The FJ Company - SEMA 2016 Build

[The FJ Company]

Hey ya'll, this is Cody.

SEMA 2016 is coming up next week and we're taking a very special build: The Aspen Project. In the next few days we're going to do a few posts leading up to the final reveal on Tuesday for the start of the event. If you're in Vegas and want to check it out live, let us know. We'll also have our 1978 FJ40 demo and our client's FJ45LV.

Back to The Aspen Project:

The theme for this build was "Classic meets modern". One of our founders wanted a purpose-built family-friendly beast, that could take on the rigors of everyday highway driving — and backcountry off-roading — in Colorado. He wanted an upgraded drivetrain, modern interiors, but the authenticity of a real Land Cruiser. On this one we took features and inspiration from the 1960's cruisers, 1970's, 1980's, and late 90's.

These were the specs:

- 1982 FJ43 body/chassis
- Toyota 1FZ engine / Haltech EFI
- Toyota 5-speed Manual
- Custom interior
- Custom dash (ash tray and dash pads delete)
- Custom roll cage (extra robust)
- Toyota wheels
- OME suspension
- Warn 8274 winch
- Sound system with some really cool features
- Retro steering wheel (70's)
- Borla stainless steel exhaust
- ARB Lockers
- PIAA fog lights
- RIGID headlights

These are the pre-resto shots:

We started with a solid donor. Minimal rust, fairly straight body and chassis:

The first step was panel re-fitting and we built the roll cage. We needed something extra robust per the build specs. The oversized fenders is something we played with at the beginning thinking of putting in 35's, but we scaled that back in the final build to keep the classic look of the 43.

Some of the components we used: ARB lockers, OME suspension, and Hi-Lift jack. We skipped the snorkel in the final build.

One of our favorite upgrades are the Recaro SPEED seats. They'll eventually get re-upholstered in marine-grade fabric.

And here's the chassis ready its make over...

Skipping straight into the 1FZ which got a full rebuild

.... and fitting it on the chassis.

Stay tuned for updates this week.

 

[NCFJ]

Pretty build

 

[The FJ Company]

Do you actively steer customers one way or another with regard to keeping a build stock or using Toyota parts? Certainly it would depend on the customer but your company is in a unique position to keep the Land Cruiser legend alive, per se. Do you feel any responsibility to do so?

More than responsibility, it's what we like to do. This build is a great example of that... It's a conversion, but it's a Toyota engine and specifically a Land Cruiser engine.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

This looks like it is going to be interesting.

 

[AZMoonshadow]

Looks great!! I'd love to see how the tranny tunnel works seeing how high parts of it are...

 

[Walkerm916]

Awesome build notes thus far. It sucks to be so close yet not be able to make it out to Vegas for SEMA.

 

[cult45]

That trans is MASSIVE. The 1FZ is longer than the F/2F?

 

[tls3601]

Interesting build-wondering if you guys will be auctioning anything this coming year at RM Auctions in Scottsdale??

 

[Disasterman]

Love to watch these builds. Looking forward to seeing the upholsterer work, it is always first rate, whether tops, seats or floor covering, those details make a huge difference in my eyes. It's cool to see the FJ40 legend maintained by tasteful Toyota dependent resto-mods and the "preserved" crowd - equally.

 

[Varty Yo]

This is gonna be a sweetheart!!!

 

[The FJ Company]

That trans is MASSIVE. The 1FZ is longer than the F/2F?

The overall length is definitely longer, don't have the specifics of 1fz vs f/2f by them selves.

Interesting build-wondering if you guys will be auctioning anything this coming year at RM Auctions in Scottsdale??

No plans for Scottsdale currently.

Love to watch these builds. Looking forward to seeing the upholsterer work, it is always first rate, whether tops, seats or floor covering, those details make a huge difference in my eyes. It's cool to see the FJ40 legend maintained by tasteful Toyota dependent resto-mods and the "preserved" crowd - equally.

I will make sure he gets this compliment, he does some great work and I agree, it makes a huge difference. Appreciate the kind words!

