Build 4 door Fj45 on 80 series chassis

[Blackknight1]

Still no welder...... i am loosing patience. While waiting i decided to make the bull bar. ..... oh ! The repair man is here. Let's hope he fixes it ...
Anyway here are some pics of today's work

 

[Blackknight1]

Welder is FIXED!
Took the man 4 days to fix something he fixed in 5 minutes
Did some work on the bed before ending the day.
Tpmorrpw will be a better day.

 

[Blackknight1]

Got to the shop late today but still got work done on both the bull bar and the bed. As ypu saw in previous pictures, i had some 1/8 sheet metal folded and shaped to be used as frame around the bed, same as it is around the sides and rear of 40 series trucks.
1/8th is thicker than whatever the factory used and is also stronger. Knowing that i will probably carry some heavy stuff back there, i prefer making it a bit heavier duty .

 

[Blackknight1]

We welded the bed frame together, making sureit is square and braced the corners to prevent stupid surprises as i had when i cut the 80 series chassis.
All is ok. Tomorrow , hope to post pics of the bed frame wearimg some sheet metal.

 

[Blackknight1]

Ok. Today, we worked on both the bed and the bull bar. Since other than the bed's upper frame, nothing else is done yet, i am posting pictures of just the front bumper.
As i showed earlier, i made it out of cardboard and tape first, then, once satisfied with the shape, i tranfered all the pieces into 3/16th sheet metal.
For ease of fabrication and for the sake of time, there is no need to cut cardboard for both sides.
I just do the center piece and one side. When cutting the sheet metal, i cut 2 pieces of each template .

 

[Blackknight1]

Initially i wanted to install a Warn 8274 on this project but luck dpes not strike twice. I got one years ago for 30 dollars and as hard i looked this time, all the ones i found were between $1500.00 and 2 000.00
Got a new 12,000 lbs winch for $700.00
I jumped on it . Hopefully i'll install it on the bumper tomorrow.

 

[Blackknight1]

The bull bar is almost done. All tack welded . I tried the winch on it. It's big but it will fit . In that pic, i just sat it on top of the bumper to see of it fitsbetween the frame rails..... it does. As i said, it's big, but it fits .
..

 

[Blackknight1]

And afew more .

 

[Blackknight1]

Seems like you already got it ordered, which is great. I have one BB with a split case and one that is attached to an HF2AV, but not run yet. They seem to work fine with either transfer case so it just comes down to wanting AWD or not. I would DEFINITELY add a reservoir and external vent! They get hot and try and blow oil out the seals, so give it more oil and a place up higher to vent so it's happy. Don't be like me and leave it completely sealed!

Hey ,
Do you have any pictures of the BB installed on your 6L90e and Hf2aV ? I'd like to see your installation for future reference. Thanks in advance.

 

[Blackknight1]

Started installing the fuel tank today, remember, i want 2 of them we decided to use a plastic tank from a Rover . Those come with a screw in internal fuel pump. This one looks like it'll fit just fine. Of course a bit of fab work is necessary for the installation, but we have it figured out.
Now the second tank is a totally different story. We considered using the original fj45 tank but it would need to go under the back seat. There is no way that would work without the drive shaft slamming into it.
Putting it futher forward under the front seats was also considered but it will be in the way of the danmned transfer case......
So...... we are currently parting out a 96 corvette and i came up with the idea of taking that fuel tank and sticking that under there.
We yanked it out of the back of the poor Vette and tried it under the cruiser. That darn thing is pretty long and with the fricking Black Box pushing the t-case back 5" or so, it would foul both the t-case and the exhaust pipe.....
As i was under there, i realized that it would work perfectly on the driver's side !!! PERFECT !!!!!!
All i need to do now is to cut my danm exhaust system which exited nicely under the rear driver side door and transfer it all to the passenger side. No biggie.... we'll do that tomorrow.

 

[Blackknight1]

This is where we are. The winch is installed. I will finish welding hopefully tomorrow . We'll also continue with fabrication of this bed.

 

[Blackknight1]

Not a bad week. After a few delays, we finally started on the bed again. As i said, we're building it completely from scratch.
First,we built the top frame, with that done , we started sheetmetal work with the back panel( the one that's roght behind the cab. We're doing it with 16 gauge sheet metal.heere are some pics of that process. Done the old schpol way.....

 

[Blackknight1]

We also finished up the front bumper and added the recovery points. We welded 1/4" steel plates on the bumper as a base amd welded the shackle brackets on top..... they are stout as hell

 

[Blackknight1]

We kept plugging at this bed today. The back panel was mated to the top frame in the same manner it was done by the factory. We made sure to coat the inside of the top frame with rust preventative paint to at least slow down corrosion.....

 

[Blackknight1]

In the last pic, we just dropped it on top of the old rear section of FJ40 tub we've been using to mock up a sort of a bed. Tomorrow, we'll build the sides.

 

[Blackknight1]

Ok. I was a bit busy in the morning so i got to the shop late. We still managed to get some work done. We made templates for the qiartet panels amd even managed to cut them into steel. We'll finish those hopefully tomorrow and we'll hopefully hang them on the top frame....

 

[Blackknight1]

16 gauge sheetmetal.

 

[Blackknight1]

Sides are not complete yet and are just hung on tje top frame. We still need to shape the rear and round up the corners.

 

[Blackknight1]

Those 2 pics are to give you an idea of where this is going

 

[Blackknight1]

Continuing with the bed.
We rounded up the the corners and trie the quarter panels on the top frame. Looks good.