Hi all!
Followed along on mud for quite a while only to recently decide maybe I should share my build on here too.
This is my 4th cruiser (3rd purchase) and I'm finally getting to the point where I'm excited about it again instead of hating every second of it. As we all know, these things are a labour of love and often punishing. She is a 10/84' car so the last of them - factory power steering but no aircon! Purchased sight unseen for way too much during covid only to find a hell of a lot more rust than I was expecting, and so the build began.
Here she is over 2 years ago...
And here she is as of last week! (Can't claim the paint myself! That ones on Glenn and the boys at Caetano body works in Sydney who have knocked it out of the park.)
So what are my plans you may ask? Well it feels like they're constantly changing if I am completely honest. But when I think of this build I look at the FJ company builds and align the styling closest to them. From the little things like stainless pins from @SMG to the (hopefully) Recaro Sportster CS and nappa leather/alcantara going in the interior, along side CNC billet interior door handles, window cranks and mirrors all finished in Cerakote (unsure yet on exactly which colour but most likely a silver as I will be doing the gauge bezel and glovebox door in the same colour to bring some continuity across the board and a nod to the original.
But with all that being said, who knows - that could all change too!
My current dilemma however is this... built original 2F or LS3 for virtually the exact same price. I've always loved the idea of the original look under the bonnet but doing a cam, SBC valves and springs, high comp pistons and EFI on the original motor, but with prices returning to normal pre covid prices on LS swaps, suddenly I'm putting an LS3 mated to a 6L80 back on the table. Not chasing crazy power but not many things in life beat the rumble from a V8!
Will try keep you all updated on the build from here on in - hopefully will keep me accountable to sharing the progress of everything!
Signing off - Ben
Followed along on mud for quite a while only to recently decide maybe I should share my build on here too.
This is my 4th cruiser (3rd purchase) and I'm finally getting to the point where I'm excited about it again instead of hating every second of it. As we all know, these things are a labour of love and often punishing. She is a 10/84' car so the last of them - factory power steering but no aircon! Purchased sight unseen for way too much during covid only to find a hell of a lot more rust than I was expecting, and so the build began.
Here she is over 2 years ago...
And here she is as of last week! (Can't claim the paint myself! That ones on Glenn and the boys at Caetano body works in Sydney who have knocked it out of the park.)
So what are my plans you may ask? Well it feels like they're constantly changing if I am completely honest. But when I think of this build I look at the FJ company builds and align the styling closest to them. From the little things like stainless pins from @SMG to the (hopefully) Recaro Sportster CS and nappa leather/alcantara going in the interior, along side CNC billet interior door handles, window cranks and mirrors all finished in Cerakote (unsure yet on exactly which colour but most likely a silver as I will be doing the gauge bezel and glovebox door in the same colour to bring some continuity across the board and a nod to the original.
But with all that being said, who knows - that could all change too!
My current dilemma however is this... built original 2F or LS3 for virtually the exact same price. I've always loved the idea of the original look under the bonnet but doing a cam, SBC valves and springs, high comp pistons and EFI on the original motor, but with prices returning to normal pre covid prices on LS swaps, suddenly I'm putting an LS3 mated to a 6L80 back on the table. Not chasing crazy power but not many things in life beat the rumble from a V8!
Will try keep you all updated on the build from here on in - hopefully will keep me accountable to sharing the progress of everything!
Signing off - Ben
