Thanks fellas!
continued...
I drove the cruiser through college until I took it off the road in the summer of '07. By then, there was hardly a straight panel on it, and the rust had progressed beyond comfort. It was time to rebuild it.
The plan was rebuild the cruiser from the ground up: new axles, new suspension, new fame, and a new body. Only the powertrain and interior would remain. I had a good frame from a FJ62 I had parted out, but I still needed a solid body and axles. I found them both out west: a tired '86 FJ60 donor and a set of OE cable locking axles with 4.11's and disk brakes.
That summer I flew out to California and drove back the FJ60 picking up the axles in Colorado along the way.
(see "Sight Unseeing" in the May/June '09 issue of Toyota Trails)
The donor
I drove the donor for a few weeks but as fall classes began, so did the disassembly. I picked at it slowly over the fall and until the later half of the spring semester when the work really began.
The focus of the build this time around was overland expedition. I had gotten the more "hardcore" wheeling (mostly) out of my system over the previous couple years and I wanted something suitable for long distance off road travel, but also for day-to-day diving.
I have documented the build (which is still ongoing) quite extensively in the the
"Project Overland" over in the Expedition build forum, so to avoid too much repetition, I'll just summarize it here.
Disassembly
Frame Swap
New Axles
Paint!
Paint!
Rust Bullet
Trans x-member brackets
Engine brackets
Powrtrain install
Wiring
"New" suspension
Reassembly
Back on the road!
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- BUILD SUMMARY -
- BODY-
- 1986 FJ60
- Painted LC paint code 464
- Underbody sealed with Rust Bullet "black shell"
- FRAME -
- POWERTRAIN -
- 1HZ/H55F
- Vacuum shift 4WD
- FUEL SYSTEM -
- Carter aux pump
- Racor 245R Filter with 12V heater
- SUSPENSION -
- Re-arched HJ springs, 7 leaf rear, 6 leaf front
- SOR "Performance" Shackles with greasable bolts
- SOR poly bushings
- Greasable pins
- "GT Suspension" Sway bars, 21mm front, 27mm rear
- MAF extended font swaybar links
- Modified Ford F-250 front shock towers
- Pro Comp ES9000 Shocks
- 2"-3" of lift
- AXLES -
- Full float rear
- Factory 60-series F/R Cable lockers
- 4.11 gears
- BRAKES -
- Stock front disks
- Aftermarket Rear disks
- SS braided lines
- WHEELS AND TIRES -
- 15x5.5 late model FJ40 steelies, 33x10.5 BFG A/Ts (winter)
- 16x6 OE Steelies, 255/85 BFG M/Ts (summer)
- INTERIOR -
- Rebuilt HVAC ducts
- Cargo drawers (Gave them away!)
- Passenger grab bar
- OTHER -
- Integrated wiring
- Contour E-Fan Conversion
- RoundEyes Headlights
- Shifter-mounted Hand Throttle
Here is the direct link to the GALLERY
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