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An 'is this amount of rust OK' thread...

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Shay Marriott

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Hi all,

Looking for an 80 and have found a couple which looked OK from the outside but MOT history revealed a long and bitter battle with rust... As a former defender owner I am quite aware of what damage rust can do to a car, and I think I'm right in saying that in LCs body rust is a bigger killer than chassis rust, which can be dealt with a little more easily.

I've now found a potential cruiser with a mostly clean MOT history and decent enough mileage at what looks to be a fair price, and the seller has kindly sent me some photographs of the underside of the car. I've attached the photos they sent over - would any of you guys and gals be kind enough to assess what you can see? I owned a 100 Series for a while which I sadly (massive regret) had to sell in order to buy a house and that had way more chassis/running gear corrosion but still drove sweet as anything.

I'm looking to get any work to 'baseline' it done at Overland Cruisers and Julian has been incredibly helpful in his reply to my email, as I expected reading such glowing reviews of his work on here. I'd prefer to buy something for a little less money which needs a little work doing and get it done myself for peace of mind, rather than buy something which claims to have had loads of money spent on it and find I have to spend a fortune anyway.

I'm going to look at it on Saturday so will be able to take a look at any bodywork corrosion issues then, currently only have photos of the underside. If the engine runs well then I'll strongly consider it, but keen to make sure that rust isn't going to be a killer. If it's going to die an untimely death then it may as well be whilst I'm enjoying it!

Any thoughts very much appreciated!

Best, Shay.

1.jpeg 3.jpeg 4.jpeg 5.jpeg 6.jpeg 7.jpeg
 
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Julian replied to an e mail? Well I'd start by framing that!
It looks very good underneath. Some degree of something or other has been painted on by the looks of it, but it's not like it's dripping with tar like somesuch.
Looks pretty good. But check out the sticky section here on the 80 pages to see what to look for in a good 80. They do have their rust spots most notably in the rear arches and front sills. Nothing that can't be fixed.
80s can have a very chequered past and many suffer from a lack of proper maintenance. Front axles and diffs get ignored and need a full rebuild usually. The rest is pretty bombproof. There are still good ones out there but as you've find, they take some tracking down. Do you have any more general shots of this one?
 
It's had a shit type underseal job to tart it up, but you'll be unlucky to get chassis corrosion anyway.
Look closely at the rear axle top link mount pillars. A boat launching 80 will have paper thin mounts or thick with loose rust mounts hiding paper thin mounts.
The panhard rod mount also dissappear's from inside out and if the axles rotten you can guarantee the difflock actuator is a pile of £350 dust.

While you're under there, look across to the rear of the rear arches and have a poke about, it collects mud here and rots the area out completely, not a difficult fix from the outside and hidden by the bumper corners when done.
Check the top of the rear arches where the seat belts mount, it's hidden by plastic but they rot there too, not a difficult repair but an MOT fail.

Rear of the sills / front of rear arches are also a typical area, again not a difficult repair. Body mounts directly next to them can get quite bad too.

Front of front wings, quite often there's nothing under the plastic.
Same area, front body mounts can suffer too.

Windscreen / rear window surround.
At least one of them will be bubbly with rust due to loose fitting rubber surround, potentially a somewhat difficult repair
 
moggy1968 said:
Have you seen the 100 for sale on here?
Click to expand...

No - don't thi k the chap who bought it is an lcc.net user - besides, I much prefer the look of an 80 I think, quite like the live axels and didn't really need the future AHC hassles. A decent 1HD-FTE is super expensive anyway. And I sold it for similar to what I paid for it; which I hadn't got rid of it but water under the bridge, I'd be unlikely to buy it back.
 
Looks reasonable to me. Might have had waxoyl or Krown sprayed on, but the top of the rear Diff seems to have been missed so that possibly indicates a DIY job as this would be easily seen if jacked up on a ramp.
 
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Thanks for the replies so far!

Firstly, Julian replied within a couple of hours - I'll go out out and buy something ornate with gold leaf before I mount it above the fireplace.

Secondly, thanks for the hints as to where to look for rust - I'll go tomorrow to look at it and upload some more photos.

MuckyPup - if the area at the top of the rear arches has a plastic covering, how is best to go about checking it? Not sure I can start dismantling it to check for these things... I'll certainly look at everything I can see.

The key thing here is that I'm not in a rush to buy something as it'll be a second car, and Im quite happy to wait around until something reasonably clean comes along. Not worried if it needs a little bit of easy repair work as I've budgeted for that (amongst other things).

Apparently it has a FSH, but no indication of whether it's had diffs serviced, or whether they'll have seized through lack of use. Axle/diff rebuild also budgeted for as well as potentially a BEB replacement (if not done) and bushes/suspension/driveline components - a lot of work, I know, but worth it if its to last me a while.

