Project FJ-Rankenstein.. rebuilding a drivetrain, toybox and more...

[fj-rankenstein]

i drove down to Billings Montanna to pick up two fj80 rear full floater axles and then on the way home i picked up the rest of my order in Plentywood..    there is a place that accepts shipments for 5 bucks a package or 25 bucks a palet per week..     Plentywood is under 7 hours from where i am in Canada..   it is cheaper for me to drive down to the States, get a hotel for a few nights, pick up my stuff and drive back than it is to get this stuff shipped across the border..  doing some quick figuring, it would have been over 1000 bucks to get all 3 axles up to me not including the other shipping bills for the other stuff that i bought..     this way I was only out a couple hundred for gas, 180 in hotels and 40 bucks to have my stuff saved at the place for me to come pick it up..
   the only issue i had was dealing with the american border crossing guy..  he was a richard.. i was completely honest with him, very respectful and he still was a complete richard..   coming back to Canada was great though.. the guys there are usually high 5's, smiles and Kraft dinner..  (well, everything except the Kraft dinner part.. i made that up.. lol..)

[THK Matt]

Right on, looking forward to some updates. i was just seeing if you came down through northern idaho.

Sent from the HO KID network using Tapatalk 2

[Dooner]

Thats quite a pile of Bling! A Diamond housing is on my wish list but it wont happen for awhile.. I like what you did for your filler neck, I have a similar plan using a Cruiser filler neck chopped out of a rusty '40 that I found on Ebay for $30 a couple of years ago.. It'll be nice to be able to fill the tank with the top on. You cant imagine the looks I get at the gas station, lifting the hatch and pumping gas in!
Keep on keeping on, your a source of inspiration!

[fj-rankenstein]

thanks guys..

i had my old fuel filler pocket and door saved from when my truck was originally an fj40 but for the life of me I couldnt find either so i had to resort to making one.. 

time to update this thing...

got the fuel cell stuff done last week..  its nice to be in the garage full time again..  i still have to run lines to the fuel cell but i will know how that stuff will work once i get the drivetain cross members in place first.. 


here are even more pics of my fuel cell so you can see all of my dirty secrets on how not to build a fuel system..   :lol:

the fuel cell in place with all the goodies..


fuel suction pipe..  easy peezy with stainless hardware.. i am tired of all my rusting so i have been buying stainless for everything lately..


check out that fuel suction pipe doing its thing..


here is another from another angle.. hubba hubba..


everything got ripped apart and time for primer and paint..




here i am painting the fuel cell where the fuel cell cradle will be touching it for added corrosion protection sinse this will be driven on our salty saskatchewan streets..  i actually non absorbant closed cell foam with a plastic backing between the cell and cradle and hopefully not too much moisture will get caught betweent he two..


3 coats later..


all tucked up nice and tight with the box on..








  which brings me to where i am today.. got the entire engine bay gutted and am now ready to move the entire drivetrain back 3-4 inches.. 

[Dooner]

Thumbs up for an amazing rig! What was the motivating factor for moving the drivetrain back?

[fj-rankenstein]

Thumbs up for an amazing rig! What was the motivating factor for moving the drivetrain back?

thanks good sir...

when i put this body onto the 60 series rolling chasis i basically orientated the body to line up with the shifter hole in the tranny tunnel to make things easier..  that basically left very little room in the engine bay to squeeze my rad in between the front bib and the engine fan..    also at that point i wasnt planning on installing a turbo either so i wasnt concerned about the lack of space up front..... well, things changed and i put a turbo on and bought a nice new intercooler and now have no room to install it being that there is only about an inch of space between the bib and the front of the rad..
so long story short, i need to move everything back so i can get my intercooler up front and also make a bit of room to be able to get at my engine belts without cutting the crap out of my hands trying to get at them..

which leads me to the new update from tonight.....................

