Hello all, this is Juan from The FJ Company. This will be our inaugural build thread here on MUD! We’ve been wanting to post some of our work for a while and never really had the focus to get it done.
Here’s the background on this build:
The goal is to do a 40 Series build in record time (4 months - yikes!), sell it to a Copperstate Overland participant at some point along the way, and make sure it runs smoothly during the rally in Arizona in October 2016. It’s not really a competitive event, but it is a bunch of great vintage 4x4’s trying to make it through a moderately challenging course in 4 days. Beautiful views, good company, good food, and lots of fun.
The primary objectives for the build are: reliability, safety, and comfort (in that specific order). Beyond that, it needs to appeal to a crowd of serious classic car collectors. They’ll be looking at the quality of our work and that the vehicle looks and feels like a classic TLC.
To have it built on time, we’ve chosen a 1981 FJ43 in decent condition as the project truck. Limited rust, straight chassis and body parts. Everything on it is original (2F, matching numbers), and we’ll be doing a frame-off restoration: new suspension, rebuilt engine, upgraded transmission, interiors, and body work / paint
Some of the specs for this build:
Mechanical
- Original rebuilt 2F
- Upgrade: 5-speed manual transmission
- New carburetor
- Rebuilt front-disk brakes
- Rebuilt power steering
- Aluminum radiator
- New starter engine, electronic ignition, pumps, etc.
Ride/Suspension
- Old Man Emu suspension
- 33” BFG M/T
- Original Toyota Wheels (no hubcaps)
Interior
- Vintage Air A/C
- Corbeau MOAB seats (leather custom upholstery)
- Sparco 4-point Harness Belts
- Custom roll-cage
- Fire extinguishing system
- Vintage-looking digital radio
- No dash pads
- No floor mats
Exterior and Accessories
- Body paint: To be determined!
- Rhino Liner: step-ups, underside, and floor panels.
- New custom soft-top
- LED headlights
- LED back up light
- Vintage-looking fog lights
- WARN Winch
- Hi-Lift Jack
oh… and…
We do have a head start. The project 43 we selected was already disassembled, some of the body parts are almost ready for paint, but that’s about it. The last few pictures below show the status of the vehicle today. Wish us luck! We welcome any suggestions and comments.
Here's the project truck. It was painted once before so it looks shiny... but it's not that shiny
Solid and straight panels which means we'll be able to limit the amount of hours on body work
Original 2F with limited rust. Came out and its ready for the rebuild.
Stripping it down you can start to see some of the rust spots, but nothing major
Underside
Dash / floor panels almost fully stripped.
Both doors, the hood, the front grill, and the fenders already look like this
Finally, this is what chassis looks like right now, April 1st 2016 !!
That's it for it now. An update coming next week.
Here’s the background on this build:
The goal is to do a 40 Series build in record time (4 months - yikes!), sell it to a Copperstate Overland participant at some point along the way, and make sure it runs smoothly during the rally in Arizona in October 2016. It’s not really a competitive event, but it is a bunch of great vintage 4x4’s trying to make it through a moderately challenging course in 4 days. Beautiful views, good company, good food, and lots of fun.
The primary objectives for the build are: reliability, safety, and comfort (in that specific order). Beyond that, it needs to appeal to a crowd of serious classic car collectors. They’ll be looking at the quality of our work and that the vehicle looks and feels like a classic TLC.
To have it built on time, we’ve chosen a 1981 FJ43 in decent condition as the project truck. Limited rust, straight chassis and body parts. Everything on it is original (2F, matching numbers), and we’ll be doing a frame-off restoration: new suspension, rebuilt engine, upgraded transmission, interiors, and body work / paint
Some of the specs for this build:
Mechanical
- Original rebuilt 2F
- Upgrade: 5-speed manual transmission
- New carburetor
- Rebuilt front-disk brakes
- Rebuilt power steering
- Aluminum radiator
- New starter engine, electronic ignition, pumps, etc.
Ride/Suspension
- Old Man Emu suspension
- 33” BFG M/T
- Original Toyota Wheels (no hubcaps)
Interior
- Vintage Air A/C
- Corbeau MOAB seats (leather custom upholstery)
- Sparco 4-point Harness Belts
- Custom roll-cage
- Fire extinguishing system
- Vintage-looking digital radio
- No dash pads
- No floor mats
Exterior and Accessories
- Body paint: To be determined!
- Rhino Liner: step-ups, underside, and floor panels.
- New custom soft-top
- LED headlights
- LED back up light
- Vintage-looking fog lights
- WARN Winch
- Hi-Lift Jack
oh… and…
We do have a head start. The project 43 we selected was already disassembled, some of the body parts are almost ready for paint, but that’s about it. The last few pictures below show the status of the vehicle today. Wish us luck! We welcome any suggestions and comments.
Here's the project truck. It was painted once before so it looks shiny... but it's not that shiny
Solid and straight panels which means we'll be able to limit the amount of hours on body work
Original 2F with limited rust. Came out and its ready for the rebuild.
Stripping it down you can start to see some of the rust spots, but nothing major
Underside
Dash / floor panels almost fully stripped.
Both doors, the hood, the front grill, and the fenders already look like this
Finally, this is what chassis looks like right now, April 1st 2016 !!
That's it for it now. An update coming next week.
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