Project Land Cruzah

[THK Matt]

Lookin good dude!

[Coastie]

is the only reason u switch the front axle to a mini was because the cutting and turning of the knuckles?  do u feel they are strong enough to use?  building a cruiser know and debating ruffstufs 8 in toy axle,

[Dooner]

Thanks for the props guys!

Coastie, there were a bunch of factors that went into the decision to run the toy axles.
My biggest goal was, that I really wanted to build a light weight agile rig using a centered rear end and one of Marlins top shift T Cases with the 4.7 gearset behind my SM465. This gave me a super short drive train of only 32" long, which let me use a longer drive shaft with better angles.

I do alot of my wheeling is at Pismo Beach, bashing through whoops at moderate speed. Lighter axles = less unsprung weight which help the tires follow the terrain. Less weight is also easier for the shocks to control, meaning less shock fade and better dampening.

I also live near the Sierra's where there are numerous trails with varying degrees of difficulty. Due to the laws of physics, A light weight rig will always be easier to get up an incline than a heavier one. I have a Dana 60 and a 14 bolt in my Burb, bigger isnt always better. I did consider swapping full width D60s in innitially, but decided against it due to the whole weight issue.

All in all I figure that the Toy axles will be plenty stout with the 30 spline longs, Marlins high steer, with a trussed housing and Alloy rear axles. Another thing to keep in mind, Im only running 35's! How many guys have you heard of running 39's to 42's without problems?

[Yotaholic]

I wish I had your skills and tools, I would love a 4 or 5 spd in my 72'. Congrats on the nice build so far..

[Dooner]

I wish I had your skills and tools, I would love a 4 or 5 spd in my 72'. Congrats on the nice build so far..

Oh man, thanks for the kind words! Im out here learning as I go really. Worked as a mechanic for a few years in a foreign repair shop before I became a Firefighter, but never did any fab work before this build. As far as tools go, I dont really have anything higher tech than a 4 1/2" angle grinder, a big ol vise and a 110 volt Lincoln mig welder!

[Coastie]

thanks for the reply, i decided to stay with orginals as well.   ordered longs, have marlins hight steer as well

[Dooner]

thanks for the reply, i decided to stay with orginals as well.   ordered longs, have marlins hight steer as well

Sounds like you got bit by the Cruzah Bug Bro! Got a buildup thread started yet? If not, start taking pics and posting your progress. We will be Watching!
Mike

[Dooner]

 
Its been awhile since ive posted anything so I figured Id post up one of my mini projects. Ive been kicking around some different ideas for a back seat for some time now I started out with the factory side folding benches that I recovered with SOR covers and extra foam. These have super cool Cruizah factor, 4 people can ride in back, but arnt really the hot ticket off road. I never rode around in the back of a Cruizer in one of these sideways setting seats, but I can imagine that it would be hard to brace yourself to keep from flailing around.

My second idea was to use the hard plastic seats from the bed of a Subaru Brat with the hand grip bars that look like ski poles. I actually got one of these and tried it out for size. It was a pretty good fit and I was happy with how it looked, but it wasnt the most comfortable thing in the world to sit on.

Turns out a buddy of mine bought a late model Jeep Sahara and promptly took the rear seat out, storing it at work. Needless to say I was after him to sell it to me for my Cruizer. He was real reluctant, figuring he was gonna want to use it someday. Months later he finally agreed to give the seat up for a good cause and he hooked me up. The seat itself is in great condition, has side bolsters on the base that extend right up to the fenderwells, for what looks like a factory fit. The colors are a little off, as they are a greyish blue with tan backing .

[Dooner]

The only challenge to installing this seat into my 40 was to retain the fold and tumble feature. I ended up making some brackets out of 1/4" flat stock + angle steel to form a latch that would capture the pivot rods that stuck out the sides of the seat.

I made the pivots by inserting a section of 1/4" round stock through the back plate, with enough overhang to make a rivot. After getting it lined up as square as I could, I welded the rod solid to the back plate. I then slid the latching plate onto the round stock, and burned a bead onto the rods end, gettting it cherry red, peening it over with a sledge

I wanted them to release both front and rear so that if I wanted to take the seat out, I could do so without removing the brackets from the floor. I set them up so the fronts would be locked down with bolts through the latching plates while the rears would be secured with some kind of padlock.

