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

[yoshaleng]

Looking good so far, keep it coming...

[fj-rankenstein]

today was "buy the consumables day".  it was oxygen for the torch and gas for the mig..    prices must have gone downa  bit or something..  i was a good 40 bucks cheaper than last time..  :?:

anyways, i got back to work on the cruiser for a few hours this afternoon and got most of the back end done now..    i made new shock mounting brackets and cleaned up the frame quite a bit back there..  i am quite happy with how things are turning out..

i started off by making these.. its just a half inch bolt welded on the back side of a 2x2 piece of square tubing cut in half..

[fj-rankenstein]

pretty quiet around these parts of the forum lately...    

anyways,

i basically got the back end mostly welded up and cleaned up..  i got rid of all the ebrake stuff as well off the rear diff as i am planning to go with a t-case ebrake that i will build myself with parts from AllPro offroad..  

almost ready for a coat of black paint once i get the old cross member frame holes filled in with some caps..  

here are some more pics that look like the last pics that i posted up but just slightly more finished.... (i sure like posting pics..   )

[unclejpl4x4]

dam that hot * sizzle

[Dooner]

Very nice! I like your approach to building, super strong and elegantly simple!

[RN37DD]

Looks great.   Wish I was doing some work on my suspension. Right now I'm just fixing things as they act like they're going to fail. I'm still totally amazed by how far you can go on a worn out Toyota part.   How long are the shackle your using. I need to squeeze some taller tires under my stock suspension.  

[fj-rankenstein]

had a few good hours in the garage and got some more stuff done..   

tonight was brake line night..   i took the landcruiser 60 series brake line splitter that was attatched to the vent on the axle and slightly modded it so it could bolt to the top of the pumpkin on the axle housing.. i did this for both the front and rear axle.

i also welded little mounting bolts for my brake lines to hook up to and then started to run the brake lines from the engine bay to the rear..

i also got most of the frame all cleaned up and ready for paint..  i really want the back end of the truck done and most of the front end done by the end of the weekend...  after that, its front shock hoops, battery trays and seat mounts...  that should take care of all the big fabrication..   just wiring and then its go time!!

here are the pics..


here is the last of the cross members to get welded in..  i still have to lift the cab to weld the top side a litle better but i am quite happy with how it turned out..


here are the brake line splitters i used..  one is still on the axle waiting to be removed and cleaned up still.


just a little trim off the bottom and its ready to get bolted on at its new location on top of the pumpkin..


front brake line splitter..  originally there was a 3 way splitter and a 2 way splitter on the little bracket.. i cut off the 3 way splitter and welded another 2 way splitter on..  there was two really good locations to bolt this assembly onto  the backside of the frame..


routing brake lines...


and more routing..

[fj-rankenstein]

after several unforseen things today i finally made it out to the garage at around 3 or so..  i forgot to buy a wire wheel, brake line clips, fuel line and a few other odds and ends..  all has been bought and i have been givin'r all day.. 

i figured that i should stop the abuse and actually fix the box and body of my truck sinse i still have it all apart at the moment..  i spent a good chunk of the day repairing the stress cracks all along the front and side of the box..  i am tired of looking at them and figured that i should fix them before they get any worse..  i also straightened out my tailgate, bent back the front panel of my box and hammered out any dents that were bad.... i dont remeber how the box got soooo beat up but its definitelly getting better now..

i also have the cab lifted off the frame at the moment so i can finish welding the top side of my new cross member under the cab..  i am quite happy with it..  i am also making an effort to weld most of the seam of the frame to stiffen it up some more..  i will be ready to prime the back half of the frame and rear axle tomorrow!!!

i am also making a list of what needs to be bought in the next few months..   i almost hate making lists with how much everything costs because it makes a person realize how much a person spends on their truck(s)...   

cab lifted up a bit to get at the final bit of welding i need to do on the back of the frame.


pic of the box getting welded up.. stitching everything so nothing warps!!


more stitching..  the box has definitelly seen better days..

[fj-rankenstein]

finally a little bit of progress.. i ahave been out for the last few days with a headcold...

i finally got the frame primed and painted with the second topcoat of black on today..  i decided to go with some 2 part primer that was donated to the cause that worked awesome and then topcoated it with black semi-gloss Tremclad..  i am extremely happy with how it turned out.. the frame is only painted from the shackles of the front springs to the back.. when i am done everything up front, i will finish painting everything up there..  i had to get the frame rails painted so i could run my fuel, electrical and brake lines to the back.

i also did some more welding to the box and got primer and two coats of black on where it needed it.. it is ready to put back on now once the frame stuff is done..

the back brake drums were completely toast on this.. in fact, i have never seen a rear drum so bad that a good protion of it had rusted away..   the internals were all good but needed a good cleaning up to get everything, including the brake adjusted to move again..  i have about 75 percent brake shoe life left so this will be plenty till i upgrade the rear with disc brakes..

