Builds Building the BJZ43 = FJ43 + FJZ80 + BJ75 :) (1 Viewer)

[YoYoHo]

After many years of Cruiser Love and never being able to make up my mind what was the best solution for my application I decided I wasn't getting any younger and should really just build it and start enjoying. The opinion was supported by my wife's constant comments about my toys always being in bits while the Customers Rides where out having fun. I thought she had a valid point but like most Cruiser guys you need to fund it to own it.

Anyway, as luck would have it I ended up with some time on the calendar so figured it was a sign from the Cruiser Gods to put the plan into action.

So what is a BJZ43 .... it is what I came up with if I took all the parts I liked and put them into the one vehicle.

Engine & Transmission - The BJ

3B Series 2 - From 1990 BJ 75​

Custom Turbo Setup​

H55F with Sumo Gears​

Chassis - The Z

FJZ 80 with e-lockers​

Shortened to suit application and keep body lines​

4:88 R&P​

35 x 12.5 x 17 BFG KM3 on 17 x 8 Icons​

New coils and Shocks TBC probably ICON of FOX so I can valve them​

Body - The 43

FJ43 FST from UAE​

Vintage Air and Heat​

Bucket Seats in front with Flip and Fold in back as well as side mounts​

Custom Roll Cage and Bumpers​

All new Electrics and widgets​

Now I am sure some people like @Twisty will never understand my love affair with the AWESOME 3B and will no doubt roll their eyes and wonder who would build such a thing and use a 3B on purpose ... well that would be me, there is something to be said about the under powered and simplistic 3B that makes me smile so in it goes.

I looked into Custom Suspension setups with 3 link and 4 link and radius arm this and that but in the end accepted that while I might like to think it will be a hard ass trail rig reality was it would spend more time driving around on the street and the 80 series chassis would give it much better road manners.

Everything will be done in house so hopefully I won't suffer to many delays. My drop dead Time line is Rubithon 2020 but I hope to have it done before then.

I am sure the project will evolve as the donors tell me what will work best. Until then the above is my plan and time line.

Feedback and comments are welcome and you never stop learning and gaining insight from others experience makes it more fun and a better outcome.

Parts Sources From :

Just Differentials - JustDifferentials.com

Cruiser Outfitters - Cruiser Outfitters

TECH DATA

FJ 40 Wheel Base - 2300 mm
FJ 43 Wheel Base - 2413 mm
FJZ 80 Wheel Base - 2850 mm

BJZ43 Wheel Base - 2520 mm

 

[YoYoHo]

I figured the hardest part of the Project was going to be to fine an FJ 43 FST that was not either roached or over priced. The project budget would not stretch to what some were asking but I stayed positive and as luck would have it found one in SOCAL which had enough issues to be priced well but no real issues that made it a bad idea. So I loaded up the truck and went to get the FJ 43.

 

[YoYoHo]

The FJ 43 was from the Middle East and the body was average but complete and solid enough. It had some rust and dings but being desert rust it was nothing bad. It has seen some its fair share of PO updates most of which would head for the Bin !!!

It came with 16" FJ rims I sent back to the seller as they were no use for my project and the offset was all wrong. The Electrical was a complete POS with years of dodgy connections and upgrades. No real issue it was always going to get a new custom loom anyway. It had factory front seats that were sold off as being over 6ft meant I needed a bit more room that they afforded.

So now we had the FJ 43 part of the Build ....

 

[YoYoHo]

Now I needed to turn my attention to the BJ part so the search for a 3B began. Again Mud cam to the rescue and @3_puppies just happened to have a series 2 which he had picked up of another Mud member and apart from a few layers of dust it was running and had good numbers. So a deal was done and a plastic Crate arrived full of 3B goodness.