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

Watching with massive interest.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[The FJ Company]

You ask and you shall receive, here's a few more teasers....

On this build the sound system was an important part. We didn't want anything to take away from the classic look of this FJ43 but we still wanted it to provide that great sound most vintage cruisers lack.
We accomplished this with some creative fabrication and upholstery as well as high quality components that produced what we think is a perfect combination.

The toughest part is fitting a decent subwoofer into a 43 without compromising the looks or intruding into the passenger space. We were able to do this by recessing a box in the rear quarter panel, under the jump seats.

Notice the custom fabricated box in the passenger side rear quarter panel (top right corner). This provides enough space for the subwoofer to do it's job.

A clean door speaker install is key on all of our sound systems. This one is no exception, just wait till you see this panel installed....

For our head unit we chose to go with a compact Rockford Fosgate Digital Media unit that proved to be super simple but a perfect fit for our custom built center console. Makes changing songs on the fly super easy and doesn't take up much too much of the valuable storage space in the 43.

Also a small glimpse of the upholstery...

And for the guys who leave the radio off and the windows down, there's this....

That's all for now, more to come soon! SEMA is just around the corner, be sure to stop by booth 51315 if your in Vegas next week to see the final product.

 

[Jdc1]

Looks awesome as usual. What bed liner did you use for the floors? Is it topside and on the bottom and firewall? Thanks.

 

[White Stripe]

What's being used for low gearing? He's going to be slipping the clutch a lot without low gearing on Colorado trails. For such a nice build I would recommend custom leaf packs by Deaver, Alcan, etc, something that's tuned to the owners wants in a suspension rather than a off the shelf lift kit. Motor mounts look really nice. If your using the stock 40 series steering, it's very likely to interfere with bigger tires.

 

[The FJ Company]

Looks awesome as usual. What bed liner did you use for the floors? Is it topside and on the bottom and firewall? Thanks.

We use Rhinolining and yes its top of the floor, underneath side of body including firewall.

What's being used for low gearing? He's going to be slipping the clutch a lot without low gearing on Colorado trails. For such a nice build I would recommend custom leaf packs by Deaver, Alcan, etc, something that's tuned to the owners wants in a suspension rather than a off the shelf lift kit. Motor mounts look really nice. If your using the stock 40 series steering, it's very likely to interfere with bigger tires.

Nothing too crazy for low gearing, factory 80 (manual shift) case, diff gear ratio is 3.73 although 4.11s are being considered. We are very happy with our OME Suspension and with the longer 43 wheelbase they ride even better. We are using stock 40 steering, with upgraded power steering box of course, but with tall skinny 33's we haven't had any issues with rubbing, unless getting into the really gnarly stuff.

 

[White Stripe]

We use Rhinolining and yes its top of the floor, underneath side of body including firewall.



Nothing too crazy for low gearing, factory 80 (manual shift) case, diff gear ratio is 3.73 although 4.11s are being considered. We are very happy with our OME Suspension and with the longer 43 wheelbase they ride even better. We are using stock 40 steering, with upgraded power steering box of course, but with tall skinny 33's we haven't had any issues with rubbing, unless getting into the really gnarly stuff.

Oh OK, in the pic is looked like u had some wide nitto tires not skinnies. The difference between 3.70s and 4.11s offroad is nill. Why not put a 4:1 tcase in?

 

[The FJ Company]

Yes true, we had some wide 35's on the truck to start, along with some high clearance fenders you can see in the second pic. We toned this back a little and went with a 33x10.50 on factory steelies for a more classic looking truck.

4:1 gears would be a great addition but we just didn't see the need at this point and time.

 

[tls3601]

Looking super, a PO on my rig cut holes in my door liner for speakers where you are putting them on the 43, what have you used to cover the holes if I may ask?

 

[The FJ Company]

We are using a metal mesh material used for speaker grilles, it takes some careful hands to form it just right but as always our upholstery team really goes that extra step to make it fit perfect.