New (to me) LC80 - A rolling project - first question!

[Roger]

To allow me to lay up my 4.2 TD80 for a while, I picked up a 4.5L 24v petrol LC80 last week (189,000 miles - Jan 97 Reg) - generally it is in acceptable condition for its age and seems to be running fine. I am more than happy with the price I paid for it - none of this nonsense that seems to be happening on ebay right now. It has a fantastic service history, the LPG works faultlessly (which even has an inspection certificate!) and a few goodies (TDS winch, steel bumpers, Goodies KM2 etc). It is like comparing night and day regarding the driving experience and handling of my "offroading" diesel manual and this "roadgoing" version.

Of course there a few niggles to set aside, the rear diff lock does not work (the front one does) - I will investigate further when the centre diff lock switch arrives to give me proper selection in high and low. Some body work cosmetics bits of minor trim damage repair and a dam good clean needed. The biggest work I have currently spotted by far is the front swivels needs some work as they are leaking like a Land Rover (the epoxy resin paint I added 10 years ago to my diesel is still going strong and leak free, so I will be repeating the process).

Fitted a new double din radio - something almost wrong with apple carplay/android auto with DAB radio in a 24 year old motor! During the dash strip down to fit the hands free microphone and DAB radio aerial I came across something that I believe could give me an issue in time to come:

The ignition barrel was replaced recently (old one in the glove box still) but for some reason whoever installed it didn't get the barrel rebuilt and just bought a plain key version and decided to place the 'reluctor'? ring that reads the old keyfob and must unset the alarm? so they have tie wrapped the ring and old key together behind the dash so they are always together. I cant stand such a bodge and would rather remove the ring and key all together - my question to you guys is how involved or difficult is it to remove the factory isolation/alarm all together? I have declared on the insurance it has no alarm, which at the moment is no issue, it is stored very securely. Although I will likely add an aftermarket one when the factory one is removed.

 

[karl webster]

Looks nice Roger.

 

[Roger]

Cheers Karl.

Its far from the worst out there and a good base to work up from.

The biggest negative beside what was mentioned in the first post is that there was a "patch" repair to the nearside rear sill, whilst its MOT ok, I think I will cut it out and make it neater in time. Assuming I dont bend them in the mean time

 

[Gav missin]

Looking good Rodger. Last time we spoke you were selling your big black machine. Now you have 2!! Petrol 80s are a lovely thing I must say. Interested to see what you get up to with the both of them. Good to see you back on here again.

 

[Roger]

Cheers Gav - I will try and keep a log and post anything of potential interest. Its been interesting catching up on old posts for sure.

 

[Dave_S]

Mine had a similar issue with an aftermarket alarm system that was wired into all the doors and windows, and a bodged key/transponder thingy. A local autoelectrical place stripped the whole thing out and then rewired it for me with a new central locking blipper etc. They took pity on me at the time and just quoted me total price to do it - they reckoned if they'd legitimately charged for the number of hours involved it would have been ridiculous (they were on it, on and off, for a couple of days).

Yours may be a bit simpler (hopefully!).

 

[Roger]

HI Dave, Its my biggest fear - making it immobile for days!

 

[chapel gate]

To allow me to lay up my 4.2 TD80 for a while, I picked up a 4.5L 24v petrol LC80 last week (189,000 miles - Jan 97 Reg) - generally it is in acceptable condition for its age and seems to be running fine. I am more than happy with the price I paid for it - none of this nonsense that seems to be happening on ebay right now. It has a fantastic service history, the LPG works faultlessly (which even has an inspection certificate!) and a few goodies (TDS winch, steel bumpers, Goodies KM2 etc). It is like comparing night and day regarding the driving experience and handling of my "offroading" diesel manual and this "roadgoing" version.

Of course there a few niggles to set aside, the rear diff lock does not work (the front one does) - I will investigate further when the centre diff lock switch arrives to give me proper selection in high and low. Some body work cosmetics bits of minor trim damage repair and a dam good clean needed. The biggest work I have currently spotted by far is the front swivels needs some work as they are leaking like a Land Rover (the epoxy resin paint I added 10 years ago to my diesel is still going strong and leak free, so I will be repeating the process).

Fitted a new double din radio - something almost wrong with apple carplay/android auto with DAB radio in a 24 year old motor! During the dash strip down to fit the hands free microphone and DAB radio aerial I came across something that I believe could give me an issue in time to come:

The ignition barrel was replaced recently (old one in the glove box still) but for some reason whoever installed it didn't get the barrel rebuilt and just bought a plain key version and decided to place the 'reluctor'? ring that reads the old keyfob and must unset the alarm? so they have tie wrapped the ring and old key together behind the dash so they are always together. I cant stand such a bodge and would rather remove the ring and key all together - my question to you guys is how involved or difficult is it to remove the factory isolation/alarm all together? I have declared on the insurance it has no alarm, which at the moment is no issue, it is stored very securely. Although I will likely add an aftermarket one when the factory one is removed.

its pretty easy, its spliced in at two points, literally just a matter of removing the insulation tape and de soldering.

 

[Dave_S]

CG - if its original maybe - mine had a Thatcham system fitted - black wires all over the shop!

 

[Roger]

its pretty easy, its spliced in at two points, literally just a matter of removing the insulation tape and de soldering.

Awesome - will have a looksee

 

[karl webster]

CG - if its original maybe - mine had a Thatcham system fitted - black wires all over the shop!

That's what I have found in the past. they can be a complete nightmare.

Some are very simple but not many. that's the whole point of them. They are not suppose to be simple to remove.

 

[chapel gate]

CG - if its original maybe - mine had a Thatcham system fitted - black wires all over the shop!

fair point, and to confirm. the meat and bones part of the alarm system, the part that will leave you unable to start the vehicle and the part that activates the alarm. at least on the original system is easy enough, its just finding where it is spliced in.

 

[frank rabbets]

As all new cars have come with alarms for many years now it looks like it's hard to find a fitter/remover.

 

[Jake the Peg]

If you are using 2 keys, 1 for ignition and 1 for doors could it be easier to get a second hand key and barrel and fit it up as normal?

 

[Roger]

A bit of a win with the centre diff lock mod today - I took a chance on e-bay and ordered the centre diff lock out of a RAV4 SXA1 that was being broken - £15 all in.

It was listed with the number off the moulding on the case - 157438 and not the proper part number (not sure what the moulded number on the case is).

Exactly the same component as the Landcruiser Switch 84725-60040

 

[Cortooncowboy]

Hi , just wondering about your swivel epoxy resin paint comment in first post as I think I will have to do that mine soon, can you recommend a paint and do you just strip them down and clean them and paint or is there more to it? Thanks.

 

[Roger]

I used some surplus industrial paint from work - I dont think it was anything special - just a 2 pack epoxy resin paint (e.g. garage floor type stuff).

All I did was degrease the balls, rough them up with course sandpaper / dremmel and then painted - still good now

 

[Cortooncowboy]

Great job thanks, il get the body back on her first and tackle that after!

 

[Roger]

Pictures ;-)

 

[Jake the Peg]

I’ve done a couple now with spray enamel paint, cleaned up with the wire wheel on the grinder, two coats of zinc primer and two coats of the enamel spray