FJ-Cruiser CC-01 build time :D

[heinie_21]

Got a cc-01 in a trade recently. I was planning on extending the chassis for a tundra and making it my tow rig for my trailer/cralwer. couldn't get my hands on a tundra body. then a fj cruiser body came up, so... plans changed!

I am a huge fj cruiser fan. My family has had an FJ in our family since we bought it new in 1984. All 5 of my siblings drove it in their high-school years. since i'm the youngest in the family, I got to lift it and customize it when i was in high-school (wheels, bumper, mtr's.. etc). now it's mine . i LOVE it.


I'm obviously not replicating my 1:1. just posting a pic to explain why i love FJ's so much.

So here's what i got in a trade:
CC-01 chassis with Clod body. (clod body has since been traded for a tamiya YJ body for another build)
The chassis was pretty much complete (minus servo mount) has some metal lower links, aluminum a-arms, and i added ta-02 knuckles for a wider front stance.

IMAG0817 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0819 by heinie_21, on Flickr

opened up the axle to check things out. the cc-01 came to me all locked up front and rear. so i just wanted to see if everything was in ship-shape. there was a little dust in one side and one of the bearings had a little surface rust around the outer race. but other than that it looks good!

IMAG0937 by heinie_21, on Flickr


since the servo mount was MIA in the trade and i really wanted to drive it right away, i made a "trucho" one to hold me over. you can also see how i plan on mounting the body. the body posts are sticking out of the side of the chassis.

IMAG0946 by heinie_21, on Flickr


aluminum a-arms. ta-02 knuckles (the knuckles make it wider by like 0.25" on each side, but you have to trim the knuckle arms because they hit on the chubs.

IMAG0947 by heinie_21, on Flickr


I had to shorten the wheelbase substantially from the clod to the FJ body so the stock cc-01 driveshaft is a no-go. so i robbed a wraith shaft off one of my other rigs. it works perfectly and looks very nice! got some more wraith shafts on the way so this one will stay on here.
also decided to go with all-terrains instead of mud-terrains so i dont have so much road noise goin 70 down the freeway on the way to Moab
might switch back to the MT's though because they're on steelies and they would look good on the FJ.

IMAG0948 by heinie_21, on Flickr

[minijosh]

What no pics???

[SFC K]

Ok, I will bite? Are you ok on the other end? No pictures or nothing as far as information

[heinie_21]

haha sorry guys. i started the thread then had some other stuff come up. there are pics now.


got the body sitting on it's own
it's a new-bright toy-grade. got a proline roof-rack in a trade and threw on some scale accessories.

IMAG0944 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0943 by heinie_21, on Flickr



wish i had some 1.55 mud thrashers or dirt grabbers. they would LOOK better. i know they wouldn't give the clearance of these 1.9's, but scale-wise, 38" all terrains on a fj-cruiser.. a little big IMO. if anybody wants to swap 1.9 wheels/tires for 1.55's LMK

[heinie_21]

made a "wedge" to test her out with. the cc-01 keeps surprising me! i wouldn't not have ever bet it would climb the things it does! It's the little chassis that could!

IMAG0957 by heinie_21, on Flickr

[minijosh]

I like what I see now.

[AKbash57]

Wow it looks great!! So this is the build you were talking about on my SCX10 FJ build. I love it bro

I'm thinking about getting a CC01 chassis as well....250 for a RTR Pajero at my LHS...thinking about putting an FJ Cruiser body on it as well...That way I'll have a scale FJ and a modded FJ...

How's the CC01 chassis though? trailing? crawling? etc?

[heinie_21]

thanks guys! this thing has been way fun! i was kinda amazed at how easy it was to get the fj to work with the cc-01. I'm currently painting it as we speak btw. pics soon.

that would be way sweet to have a performer and a scaler. ive actually thought about getting another fj body to put on one of my scx-10's but i dont think i will. i'm still loving my xj and am planning to build either a new-bright jk or a hilux truggy on my other scx10.

as far as capability of the cc-01: if you lock it up front/rear, it will surprise you at what it will climb. the problem you will run into most with the cc-01 is steering slop and clearance (approach angle and high-center angle). but if the tires are touching the surface, it will climb it! it has been blowing my mind! very pleased.

[heinie_21]

I took the cc-01 to my brothers house in boise last weekend. He has a neat rock waterfall in his yard. I had fun (and funny enough, my brother has a 1:1 2007 yellow fj-cruiser. his little kids were so excited to see a "mini daddy's car!" they all pretended they were sitting it and going camping while i had a blast driving it up his waterfal. first time driving it outside actually)

IMAG0971 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0974 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0976 by heinie_21, on Flickr: yeah, it climbed that! ^^

IMAG0977 by heinie_21, on Flickr

it was my first time really running any crawler in water. i've waterproofed most of my components already, but my RX never was. so just in case, i rigged up a zip-loc bag/zip-tie waterproofing system. and velcroed it to the roof of the body for extra measure (just to hold me over for the weekend away from home)

IMAG0987 by heinie_21, on Flickr

Here it is next to scx-10's. (you can kinda see how i put scx-10 rear shocks on the cc-01. they're under 90% droop with inner springs from ballpoint pens haha.

