Cruzer! SAC'd FJ Cruiser "staypuft"

[Cruzer!]

Named after the giant squishy white thing from ghostbuster. Coz thats really what it is.


All 08 FJ Trail Teams options, black-out exterior items (mirrors/handles) Trail teams badges, Warm white exterior, white/black trim interior, power everything, remote central locking, alarm, in dash 6 stack CD player, COLD air conditioning, guage package, 5 seats, Inverter, Leather steering wheel, bilet shift knob etc. But the stuff you really want to know...

Engine
Engine : Toyota V6 1GR-FE
Transmission : Toyota A750F 5speed Automatic with huge oil cooler
Forced Induction : URD Supercharger Kit with 80mm pulley, Underhood Water 2 Air intercooler, Supercharger front mount radiator and oil cooler.
Fuelling: URD 7th Injector Kit, URD 255LPH Walbro Fuel pump kit (remote filter)
Exhaust : Doug Thorley Headers, Stock Precats, Rear Cat delete, Custom routed hi-clearance exhaust 2.5in, Magnaflow muffler, hi-clearance tail pipe

Underhood
Batteries: Painless performance dual battery setup, Optima RED main and Optima YELLOW secondary battery.
OBA - ARB mini Air Compressor

Steering
Links : Borgeson
Gear: Howe IFS steering box valved, tapped
Ram: Howe 2" x 8" hydro-assist ram
Pump: Howe Performance TC pump 1450 PSI
Reservoir: Howe high capacity reservoir with filter

Front Axle
Axle: Dana 60 from a 94 Dodge Ram 3500
Locker: ARB Air Locker
Gears: Dana Spicer 5.86
Shafts: 2002 Dodge Ram 3500 Shafts (CAD delete)
Steering: Toyota IFS steering box tapped for hydro assist, Howe Hydro Assist, Ballistic Fabrication 7/8 QA1 Heim Steering Kit 1.5x.250DOM, ThurenFab 1.5x.250DOM 7/8 QA1 Heim tie-rod.
Brakes: Stock 3500, All new rotors, pads, remanufactured calipers, new stainless steel hoses.
Other: New balljoints, B&M super synthetic oil. Rockcrusher differential cover, lubelocker gasket, WFO 1350 Yoke

Rear Axle
Axle: Full floater Dana 70 from Dodge Ram 3500 SRW
Locker: ARB Air Locker
Gears: Dana Spicer 5.86
Shafts: 35spl
Brakes: Stock 3500, All new shoes, hardware kits, F350 Wheel cylinders (larger bore cylinders), new brake tubes and stainless steel hoses.
Other: Heavy duty diff cover, B&M super synthetic oil. Truss, WFO 1350 Yoke.

Front Suspension
Type: 3-link with panhard
Coilovers: Walker Evans 2.0" x 14" travel externally adjustable remote reservoir coilovers
Springs: Eibach 12" 300# over 14" 450#
Joints: Currie Johnny Joints on lower links / Heim joints on panhard / Heims on upper link
Bump stops: Fox 4" travel 2.0 air bumps (Set to 2.5in travel)
Shock mounts - Ballistic Fabrication coilover towers
Brackets: Ballictic Fabrication
Frame plates: 3/16 Frame Plating (front frame rails inner and outer, scab plates at upper link mounts)
Limit Straps : Beard 23in

Rear Suspension
Type: 3-link with panhard
Coils: OME420 Landcruiser Competition Coils
Shocks: Fox 2.0 x 10" travel remote reservoir shocks
Bump stops: Fox 4" travel 2.0 air bumps (Set to 2.5in travel)
Shock mounts - Ballistic Fabrication coilover towers
Brackets: Ballictic Fabrication
Frame plates: 3/16 Frame Plating (front frame rails inner and outer, scab plates at upper link mounts)
Swaybar: Rock Equipment 'Rock Crawler' Swaybar (aluminium arms)
Limit Straps: Bears 13in

