Builds Cayman Islands FZJ80 DIY build-up (1 Viewer)

[mmajsw]

I was working on installing the air tank in the place of the original under body spare tire when I read about a reasonable way to install a second fuel tank at poor man's aux fuel tank . It was a much cheaper way to add capacity without the major expense of the hard to find factory tank with computer controls. Instructions were enough for me to be confident I could replicate his attempts.
My measurements between the hitch and rear axle (leaving a 6" gap from the rear axle) were 40" wide, 10" -12" deep and 20" along the front/rear direction. A couple hours on the web searching tanks sizes and the ones used on the 83-95 Chev S10/S15 seemed to fit my requirements. It measured 31" wide, 19 3/4 front/rear and 11 inches deep. Capacity was 20 US gallons, enough for me.
This put the air project on immediate hold as I am now searching for a suitable tank on the island. Alternatively, I can import one but the small pieces can cause this to be a 6 month project. So I continue to look at locally available parts in garages and other places.

 

[mmajsw]

I had some assistance today so the roof rack was placed on top of the truck only to get a surprise. It was warped by about 1/4 - 3/8".
Something that was not thought about nor expected. The end result is that when left side is positioned in the drip rail, the front two legs on the opposite side are also in their drip rail. The back two legs are above the drip rail with the rearmost leg being just along the top of the drip rail. The warping must have happened when welding the cross pieces as the rack did get too hot to touch at that time.

Top view of the rack on the truck, The red bits between the rack and the drip rails are my last attempt to use silicone baking sheet strips instead of fuel hose between the legs and drip rail. I feel they will be more durable then the fuel hose in the sun but are a pain to work with.

But a ready solution is always at had. The clearance between the roof and the bottom of the cross pieces is about 5/8". By adding some extensions to the legs, I can increase that to around 1.5", a more manageable distance and will allow me to at least pass a soapy cloth on the roof when washing the truck.

The plan is this...

There are two options. One is to machine it from a piece of 1/2" and bolt it together. Or get some pieces of 1/4" and get it welded together.
It all depends on what thickness aluminum is available on island.
But I will do my best to finish the rack this weekend. It's been a long time coming together.

 

[mmajsw]

The creation of the extensions did not go as plan. It takes too much time to machine an extension from 3/8 or 1/2" aluminum. Guess how I know.
So, another option was developed. I would just bolt the extension to the old leg using 4 1/4" 304 stainless steel bolts. And the solution to the galvanic corrosion issue is called NOALOX - available in most home repair and electrical supply stores. It was developed for use when aluminum wire was all the rage. It has also had a long history with the ham radio fraternity. The shear strength per bolt at the low end is about 160 lbs and with 4 bolts at specified clamping specs, I am looking at a minimum of 600 lbs per leg! I'm good!

So, with the simplified approach, the first thing was to raise the rack to the required height. Two pieces of 2x4 gave me a 1-1/2" elevation rise.
Then a piece of aluminum was measured and bolted in place. I used the silicone baking sheet as the fuel line was just too thick.
After the leg was created, I used a clamp to compress everything before using the hold down brackets. Two more holes and more baking sheet and we have a finished leg.

The custom pre-loadng device.

The rough look of a hold down bracket. Each was customized later to fit where it was placed. Each leg was bent to be parallel to the bottom of the drip rail. and then the hold down clamp was bent to fit the contours of the roof rack leg if needed.

Distance across the little leg is just under 3/4".

A front leg. The bits of tape were used to hold the baking sheet along the bottom of the leg. I will dismantle each leg later and do some cleaning up and painting of the hold down legs. Each hold down clamp has a bit of baking sheet between it and the drip rail.

Finally a rear leg.

With only 4 legs completed, I can rock the whole truck without any rack movement. Things are progressing well.

 

[mmajsw]

After all the legs were completed and securely fastened, it was time to dismantle one side and finish the hold down brackets. The first thing was to remove as much of the masking tape as possible.
A bit of FYI - the bends in the brackets were done with a 12" combination sheet metal machine, the ones that roll, shear and bend. Made life easier than just trying to hammer them in the vise.
I decided to use spray can bed liner to coat the brackets as it would stick to the galvanize coating and it is easy to touch up if needed.
After the coating has dried for 24 hrs, each leg was placed back in it's position with an added bit of silicone baking pad between the aluminum and the coated steel. Stainless steel bolts were fully coated with NOALOX and torqued to specifications.

The end result looks like this. I will clean off the NOALOX fingerprint smudges later.

You can see a bit of the silicone pad sticking out between the twp pieces of metal clamped by the two center bolts.