because i got rid of the axle ebrakes out of each drum i had to figure out a good way to get an ebrake back onto this truck again..  i am going to build an ebrake using parts from all-pro offroad.  sinse i have a bought park brake for my other truck i am basically going to reverse engineer it to work on a cruiser splitcase transfercase. (hey!! i can go work for trailgear now!!  :lol: )  i had bought the disc and caliper a few years ago as spares but they just found a new home..
i actually had the disc on a minitruck tcase flange already so i had to cut it off and clean it up a bit before i could use it for the cruiser.. 
i started with removing the dust cover off of the flange and then pressed the studs out..  from there i took the park brake disc and took some material out of the center till it fit well onto the backside of the tcase flange..  if i had a metal lathe i would have been able to properly machine out the center to get a perfect fit onto the back side of the tcase flange but i had to settle for a die grinder and taking off little bits at a time till it fit onto the flange..  i then made sure it was center by taking a measurment from the inside of the flange to the outside of the disc..  turns out the measurement ended up being exactly 3 inched all around!!  thats an easy number to work with..  i then clamped it and wleded the disc to the flange..  i welded it becausei have no other way to hold the disc to the flange being that the driveshaft bolts werent long enough to go through both and then still have enough threads to hold a driveshaft on..i am not done the disc yet but i will throw a few picks up of where i am with it..




i am super happy with how ebrake is going to turn out..
here are the pics..

frame all primed up..


more primed frame


painted semi-gloss black


back of the box all repaired and almost done being painted


newer drum till i get my disc brakes on


old drums almost returned to the soil


beginning of my park brake


getting ready for welding


backside of the disc of driveshaft bolts going through


seeing what it looks like with the dust shield in place

[Dooner]

Man that E brake is gonna be trick!

[fj-rankenstein]

it was a pretty good weekend over all..  the front axle is now in place and bolted in, the shock hoops turned out super great and i made a start in building my battery trays....  i still am not sure how i am going to mount them yet..  i want to build a removable bracket on each shock hoop to put a battery on each side of the truck.. room is oddly a bit tight though..  i probably just need to plan a little better with how everything is going to fit..  indeed tight like a tiger..  i also want to have my york compressor somewhere on the right side of the engine..

here are some pics from earlier....


this is just mocking up the left side shock hoop to see how it looks.


here is the right side ready for welding


and here is the almighty interferance check with the shocks..  i am inches and inches away from anything at this point.. we checked with the wheel turned all the way both ways as well to make sure..

[baxter650]

Really like this truck, how much lift you got on the springs?

[fj-rankenstein]

Really like this truck, how much lift you got on the springs?

almost nothing..  i gave them a quick re-arch right before i put them on but after the first run they are going to go completely flat again..  which is perfect for a sprung over cruiser..  right now there is mabey about an inch of lift in those springs..  i have got lucky with the last two spring overs that i did where i didnt have to cut and turn the front axle  because of how flat the springs are.. i will get away with it on this truck as well..

[Dooner]

Clean work! I was planning to leave my fender skirts out, but after seeing how you did yours, I'm reconsidering, lucky I didnt chuck them.. I just noticed how well lit your work area is, makes me look like I'm working with a candle!

[fj-rankenstein]

thanks!!    the lighting was one of the best things that i have ever done..  i bought one of the brightest and whitest t8 bulbs that you can buy along with decent ballasts and i cant believe how dark it was in there before hand..  painting the walls and roof white also helped a lot..

this place seems quite dead lately.   

anyways.. here are a bunch of pics from the last couple of weeks...

i got the battery trays mounted and some other stuff in place...


how come its always the little things that seem to take so long to build..








i also had a bunch of re-wiring to do.. i got most of the bj60 harness all weeded out and the circuits that i want to use which are the edic motor, charging and glowplug circuit.. i will further weed this down to make it easy to install into the original 40 series cruiser harness..

[theslayer85]

This is a sweet rig.  I have always loved the fj-45's and have only seen a handfull around, and all but one were sitting in a yard or a shop.  I may have missed this but is this the same landcruser from your avitar?  Are you rebuilding it or this is the build to get it to the point it is on you avitar? 

[fj-rankenstein]

This is a sweet rig.  I have always loved the fj-45's and have only seen a handfull around, and all but one were sitting in a yard or a shop.  I may have missed this but is this the same landcruser from your avitar?  Are you rebuilding it or this is the build to get it to the point it is on you avitar?  

Thanks!!    this is indeed the truck in my avatar..  a few years ago i ended up bending the frame and blowing the 2f engine headgasket all within the same month so i took it as an oportunity to install the entire body on a Canadian diesel bj-60 series cruiser rolling chasis..  its going to look a little different again this time but it usually does after every rebuild..