[Dooner]

Either I got lucky, or Toyota Engineers saw me coming when they designed this thing, cuz they put a nice sized bolt that goes to a bracket on the frame right where My brackets needed to go for the front of the seat. Another cool thing was that there was a nice wide easily accessed area next to the factory hole where I put the second hole for each bracket, welding the nut to the under side of the floor. I knew I was gonna need some adjustablility, so I made the brackets with slots insted of simple holes. This was a bit of a job cus all I dont have any fancy slot making tooling other than a drill, a 4 1/2" angle grinder, a chisel and a sledge hammer!

[GreenYoterKrawler]

Nice setup, looks Awsome Ive always loved the old land cruisers 

[Dooner]

Hey thanks Yoter!
Ive always dug Cruizers too. My Dads buddy had a cherry 40 that he used to tow a boat with. Man its funny, I used to look forward to the ride in the truck more than the fishing! This is my 2nd Cruiser, my first one was an FJ55 that was bone stock with the exception of some old Armstrong Norseman tires that looked like they were fresh out of the landfill. I ended up selling it a couple of years after I got this FJ40 cuz I needed the money and the 55 needed a whole bunch of work.

[Coastie]

Donner,

I will be posting pictures soon.  I was to scared to do it so  I left it in Marlin's  hands with my camera.  I was there today and wow.... I am so happy i was calling everyone.   the axles are completely off the rig,  my leaf springs are crap.  need to procure some.  front and rear end completely boxed in, power steering needs to be bolted in, OH by the way BZ to ROCKEY CAN WELD....

[Dooner]

Man Coastie
Sounds like your making some serious progress now, better get that Build Thread started Thats awesome that you got Marlins crew working on your rig, you left it in good hands!

[Dooner]

The pictures of the rear seat show another little sub project Ive been playing with here and there. Early in the build I was planning to install a fuel cell between the frame rails behind the front seats, sunk down into the floor. I thought it was a pretty good idea at the time, and I coulda made it work, but I got geechy about the fuel cell getting damaged by the driveshaft or something. Soo there I was with a big ol hole cut through the floor, thinking about how to go ahead with plan B. I decided to make a lockable storage box that would be welded into the floor, using the section of floor that I had removed as part of the lid.

[Dooner]

I welded a strip of 1/4" flat stock around the perimeter of the cut out, jus to stiffen it up some. I made the box kinda wedge shaped so that it could be forced into the opening prior to being burned in. My plan was to use a "piano hinge" for the lid, but I couldnt find any that were substantial enough. I ended up finding some cool little 2x3" hinges at a local hardware store that were made from 1/4" weldable steel. I made a frame for the lid that matched the size of the box out of 1" angle steel, and then welded the old floor cut out onto the frame.

[Dooner]

Heres yet another mini project that I said I wasnt gonna do until I got the Croozer running! Well this one is kinda counts as being productive because it will get the Aux tank mounted, and since I cant get far without gas, its kinda nessesary.. sort of.

After I mounted the rear seat, flipped the rear tail lights, and placed the Aux tank in the rear of the bed, I got to looking at the rusted out rear sill. Well this has been on my mind for the last 10 years or so and it has just been getting worse. The rust had gone through the sheet metal in several spots and the rear sill had separated from the driver side quarter panel all together, giving me a full floating rear fender.

In a moment of sheer terror, I picked up my $16 4.5" grinder (which died today in a splendid display of sparks and smoke!) and started cutting the rear sill out of my tub. Like everyone else I had a tough time getting the rear body mount bolts out and had to chop them up to free the sill.

[Dooner]

Here goes nothing! The rust damage to the structure wasnt as bad as alot of the sills that you see, but it was bad enough. 

[Dooner]

Part of the decision to drop the tank into the floor behind the rear seat had to do with the rear diagonal crossmember supports. The diagonals were in the way of the tank so some chopping and reinforcing would need to be done to really sink the tank. The chopped out section was spun around, split and hammered into the rear crossmember and over the bleeding diagonal stump at each side.

[Dooner]

After burning the diagonals in at every junction, they were topped off with some high carbon steel. Next the rear crossmember was boxed off for a little more strength, with more reinforcement to come. Gonna go overboard on this because the last thing I want is a taco shaped rear crossmember!

This is my new rear sill! It started out as a section of 3" 1/4" rectangular tubing, which is way too much steel for the sill, but hey its what I had on hand! Thing is, it was too tall, as a rear sill should be 2" tall. What the heck, I had damage in fender, so I figured that I would  cut my sill down to 2 1/2" which would cover the fender damage. After welding my sill back together, I chopped the sill so it was the same width as the rear crossmember (a couple of inches wider on each side than the factory sill), which would replace all the wasted metal with hardcore steel.

