Yup I'm crazy.
it will be as it reads in the title.
...yes.....I could make my life easy and just build/buy a tacoma/tundra prerunner.....but what fun is that?
Plenty of nice pre-runners already built running around socal for sale.....that said, I'm in love with my FJ.
So fxxx it.
------------
I'm Lucky that I live in SoCal in the heart of Desert Racing and offroad community. Hard gained knowledge and skills are all around.
After many years of very happy FJ ownership, on my last blast in the Mojave desert I found myself pushing 60mph naturally I came up on some unexpected terrain feature and slammed my FJ hard and realized I was having too much fun and being stupid. My truck was simply not built for that kind of speed. So I toned things down a bit and enjoyed the rest of my trip....still the as an auto road racer and ex moto-roadracer the speed bug is strong inside me. At the same time I have really enjoyed my time on black diamond trails here in CA. My last trip thru John Bull in big bear left me itching for more....
Many things have conspired in my life to allow me to indulge my FJ fetish. I have top secret "work related" plans for the FJ that will be revealed in due time. That said, it means it will all be tax deductible business expense as I will use the truck for "work". Since now that helped me rationalize the expense....I looked at my options.
1-SAS
Around $20-25k+parts (doing it right)
This option was considered but ultimately I would be unhappy once I got to the desert.
2-Off the shelf "long travel" kits.
Around 13-15k+parts plus install labor so maybe $20k
After spending hours reading thru FJ NEWB thread and other LT threads. Seamed that Camburg with RCV axles would get me at best 13" front travel with 35" tires. Few problems. The general consensus is that you should be prepared to replace alot of broken CV's. As far as the rear LT options, the metal tech kit is "fake travel" (just moves the existing travel down) and the best option seamed to be wicked creations new rear cantilever LT FJ kit. 15" of travel for $5500.
more info
New option for the rear suspension
purchase here
Rear Cantilever Kit Complete
So in sum....maybe spend 15-20k to gain 3" in the front over my ICON stage 6 (aprox 9-10 travel) and then gain maybe an additional 5" in the rear since my Icon is around 10"
This math NEVER made sense to me. This reality always killed my LT FJ day dreams.....just not worth spending that much money for 3" in the front and 5" in the rear!! (assuming its really 5 in the rear, since no one has installed this kit yet besides the manufactuer)
I can see why at this point in the "FJ FEVER" people tend to SAS their FJ's....You spend close to the same amount but the performance gain on a SAS is light years ahead of the current "LT" FJ options. Most importantly....you can beat on a SAS and not break it.....you stare at a LT FJ the wrong way and the front CV can break....I talked to so many people who all said the FJ CV's and anything larger than 33" just dont mix.....lower your gearing and it just makes everything worse.
So I decided the best move was just to enjoy my FJ. Fight the FEVER to make it do more than it seamed it could do.
Except the SDHQ FJ....achieved 30" of rear travel....(strapped at 27 now I think".....but you look at what they did.......holy crap....took alot to achieve that.......then I finally saw the finish truck.
13" front travel and 27" rear just made no sense also. Not sure why they didnt go as crazy with the front as they did the rear.
The result if you watch the video,.. the rear seams to totally overpower the front...jacking up alot....going sky high...
The rest of that build is just insane perfection.
In any case the "off the shelf" LT kits and some of the builds on the forums made something abundantly clear.....they are all beating around the bush. There are no half steps when it comes to performance.
Desert racers have been racing for years. All this stuff has been figured out. No need to reinvent the wheel. I just needed to find the right group of racers that could would stop laughing long enough after I said the the word "FJ" to take a serious look at it.
No need to reinvent the wheel so to speak. Just takes talented fabricators, common sense, proven parts and a small stack of cash.
One thing to keep in mind that I realized after reading many threads on the forum.....you can spend alot of money and still get it wrong (in relation to how much you spent).
When you look at the numbers I laid out above......you can spend a good amount of money on a FJ and not end up with much to show for it.....that money in the right hands can go far.
So I THINK I have planned this right, given the budget I have....trying to get the most performance for the buck.
It will be an extensive build...for sure. Unlike many FJ's build before.
In the end what do I want? Since form follows function....A truck that looks the business when you see it. I want to be able to drive fast in the desert and have some fun in the rocks.
I dont expect to be hitting up the extreme rock crawling trails. Nor am I that intrested in that level of crawling....
I do plan on going fast enough to scare me.
I do plan on being able to get thru some tough rock trails, basically anything I did with my FJ before....I dont need or want to get thru some of the more extreme rock trails.
My goal, to have fun. For me that means more speed and a bit more performance in the technical rocky trails is enough.
The off the shelf LT kits just don't deliver that.
Just looking for the FJ to live up to it potential as the ultimate all around vehicle.
So with parts being ordered as we speak......down the rabbit hole I go. Wish me luck!
We sat down for a few hours and planned everything, made some choices, pushed some numbers around...set a schedule.
The work these guys do it "A" level. Here is one of their other projects. Beautiful welds, laser cut parts and smart ideas.
As you can see they have a large shop, clean floors and lots of race cars.
For me all good signs......so here we go.
The funny thing is when I bought my car back in 2010, I saw this picture online. I remained pinned to my wall in my office since then.....as a motivation picture.....and in a couple of months (with any luck) I should be the owner of a even better version of my dream FJ.
In the end we are all still kids dreaming about the cars on the posters in our room. Luckily thru LOTS of hard work in the last few years my dream will be coming true.
It's not by accident my car has the same DeMello bumper as the one in my favorite picture.