[awhotrods]

Sweet build!!  How's everything coming along?

[fj-rankenstein]

its definitelly coming along...    i ordered my longs, 4x4 labs steering, psc power steering fittings, and a few other goodies that came to about 2400 bucks..  i have been busting my butt to get this done by hopefully the first or second week into june..   i am going to the Black Hills Cruiser classic as a shakedown run for the truck and then it will be seeing the Marlin roundup this september..    i wont be doing anything too hardcore at either trip but i definitellly want to get my feet wet again..    it been years sinse i have had time to drive a serious wheeler so i am pretty amped up to get this truck going again..  i have a few vids to post up..  there has been tons of progress but i stopped posting here due to lack of interest and figured i would just post the big updates..   

anyways, in vid one is one of the first times getting the truck to run with the key switch..  i had to completely take apart the harness and re-route the starter and alternator stuff to opposite sides of the harness as well as adding and subtracting a few odds and ends..  i also beefed up the main power wires in the harness so anything else i put into the electrical system will be handled with ease...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSbWd3aW8aY

vid two was after i got my onboard air compressor attatched to the engine and working..  this is a york 210 compressor that puts out tons of cfms for the size..  i had this one on my 2f engine before the engine swap to the 3b diesel..   i was feeling a bit goofy and am horrible at making movies so i threw this together in about 10 minutes..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbhtnHIgDmQ

[THK Matt]

Very nice, i am becoming pretty fond of these cruisers and yours sir is one of my favorites. your builds inspire me.

[locked 4x4]

this thing is awesome.  Im watching now.

[Dooner]

Diggin the On board air video Theres just nothing like the feeling you get when something works out the way you want it! Here's to the little victories that keep you going   Congrats Bro on your progress, I bet you'll be driving that thing by the end of the week. Hopefully, I can check your rig out at the Roundup, If I can get my Croozer dialed in by then, Im gonna try to throw in with the Central Valley Group.

[toyotech]

looks good. love how you have made almost everything yourself

[fj-rankenstein]

thanks guys!!  i try to build absolutely everything myself if i can..  if anything, it gives me the excuse to buy the proper tool to do the job..  tools....  love buying tools.. 

i will just throw up a bunch of pics of what i have been up to..   i have some exhaust pics, onboard air pics and some steering arm stuff..
enjoy..

exhaust hanger bracket i made from a piece of 2x3 box steel


exhaust downpipe from 1 7/8 to 2.5 inch exhaust


under the oil pan and exiting to the drivers side..


going to a flexpipe so nothing cracks..


the muffler and exhaust out to the back


nom nom nom 4x4 labs six stud arms


onboard air bracket








the belt is one i had laying around from a 22r engine for the alternator..


these longs are almost too nice to have hidden in an axle!!

[toyotech]

love buying tools myself. wish i had your skills today but im still learning and buying the tools to start. oba should be nice. fills up tires quick too

[fj-rankenstein]

love buying tools myself. wish i had your skills today but im still learning and buying the tools to start. oba should be nice. fills up tires quick too

all i can say is that if building vehicles is going to be your primary hobby than buy the best tools that you can afford..  i found over the years that when you buy cheap, you get cheap and nothing is more frustrating than dealing with a broken tool on a sunday night and there is no way to get it fixed or replaced.
i had this very compressor on my truck when it was the 2f in there and it would fill my 8 gallon air tank mounted under the bed and fill the system to 150 psi in about 45-55 seconds..    definitelly one of those things that you dont think you will ever need or use till you have it and now i use it all the time..

[toyotech]

dont plan on doing any crazy builds, just like to be able to do all the work myself. doing it yourself, you seem to do a better job since its yours and you care more. i just like the fact that i can weld some sliders on if i need to, or make some flip bolt kit. maybe some plated bumpers. materials are faiirly cheap but its the labor that makes buying products expensive. if i can save money and do the labor myself. i can buy more things lol. i just work on cars for a living but since i got into 4x4, i have been trying to do everything myself. guess im anal bout how things are done haha

[the dude]

one of my fav builds ever!

[Dooner]

Was checking out your pics of your lastest parts haul. Man them 4x4 labs steering arms are beef! Now I see what you meant when comparing them to others out there. What's the story on Croozer hub gears when running Longs, I know they won't warranty the Mini truck birfs unless you run Longs hub gears as well?

[fj-rankenstein]

Was checking out your pics of your lastest parts haul. Man them 4x4 labs steering arms are beef! Now I see what you meant when comparing them to others out there. What's the story on Croozer hub gears when running Longs, I know they won't warranty the Mini truck birfs unless you run Longs hub gears as well?

same thing.. if you strip the splines on the long because you didnt get the long hub gears there is no warranty..