1985 Toyota land cruiser FJ60 Restored and One of a Kind

1985 Toyota Land Cruiser Description

For Sale is my freshly restored 1985 Land Cruiser, I bought this vehicle here on eBay about two years ago. I always thought that these 60 series Cruisers were cool but I did not know really anything other than that about them, fortunately the person that I bought this from is a lifelong Cruiser enthusiast who has owned many of them over the year so he does not buy or get involved in the ones that are rust-buckets or abused.

Even though this is the first LC I have owned I have been doing car restorations for over 25 years (as a hobby). My typical area of focus has been 60’s and 70’s muscle cars with a few old trucks and SUV’s mixed in. Once I bought this vehicle I learned about the whole community of enthusiasts and vendors based on the LC platform. I used a mix of the great products and advice available along with my tastes and abilities to create something very different yet bulletproof and low maintenance. Having said this I fully understand that there will be people who both love and hate what I have done and I am totally fine with that.

Here are the highlights of what I have done:

Body / Exterior

The body was in incredible condition to start with, there were two small golf ball sized dents (one in the front right and one in the rear left corners) and ZERO RUST. Had I realized just how rare this nearly perfect rust free body was I might not have gone the route I did but oh well, you only live once.

The two small dents were pulled out with a stud gun and then filled with a minimal amount of body filler and primed (see pictures).

With my own two hands (over a few week period) I manually scrapped all of the factory sound deadening material (that was still fully intact) off of the entire floor (including the cargo area).

I then fully disassembled the vehicle which included removing all four doors, upper and lower rear gates, hood, front fenders, grill / headlight assemblies, bumpers, tail lights all glass (windshield, rear hatch, rear side cargo areas and all door glass) and all interior including headliner, seats, door panels, dash and heating system.

From there I trailered the body and doors to my local Linex dealer for him to do a full body spray inside and out. I had been talking to him about doing a full body job for several years and this was the project that I decided to do it on. He has done several ful body jobs over the years and has a couple of guys that are incredible craftsmen. To be clear this is a full legit Linex coating shot in one continuous process (no cold joints) by guys that have a lot of experience and know all of the tricks to make this a visually incredible job that is also durable and low maintenance. To clean I simply wet the vehicle with a hose, use a spray bottle to apply a little Simple Green cleaner and then scrub it with a large but soft brush and rinse. It takes minutes and looks great every time.

The gaps are all uniform and the panels are all perfectly aligned.

All glass was professionally reinstalled and the regulators in both front doors were replaced with brand new ones from Specter Off-road. All glass (except the windshield) was tinted by a local shop using 3M film, I forget the % of the tint film but it is the middle of the road shade that is legal.

I took the ARB front bull bar and the factory rear bumper to my local powder coating shop and had them blasted and coated in gloss black that looks great. I added a brand-new set of frame mounted ARB rock slider side steps that are discontinued and nearly impossible to find. I took the aluminum top covers and drilled large holes in them to show off the bars under them and then had them powder coated in a gray speckled finish and mounted them with nicer polished stainless hardware. I also took the skid-plate off and had it coated in a red crinkle finish that looks very cool.

The wheels are a brand new set of 17x8.5 Fuel Trophy’s in matte black wrapped with a brand new set of LT285/75R/17 Toyo Open Country A/T 2’s.

Other body things: New halogen headlights, new “Land Cruiser” side eblems and rear “4x4” emblem, new Aussie style side view mirrors, new wipers (converted to modern off the shelf blades), new taillight, front corner and front and rear side marker lenses, new gas struts for the rear hatch, new mounting hardware for both bumpers, new end caps for both ends of the rear bumper.

I just washed it before I took these pictures so the discolored blotches are just water that hadnt dried yet, I will try to get some pictures of it dry but here in the Pacific NW that is a bit of a challenge this time of year.

Interior

As previously mentioned in the body section the entire floor and roof are shot with genuine Linex material applied by professionals that have a lot of experience with these types of applications.

The front and back seats are all professionally recovered with the gray marine grade vinyl kit from Specter Off-road that was installed by a local upholstery shop that I have done business with for years. The bottom seat foam on both front seats was also replaced with the nice new firm ones also from Spector Off-road.

A durable locking Tuffy security console is mounted to the floor.

A Kenwood KMM-BT518HD head unit is mounted in the provided space in the locking console, a Rockford Fosgate T400X4ad amp with internal cooling fan is mounted to the bottom of the console out of sight. A set of Hertz 5-1/2” speakers are mounted in the front doors, a set of 4” Hertz speakers are mounted in the rear doors and a set of Hertz 6”x9” speakers are mounted in the rear gate. All of this was professionally installed by a local sound shop that I have dealt with for many years.

Sound deadening material was applied to the inside of all of the doors and the rear gate as well as to the back side of all of the panels in those same areas. This combined with the Linex coating makes for a quiet and rattle free ride.

