4 door Fj45 on 80 series chassis (4 Viewers)

[Blackknight1]

Hello,
About 12 years ago, i purchased this 78 Fj45 for a bit less than 150 bucks. It looked sad where it was dumped and i kept passing by it with my wife and one day she said :" why don't you just take it home instead of wasting time and gas passing by it twice a day ? "
Need i say that those were the words i wanted to hear...lol. See, i am a bit of a old car passionate and i built a few hotrods...... the first thing i ever built is a 1978 fj40 .... nothing extreme bit it got me addicted to buildimg s*** , so now i own everything from that first fj40 , to a 66 Bronco, a69 Mustang, a Camaro, a Willy's Rat Rod, bikes.... so i felt kinda bad for wanting one more bit she said i could tale this one home , so i did not let her beg me to do just that
Took it home and there it sat for 10 years without me ever realy paying it any mind but knowing that one day it would get my attention.
In the meantime, she got tired of seeing it there, because she wanted to fix the yard and it was sotting right where she wanted her pool built
So she got on my ass and i was forced to have it and a few more of my beloved projects sent to another property we own 10 monutes away.
Fast forward to last week, i looked at it and said : i should make this a 4 door....(Jesus)
Why could i not leave the danm thing alone???
Now not only do i want it to be a 4 door, now it must sit on a 80 series chassis,.... it must be powered by an LS...... It must ride on minimum 37 inch tires..... You guys know how it goes.
So i won't bore you longer with my sad stories. Here are some pics of it from when i pulled it from under the tree to starting the caziest build i ever attempted .

 

[Blackknight1]

As you all can see, it was in less than pristine condition . Fact is, most people i know would not undertake a project with such a rusty truck but i have spare parts laying around sooo..... in it went and we put the proverbial knife on it.
I decided to dothe mods while it still sits on the original frame. Then i will address the rust issues by repairing too far gone sheet metal or simply changing out with parts o have laying around.

 

[Blackknight1]

More pics. At this point, there is no turning back.

 

[Blackknight1]

So this week was going well until the country's president had to be killed...... so we lost a bit of concentration. Then we got back to it
We took out 4" out of some doors i had laying around and modified the shape of the window frames to use them as rear doors. Here are some pics of how this was done.

 

[Blackknight1]

So this is where we're at.....

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Love it!! Keep it up.

 

[GW Nugget]

Thanks for posting...
It is going to be a sweet ride.

 

[Broski]

Nice start keep the posts coming.

 

[pistonpete]

 

[Blackknight1]

I have not abandoned this project . Family obligations forcing me to take a holiday in the Middle East but right before i left, i purchased an Fj80 and had the guys yank the rolling chassis from under it. Here are a few pics

 

[WarDamnEagle]

That will be very cool. You guys have skills!

 

[Blackknight1]

Ok the cab is now a 4 door but as you know, in 1978 , land cruisers had a horible leaf spring suspension. We are building a monster , so we want performance and comfort.
We decided to swap the old chassis with an 80 series chassis from a 1993 model. This one has coil springs at all corners, 4 wheel discs and the stiffness of one of the best cars Toyota built.
Problem is, the wheelbase is only 112 inches as opposed to the original Fj 45 chassis which comes in at 114" and is alrady too short for what i am pursuing...... so.... we're gonna add 5" to the wheelbase. Here are some pis of the surgery. Enjoy !

 

[Blackknight1]

Ok last pic slipped in by mistake . I built some chassis extensions out of 1/8 " thick steel plate. You can see the huge machine we usedto bend the metal. One that was done, we cut the chassis to add 5" bringing the wheelbase to 117" instead of 112"

 

[Blackknight1]

Here are some more pics of today's work. Always remember to brace your frame rails before cutting . I wont tell you that story . I'm too embarrassed. I know better but my brain got stupid and i cut it without bracing .
Needless to say that it took some doing to put it back together but thakfully we did. It's all tacked together . I retook all the measurements . Cross measured the chassis. Everything is perfect. I'll finish the welds tomorrow. It was a good day.

 

[Blackknight1]

Ok. Yesterday was good. We are moving fast.... we cut off all the body mounts and brackets from the frame.... we also cut out the front cross member . This one will be reused after we flip it upside down so we can attach the front grill hinge.

 

[Blackknight1]

Ok. Yesterday was good. We are moving fast.... we cut off all the body mounts and brackets from the frame.... we also cut out the front cross member . This one will be reused after we flip it upside down so we can attach the front grill hinge.

View attachment 2756737

View attachment 2756738

As you can see i braced the frame this time to prevent surprises

 

[Blackknight1]

While we dod that we also made the roofextension piece. The 45's roof was made of metal , so we used a piece of 16 gauge sheetmetal, ribbed it to match the OEM pieces that were left when we seperatedthe front from the rear to allow foe the rear doors installation.

 

[Blackknight1]

Another good day yesterday. We mocked up the body on the 80 series chassis. Remember, i have no specific info on exactly where mounts go on this chasdis so i have to keep pulling it on and off and keep mocking it up until i get it perfect. On top of all that, many of my mods and rust repairs will be better off if done with the body bolted to the frame. So that's how we did it.
Hope fully i will have time today to build the mounts. Here are some pics of yesterday's work.

 

[Blackknight1]

And here are some more with the body sitting on the new , longer chassis....

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I'm loving this build.