My 75 FJ40 build up thread (3 Viewers)

[kcustom73]

minor update

Well I got the the stretch on the hardtop sides done and the doors have been fitted and all I've got to do is finish welding the bottom of the doors and grind.

A buddy and I got the 2 hardtops out of storage last night and cut them up to fit on the stretched sides. Now I need clean off the glue from the inside, give the outside a quick pass with the orbital sander, seperate the steel from the fiberglass, weld up the steel frame, make sure the frame lines up with the sides, reattach the fiberglass to the frame, join the 2 fiberglass pieces and refinish the entire thing... sounds easy

Here are a few pics of the first fitting of the roof.

 

[NorthFJ]

WOW!

Man the project is really shaping up......I read above that some of the windshields you got didn't workout for you.....I hope the one you got off me and my wife wasn't one of them. Otherwise we would have taken it back off your hands. So sorry if it was!
Looks really great, my hats off to you, I haven't been able to get much work done on mine other than some much needed tlc.
Keep it up!

Brent

 

[kling-on]

man that is sick lookin

 

[Slowerthanu]

Looks great. I love my Aqualu tub but I hate not being able to weld aluminum.

 

[kcustom73]

Thank you for the words of encouragement. This is the big year to finish the 40. Stay tuned for some updates to the roof, wheels and maybe the roll cage

 

[Ambrew]

Nice stuff. I'm in Ottawa as well, building my bj42. Keep up the good work!

 

[Chamba]

I am really enjoying this thread. I have been really keen to see a longer Aqualu tub installed.

Cheers,

Josh

 

[kcustom73]

update

Axles and wheels are back on and the roof is almost completly fiberglassed.

 

[lancruzah]

update

that looks great,any new progress pics?

 

[broth9640]

I love this build! I read the first few posts and was like " this dude is screwed !" You have inspired me! I want a stretch now.

 

[thecrazygreek]

Nice work!

I will be getting the 18" stretched version so I am very interested in this build.

Can you provide more info on how you mounted it to the frame? Alignment etc...

 

[Hoz FJ40 CO]

Very cool rig. You've got skillz man. Nice addition with the BFG's and factory steelies.

 

[kcustom73]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Progress has slowed down a bit this month because of holidays and basement reno's but I'm back on it this week. Should have more pics soon.

Hoz
The skills are learn as I go. I'm a mechanical designer by trade but there's a huge difference between being able to think it up and making it reel. This is my first resto of any kind but thanks to a lot of help from the people on this site it been a fun learning experience.

Crazygreek
Take a look at post 28 of this thread for my body mounts.

Before I mounted the body I made sure the frame was good by comparing the dimension of the frame to the dimension in the FSM. Also made sure the frame was nice and level front to back and side to side.

Then I mounted the front cowl, fenders, bib... on the front and made sure everything lined up and was square to the chassis. Then I dropped the Aqualu tub on frame and made sure everything was sqaure to the cowl and the frame and then built the body mounts.

Explained this way it sounds real simple, but this must of taken over a year to do (a couple of hours at night after the little one is in bed and some weekends) .

Most of the work I've done by myself on this project (except the frame) so it take a lot longer then if I had a ton of help. Sure is fun do...

 

[cruiserjunkie]

wow is all can say

 

[kcustom73]

Small update

I've finally had the time to update this post a little. The sheet metal work is finally done. The doors are all repaired, the roof is just missing it final coat of bondo to finish smoothing it out and the rear hatch is installed minus the shocks.

I finally ordered my front seats (Corbeau Baja RS) and should start building the base for the rear seats this week. The role cage is supposed to get started at the end of the month. Happy to have things finally really moving.

Here are a few pics of what 40 looks like now...

 

[NorthFJ]

WOW!
Absolutely amazing work.....

 

[1973barnfind]

Cool! looks like a troopy

 

[kcustom73]

Wanted more room to carry the family but didn't want the rear overhang of a troopy.

 

[broth9640]

Update please!

 

[kcustom73]

broth, it slowly progressing these days. Almost done the reno's in the basement (recovering from a spring flood), so I'll have more time to work on the 40. However I'm almost done all the fabrication of the front and rear seat mounts and I'm almost done messaging the Aqualu tranny hump to make it fit the original firewall. Still waiting on my rollcage guy. Pics to follow soon.