Builds The Adventure begins: Building an Arkana FJ45 Troopy three door. (1 Viewer)

[geoffnlp]

Complete front end off.

Another pic of the bolt together fenders,

Typical rust areas.

Australian dirt in every nook and cranny.

 

[whitey45]

That’s an Aussie huntsman spider! Found one in a 47 I imported! Look up huntsman spider, one of the biggest in the world, but surprisingly harmless! I have a cup of red dirt I saved years ago!

 

[geoffnlp]

Nasty little buggers aren't they, so far I have half of a box full of dirt saved, LOL.

 

[BlueCrui]

Awesome rig, can't wait to see how it'll turn out. Green is definitely the best color on a 40 imo.

 

[mdsims]

If you’re going that deep in on it, have you considered converting to LHD? I’d imagine the cost to swap wouldn’t be all that bad considering everything is apart.

Also, the third door becomes far more practical when it’s on the driver’s side.

 

[geoffnlp]

To tell you the truth I never thought of it, I flew up to Charlotte to pick up Greenie and drive back to Orlando and was used to RHD after about 10 minutes. I kind of like driving on the RH side, and as far as the cost I don't think it will be cheap with the replacement of the firewall sections and changing the mount on the frame for the PS and then changing all of the steering, and then all of the wiring. I think I'll just keep it this way. Cheers.

 

[geoffnlp]

227,000 Km's on the clock and it was still going strong before taking it apart, a testament to the quality of Toyota Landcruiser engineering.

All of the glass removed, PO used a lot of weatherstrip adhesive to try and seal it, boy what a pain in the butt to get it all off.

Fuel tank switching station, it has a nice handle for switching from the front to rear fuel tanks.

Time to drive it over to the bodyshop for removal of the body from the frame.

Separation anxieties.

 

[geoffnlp]

We hit pay dirt.

Rust, Rust, and Rust.

Hey @whitey45 here is a shot of the underneath of the foot well for the third door with the fuel tank in sight.

They forgot to use longer stabilizer links for the lift kit.

Yankin the drivetrain.

 

[geoffnlp]

Pressure washed the complete drive train before disassemble.

Rust and more rust, glad it is only surface rust.

Even refurbishing the existing springs.

Piles and piles off to get sandblasted then powder coated.

Picked up an H55F to replace the 4 speed.

 

[PuKE]

I AM SOOOO JELLY!
I've been wanting/looking for an FJ45 as a new daily driver...
These trucks are so hard to find!

 

[tls3601]

Great project, keep the pics coming!! Loving it.....

 

[geoffnlp]

Diffs ready for sand blast and powdercoat.

Changing from 4:11's to 3:73s, try to get a little mileage out of her with gears and 5 speed.

Rear drum to disc conversion in the works.

Terrain Tamer rebuild kits for everything that needs it, great product.

Cool little fiberglass cooling ducts for front rotors, F1 Technology Toyota had in 84, LOL.

 

[geoffnlp]

Teardown of the H55f and T case.

Don't forget to put this piece back in.

Frame back from powder coater.

Diffs powder coated and setting up 3.73's with ARB Lockers front and rear.

2F teardown.

 

[cruiserboy14]

this is great. keep up the good work!!!!

 

[geoffnlp]

First batch back from zinc coating.

Clear powder coat on the Transfer case.

Block stripped and hot tanked.

Transmission back together with all new bearings, synchro's, etc.

Power honing the block for new pistons.

Have a great weekend everybody, Cheers.

 

[geoffnlp]

Using Delron inserts between each leaf for smoother movement.

ARB Locker waiting for an airline.

Trans and transfer case back together.

Transfer case fitted with a Disc parking brake assembly.

Mocking up the rear Disc brake calipers.

 

[cult45]

Man, you work fast.

 

[geoffnlp]

Man, you work fast.

We work 36 hrs a day and 12 days a week, just kidding, I started this project about a year ago and didn't want to start the thread until I had enough pics and info to keep it going. This is being done in my spare time because of my dreaded day job, LOL, and I didn't want a post to go on forever waiting for time to work on it and not post anything for 6 months. Thanks cult.

 

[tls3601]

Very nice work. I anxiously look forward to seeing more.

 

[geoffnlp]

Body on the rotisserie to start with repairing the rusty parts.

Repairing the rust in all of the panels that we found, we are trying to eliminate all of it in the vehicle, thus cutting it out, replacing with new sheet metal repairs and smoothing out. Just one example here.

I HATE RUST!!!! or should I say IH8RUST...