thecrazygreek
A.K.A. TheCraftyGreek
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Builds Building the BJZ43 = FJ43 + FJZ80 + BJ75 :) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter YoYoHo
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- fj43 bj43 bj44 fj44 fzj80
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I have the same problem with the ute. Go to get parts and they ask what car is it and you start by telling them its an 199x 80 chassis that has been modified to take a 19xx 40 series body running a 19xx Y engine and a gearbox from a 19xx X model landcruiser. They stare blankly back at you and go 'ok'. The 4 door VDJ45 will be even worse!!!!
As long as you can remember what year and parts come from what car it will be fine, just don't ever sell it as how will the next person know!!!!
I'd love to smash out a body swap as quick as this.. if only I didnt have a mountain of rust work to do on the body 
- Thread starter
- #65
I'd love to smash out a body swap as quick as this.. if only I didnt have a mountain of rust work to do on the body
A few points :
- Don't believe everything you see on the internet
- Don't believe I don't have rust I am just not up to that part of my story yet
- I have a few unfair advantages over most people who undertake such jobs such as an inability to sleep and a very well appointed work area. I think this is why @65swb45 pointed it out as it seems most people don't have CNC Machines, forklifts, 6ft Powder Coating booths, enviro cleaners, lifts etc in their "Home Shop" , I am spoilt .
- I am not building with any sort of Budget (at least till my wife reads this) as I just want it done so my kids don't grow up seeing daddy build 100's of cool cars for customers while they get dropped at school in a stock Subaru. Even my youngest has started asking why non of daddy's cars ever run lol.
Also from memory back in the day you use to do quite well with the old BJ42 and your drive way building.
Just sayin cause the internet is an interesting place and reality is not in alignment with perception.
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not having a whinge about my lack of facilities.. more about the fact that I have so much to do on my body.. if it was in ok condition i'd be ripping the body off my 80 now and going at the chassis with a grinder.. its the kind of stuff that keeps me awake at night.. for hours! thinking through next steps, what ifs, what order i need to do stuff.. ..
From what I've observed of other build threads of people putting a 80 chassis under a 40, it just seems like it would be easier to me to put the 80 suspension on the 40 series frame. Just my opinion. I dont see it as being very much work to swap the suspension brackets over.
Here in Australia the people who pass the cars for the roads, engineers, don't really like welding onto a 40 chassis due to the type of steel used. Think it was high tensile steel as where an 80 is mild steel. Hence why we head down the plop the 40 body on the 80 chassis way and trim/lengthen to suit. Engineers like that way better.
- Thread starter
- #69
It is actually a complete PITA due to the chassis and diffs being different sizes so nothing fits easily. I have done 80 stuff onto a 40's chassis and I would never do it again. The 80's Chassis is way stronger and usually it is also in much better condition.
Most of the conversions you see are not modifying the wheel base so it is pretty easy to just make some body mounts and away you go. You also get the added benefit of all the aftermarket 80 series stuff out there
If u dont have the fab skills it could be a challenge. Almost all the body swaps I've seen onto the 80 chassis look odd to me because of the placement of the 80 front axle placement. It always sits too far back in the front fender opening. A few guys here in the hard core section have swapped the suspension to the 40 frame and it looks really nice. Either way hope it turns out well.
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- Thread starter
- #71
It has nothing to do with fab skills, if you wanted to use the 40 chassis you would just 3 link the front and 4 link the rear and run coil overs. It would be a complete waste of effort trying to use the 80 series stuff on a 40 chassis as you would have to redo the geometry anyway and nothing to be gained. If you used a stock 80's diff you could avoid radius arm brackets etc but the 80 series suspension geometry in a compromise of what you could do if you didn't use it.
I am using 80 series chassis and suspension to get the additional benefits and strength the chassis as a whole provides not just to get coils.
In regards to the front wheel placement that is just bad work on the builders behalf and not getting center line. The BJZ43 has the front wheel in the exact same place as the stock 40 series . Guys that are putting it to far back usually do it as they are trying to copy what they have seen as far as front body mounts go and there are a number of photos on google that show it in the wrong or deceiving position.
the Center of Axle on a 40 series is 900mm from the front door seam and in factory shackle fwd it only goes fwd from there. With the radius arm front it will have a slightly different arc but the radius arm mount is not to far off the rear fixed end of the leaf pack so apart from leaf compression it is not to far off the same arc.