I'll take a load more photos tomorrow and post them. Thanks again all and any more useful advice on places to look is much appreciated.

Shay.
 
As we've said so many times on here, that when new and dealer serviced, the oils etc got changed regulalry but as they started to get older (say 60k onwards) and 10 years old, owners simply never took them back to main dealers. I'd bet anyone a full fish supper with ginger beer that a dealer has never rebuilt a front axle swivel set - ever as part of a lifelong service shedule.

Deterioration is one of the reasons that these trucks ccome to market. The owner uses it infreqwuently then takes it for an MOT and the guy sucks his teeth and says..... So it ends up at a dealer or a garage and they provide a ridiculous estimate for the work and the owner leaves having PXd it for £600 in a Ford Focus.

The engines and running gear on these is fantastic even given the lack of maintenance they often get. But low axle oil levels and leaking shaft seals do show up eventually. Getting an 80 really goes hand in hand with certain 'givens'. One is a proper overhaul of the front axle. But done once to factory specs, should be good years. Not all suffer from tinworm as badly but the common places have been mentioned.

The advice as always is buy the first good one that you see. Good doesn't mean perfect, it means good. You will have to put the time effort and money ionto making it really good. Without any more pics yet, I'd say this was a good start from underneath. If you turn down a decent on in favour of a better one, then you may have a long and fruitless search. We have pages here of people unsuccesfully searching for unicorns. There are one or two smug bast@rds who have found one (cough) but not many.

Where abouts in the UK are you Shay. There's always someone willing to go on a viewing with you.
 
Shay Marriott said:
No - don't thi k the chap who bought it is an lcc.net user - besides, I much prefer the look of an 80 I think, quite like the live axels and didn't really need the future AHC hassles. A decent 1HD-FTE is super expensive anyway. And I sold it for similar to what I paid for it; which I hadn't got rid of it but water under the bridge, I'd be unlikely to buy it back.
Click to expand...

I think Andy was referring to this thread:

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/com...hile-and-now-im-unofficially-for-sale.152410/
 
You could do worse than considering this one, super solid with light surface rust only, tons of new stuff and stacks of work done. Its a known truck not officially for sale but ticks all the boxes.
IMG_1556.JPG


97 GX with full VX interior, Front bumper been painted since and BFG AT's now fitted. I did 250 miles in it last weekend and it drove like a dream.

Not been undersealed or painted underneath.

Just an idea.
 
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AndycruiserguyLomas said:
You could do worse than considering this one, super solid with light surface rust only, tons of new stuff and stacks of work done. Its a known truck not officially for sale but ticks all the boxes.View attachment 156362

97 GX with full VX interior, Front bumper been painted since and BFG AT's now fitted. I did 250 miles in it last weekend and it drove like a dream.

Not been undersealed or painted underneath.

Just an idea.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this looks interesting. Could you message me with more details please? Sadly my message count is only at 13 (now 14?) so can't yet start a conversation. Interested in discussing further.

I have actually decided not to go to look at the one I posted photo's of. I'm concerned it's a can of worms and I'd rather wait for the right one to come along - i.e. the first good one I see!

Moggy - thanks for pointing me in the direction of the 100! Apologies - I completely misinterpreted your original reply. Looking at the mileage and mods I'd be very surprised if it's in my price range... however I've replied and hopefully will get a response.
 
I don’t know if chas has sold his yet? Might be worth a look if he hasn’t.
 
I have generously taken Chas' truck off his hands. He kindly drove up in his Jag (very nice!) to Ledbury to show me around The Phoenix, and I heard all about the numerous accidents, gearbox drowning and fixes.

Once she has a new timing belt as well as a couple of other minor bits and bobs she'll be returning to Bristol to look extra impressive next to my Fiancé's Fiesta.

Thanks all for your advice on this thread, its massively appreciated. If anyone is Bristol(ish) based let me know if you're ever out and about down this way.

Shay
 
Well done there Shay, you have a well regarded truck there.
We visit Bristol regularly and will give you a shout next time.

BTW I'm glad you bought Chas's. Totally different beast to mine.

Andy
 
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AndycruiserguyLomas said:
You could do worse than considering this one, super solid with light surface rust only, tons of new stuff and stacks of work done. Its a known truck not officially for sale but ticks all the boxes.View attachment 156362

97 GX with full VX interior, Front bumper been painted since and BFG AT's now fitted. I did 250 miles in it last weekend and it drove like a dream.

Not been undersealed or painted underneath.

Just an idea.
Click to expand...
Straight swap for a nice LC5 Andy??? Il drive to you.:lol:
 
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