[fj-rankenstein]

ok day in the garage today..   

i didnt want to have to fight with the drivetrain so i came up with a way to at least hold the back half of the drivetrain still  and not twist around while i work with making new engine mounts..   i basically took my engine stand bracket that i used to mount the tranny onto my engine stand, unbolted it from the stand and made my drivetrain mount out of that and a bunch of used steel from my old welding cart..  i also welded a tab of steel on that i could get my jack under so that i can adjust the height of the drivetrain..  i made the drivetrain brace a bit shorter on purpose so that i had more options to adjust it when it was time..

i need to cut into the cab a little more to get that whole drivetrain mounted back about another 1/2 inch but than i should be good to make my new mounts and secure the drivetrain in its new spot..  i hope to have all this done this week so for the long weekend i can work on finishing up resealing my drivetrain, install a new rear crank seal and clutch and assemble the drivetrain in its spot for the final time..   after all that than will be mounting the rad and the rest of the engine bay stuff..

here are some pics..

here is the drivetrain moved back 2.5 inches..  it looks a bit tight in the pic where the exhaust and the coolant lines are but there is still plenty of room..


here you can see the white line i put on the frame rail from where the engine mount was originally to where it is at the moment..  still another half inch back to go..


it looks tight but there is still lots of room..


here is the drivetrain brace that i made..


and perhaps a bit better view..

[fj-rankenstein]

ok.. so the drivetrain is exactly back 3 inches from where it started and down about an inch..   this should give me more than enough room to put my intercooler up front and still have room to get at all of my engine belts without cutting and scratching the crap out of my hands..

i got the engine mounts all done and mounted last night..  today is transmission mounts and then radiator..

here are some pics of the engine mounts and stuff..

here is the engine mount of the drivers side of the truck..  it has been broken for a long time although i didnt really know it..  it fell apart in two when i removed the whole mount from the frame..


here is the start of the new engine mounts..i just took an original short drivers side mount, tacked it to some 3/8" steel and made a couple of copies..


two of these made to order..


you can see that those plates that i made in the pic above then got a hole saw taken to them so i can weld the tube for the mounts on both sides..   also, the bushed dom and link tabs are from Ruffstuff specialties.. the tube is 1/4"wall  1 3/4" od tubing and the plates that get bolted to the block are 3/8" plate..


here is the engine mount from the backside.. also, you will see the beginning of the fishplate that the engine mount tabs will be welded to..


everything ready to get cleaned up..


and the right side is in and done.. time to burn them in place for good and for some paint.


and more of the same with the left side..


and all welded up..


the fish plates are only tacked into place on the frame just in case i have to move anything or make any tweaks but the engine is sitting on its own...

[Wainiha]

Nice welds on those mounts.

[fj-rankenstein]

 I got the tranny support all done and it too is now tacked into place holding the drivetrain up..  the rad brackets will need some minor tweaking so that will go quick too.. i am using my day off on Tuesday to find a lower rad hose for this truck...   
    I decided to start working on the axles being that this is the next big job to tackle..  i think i should have them in over the next couple of weeks and done..  i am leaving the arb's for now being that i dont have time.. i have 60 days to get this truck done and that will leave me a few weeks to test and tune again before out trip down to the Rubicon..   
     actually, this all may go down one of two ways..   i will know where i am for sure in two weeks..  I told my wife that will know if I will be ready for june and if not than we will reschedule our hollidays and go to the Marlin Crawler Roundup again in September..  this will leave the Black hills cruiser classic for July for a shakedown run..

anyways, so back to the axles..  my rear full floater axles are going to become really hard to get to in the next few days being that i have nothing but a mud pit around the entire house and its starting to get a little mucky..  this was encouragement to get at least one out and start stripping it down to get it into the truck..  i should have the one under the truck out tomorrow and the other one stripped and ready to throw under probably tomorrow as well...  i am hoping by mid to late week to have the front ready to take apart to.. 
i am completely motivated right now and am really enjoying this at the moment..   actually what i think is making this all easier is buying pre-made tabs and brackets from vendors.. yes, it does add to the cost of everything but does it ever save me time..  this all being said i have an order both coming from Ruffstuff and Tmr this week with a bunch of brackets, tabs and floor plates for roll cages and such..!!  Wow.. too much typing.. not enough pics..  you guys get too many pics from me..


here is the start of the tranny cross member..


after everything got tacked into place under the truck it was time to pull everything out and do the final welding on the bench..


tada.. all welded up...


and ready now to put back under the truck..


here is what everything looks like in the cab.. its a funny thing where i lowered the drivertain and moved it back 3 inches but it sure sticks up in the cab way more than before..  i dont get it..


and a shot from under..


and one more...

