RMP&O's v8 80-series

[RMP&O]

Your truck is great and there is no reason to sell it if you're good financially! Nice updates

Thanks man

At this point only reason to sell would be if I have to many which I kind of do! No plans to sell it at this time though...

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Well planning a trip to Baja in the Cruiser first week in January. I am really ready for a good trip, have not been outside the US since 2011. Last trip in Baja was back in 2009. I spent nearly 30 days there. This trip I am thinking 3 weeks, maybe 4 if I can swing it. Plan right now is me, the dog and a good friend. Just my truck. If comes down to it though I will go solo but would rather travel with at least one friend.


So I want to do some things to the Cruiser before I go. Looking at a calendar that is only about 5-6 weeks out! Here is my list, basically in order of priority.


Rear bumper with tire carrier. Need this badly as my spare is in the back right now hogging space.
Fit the RS Y-link steering and cut & turn my front axle.
Change all fluids and get truck ready for a long trip in terms of maintenance. Doesn't need much but will do things anyways. Plugs, wires, ect.
Buy and install new ignition barrel. Mine is showing it's age.
Engel MT45 fridge. I want cold beers on the beach! I got a slide for this fridge so just need to buy the actual fridge.
Remove rear LHS seat. I am sleeping on the rear LHS in the Cruiser on this trip.
Cut & mount up a piece of 5/8" plywood once seat is out, shaped like an "L" since I will be leaving the RHS rear seat in it. To this platform I will mount the fridge and a few other things.
2nd battery and 2nd battery kit. Don't need it just want it. Had a NL system before and liked it.
At least one aux light out the back of the truck for camping.
Get some JBA cat back headers on the truck. I got an exhaust leak at the down pipe to deal with too.
Better and new air filter box. What I have right now sucks.
Deal with the brake switch for the TTC which I never did.
Get a new sleeping pad, mine are all old and beat down.
I don't think I have time to get a custom aux fuel tank made so may end up taking one or two jerry cans. Rather they are mounted to the tire carrier then inside, hate fuel inside my truck.


That is about it besides pack up and go! Might do sliders too but don't really need them. Will cross at Mexicali and head down the SoC first. Some places I would like to go I didn't go before in Baja and a few I would like to go to again.

Cheers

 

[redthies]

Sounds like a great trip! You'll have to be on it with the projects,as that seems like a fair amount to do in 5 weeks. A heated shop and a casual schedule will help if you have it!

I haven't been to Mex since 2010, and am seriously in need of a fix too. Wish I could convince my wife to go in the 100, but it will be a big truck and camper trip if we go.

 

[RMP&O]

Sounds like a great trip! You'll have to be on it with the projects,as that seems like a fair amount to do in 5 weeks. A heated shop and a casual schedule will help if you have it!

I haven't been to Mex since 2010, and am seriously in need of a fix too. Wish I could convince my wife to go in the 100, but it will be a big truck and camper trip if we go.

Ya I am like that, cram a bunch into a tight schedule. I can push back the departure date for Baja though if I need to. And you are right, with other projects it will be tough. I think just about the time I leave one of the trucks I am restoring will be going to the body shop, so good timing on that one. An engine for another project will be going into the machine shop right before I leave too. So things should be happening while I am gone, just not me doing the work.

I forgot, I need shocks pretty badly, think I am going with Fox.

Got some things I want to do in Baja for sure and many places I skipped last trip I want to visit. Hoping I don't end up going solo but if that how it works out so be it.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

I just picked up an Engel MT45 from Kurt today. That and a National Luna battery kit. Still need to get my 2nd battery but starting to buy things in prep for Baja. I finally feel like I am starting to be able to do what I want to the truck rather then keep getting it up to par and my standards. Which is a nice feeling after a year of owning it. Rest of the stuff in my list above is going to start happening this week. Probably be a crunch at the last minute to get the truck ready but that is ok as long as I have the goodies here on the shop floor.

Cheers

 

[Shanfari]

Baja racing? If that you meant I would really be happy seeing you there!

 

[RMP&O]

Baja racing? If that you meant I would really be happy seeing you there!

Ha, nah, that is already over. I am going purely for my soul and to recharge my batteries.


Things are happening with the Cruiser.

CBI is currently making me some sliders. They were just a bit to much for the rear bumper so Reevesci over on mud is making me one.
Got some Fox 2.0's for all around, custom set up from Down South, 12" since that is what I need for my amount of lift. Went with a King steering stabilizer since I couldn't find much else in the size I need besides OME.
As mentioned above Kurt has MT45 and NL 2nd batt kit in route to me. I also got OEM rotors from him and 100-series pads for the front. Thanks Kurt!
Poly Performance has supplied some small Baja Design LEDs and a Vision X LED for my camp lighting.
Sierra Expeditions is supplying ARB awning, Odyssey 1700T 2nd batt, jerry cans, Howling Moon trash holder, new ARB camp chairs (mine are all toast) and a few other small items.
Front Runner is supplying my water jug and the spare tire grill, must have the grill for grilling fish!
Toyota supplied me with all new bushes for my rear arms and both panhards. Also new wipers for my knuckles. Also a few other things my truck needs in small repairs.
REI supplied me with Thule bars and feet so I can carry some light stuff up top.

That is about it. I still need to round up standard items for the Chevy engine to do some maintenance and fix my exhaust leak. Summit or Jegs probably supply all that. I might buy a Road Shower or just do a cheap solar shower, have not made up my mind yet. Not going to get to starting on installing all this stuff until around Christmas. CBI currently has the truck to do the sliders and I won't get it back for another week or so.

