TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 So I thought I would catch everybody up to speed. This is probably the best sub-forum for it. I married in March. My wife & I have been together for almost 2 years, and she has a 12yr old Daughter. Having the Brat just wasn't going to cut it, so it was the first to go. The original plan was to replace the Brat with a trusty Legacy, Impreza or maybe a not-so-trusty-and-already-needs-headgaskets Forester, and keep my 4runner for the casual weekend camping trips, or the rare guys trip thru the rubicon etc... The more I thought about it (and the more i shopped) it just wasnt possible to replace the Brat with a trusty Daily Driver for the amount I got for it (and it didn't help losing my job a week before I sold the Brat). I also came to the conclusion that, with a new baby on the way, those casual weekend trips & rare guys trips wheelin'... Probably wont be a reality for another 12-18months. That and the 4Runner is also a 2 door, and had a list of issues. So I put the 4Runner up on the market and found a guy who I know will take care of her, didn't get my asking price, but I did get what I paid for it. So now I have funds from my Brat sale, and the sale of my 4Runner. Before ever thinking of selling my 4Runner, I had been researching the Toyota FZJ80 Land Cruisers. 1991-1995. These are pretty well capable rigs straight out of the box. With lockers available post'93 & two very well designed engines/transmissions to end up with. The largest downfall's are obviously the price, not just the purchase price of the truck but parts & gas. Which brings me to the next downfall, fuel mileage. I figure the pro's far outweigh the con's, and if i can find one for a good price it would be the perfect family DD/weekend warrior. The long search ended about 5 weeks ago. I went to look at a '94 with 181k, auto, cloth seats, no lockers. The lady didn't know a whole lot about the truck. She lived in the ghetto, and I actually test drove the truck with her cousin who just moved here a week prior and didn't know a thing about the vehicle. But it drove nice, tires were shot so it pulled and had a wobble at 30+mph. It also has a salvage title, which she attributes to a scratch in the drivers door/fender. There is a wrinkle in both but not enough damage to cause a salvaged title. I am thinking the vehicle came from auction, hopefully a carfax will reveal more on that. But I used these flaws to haggle her down to $3k cash, and drove it home. This is what it looked like the day I got it. The reason she said it had a salvaged title 3 row seating, rear 2 rows folded up... I think the entire family can sleep in here! The interior & cloth seating is what really sealed the deal for me. I just couldn't be caught off-road with leather. Didn't hurt that the interior was near immaculate. I had to take it out back and make it an official mall crawler. This is as far as I could make it before lifting a tire.... not too shabby, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 So after a couple weeks of searching I found the deal of a lifetime on a perfect set of BFG Mud Terrains. They are the right size too at 305/70R16 (32.8" tall). Any bigger and I'd need a lift (comming soon). I found this set of tires off craigslist for $200, only problem they were 120 miles away. I bit the bullet, and at $4.08/gal I set off on a 250mile round trip. I think it was worth it, tack on another $80 for gas, and i still think im ahead for these baby's The very next day I had to have them mounted of course I think they fill in the fenders quite nice. No rubbing at all.... well, there was some slight rub from the drivers front tire at full lock, but I found it was just a flappy piece of rubber, once removed i have more clearance than I need. I have been battling the last few days over wether or not i want to leave the fender flares on the truck or take them off. My wife seems to really like them, I am not too sure. I like how Land Cruisers look without them, but I do not like the holes left behind once removed. So to start off I just removed the running boards. It makes it look like I have more clearance already, and without the running boards the fender flares stand out and look alot better... I think I want to find another set of rear mud flaps and modify them to fit up front. I also want to trim the rear mudflap so it no longer hangs down so low. I did a little photoshop to see what it would look like, we'll see if i can come up with a pair of rear flaps. So yeah, thats pretty much it. My new Daily Driver/Weekend Warrior. It should make it thru the Rubicon like this (with sliders first) but probably will find itself making it thru much more tame forest service roads for a while, until I can afford the lift kit I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 nice. looks comfy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NV Zeno Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Dang Brian, nice ride. Puts my new (to me) Outback to shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 Your Subaru gets double the gas mileage, that should make you feel alittle better Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Nice rig. Congrats on the marriage. My guess is the air bag went off when the front bumper was hit. Then, probably bought at auction. Have fun with that one! Sidenote: Mine is almost trail ready again. Might as well be a new rig with everything I did to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 No signs that the airbag went off... and the front bumper doesn't have enough impact damage to warrant the airbag deployment. One nifty thing I did find while cleaning the truck... its got a remote start/alarm installed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicfrog Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Congrats man! Just want to drop a line and let you know that, after two months of nipping and tucking and wrenching and rewiring... The Silver Brat Lives!!!!!! Almost all the problems have been fixed or resolved. I'll do a post with pics tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 Awesome, did it smog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicfrog Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Yeah. Passed just fine... Though the computer they were using crashed at the final stage... Windows. What do you expect!!! :-) My fingers are in hell from all the work restoring the Brat, but it was worth it! Driving it down to Oxnard tomorrow morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 Awesome, so glad to hear things are making progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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