Builds Hygge's Sawdust FJ62 (1 Viewer)

[hygge]

I love the color you went with. I've thought if I ever paint mine, I'd go with Cavalry Blue. That engine is going to be bada$$! How long have you live in Bozeman, I thought you were in CA at the beginning of the thread? If you ever make it out to Coeur D Alene after all this covid crap is over hit me up, we can go for a cruise.

Cheers to all the hard and rewarding work so far!!

Thanks @Borrego - been out here since late September. Yeah the Blue is technically a metallic light blue that Toyota offered on the FJ60 in mid-80s. It was not available for the FJ62. But my wife loved it and my body shop/painter was able to color match it based on an old Toyota Paint book.

Would love to sync up and hang. That would be awesome. I have some close friends in Spokane and will be heading your way soon enough with family in tow.

 

[hygge]

Further updates... the rust has been consumed, dissipated what-have-you to the best degree possible.

 

[hygge]

And post primer - things are setting. Paint should be done in the next week or so I hope.

 

[hygge]

Decided to go with Bestop Trailmax Pro II Seats for the front. Having called up ICON and asking if they sold seats, I found out that these Bestop seats are what they reupholster in their $200k builds. These are getting the royal treatment by myself and my local upholster.

I"ll be adding in the seat ventilators/heaters from @FJ60Cam as well as getting the front and rear seats re-upholstered in grey leather. Front seats will be perforated for air.

I still need to build seat adapters to mount them to the stock mounting brackets, but from an earlier thread I saw that its basically a flat steel bar with a few holes in it, so rock-on I guess.

 

[hygge]

For the sound system, I went back and forth with what would be the best option. In this case it seems for me the Pioneer 4500 NEX would be a good option. The main call-out is that this is wireless carplay and android auto ( I have an android and my wife as an iphone).

I added a reverse camera, because with all the other cool stuff, I am doing it would be weird not to, right?

 

[hygge]

Since the LS Swap is going to give me some speed and with larger tires, it made sense to update the gauges.

For this, I decided to add in Speedhut Gauges and went with the retro look thank you again to @FJ60Cam !

For mounting, I bought the @TRAIL TAILOR speedhut gauge mount kit.

 

[hygge]

For the console selection, it made sense to get something beefy, safe and built with possibilities in mind. As I am adding an ARB rear locker, on-board air and heated seats, I wanted something that could accommodate multiple options.

Decided to buy the Land Cruiser Security Console. It arrived really quickly and is really heavy. I'll be getting the arm rest re-upholstered to match the seats.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Very cool build!

 

[hygge]

Very cool build!

Many thanks for helping to make it so cool! Its vendors like yourself that make these builds special.

 

[hygge]

Today I got my early registration in for 2021 Cruise Moab ! Super excited. Hope everything with the build is done or substantially done to the degree that my family can safely drive out to Utah in the next 47 days. Who else is going to be there?

 

[hygge]

The paint is drying and I am super excited for the doors, tailgate and fenders to get reunited with my rig. I think the color looks awesome.

 

[hygge]

Tore up the rear bench since I knew there was some nasty rust hanging out in there. Not happy with what I found, but since I am going so hardcore on the rest of the build it made sense to get these cleaned up - they will be upholstered in leather, so I'd rather not have to revisit these seats again for another 20+ years.

 

[hygge]

Headed over to Overland Cruisers today, since I was in the neighborhood. Got a sneak peek at the progress and I am so delighted and eager to see this truck after the swap is complete.

C-Channel rust repair looks amazing.

The massive 34" BFG's make it look like a monster truck.

The OME Lift looks beautiful.

Now the LS3 with the 6L80 is a beauty to behold. Hard to imagine what the truck will sound like once it is finally installed. We are setback with the install right now because Advanced Adapters has our part on backorder. I really hope it get manufactured really soon so we can finish the build.

Its just one component of this massive project - but its keeping the engine swap from happening. Goodbye 3FE you were awesome.

 

[hygge]

Making slow progress on the Seat Cooler/Heater installation. I have the seats stripped down and been trying to find time here and there to cut holes for the duct work. I am hoping to have this finished up with wiring harness firmly attached and ready for the upholster by end of this week.

Like everything else with this pandemic, my leather for the seats has not yet arrived. So better to take the extra allotted time and get this build done right.

 

[hygge]

Rear ARB Locker is getting prepped for installation. We are still waiting on the front locker, but that should be coming soon along with RCV axle/birfield upgrade. With these beefy tires and the added torque from the LS3 6.2, I don't want to have my a grenade explode in my axle.

 

[hygge]

It wouldn't be a project without ample baggies filled with bolts, grommets, screws and other odds and ends. Once the truck is back from the shop, I can start re-applying all of these.

 

[hygge]

Might as well give some updates. Life has been too busy for me to dedicate much time to give daily or weekly or I guess even monthly updates.

Worked through the installation of the heating/cooling system for the front seats. This was not so thrilling, but I was able to watch a few movies while doing it, so that's cool.

You need to cut holes in your seat foam. But the hardest part is actually taking 1/2" of foam off the seat so that the seat pad is level with the top of the seat. Taking a razor, a chisel and a dual-action sander got the job done. Apparently you could use a router - but I didn't really feel like getting the router out since its so huge.

I figured out that the original OEM seat rails will fit in the holes that the Bestop Seats have - but it requires slight manipulation of the holes to make them align.

 

[hygge]

Next up was getting the bench seat ready to go. This meant getting all of the old rust off (which was more than just surface rust).

Lots of sanding, grinding.

I did some POR-15 Metal Prep to etch the metal. This was followed by two coats of POR-15. I think the rust should be good!!

I've sent both the Bestop Seats and the Rear Bench to my local upholstery shop. Excited to see how these turn out.

One note, I had to get the headrest holes to be graphite so that its not brown - as part of my interior color swap.

Either I am way too crazy about the details or I guess I could just not do any of this stuff and just say "yeah whatever its 32 years old and its rusty". Can't really decide.

 

[hygge]

Through a combination of new lenses and grommets from Toyota (which you can still buy), City Racer - which sells the lens gaskets - you can update your taillights and bring them back to 2021 glory.

 

[hygge]

We went to Cruiser Moab back in April and had a blast. I was lucky enough to ALSO make a pilgrimage to the Land Cruiser Museum in Salt Lake City. A must for any enthusiast.