I am happy with how it looks and functions.

 

[mmajsw]

Two incidents in the past month had me changing priorities in installing items. The first was when backing up from a parking spot, small vehicles disappear from the rear view, leaving me to guess how far I actually am from them. The second was almost running over a little kid in a parking lot. He ran ahead of the parents and I did not see him. Thankfully, I stopped before any damage was done in both cases.
So, off to Amazon and I ordered a rear view camera and 4.3" monitor. I figured that it would have been large enough to provide a visible screen, yet small enough to offer more placement options than a 7" screen Having a couple days off, I decided to tackle the project. Not all steps are shown, just the items unique to my setup.

The installation of the camera was very straightforward. Find a low, protected area on the truck and put it there. I ended up on the swing out arm that held the wooden box and very close to the trailer hitch.

The power and output wires were run along the arm and entered the truck in a notch cut into the bottom of the rear stop/turn/reverse light.

Power was taken from the reverse bulb and the output cable ran along the the usual channels to the front where I had to find space for the monitor. View with the arm closed. Some more cable ties will be used once everything is completed.

I had initially ordered a fold down Esky 4.3" monitor which seemed like the right one at the time.

But after trying to place it in various locations, I could not find any appropriate place that would not affect future plans. While reviewing other monitors on Amazon, I saw that they offered monitors that were set into the sun visors. Hmmm! That could work for me but not as a folding screen. It would not have allowed the visor to fold flat and would add extra weight to it. I took the whole thing apart and reduced it to just the screen and the circuit board. Thankfully, the board was just held to the plastic mount by double sided foam tape. I then used more double-sided tape to fix the circuit board to the screen housing. I ended up not cutting any wiring.

The next thing was to position the screen on the sun visor. Here, you can see the back of the monitor with the circuit board attached in the test fit.

Continued below ......

 

[mmajsw]

After feeling that the position was good, I proceeded to cut the visor covering. Under that was foam. That was also cut as I need to flush mount the screen. The core support of the visor is cardboard.

Then a small portion of the cardboard was cut out to allow the circuit board some space. The test fit looks good.

Happy with the fitting, I put some Goop to hold the monitor in as well as gluing the edge of the visor fabric down. Add some light weights to keep the fabric down in the glue and leave it to dry for 24 hrs.

The final step is reassembly and running wiring.

 

[mmajsw]

After all the adhesive had dried, I though about hiding the wires that ran to the monitor. The only way to do that would be to take the whole visor apart and rebuild it. The foam is starting to break down so I would not be destroying a perfectly good visor just to get the aesthetics right. But, that is a job for another time as I need to get replacement fabric to recover both visors.

So, I reinstalled the visor and hooked up the wiring for testing. And all is well. Looks like it came installed from the factory

I used some small Ziploc ties to temporarily hold the wires along the top of the visor to keep them out of the way. I have to find two items. One would be a small on/off switch for the monitor. I do not think it should be running all the time. The second thing is a small 4 wire connector to replace the RCA jacks currently being used for video and power. Something a little neater and not as large.

Now back to regularly scheduled upgrades - specifically the OBA!

 

[mmajsw]

Good progress has been made on the OBA. The rear 4 gallon tank was bolted in and 3/8" air hose was run to the engine compartment. The 1/2" braided stainless steel hose that I bought with the kit was bolted in and run down to the frame to meet the line to the tank. At the end of the 1/2" line, the check valve was installed and everything joined together. Everything is rough fitted right now. I ran out of the corrugated hose that fits over the air hose but it will be added later.

My biggest problem was where to place the coalescing filter. The braided line was not very flexible and gave me a limited number of options in the engine compartment due to its length. But I had a moment of brilliance and decided to mount the filter in the rear after the tank, but before the air went to be used.
The best place I could find was the driver's side rear, where the original tire mount was.
A piece of 1/8" flat plate aluminum plus a bit of 1x1x1/8 angle and I have a sturdy filter mount.

The line was run from the tank to the filter.

One line carrying filtered air runs to the rear air connector. Again the excess will be trimmed after I protect the line.

I will run another line to the front of the truck to the DIY manifold, air horns and the in cab pressure gauge.

I did notice when fitting everything up that the connector on top of the York compressor was touching the hood. A few minutes with a file and I rounded off the offending corner.

More to come!

