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Zog's FJ40 Crawler Build

183K views 183 replies 56 participants last post by  Zog 
#1 · (Edited)
I've been working on my FJ40 crawler for a few years now and although I work fairly slowly, I think I've made enough progress to start the build thread. Hopefully this thread and the actual build will converge as I finish it up. I expect it will be a couple of years still since I herniated a disc in my kneck and that has slowed me down quite a bit.

If you are interested in my 4Runner build-up, it can be found here:
Zog's 4Runner Build

After I "finished" the 4Runner I started getting the itch to build a rig with less sheet metal and overall length that I could wheel without bending up the body like tin foil. I also wanted to build something even more custom since although the 4Runner has alot of custom work, alot of the modifications are bought and welded on rather than built from scratch. To that end, I started the search for a good FJ40 to use as the starting point.

My overall idea was 40" tires, SBC 350, medium-low 4:1ish gearing, wheelbase similar to the 4Runner with overall length much less, and Dana 60s around 62" wide since that width works really well on the 4Runner.

I found this FJ and brought it home. Don't let the picture fool you, it was a mess but it did have some promise.





The bad:
This was an unskilled guy's unfinished project and everything that was done to it was done poorly.
Every bolt was loose or missing.
The welding looked like bird droppings with almost zero penetration
The tub from the front of the door openings back had been reskinned. Not with replacement panels but over top of the existing rusty metal and the new metal was rusting out from the inside and through the bondo.
Stock radiator and electric fan was inadequate for the RamJet and it needed the heads resurfaced and new head gaskets.
A driveline vibe that would shake your teeth out above 25mph.
Certain switches would blow fuses and overall scary and unfinished wiring.

The wiring!


The good:
The portion of the tub I cared about could be saved and the rest was going away anyway.
The frame was relatively rust free where I cared about it.
There was an expensive pile of parts attached to this pile of junk and I could make most of my purchase price back by selling off those parts. Here's some of what it had:
RamJet 350 crate motor (keep)
Wilwood disc brakes (sell with axles)
Power steering conversion (sell)
Nearly new 33" BFG M/Ts on black steel wheels (sell)
Ranger overdrive/350 bellhousing adapter (sell)
Tuffy console (sell)
4" lift springs + shackles (sell)
Dual battery mounts,
Lots of extra stock parts (sell some, keep some)

In addition I sold off all the unneeded stock parts like:
Hard top, doors, seats, spare tire + holder, axles, springs, shackles, shocks, instrument panels (2), fenders, heater, radiator, gas tank, stereo.

I ended up with an FJ40 frame, nearly new RamJet 350, body ready to be cut in half, and a general plan as to what I was doing for about $1500.

My first step was to have a little fun with the rig and to do that I needed to make it into less of a deathtrap:

Tighten all the bolts and replace the missing ones
Fix the rear driveshaft that was out of phase
Redo a little wiring so it won't actually catch fire
Shim the rear axle to fix the rest of the driveline vibe
Pull off the top, doors, and everything else I could
Redo the electric fan setup and tear the motor down for the head gaskets

I ended up with a ~2500lb rig with a 350hp motor and no top or roll cage -- fun fun fun.



I surprised alot of people with this rig and basically was a hooligan for a few months. The only giveaway was that it sounded like a muscle car and when you got on the gas it was pure NASCAR.

I survived driving it around like that and then pulled it into the garage for tear down.






Next time the cutting begins...
 
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#72 · (Edited)
I'm finally back working at the build. Baby steps but seems to be going pretty good. Not a huge amount of progress but I'm just so happy to have anything more done on it I thought I'd post some pics of the front tube fenders.

The fenders will be skinned with some floating panels just like the rear fenders.

The completed passenger fender except for final welding and the skin:


A couple of pics of the driver side fender in progress:


Did curved braces instead of straight to give it a little interest -- you'll see these in between the floating skins.


Hopefully I'll have some completed pics of the fenders and the front grill hoop soon.
 
#74 · (Edited)
Back at it, making some real progress (for me) pretty quickly. I built the front hoop and tied it into the fenders and frame and did some of the finish welding.

Here's the front hoop in progress:


And here it is completed with the radiator protection tube:


Since the fenders and hoop aren't part of the driver & passenger roll cage, I got to use up a lot of odds and ends tubing and I think I'm going to be able to finsih this without buying more metal. Given the price of 1.75" DOM tubing that's a big deal since I still need to buy the guts for the front axle and possibly a transmission or a rebuild...

Next I need to tie the forward tube of the sliders into the frame so it won't move when I finish weld the fenders then I can skin the front fenders and the FJ will look pretty much complete.

Once the fenders are done I'll wheel it out into the driveway and get some good progress pics. Funny how you get used to only looking at it from certain angles and distances.
 
#77 ·
Thanks I appreciate it. If I wasn't so damn slow I might be able to do this for a living.

Anyway, I cut and capped the forward ends of the sliders, built the forward brace that ties the slider to the frame. I'm going to make one more diagonal brace so that the fender couldn't be pushed in if I flop or rub it hard on a rock then I can finish weld most everything I can get to -- the rest will be done when the body comes off the frame, hopefully in a month or two... More pics soon.
 
#79 · (Edited)
Some more progress. Here's the triangular support for the fender and the front tie-in to the frame for the slider. Capped the forward ends of the sliders too.



And here's the front fender skins. These take a long time to do with all the spacers and tabs and getting everything cut and lined up correctly.

Here the metal for the skin is cut and the spacers that raise it up off the tabs so they aren't so noticeable are tacked on.


Then everything is clamped in place and the tabs are drilled, bolted on, and welded.


The completed first section.


The tabs welded on and ground smooth for the second (curved) section.


And here's the finished fender. One more to side to go. Before that I'm going to modify the upper panel that was above the original sheet metal fender to fill in that triangular gap between the body and tube fender.


I'm going to do the sections below the rear tub corners the same way but not right away since just like the back fenders, I am sick of these things by the time I finish both sides.
 
#82 · (Edited)
Taking a break from the fender skins, I modified the original upper fender panel to fit with the new location of the tube fenders.

First I made a rough cut to get the basic shape but kept the folded over portion intact to be reused.


The cut piece before some final grinding.


Bent the edge back to form the 90 degree side as I tacked it all back together.


Test fitting the new piece while I drilled the body for bolting them together. I welded the bolts onto the new panel so three nuts and washers can be easily tightened from within the engine bay to hold them together.


After some body filler, sanding and priming, the new panel in place.


Now it's time to do all of this fender work again for the driver side...
 
#87 ·
OK thanks. They seem to show up fine here and on a friend's PC but I'm not sure why there are still issues.

Any recommendations on a good picture hosting site? One where I could keep the filename in the URL so I don't lose that info in case I need to move them again would be best.
 
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