The Fishing Truck (HJ47/FJ80 Hybrid) (1 Viewer)

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Nov 7, 2008
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Location
Brisbane
So one day my father said, "How hard would it be to put that ute tub you have on an 80 chassis", and so began what has been dubbed the "Fishing Truck". After going back and forwards about what he wanted and what it was for he settled on:

  • HJ47 troopy body
  • FJ80 chassis and running gear with 5.7L LS1 , 4l60E, stock part time transfer case;
  • Modern conveniences ( sat nav, A/C, comfy seats, etc).
This is what we started with. An early base model carby 3F 80 series. It had recently had the front end gone through and had been a country car for most of its life.

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We contacted a local guy Paul Read who runs Mr Landcruiser (MrLandcruiser - Automotive Parts Sepcialist), he basically parts 40 series and the odd 60, usually cars that are past the point of salvation and often stalled projects, in regards to body tub.
We swapped the carby 3F and 5 speed for the body tub, front panel and some guards I think. I think the 3f was destined for Africa... Below is the new tub sitting on the 80 frame.
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During the course of researching this, we met Billy McKinnon. Billy has a couple of 40/80 series builds on mud, this being his most recent:
Fj80 Troopy build Aus
After talking to Billy and agreeing on a plan, we let him loose with the pipe bender and mig. Things got a bit carried away, the plans changed, and well this is where we're at.
For thise wondering about the cage design, it doesn't come forward to the front seat because of government legislation regarding modifying vehicles, there's ways around it, but not worth the hassle given what this will be used for.

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Its next stop is Rough 2 Tough Cruisers for body work, widened front guards and some rust work:
https://www.rough2toughcruisers.com/

Thanks
 
During the course of proceedings we found a fibreglass top that was an aftermarket option back in the day.
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It had a few extra holes and some crazing of the gel coat in a few places, a couple of cracks etc.
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And after restoration. PLan is to use this for long trips and maybe cooler climes. Also took the pressure off to find/make the full soft top bows.
 
Nice!

How heavy is that hardtop and how difficult is it to install over the full cage?
 
Nice!

How heavy is that hardtop and how difficult is it to install over the full cage?
Hard top can be picked up by 4 people, but we will use a gantry crane to lower it in place.

few other details.

60 series column and controls. Aim is to clean up the centre of the dash, which will allow for double din head unit with GPS and to free up some room under the dash for the Vintage air and associated duct work. A Dakota Digital dash unit will also help monitor vitals. The column was shortened and re-splined by a local engineering firm. There's a universal to connect the 60 column to 80 steering box.
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We decided that we hadn't seen to many neat ways to remove the gap between the lower edge of the front panel and the chassis. So we decided to obscure it slightly and change the focus in that area by installing a Warn 8274 into a custom bumper that resembled a stock one. When I say we, I mean Billy did all the hard work.
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Some more of that hard work was the sliders and rear guard extensions. The front edge of the rear guard has been opened up by 100mm or so and the rear guards are 150mm wide from memory. Front seats are BMW 1 series convertible and rear is a van spec seat that has built in seat belts and baby capsule restraints.
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So its been slow going on the Fishing Truck, my 45 has needed some work and the engineer requested a couple of thing to be revised in order to make the car completely legal.

One hurdle we've crossed is the radiator mount. Radiator and side mounts are for a VDJ76 from memory. We will add some more bracing for the different coolers later on.
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We ( and by that I mean Billy) also revised the engine mounts. These raised the LS a little bit which gave us more clearance to the front diff that the Engineer was looking for.
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This however required a new transfer case cross member. Its a laser cut item that Billy (McKinnon’s Cruisers) is looking to put into production. This eliminates the clash we had between the front drive shaft and the 4L60e oil pan.
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There was a few other minor things as well, but that brings it up to date more or less. All going to plan it will go off for body work and paint in mid January.
 

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