Ziffer's FZJ80

As I went to replace the O2 sensors, I found that one of the vehicle harness leads to the upstream sensor had been severed. I patched a new wire in, but will eventually want to replace the harness. Unfortunately, since the O2 sensor had been malfunctioning for thousands of miles at this point, it likely damaged the catalytic converters as well. I had Boulder Muffler do the work as I am between houses at the moment and all my tools are in storage. The whole process was fairly expensive, but the truck passed emissions with flying colors.

On Thursday some of the parts came in and I got to work installing them during my lunch break. I swapped out the air filter with a new factory washable filter and I repaired the exterior tailgate latch and trim. It turns out that a plastic clip had broken off and allowed the exterior handle actuator to fall into the door. New factory washable filter Old door lock repair Broken actuator clip All buttoned up with factory parts I also took this opportunity to transfer some of the equipment over from my old 88 Toyota Pickup. Sandtracks, Firestik antenna, Hi-lift Jack, and random decals I had floating around (including a unicorn decal for my daughter.

The next day it was time to dive into some of the issues with the truck. I used my OBDII scan tool to read the stored codes since the 96-97 models were fully compliant. There were a bunch stored and I had no idea how old they were so I cleared them in hopes that everything was actually fine. I also repaired the broken front fender with some new 3M tape and JBweld plastic weld and detailed the truck inside and out. The paint was pretty worn and definitely needed wax. I also took the time to remove the deteriorating wood trim on the interior panels. Fender reinstalled and truck washed Old wood trim The next day I took it in for an emissions test and...failed?!. The check engine light came back on during the test and the results indicated high NOx and a failed gas cap as well. Looks like I had some work ahead of me. I read the codes again and they pointed to both O2 sensors failing so I ordered new factory O2 sensors, a new gas cap, and some random trim clips and pieces that we...

For a while now I had been toying with the idea of replacing my 88 Toyota Pickup and 09 Subaru Outback with something that was both capable off-road, reliable, and unique (Toyota) and a good daily driver (Subaru). After much deliberation I narrowed my search to a 1997 FZJ80 Land Cruiser, white with factory lockers. This proved to be somewhat of a unicorn, but eventually I found a seemingly well maintained (albeit high mileage @ 260K) Cruiser in Steamboat Springs that fit all my criteria. As a bonus, the previous owner outfitted the truck expedition style with reputable equipment from ARB and Slee offroad to name a few. After convincing my wife that yes, this did make sense and yes, it was going to be more reliable than my previous Land Rover endeavors, we headed up to check it out in person. The owner was a great guy and I could tell that while he was reluctant to sell this vehicle, which he had owned for over 12 years, he was also ready for a new chapter in his life. We talked at le...