Box Rocket 1995 FZJ80 Build

Current Photo as of April 2022
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr


Specs are:

1995 FZJ80 Moonglow Pearl
1FZ-FE 307k miles currently
Factory Triple Locked
Magnaflow Exhaust
3" Slinky Long Travel HD coils
1" Body Lift
Slinky 2.5 remote reservoir Double Bypass shocks 12” travel
Blackhawk/Slinky HD rear lower control arms
Blackhawk/Slinky HD adjustable upper control arms
Blackhawk HD rear swaybar
LCP HD Swaybar links
Slee caster plates.
Front axle moved 1.25" forward using custom relocation brackets
Homebuilt front bumper
Homebuilt rear bumper with swingout
Trail Gear sliders
Trail Tailor Recovery points
Snorkel
37x13.50 Toyo MT
17x9 Icon Alloy Rebound
1.5" Spidertrax Wheel spacers
ComeUp Gen 2 Seal 9.5rs Winch with synthetic rope
Factor 55 Ultrahook
Pioneer in-dash DVD headunit
Drop down DVD player for rear seats
Uniden Pro 520xl CB Radio
Kenwood HAM radio
Bad Elf GPS receiver
Freedom Retrofit Headlights
9" LED CoLight Laser Spotlights (2x on bumper)
Prinsu Design Studio Roofrack
8x LED CoLight 4.5" Cube spotlights (roof mounted)
Tepui 6' Awning
Portable CO2 tank
Snomaster 52L Dual Zone Fridge
Clearview EasySlide Fridge Drop Slide
Goose Gear rear drawer system
LSeat black leather on middle row
VW Jetta Leather seat swap
DeltaVS Center/Shifter Console
Group31 Battery
Interior LED lights


It's a bit of a project, but it's mostly just cosmetic. Clearcoat on the hood, roof and flares is peeling. Carpets aren't great. Front seats leather is torn. Minor dings consistent with age. Valve cover leaks a little and the distributor O-ring leaks a little. Front axle is due for complete service. None of that is too serious and I'll address that stuff pretty quickly once I've got the truck.

Immediate plans are to swap over bumpers, armor, suspension and tires from my '93. That includes, OME J springs, L shocks, adjustable panhards, caster plates, sway bar drops, ARB front bumper, Wildyoats rear bumper, TG sliders, and 315's. Then address the peeling paint. I also have a line on some "new" front seats that came out of a low mileage '97 anniversary edition truck that are in good shape with no tears in the leather. Those will likely get swapped in the same day of purchase. I'm in the process of getting a roofrack designed and built by Zscott that I think it going to be fantastic and that will carry my RTT. Should be in great shape at that point. I'm really looking forward to being back in an 80.

Here's my old 80 to give you an idea what stuff will come off of it.

 

Can't wait to see this thing be built.

 

sub'd

 

Sub'd

 

Starting out big with the mods. Everyone knows that 80s are in dire need of cup holders. So I picked up one of the popular Land Rover Discovery cup holders to add to the truck after I pick it up on Saturday.

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Now onto something a bit bigger.......how bout some 345/75R16 BFG KM2s? Ordered a set of 5. Can't wait.

 

Nice! Talk about mean! The cup holder of course not the 345/75R16's

 

sub'd - can't wait to see this build. I can only hope it's as sick as your tacoma

 

Me too....

 

Got the 80 over the weekend and we got it home last night.

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

 

Sub'd. Trying to get into an 80 myself.

 

man, that's purty

 

Was able to get a few pics this morning of the painted flares and a few other small things I've been able to address since getting it home on Saturday. The flares cleaned up nicely I think and look good with the black handles. There are a few interior shots too to show the seats. First off the flares.
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Before:

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After:

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Before:

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After:

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Now the seats. This is the only photo I have of the original seats. Both front seats were similar condition. The leather was torn and the foam was deteriorating badly.

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These are the seats I was able to replace them with. They came out of a '97. Like I said they are pretty dry right now, but I'll try to soften them up with some conditioner over the next few weeks. Power features work perfectly and they clean up the interior feel quite a bit.

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So a bunch of small things for now. Like the cupholder, cover for the steering wheel and some new floormats. I've got a crazy week this week so I'm not sure exactly how much time I'll have to start tearing stuff off of my '93 and getting it onto the '95 but I hope to find some time. One other little hiccup is that the 345 KM2s are on backorder so I may need to wait a bit for those.

 

Looks good so far!

 

My roommate just picked one of these up so Ill be keeping him updated

 

Sub'd

 

Looks like everyone all over the country is out of the 345 KM2s so I've had to change plans on tires. Decided to go with some 315/75R16 Goodyear MTRs for now. They'll be a bit more driveable for now until I get the gears done then I'll look and moving up to 37's. The MTRs should be here right around Christmas time so it will likely be the first of the year before I've actually got them on the truck.


I did however, get the ARB bumper off my '93 last night. The bumper has definitely seen better days. For starters its a modified bumper with all the lower skirts cut off. I like the better clearance it has. It's been well used on my '93 for more than a decade so it's got a couple of little dents and tweaks. Also since it's been sitting on the side of my house for a couple years the weather has been working on it and there were some rusty spots. I got it pulled off a couple nights ago and cleaned up. Sanded it down to bare steel and rattlecanned it with Rustoleum Satin since it has a finish that looks similar to the original powder coat. I got it mounted to the new truck this morning and moved over my HIDs from the Tacoma. It's starting to look a bit more like a real cruiser now.

 

Very nice Adam. I am sure this build will be done right..

 

Looks good! All I can say is that the photos don't do the color of this thing justice. In person the moon glow pearl is amazing.

 

damnit i wanted to see what trimming you were going to have to do with J springs and 37's. i really want 37's on my 80 but i think ill re-gear and get some autocroft slinkie coils first!

 

Thanks Allan

You're kind. I agree the color is pretty cool but the condition of the paint on this truck is nothing to get excited about. Thanks again for coming over last night! Can't wait to have one of your racks on this thing!!

With the 345's I don't think I would be trimming anything. I have J springs but also have 1.5" coil spacers so I'm pretty close to 5" of lift. As long as you use stock wheels the 345's tuck is very nicely and I shouldn't have to trim anything. That's why I'm so bummed about them not being available. BFG is the only company offering that size for the stock wheel. So if I wanted something similar I'd have to go to a true 37" which is about .5" taller. Backspacing is still the main factor in whether or not the tires will rub but the true 37's will probably need some trimming and/or removing the flares. I don't like how these trucks look as much without the flares and I'd rather go wider than the narrow look without the flares so I want to keep them.

It's all good. the 315's will work great. That's what I've had on my '93 the whole time I've owned it and it worked awesome. I did order some 1.5" spidertrax wheel spacers to widen the stance a bit so it should look pretty good and be nice and stable.