[fj-rankenstein]

got the 80 series full floater in the garage..  even with the plasma cutter it still took over an hour to cut off all of those brackets and stuff!   there is quite a bit to cut off..  i should have it under the truck today..








here is a side profile of what the truck looks like now with the 60 series axles under a 40 series body..  these axles also have 1.5 inch wheel spacers on them to give another 3 inches of width..    i should expect to stick out another 1.25 inches on each side using the 80 series axles...


and the good ole' dodge perches..  they can be bought from anywhere in the 10-14 dollar range for a pair..



and here is the diff all stripped apart in my truck..    the auzzie locker that came out is in excellent shape still...  it will go back into the new diff..
i cant wait to get rid of the semi floater diff and have a full floater in there..


and getting the full floater diff stripped apart..  all i have to do is remove the vent line out of the tube area, fill it in with weld and drill and tap a new place for the vent line to be on top of the pumpkin..

[fj-rankenstein]

  the rear diff officially left my truck last night and is sitting on the floor but then i got bogged down with some detail stuff and lack of parts to put spring back together but i am going shopping today to get some parts...    i have to put some newer spring back into this truck.. the old one are pretty shot..   the springs are half worn into the next spring above and it only a matter of time before they break and leave me stranded..

here are the newer spring packs ..i have a few leafs to remove unless i want to be 5 inches taller..


and here is how the truck sits without any weight in the rear.. when we were at the Rubicon completely loaded up the spring were inverted..  now that i have the fuel cell back there as well plus being loaded up those springs wont stand a chance...


and here is mostly why i am changing them.. they are officially tired and worn out..

[AaronB]

looking good, nice work.

[fj-rankenstein]

thanks sir..

lots of stuff happening..  just a brief description and i will let the pics do the talking..


new to me springs installed and axle atached..


check out the arch in those springs..


here is a side profile shot..  i am very happy how this is turning out so far

[fj-rankenstein]

here is a video of my el' cheapo new grinder that only last less than 10 minutes of use..  even with the garage door open it made a heck of a stink..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1a5-vByTOY


here is the new diff on the welding table getting prepped to get cut up a bit..


and we begin to cut up the 1000 dollar diff housing..  fun..


here is everything all where it would need to go..


here is the beginning of the new spring perch


i think its going to work better if i put the bolt coming through the bottom upwards rather than having the nut on the bottom..

[fj-rankenstein]

here are some pics of the front diamond axle ..  I still have to do all the finish welding and such on it but its more or less the way it is going to sit..   if anyone is thinking about pulling the trigger on on of these diffs i would totally recommend it..  they are a beautiful piece of work and was built to exactly what i want.. well worth the money so far..





and this is the reason why i built a mobile hydro bender..  it works well in a crowded garage and can position it so i can work where ever..


here are some fancy new shock hoops..


and a front view of the truck for no particular reason


starting to mock up some shock hoops.. wheels are on for now..

[fj-rankenstein]

i decided to try something different this time and will lean the shock hoops out a little more than usual..  i gained a bit of width so i have room to do it..  pictures will tell the story..

here are some fancy tabs and stuff that i have been using from tmr customs here in Canada and the square plates are from Ruffstuff specialties i believe only because TMR doesnt make them..   i dont remember anymore..   :roll:


here is a front shot to see the shock and shock hoops... i stuck the front end in the air again using my engine hoist and everything looks to clear ok..


another view


and with some fenders on.. i cut out the inner fender skirts for now till i know how i want everything built in the engine compartment.. its easier this way..

[fj-rankenstein]

here is the start of some battery trays..  i will try this arrangement because pretty much nothing else fits..






i cut out a fill in piece for the fuel filler that i cut out.. i have to get this tig welded.. i cant do vertical position tig welding without making it look like throwup so i need someone to help me with this one..


overall i am kind of happy with it.. i dont know what else to do so it will have to do..   i guess i should be happy that i ended up getting both batteries on this side of the truck like i had wanted..  yay..  :roll:


and a little side boob shot..

