Build FJfordy4DR12V (purists turn your eyes away from this one)

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Well my help wouldn't let me lower my standards and try to put the headliner on with the roof still on the truck.
My dad always told me to surround myself with people who are smarter than me, so off the roof came.
Wasn't too bad coming off, and better than I feared going back on. A few bubbles to begin with but they seemed to settle down as the glue cured. I think I was using too much glue and for sure too much pressure rolling as we started gluing down, by the end we had the process down pretty good.
As we were installing the roof back on you could tell it was much quieter in the cab, so looking forward to driving it and seeing if it's quieter.
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Ditcherman said:
Well my help wouldn't let me lower my standards and try to put the headliner on with the roof still on the truck.
My dad always told me to surround myself with people who are smarter than me, so off the roof came.
Wasn't too bad coming off, and better than I feared going back on. A few bubbles to begin with but they seemed to settle down as the glue cured. I think I was using too much glue and for sure too much pressure rolling as we started gluing down, by the end we had the process down pretty good.
As we were installing the roof back on you could tell it was much quieter in the cab, so looking forward to driving it and seeing if it's quieter.
View attachment 4085414
Click to expand...

Solid headliners help a ton with sound as far as I have seen. You should hopefully see a good improvement.
 
Would you look at this!
Another one does exist!
bringatrailer.com

1984 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45

Bid for the chance to own a 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #230,662.
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I had been asked in another thread about my rain gutter and I don’t have much in here about that.
So here you go @RWBeringer4x4 .

I could source 1” x 2 1/2” 12 gauge tube and thought I could cut it in ‘almost’ half, so that’s what I did.
Tried a death wheel to begin with, ended up using a jigsaw, there’s probably a better way to cut straighter but we managed. Not a fun noise. We cut it just off center, with the idea of leaving the outside (IIRC??) taller. Not sure that was necessary. We ended up sanding the cut edges smoother, so we lost some material there.
I needed 2 sides about 115” long, I had a decent front and rear piece which I am thankful for.
I built a frame out of some larger rectangle tube do the drip edge to tack to, it could sit on sawhorses right side up but also upside down as the framework stuck out from the drip edge. Nice to work on and flip around, light and sturdy.
We built and test fit the drip edge to the rear top, across the second set of doors and front doors up to the windshield very early on in the build, braced it then tacked it to the frame to build it on. It sat for over a year and a half before fiberglass work started.

Anyway, drip edge pictures…
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Ditcherman said:
I had been asked in another thread about my rain gutter and I don’t have much in here about that.
So here you go @RWBeringer4x4 .

I could source 1” x 2 1/2” 12 gauge tube and thought I could cut it in ‘almost’ half, so that’s what I did.
Tried a death wheel to begin with, ended up using a jigsaw, there’s probably a better way to cut straighter but we managed. Not a fun noise. We cut it just off center, with the idea of leaving the outside (IIRC??) taller. Not sure that was necessary. We ended up sanding the cut edges smoother, so we lost some material there.
I needed 2 sides about 115” long, I had a decent front and rear piece which I am thankful for.
I built a frame out of some larger rectangle tube do the drip edge to tack to, it could sit on sawhorses right side up but also upside down as the framework stuck out from the drip edge. Nice to work on and flip around, light and sturdy.
We built and test fit the drip edge to the rear top, across the second set of doors and front doors up to the windshield very early on in the build, braced it then tacked it to the frame to build it on. It sat for over a year and a half before fiberglass work started.

Anyway, drip edge pictures…
View attachment 4087146
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Click to expand...
Nice out of the box thinking 🧐
 
Awesome, thank you! In hindsight I did come across this thread when I first looked into this but these pictures help add some perspective. My main concern is how I’d handle the radius curves at the sides - I’d probably wind up re-using those sections too as much as I’d prefer to “up-armor” the whole roof against trees… The rest looks pretty straightforward out outcome is pretty clean! A troopy roof is a LOT of work with a jigsaw.
 
