"Last Minute" FJ40 build

[mudtoy67]

Well, I've actually been working on it more than twice in six months, so I thought I'd stop lurking and share my buildup.

First a little history:

I bought this thing in 2000 and it was a little rough. Already had a sbc adapted to a floor shift 3spd and tcase, but didn't run. Tcase was cracked and trans was full of water, hard top was there but disassembled, but the body was all there so I managed to scrape up a grand and hauled it home.

I let it sit for a while, then about 3 weeks before spring break of '01 I decided I wanted to build this thing and take it on a trip. Being the procrastinator that I am, a friend and I ended up spending 4 days straight with only a couple hours sleep each day to get it going, and I left the final night about 3am for Las Cruces, NM. With a little extra help from some other friends, it made the trip, and was named the "Last Minute" FJ.

At this point it was running a 307sbc, TH350, NP205 and was sprung over on a '76 front axle and the stock rear w/ a lock-rite.

 

[mudtoy67]

After making a few trips with it I ended up nose down in a mudhole in Alto, Tx....this took care of the 307 for me. Luckily a friend hooked me up with the TBI 305 out of his 93 Camaro. New engine and some fresh rattle can work and the FJ was ready for some more trips. A crappy driveline angle going from the 205 to the stock FJ rear axle ruined my rear driveshaft, so I swapped in a Dana 44 from a CJ (I know, forever tainted by Jeep parts ). Below are some pics from a comp course I ran in Katemcy with Texas A&M Off Road.

This was the last trip it made. At this point, the stock steering had enough, and I almost didn't make it back to camp after the death wobble sent me towards trees a few times. Also at this time, I went back to school, and didn't have any money to work on it. I did work here and there, removing the old steering, selling the trans and tcase, and other stuff.

I finally got back to work on it last year. At this point I decided that the kluge job my friends and I had done years ago was not making me happy anymore. So I proceeded to strip it down so I can start from scratch. Here's a little bit of the kluge work I did myself on the cage...

 

[mudtoy67]

Here's it's current state:

I actually just finished removing the axles and tearing them down. I'm gonna start from the bottom and work my way up.

Current plans are:
Build Isuzu Dana 44, lincoln locked, 4.56 gears
76 FJ front axle, lock-rite, swap to mini knuckles, high steer
sbc 305TBI
TH350/NP231 crawlbox/ Dana 300 twin sticked
stay with SOA suspension on stock front springs, FJ60 rear springs
~105" or so wheelbase
Scout power steering
build new cage, wiring harness, etc

For the body I'm going to shorten it to a half cab. I've got an RCI fuel cell that is just wide enough to fit behind the seats with what would end up a slightly long half cab (the floor would end where it ramps up after the rear heater mount). I'm going to narrow the rear frame after the cab and use Chevy LUV or early Toyota truck bedsides to give it a pseudo FJ45 look.

 

[mudtoy67]

I got the axles torn down this weekend. The rear was already only partially assembled, because I had previously thought I could swap my 4.56 gears over with no problem, but found the Isuzu axle is slightly different so I just threw it together to roll around on. After tearing it down this weekend I've found it's not too different....main difference is the Isuzu uses a thick ring gear for its 4.10 ratio. This is so they can use a 3.73 and down carrier with a tone ring for abs on the driver's side of the carrier. I'm going to see if I can come up with some way to keep the abs ring without having to buy thick 4.56 gears...I'm told my TBI engine will lose some of its "quirks" if it has a speed signal to listen to.

here you can see the difference in the two carriers: 4.56 gears on 3.92-up carrier, 3.73-down carrier with abs ring

Here's my axles torn down. I was worried about the front axle, the knuckle wipers/seals were worn out before I got the axle, and since then it had been on a few trips down the Llano river. Smart thing I did was to repack the birfields with marine grease after installing the gears. This kept the grease nice and sticky even though some water was present.

 

[mudtoy67]

Finished the cut and turn last weekend...except for re-welding the knuckles. The pinion angle was set whenever the axle was converted to SOA, so all I have to worry about is the caster angle. Aside from the sloppy steering linkages, the positive caster angle was contributing to some major death wobble.

It's not really going to see too much street time, so I didn't get too picky with the caster angle and did everything on the bench. I started by grinding off all the crap in the way. Removed the steering stops, shock mounts, and brake line tabs. I then ground the old knuckle weld smooth, then ground a groove in the tube just on the differential side of the weld.

I figured my spring perches should be pretty close to level when the axle is installed, so I set my perches to zero.

From what I've seen, most people have been aiming for 4-6 degrees negative caster. I ended up with about 4.5 degrees.

You can see below the difference between the original angle and the new angle. I also made a mark near the cut to show how far it was turned.

My grooves are a bit larger than some others, but I felt this way I could get plenty of penetration. I figure once I have it welded up and install some knuckle gussets it should be plenty strong.

 

[jfz80]

lookin good man, love to see the progression, and looks like version 3.0 will be the best yet. keep buildin!

 

[hellbent40]

just wanted to comment on the groove u put in between the axle and knuckle....

you should of beveled it at a slope and left a gap in the center.... the included angle should be between 60 degrees to 75 degrees... so each side should be beveled 30 to 37.5 degrees...

basically the same way a pressure weld is done with a root pass and then a hot pass then the fill and cap...

just i have done pressure welds and that is the correct procedure for welding pipe...

 

[mudtoy67]

Got the knuckles welded up this morning. Made a root pass along the inside edge of the groove, then filled the outer edge. Used a friend's 180amp Hobart...made a much better weld than my little 130A.

