I'm parallel parked, but I hardly ever am so I'm not going to worry about it.

Clearance between tailgate and top of the strut


This gas strut has made the swing out so much better. I no longer have to worry about damaging the taillight when opening it. As soon as I release the latch, I can give it a little nudge and it will swing out all the way and stop. It is very easy and really convenient. I have read about people disliking their swing outs due to extra time to get into the back, but when my bike rack isn't on, it is very easy to get in the back hatch.

I also removed the RTT because it will be getting too hot to camp in Oklahoma and I probably won't be heading west until later this summer. It was also the first time I have gotten to drive it with the 35s and 4.88s without the tent. It did really well, and along with the new fuel injectors, I got close to 150 (uncorrected for tires/gears) miles out of half a tank. Normally I get anywhere from 90-120 (uncorrected for tires/gears).

 

[redthies]

What were the factory gears? 4.10? I bet you are fairly close to stock ratio with 4.88 and 35s.

Nice work on the swing out. If you are parallel parked, 9 out of 10 times somebody will be parked too close behind you to open the swing out anyhow, so your 120* probably won't be the issue.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

What were the factory gears? 4.10? I bet you are fairly close to stock ratio with 4.88 and 35s.

Nice work on the swing out. If you are parallel parked, 9 out of 10 times somebody will be parked too close behind you to open the swing out anyhow, so your 120* probably won't be the issue.

Thanks! I also realized, I wouldn't even be able to fold down my bike rack if I am parallel parked, but it might be a completely different thing if I am parked just on a street with no one behind me. Now I need some Wagon Gear rear flip up windows...

Yeah stock gears are 4.10 or 4.11. Can't ever seem to remember correctly and I see both online. Mathematically, 37s and 4.88s with the 3FE would be a near exact match in terms of gearing to tire size, but obviously they will be slower due to the increased rotational mass. I believe 4.88s and 35s is the best combo for the 3FE. I considered 5.29s, but that definitely would have been over geared on the highway big time. I am extremely pleased with how it runs right now.

 

[redthies]

Yeah, for the amount of travel you do (myself as well), 5.29s would have been annoying on the highway. I had them in a '89 Hilux with 35" X-Terrains and cammed 22RE with a 5 spd. It wasn't a rocket off the line, but actually not too bad on the mountain highways near me.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

For sure. I couldn't be more happy with how it performs. I might be wishing for 5.29s when I hit the mountains later this summer, but maybe a turbo can fulfill that need in the future...

Yesterday I cleaned out the nasty third row window tracks now that I am opening them more often since putting my swing out on.


I also started working on sleeving the receiver for a piece to go back to the frame.



Then I started looking at why the fog light in my Ironman bumper had stopped working. Opened it up, pulled the bulb, put it back in, tightened a couple screws and now it's fixed (hopefully).



Then I realized the black plastic surrounds had started to fade and look nasty so I repainted them to match my wheels and trim. Not sure how I feel about it. It makes me kind of want to open my headlights and paint the surrounds in the matching graphite gray.

 

[missinglink]

What an incredible job. Subscribed and book marked!!