Offroad-Express

A few months back i got offered a 80 series vx landcruiser for a pretty sharp price after the owner cooked it. Radiator top tank cracked, resulting in overheating cracked head, and it looked like 2 pistons had minor cracks, other than that it looked to be all good. I guess that was February's or march i dunno It then became a garden nome for a while while my mate was over seas. I was thinking of doing the dodgy and slaping a second hand head on it, and flicking it off but i couldnt bring myself to do this........ For a second hand engines i was getting quotes of $5.5k +gst, + fitting, so i figured this was pretty steep and decieded a rebuilt was a better option. I guess in june some work finally started happening as my mate did it as a fill in job, got it stripped down pistons went in the acid tank to get cleaned once they came out 3 of them were cracked from one side to the other side so they were completely fucked. So a genuine new head went on, bottom end wasnt warped so it was rebuilt with the works. Sent injectors off to get tested and cleaned came back they needed fixing. Then found a crack in the chassie so got that sorted. New batterys, wof, rego, diesel kms all adds up i tell you!

So basicly ive ended up with a 91 vx ltd, with rebuild engine, new shocks, rebuild auto, So it should last a while! Its going to be a work in progress as it still needs a bit of work, the paint needs a bit of attention, winch needs fitting, a few minor interior bits need replacing (no ones wrecking a 80 series cruiser??)

Its currently roling on 31" hankook mt tyres, how do these go off road?

Hopefully this week ill have enough kms on it to be able to do the 1000km service on it, and hopefully have the winch on.....

hi bro welcome , after all the money and stress , you'll have a good solid truck , in 4 wheeling you rebuild at the start or the middle of your offroading, get out there and enjoy the big brute you've got,

good choice of truck mate

welcome aboard

stompin wrote:Its currently roling on 31" hankook mt tyres, how do these go off road?

Hey stomping,

Bare in mind that Hankooks are porb the cheapest of the MT's you can buy.
Ive got 30' Hankooks MT's on my Feroza and the Mrs has 205x16 Hankooks MT's on her zook and have found them to be a preaty good tyre for a "cheepie" handles the northland mud quite well but dosnt clear out the block tread as well as i would like, then again the mud up here cloggs any tread up pretty quickly

On road they seem to give good grip in both wet and dry roads, although for some reason both sets of tyres have a distinctive howl between 69-76km per hour ... rest of the time they are not much noisier than road tyres.

depending on what you want to do with your rig I would keep the Hankooks for day to day driving and the odd mud run... if your going serous mud plugging chuck a different set on, oh and they HATE the sand ... like any mud tyre they dig in within seconds if your too heavy with the right foot

hi stompin welcome aboard .i,m wrecking an 80 at the moment most of the big stuff is gone .if theres any thing u need drop us a pm and i,ll see what i,ve got .i want it gone so whatever is left will be cheeeeeep cheers sig

Ill get some pics tomorrow, still needs a bit more work but its coming along...

I dont think ill get into anything too serious in terms of 4wding, but the winch i got to fit came with the truck so might as well throw it on! We'll see what happens from there....

Gudday; bloody hell you crack me up mate (with all due sincere respect) BECAUSE of two things. a): "I don't think I'll get into anything too serious in terms of 4wding"... It's ok, I used to say that. Just go with it. At least you've got the RIGHT truck for "whatever little 4wding" you do... My brother's got an 80 and the bugger won't let me anywhere near it.

and b): for God's sake don't worry about the paint. Paint will suffer anyway as the tyres get bigger and bigger and give the guards a hiding as your perception of the seriousness of your 4wding gets properly developed.

I'm not sure what Coxsy means about rebuilding at the start and middle of things... I must be a bloody idiot but I'm rebuilding ALL the time.

Just ENJOY what you do and, remember No.1 rule, 4-wheel drives are just designed to get you more stuck than a 2wd-er could ever dream. We've all been there so make sure your recovery points are sweet and you've got back up when you need it. Cher.

stompin wrote:Ill get some pics tomorrow, still needs a bit more work but its coming along...

I dont think ill get into anything too serious in terms of 4wding, but the winch i got to fit came with the truck so might as well throw it on! We'll see what happens from there....

we all said / thought that when we started mate. you will gain knowledge and experience and pretty soon you will think that taking on a gnarly mean track is nothing too serious

JUST FUN ! !

remember No.1 rule, 4-wheel drives are just designed to get you more stuck than a 2wd-er could ever dream

hahah nice one, i like it

hey guys few more question, changed the oil & filter in the truck today, and my receipt didnt say if the fuel filter was changed or not, so i got one of them too for piece of mind.

Ive never changed a fuel filter before, How often should fuel filters be changed? Is there anything special to changing fuel filters? oher than just slapping it on?

Im guessing next week i should do the diff oils cause i got no idea how long they have been in, any tips, what oil etc?

i silll got the winch to sort, some other crap needs doing, ill get it all done one day.

Thanks brad......

a part from bleeding the filter with fuel remove the air

got some budget assed tool from repco today to try undo the filter and stilll got get it to undo...... Ill wait untill it stops raining and try again.

Is there any tool you guys rate for undoing oil/fuel filters?

I use a filter tool, box section tube with a material strap that goes around the filter. Fits onto a ratchet so it easy as to get off.

DaveM wrote:I use a filter tool, box section tube with a material strap that goes around the filter. Fits onto a ratchet so it easy as to get off.

Thats the business for most filter removals, just keep it closer to the thread, you get much better torque to undo

Got a couple of these trucks mate, Awesome choice was the chassis crack around the steering box mount?Did ya manage to score the truck with factory lockers front and rear?

dixie wrote:

DaveM wrote:I use a filter tool, box section tube with a material strap that goes around the filter. Fits onto a ratchet so it easy as to get off.

Thats the business for most filter removals, just keep it closer to the thread, you get much better torque to undo

Got a couple of these trucks mate, Awesome choice was the chassis crack around the steering box mount?Did ya manage to score the truck with factory lockers front and rear?

yer the chassie crack was arround the steering box mount, a place in chch fixed it up looks pretty good will see if it lasts the test of time.

Got the fuel filter changed over, holey sh!t it was tight but got it undone in the end, Booked to get the new windscreen replaced as its started to go cloudy monday next week. Still need to take it to a mechanics to get the oil pressure checked just to verify the gauge in the dash is faulty.

hey guys, more questions!

I picked up a factory toyota winch today (meant to have came off an 80 series cruiser), Can any one sheed the some light on the specs of it?

SHould i pay some one to fit it? or should i do it my self? if so any tips to fitting a winch onto the truck?