 

[mudtoy67]

It's been a little while, but finally getting back to work on this thing (I've been helping my wife get prepared for our first baby)

Thanks to some friends who came over sunday we put the body back on the frame. I built some sawhorses to put the frame on, then we set the body down. I'm going to chop the rear and make a pickup cab. Also planning on cleaning up the firewall...will probably have to do a little floorboard work as well.

This is the section I'm planning on removing

The tailgates should line up about with the top of the step in the rear floorboard. Just in front of that I plan on recessing the fuel cell into the floor. Not sure what I am going to do with the floor. I've had some thoughts about trying to drill the spot welds out and sell the sheet metal to someone...but it's probably not worth the time.

 

[mudtoy67]

After shortening the cab, I'm going to build a pickup bed for it. I'm trying to get a look similar to the FJ45 pickup. I picked up a pair of Chevy LUV bedsides last night. They have a better profile that more closely resembles the FJ45 bed than the early toyota pickup beds. I'll have to shorten them on either side of the wheelwell and probably take 2-3 inches off the bottom.

 

[kling-on]

WOW thats look like nice tube to cut up ..... keep the pics comin I want to see this

 

[mudtoy67]

Got the bed cut out tonight. First welded in some braces to keep the body from getting out of whack once I cut the sides. Then cut the bed out...I really gotta get a recipricating saw, it took me 4 4.5" grinder cut-off wheels, 2 die grinder cut-offs, and 1 jig saw blade.

 

[mudtoy67]

so....lots of chopping today

Turns out the rear of the cruiser is bolted on to the back of the door frame. This made it pretty easy to remove as the only weld I had to remove was at the top rail. This is the plan I had originally...

the idea was to mount the tank directly behind the main beam of the cab then enclose it with the rear of the tub. After mocking up the 105" wheelbase, I found that this would have most likely resulted in the rear of the tub coming into contact with the tire on full stuff...you can see the rear of the tank is already behind the front of the 33" tire (and I'm going w/ 36's). So now what I'll have is the cab will end just behind the seats and the tank will be in the front of the bed.

I did a bunch of measuring on the seats been using, and determined how much cab I needed to be able to clear seats mounted in a similar location. So here it is mocked up.

I still have some cleaning up to do where the rear of the tub meets the door frame, and I'll tack it in place till it's cage time. I'll also need to make a fill panel where the doors were, finish out the floorboard, and make a fill panel to transition the bottom of the rocker panel to meet the bottom of the rear corners.

 

[mudtoy67]

Another thing I came across while mocking up the wheelbase...I shouldn't need to extend the frame any to make the suspension work for 105". Probably just build the rear shackle hanger off the back of the bumper (I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I know I've seen a dozen other FJs on here running 105 w/o a bunch of work). I'm going to continue to use the stock springs, the fronts will be in stock location but 180'd for about 3" extra wheelbase in front, then the rears will be 180'd as well and relocated rearward.

 

[mudtoy67]

Noticed this while doing some measurements on the frame....gonna have to do a little swiss cheese repair.

 

[mudtoy67]

Got the rear frame cleaned up. I've realized I hate freakin' rivets...Toyota riveted the hell out of this thing. I also had to grind off a bunch of turd weld I had done back in the day.

After I finished cleaning it up I used a flap disk and removed the rust/gunk from the area of the frame where the bend will be. Then I did a lot of measuring and marked a line about 1" in front of the rearmost body mount. After marking both sides, top and bottom of the rails, and making double sure everything was square, I used a cutoff wheel to "scribe" a line on the frame rail. My thinking on this was this would give the frame a little incentive to bend right there, and if I had to heat the frame the mark wouldn't be burned off. I also welded in some bracing to keep the frame square once the last crossmember is cut out.

Got the frame rails straightened tonight. I cut a groove in the top and bottom of each rail, then used a ratchet strap to pull the rails together. I was surprised to find the rails are very easy to bend...i didn't have to heat them at all (aside from the heat from cutting the top and bottom). The rails come out to be 31-3/4" from inside to inside, which is about an inch wider than my fuel cell. Soon as I find some rear bumper material I'll weld the bumper on and weld the grooves in the frame rails. Will probably add some reinforcing plating at the bend as well.


before

after

 

[camcruiser13]

nice work. love the minicab idea

 

[mudtoy67]

The crossmember that I removed was a tube that went through the two brackets on the frame. So I removed what was left of the tube where it was welded, cleaned up the holes, and slipped the crossmember back in to the brackets. I'll weld this in at the same time I tack the bumper in place. I also flipped it around, since with the new wheelbase the upper shock mounts are in the right place to mount the lower shock mounts on the front of the axle. I probably won't use the stock upper mounts though, I'll put some new mounts in the center of the crossmember.

Let the obligatory mock-ups begin...

This is the spring at 105" center pin to pin. I used a high tech spring mock-up system to hang the spring in its approximate position.

Here's where the fuel cell will be. I'll have to wait till I get a drivetrain in to see how high it will need to be for driveshaft clearance. I want to keep it as low as possible for COG and so that I can run a regular filler neck on the cell.

 

[mudtoy67]

Here's a little bed mock-up. I threw the LUV bedside up to see if I could get an idea what it would look like...but it's about 41" too long. From the back of the cab to the back of the bumper is about 36.5".

I through the sides of the FJ body I cut out just for fun. This gives a little better idea of how it may look.

 

[mudtoy67]

Got LUV?

Tacked the two ends of the bed together. My thought was to try without the wheel well first, then if I still want it I can add it in there.

I'm not sure about if the wheel well will look better or not. If I put the wheel well in I'll have to put in a fill panel behind it anyway to cover the frame. I chopped a wheel well onto one of the pics just for grins...