View attachment 1312850

 

[mmajsw]

Well, after a three month hiatus, I am back working on the truck. the first thing was to finish the OBA. A line was run from the tank to the manifold then off to the various connectors. The last bit of soldering was done for controlling the pulley and testing began. Engine on and OBA switch placed into the on position. A pressure gauge was fitted into the front connector and I watched the pressure rise to 26 psi and stop. Hmmm!
I decided to check for leaks and there was one - the high pressure connector hose from the compressor was loose. Quickly tightened and switched turned on again. This time the pressure rose to 105psi and stopped. Right on specification. I was quite surprised how quickly the 4 gallon tank filled up while the engine was idling!
I aired up all the truck and car tires and everything went well. Time to do the finishing touches and this project is completed!

Then I decided to look at replacing the caps over the air couplings. The rubber crutch tips were becoming powder due to the UV radiation from the sun. Looking at PVC, I saw that a 3/4" slip coupling would fit over the coupling - up to the small ridge in the middle. About a minute later with around file, the PVC slip coupling was a friction fit over the air coupling. Add a cut down 3/4" PVC plug and I have something that works. PVC cement was used and the assembly clamped in the vise for about 10 minutes before being put to use.

The center console was a bit to far back for my liking so I had removed the cup holders from the front and shifted the whole unit forward. New holes drilled to secure everything and the new position is much more usable to me..
I had a 500W modified sine wave inverter that was laying around so it was quickly installed on the rear of the center console with a few strips of 3M VHB tape. There were some holes in the rear surface of the console and these were used to run zip locks through for additional security. Wires were run to the fuse box under the passenger seat and fuse installed. That is now complete and operational.

The final item today was the large inverter at the rear had stopped working. Some quick work with a VOM showed that the relay that sends power to it was no longer functioning properly. A spare unit was used for a quick replacement and all is well.

Now to restart some of the larger, outstanding projects.

 

[mmajsw]

A couple items came in this week.
The first is new tires - Cooper ST Maxx 285-75R16 tires. After reading all the reviews on ih8mud, it felt like the best choice.
Interesting thing about the cost. In Cayman, each tire is CI$400 (US$500). I was able to order 5 from Discount Tire and have then delivered to the shipping company for about US$980 - they were on sale. Looking forward to installing them and doing some testing.

The second is I finally own a plasma cutter - a Lotos LTP5000D . Another learning curve coming up but this one should be very, very short. Again, the reviews said that it was a great machine for the hobbiest and was definitely cheaper than the big names like Miller, etc. I did a test cut to see if everything works and it does. It should help with upcoming projects.

 

[mmajsw]

Another 3 month break - seems to be the norm for me between updates.
Tires were installed on some stock FZJ80 rims that I had previously bought from a ih8mud vendor. I was surprised to find that of the 3 rims that were bought, two were conical nuts and the last one was washer nut. They had been sitting in the garage for at least 1 year if not more and the cost of shipping them back would be more that the rims cost. So, live and learn. I went to the local parts store of bought 12 conical nuts and put the rims on the front of the truck.
I had bought myself a Fujitsu FJ7 dash cam at Christmas so I installed it today. Fairly straight forward. Placed in on the windshield under the rear view mirror as I will only look at it when needed. A nice gadget which would be useful if I get in any accidents. Ran the wires under the roof lines, down the passenger A pillar then to a suitable power source.
Played with the plasma cutter when I was rebuilding an old 4'x6' utility trailer that was made about 20 or more years ago. Did a bit of painting and replaced the sides (3/4" exterior ply) and the floor (2x6). I got hold of some Isuzu truck taillights (brake, turn, park and reverse - same as the FZJ80) and used them on the trailer. This meant wiring in a 7 pole plug for the trailer to fit the truck. But all went well and I can drive it at nights now.
I have stopped on the dash top console. The wife sat in the truck and complained that it blocks her view. Darn!!!!! I now have to look at other options for placing the items, or fall back on the original ideas - or a combination.
Images to follow.

 

[mmajsw]

Over the past couple weekends, I had painted the rims on the truck before installing the tires. I chose a simple silver design to make them look as close to stock as possible. New center caps were installed but I am now considering painted the caps black to match the tires.

I also did something that I have nor seen done before - paint the inside of the rim too. It could have been done but no one mentions it. I chose a grey Tremclad with the appropriate aluminum primer. Although it was done with a brush, I like the result. Dirt sprays off easier now.