After drilling 9/16" holes in the new sill, flanged nuts were hammered in and welded in place. A couple of new access holes were cut into the bottom side of the bumper cuz the old access is now plated over. 

[Dooner]

All bolted up, just gotta finish welding the seams and making the curved fender braces. Real happy with the way it turned out, super solid. Next off, I need to get another angle grinder, and build the supports for the fuel cell. Was looking at options for plumbing the cell, using stainless steel braided hose, push on rubber hose and solid tube lines.

With as much line as Im gonna need between the front tank the fuel cell and out to the motor, I decided that regular fuel line would work best for me. I underestimated the amount of room it takes to make a 90 degree bend in tubing (bout 4") so Ill get some 8AN 90' female to 8AN male and then just run a straight flared line with an 8AN fem tube fitting to the cell.

[Dooner]

Fuel Cell is a great fit, leaving only about 3 1/2" or so above the floor of the cargo area. I still need to make a support cradle to secure the cell to the frame and reroute the tail pipe. I'm thinking about lining the bottom and the rear of the cell cradle with aluminum diamond plate for a little extra protection. I'm not too worried about smacking the bottom of the tank too much as its above the receiver hitch, but its probably worth it for the peace of mind.

With the cell mounted this low, ill be able to make a shelf that will sit across the rear wheel wells behind the back seat for camping gear. Before I dropped the tank through the floor it looked like we were going to have to either mount a shelf across the cage or make a roof rack to stow all of our gear. Either way, we would have had far less storage space than with the through the floor mounting. In all honesty, I kept imagining hitting a bump and all of our crap getting slung all over the trail, hopefully, this will work out better!

[Dooner]

Guess it's time for a little update
Got around to finishing the cradle for the fuel cell awhile back. Ended up making a simple angle iron frame for the cell to fit into. Support comes from the rear cross member, two inch wide 1/4" plate on the sides and 1" gusseted tubing in the front that is kinda formed into a "W", tieing to the Rear shock mount cross member. I was going for a Cruiseresque look for the cell hold down straps, so I picked up some 1/8" steel that is an inch wide, kinda like the stock tank straps. To further the Cruiser look, I picked up a roll of felt that will be cut into strips and be glued to the inner surface of straps. I think it will look cool and reduce rattling and wear on the aluminum fuel cell.  Gonna put some felt in the cradle too for the same reasons.

I ended up using 1/2 inch fuel line to 8AN fuel fittings on the cell. My plan is to use the stock tank to fill the Cell through the return port via an electric fuel pump with an inline fuel filter. Some adaptation is gonna have to take place in this mix as the stock 40 fuel line is way smaller than 1/2". I can always neck the size down with adapters on the fuel pump.

Im planning to run the Roll Over Vent line up from the frame, through the fenderwell and up inside the "C" pillar on the roll cage, where it will dump into a catch can on the opposite side of the tub.

The fuel line from the Fuel Cell to the mechanical pump on the 327 will have another filter inline, and will have to be necked down once again to make the hook up.

Anyways, check out the pics of what I have so far and feel free to lend any advice that you may have

[Dooner]

 

[Dooner]

Man that was kinda fuzzy, heres another one

[Dooner]

Heres one with the rear seat tumbled down in place

[fj-rankenstein]

looking really good!!   

[Hammerhead]

Very nice!  Keep up the good work!

[Dooner]

Thanks guys!
Once I get the fuel lines fitted, ill be able to get the ol Cruiser fired up finally.

I was checking out Rank's brake lines and that got me thinking about the lines on my rig. I did the lines some time back, using a combination of new and old lines. Of course the lines that had the factory flares on them worked like a charm, but the ones I flared.. well that was another story I used the splitter that came on the IFS rear end, with one of Marlin's Mil Spec extended flex lines up to the rear cross member. The rear line runs up along the passenger side frame rail to the FJ80 master cyl. The front line is run down the driver side frame rail to the FJ40 splitter which is mounted under the radiator. The front lines then leave the front splitter, traveling down the frame horns where they hook up to more of Marlins ext flex lines and then to the short stub lines that go to the calipers

[Dooner]

In the pic above, you are looking at the rear end through the fuel cell cradle. Its kinda hard to see whats going on in there so I knocked out a paint rendition cuz I was feeling creative!