Oregano Crewpy

[RPskater]

Just bought a troopy earlier this month. I am very excited to do a restoration and conversion to this rig. It will end up with a satin finished oregano color, FJ40 top with a small bed in back and a total of 4 doors. Today is my first post and I hope to make it an enjoyable journey for those interested. However, this time around is not going to be a down to the frame type of restoration but I will be dealing with rust here and there.

 

[RPskater]

With a little photoshop, this is my inspiration.

The other two photos are beginning of the clean up.

 

[mjanderle]

Please don't cut that truck up.

 

[adistler1]

Please don't cut that truck up.

Seconded!

 

[D'Animal]

Although not exactly like yours, lumasas (Mr. Pilgram) has some very detailed threads on making crew cab Fj4x series. You may want to use those as a reference on where to put the additional cab supports and how to do the floor so it is a seamless transition from the front passenger compartment to the rear passenger compartment.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj45-owners-club/236898-crew-cab-45-toyotona.html

Good Luck with the transformation!

 

[rockcod]

Mine is Rustoleum Satin Oregano. I ended calling the rig "Oregano"

 

[zags]

Please don't cut that truck up.

Agreed!

 

[broth9640]

Buy a custom tub from Aqula and stretch an old 40 frame. Please don't cut up that clean looking Troopy. I know your project would be easier to just cut it, but its too nice! Perhaps do a quick resto and sell it for a profit to help fund the new 4 door project

 

[broth9640]

Here is a link to a nice build thread with a stretched Aqula tub and a streched 40 frame.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/182303-my-75-fj40-build-up-thread.html

 

[My71FJ40]

I understand the feelings of those shouting "Don't cut it up" but really, why toyota didn't make most all troppy's 4 doors is beyond me. Goodluck, I hope it ends up looking something like the Phantom

 

[RPskater]

I may do a compromise and just add 1 door. I think it would be a minimal cut. I am not touching the the Troopy top (only the FJ40 top) and I am not changing the floor height. It would just be a wheel well and a little sheet metal on the outside. For now I am just going to fix it up as a 2 door and enjoy it a little before that stage is started. This way I can take my time on the door and do it right without touching the rest of the rig. For now, I have my hands full just fixing this 2 door up.

I had a busy day dismantling and started fabbing a back wall. Man I love it when we have holiday time off.

 

[RPskater]

I love it when all these pieces from different Landcruisers come together. I have 3 different colors (4 with the back tailgate top).

 

[RPskater]

The holiday vacation is now over and working on the rig is now limited to after my day job in the dark at cold temps. A good coat solves all that. I added the rear lift gate to make sure the bottom wall works with it. Next, I started making rear top rails. These will be a 2 piece rails that will bolt on top of the side walls of the bed. I wanted to work on those so I can see what I need to do to clean up the rear corners. This is where the 2 parts meet.

The back wall has an outer sheet and an inner sheet. The outer sheet was welded to the frame and caulked (noise reduction). After the wall is bolted into place, I will caulk the inner sheet to the framing and not weld it. If I have to, I'll rivet it but not weld it.

 

[RPskater]

It started to rain a little this morning so I threw the top on so the dash wouldn't get all wet. I continued working on the rear bars that will be on top of the truck bed walls. It's probably not the best order of priority but I was drawn to do it.

 

[RPskater]

Haven't done a whole lot of sheet metal work, or at least the thin stuff. I made a bunch of cuts for this bend and had a lot of fill welding to do. Is this something you would bondo up or keep grinding and disk sand?

 

[RPskater]

Well, as they say, there is more than 1 way to do things. I decided to do the left hand rail completely out of flat sheet metal. It was way less grinding and weld filling and with a little 110V plasma cutter cutting the shapes took only minutes. Took a fraction of the time to make and looks better. I welded on the inside for the top so grinding the rounded edge would not grind the weld away. The bottom seem did not have to be as rounded. I'll post a finished photo when they are totally finished and mounted.

 

[RPskater]

There never seems to be enough time to get a lot done. I look forward to each weekend to get a decent 4+ hours straight effort on this rig. Yesterday, I found and purchased an old rusty set of barn doors from a salvage yard. The rust was so bad on the FJ40 they were taken off of that the bottom hinge was not even unscrewed from the body. It was simply pulled of with a hunk of sheet metal body hanging off of the hinge plate.

Today I started uncovering the rusty spots in the body. This is the part I am dreading. I have never done sheet metal body work before and don't want to make things worse. The inspiration from this website has given me the forward motion to go for it.

 

[RPskater]

THe bondo was deep but taken out. Some more rust at the top edge of the tub on the right side. Also a spot on the rear right. I would start on the left side until finishing the right.

After uncovering the rust spots on the right side of the vehicle. I decided to reward myself and patch up the front bumper. The top edge was previously cut away for a winch and some mounting holes were plugged. Welding up the think stuff is much easier than the thin stuff ahead.

 

[RPskater]

Bumper patched up nicely and ground down great. I forgot to take a picture of it all smoothed. I cut slices of a bolt to use as fill pieces for the holes I plugged.

 

[amaurer]

You're making great progress, looks good.

We should meet up at Boulder Creek Brewing Co sometime, I've always wanted to see one of these conversions.