1996 fzj80 (Bruce) will be hitting the trails now

[chappysfj40]

got the lift kit installed and drove about 20 miles or so. do have a weird vibration at 25 mpg for some reason. but on the list of things to do are replace all ujoints
i did not intall the weld on kit because it has not showed up yet. i may do it later but for now its done. this is iron man 2 inch with heavy duty springs.

here is a little hack to do with the old screw jack weld a bolt where the handle would go and use impact. my case i used it to force the axle apart to get the coils in and old worked perfect.

future upgrades are rear bumper and side protection

more to follow

 

[chappysfj40]

reworking exhaust this weekend and this week. deleted one cat, iowa rust did that. and from the end of the cat i went up and over the frame to the inside of the frame rail. got a 2 inch kit off amazon with a bunch of prebent tube. i will exit it out the back bumper through a hole i drilled. nothing fancy.

 

[chappysfj40]

so i been driving it around some and i feel like my exhaust pipe is crazy hot. i am running 2 inch from cat back. but there is a 2.5 glass pack thats 18 inches long and a 3 inch cheap muffler i had i put at the end to take some more noise out of the exhaust.
could i have too small exhaust.

 

[baldilocks]

so i been driving it around some and i feel like my exhaust pipe is crazy hot. i am running 2 inch from cat back. but there is a 2.5 glass pack thats 18 inches long and a 3 inch cheap muffler i had i put at the end to take some more noise out of the exhaust.
could i have too small exhaust.

I believe the factory exhaust system rear of the Y-pipe was 2.25” diameter.

 

[chappysfj40]

i also built a skid for my cat. i used an old mount from a 203 tcase. 1/4 plate repurposed. got to love that. also that tube going around the front has been my tube bending template for many years. like since 2004. but with the bendtech coming on board i have not used this template in 10 years i bet. so i reused more scrap. hahhaah
and we are loaded and ready for the spring break trip to SMORR

and this is one of the other rigs going also.

 

[chappysfj40]

got back monday and worked tuesday and unloaded the cruiser and unpacked the camper. cruiser did good. quite fun. i had no idea the ifz is such a good engine. never actually climbed hills and beat on it like i did. the only other engine i have to compare to it is the 3fe and that was a dog. i would build a buggy with this engine if i knew what i knew now. wow.

damage report is as follows. maybe not damage but things that happened. day one a rock hit my rear steel brake line and it punctured the line. came back to came built new line and tried to bleed the brakes for about 45 minutes and never could get it as good as it was before. they work but go to the floor damn near.
day 2 climbing a hill i looked in the rear view mirror and saw a lot of smoked. stopped and popped the hood and atf was spraying everywhere. complete covered the entire engine bay with red oil. so much oil that it even leaked onto the hood through the window squirter nozzles that go through the hood. turns out one of one of the trans cooler lines was bouncing around just enough that it got cut by the harmonic balancer and sprayed fluid up into the fan and that is how you cover the entire engine bay. hahahaha

day 3 heading up a trail called log jam a level 4 trail i got wedged into some rocks and after winching out my steering made a god awful noise when turning to the left. turns out i bent the steering rod into a big U and was into the harmonic balancer again. had to lay in 40 degree water to remove the steering rod. and spent the better part of an hour straiting this thing out and took apart the high lift jack to brace the rod again.

good times for sure.

love the cruiser it a blast.

 

[chappysfj40]

little damage but ok

 

[bicycleagent003]

I love your carefree approach to this project. Carry on!

 

[chappysfj40]

I love your carefree approach to this project. Carry on!

got to. iowa rust has taken its tool over the years. it was a commuter on the salt/brine roads for many years. so just as well enjoy it now. its a big beast on the trails but so much fun. and the best part i can still drive around town here.

 

[chappysfj40]

started making the rear bumper. i cut out the old rear crossmember that hung out back. it was rust and useless. i will weld in in its place a piece of 4x4 square .188 wall. i will also put a receiver hitch in. this will be phase one. phase two will be wrapping the entire rear with tubing from fender well to fender well. and up the rear quarter to protect the tail lights. and i am not 100 percent sold on doing that. i still may just put lights into the back of the bumper because them lights always get smashed when wheeling in the trees. hmmmmm

 

[chappysfj40]

then stated working on making a usb charging station with on of switch and 12 volt adapter.
and now i am thinking about making the lid only have 3 holes...

its kind of big and bulky but i dont mind.

 

[chappysfj40]

center section of the bumper was welded in last night. also made some mounts off the back of that bumper to make a body mount and mount for attaching the rear tailgate hinge. punched 6 holes in a plate so i have options where this thing will need to be mounted. the body box beam that went from left to right side that holds the hinges has been completely rusted away. like when i put the gate down it almost falls off. yikes s......

i also resessed this paart of the bumper back as far as possible. the next phase i will wrapping it some tube . this is some old drill rod steel.

because i cant bend this steel i will be doing miter cuts. so i drew up a miter cut guide that will slide over the tube then i will use a marker and mark the cuts. cant wait to see if this idea works.






this guide lines and all 4 quarters. that

 

[chappysfj40]

so the printed part worked like a champ. how ever i was not feeling the way the extra tube were going to look. so i decided to stop for now. i do need some sort of side protection and such just not sure how yet

may do a swing out tire carrier may not. time will tell. it may require a few cocktails to sort it out.

 

[chappysfj40]

trimmed off the excess frame hones and this is how it ended up.

 

[chappysfj40]

and who knows the rust is bad enough on the body i may do an Australian chop. and make a flat bed.