Body Lift : 4Crawler 1.25in

Transfer case
Tcase: Atlas 5.0
Adapter: Advance Adaptors FJ Cruiser Adaptor
Fr Output shaft: 32spl 1350 with Driveline Specialties Deep throat yoke
Rr Output shaft: 32spl 1350 CV Style
Shifters : Twin cable shifters w/Billet knobs
Crawl ratio: 205:1
Speed sensor: GM VSS wired to Digital Dakota Speedo Calibration Unit.
Other: Advance Adaptors rear output disc brake parking brake setup

Armor
Front Bumper: Man-A-Fre "OzBogan" Front winch bumper
Rear Bumper: Man-A-Fre Kaymar Swingout with tire carrier modified to fit 40in tire, and swingout with ladder/quart crate.
Internal cage: Man-A-Fre 6pt Sport cage - 1.75" x .120 (The vehicle has 5 seats/belts, but with the cage installed i wouldnt recommend having anyone in the rear seats. I never have had anybody in the back, the harness bar is to close to the chest IMO. The cage is easily removed due to Poly Performance Tube connectors)
Sliders: Man-A-Fre Wide
Skid plates: Budbuilt gas tank skid
Belly pan: Flat belly cross member
Flares: Bushwacker Pocket Style Fender Flares

Tires / Wheels
Tires: 5x 40x13.5R17 Goodyear 'old style' MTR
Wheels: 17x9.5 Allied Steel wheel D Window
Rim Stiffeners: CrawlFab Wagon Wheel
Beadlocks: Staun Internal beadlocks
Balancing: Dynabeads

Electrical
Horns : Hella
Auxillary fuse boxes : primary battery - under hood
: secondary battery - under hood and under dash
Inverter : Stock rear 400w.
: Secondary under seat 400w
GPS : Lowrance XOG Gps with topo and trail map capability
: Microsoft GPS antanna for Streets/Trips 09 for laptop
CB : Uniden 40ch CB radio/ Firestick cable/antanna
Cameras : Front and rear cameras hooked up to toggle switch and screen mounted above center console on cage.
Interior Lighting : 30LED pods in both roof lights.
: Hella Adjustable Red roof light
Instruments : Scanguage 2 xguage
: Stealth boost guage install
12v power outlets : one extra in center console, two in rear. Also has 12v direct power for ARB (etc) refrigerator in rear.

Lighting
2x Hella 4000's on the front bar.
4x Hella 500s on roof Defender light Rack
2x Hella 550 Fogs on side of roof rack
Hella Worklight on Kaymar rear bar (hooked to reverse and a seperate switch for camping)
Hella Headlight Upgrade bulbs
Vision X Tantrum LED Remote Rock Lights (8)
Aeroflow HLC Covers
underhood LED bar

Other
ARB Safari Snorkle
Man-A-Fre Long Range Auxillary 19gal extra fuel tank (increased fuel capacity to 38gallons), hooked up for car-to-car transfer to help your buddies out!
Stock roof rack, defender roof light bar, hi-lift mounts, extra crossbars, roof storage bag.

Wheelbase: 107"
Frame Height: 24.5"
Width : 85in
Height (roof) : 85in (not inc rack)
Driveshafts: Coast Driveline rear CV 1350
Coast Driveline front 1350

The recipe

I wanted it to be a strong truck (sick of replacing the millions of half-shafts and steering links i had to with IFS)
I wanted it to be able to take on all the trails i had already done with IFS as well as some I havent - short of the hammers. I have a truggy for that
I wanted to swap out front and rear axles (I'd broke 1 rear axle shaft while IFS)
I wanted 40's (all the cool kids are doing it)
I didnt want to go backwards in any tech (Ie. loose my Air lockers etc.)

First i needed axles. As much as I would have liked some blingin kick-ass curries or dyna-tracs it wasnt going to happen. Not front and rear anyway. So onto craigslist, Found a dana 60 and a dana 70, both of a 95 dodge (i know, blah blah balljoints... more on that later). They had been already set up with ARB air lockers fornt and rear, 5.38 gears (when i got home found to be 5.86's), 35 spline outers on the front and 35 spline shafts on the rear, they were trussed and set up for 4 link and full hydro, which obviously wasnt going to work for me.

