Ditcherman
SILVER Star
Hey all, been looking forward to posting this up for a while.
First off, let me say I kinda hate the thread title and the name, as I don't really want to give credit to the ford frame and axles or in any way take away from the wonderful heritage of the FJ40. But it's just too fitting, it is what it is.
It's about a 5 year dream, with work starting about 4 years ago trying to build a 4 door FJ40 from 3 donors, on the '78 F250 Ranger frame from the truck I learned to drive in, with a donor Cummins 12v in it from a straight truck.
The frame was a real sticking point to progress, as the 12v barely fit in it and was very tight when you started putting FJ40 metal around it. I considered lengthening the hood and fenders, I even considered widening the whole thing...which is pretty deep for someone who has never welded any sheet metal that needed to be finished...
I'm learning a lot.
I'm a farmer, and I can weld a lot of stuff, I can make things happen, but this is a first.
Anyway, the project got shoved in the corner for 3-4 years until this winter, when I had 1. some inspiration (now or never!) and 2. a '89 F Super Duty that I needed the engine out of, and the body was trash on.
So we were off to the races with this new frame. The Dana 60's front and rear from the '78 were bolted up with most of the F450 springs removed, the Cummins 12v slid right in with some homemade mounts like it was meant to be there.
We put an ARB air locker in the rear and rebuilt both axles.
The original idea of repairing a couple of tubs I had was tossed last winter when I was feeling flush, and an Aqualu 130" tub was ordered, along with some fenders.
Oh, the other thing, this is absolutely positively going to be a hardtop. The Aqualu tub is awesome, but it's meant for a soft top, and creating the things to sit on top of the posts and allow the doors to seal correctly has taken me some time.
Working on my sheet metal finishing skills currently, trying to master body filler over my seams.
The framer says "that's the drywaller's problem" and the drywaller says "that's the mud guys problem" and the mud guy says "that's the finish carpenters problem"... Did I mention I want to paint it myself?
I'm building this as a '74, SN on cowl and title will say '73, really trying to stick with some things that are pure FJ40 like lights, turn signals and doors, the overall look, but some things have to give. I am planning on ordering a tailgate from Aqualu instead of barn doors, it just looks too practical.
One thing that I hope will get better is getting rid of the leafs and going with a link suspension. It needs lowered bad, we've built the body on as low as possible but it's still crazy high. Will need 37's even with it lowered.
And I want to be able to drive it from Indiana to Colorado-Utah-Wyoming-wherever. It's more important to drive than extreme crawl for me.
I'm hoping to contribute in this thread and on this site as I can; I have really appreciated all the inspiration I have seen on here over the years.
I do have a question that's bugging me that I hope y'all will answer - how bad (remember now we're in the hardcore corner) would it be to paint an FJ one color on the outside and a different color on the inside? Will that go over the line?
I actually have a 74 restomod (light on the resto heavy on the mod) that we did 6-8 years ago, before I knew really how iconic the FJ was, and we painted it a deep green with metal flake outside and a cream on the inside and I really like that cream/off white on the inside.
What say you Mud?
Thanks for having me, thanks again for all the inspiration, and looking forward to more.
First off, let me say I kinda hate the thread title and the name, as I don't really want to give credit to the ford frame and axles or in any way take away from the wonderful heritage of the FJ40. But it's just too fitting, it is what it is.
It's about a 5 year dream, with work starting about 4 years ago trying to build a 4 door FJ40 from 3 donors, on the '78 F250 Ranger frame from the truck I learned to drive in, with a donor Cummins 12v in it from a straight truck.
The frame was a real sticking point to progress, as the 12v barely fit in it and was very tight when you started putting FJ40 metal around it. I considered lengthening the hood and fenders, I even considered widening the whole thing...which is pretty deep for someone who has never welded any sheet metal that needed to be finished...
I'm learning a lot.
I'm a farmer, and I can weld a lot of stuff, I can make things happen, but this is a first.
Anyway, the project got shoved in the corner for 3-4 years until this winter, when I had 1. some inspiration (now or never!) and 2. a '89 F Super Duty that I needed the engine out of, and the body was trash on.
So we were off to the races with this new frame. The Dana 60's front and rear from the '78 were bolted up with most of the F450 springs removed, the Cummins 12v slid right in with some homemade mounts like it was meant to be there.
We put an ARB air locker in the rear and rebuilt both axles.
The original idea of repairing a couple of tubs I had was tossed last winter when I was feeling flush, and an Aqualu 130" tub was ordered, along with some fenders.
Oh, the other thing, this is absolutely positively going to be a hardtop. The Aqualu tub is awesome, but it's meant for a soft top, and creating the things to sit on top of the posts and allow the doors to seal correctly has taken me some time.
Working on my sheet metal finishing skills currently, trying to master body filler over my seams.
The framer says "that's the drywaller's problem" and the drywaller says "that's the mud guys problem" and the mud guy says "that's the finish carpenters problem"... Did I mention I want to paint it myself?
I'm building this as a '74, SN on cowl and title will say '73, really trying to stick with some things that are pure FJ40 like lights, turn signals and doors, the overall look, but some things have to give. I am planning on ordering a tailgate from Aqualu instead of barn doors, it just looks too practical.
One thing that I hope will get better is getting rid of the leafs and going with a link suspension. It needs lowered bad, we've built the body on as low as possible but it's still crazy high. Will need 37's even with it lowered.
And I want to be able to drive it from Indiana to Colorado-Utah-Wyoming-wherever. It's more important to drive than extreme crawl for me.
I'm hoping to contribute in this thread and on this site as I can; I have really appreciated all the inspiration I have seen on here over the years.
I do have a question that's bugging me that I hope y'all will answer - how bad (remember now we're in the hardcore corner) would it be to paint an FJ one color on the outside and a different color on the inside? Will that go over the line?
I actually have a 74 restomod (light on the resto heavy on the mod) that we did 6-8 years ago, before I knew really how iconic the FJ was, and we painted it a deep green with metal flake outside and a cream on the inside and I really like that cream/off white on the inside.
What say you Mud?
Thanks for having me, thanks again for all the inspiration, and looking forward to more.
. Are you trying to say this is not going to be a nut and bolt Everything correct down to the OE air in the tires build ? In that case put as much glitter as you want in the paint 
