I became the proud owner of a 1997, 80 series 4.5 petrol Landcruiser with 68453 km on the clock on 2003/08/03. Here are the photos a friend of mine took while the vehicle was still on the dealer's floor in Windhoek.
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The vehicle has a Toyota look alike spare wheel carrier on and a +- 60 lt extra fuel tank fitted under the fitting where the spare wheel normally goes further it is stock standard. Over time I will add the following to the vehicle:
- Second battery with 2 power points in the back.
- Suspension lift and Rancho 9000 shocks.
- 2nd aircon pump to pump tyres and run air tools.
The vehicle had the following small faults when I received it and the dealer rectified it fo me free of charge.
- Aerial dit not want to go up or down they replaced it with a new one.
- There was no battery box around the battery they fitted a new one.
- The shaft seal between engine and gearbox was leaking they replaced that and all oils in gearbox, transfer case, engine and diffs as well.
- One of the head lamps was dimmer than the other they replaced all 4 with semi sealed beams.
2003/10/03
So far I had my vehicle underbody spayed so it won't rust so quickly in the Walvis bay conditions. I had the 2nd battery installed with 1 power point in the back for fridge and another for lights, shower pump etc.
2003/11/03
I had a ARB air compressor installed to be used as a backup tyre pump and will be used to with the ARB locker I will install some day. I had a new bracket made to install the 2nd aircon pump which I had in my Drifter which is the primary tyre pump. I used it a few times now and it takes less than 5 minutes to inflate all tyres from 1.2 bar to 2.2 bar. I ordered a 30 lt flexi tank that fits in the right hand rear quarter panel from ARB in
Australia. One of my clients flying in from Australia was
so nice to hand carry it in for me. I am having a small box made that will fit over the fittings to protect them from other items moving around in the load bay in
rought terrain. On 19 December 2003 Torsten and I installed a Old Man Emu suspension lift kit in my vehicle. We had a installation instruction we got from the Sleeoffroad site. We started about 08h30 and finished at 12h50. We did not fit the caster correction kit as we did not have a press available to press the bushes out and the new ones into the leeding arms. So far the handling of the vehicle is much improved over
the standard suspension and I beleive with the caster
correction kit it will improve even more. When we did the suspension lift we had to remove the breather pipes and I found the t the back diff breather was blocked on the rear diff. I will make new lines from all diff and gearbox breathers and lead it into the engine bay.