All that being said the look and feel is a very personnel thing and I have seen a few leaf 40's where people have moved front axles fwd to get a better approach angle and made the car look like s*** yet the owner loved it. I am hopeful the end result of my BJZ43 build will be a fairly well proportioned and ascetically correct build with relatively stock 80 series stuff suck as power steering, sway bars and handling. Of course being 8" or so wider in teh track will be harder to make look right than the wheel base so I accept that will make it look Non 40 .
I guess time will tell and the end results will be judged at the time of completion
From the builds here of people putting the 80 suspension on the 40 series frame they seemed to be happy with the end result. One of which is a 43 I believe.
- Thread starter
- #73
Yeah my BIGGEST Issue is fenders ... a lot of the ones I have seen have widened the fronts like 4" and the end up looking like diving boards. I am still trying to come up with a solution but I need to get the chassis sorted first and body mounts and engine mounts etc so I know what I have to play with, fingers crossed
I've not seen widened fenders that look all that great. I think with bigger tires u can get away with the tires sticking outside a bit and look good but a few details have to be paid attention to. Or you could cut out some centers on some 8" wheels and move the center so u have 7" of backspacing.
- Thread starter
- #75
With all this talk of cutting I guess the time is here to chalk up, mark up and cut up .
As per the wheel base decision we are taking 330 mm out of the wheel base and then whatever hangs out the rear end.
After looking at the chassis for a while I decided I would cut in front of the rear lower link pivot and then section it back together. Now I have been made aware you can get away with removing the lower link box and getting to enough straight chassis to do a 300mm cut but I was keen to leave the link location alone so accepted I would have to section.
I am still not 100% on the taper so I decided to put a shortening fixture onto the chassis to allow me to slide it back and forward to confirm my 330mm. The fixture is what we use to do VW Floor Pans and has about 500mm of "sliding" based on a set of machines RHS.
I also set and front and rear straight edges outside the cut zone and leveled them to give me set reference points. Doing this allows me to clown around with it and get it back to factory spec. The straight edges are them marked with center lines and measurements relative to each other. If you look you will see the white and black lines and written numbers that relate to them .
From here I will start cutting and probably drop the body back on an off a few times to check look and feel. It is not the quickest way to do it but I need to be happy with the look.
As per the wheel base decision we are taking 330 mm out of the wheel base and then whatever hangs out the rear end.
After looking at the chassis for a while I decided I would cut in front of the rear lower link pivot and then section it back together. Now I have been made aware you can get away with removing the lower link box and getting to enough straight chassis to do a 300mm cut but I was keen to leave the link location alone so accepted I would have to section.
I am still not 100% on the taper so I decided to put a shortening fixture onto the chassis to allow me to slide it back and forward to confirm my 330mm. The fixture is what we use to do VW Floor Pans and has about 500mm of "sliding" based on a set of machines RHS.
I also set and front and rear straight edges outside the cut zone and leveled them to give me set reference points. Doing this allows me to clown around with it and get it back to factory spec. The straight edges are them marked with center lines and measurements relative to each other. If you look you will see the white and black lines and written numbers that relate to them .
From here I will start cutting and probably drop the body back on an off a few times to check look and feel. It is not the quickest way to do it but I need to be happy with the look.
- Thread starter
- #76
You mean like this
.That is my back up plan by the ICONS I have on it at the moment don't have much to be gained before hitting coils and other stuff.
If need be I will cut up the diff's and keep playing till I am happy .
- Thread starter
- #78
And in case I change my mind I made some different size openings so see how it looks with different options .
Now I have opening to suit 37" 35" and 33" wheels on the 80 series 4 link arc
Now I have opening to suit 37" 35" and 33" wheels on the 80 series 4 link arc
when you take the 300mm or so out of the chassis on that area what are you going to do to make the 2 sides meet as they will be different widths as the chassis is angled at that point.
Yes, That’s why I was thinking that it’s possible to put the front part inside the rear and weld (rivet) it.
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