To be honest, the inspiration for this build actually took place here, on this very site, a few months back. I'd taken delivery of a freshly-acquired '84 FJ40, and was pleased with it's macho good looks, and it's fairly well-kept state. Somehow, on a lark, I ended up seeing a proposed "Frankenstein" build for a 4 door FJ40 on one of the forums, on here. And I was immediately bitten by the bug.
My original plans for this vehicle (anyone ever noticed how quickly they get waylaid?) was to bring the vehicle to stock condition, add some decent tyres, a roll-cage, a soft top, and some comfy seats...and to basically use the FJ40 as a casual off-roader / open-topped hunting vehicle. Little did I know at that point, that it'd slowly evolve into the most colossal mind-f**k imaginable, and morph into something quite different from the plan I'd originally envisaged for it. It went from "stock" to a "single-cab pickup" to "king-cab pickup" to "quad-cab pickup" in just no time. Not that I had (or wanted, for that matter) any sort of rigid control on the way my mind was working. I mean...in gearheads from Karachi to Kansas...from Timbuktu to Texas...does "common sense" REALLY play much of a role in how we think and/or act?
In Pakistan, there's a tight-knit, wild-eyed, slack-jawed, drooling-mouthed assortment of off-road enthusiasts...who're absolutely stir-crazy about their rides. To cater for their tastes, we have an enormous pool of talented craftsmen, technicians, and (dare I say) artisans, who work in the most primitive conditions, and with the most rudimentary, most elementary tools to literally "create" our Toyotas and Jeeps and Mitsubishis and Nissans, by hand.
This is the story of how one such rig was crafted by hand in Pakistan.
Some of the things we've done to this beast are appended below:-
1) SOA.
2) Chassis lengthening.
3) Engine swap (2F to 1HZ, soon to be turbocharged and inter-cooled), with a 5-forward transmission.
4) Axle swap (Series 60).
5) 7:37 ratio differentials (soon to be air-locked).
6) Body lift and suspension lift.
7) Four door conversion (with full doors, piped "half-doors", a removable fiberglass hardtop roof, and a soft-top).
8) Addition of a pickup tub.
9) Air conditioning.
10) Power assisted steering.
11) Upright exhaust.
12) Fitting of a snorkel.
13) Recaro seats (front) and GMC seats (rear).
14) Roll cage.
15) Custom bumpers, front and rear (with a winch up front, and a pintle hook at the rear).
16) 15-42-15 Super Swamper TSL tyres.
17) Front disc brakes, rear drums, with a working handbrake.
You kind of get what I mean...right?
Anyhow...I'll try to get all the pictures of the rebuild thus far, in order, and arrange the chronology of how we went about it, in a few days. For now, though, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of how the rig currently looks.
Cheers.
Fouad.
By fouadhafeez at 2012-08-10
By fouadhafeez at 2012-08-10
My original plans for this vehicle (anyone ever noticed how quickly they get waylaid?) was to bring the vehicle to stock condition, add some decent tyres, a roll-cage, a soft top, and some comfy seats...and to basically use the FJ40 as a casual off-roader / open-topped hunting vehicle. Little did I know at that point, that it'd slowly evolve into the most colossal mind-f**k imaginable, and morph into something quite different from the plan I'd originally envisaged for it. It went from "stock" to a "single-cab pickup" to "king-cab pickup" to "quad-cab pickup" in just no time. Not that I had (or wanted, for that matter) any sort of rigid control on the way my mind was working. I mean...in gearheads from Karachi to Kansas...from Timbuktu to Texas...does "common sense" REALLY play much of a role in how we think and/or act?
In Pakistan, there's a tight-knit, wild-eyed, slack-jawed, drooling-mouthed assortment of off-road enthusiasts...who're absolutely stir-crazy about their rides. To cater for their tastes, we have an enormous pool of talented craftsmen, technicians, and (dare I say) artisans, who work in the most primitive conditions, and with the most rudimentary, most elementary tools to literally "create" our Toyotas and Jeeps and Mitsubishis and Nissans, by hand.
This is the story of how one such rig was crafted by hand in Pakistan.
Some of the things we've done to this beast are appended below:-
1) SOA.
2) Chassis lengthening.
3) Engine swap (2F to 1HZ, soon to be turbocharged and inter-cooled), with a 5-forward transmission.
4) Axle swap (Series 60).
5) 7:37 ratio differentials (soon to be air-locked).
6) Body lift and suspension lift.
7) Four door conversion (with full doors, piped "half-doors", a removable fiberglass hardtop roof, and a soft-top).
8) Addition of a pickup tub.
9) Air conditioning.
10) Power assisted steering.
11) Upright exhaust.
12) Fitting of a snorkel.
13) Recaro seats (front) and GMC seats (rear).
14) Roll cage.
15) Custom bumpers, front and rear (with a winch up front, and a pintle hook at the rear).
16) 15-42-15 Super Swamper TSL tyres.
17) Front disc brakes, rear drums, with a working handbrake.
You kind of get what I mean...right?
Anyhow...I'll try to get all the pictures of the rebuild thus far, in order, and arrange the chronology of how we went about it, in a few days. For now, though, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of how the rig currently looks.
Cheers.
Fouad.
By fouadhafeez at 2012-08-10
By fouadhafeez at 2012-08-10