Colorado Built FZJ80

[BerettaMato]

1993 FZJ80 White As It Sits Now.

Current MODS & Gear:

ARB AIR Lockers F/R
2x ARB HP Compressor Front & On Board Air Rear
Nitro 4.88 R&P Gears
AVM Hubs & Slee Part Time Kit
Factory Locker, Compressor & CLD Switches
Factory Hand Throttle
3.5" Autocraft Slinky Long Travel Coils
Autocraft Icon 2.0 12" Shocks
ARB Steering Stabilizer
Slee Adjustable Rear Upper Control Arms
Slee Front Panhard Bar
Slee Rear Panhard Bar
Slee Drag Link
Slee Tie Rod
Slee Caster plates
Slee Front Swaybar Drop
Slee Rear Bumpstop Extesion
60 Series rear Bumpstops
Redline Land Cruisers Rear Swaybar Drop
Redline Land Cruisers 8 Degree Front Lower Arm Bushings
Custom Front DC Drive Shaft OEM Parts
Custom Rear DC Drive Shaft OEM Parts
Slee Short Bus Front Bumper
ComeUp Winch Seal Gen2 9.5RS
Trail Tailor Tow Points
4x4Labs Rear Bumper
4x4Labs Rear Tire Carrier w/ Hi-Lift
4x4Labs Lader & 3 Jerry Carrier
5x 16x8.5 Level8 Tracker Pro Wheels
5x 315/75R16 BFG KO2 Tires
Slee 7pc Stainless Brake Lines
DBA T3 Front Rotors w/ OEM Pads
Powerstop Truck Extreme Rear Rotors & Pads
2x Oddessy 34 pc-1500 Battery
Off Grid Engineering Dual Battery System w/ Rear Power Station
Slee Dual Battery Tray & Washer Relocation
ARB Diff Breather Kit
Hi-lift Extreme
CVT MT Shasta Extended w/ Annex RTT
Indel-B 51L Freezer / Fridge
Ipad Mini (Navigation) w/ Mount
Kenwood DDX774BH Head Unit
Icom 5100
Front & Rear Fire Extinguishers
Hella Supertones Horns

Coming MODS & Gear

Speakers
Longerange Automotive Aux Fuel Tank 25gal
Roof Rack (Gobi)
Mini CB
Light Force Lights
Camp Lights
Custom Drawer System
Engine Refresh (Robbie Built High Compresion Swap in October)
Rock Sliders


Little background on this Land Cruiser. I have been searching for a very clean 80 series Land Cruiser for about two years. They have been my dream car since they first came out after I was out of High School. Really never thought I would own one. I found this 1993 with 224,810 miles in Sacramento listed on Ebay 3/18/17. It was everything I was looking for Color and Spec. It was a one owner with full history and all the document to back it. Seller babied it and it was garaged all its life. Pristine original paint with just a few front rock chips showed this to be true. Had seller send me 30 mins of video of every inch of the truck. He told me it was leaking oil but not burning it. He had it checked and was told it was the main seal but very slow leak and should be fine just check the oil every tank of gas. Only MOD I could see was a OME 2.5 Med lift with Slee drag link and tie rod. He put in brand new 297/70R16 BFG KO2 a week before listing it. He also said he had the birfs rebuilt with a Slee full kit a year before when he had the lift installed. Could tell the guy cared because the battery died before I got there and he put in a Interstate not some cheep piece of crap he could have. Made a deal at $9500 and bought a ticket to fly out to California on 4/7/17. Longest two weeks ever!

Ebay PIC's

I little info about me. I was raised here in Colorado. I have always been into anything outdoors hunting, fishing and camping since I was little. I started working at a local hunting & fishing mom and pop when I was 8 years old and I am now employed by JAX Outdoor Gear in Broomfield as their Hunt, Fish & Military Manager. I really got the overlanding bug fifteen years ago and it has become my Wife and I's favorite pass time. We started with a 04 Taco and have grown since then. We know have two built Tacos and use them as our daily drivers. The Land Cruiser will now be our main rig and stay packed and ready to go. It will live in our garage and be used only for overlanding. This should cut down on some of the were and tear.

Some PICs of our current rigs

 

[BerettaMato]

So I landed is Sacramento on the 7th and was picked up at the airport by my new 80. Took about 30mins to do a walk around and paperwork. Seller was very cool OCD guy. Even brought me a tool bag with basic tools and two quarts of Amsoil oil for the trip home. The weather sucked it was raining and cold. Put my route home in the iPad and took off for the 18hr drive home. Oh with one detour about a hour west. Pulled into 4x4Labs at lunch time to pick up my new rear bumper. Luke and the boys were very cool and help me load the bumper on a custom hitch adapter to carry it home. Once they seen the Cruiser all of the guys came outside in the pouring rain to look at her. Made me feel like I bought a good one with question like. Were did you find it, Is that the original paint and you must have paid 20k for that. Luke asked me how much I paid for it and just walked away shaking his head when I told him. Really love the shop and crew, great guys. Luke gave me a great price and 20 issues of Toyota Trails. LOL

Thought California was sunny.

4x4Labs

4Runner R&D

Warns super secret SEMA stuff.

 

[BerettaMato]

The drive trough the Sierra Nevada's was amazing but deadly. There was a blizzard and rain. I must and seen a dozen car slide out right in front of me. Cruiser did great and I was impressed by the KO2. I will be going back to do a Cruiser event with 4x4Labs next year for sure.

 

[BerettaMato]

Got home Saturday and enjoyed driving the rig around town to get a feel for what I needed to do with it first. Wife and I cleaned the four states of crap off of her.