[fj-rankenstein]

the egine bay is finally almost done..  i got all of the turbo and intercooler system mostly done yesterday..  today and i going to get my psc power steering done and then i can tear everything apart, finish welding anything that wasnt quite finished and then do some painting..

first I started by making this..  go to pirate offroad or just google "bending tube 101" ..  its a great and simple way to get started bending tube.. you have to make one of these though for every tube die that you have..


and then because i didnt buy any of these flanges for a 1.5 inch tube i had to make them..  this stuff seems to take so much time to make..  the wedges are just 1x1 square tubing cut on the diaganal..


and here is just mocking up the tube to make sure i bent it right..  so far so good..


after putting my flanges on in the truck i took the tie bar back out to do some finish welding on it..


here is the other end all finished getting welded..



and here is the bottom of the intercooler..  i just took some washers and welded them to some rod and then welded a power steering cooler bracket to that as well..  the bottom bracket doesnt need to be structual or even very strong.. its just got to keep the intercooler from flopping around..


here is the start of all the intercooler and piping..  i am quite happy with how it turned out..  there will be more than enough room at some point to make a custom intake filter housing..


and another shot from the same side..






and here is the start of the psc power steering pump..  I actually rough cut all the brackets last year so it will help to get this part of the work done more quick..

[THK Matt]

looks really good dude. man its finally seeing an end in sight.

[Bazzi]

This looks good.... subscribed

[suprawheeler]

Looking sweet

[unclejpl4x4]

why cant my welds look like that     This thread never ceases to amaze me

[Wainiha]

^Darn right!

[fj-rankenstein]

thanks for all the great comments guys.. 

its been a while but i am back at it again... With the Marlin Round-up date just freshly announced i figured that things need to get going again..   this year the wife and i are planning on driving this cruiser 36 hours to come back to the Rubicon..   we had such a great time last time and met so many good people...   

this is all from about two weeks ago...  i am making an attempt to get the cruiser a bit lower but still have a little bit of arch in the springs..    i ended up making some new spring perches with the plasma cutter and got about a half inch lower rather than using the dodge perches..   plus i made them a bit longer too...   

most things are almost done being mocked up on the truck.. a lot of stuff is just waiting for final welding..       i also started doing a lot of extra tube work to protect the body and still need to bend a main hoop for the roll cage...

here are a few pics...

i whipped these up with the plasma cutter...



and here is the difference comparing the dodge perches and the ones that i made..  mine are 1/2" lower, 8" long and the dodge ones are taller and only 6" long...

[fj-rankenstein]

the ole' hydraulic bender in action bending 2 inch hrew...



and here is the start of the body protection...



i got lucky with this first one.. i managed to bend it bang on..   hopfully the rest will work as well..  tubing is expensive...

[fj-rankenstein]

big update..    i have been slacking on my forum updates...


so its been basically tubing tubing and more tubing over the last couple of weeks..   i went from pretty much never using my tube bender to using it almost every day..  its been a really great tool to own..   i am starting to feel a bit more confident doing multi plane bends also..

i am just gonna post lots of pics..

these are the start of rear fender protection..



the notcher has been a great tool..





















the start of the rear roll bar hoop..












thanks BenP for the tig welding time...

[Wainiha]

Tube work looks good. 

[fj-rankenstein]

ok.. big update...

I have been working on the floor and tranny tunnel for a while now..  there was quite a bit of modifying to do to make everything fit nicely around the new drivetrain...   I had to also make a new under floor brace too being that the last one had to be cut out ...



and here is a pic of re-skinning the floor...



Next was the tranny tunnel..  this was a big pain in the butt to make.. i am quite happy with the results so far though.. along the way i have also learned how to tig weld somewhat... thanks to BenP for all the help and suggestions on that..    here are pics of the start of the tranny tunnel..



and a big thanks to Brad for letting me borrow his home made metal brake..  this thing bends a full 19 inches of whatever size aluminum sheet i want and does a nice job.    this is on the list of things to make once i have some time again.. i really made use of this to build the tunnnel..





and here is where i am today... almost done!!

[theslayer85]

I am always impressed.  The trans tunnel looks good.