IMAG0990 by heinie_21, on Flickr

[heinie_21]

time for LIGHTS!!!!!!

tail-lights

IMAG0994 by heinie_21, on Flickr

headlights

IMAG0995 by heinie_21, on Flickr

more headlights!

IMAG0997 by heinie_21, on Flickr

i glued some gussets on the inside of my new-bright plastic bummpers. these bumpers are pretty brittle. (dont let your 6 year old nephew drive your crawler) anybody know someone who can build me a metal or delrin bumper like this one?

IMAG0996 by heinie_21, on Flickr

[heinie_21]

two paint color options:
A:

IMAG1002 by heinie_21, on Flickr

or

B:

IMAG1003 by heinie_21, on Flickr
and if the red looks pink.. ignore that. it's supposed to be red like my landcruiser (first post)

[heinie_21]

got 'er completely stripped down and ready for masks/paint

IMAG1004 by heinie_21, on Flickr

[AKbash57]

Very nice I'd go with the gray color if I was you! My brother does the same thing when I run my SCx10....he pretends we're inside or someone we know...and whenever I flip the truck he goes, "OMG!!! MY LEG IM STUCK! etc etc etc" lol...fun tho

[heinie_21]

probably gonna go grey, i agree. doesn't it look rugged?? red kinda seems "mall-crawler-ish" to me. but ive seen 1:1 red fj-cruisers that are red and they look real nice.

so whatever color i chose for the final color, i need to start with a paint that will bond to plastics (so it doesn't flake under stress). flat black primer coat.

IMAG1007 by heinie_21, on Flickr

then i will do a very thin coat of "rust" color. i like to do this to exterior paint jobs because it gives you a depth gauge on your scratches.

IMAG1008 by heinie_21, on Flickr

next layer is silver metallic

IMAG1009 by heinie_21, on Flickr

[heinie_21]

decided to go flat grey

IMAG1010 by heinie_21, on Flickr

right away i noticed a problem though. in my masking i forgot to paint the inside of the body. can't have that BRIGHT yellow shining through under the wheel wells!

FIX

IMAG1012 by heinie_21, on Flickr

much better!

IMAG1011 by heinie_21, on Flickr
lovin this color. these pics might more accuretly portrey the color. (it's very similar to the background of this forum actually! haha)

IMAG1013 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG1014 by heinie_21, on Flickr

i will re-assemble it all tomorrow. it's gettin late!

[heinie_21]

it might be time to switch to the mud thrashers on oem steelies. the black wheels just look sweet. or at least i will put the dirt grabbers on the oem steelies. i really like how the dirt grabbers look on the fj.

[SFC K]

Now we have something to see. Looks great! The only thing that looks a bit odd is the wheel base. It seem just a tad off in the in the front and rear. Maybe it is just the oversized tires that are making it look off.

The new color looks great. Post up some photos when it’s all back together…

[AKbash57]

aI like the black wheels on it much better Nice color choice too!

Are those the bumpe that comes with the body? I wanted a bumper that looked like that...couldn't find any so I went with a DH Fab lowrider honcho bumper V1....I dont know how it's going to fit but it'll be here tommorow..I'll figure it out...hmm.

[heinie_21]

Originally Posted by SFC K

Now we have something to see. Looks great! The only thing that looks a bit odd is the wheel base. It seem just a tad off in the in the front and rear. Maybe it is just the oversized tires that are making it look off.

The new color looks great. Post up some photos when it’s all back together…

youre right. i'm still playing with the WB. i need some more threaded rod before i can get it just right, but the last 2 pics are just the body sitting on tires.. not actually mounted to the chassis. but in earlier pics you can see the the rear tires (IMO) aren't quite far back enough. another 0.2" should do it.

[COLOR="rgb(245, 222, 179)"]the fronts might not look perfect, but they're right where they need to be for ZERO rub under full shock compression. when you flex it out, the front tires fit perfectly in the center of the front wheel-wells.
[/COLOR]

I like the black wheels on it much better Nice color choice too!

Are those the bumpe that comes with the body? I wanted a bumper that looked like that...couldn't find any so I went with a DH Fab lowrider honcho bumper V1....I dont know how it's going to fit but it'll be here tommorow..I'll figure it out...hmm.

those are the bumpers that came with the new-bright fj body. i really like the front bumper! the back one is bland. i like the stock rear bumper on yours better but oh well.

you will probably have to narrow down the DH fab bumper. i was in the same boat trying to pick a DH bumper, but decided to try and make this plastic one last as long as i can. i will probably end up filling it up with something to make it more solid. hot-glue maybe haha.


thanks for the compliments and suggestions guys!!

[heinie_21]

got it mounted up and drove it a bit! problem i found is that the battery pack i'm using to power the led's is weighing down the front end enough to where the front tires rub under full turn and deceleration. i wanted to keep the weight forward, but i might have to mount the battery pack further back or something.

i'm also in the process of swapping my dirt grabbers to the black steelies. i'm experimenting with a method i thought of to keep the tires filled with air instead of foam.

here's some pics:


IMAG0005 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0004 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0001 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0002 by heinie_21, on Flickr

IMAG0003 by heinie_21, on Flickr

lovin the new color

man i really need some 1.55 dirt grabbers