"Last Minute" buildup thread

[mudtoy67]

Well, I've actually been working on it more than twice in six months, so I thought I'd start a buildup thread on my 67 FJ40.

First a little history:

I bought this thing in 2000 and it was a little rough. Already had a sbc adapted to a floor shift 3spd and tcase, but didn't run. Tcase was cracked and trans was full of water, hard top was there but disassembled, but the body was all there so I managed to scrape up a grand and hauled it home.



I let it sit for a while, then about 3 weeks before spring break of '01 I decided I wanted to build this thing and take it on a trip. Being the procrastinator that I am, a friend and I ended up spending 4 days straight with only a couple hours sleep each day to get it going, and I left the final night about 3am for Las Cruces, NM. With a little extra help from some other friends, it made the trip, and was named the "Last Minute" FJ.



At this point it was running a 307sbc, TH350, NP205 and was sprung over on a '76 front axle and the stock rear w/ a lock-rite.

[mudtoy67]

After making a few trips with it I ended up nose down in a mudhole in Alto, Tx....this took care of the 307 for me. Luckily a friend hooked me up with the TBI 305 out of his 93 Camaro. New engine and some fresh rattle can work and the FJ was ready for some more trips. A crappy driveline angle going from the 205 to the stock FJ rear axle ruined my rear driveshaft, so I swapped in a Dana 44 from a CJ (I know, forever tainted by Jeep parts ). Below are some pics from a comp course I ran in Katemcy with Texas A&M Off Road.





This was the last trip it made. At this point, the stock steering had enough, and I almost didn't make it back to camp after the death wobble sent me towards trees a few times. Also at this time, I went back to school, and didn't have any money to work on it. I did work here and there, removing the old steering, selling the trans and tcase, and other stuff.

I finally got back to work on it last year. At this point I decided that the kluge job my friends and I had done years ago was not making me happy anymore. So I proceeded to strip it down so I can start from scratch. Here's a little bit of the kluge work I did myself on the cage...

[mudtoy67]

Here's it's current state:



I actually just finished removing the axles and tearing them down. I'm gonna start from the bottom and work my way up.

Current plans are:
Build Isuzu Dana 44, lincoln locked, 4.56 gears
76 FJ front axle, lock-rite, swap to mini knuckles, high steer
sbc 305TBI
TH350/NP231 crawlbox/ Dana 300 twin sticked
stay with SOA suspension on stock front springs, FJ60 rear springs
~105" or so wheelbase
Scout power steering
build new cage, wiring harness, etc

For the body I'm going to shorten it to a half cab. I've got an RCI fuel cell that is just wide enough to fit behind the seats with what would end up a slightly long half cab (the floor would end where it ramps up after the rear heater mount). I'm going to narrow the rear frame after the cab and use Chevy LUV or early Toyota truck bedsides to give it a pseudo FJ45 look.

[mudtoy67]

I got the axles torn down this weekend. The rear was already only partially assembled, because I had previously thought I could swap my 4.56 gears over with no problem, but found the Isuzu axle is slightly different so I just threw it together to roll around on. After tearing it down this weekend I've found it's not too different....main difference is the Isuzu uses a thick ring gear for its 4.10 ratio. This is so they can use a 3.73 and down carrier with a tone ring for abs on the driver's side of the carrier. I'm going to see if I can come up with some way to keep the abs ring without having to buy thick 4.56 gears...I'm told my TBI engine will lose some of its "quirks" if it has a speed signal to listen to.

here you can see the difference in the two carriers: 4.56 gears on 3.92-up carrier, 3.73-down carrier with abs ring



Here's my axles torn down. I was worried about the front axle, the knuckle wipers/seals were worn out before I got the axle, and since then it had been on a few trips down the Llano river. Smart thing I did was to repack the birfields with marine grease after installing the gears. This kept the grease nice and sticky even though some water was present.

[mudtoy67]

Finished the cut and turn today...except for re-welding the knuckles. The pinion angle was set whenever the axle was converted to SOA, so all I have to worry about is the caster angle. Aside from the sloppy steering linkages, the positive caster angle was contributing to some major death wobble.

It's not really going to see too much street time, so I didn't get too picky with the caster angle and did everything on the bench. I started by grinding off all the crap in the way. Removed the steering stops, shock mounts, and brake line tabs. I then ground the old knuckle weld smooth, then ground a groove in the tube just on the differential side of the weld.



I figured my spring perches should be pretty close to level when the axle is installed, so I set my perches to zero.



From what I've seen, most people have been aiming for 4-6 degrees negative caster. I ended up with about 4.5 degrees.



You can see below the difference between the original angle and the new angle. I also made a mark near the cut to show how far it was turned.





I still need to burn them in, but after testing my little 130amp HF welder, I decided it wasn't up to the job and I'll have to borrow someone else's.

[RustyNailJustin]

Did you use a grinding disc to cut that tube? That's a really wide cut.

[mudtoy67]

Ya, used a regular grinding wheel. I wanted to make sure I got plenty penetration when I welded it....didn't think the cut-off wheel would be enough. It's only about 5/16" wide at the outside, a little less at the bottom. I did end up going a little too deep though...it should be ok.

