Builds The Mountain Goat - An FJ140/2UZ-FE/Ute Build

[Well Sorted]

Agreed with White Stripe, fun idea seems like a lot of work to create a less capable truck. I guess it’s a cool show truck, I just see too many holes in the design to make sense. It will look cool on the internet

I understand your views Matt (and White Stripe), but don't necessarily agree with all of them. Departure angle is a factor in this build but not the only one. This isn't a rock crawler, I'll build on another platform for that duty. I'm not wedded to the existing 80 frame rails behind the coil buckets so they may well get cut off and replaced with a better structure for box mounting. I'm not trying to build a huge box to carry my life's possessions, just a useful storage system that flexes for different uses (camping, trail maintenance, maybe rescue/recovery) that I can throw any kind of dirty or stinky gear in and not worry about. As for the weight of the box and height - I'm planning to build it from aluminum which will help mitigate the weight. And thinking of CG and placement - I'd much rather have the weight there than on the roof (tents, loaded racks, etc).

You can certainly argue that it's all sort of a silly project, everyone's entitled to their opinion. Obviously a much simpler solution is to buy a double cab pickup and do a system in the bed. Personally, I like to challenge myself to do new and different things and this fits that bill in a number of ways so I'm doing it whether or not it makes sense on the internet.

2UZ comments - a debatable choice for sure because they're not power-monsters. An LS would be an easier choice and has plenty of power to move the thing. This goes to other motives though in that I want to get some experience with the engine in case of other swap opportunities. I've looked at the Bullet and TRD supercharger kits for them to get the power back up. I'd have to build a solid bottom end for it, but it would certainly help the power output at altitude. That's on the nice-to-have list though, so we'll see what time and money allows for.

Where does your dog sit?

She likes to chill in the back seat. I'll probably make it easily removable too just in case I want to build a little platform for her and/or mount a 12V fridge back there.

 

[REZARF]

Subbed.

 

[Well Sorted]

Saturday we had blue skies and perfect weather, 60 degrees and sunny. Time to get the 80 frame cleaned up...

Sunday (today) the weather changed a bit... high of 40 and snowing all day. Cruiser-cicles abound....

Interesting note - the rig on the right has a Tough Dog Heavy kit with a 1" body lift. The rig on the left (pre-Goat transformation) has an OME Dakar kit. Full stinkbug on the red truck, the nose is easily 2" below the blue one.

 

[Tapage]

I'm in .. and eyes on the 2UZ - ECU - H55F part ...

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

D,

I'm doing this for my Dingo build. I went back and forth on extending the frame, plugging the wheel well with a storage box etc.. Cutting the frame still looks to be evident to me though to get my 37s where I want them. My intended uses sound a bit the same as yours.

I got to speak with quite a few guys in AUS last year about the pros and cons of extending vs stock length frames and short and long boxes. Pretty much the guys with long boxes said they were extremely limited in where they could go (extended frames and extra weight bellied up quick in sand and high centered on rocks and other obstacles) They all liked the on road ride, longer wheelbase was much smoother. But at the end of the day most wished they'd stayed shorter. Limits the amount of crap they could take, which all said they carried too much regardless of box size. Difference for us is a 1-2 week trip vs. up to months at a time.

I got to see a bobbed 80 series with custom box in person that I found in a magazine and it sold me on staying short when all ideas were kicked around. The guy and his family (with dog) use the rig daily for work and play with an inline 6 petrol.

Keep rolling brother! As you know, it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks as long as you like it.

J

 

[Well Sorted]

D,

I'm doing this for my Dingo build. I went back and forth on extending the frame, plugging the wheel well with a storage box etc.. Cutting the frame still looks to be evident to me though to get my 37s where I want them. My intended uses sound a bit the same as yours.

I got to speak with quite a few guys in AUS last year about the pros and cons of extending vs stock length frames and short and long boxes. Pretty much the guys with long boxes said they were extremely limited in where they could go (extended frames and extra weight bellied up quick in sand and high centered on rocks and other obstacles) They all liked the on road ride, longer wheelbase was much smoother. But at the end of the day most wished they'd stayed shorter. Limits the amount of crap they could take, which all said they carried too much regardless of box size. Difference for us is a 1-2 week trip vs. up to months at a time.