The boggers and beadlocks got sold on pirate. As well as all my IFS and goodies i had, I made a bit of money back to add into the kitty.

Started by removing everything that bolts on




Played with 37's


The first plasma cut. Its on.

[Cruzer!]

Played with rolling the axles under the truck and the 38's

Bogan'



Positioning

[Cruzer!]

Cutting


Working out steering


My wife impressed with what i'd done to her truck... or not


Check clearances...

[Cruzer!]

Playing with different sets of wheels/tires






40's with 0 BS roms puts me at 1.5in either side wider then I was IFS. SOLD!


Making front coil towers work with steering

[Cruzer!]

Modifying the Kaymar to fit a 40" and a ladder to reach the roof rack



Got my rims 17x9, and found four 40's (almost bald) for $100



Found 5 staun intenral bead locks on my fav craigslist.


Started to cylce the suspension to test clearance/binding

[Cruzer!]

How it celebrated its two year birthday. I remember driving it off the lot like it was yesterday!


Started tacking in other link mounts

[Cruzer!]

Steering



Transformer


Found a set of 40;s on Pirate for $700



Burned in

[IM


Crawlfab rock rings on my rims


Flat belly

[Cruzer!]

About now my buddy kickied me out of his workshop

Moving it form the shop to my house


Casa de Bogan



Bogan, Bogan Dog and truck

[Cruzer!]

Got it to its new workshop - my parking lot

[Cruzer!]

Some more photos as i crawl around trying to button everything up




85in track outside tire to outside tire


25.5in to frame rail @ center, new springs and no gas so should drop with some weight and some time on the springs hopefully


87in to top of roof



Kaymar, modified

[Cruzer!]

Under the hood






Hood vent cutout


IFS box, howe hydro assist, borgeson shaft and joints

[Cruzer!]

Front Susp


Atlas Shifters


Rear Axle, Aux gas tank


Panhard Rod Mount/Coil bucket w/centering cone



Atlas 5.0, driveline e-brake, cv 1350 shafts, also shows where my fuel filter is (swapped out intank unit for walbro 255lph pump and changed to external filter)



Rear Susp, fox 10in remote resi mounted to trailing arm, centering cones on lower spring perch, spring retainers on stock upper spring perch, fox bumpstops

[Cruzer!]

Getting it to move under its own power!

[Cruzer!]

reserved

[Cruzer!]

reserved..

[KyleQ]

VERY nice - who's tc brake kit is that? How do you like it - how do you actuate it?

[Cruzer!]

Thanks. That ebrake kit i got from Advance Adaptors when I ordered the atlas. I used one of the stock ebrake cables (fj has two one for each side) and ran it in a loop through to t-case mounted caliper. I bought a clevis from mcmaster-carr and ran the cable to the clevis, secured the cable to the floor in a few spots and it works real good.

The FJ is at the exhaust shop now i should get it back today, I'll get some photos of it.

[txzuk1988]

Love the build!

Give us some action shots asap!

Rich

[BellyDoc]

Outstanding!!!

Way to step up and elevate the game!!!

I saw how you posted up about controlling the now-useless dash panel lights on RST. Can you explain that here and tell me how you figured that out? That's one of those little things that's actually HUGE.

Is your check engine light off, too?

Did I mention that this is OUTSTANDING!!?

[Cruzer!]

yessir check engine light is off - and still functional should i hve any powertrain issues.

I always had my TPMS light on since i swapped out my OE tires, and put a little electrical tape over the annoying light on my dash for the last few years. Now with the SAC, i knew half my dash was going to be lit up and didnt want the ghetto look of electrical tape everywhere.

On my 81 truck, I'd just pull out the combination panel, remove the offending lights, and be done with it. Not any more, in the day of printed circuit borads and integrated LEDs I just didnt feel like pulling it all apart.

So with my trusty powerprobe and a bit of time to spare I went on a mission to figure out how to remove all redundant lights.

Took off the drivers side glovebox and underneath it is two wiring plugs plugged into the top of the instrument cluster.

