Hi all,
Starting to do a 4 door troopy type of thing. Aquala call them quad cab, so I will call it the same. I like the look of their one so heading towards that look, but being in Australia it's price prohibitive to ship that body here otherwise I would.
Started off with a 1984 FJ45 ute in good condition. As I have a few other 40's here I will be sourcing parts from them as well but using the chassis of the 45.
The front will be the ute part as the footwells are in good condition and the rear part will be made from whatever has the best metal or requires the least amount to be cut out. I will be using the 3 wiper screen from the BJ42LX as I have a few 3 wiper screens now and they work a bit better than the 2 wiper screens I've had in the past.
I will probably be adding 200mm (8") into the chassis to allow the rear doors to look 1/2 decent as I'm not too much of a fan of cutting into them too much. The rear doors will be about 3/4's the size of the front ones as it looks better for proportions. I will be using the LX panels I have to finish off the interior at the back with ambulance doors at the rear.
I will be putting a 1HD-FT in the car, from a 96ísh 80 series and running through a 5 speed manual box. That will go to an 80 series rear axle and I will be using a Nissan Patrol GU front axle up there. I have the brackets from a Patrol chassis that I cut up and I also have an 80 series rolling chassis here to grab bits from as well. I will be welding into the rear of the chassis the rear suspension sub frame from an 80 series. This may require some chassis widening but will tackle that when I get to that area.
It will have a hard top, as being in Melbourne you get a fair bit of rain so I will cut down the roof to suit. Being 6ft 4"I sit about 950mm from the dash pad at the front, so there will be some sheet metal between the doors and I plan to leave the petrol (gas) tank filler in that location and also run another tank under the rear as well. I hope to seat 5 in there but also have some fold forward seats from a Nissan Patrol that I might be able to squeeze in between the rear wheel arches, well see but not necessary. ( I have 5 kids so it would be a good camping vehicle).
Hope to be running 35" tyres on there as well and cover them with suitable guards/sliders. Here in Australia we get hammered for any part of the wheel being outside the body of the car and huge tyres. It's a real pain but we have to live with it and move around it where possible!!.
This is some action from my other 40. A LS1 powered, twin locked thing that goes well.
It will probably be a 2 year project as I am no sheet metal worker but can weld stuff together and I figure grind off the bits I don't need or cut it and start again!. Major welding will be done by someone who knows what they are doing as you don't want your suspension bits falling off!.
This is my ute, with dog, photo.
This is my yellow LS1 powered 40 (sitting on 33's, usually have 35" ET2's there) and my 464 beige 1984 FJ40LX.
Here is my other donor vehicles, both 1982, one a BJ42 and the other an FJ40 (with black bonnet(hood)) the next chassis number to my yellow one. (A pure fluke that as I purchased it sight unseen with the aim to part it out)
The BJ42LX
The sort of look I'm going for, except will be troopy style rather than dual cab ute.
Anyway, enough for now, I had better spend some time with my 3yr old.
Starting to do a 4 door troopy type of thing. Aquala call them quad cab, so I will call it the same. I like the look of their one so heading towards that look, but being in Australia it's price prohibitive to ship that body here otherwise I would.
Started off with a 1984 FJ45 ute in good condition. As I have a few other 40's here I will be sourcing parts from them as well but using the chassis of the 45.
The front will be the ute part as the footwells are in good condition and the rear part will be made from whatever has the best metal or requires the least amount to be cut out. I will be using the 3 wiper screen from the BJ42LX as I have a few 3 wiper screens now and they work a bit better than the 2 wiper screens I've had in the past.
I will probably be adding 200mm (8") into the chassis to allow the rear doors to look 1/2 decent as I'm not too much of a fan of cutting into them too much. The rear doors will be about 3/4's the size of the front ones as it looks better for proportions. I will be using the LX panels I have to finish off the interior at the back with ambulance doors at the rear.
I will be putting a 1HD-FT in the car, from a 96ísh 80 series and running through a 5 speed manual box. That will go to an 80 series rear axle and I will be using a Nissan Patrol GU front axle up there. I have the brackets from a Patrol chassis that I cut up and I also have an 80 series rolling chassis here to grab bits from as well. I will be welding into the rear of the chassis the rear suspension sub frame from an 80 series. This may require some chassis widening but will tackle that when I get to that area.
It will have a hard top, as being in Melbourne you get a fair bit of rain so I will cut down the roof to suit. Being 6ft 4"I sit about 950mm from the dash pad at the front, so there will be some sheet metal between the doors and I plan to leave the petrol (gas) tank filler in that location and also run another tank under the rear as well. I hope to seat 5 in there but also have some fold forward seats from a Nissan Patrol that I might be able to squeeze in between the rear wheel arches, well see but not necessary. ( I have 5 kids so it would be a good camping vehicle).
Hope to be running 35" tyres on there as well and cover them with suitable guards/sliders. Here in Australia we get hammered for any part of the wheel being outside the body of the car and huge tyres. It's a real pain but we have to live with it and move around it where possible!!.
This is some action from my other 40. A LS1 powered, twin locked thing that goes well.
It will probably be a 2 year project as I am no sheet metal worker but can weld stuff together and I figure grind off the bits I don't need or cut it and start again!. Major welding will be done by someone who knows what they are doing as you don't want your suspension bits falling off!.
This is my ute, with dog, photo.
This is my yellow LS1 powered 40 (sitting on 33's, usually have 35" ET2's there) and my 464 beige 1984 FJ40LX.
Here is my other donor vehicles, both 1982, one a BJ42 and the other an FJ40 (with black bonnet(hood)) the next chassis number to my yellow one. (A pure fluke that as I purchased it sight unseen with the aim to part it out)
The BJ42LX
The sort of look I'm going for, except will be troopy style rather than dual cab ute.
Anyway, enough for now, I had better spend some time with my 3yr old.