Box Rocket 1995 FZJ80 Build

This was two weekends ago. Just haven't had a chance to post any here. I've been prerunning routes for the 4xOverlandUSA Southwest Adventure 2017. Found some really cool areas that I think will be great. Need to make some tweaks to the route in a few sections and then go prerun again. For those interested this trip starts the weekend before Cruise Moab next spring. If you want to see some pics from the 2016 trip you can see some of the pics earlier in this thread or you can see it here. 4xOverlandUSA - Southwest Adventure 2017
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On the way home one of my rear brake pads shattered and came out of the caliper, leaving only the backing shim. The pads were not worn out so it was a bit of a surprise. Didn't see it until I got home. Didn't hear it over the noise of the truck. Destroyed the rotor and the caliper. Got it all replaced on Saturday so all is well now but kind lame. Never had a pad shatter before.
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Carnage pics

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New parts.

 

Halfway through a seat swap. I got a killer deal on these 2011 VW Jetta seats. Leather, heaters. They are a manual slide, but have power recline. The rails are quite a bit wider than the cruiser ones. I did a bit of light hammering to the ridge in the floorboard where the front mount is closest to the ebrake handle because of the rail width. Without a bit of clearancing to that ridge, they sit too close to the door and the door won't close correctly. Driver seat is done and installed. Need to do the passenger seat tonight.

I needed to fabricate new mounts for them, but that was pretty straight forward. I need to hook up the electricals still but drove it to work this morning and the comfort and seating position is so much better for me. The seat bottom is probably about 1" higher than the stock seat bottoms so it will raise the driving position slightly. These seats have a 'tilt' adjustment for the bottom so with that adjusted lower it doesn't feel like you're sitting any higher.

 

Nice work! I found some sweet civic si seats I am swapping into my brothers pickup. I just started the same process last night. Your seats look much nicer though

 

What year Civic? I really like the seats in my 2017 Si. Those would be a nice swap.

 

I think it is an 07. They are nice seats. Biggest problem is the bench seat in the pickup is so thin. These seats actually line up with most of the existing holes but I will have to relocate them with some brackets since they are so much thicker. Should be nice though.

 

Cool.

I used some regular Civic seats in my old '93 reg cab. They worked pretty well too. Three of the Four bolt holes lined up. Just had to drill one new hole for each seat.

 

Finished the seat swap

 

Those totally look like they should always have been there

 

Off topic, but what paint did you use for the frame rails, axles, etc. I'm in Utah too and am impressed how clean the undercarriage looks despite our salty roads. Can you recommend a durable paint?

 

Typically once a year I'll do a bit of touchup to the chassis with Rustoleum Satin Black.

 

Did you do touch up your Tacoma as well? Mine isn't too shabby comparatively, but I want to stay ahead of the curve.

 

I did today ch up the Tacoma

 

Any experience with the 100 series? How do you feel about it as an off-road vehicle?

 

Haven’t owned one but have spent a lot of time offroad in them. They are good trucks. The torsion bar front suspension isn’t the most ideal but still work alright with the IFS. The rear end is nearly identical to the 80 series. Only the first couple years had a rear locker, the rest were just ATRAC. So depending on how you want to use it, you might want to look into lockers. Solid and comfortable “overlanders”.

 

Thanks! I’m always looking around for a change but am not 100% on it. Some days I love the truck, some days I want an SUV.

 

Once you own a Cruiser.....

 

That’s what I hear and what I’d like to find out. Cruiser folks are die hard cruiser fanboys and I want to know why! Haha.

 

Haha it's a problem, I love both my truck and my cruiser but the cruiser just exudes this strange extra feeling of solidness and permanence that the taco doesn't. Also the old ones like the 80 series kinda just do what they please which is oddly comforting haha.