Left (driver) side one is plug (A) right (passenger) side is plug (B)

To turn ABS light off, Cut wire A17 Light Green/Red Stripe (RH Corner wire closest to driver seat). This wire needs a ground signal to turn the light off. I tied it into the Black/White stripe wire also coming out of the (A) plug.

To turn Slip, VSC Trac and VSC OFF lights off, cut the wires. These wires are in plug (B) and are numbered B5, B6, B7 (row closest to the windscreen, counting from the right). Colours are B5 - Blue/White Stripe, B6 - Yellow/Red Stripe, B7 is Red. These just need to be cut and the lights will go out.

FYI, I wired my Rear ARB locker into the factory diff lock light. This is done by running a wire from the yellow output wire of the ARB switch, to a relay (85), and the relay is grounded on (86) and (30). This changes the power signal from the ARB to a gorund signal which is needed to turn the diff lock light. The wire from the relay (87) then runs to the diff lock light input wire which is B1 Blue/Yellow Stripe.

The 4wd indicator light will be blinking once you remove your ADD unit if your FJ is an AT. Theres a few options with this guy.

A- hook it up to your t-case so it functions whenevr you are in 4wd, like factory.
B - Make it non functioning.

This wire is the Red / Blue wire in the "b" plug, its actually B2. Cutting it will turn the 4wd light off. If thats what you want, then your done here. If you want it to work with your new t-case (or your factory one), cut this wire, and run a new wire from the plug side to your t-case switch. Run the other wire from your t-case switch to ground. When 4wd is selected, the dash light will light up as normal.

I also got rid of the TPMS light thats been bugging me for a looong time!
The tpms wire is A32. it is pink with a black stripe. you'll find it on the row of wires closest to the driver position, far left on plug A.

this wire needs a constant 12v to turn it off and trick the system into thinking everythings peachy. either using a scotch lok or, as i did, strip insulation and soldering, you need to connect the tpms wire A32 with the red/blue stripe wire located on the same plug (position A17, same row as A32 wire, opposite side of the plug) Do not cut either wire, just tie them in together so that the A32 shares A17s IGN+ signal.

[Cruzer!]

Some pics of the e-brake assembly.

Sorry for the cellphone pics.



Pulling the e-brake handle tightens the cable pulling the lever that tightens the pads on the rotor. it actually works relaly well.

My exhaust was done yesterday. For the most part I'm happy with it. The only part i'm not sure of is how my guy routed it around my rear UCA, but we'll see how that pans out. We attached two of the stock cats to the DT short tube headers, and then crossed over under the bellhousing to flow into a magnaflow muffler, and then out the back of the vehicle exiting high up under the back of the bumper.



I drove it a few blocks yesterday. Got the sway thing happening! What was i expecting though - no wheel alignment, non of my links are adjusted the same just yet, and when I got it into my work relised i'd blown out a johhny joint (guess i didnt installt he circlip properly when i did them). Fixed it all up today and will get it on the alignment rack monday, and try and get the wheels balanced. The other thing i have is a fair bit of 'lift' under acceleration. AS numbers i thought were ok, 82.5 for the rear and 94.16 in the front. I got a work buddy to watch it and he swears the rear doesnt seme to be squatting but rather the front just lifting. I'll wait until Ive had everything squared up on monday and check it out some more.

[Infernal Jeep]

Nice build

[Dustpark]

Originally Posted by Cruzer!

yessir check engine light is off - and still functional should i hve any powertrain issues.

I always had my TPMS light on since i swapped out my OE tires, and put a little electrical tape over the annoying light on my dash for the last few years. Now with the SAC, i knew half my dash was going to be lit up and didnt want the ghetto look of electrical tape everywhere.

On my 81 truck, I'd just pull out the combination panel, remove the offending lights, and be done with it. Not any more, in the day of printed circuit borads and integrated LEDs I just didnt feel like pulling it all apart.

So with my trusty powerprobe and a bit of time to spare I went on a mission to figure out how to remove all redundant lights.