@trophyFJ on instagram
HERE we go!
it will be as it reads in the title.
...yes.....I could make my life easy and just build/buy a tacoma/tundra prerunner.....but what fun is that?
Plenty of nice pre-runners already built running around socal for sale.....that said, I'm in love with my FJ.
So fxxx it.
------------
I'm Lucky that I live in SoCal in the heart of Desert Racing and offroad community. Hard gained knowledge and skills are all around.
After many years of very happy FJ ownership, on my last blast in the Mojave desert I found myself pushing 60mph naturally I came up on some unexpected terrain feature and slammed my FJ hard and realized I was having too much fun and being stupid. My truck was simply not built for that kind of speed. So I toned things down a bit and enjoyed the rest of my trip....still the as an auto road racer and ex moto-roadracer the speed bug is strong inside me. At the same time I have really enjoyed my time on black diamond trails here in CA. My last trip thru John Bull in big bear left me itching for more....
Many things have conspired in my life to allow me to indulge my FJ fetish. I have top secret "work related" plans for the FJ that will be revealed in due time. That said, it means it will all be tax deductible business expense as I will use the truck for "work". Since now that helped me rationalize the expense....I looked at my options.
1-SAS
Around $20-25k+parts (doing it right)
This option was considered but ultimately I would be unhappy once I got to the desert.
2-Off the shelf "long travel" kits.
Around 13-15k+parts plus install labor so maybe $20k
After spending hours reading thru FJ NEWB thread and other LT threads. Seamed that Camburg with RCV axles would get me at best 13" front travel with 35" tires. Few problems. The general consensus is that you should be prepared to replace alot of broken CV's. As far as the rear LT options, the metal tech kit is "fake travel" (just moves the existing travel down) and the best option seamed to be wicked creations new rear cantilever LT FJ kit. 15" of travel for $5500.
more info
New option for the rear suspension
purchase here
Rear Cantilever Kit Complete
So in sum....maybe spend 15-20k to gain 3" in the front over my ICON stage 6 (aprox 9-10 travel) and then gain maybe an additional 5" in the rear since my Icon is around 10"
This math NEVER made sense to me. This reality always killed my LT FJ day dreams.....just not worth spending that much money for 3" in the front and 5" in the rear!! (assuming its really 5 in the rear, since no one has installed this kit yet besides the manufactuer)
I can see why at this point in the "FJ FEVER" people tend to SAS their FJ's....You spend close to the same amount but the performance gain on a SAS is light years ahead of the current "LT" FJ options. Most importantly....you can beat on a SAS and not break it.....you stare at a LT FJ the wrong way and the front CV can break....I talked to so many people who all said the FJ CV's and anything larger than 33" just dont mix.....lower your gearing and it just makes everything worse.
So I decided the best move was just to enjoy my FJ. Fight the FEVER to make it do more than it seamed it could do.
Except the SDHQ FJ....achieved 30" of rear travel....(strapped at 27 now I think".....but you look at what they did.......holy crap....took alot to achieve that.......then I finally saw the finish truck.
13" front travel and 27" rear just made no sense also. Not sure why they didnt go as crazy with the front as they did the rear.
The result if you watch the video,.. the rear seams to totally overpower the front...jacking up alot....going sky high...
The rest of that build is just insane perfection.
In any case the "off the shelf" LT kits and some of the builds on the forums made something abundantly clear.....they are all beating around the bush. There are no half steps when it comes to performance.
Desert racers have been racing for years. All this stuff has been figured out. No need to reinvent the wheel. I just needed to find the right group of racers that could would stop laughing long enough after I said the the word "FJ" to take a serious look at it.
No need to reinvent the wheel so to speak. Just takes talented fabricators, common sense, proven parts and a small stack of cash.
One thing to keep in mind that I realized after reading many threads on the forum.....you can spend alot of money and still get it wrong (in relation to how much you spent).
When you look at the numbers I laid out above......you can spend a good amount of money on a FJ and not end up with much to show for it.....that money in the right hands can go far.
So I THINK I have planned this right, given the budget I have....trying to get the most performance for the buck.
It will be an extensive build...for sure. Unlike many FJ's build before.
In the end what do I want? Since form follows function....A truck that looks the business when you see it. I want to be able to drive fast in the desert and have some fun in the rocks.
I dont expect to be hitting up the extreme rock crawling trails. Nor am I that intrested in that level of crawling....
I do plan on going fast enough to scare me.
I do plan on being able to get thru some tough rock trails, basically anything I did with my FJ before....I dont need or want to get thru some of the more extreme rock trails.
My goal, to have fun. For me that means more speed and a bit more performance in the technical rocky trails is enough.
The off the shelf LT kits just don't deliver that.
Just looking for the FJ to live up to it potential as the ultimate all around vehicle.
So with parts being ordered as we speak......down the rabbit hole I go. Wish me luck!
We sat down for a few hours and planned everything, made some choices, pushed some numbers around...set a schedule.
The work these guys do it "A" level. Here is one of their other projects. Beautiful welds, laser cut parts and smart ideas.
As you can see they have a large shop, clean floors and lots of race cars.
For me all good signs......so here we go.
The funny thing is when I bought my car back in 2010, I saw this picture online. I remained pinned to my wall in my office since then.....as a motivation picture.....and in a couple of months (with any luck) I should be the owner of a even better version of my dream FJ.
In the end we are all still kids dreaming about the cars on the posters in our room. Luckily thru LOTS of hard work in the last few years my dream will be coming true.
It's not by accident my car has the same DeMello bumper as the one in my favorite picture.
@trophyFJ on instagram
HERE we go!
