EL GUAPO The Handsome FJ Cruiser

[steele42]

This is my first 1.55 build. I've always envied heinie_21's FJ cruisers, so I decided I want in on the action. This rig started out as a dingo, then when I got it in a trade it was a 2 door jeep.



Steele42's 2dr Jeep Wrangler rebuild (going for a change...)



Then it changed into a bobbed hilux



This is Bob.....


Now it is an FJ Cruiser. The Nikko FJ Cruiser is very easy on the eyes, hence the EL GUAPO title. Well this FJ Cruiser is already built, so now I am going to show you what I did.

Heinie_21 was kind enough to pick this Nikko FJ Cruiser up for me. And then he was nice enough to let me take it and not hold it captive . So starts my build....

Heinie had also made a recent RPP order so I had him throw in some 1.55 tires and rims since I didn't already have some. Decided to go with the Rock Crushers and RC4WD beadlocks. A little mock up in hopes that I wouldn't have to trim the wheel wells out. These are the smallest tires I've had, yet they are still 37's .



Put the tires on and set the body to see how the axle width was. Didn't want to have to drop another couple bills for new axles, so I'm glad the TREX60's I already had fit just right




Next thing was to adjust my wheelbase. I had gone from the short 2 door jeep, to the long hilux, now back down to an SUV wheelbase.




It was hard to figure out the exact wheelbase because the body wouldn't go down over the long frame rails


Time to modify


Once the body could clear the frame rails, the next job was to figure out a way to attach the body. I noticed the sides of the body pretty well lined up with the modified stock rock sliders so I pulled out the drill and made the commitment. I wasn't too excited about putting holes in the body, but the black screws cover them up and its mounted SOLID. I considered the whole velcro method, but I like this better.




Once the body was attached and positioned where it was going to stay, I decided to shorten the front links another 1/8" to make the front tires where I want them in the wheel wells. Mounted up the spare, hooked my servo back up, and did some test runs.




I LOVE how this FJ Cruiser is turning out. I just can't take my eyes off it! It followed me to breakfast


And to work


It's making it really hard to focus! I can't stop taking pictures of it....








It's amazing that this.....


Could end up looking like this


Still to come: Wheel wells, hook the lights up, and mount my accessories on the roof rack.

[RootBreaker]

speechless....

[heinie_21]

Originally Posted by steele42

Still to come: Wheel wells, hook the lights up, and mount my accessories on the roof rack.

Still to come: play cars this week with your best bro that totally hooked you up with a nikko FJ

Tryin to finish my FJ up tonight or tomorrow, cuz after that it's gonna be crazy round herrr. see you soon bro!

BTW i know i've told you this already, but that FJ LOOKS FRACKING AWESOME!!!!!! Very well done!

[heinie_21]

need to peel off the "NIKKO" sticker though

[steele42]

Originally Posted by RootBreaker

speechless....

Thats why there's more pictures than words. This rig speaks for itself

Originally Posted by heinie_21

Still to come: play cars this week with your best bro that totally hooked you up with a nikko FJ

Tryin to finish my FJ up tonight or tomorrow, cuz after that it's gonna be crazy round herrr. see you soon bro!

BTW i know i've told you this already, but that FJ LOOKS FRACKING AWESOME!!!!!! Very well done!

Thanks and thanks! Get-r-done so we can do some "I'm thankful for rock crawling" rock crawling

[steele42]

Small, insignificant update. I had 2 ugly green links. Pulled them off and sanded them down to the bare aluminum. Some day when I'm bored or ambitious I'll pull all the links off and paint them black

[discgolferlee]

i was wondering during the yota build when the green would be gone. Looking good. Did you sell the yota body??

[steele42]

Originally Posted by discgolferlee

i was wondering during the yota build when the green would be gone. Looking good. Did you sell the yota body??

Ya they were way overdue. Put the yota body in the classifieds last night and it lasted a whole 10 minutes. I'll miss that yota Good thing I like this FJ Cruiser so much to help me get over it

[steele42]

Got my front wheel wells modified from the yota build to fit in the FJ body. Now I just need to eat more butter so I can make my rear wheel wells.

[heinie_21]

I can't believe it's not wheel wells

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[doc.hamilton]

Well it's past dinner... did you eat more butter?

Seriously this an awesome build - like how it followed you to work! That happens to me all the time. Lunch hour (or two) makes great trail time for me (not to mention stress relief).

Cheers, or should I say, G'day Mate!
Doc

[steele42]

Originally Posted by doc.hamilton

Well it's past dinner... did you eat more butter?

Seriously this an awesome build - like how it followed you to work! That happens to me all the time. Lunch hour (or two) makes great trail time for me (not to mention stress relief).

Cheers, or should I say, G'day Mate!
Doc

Thanks! I just wish I had more rocks at my work. I just get to stare at it ha ha.

