POTM: March 2009 - 71 renovation gone awry

Lil'John · 03-02-09, 11:09 AM

This is going to be a recap/history of my cruiser and a little info on the nut who owns it.

Here is how it started when I got it:

I've got a nitty gritty detailed build at:
http://forum.ih8mud.com/fj55-iron-pi...-build-up.html

I've been into cruisers for a long time... specifically FJ40s. I loved the look of them before I could drive.

My first cruiser was a 1975 FJ40 that I bought as an 80% ground up rebuild

At that time I didn't know about the FJ55. When I first saw an FJ55 in Toyota Trails, I didn't care for it.

But after a few years, they grew on me... especially after getting to work on one.

It wasn't until after 10 years of the eternal FJ40 project that I finally got the bug to get an FJ55... after searching, I got one in March 08... about a year ago

My initial plan was to just run it stock for a while then drop in a Vortec 6.0L engine and maintain it as a daily driver with 31s. But as most best laid plans go, it went straight to hell once I had the cruiser in my hand

First, I ran into leaky brake lines, electrical, and a rusted out gas tank. Brakelines were an easy fix... the gas tank was not so easy and the wiring had some toasty bits.

After rebuilding the front axle, getting a narrowed FJ80 rear axle swapped in, I decided to just go for the gusto and go straight to the new drivetrain.

After a lot of false starts, I finally got it into the shop and things seemed to go smoothly right until I got the engine in.

Once the engine was in, we found that the FJ55 engine bay is shorter than the FJ40 so the oilpan ended up right next to the front pinion

After much research and debate, I went with Dana 60s, a spring over, and 35" tires.

Final results:

6.0L vortec (LQ4)(30k miles)
NV4500 (lower first gear)(rebuilt)
NP203 (23 spline) (rebuilt)
LC 4 speed tcase with fine spline main shaft (rebuilt)
Dana 60s shortened to 60" wide with ARBs and 4.88 gears (rebuilt)
Rockers cut and replaced
New front and rear bumpers
Warn 8274
Hot water shower
Tacoma front 60/40 split bench seat
Rear traction bar
New headlight panel (12volt guy)
New window/ door rubber throughout

All in all, the only real change in plans was going with the Dana 60s, 35s, and sprung over.

One year later and I'm on the crux of finally being able to drive it. It won't be complete to the level I really want it but it will be close.

Things I am going to put off for a while but will get done in the future:

Air conditioning and heater - I'm still debating how to do this. Between the shifter and the height of the tranny tunnel, the stock heater/AC box would take a fair amount of fab work to make work.
Rear quarter panel cut - Don at FCFab did some great work on his FJ55 that included cutting the rear quarter panels.
Spare tire carrier/gas can carrier - I've got the spindles just debating how to do this.
Linex/sound deaden the interior - Mostly a time/money issue. I will also look into dropping carpet on the passenger areas. The cargo area floor, panels, and rear bench seat panel will be left in linex.
Radio - Mostly a time/money issue. I've got all the speakers but the radio is in question. I've got a stock Tacoma radio but install is going to be problematic.
Front traction bar - I can turn the pinion and wrap the front axle. Enough said.
Rear reflectors cut out - I've got one crushed reflector area. Since they are buried by spare tire stuff, I figure the good way to fix the one crushed one is remove both.
Door panels - I'm still tossing around wether to do "normal" vinyl or cloth style or aluminum.
Cargo panels - I've got one cut out of thin aluminum diamond plate. Need to get the other cut out. Ultimately, I'd like to put some storage compartments in them.
Tailgate panel - I'd like to throw nice thick diamond plate panel there. The stock panel is a little thin.
Recover front and rear bench seats - rear bench will get some padding removed.

The utlimate goal on this is to prove an old vehicle can be renovated with a modern drivetrain and "new" status while costing less than an equivelent new stock rig(would that be a 4runner at $32k? or new LC at $65k?).

Currently, the 55 looks like:

scouthead · 03-05-09, 06:35 PM

Wow, mine's not done either, but this thing looks like it's already closer to "done" than mine will be when it's finished. That's an impressive drivetrain.
Are those really just 35 inch tires? they look huge for some reason... could be because the truck's sinched down to the trailor though.

Lil'John · 03-06-09, 08:45 AM

It is close to running... once running, it is still far from being where I want it to be.

Those are just worn out 35s in the second picture... I think the soft rear springs sagged with a set of five 31" tires in the back of the cruiser. The cruiser was strapped to the trailer by the axle or springs... I forget which

The front and rear springs are both very flat and stock short shackles.

My eventually plan to go with slightly longer shackles and move the shackle mount through the frame so I can get a better shackle angle