RWBeringer4x4 said:
Awesome, thank you! In hindsight I did come across this thread when I first looked into this but these pictures help add some perspective. My main concern is how I’d handle the radius curves at the sides - I’d probably wind up re-using those sections too as much as I’d prefer to “up-armor” the whole roof against trees… The rest looks pretty straightforward out outcome is pretty clean! A troopy roof is a LOT of work with a jigsaw.
Click to expand...
In thinking about how to do the corners and getting the whole thing up-armored, my JD Squared bender has dies to bend square (rectangle?) tube…at this point we’re probably not talking about getting two pieces out of one section anymore, but if you could bend some kind of rectangle tube in the needed curve then split it without it going crazy…makes me wonder what kind of demand there would be for stronger rain gutter…
The other alternative is to just make a bunch of pie cuts and weld it back.

I’ll look into the bender option and better ways to split the tube, I think there could be a lot of demand for rain gutter and this doesn’t have to be a real expensive thing like some of the other options seem to be.
 
Ditcherman said:
In thinking about how to do the corners and getting the whole thing up-armored, my JD Squared bender has dies to bend square (rectangle?) tube…at this point we’re probably not talking about getting two pieces out of one section anymore, but if you could bend some kind of rectangle tube in the needed curve then split it without it going crazy…makes me wonder what kind of demand there would be for stronger rain gutter…
The other alternative is to just make a bunch of pie cuts and weld it back.

I’ll look into the bender option and better ways to split the tube, I think there could be a lot of demand for rain gutter and this doesn’t have to be a real expensive thing like some of the other options seem to be.
Click to expand...

I lack to tooling to do it correctly, but I’m not building a show truck either… a grinder to cut the tube and pie cutting to a radius and welding it back up is the route I’d go. A porta-band could maybe do it with less drama but I think I’d still be challenged to keep it on track. It would be a non starter for Mass production but for a one-off on a wheeling rig it would probably work. Or I could…ya know… take the roof off and avoid the problem entirely…

From a production standpoint it might be easier to start from a wide bar stock or sheet in the gauge of choice, bending the “L” for the outer edges in some sort of beefy box brake and using a hydraulic sheet metal shear of some sort to cut the rail straight to a proper height. Then you’d radius bend the channel you’ve made in a bender of some sort.

Problem is the shear/brake I described is probably like $40,000. At that point just by an industrial metal stamper 😂.
 
I've never been around an RTI ramp but was curious about them and started looking into it, thinking it wouldn't take anything to whip one up. And then I realized I already had one, in the form of a single drop equipment trailer, and lo and behold, the ramps average out to about 17.5 degrees, with about a 48" deck height ultimately.
Using a RTI calculator, I got one front and then turned around and got one rear tire up a little under 40" with my 131" wheelbase truck. Calculator says a 997 score, which I think is good?
That's also with the rear TK1 sway bar attached, was planning on disconnecting it but after seeing what it did I didn't bother. Amazing sway bar.
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Full compression and extension on coilovers as fronts just touched the fenders on compression. Was thinking about putting larger tires on to find that sweet cruising rpm on the 12 valve, but now I'm thinking bump stops instead.
 
What was the limiting factor ?
When I have been on those before they were steeper and taller.
And you’re aloud to keep going tell you lift a tire
 
Broski said:
What was the limiting factor ?
When I have been on those before they were steeper and taller.
And you’re aloud to keep going tell you lift a tire
Click to expand...
I went until I lifted a tire. That also happened to be where two coilovers reached full compression and two full extension, and the front fender was making firm enough contact that my help wanted me to quit. Probably had a just few more inches to go before actual tire lift.
All that was my goal building it so I guess I'd rather be lucky than good is all I can say.

If I understand it correctly the calculator I used takes into account the ramp angle with everything else and gives a score consistent with a standard 20 degree ramp.

RTI (Ramp Travel Index) score calculator

RTI Ramp Travel Index, Calculator, and how to instructions for figuring your RTI score
worldoversea.com
 
I’m used to seeing the Gram shots with just a little light under the tire to show it’s lifting 😂
 
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