Got a couple of projects completed this weekend.
The first was getting some power ports installed in the rear of the truck to use the wires that i had previously run there. I was initially looking at the cubby hole on the passenger side but decided that it was much too large for the few connectors I wanted to install.
I was searching the internet to see what others had done and came across a build-up Expedition Portal where the used the speaker grill as a power port location and that was good enough for me. The first thing to do was remove the panel and remove the grill. 4 cuts later, the grill fell off and was placed in storage.
Measured the width of the opening and it was exactly 5". Off to do some planning.
I know that I wanted a voltmeter to monitor the battery while using the ports, a USB plugin for the various devices the have become mandatory and a 12V lighter plug. I have not made up my mind on as 12V fridge as yet but do have a couple items that will draw 10-15Amps of power. They were already terminated with 30A Anderson plugs so one was added. The final thing was whether to include a Powerpole SB-50 plug for the fridge. I decided to add it. It might not be used at the start but it will be there for future use.
I managed to gather everything except the SB-50 plugs which were ordered from eBay.
I drew everything up in AutoCAD and converted it to PDF for printing. I came home and found a suitable piece of 1/8" aluminum and cut it to fit the available space at the rear of the panel.
Then the drawing was stuck on the aluminum and the cutting began. Please note that the aluminum panel is upside down. The slots are for the reinforcing braces at the back of the panel.

Some rough cutting then filing for the perfect fit and then hooking up new wiring resulted in the installation below.

You can see the dimples for cutting out the hole for the SB-50 connector at the bottom of the aluminum. When it arrives, I will take the panel back off and make the necessary cuts for its installation. I will then paint the aluminum brown to match the panel and reinstall. Final testing showed that everything worked!

 

[mmajsw]

The next small project was a fire extinguisher mount.
I have been following Wits End's product and while it is a nice piece of work, I thought it was too complicated. So, I strove for cheap and easy.
I already knew that a small extinguisher fit into 3" PVC so decided to not reinvent the wheel and see what others had done. Off to Google and searching. I found someone who had made 3" PVC extinguisher mounts for a marine installation. Only pictures were available but that was good enough to go on.

The first was to cut the holder from 3" PVC pipe. I had some 3" sewer pipe laying around so it became the guinea pig. The side pieces were still working their way around the extinguisher, hence did not hold the extinguisher at all.
The second model (shown below) went beyond the center point of the tube and held the extinguisher by friction. Almost enough to allow me to hold the the whole thing upside down. The use of a heat gun to bend the ends and some aluminum pieces as 90 degree cooling positions and the result is this.

The PVC is screwed to a piece of 1.5" wide by 15.25" long by 1/4" thick aluminum. Screws were used at the extreme ends so that they would not contact the extinguisher. You can see them peeking out at the bottom of the aluminum. They were flush cut afterwards.
I also drilled two 7/16" holes at the ends of the aluminum to attach it to the front of the drivers seat and it looked good and fit well.

I then realized that I could flip the whole thing around and have the business end of the extinguisher by the transmission hump, thereby saving it from potential damage when getting in and out of the truck. That was quickly done.

The end result is a nice and cheap installation. I am contemplating taking it apart and painting the aluminum and PVC to match the carpet. But then again, maybe not!
If I can figure out how to attach a file to a post, I will add a PDF of the PVC cutout if anyone is interested in duplicating the setup. It is printed of 11x17 paper.

Update - Mar 20/17 - I was at work thinking about the extinguisher holder when the thought came to me that 3" sewer pipe is much more flexible that schedule 40. So, I decided to make another extinguisher holder using schedule 40 pipe to see the difference it would make. The Sch40 definitely holds the extinguisher in an upside down position.
But for now, I have another holder for the rear of the truck or perhaps a DIY expedition trailer (hint hint).

 

[mmajsw]

Couple items completed in the past week.
The first was to rewire the reverse camera so that both the camera and the display can be operated by switch rather than only when the transmission is in reverse. I do not need it on every reverse situation and they were separately powered. Using the switch for on/off made sense for my use as I could use it while driving to check on the trailer hitch.

The second was the creation and installation of an attic rack.
The roof support was made from 1.5" slotted angle steel that was plated and slotted, available from the hardware stores. I got a 3' length and cut into two pieces 18" long.
I left the central 9" alone and cut 4.5" off each side - to the bottom of the slots. The bottom piece was left alone. The back of the bracket looks like this. The two extra holes were for bolting it to the roof.

I then bent along the slotted back piece so that it made a 60 degree bend at the slots using the vise and a big hammer. It bent pretty easily. satisfied with the shape, I used a sander and smoothened all the edges and slots.

A couple wipe downs with MEK to get rid of grease and dirt then a few light coats of epoxy appliance paint and it was ready for installation. Due to the slight recess of the bolt holes into the roof liner, I used a 9" piece of 1x1/4" aluminum to move the rack bracket away from the headliner and ended up with this.

