Box Rocket 1995 FZJ80 Build

I picked this up over the weekend. It was briefly owned by Greg@RME a year or so ago so it's coming home to Utah in a way.

There are a few dings etc consistent with what you'd expect from a 20 year old car. Like a lot of 80s the front seats were trashed, split leather and bad foam. Before going to get the truck I got a lead on a pair of front seats in decent condition that were at a shop there in GJ. I arranged to go take a look at them after I bought the truck. It worked out great. It was a shop I'd never heard of called Metric Offroad that specializes in Cruisers. They had 20-30 trucks in the yard at the shop and the owner said he had another lot with another 40 trucks. A whole range of trucks from 40's to 80s and some 4runners and minitrucks too. Really cool guy and the seats he had were pretty dry but the leather was fully intact. We worked out a good deal on them with my new bad seats as partial trade. So the worst thing on the truck was fixed before I even got it home.

The rest of the issues with the truck are mostly cosmetic. The clearcoat is peeling on the hood, roof and flares. The front axle needs to be serviced and a couple other minor things looked at but it runs great and everything works. Even has lockers. The drive home was nice and it felt soooooo good to be back in an 80. The plan is to swap everything from my '93 over to it in the next few weeks. I'll use my OME J spring suspension, bumpers and sliders. I've ordered a set of 345/75R16's to go on the OEM wheels. So it should be ready to rock within the next month. My old 80 will get the suspension from this truck and keep the 315's that are on it and get the stock bumpers and then get sold cheap.

I already started cleaning up a few things. I painted the handles and the flares black and it is looking much better. I didn't get pics with the flares done yet so all you get is the handles.

Details:
1995 FZJ80
Moonglow Pearl
Tan interior
Factory lockers
Rancho 2.5" springs
285/75R16 General Grabbers
Naked roof (no roof rack from the factory)

Plans:
OME J springs, L shocks (from old 80)
Adjustable panhards (from old 80)
Slee Caster Plates (from old 80)
ARB front bumper (from old 80)
Wildyoats rear bumper (from old 80)
custom sliders
PrInSu roof rack
Tepui RTT
345/75R16 BFG KM2s
4.88's sometime down the road.
maybe a snorkel
address the peeling paint.

Here's some pics from tonight.






blacked out handles


peeling flares


peeling hood










 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
The Grey cruiser is looking awesome, can't wait to see it all put together! Interesting about the Skyjacker coils, I swear the PO said it was Rancho... but I don't think he put the suspension on himself either. The OME suspension should ride SO much better.

The Kevlar MTR's run noticeably bigger than the other brands of the same sizes, the 37's I had looked like a 39" tire from any other brand. :eek:
 

Box Rocket

bored
Location
Syracuse, Utah
Suspension swap is complete!
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Damage report:
Only 3 broken bolts
Two broken 3/8 Drive Ratchets
one broken strap wrench
one broken shock
One smashed finger
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So besides a few unexpected hiccups (what can you expect when dealing with 20 year old components?) it came together alright. So other than the springs and shocks, the new cruiser has longer brake lines, adjustable panhards, caster correction plates and some 2" spacers.
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Before:

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After:

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Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Beautiful, looks perfect now! Really glad to see this in the hands of someone that built it up right and will use it how it should be used. Nice work Adam!
 

Box Rocket

bored
Location
Syracuse, Utah
Did a couple other things last night. I have a set of Spidertrax wheel spacers that I installed last night. I've like the spacers on my Tacoma so I thought I'd try them out on the cruiser. I think it is the perfect amount and puts the tires out flush with the flares. Feels a bit more stable and adds a little weight to the steering feels which I like.





Also got the wheels repainted. They had been painted before but were a little faded and chipped. So, cleaned them up and shot them with a few coats of VHT Satin Black wheel paint and few coats of clear.



Here's a couple shots of the wider stance with the spacers.







 

Box Rocket

bored
Location
Syracuse, Utah
I'm seriously drooling over here....that thing looks sweet. I have serious house/truck envy seeing the garage pic with the Taco on the side.

You guys are kind. Nothing to be jealous of. I'm fortunate to have a couple trucks that I like messing with, but they both have their own share of headaches.
 

airmanwilliams

Well-Known Member
Location
Provo, Utah
I have recently been reading about some LED headlight upgrades for the Cruisers on MUD and I went ahead and ordered a set. Label says they are 2000 lumens and they're straight up plug-n-play so it won't get much simpler. Should make for a much brighter whiter headlight. They are CREE LEDs. I ordered them from ebay.
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Came in this box

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packed like this

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We should meet up some time and swap out all the interior bulbs to match the headlights ;). That headlight comparison looks awesome. With my poor night vision I have been wanting to swap to leds but was waiting for some projector lenses to come to the US first for my sidekick, I am alittle impatient and may just order some soon anyways after seeing yours. Would you pm me a link to where you got yours please?
 

airmanwilliams

Well-Known Member
Location
Provo, Utah
Do you sell the LEDs for the interior swap? I could definitely be interested in that.

Yes I have dome lights, license plate lights, door lights ect. Not sure what all your specific vehicle takes but if we can meet up sometime I can bring all I have and we can go through it together like me and Sixstring did on his vehicle.
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
i can vouch for how bright airmanwilliams' lights are. They may even be too bright for some people, but I love them! I'll put them in all my rigs.
 

Box Rocket

bored
Location
Syracuse, Utah
I picked up a pair of BH3D emblems this week to replace the two "sombrero" ones on the truck. I replaced the one on the grill and this one on the rear hatch.

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I was also pleased with the number in the bottom left of my Ultragauge. I think that's the best I've ever had from a full tank in an 80. Yes, it was mainly highway miles but still a good number as far as 80s are concerned.
 
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