So now I had the BJ part

 

[YoYoHo]

So now I needed to find the Z part so the search was on. I asked around and most people didn't really want to sell me just a rolling chassis so my search extended to a complete Donor Vehicle. As luck would have it searching on face book found a recently posted 1995 FJZ80 in black with what looked like Street Bling Wheels. I could see in one of the bad pictures what I thought to be a Factory Diff Lock switch. So I messaged the guy and asked if he could send me a picture of the door sticker ... response ... Not home at the moment .... hmm ok so I asked if the lockers worked .. response ... what are lockers hmmmm.

So at this point I had to make a decision and I thought why not so I made him an offer that reflected his need to sell it he said yes if I would pick it up that night .... hmmm looking at the clock and his location that would make it midnight .... he said fine and I thought it was fitting to pick up a black cruiser at midnight in the middle of the city.

Deal was done and as luck would have it she was triple locked, one owner and had more oil leaks that I thought possible. Not an issue in my case cause I was planning on rebuilding everything anyway.

So now we have the Z part

 

[YoYoHo]

Now if I could just park all these parts next to each other and have them do their thing in line with my intent it would be awesome .. but we know that is not how the world of Car Building goes.

Based on previous experience I figure I am looking at about 250 hours to do the build from start to finish .

Keep in mind all this will be done at home and largely on my own I have no doubt I could do it quicker if I had a team of guys or didn't have a full time job but I thought it was worth putting out here for interest.

Stage 1 - 50 hrs

Pull the 43 Apart and get ready for Z Love​

Pull Z apart and get it ready for 43 to ride​

get all the parts ready for Mock Up​

Stage 2 - 100 hrs

Mock up ... test and measure - There are no books for this stuff so I just need to mock it up and play till I get the look and feel for wheel base etc sorted .​

Mount everything in place and confirm travel and clearance​

Pull it down, Fab it Up, Weld it out​

Stage 3 - 100 hrs

Paint It​

Build It​

Wire It​

Test It​

Tweak It​

Stage 4 - Life Long !!

Enjoy It​

 

[65swb45]

You know it’s funny: now that I’ve met you I can read this and...hear the Aussie accent while I’m reading it!

 

[YoYoHo]

You know it’s funny: now that I’ve met you I can read this and...hear the Aussie accent while I’m reading it!

hehe I can see why that would make sense

 

[cruisermatt]

Interesting. For 35” tires you should just stick with the 4.11’s that are already in the axles. Especially with H55f and T-case gears.

Are you concerned about rear overhang or just going to build some heavy bumpers and rear 1/4 sliders?

 

[65swb45]

Oh, and BTW, you make it sound like doing this build “at home” is going to make it somehow more challenging.

There’s a lot of guys who would give up a nut for a “home” shop like yours.

How’s the new powdercoating setup working out?

 

[White Stripe]

What about using the link suspension from Jonathan wards icons? I think art Morrison supplies his suspension. May be able to buy it from art Morrison too.

 

[YoYoHo]

Interesting. For 35” tires you should just stick with the 4.11’s that are already in the axles. Especially with H55f and T-case gears.

Are you concerned about rear overhang or just going to build some heavy bumpers and rear 1/4 sliders?

The plan at this stage is that I will do the SUMO Gears which are on the truck from @cruiseroutfit and then run the BJZ43 and see how it goes. Once I know if I am changing R&P's I will pull the diff's and rebuild them with or without a change. I have 4.56, 4.88 and 5.29's on the shelf and if I need to I will just try them all and find out what makes the 3B the happiest. Same with the Sumo's if I find the 4:1 with the 8% reduction in Hi doesn't work for me I will just pull them and swap to the 3:1 .

Yeah I will keep the 4.11 till I drive it. The sumo gears from

Oh, and BTW, you make it sound like doing this build “at home” is going to make it somehow more challenging.

There’s a lot of guys who would give up a nut for a “home” shop like yours.

How’s the new powdercoating setup working out?