I cut the door and cargo area door panels out of 14ga steel and the frames around the outside of them out of aluminum. The panels are powder coated with a black and gray speckled / hammered finish that is then clear coated. The outer frames are powder coated in gloss black. All panels are secured with black oxide button-head bolts with stainless steel centering washers. The drivers side rear panel in the cargo area has a hatch in it that opens so you can store a small tool kit and jumper cables in there if you would like, the door is held shut with two magnets, no rattles. Black billet aluminum window cranks from Eddie Motorsports were added to finish off the look and functionality.

The heating system and dash were professionally reinstalled by a local shop that only works on LC’s (TorFab in Everett, WA they are awesome, look them up), while it was out I went ahead and bought a new heater core even though the existing one was not leaking but this only makes sense. The factory rear heater which is located under the passenger seat was also re-plumbed and works perfectly.

Other interior things: New rear cargo area dome light assembly, new bulb and lens on main dome light, new black carpeted (rubbed backed) front, rear and cargo area mats from Cruiser Corps.

I also replaced the old plastic vapor barriers in all four doors with new ones that I made out of fireproof reinforced poly sheeting with reinforcement in it and secured them with Gorilla tape.

I also have made a template for a cover that I was going to cut out of steel plate for the center of the dash where the factory stereo mounting location is that would cover up the hole and provide a mounting place for rocker switches for LED spot lights, light bar and LED back up lights. It would also provide a nice mounting place for a phone cradle as well as a recessed tray to store sunglasses or similar items. It would be powder coated in the same finish as the door panels and mounted solidly with the same hardware. The switches and the template in one of the last pictures will be included with the sale. If you want me to fabricate the bracket, have it coated and install it I will do it for an additional $250, let me know if you want this option and I will get rolling on it because the powder-coating has typically taken two weeks. Tomorrow I will add a picture of the mock-up sitting in position so you can better see what I am trying to explain.

Suspension and Engine

These are the areas where I have not really done much of anything because I didn’t need to.

The original 2F engine was swapped out a few years ago with a donor 2F out of another Cruiser that only had 54K miles on it at the time of the swap. I have the paperwork for this but cannot seem to locate it at the moment I am putting this write-up together. I will find the documents and provide exact miles and dates of the motor swap. The motor swap was performed by the same Land Cruiser shop I mentioned earlier called TorFab in Everett, WA so it was done right. All I have done is change the oil, plugs and coolant (proper red formula) and it starts right up and runs great. For those of you not familiar with the Toyota 2F engine, it will not run down a Corvette nor compete with a Prius on fuel economy but it will basically run forever with little or no needs except an oil change from time to time. If you wanted to take this vehicle to the next and highest level it would be awesome with a Chevy LS motor in it, with this conversion this thing would have another 25+ years of life needing only basic maintenance. Have a look on youtube at the ones being done by TLC that sell for about $150K. I think this body and interior is cooler than theirs and the local shop I have mentioned (TorFab) does these LS conversions for about $12K, the downside is that they currently have about a year long waiting list. If I end up keeping this vehicle this is likely what I will eventually do. The engine does have the apparently very normal couple of oil drips but they are nothing serious and are not enough to make you have to add oil. I actually had the guys at TorFab look at it and give me a price to fix the drips and the said it would be a waste of money because they would return again as these 2F’s all seem to leak a little oil.

The old tailpipe was ugly so I had it replaced, the rest of the exhaust system is solid, it has a Flowmaster muffler that sounds good.

odometer reads just under 212,000 miles which I believe to be accurate.

I have not done anything with the suspension, there are Old Man Emu shocks and Dakar springs on it, all of this was on the vehicle when the person I bought it from purchased it so the age of this system is unknown. It still rides great but there are a few creaks and groans from the bushings on cold mornings and I personally would like the front end to sit a little higher so if I were to keep this vehicle I would replace the springs and shocks with the 3” heavy duty suspension kit from Specter Off-road. This kit includes all new shocks, springs, shackles and hardware and lists for $2,134 + $245 additional shipping to my location. There are also about $100 of additional parts needed to do it right like greasable shackle bolts, shock boot covers and a rear stabilizer link kit. If you purchase this vehicle and want this kit installed I will do it for and even $2,500 above the purchase price which means you are basically getting my labor to remove to old and install the new for free. I don’t want to give the wrong impression, the existing suspension is also totally fine and functional so you could operate this vehicle for many more years as is without doing anything.

I have sold a few fairly high value cars and lots of car parts and pieces on here all with perfect feedback, I do not play games and expect the same out of any buyers.

This vehicle has no warranty and is sold as-is where is, I have experience dealing with shippers and will be happy to load it on the truck for the shipper you hire. For one vehicle I sold it was several hundred dollars cheaper for the person if I got it to a yard in Seattle for him so I am willing to do that if you find out the same thing. I am also willing to meet you at the airport in Seattle with the vehicle if you want to fly in and drive it home.

If you want to take advantage of the dash bracket or the suspension kit let me know and those items can be paid for via pay pal to get the ball rolling on them so I can have the total package ready to ship for you ASAP.

$1,000 deposit due upon purchase, balance due by cash or cashiers check within seven days. Prefer shipping within two weeks (after payment clears) but can keep it warm and safe for you for up to a month as you work out shipping details.

I also have this vehicle listed for sale locally so I reserve the right to end the listing early.