itshowiplay
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2010
- Messages
- 11
For those that dont know how I came by my land cruiser heres a copy of my intro post:
How did I get here? Well it's a bit of a funny story.....
For years I have had a passion for off roading, more the driving than the tech side of it, and having spent considerable time in West Australia in the late 90's and also having lived in the USA for nearly 2 decades I have had plenty of chance to play off road and have done so at almost every oportunity.
Over the years I have had Jeeps, various pickup trucks the odd Land Rover, and even a 100 series in the late 90s.
I now own a small company (Pro Valet) down here in Jersey specializing in top end auto detailing but commercial space is premium rent here so I rent a four berth workshop at the back of the islands leading diesel specialist.
So today this Land Cruiser comes through the door, without going into too much detail it has an issue with the fuel pump, Stevo (the deisel mechanic) tells the customer (after diagnosis) the repair bill will be about £400 (a fair bit of labour in there)
The customer doesn't like the fact that it will cost £400 - even though the truck is driving ok just bad throttle response as it's not sucking up enough fuel.
"Oh well, guess i'll sell it" Says the customer.
"£50 cash here and now" I retorted in jest.
Before I could blink he had shook my hand and I had just accidentally bought a 1989 Land Cruiser
Now the mechanical stuff I can manage myself with guidance from Stevo and any specialist work done by Stevo (he owes me a few favours) but the body needs quite a bit of attention, once again I am capable of this myself with the help of our neighbouring garage which is a body shop and also owes me a few favours for the custom I have sent them over the year.
I will strip the truck pretty far back to clean up all the body rust spots and have it resprayed in its original color and restored to it's former glory.
So the good points are, the mechanicals are no issue, just time consuming. The chassis is rust free. it has 155'000 miles with every stamp in the book up to 138'000 then the book ran out of stamp sopts Smile The interior is (almost) mint.
Bad points, are body has enough small rust patches that I may as well go full rub down, patch her up and full respray. Sunroof is *beep*, the actual sunroof itself not the surrounding bodywork (looks like the top skin has come off from rusting)
Some previous owner decided to cut holes big enough to fit 6 x 9 speakers in the rear cards ruining an otherwise MINT interior.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 2:
SO.......... all the carefull planning has gone out of the window thanks to my mate Scotty! (Never let a Scotty in to your workshop)
Now Scottys aren't generally a bad thing, but when you have finished the last job of the morning and you simply plan to take off the wheel arches and brackets and then get to the pub for a pint you dont want a Scotty in to walk in!
He had heard through the grapevine that I was on a new project so dropped in and true to nature Scotty can't stop himself from tinkering..... great bloke for helping get a job done, hopeless when it comes to getting to the pub! No sooner had he seen the truck and he was breaking out the grinders and getting to work on the rust.
The day she arrived.
So retro the interior is going to have to go!
The lump many seem to dislike!
Scotty wonders why he bothered to drill the rivets on the bracket when he just need to blow jently and watch the rust disintergrate!
De-Arched, Possible chance to get to the pub?????
Nope no pub yet, Scotty wants the windows out!!
Well at least now all the rust is and body issues are aparent and we can make a full assesment of the body work to be done!
To be continued...... and no never made the pub, wife had dinner on the table!
How did I get here? Well it's a bit of a funny story.....
For years I have had a passion for off roading, more the driving than the tech side of it, and having spent considerable time in West Australia in the late 90's and also having lived in the USA for nearly 2 decades I have had plenty of chance to play off road and have done so at almost every oportunity.
Over the years I have had Jeeps, various pickup trucks the odd Land Rover, and even a 100 series in the late 90s.
I now own a small company (Pro Valet) down here in Jersey specializing in top end auto detailing but commercial space is premium rent here so I rent a four berth workshop at the back of the islands leading diesel specialist.
So today this Land Cruiser comes through the door, without going into too much detail it has an issue with the fuel pump, Stevo (the deisel mechanic) tells the customer (after diagnosis) the repair bill will be about £400 (a fair bit of labour in there)
The customer doesn't like the fact that it will cost £400 - even though the truck is driving ok just bad throttle response as it's not sucking up enough fuel.
"Oh well, guess i'll sell it" Says the customer.
"£50 cash here and now" I retorted in jest.
Before I could blink he had shook my hand and I had just accidentally bought a 1989 Land Cruiser
Now the mechanical stuff I can manage myself with guidance from Stevo and any specialist work done by Stevo (he owes me a few favours) but the body needs quite a bit of attention, once again I am capable of this myself with the help of our neighbouring garage which is a body shop and also owes me a few favours for the custom I have sent them over the year.
I will strip the truck pretty far back to clean up all the body rust spots and have it resprayed in its original color and restored to it's former glory.
So the good points are, the mechanicals are no issue, just time consuming. The chassis is rust free. it has 155'000 miles with every stamp in the book up to 138'000 then the book ran out of stamp sopts Smile The interior is (almost) mint.
Bad points, are body has enough small rust patches that I may as well go full rub down, patch her up and full respray. Sunroof is *beep*, the actual sunroof itself not the surrounding bodywork (looks like the top skin has come off from rusting)
Some previous owner decided to cut holes big enough to fit 6 x 9 speakers in the rear cards ruining an otherwise MINT interior.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 2:
SO.......... all the carefull planning has gone out of the window thanks to my mate Scotty! (Never let a Scotty in to your workshop)
Now Scottys aren't generally a bad thing, but when you have finished the last job of the morning and you simply plan to take off the wheel arches and brackets and then get to the pub for a pint you dont want a Scotty in to walk in!
He had heard through the grapevine that I was on a new project so dropped in and true to nature Scotty can't stop himself from tinkering..... great bloke for helping get a job done, hopeless when it comes to getting to the pub! No sooner had he seen the truck and he was breaking out the grinders and getting to work on the rust.
The day she arrived.
So retro the interior is going to have to go!
The lump many seem to dislike!
Scotty wonders why he bothered to drill the rivets on the bracket when he just need to blow jently and watch the rust disintergrate!
De-Arched, Possible chance to get to the pub?????
Nope no pub yet, Scotty wants the windows out!!
Well at least now all the rust is and body issues are aparent and we can make a full assesment of the body work to be done!
To be continued...... and no never made the pub, wife had dinner on the table!