Took off the drivers side glovebox and underneath it is two wiring plugs plugged into the top of the instrument cluster.

Left (driver) side one is plug (A) right (passenger) side is plug (B)

To turn ABS light off, Cut wire A17 Light Green/Red Stripe (RH Corner wire closest to driver seat). This wire needs a ground signal to turn the light off. I tied it into the Black/White stripe wire also coming out of the (A) plug.

To turn Slip, VSC Trac and VSC OFF lights off, cut the wires. These wires are in plug (B) and are numbered B5, B6, B7 (row closest to the windscreen, counting from the right). Colours are B5 - Blue/White Stripe, B6 - Yellow/Red Stripe, B7 is Red. These just need to be cut and the lights will go out.

FYI, I wired my Rear ARB locker into the factory diff lock light. This is done by running a wire from the yellow output wire of the ARB switch, to a relay (85), and the relay is grounded on (86) and (30). This changes the power signal from the ARB to a gorund signal which is needed to turn the diff lock light. The wire from the relay (87) then runs to the diff lock light input wire which is B1 Blue/Yellow Stripe.

The 4wd indicator light will be blinking once you remove your ADD unit if your FJ is an AT. Theres a few options with this guy.

A- hook it up to your t-case so it functions whenevr you are in 4wd, like factory.
B - Make it non functioning.

This wire is the Red / Blue wire in the "b" plug, its actually B2. Cutting it will turn the 4wd light off. If thats what you want, then your done here. If you want it to work with your new t-case (or your factory one), cut this wire, and run a new wire from the plug side to your t-case switch. Run the other wire from your t-case switch to ground. When 4wd is selected, the dash light will light up as normal.

I also got rid of the TPMS light thats been bugging me for a looong time!
The tpms wire is A32. it is pink with a black stripe. you'll find it on the row of wires closest to the driver position, far left on plug A.

this wire needs a constant 12v to turn it off and trick the system into thinking everythings peachy. either using a scotch lok or, as i did, strip insulation and soldering, you need to connect the tpms wire A32 with the red/blue stripe wire located on the same plug (position A17, same row as A32 wire, opposite side of the plug) Do not cut either wire, just tie them in together so that the A32 shares A17s IGN+ signal.

I need to get this done. Really cool build. R U going to the KOH this year?

[BellyDoc]

Phenomenal!

I'm looking at the pic you just put up of the exhaust running back between your links and I'm guessing your concern is about contact between the link and exhaust at deep droop. However, I'm also guessing you won't have any. Although it looks like it runs really close to the joint, the amount of movement there should be comparatively small.

Did you re-use the stock upper link mounting points on the frame? How long are your rear uppers and how much are you letting the axle droop at the pumpkin?

What's the most severe angle you're letting the rear driveshaft get to, from the transfer case output?

There's tons of people who are beating the crap out of their FJ Cruiser rear ends and are looking at axle swaps even if they're not doing solid front ends. I've heard some idle chattering about going with a 4 link rear and discarding the panhard bar, but nobody wants to experiment with triangulated 4 linking based on the stock upper mounting points on the frame. Everyone's worried that those links are too short. If you've done that, and you're having decent results, you may start a trend!

Inquiring minds want to know!

[Cruzer!]

Doc.

I;m not using the stock mounting points. I thought about it for a while, but ended up with the three link. My upper link is 32in long and the rears are 30. I may go with a longer lower in the future but we'll see.

The lowers im running were built by all-pro for the petersens FJ. They put a currie axle in the back and used the stock 4 link + panhard setup with coilovers. I dont know whay they went back to using 3-links for the rear of there SAS conersions. I know the gas tank was going to be one of my issues - I considered having the gas tank modified by a plastic welder, having him remover the 6in or so at the rear most end of the tank under the d/s uca mount.

I have limited rear droop with 22in straps on all 4 corners. On the rear, this is the point just before my shocks top out and the spring leaves the centering cone. I need tog et some proper measurements, I havent really done that yet.

The exhaust contact was my main issue. the more i look at ti the more i think that like you said it wont contact - but i think it would have looked cleaner over the UCA