Departure date is set now to the 15th of January. A buddy is coming for about 10 days in his truck and has to take time off work so we had to set a date. We will leave the night of the 15th which is a Thursday and I expect to be drinking cold beers and eating fish tacos in Mexico by 3pm the next day.

Cheers

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Coming together!

 

[Shanfari]

Excited to see the changes! Good luck

 

[krazytoy]

WE expect to be drinking cold beers and eating fish tacos in Mexico by 3pm the next day.

FIFY↑

Guess we are going to find out if my 29 year old FJ60 will make a 4000 mile trip! ViVa Baja! Does that make my 60 the Baja Bus since the 80 never got to make the trip? Or would it be the Baja Bus II?

 

[RMP&O]

FIFY↑

Guess we are going to find out if my 29 year old FJ60 will make a 4000 mile trip! ViVa Baja! Does that make my 60 the Baja Bus since the 80 never got to make the trip? Or would it be the Baja Bus II?

Whatever you want to call it bro, we will have some fun no matter what!

How is this for beefy!? My new steering stabilizer

ARB awning showed up today, yikes it is 8.5ft long! At first I was like, whoa way to long but after checking with a tape measure, it is just about as long as it can be and still mount up fine. Stoked.

Sliders are on, Jason showing up with my new rear bumper this weekend. Stoked.

Just got the Cruiser back today fr CBI. Think I will go burn the midnight oil in the shop and start making room for the truck so I can get prep for this trip started.

Cheers

 

[Shanfari]

I'm still using oem steering parts, and sometimes it feels like riding a wild horse!

 

[RMP&O]

I'm still using oem steering parts, and sometimes it feels like riding a wild horse!

I am converting the steering to super buff gear. The same problems exist on an 80 series Cruiser as do on your Patrol when you lift 4" or more. Due to the radius arm design castor gets all out of whack, pinion angle suffers too. The result is a truck that drives like crap and requires a bunch of castor correction items to fix. Well, I have decided to not use the castor correction items and fix it the custom way. So I am converting the steering to a GM style Y-link. This moved the tie rod from behind the axle to in front of it. The kit I am using is from RuffStuff and uses GM 1ton tres and 1.5" DOM for the rods. It is pretty friggin' beefy! Once the tie rod is in front of the axle I will be able to rotate the knuckle balls without the tie rod hitting the radius arms. This means I can do a cut & turn on the knuckles setting my castor at what I want. The result should be a good handling truck that is lifted 4+" and still uses all the factory components, besides the steering of course. This way I don't have bolt-on castor correction items. And hey the GM tres are about 2x the size of the 80 series ones and only cost about $40-50! Hard to beat that. The King damper I will be attaching to the draglink using a 1.5" tubing clamp that I will weld a bracket to. All in all it is really a buff set up which should give me no dramas for many years of hard use.

Getting really excited for Baja, only three weeks out now. Not only is my good friend Krazytoy coming it is looking like a 25yr friend who I have only got to see maybe 3-4x in the last 15yrs will be jumping in with me. He is on the tail end of a divorce, loss of his house and career change not to mention relocation to a different state. He has been in a slump for about a year now while all this is going on. So he is in dire need of some recharge time on his batteries. Really hoping we get to spend a month hanging out in Baja!

Cheers

 

[Shanfari]

Thanks man! That sounds great. It reminds me of the temporary-permanent shocks that are cheap and double the size of the factory one. They seem to be designed for bigger trucks but fit perfectly! Might check the scrap yards to scavenge some forgotten, cool steering parts

 

[RMP&O]

Fox shocks installed. Seems one of the old front OME shocks was toast. I have not test driven it yet, truck is all torn apart in the shop. Looking forward to a drive though, the Fox seem very nice. I had them valved pretty stiff as the truck will be heavy and the type of use it gets, stiff is better.

Checking out the Y-link steering components last night. RS sent inserts with the kit. To ream the steering arms requires about 5mm of material to be removed for the 1ton tres to fit. To fit the insert requires more than 10mm of material to be removed. That seems like way to much to me and does not leave much meat around the tre hole in the arm. So I just purchased a reamer, not using the inserts.

Oh ya, front driveline is pretty trashed. Going to send it out on Monday for a rebuild.

Bought a UMP 8" canister filter housing and a few intake pipe pieces. Going to be hard to fit it and will have to move an item or two but I need a good air filter housing badly.

Starting in on my overland camping build in the back on Monday. Pretty basic with just a big chest for storage, 12-15" deep. This will also serve as the sleeping platform. Second battery will be in a box that is part of the chest/platform. All my 2nd batt wiring will be in there too. Two small baja Designs leds on the rear hatch for camp lighting. Vision X led on a long wire as a work light. Small switch panel at back of truck for lights, USB ports and maybe a cig lighter port. In the meantime I have been cleaning the interior with a magic eraser and installing a few small items. Like courtesy switches. Bought new ones from Toyota nearly a year ago but never installed them. Only the drivers was still working, rest are shot. New switches are nice and work great and since I got to tear panels off to get at them, I am cleaning as I go.

Got to fab a few brackets. Like for mounting the Baja Design lights and the ARB awning. Oh ya and today working on fabb'ing a brake light switch bracket for my Chevy 4-post brake light switch. This controls TCC and cruiser control if I ever get that hooked up. The TCC (torque converter controller) has just been unhooked in my truck since last winter which always has a code popped. So fabbing a bracket to hold the switch and get the TCC working again.


Cheers