I got to see a bobbed 80 series with custom box in person that I found in a magazine and it sold me on staying short when all ideas were kicked around. The guy and his family (with dog) use the rig daily for work and play with an inline 6 petrol.

Keep rolling brother! As you know, it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks as long as you like it.

J

Thanks Jason! That's some good feedback you got, appreciate you sharing it. My wife and I don't usually do extended trips so I'm thinking the small box is going to be more than enough storage for us, and as mentioned earlier it may well end up pulling a teardrop at some point. I haven't looked at your Dingo thread in a while, I'll go check it out and look forward to updates. We can compare notes as we go along here! I am going to start the 60 disassembly this weekend, hoping to get the body off fairly quickly and start the surgery soon thereafter. I was just surfing Craigslist for a used set of 35's I can use for mockup purposes. If I need to shorten the frame I will, but figured I'd try to make it work as-is and see where it ends up.

Other progress and good news - thanks to @bdyer12 there's a 2UZ-FE headed my way with a great collection of parts to go with it. 2001MY engine, Tundra harness, computer, oil pan, body harness, etc. More to come on that when the pallet arrives.

 

[mattressking]

Saturday we had blue skies and perfect weather, 60 degrees and sunny. Time to get the 80 frame cleaned up...

View attachment 1810444

Sunday (today) the weather changed a bit... high of 40 and snowing all day. Cruiser-cicles abound....

View attachment 1810446
Interesting note - the rig on the right has a Tough Dog Heavy kit with a 1" body lift. The rig on the left (pre-Goat transformation) has an OME Dakar kit. Full stinkbug on the red truck, the nose is easily 2" below the blue one.

Had the same issue with my Dakar kit.....I'd be pretty happy if the front springs were arched more. A or B designation spring in rear?

 

[dogfishlake]

I saw that 2UZ at @bdyer12 's place. He's a great guy and super helpful. I just bought his 12ht/h55 combo from his 60. He has been a huge help to me.

I love the build man. There is something special about creating your own personal build. Opinions are many and can be a huge help but at the end of the day it's your truck. I think the not-so-over the top approach is a great idea. Boost in the 2UZ would be fun too, but I agree that would be a good phase 2 project. Probably won't need the extra power.

Looking forward to progress.

 

[Well Sorted]

Had the same issue with my Dakar kit.....I'd be pretty happy if the front springs were arched more. A or B designation spring in rear?

These are B designation rears - CS017RB part number.

 

[Cruiser Jimmy]

Subbed, and nice build. If I find myself in BV I'd love to stop by and lend a hand.

 

[Well Sorted]

Getting ready to really dig in now. Before disassembly I wanted to check a few things on the FJ60, first was compression on the 2F. She comes in at 115-120 on all cylinders except #2 which was down around 105 psi. Not horrible, but showing some signs of wear at 140k miles.

Next step was to weigh the truck for a baseline. This is a stock 1985 FJ60 with about 4 gallons of gas on board and a simple brush guard. Tires are 31x10.5 on stock rims.

Pretty good on the splits considering how big it is, I thought it would be more nose heavy with that big anchor under the hood. It's going to be a while before we have the finished product, but this will be an interesting data point to compare before/after. Tomorrow the fun begins...

 

[dogfishlake]

Getting ready to really dig in now. Before disassembly I wanted to check a few things on the FJ60, first was compression on the 2F. She comes in at 115-120 on all cylinders except #2 which was down around 105 psi. Not horrible, but showing some signs of wear at 140k miles.

Next step was to weigh the truck for a baseline. This is a stock 1985 FJ60 with about 4 gallons of gas on board and a simple brush guard. Tires are 31x10.5 on stock rims.

View attachment 1813710 View attachment 1813711

Pretty good on the splits considering how big it is, I thought it would be more nose heavy with that big anchor under the hood. It's going to be a while before we have the finished product, but this will be an interesting data point to compare before/after. Tomorrow the fun begins...

You should wear a helmet with a gopro for sawzall time.

 

[Well Sorted]

You should wear a helmet with a gopro for sawzall time.

There will definitely be multiple cameras running. This is one take shot, can't miss the action!