An the final view with the rack installed and bolted to the brackets with 1/4" wire ripe clamps. Fairly simple to do.
Now to start to use it.

 

[Notch]

You're a crafty guy. Great thread!

 

[mmajsw]

Thanks Notch. Might be more of a "not much to do" so spend your time surfing and picking up ideas.

After the initial installation of the attic rack, the couple umbrellas I placed there to test rolled of the rack and into the back seat when braking. So out came the rack and I proceeded to notch and bend the grid so that the squares closest to the front were raised up to act as a barrier.

Then because of the roof lines, I had to cut the outside square to allow it to fit. Everything was smoothed and then sealed with liquid electrical tape to prevent rust.

Reinstalled everything and another test run. Things are working great now.
I had removed the center caps and repainted them to match the tires in a flat black. Reinstalled, they look much better to me.

Being on a roll, I installed the USB plugs in place of the ash tray in both of the rear doors. Fairly easy to do and all that is needed is to complete the wiring. I might have to buy more USB devices to use all the available plugs in the truck.

The final thing was to start the aux lighting on the rear top door.
I had some hard cased led strips about 8" long that only needed a 3/16 hole drilled in the door fascia to run the wires out of sight.
They were installed and then proceeded to fall off when I closed the door.

After the image, I took off the double sided tape that came with the lights and use 3m VHB tape for a more secure installation. Again, wires have to be run but that should be quite easy to do to tap into the existing rear light.

More to follow!

 

[mmajsw]

With the demise of the dash console, I now have to find alternative locations for the switches. Looking at what others had done, I decided that a center console switch/gauge panel would solve most of my issues.
First was to make a template to ensure positioning was to my taste.

Then position switches and an air pressure gauge, ensuring enough clearance for everything.

Transfer to a piece of 1/16 aluminum, paint and test fit. And you get this...

 

[mmajsw]

While there have not been regular updates, I have been somewhat busy with lots of little projects.
There was an annoying metal on metal rattle when I started the truck when the engine was cold. It sounded like the engine mount had gone but they were recently replaced. Checked for loose nuts and anything else I could think of but nothing. About a month ago, I was trying to find a small leak in the OBA system when I noticed that the hood had a spot where the connectors on the top of the compressor had worn out the paint. A couple raps with a hammer on the hood support and a long standing issue was solved.



Finishing off the switch panel, I placed it back on the center console and placed the two rear screws in to make sure that it fit properly. I have easy access to turn the switches on and off. All that needs to done is two screws at the front of the hold the front down to the console. Lots of wiring to be done along with switch labels.

I am contemplating tracing the console profile more accurately along the front to get a precise fit. There is room to do it and end up with a great looking match.

 

[mmajsw]

A recent acquisition was a Back Bay Customs tailgate hatch. It was a toss-up between Wagongear and Back Bay. In the end, I decided that the Back Bay unit made more sense to me, but your choice may differ. The order was placed and about a month later, it was in my hands. The packaging was among the best I had every received. Following the supplied instructions, the installation was very straight forward with no surprises.

First was to cut the tailgate as described.

The only problem I had was the waxy anti-rust that was sprayed in there when the truck was rustproofed. It held on to every bit of metal dust and I eventually gave up trying to remove it all. I ended up vacuuming and picking out the big pieces and left the rest.

The edges of all the cut metal were painted with Hammerite paint and the new piece was bolted in. This is how it looks.

Finally, I lined the interior with Peel & Seal after dribbling some LPS 2 along the bottom seams of the tailgate to prevent any future rust. Although after 20 years without any rust, it just might last another 20.

A pic taken during the Peel & Seal application.

When all was done, I transferred some light items from the drawers to the tailgate - straps, drop cloths, gloves, spare engine belts, etc. I did not place any metal items in there.

 

[mmajsw]

When I was in Canada earlier this year, I managed to find a Lexus LS-400 with a tan interior. I was able to remove the sun visors, the rear view mirror, the driver's window switch and a few other bits and bobs that would work on the truck.
The sun visor installation went in smoothly with some minor drilling needed to get the new visor support by the rear view mirror to fit. I cut the driver's side to reinstall the rear view camera screen. My upholstery guy is going to make new covers for them so that the wires can be hidden and to make it look a bit more professional.

The new rear view mirror was installed as the old one was losing the mirrored backing around the edges.

I also managed to make a bracket to fit the SB50A Andersen Power Pole at the rear power panel. That will be installed shortly and the while power panel will be painted up to match the rest of the interior.

Checking the mating of the two plugs. It was good. Time to run some 6 gauge wiring.

View attachment 1493663