Second round build (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Threads
10
Messages
123
Location
Lake Arrowhead Ca
I have been busy at work for a few months on and off tearing down my 73 US market FJ55 and the 2004 Tundra which will be the power plant for this build. I had initially bought a 76 Australian market pig in 2004. Like many other project this just never took off, due to time, money and life. A friend of mine ended up giving me the 73 sometime ago and both have been sitting unattended to in the back yard for way to long. I have been lurking in the threads of many builds, gathering ideas and inspiration. Thanks to all of you who provide some of the great builds and info, there is lots of good stuff in this group. I have also been acquiring some parts as I find them. To date I have springs from @cruiseroutfit, weather stripping as I see it available from Slocruisers, my 2UZ-FE, the A343le transmission from a 100 series with an accompanying HF2A transfer case.

As I know picture books tend to be more fun here are a few photos. I realized I don't have any of the 73 complete pre tear down? So I am including some of the 76 which will be sacrificed as needed. I was telling my wife last week its a shame both of the FJ55 wagons I have are worse off than some of your parts rigs, but for my $450 initial investment I don't feel to bad.
Au exterior.jpg

AU interior.jpg

AU pig.jpg
 
Now that I got the Rotisserie built last week and the body separated from the frame, I got to some sheet metal over the weekend. My brake is only 3' so I had to weld a seem at the B pillar but other than that things went pretty well. Now if only one the 55's had solid examples of the end caps I could feel more confident in building the front of the rockers. An image of the engine mounted in as well. That was mounted last summer.
Rotisserie.jpg
drivers rocker.jpg
drivers rocker 2.jpg





2uz.jpg
 
I have been busy at work for a few months on and off tearing down my 73 US market FJ55 and the 2004 Tundra which will be the power plant for this build. I had initially bought a 76 Australian market pig in 2004. Like many other project this just never took off, due to time, money and life. A friend of mine ended up giving me the 73 sometime ago and both have been sitting unattended to in the back yard for way to long. I have been lurking in the threads of many builds, gathering ideas and inspiration. Thanks to all of you who provide some of the great builds and info, there is lots of good stuff in this group. I have also been acquiring some parts as I find them. To date I have springs from @cruiseroutfit, weather stripping as I see it available from Slocruisers, my 2UZ-FE, the A343le transmission from a 100 series with an accompanying HF2A transfer case.

As I know picture books tend to be more fun here are a few photos. I realized I don't have any of the 73 complete pre tear down? So I am including some of the 76 which will be sacrificed as needed. I was telling my wife last week its a shame both of the FJ55 wagons I have are worse off than some of your parts rigs, but for my $450 initial investment I don't feel to bad.
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Is that Pueblo Brown? Or the Australian Bronze Brown?
 
I couldn't tell you for certain on the color. Being the Aussie spec my money is on Bronze Brown. I had got in touch with the owner who had imported the 55 originally to British Columbia; trying to get documents and a bill of sale, he was very proud of the color. He had said they called it the Old Brown Owl, back in Australia. I wasn't too fond of it at first but after 15 years of staring at it I appreciate it more than I use to. I do have a rust free example, however it is only about 1 3/4" long. I hear size doesn't really matter though? I have been extremely busy with work so not to much progress to report on the build.
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So I got the engine ECU wiring sorted out this evening. Now I just need to clean it all up, and eliminate the excess wires in the stock Tundra harness.

I sold the stock rear springs over the weekend so that forced me to pull them. While I was at it I cut the rivets on the rear hangers and am ready move them back for the new springs. I am inclined to just weld them to the frame. Anyone have a good argument not to weld them and use grade 8 bolts? Odds are good I can get the springs addressed this weekend.
 
Unfortunately I can't look for you right now but I have the OME springs with the relocated rear hangers and I think they are welded without any additional bolts. Not saying that's my recommendation but I think a somewhat well known cruiser shop did the work.
 
So I got the engine ECU wiring sorted out this evening. Now I just need to clean it all up, and eliminate the excess wires in the stock Tundra harness.

I sold the stock rear springs over the weekend so that forced me to pull them. While I was at it I cut the rivets on the rear hangers and am ready move them back for the new springs. I am inclined to just weld them to the frame. Anyone have a good argument not to weld them and use grade 8 bolts? Odds are good I can get the springs addressed this weekend.

I weld them
 
I bolted mine, I tacked them first then drilled the holes for bolts.
Welding alone or bolting alone will work just fine as long as it’s a quality weld or bolts.
 
I made the executive decision to weld the rear shackle hangers. The spring perches have not been welded, I will wait until the wheels and tires are on to set up my pinion angle. Here are a couple pictures of the progress.

I need to get tires. I was going to try and stuff 35" tires under there but am now leaning towards 33" tires. I am running the fj80 axles which are a bit wider so I would prefer a little bit narrower tire. I have seen a handfull of people pull off the 80 axles and 35" tires but plans aren't to wheel the hell out of this. Not to mention there have been plenty of outings in the past in lower trucks with 33 or smaller tires and no problems. Does anybody know if the stock 15" wheel hub caps will fit the stock 16" split ring wheels? The Australian spec has the split rims and I think I will be using them. It might be nice to weld some hub cap clips on to get the hub caps mounted if they do fit well. I don't think I have any of the caps to check.

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And here is a short video of the 2uzfe running on the frame.

 
I made the executive decision to weld the rear shackle hangers. The spring perches have not been welded, I will wait until the wheels and tires are on to set up my pinion angle. Here are a couple pictures of the progress.

I need to get tires. I was going to try and stuff 35" tires under there but am now leaning towards 33" tires. I am running the fj80 axles which are a bit wider so I would prefer a little bit narrower tire. I have seen a handfull of people pull off the 80 axles and 35" tires but plans aren't to wheel the hell out of this. Not to mention there have been plenty of outings in the past in lower trucks with 33 or smaller tires and no problems. Does anybody know if the stock 15" wheel hub caps will fit the stock 16" split ring wheels? The Australian spec has the split rims and I think I will be using them. It might be nice to weld some hub cap clips on to get the hub caps mounted if they do fit well. I don't think I have any of the caps to check.

View attachment 2599639View attachment 2599640
And here is a short video of the 2uzfe running on the frame.


I removed the back of the hub cap and bolted to 16x7 smoothie with 3 Allen head 8/32 bolts

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