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"Buttercup" is a 1973 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40. We purchased her in August 2002. For more info, go to the Buttercup Page.
"Sandy" is a 1984 (built Sept. 1983) Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60
"Station Wagon".
We purchased her in May of 1999.
| Engine: | Stock I6 4.3L Gasoline |
| Suspension: |  Old Man Emu (OME) Heavy/Heavy Springs. Approximately 2.5" lift over stock with  Firm-valved Old Man Emu Nitrocharger shocks and steering stabilizer,  greasable anti-inversion heavy-duty shackles, and poly bushings. Expertly installed by Man-A-Fre |
| Exhaust: |  Man-A-Fre
6-1 header runs directly to stock muffler. Stock exhaust pipe trimmed
to increase departure angle and fit custom bumper. |
| Aspiration: | Engine breathes through a modified-stock air cleaner (thanks to Brian Sullivan) connected with some inventive duct work to a Safari Snorkel (available through ARB). Which raises intake approximately three feet above stock location. |
| Tranny/Transfer: | Stock Toyota 4-speed manual H42 tranny(3.555:1 low) with stock, split transfer case (2.276:1 low). Overall crawl ratio is roughly 30:1 at the hubs. |
| Differentials: | Front: Stock 3.73:1  Rear:
3.73:1 with ARB air-activated
locking differential, installed by Man-A-Fre |
| Air: |  Big
Red MK III 12V Air Compressor (available from Extreme
Outback Products) mounted under hood runs our ARB air-locker and
lets us air up the tires for on-pavement driving. Time to fill from
15 psi to 35 psi is about 2.5 minutes per tire. |
| Front bumper: |  ARB
Deluxe Bullbar with mounted Superwinch X9 winch and sporting 100 watt
Lightforce driving lights (available from Extreme
Outback Products). |
| Rear bumper: |  Prototype custom bumper with side protection and swing-out tire carrier. Designed and built by Mike Francis at Rock-Solid Off Road. |
| Tires/Wheels: | Six 31x10.5R15 Kumho Road-Venture Mud-terrain tires mounted on simple white steel rims. 2) Now using Hancook MT tires. Good traction in the mud, louder than the Kumho's onroad, sidewalls don't seem as strong as the Kumhos. All around, the Kumhos are better tires- and after nearly 30K miles in Central America, the Kumhos are still doing great on Bubba. |
| Roof Rack | 1) Steel Rack by Con-Fer, recently "FarmerJon
 Improved" to accomodate our Maggiolina
rooftop sleeper. 2) Second rack is now a Conferr rack that is narrower
and has a full-length expanded metal floor. Thanks to Brian Sullivan. |
| Electrical: | Regulare starting battery running the stock electrical system and a 2nd marine battery connected to a separate stock (Aisin) alternator. Secondary system is routed through a fuse/relay box scrounged out of a Jeep Cherokee which runs all of the aftermarket accessories. |
| Cleaning: |  Glind Hot Water Shower Kit installed nicely under the hood lets us hook up two hoses and flip a switch for pressurized hot water. Great for cleaning ourselves, but also for clothes-washing water or cleaning off a filthy windshield. |
| Interior: |  We added a grab handle via an online friend, think it came out of a Montero. Color works great, the fit is good, but not perfect, tends to waggle loose every few months. Still, an excellent improvement for passenger comfort and safety, also a good place to dry out wet bathing suits. |
| Storage: |  Custom wooden roll-out drawer in the bed. Based on some designs by Jim Brantley, holds all manner of gear with a lock. Adds some weight to the truck but the security and organization is worth it. |
When this all started she was running the original, carbureted 2F I6 engine with about 118,000 miles. The previous owner had spent a good deal of money taking care of the old girl and replacing things that had gone wrong. Everything that got fixed or replaced was done to original factory specifications and the work was generally well- performed. She needed new ignition wires and a tune-up, but not much else.
The one "serious" problem that we had was rust. The cowl on the passenger side was rusted through in 2 spots, each the size of a dime. Rust was also found in several spots along the rain-gutters and the front doors. There was also a spot or two (very small) on the driver's rear quarter panel. A few Saturdays of work at Euro-Tek and the rust is all gone. You can read more about that job here as soon as we get that page up (soon!). We followed up with a two-tone paint job to cover the primer spots.
We also cleaned her off underneath and added a spray-on undercoating. It looks much cleaner and should hold up better against the rust-demon.
We'll be posting more information here about modifications as they happen. So check back soon!
While you are waiting for us to get the rest of this page thrown together, here are some pictures of Sandy.
Click on the thumbnails to see a larger, higher-resolution image.
Post-theft repaint, new color, new start. White seemed appropriate.
Sandy at the beach, original colors
Here are some shots of Sandy in Baja: the first is in San Felipe, the others are at Mike's Sky Ranch
Here we are driving up a trail near Cedar Creek (by Julian, CA), Sandy's first off-road adventure