So update for the night. I'm sure I'm not the first one to ever do this, but I must say I did think of it on my own. And after I did this I found similar things online that people use on RC airplanes. As I've been building I've noticed I don't take as many test runs as I would like after each modification becuase it takes so much effort to remove the body to plug the battery in, put the body back on, then remove it again to unplug the battery. The power swith on the ESC became useless as soon as I installed a BEC (because when you turn off the ESC the servo is still recieving power through the BEC, in case someone didn't already know that.) So since I went lipo and installed a BEC my power switch has just been to unplug the battery. It works, but can be difficult when your body is held on with 4 screws. So I thought to myself, "Self... Why not make a power switch at the battery instead of at the ESC." I happen to own a RadioShack, so while I was at work I looked through my selection of heavy duty switches and came across one I thought would work. And since I conveniently had EL GUAPO at work with me, I chose one that would fit in a spot I liked. So here's what I did:









Basically, all I did was creat a pigtail that would go between my battery deans and my ESC/BEC deans, and put the switch in the middle as a break. Disregard the color of my wires, it's all I had. Red doesn't necessarily mean positive and black doesn't necessarily mean negative. So what I did if you can tell, I took a wire from the positive side of the deans on the battery side and went to the switch, then with another wire from the switch to the positive side of the deans on the ESC/BEC side. Then the negative terminals on the deans plugs I just wired straight across. This way my in line switch will break the current throught the positive cable. Then I mounted it on the stock battery plate and poked the switch out the bottom where I can reach it easily, but it doesn't poke out where you can see it when the body is on. This way I can leave my battery plugged in and kill the power when I'm not running it. And if my switch ever gave me any troubles I could just bypass it and plug my batter straight into the ESC/BEC deans like before.

[heinie_21]

make me one!

[steele42]

Originally Posted by heinie_21

make me one!

OK! Bring down some deans and some wire if you have any and we'll make some tomorrow night. It was super easy.

[Oz Bruiser]

Hey mate nice FJ. I gota build in process but have limited time at the moment to do much I was wondering if you could tell me the lengths of your upper and lower links front and rear as a guide for me please if thats ok? If not is ok, ill work it out but as i seen your build i figured it cant hurt to ask.

Nice Switch

[heinie_21]

Originally Posted by Oz Bruiser

Hey mate nice FJ. I gota build in process but have limited time at the moment to do much I was wondering if you could tell me the lengths of your upper and lower links front and rear as a guide for me please if thats ok? If not is ok, ill work it out but as i seen your build i figured it cant hurt to ask.

Nice Switch

Don't tell him! He's got 3 fj bodies and won't sell me one the big meanie. ;)

Haha jk

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[Oz Bruiser]

Originally Posted by heinie_21

Don't tell him! He's got 3 fj bodies and won't sell me one the big meanie. ;)

Haha jk

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Now that's not nice....

1. New Bright on CC01 went out on a social run on Monday just gone.

2Nd. In a build... re questions above

3Rd if no use to 2nd. May be for sake. Depends on build 2. Heinie

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[steele42]

Originally Posted by Oz Bruiser

Hey mate nice FJ. I gota build in process but have limited time at the moment to do much I was wondering if you could tell me the lengths of your upper and lower links front and rear as a guide for me please if thats ok? If not is ok, ill work it out but as i seen your build i figured it cant hurt to ask.

Nice Switch

iIf heinie bring his handy dandy pink ruler to my place it might be easy to get a measurement for you. Otherwise it might be tough with the links installed on the rig. And my link length will only help you if you are building a Nikko FJ Cruiser on an SCX10 from with trex60 axles on their shortest mounting holes, 4 linked, and you mount the body all the way at the front of the frame rails and cut the back of the frame rails like I did. There's lots of things to determine link length. Also which rod ends you use. But I'll try to get an eye to eye measurement of each link for you.

[Oz Bruiser]

Hey mate I realise is different rig to rig. I've built my fair share. I was just asking as a guide for me from someone who has already done it.. If you can't , dont worry. When I have the time i will do myself.

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[steele42]

As i've been driving the FJ one thing I don't like is how much articulation it has. That is weird for me to say because with my class 2 rig its all about getting all the articulation you can. With this class 1 i'm going more for realism, and I didn't like how much the tires were stuffing and rubbing the wheel wells at full flex. So I started thinking. The shocks won't compress as much and force the tires into the wheel wells if I put my bump stops back on the shocks. Then Heinie gave me the idea to put internal bumpstops in the shock body to keep the shock from dropping all the way out.

Here is a shock with the bumpstop inside and outside.


In these next two pictures I have the right shock already modified. If you look at the rear frame brace for "level" you can see how much the left shock extends and compresses way more than the right one. This is what I wanted




I did this to all 4 shocks. Here is a flex shot before the modification. Still looks good, but a little too much flex than I am looking for.


And this picture is after my modification. Still decent flex but more realistic and what I was going for.