[TxCruzr]

Yeah, I don't think you should have a problem with that at all.....not like it will be leaving the driveway within the next 4 to 5 years

[mudtoy67]

Ok, I've had a couple people mention the cut for my cut and turn is pretty wide. I've done some searching and it looks like a lot of people only use a cut off wheel to do the cut....hmmm. Do yall think I'm gonna be in trouble here? I do have a spare housing (it's the original 67 housing....don't know if it will work because it was ball and claw) so I could start over.

I'm thinking as long as I get some good weld in there done in multiple passes it should be good to go. Here's a couple others for comparison...

Section525 "Numtel want 8"..."


Trollhole "Cut and Turn"

[mudtoy67]

Originally Posted by TxCruzr

Yeah, I don't think you should have a problem with that at all.....not like it will be leaving the driveway within the next 4 to 5 years

[TxCruzr]

It's already cut. Weld the piss out of it (without warping the axle into a nice giant U ) and then make some of those little knuckle ball gussets.

[mudtoy67]

Ya, I was planning on doing the knuckle ball gussets also.

I figured out the problem with my welder, the flux core wire I'm using is meant to be used in DC-, a manual I found for my welder shows it's wired DC+. I'm going to switch the polarity tonight and see if it welds any better on some sample pieces.

[mudtoy67]

Got the knuckles welded up this morning. Made a root pass along the inside edge of the groove, then filled the outer edge. Used a friend's 180amp Hobart...made a much better weld than my little 130A.

[kling-on]

VERY COOL you need to load up with Joe and come to round with or with out your cruiser

[mudtoy67]

Yeaaahhhh......it would take quite a few wheelbarrows to take my cruiser out there. And unfortunately I'll be working that weekend.

Maybe I'll make it out once Joseph gets old enough to shave.

[mudtoy67]

Ok, it's been a few months, time for an update. Been working on a few other things like building a new compressor and getting ready for my son who's due in September.

Couple friends came over today and we put the body back on the frame. I built some sawhorses to put the frame on, then we set the body down. I'm going to chop the rear and make a pickup cab. Also planning on cleaning up the firewall...will probably have to do a little floorboard work as well.



This is the section I'm planning on removing




The tailgates should line up about with the top of the step in the rear floorboard. Just in front of that I plan on recessing the fuel cell into the floor. Not sure what I am going to do with the floor. I've had some thoughts about trying to drill the spot welds out and sell the sheet metal to some cruiser junkie...but it's not in the best of shape so probably not worth it.

[nolan]

i was wondering if u pre heated the material before u welded the axle tube? alot of people pre heat so they get full penetration of heat when they start the weld and and not half way around the tube. never done it just wondering

[mudtoy67]

No, didn't preheat. I figured the knuckle ball was probably not thick enough that the preheat was 100% necessary.

[mudtoy67]

Got the LUV bedsides last night. I think these will work pretty well. Of course, I'll have to section them on both sides of the wheelwell to get them to the right length.

[TxCruzr]

could you build this any slower? thanks!

[mudtoy67]

Still moving faster than Tate's Bronco

[mudtoy67]

Got the bed cut out tonight. First welded in some braces to keep the body from getting out of whack once I cut the sides. Then cut the bed out...I really gotta get a recipricating saw, it took me 4 4.5" grinder cut-off wheels, 2 die grinder cut-offs, and 1 jig saw blade.

[mudtoy67]

so....lots of chopping today

Turns out the rear of the cruiser is bolted on to the back of the door frame. This made it pretty easy to remove as the only weld I had to remove was at the top rail. This is the plan I had originally...



the idea was to mount the tank directly behind the main beam of the cab then enclose it with the rear of the tub. After mocking up the 105" wheelbase, I found that this would have most likely resulted in the rear of the tub coming into contact with the tire on full stuff...you can see the rear of the tank is already behind the front of the 33" tire (and I'm going w/ 36's). So now what I'll have is the cab will end just behind the seats and the tank will be in the front of the bed.

I did a bunch of measuring on the seats been using, and determined how much cab I needed to be able to clear seats mounted in a similar location. So here it is mocked up.







I still have some cleaning up to do where the rear of the tub meets the door frame, and I'll tack it in place till it's cage time. I'll also need to make a fill panel where the doors were, finish out the floorboard, and make a fill panel to transition the bottom of the rocker panel to meet the bottom of the rear corners.

[mudtoy67]

Another thing I came across while mocking up the wheelbase...I shouldn't need to extend the frame any to make the suspension work for 105". Probably just build the rear shackle hanger off the back of the bumper (I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I know I've seen a dozen other FJs on here running 105 w/o a bunch of work). I'm going to continue to use the stock springs, the fronts will be in stock location but 180'd for about 3" extra wheelbase in front, then the rears will be 180'd as well and relocated rearward.

[mudtoy67]

Noticed this while doing some measurements on the frame....gonna have to do a little swiss cheese repair.