Lol .. yeah to clarify I am Australian and we call what we have at a home a Shed and a Commercial Estate a Shop. So by my standards I have a shed in my yard but I must admit it is probably far from a home setup and I do everything in house from CNC Machining and Plasma Cutting to Powder Coating, Sand Blasting, Mig , Tig etc etc. Although I no longer do it full time I still build a few rides for select people each year.

Sorry if it sounded like I was going to do this in a 2 car garage with the wife yelling at me from the kitchen, I can't even see teh Kitchen from the "Shop "

Here is a video we did many years ago and although it doesn't show the truck bays it shows the Buggy Building Bays and it pretty cool if you into watching a group of Crazy Aussies building a Buggy to Race NORRA in 20 odd days. You will note as the date gets closer the lights stay on as we went to 24hr operations

Keep in Mind I am an Engineer not a Video Editor lol

What about using the link suspension from Jonathan wards icons? I think art Morrison supplies his suspension. May be able to buy it from art Morrison too.

Interesting suggestion if I wasn't using the stock 80 Series stuff then I would just make my own BUT I decided not to do that even though I have a shop full of Coil Overs and 4130 for the simple reason that my days of thinking I am a hard ass rock crawling maximum travel sort of guy are gone and realistically I am more of a take the kids for Ice Cream or out to the desert / Mountains and Baja etc. To do this the 80 series suspension is FAR superior to anything anyone is putting out there. Everything is built with compromise and the 80 Series gave me the best design specifications and a heap of freebies such as Sway Bars etc.

That being said if need be once I set up Ride Height and full cycle and get corner weights and set spring rates I may swap out the front radius arms for some custom units as I don't want brackets, then again I would probably just cut and rotate the front housing to get Pinion angle and King Pin Angle where I want it. Luckily I have some corner scales and access to an alignment machine so I will just work it all out when I get there. As you can appreciate there are no settings for a BJZ43

 

[65swb45]

That last sentence should be your new sig line!

 

[YoYoHo]

One of the interesting things about a Project like BJZ43 is exactly where to start. Ironically with all the technology around the one thing I have found no substitute for is the human eye and one of the main drivers for this project is to get it correct and proportioned ascetically. Even if this means loosing some departure angle or wheel base.

There are a few builds around such as a Bandeirante that popped up on Facebook on an 80 series chassis which was un-chopped .

Now I hate to say it but it just looks wrong with no rear over hang ... so I went looking and found the bandeirante specs and it seems they did change the rear wheel arches and thus losses the over hang and made it look weird. Don't get me wrong it is still a cool build and will not have an over hang issue BUT the proportions are not what I am after.

So with my internet search coming up EMPTY for a well proportioned MWB Build I figured I would have to plan teh time to do a mock up and get it to look like what I wanted.

 

[Economist LC76]

Great project. I was dreaming about similar project. That’s some inspiration for you

 

[Economist LC76]

One more

 

[YoYoHo]

Sweet, here is my other one which is my BJ46 , it always looked like the wheel needed to go back at least 5 inches

 

[brisveganbj42]

you need to up your b series love and get onto the 15BFT bandwagon..

Also what sumo gears are you thinking? I'm looking at 4.56's with 3.1 sumo gears for 34 skinnys and eventually 36 swamper play tires.. i'm probably going to avoid the 4.1's due to the high range 10% underdrive.. *edit*: Oh i see where you mention your approach.. cool!

 

[YoYoHo]

U need to run the calcs on every gear dont just look at high 5th and call it a day. What I did was got factory ratios and wheel size and then aimed at 10% reduction to cover driveline loss due to tire size and that was what I aimed at to start with.

 

[YoYoHo]

With the plan firmly in place step one is going to be pulling stuff apart. No to much to say about that really . Started with the FJ43 as really I just needed the Body and the rest of the parts would be going to other projects. Being a Desert Car she was well beaten but no real issues. Has seen a resent spray job with some bog etc but still solid.

Certainly makes it easier to pull stuff apart when you have a lift