Builds FJ40 Build - Hell's Kitchen

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Awesome man, looking forward to more. Hardcore is where this should live you'll get mo' betta' feedback and exposure.
 
Stoffregen M-Sports said:
Yep, single ended ram from PSC. We bought the entire kit from them including a beefcake PS pump and the Eaton orbital valve.

This will not be a street truck so I had complete liberty to build it as I saw fit. I don't like using heims on a street driven truck anyway so if it were a pavement pounder, I would have engineered it to use a Toyota mini truck box and one tone TRE's from Parts Mike with an intersect style drag link.

Ride height and packaging is one of those inverse relationships that make life miserable for someone like me when trying to build a front suspension. I really wanted to keep the ride height down to a minimum. The narrow frame rails of the FJ combined with the mass of the D60 diff did not leave me much room to play with anyway. Even without a steering box and drag link, getting everything to fit at full bump took a lot of time. One thing to point out is that since there is not going to be a drag link, I was pretty much able to have the panhard bar set at any static angle I liked without the worry of bumpsteer. Would I have liked it flatter, sure, but I'll take what I got.

We chose the single ended ram over the double ended ram for cost reasons. The cost difference between the two kits is substantial.
Click to expand...

your build is quite similar to mind, except where you decided to be off-road only; I'm building my for street and trail - thus no hydro-steer and I'm using a Scout 2 box.

thus, cool build :)
 
Thank you guys.

I finally got back on the job after a couple weeks of vacation. The roll cage is nearly done with only rear shock mounts and some struts/gussets needing fabrication.

The finished height is quite tall, but the rear seating position we decided on is very comfortable. Lots of legroom and elbow room. I have been playing with different details to try and minimize the height appearance. The mid level hoop around back was moved upward from where we originally intended to help with the look.







 
Oh, Question for you guys. The customer feels that taillights wont be needed because it's trail only, but if I could come up with a nice looking, small taillight, I bet I could sell him on the idea. What would you guys use?
 
If he runs the dunes or trails at night he will need lights to prevent others from running into him. Tell him it's the law.
 
taillights are important no matter what IMHO
 
There are lots of cool, sleek looking LED tail lights out now. With your fab skills, it wouldn't take much to add those in some cool way. I agree with the others, what happens when you don't finish the trail in the daylight? And heck, even on a trail truck, I'd want the guy behind me knowing that I'm hitting the brakes.
 
Nice low profile LED tail lights here:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyota-land-cruiser/1886386-kulas-fj220-build-4.html
1542569d1416887518-kulas-fj220-build-dsc_0037.jpg
 
I like that, I've been trying to come up with a rear bumper treatment for mine.... I may use elements of that, though, on the street, I want bold enough lights that don't just say "please look up from your cell phone and don't hit me" rather it should say proclaim quite loudly that either Jesus is coming, or airplane is landing, and that you should stop (I suppose, on retrospect you should stop in any of those cases).
 
If it were me I would angle the top rear half of the upper hoop downward to give it a slight fastback look. Also the seats to me would be more comfortable if instead of them mounted level, mount them at a angle so the rear passengers feel more like they are sitting in a supra, this will allow for a lower rear roof line and more comfortable. Why are the rear seats sitting so high up? The front end is stretched a lot, too much for my taste if your going for a 40 look, but its incomplete yet and I could be seeing it wrong. I think what makes the cage look unusual too is how far above the windshield frame it goes. Your fab work is clean, and look forward to the end product. He should put tail lights in it unless he doesn't want to drive it at all on the street(what fun is that?)
 
White Stripe said:
If it were me I would angle the top rear half of the upper hoop downward to give it a slight fastback look. Also the seats to me would be more comfortable if instead of them mounted level, mount them at a angle so the rear passengers feel more like they are sitting in a supra, this will allow for a lower rear roof line and more comfortable. Why are the rear seats sitting so high up? The front end is stretched a lot, too much for my taste if your going for a 40 look, but its incomplete yet and I could be seeing it wrong. I think what makes the cage look unusual too is how far above the windshield frame it goes. Your fab work is clean, and look forward to the end product. He should put tail lights in it unless he doesn't want to drive it at all on the street(what fun is that?)
Click to expand...

Passenger comfort was priority here. This person takes passengers out on the trail every time he goes. We spent a lot of time mocking up and measuring for the most comfortable seating position. The height from the floor to the bottom of the seats (in the rear) is 7", which is quite a lot, but once you sit back there...oh man, it's comfy.

The fastback thing, I'm glad someone picked up on that. Your inclination to slope the rear lip downward is exactly opposite my inclination to leave it flat. We both have the same motivation, to use it as a design feature, but while you suggested a downward slope to give it a fastback look, I wanted it level (even kicked up at the rear) to give it a fast look, like a Range Rover Sport.

We wanted maximum wheelbase. Hence the front pushed out so much. Plus, with it so low, clearing the oil pan around the diff is helped by pushing the axle further. It doesn't look as bad with the front clip installed.

Trail rig only. No registration, full hydro steering. But yes, I'm pushing for taillights.
 
it would be interesting to ride in those seats. A friend had a model A roadster with a rumble seat. it was interesting, to me, how different the driving feel is from the driver's compartment to that rumble seat. It always felt like you were going to get thrown off when in the rumble seat, but seem slow in the driver's compartment (still, was a total hoot to ride in)... all I have to say, though is wear goggles if you're in the back
 
It's like driving a 240Z vs a 510. The seats in the Z are so much further back that when you drift it you feel like you're way out of whack.

We're going to skin the sides to help minimize the effect of debris hurting the rear passengers.
 
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