I had made an appointment with Slee for that Monday the 10th. They were going to go over the Cruiser and do gears and air lockers. Turned out to be a little more. Amory at Slee was a great help as we talked about were I want the build to go and what to do first. So it turned out the the Slee front axle kit the prior owner had installed was put in wrong and needed to be redone. The front grease and diff oil had mixed and turned to sludge. I decided since they were going to have the diffs out anyway to just fully rebuild the front and rear axles from seals to gears. The Powerstop brakes were cooked in the front so we upgrade those as well. I also had them pull all of the none stock wiring like alarm, air horns and kill switch. they fill a big box with crappy wiring. Since they we going to have the dash apart anyway, we put in the Locker, CLD switch and I had them put in a stock fog light switch next to the locker for the ARB compressor. They replace a few burnt out lights in the dash. I also picked up some of the parts I was going to need for the lift. Truck would be ready Friday the 15th.

SleeBuilt 79/80 Lovechild

After dropping off the 80 and talking to Slee. I drove down to Colorado Springs to talk with Justin at Redline Land Cruiser and pick up a Slinky/Icon lift. Justin was great gave me tons of info and answered all my questions. Got home and started ordering parts like a shopaholic.

 

[BerettaMato]

Brought the Cruiser home. Slee did a great job every thing looks stock and the 4.88 gears pull so much better. Still have drive line vibes but I think that is from the driveshafts. Brakes feel better but still no feedback. Thanks Slee. Now my weekend starts.

I decided to chop her ass off first.

No going back now hope it fits. I did find some crappy work from Japan.

Then came the the Icon/Slinky lift. I did this all by myself and it was a PITA to do the springs. Get help if you do it. The kit was complete but one brake line was wrong and the sway bar spacers suck. I will be replacing them with the Slee ones. Only broke one bolt it was a rear bump stop. Took about 8 hours. Sorry forgot to take front lift pics. I was beat by the time I got to the front.

Only one Pic of rig after lift will post. Tried resizing still would not work so sorry.

 

[BerettaMato]

Got the caster plates done yesterday and both drive shafts in. Drive so much better but still has vibration coming from the rear. Think it is because the ass end is still to height with out all the extra weight. Only feel it at 55mph+.

Set up an appointment with Slee to have a part time kit installed on the 22nd.

 

[BerettaMato]

Well got some more stuff done this week. I decided not to go with the ARB bumper and sent it back two big for my use. I also returned the Warn winch. I went to Slee and picked up a Short Bus bumper and a ComeUp Seal Gen2 9.5RS winch from Ben. Really like how it fits so much better and more lightweight. I will have to make a custom mount and cables to fit the control box under the hood. I will get this done when we install the dual battery kit when Matt at Off-grid Engineering get back from Cruiser Moab and Overland Expo.

 

[BerettaMato]

Some have asked about the switches here how it looks now. Plan is to replace the antenna with a fixed radio and use the up down for the servo HAM antenna. The two over the locker and Air compressor will be for front and rear spot/flood lights. The two next to the antenna will be for rock and camp lights. Sorry about the pollen all over the interior. The bottom two will be for USB and rear air compressor.

 

[BerettaMato]

Any ides on a place to put the winch control. Hoping to get the dual batteries wired in next weekend. Also did get the ARB breather in.

 

[shoredreamer]

Dude, sick build so far! Are you the first 80 that Off-Grid Engineering is doing? I talked to them at Cruise Moab and they said they haven't done any 80s yet. It looks like you have an early 93 like me too based on the engine decal. Check your inside drivers door for production date. You could drop the winch box in front of your starting battery or on top of the cruise control box. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. Cheers!

 

[Boort]

Awesome build. Keep the details coming.

Boort

 

[Levidale]

Great job looks great!

 

[BerettaMato]

Dude, sick build so far! Are you the first 80 that Off-Grid Engineering is doing? I talked to them at Cruise Moab and they said they haven't done any 80s yet. It looks like you have an early 93 like me too based on the engine decal. Check your inside drivers door for production date. You could drop the winch box in front of your starting battery or on top of the cruise control box. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. Cheers!

Thanks its been a ton of work. Yes it goes back to Matt on Thursday to get all of the primary stuff finished.

 

[ottbott89]

This truck is looking sick! I just picked up the 96 FZJ80 here in NorCal and am building it slowly but surely! I found mine for $2400 with 234k on the clock. All stock, black, good paint, in need of rear brakes, shift solenoids and a full axle rebuild in the front. I am loving these trucks! Thought I'd have to drop 10k just to get something with a healthy platform but I got lucky! Keep the updates coming!

Sent from my SM-G955U using OB Talk mobile app

 

[Nullifier]

Nice truck. I have been working on the Slinky project for along time and still trying to get it finished. Many delays I just hope in the end it is worth it. Any pics of her back side?

 

[BerettaMato]

Sorry it has been so long. I will try to do a fast catch up here. Slee did the Part time kit and used AVM hubs. Found Out later that I could have used ASIN hubs and will switch them out some time soon. I must say this has been my best MOD with 20 fill ups I am AVG 14.1MPG and the ride is so smooth.

 

[BerettaMato]

Next I replaced the old brake lines with Slee stainless lines.

 

[BerettaMato]

The 1200lb rear springs were to much at this time so I bought a 900lb set for now.

 

[BerettaMato]

Matt at Off-Grid Engineering wired up my dual battery system and it is a work of art. I had him put in two Blue-Sea fuse panels in one the front and one in the rear. Front will be used for lights and CB/Ham. Rear is for fridge and power Assc. I also had him put in a remote and I added a monitor. Thanks Matt.

 

[BerettaMato]

Had some fun last week with the Rising Sun group doing some trail repair to Jenny Creek.