 

[Well Sorted]

Got a few hours in over the weekend to start the teardown. Front clip is almost off, hope to finish it up today...

 

[NookShneer]

Get it son! Keep those teasers coming.

 

[ZGMikey]

HOLEEEE $H!T! I've never thought of using a big tub to drain the radiator. That's freaking genius!

 

[Well Sorted]

Finished up removal of the front clip over the past couple days and went through all the various underpinnings and underhood (figuratively speaking disconnects. No major challenges or surprises other than a few ornery body bolts.

Next up was interior. Not much exciting there, now she's pretty much bare inside. Still need to do the headliner, glass, and dash but I'm saving that for later.

With all that done, time to lift the body off and get the old chassis out of the way.

I rolled the chassis outside and put it next to the FZJ80 frame which will go under it. Thought you all might appreciate a quick side by side comparison of the two, especially in the rear frame section. You can see how the rear frame rail on the 60 stays quite a bit higher than the 80, it's also quite a bit smaller in section, not nearly as much height in the rectangular box aft of the first rear kickup.

Now I'm left with the body on the hoist ready to move forward. First I'm going to build a dolly for it so I can easily move it around and also properly support it when I make the cut.

 

[Tank5]

Awesome thread.

If you are running the original ECU, you will run into issues with the VVTi not working without the original automatic transmission. It will be down on power. There is a guy in Russia (Yury Baranov Toyota ECU security off, conversion adapters, parts) that makes automatic transmission emulators for VVTi manual swaps.

You may also want to check the ACIS VSV under the intake manifold - a very common fault, usually non-functioning by this age.

Keep up the great work.

I found this in another thread. It may be worth looking into to solve the ecu issue. It would be nice to find someone that could do it locally though.

 

[REZARF]

So rad, jealous of that shop space too. Just awesome man, keep it up.

 

[Well Sorted]

Spent most of last week out at SEMA canvassing the show for parts, suppliers, and inspiration. As usual it was a really fun few days but hard on the feet. A friend had on a fitbit and was logging 7-8 miles of walking each day during show hours. I spent quite a bit of time with the Cummins team at the show, gotta say it's tempting to throw one of these into the rig. I talked with Tor a bit about his converted 62 and he's really happy with how it performs, especially with the tune he's got on it (he's over 200hp and 400 ft-lbs).

I'm signed up now in the Cummins Builders program and I'm about to start a customer build to put one into an FJ40 (thread coming soon in the 40-series forum), I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the hardware and really working with this thing. I also spent some time with Chad from Quickdraw adapters, he's got a nice bellhousing setup to run the R2.8 with an H42/H55...

But for now, we move on with the plan as-is. Of course there's lots to see and build inspiration out there but most relevant was spending time with the guys from Exploration Outfitters who are importing the Patriot Camper trailers and Tray/Canopy systems from Australia. I climbed all over this rig for a while and the guys were super cool, offering to help with advice and guidance on the canopy box.

I also met a guy from Australia who has a business focusing on transmission swaps. He and I talked to for a couple hours on a wide range of topics including 2UZ swaps, transmission options and solutions to some of the challenges. We've got more to discuss and do, but I think we can likely have a solution for the auto trans ECM in use with a manual trans. More to come on that as it develops.

And lastly, we had a major snow storm in CO while I was gone and unfortunately there was a bit of an accident with my daily driver shop truck 60. My wife was heading to work and slid off the road into a ditch after hitting an ice patch. Thankfully she was fine and the truck drove away but there is damage. She went in backwards and the spare tire on the rear swing out was driven into the liftgate and tailgate. The hatch is pretty ruined, the tailgate can be repaired.

The worst part though is that as she bounced off, the latch was opened and the tire swung around and hit the driver's side quarter.

My local collision shop is working up an estimate to make the repairs but they are concerned it's going to be really expensive and hit the insurance company's scrap value. They think 30-40 hours just to repair the quarter, not to mention replacing the other parts and the paint work. I may end up doing the quarter repair myself and having the whole truck painted, it's in need of it anyway. Unfortunately this is just one more distraction to get in the way of the Goat build. On the plus side, by the time this is all over I'm going to be an expert at working on the rear quarter sections of 60-series.