Project 8-Ball - 2.2 Trail (Class 3) FJ40 for 2015

[dna4engr]

Dang, this is lookin great! Kind of like something I would build. Good call on the winch spool. I need to do the same with mine....now where did those counterbore bits go....

Thanks Sam. You may recognize a couple of the shocks. They're the modded big bores I got from you.



Got her running tonight. We have an indoor gtg on Sunday. My buddy orange58crush has an obstacle course in his garage that we get to play on in the winter.

All the electronics are in and wired. It is amazingly difficult to package all this under the hood of an fj40.

Mmp
4s 2200 pack
Rx
Bec
Heyok light controller
Tekin fxr w/ 4s cap for the winch
Kms winch

All waterproofed and secured.

Doesn't look pretty but this is as good as I could get it.

My yeti kit showed up so it's been taking some time but I will have this thing ready to go for Sunday.


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[Ballistic17]

Wow. That is stuffed in there. "thumbsup"

 

[SuperDrty]

This thing is looking awesome Dana, can't wait to see it tomorrow!

 

[dna4engr]

Buttoning up a few details so I can run it at the snow crawl Sunday.

I'm trying magnets to hold the front clip on. We'll see how they work.

Took an abrasive pad on my drill and "brushed" the aluminum panels. Still haven't decided if they are staying raw or getting painted.

Vanquish Ackerman steering rod showed up today. The standard vanquish steering link is too long to use with the dlux knuckles. The Ackerman just fits about perfect.

Here's some poser shots as she sits for tomorrow's event. I still have a bunch of detail work to do but it's looking good.

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[dna4engr]

Working on some more details.

Time to skin the 1/2 doors. I bought some canvas and cut a template with some paper then just transferred to the canvas. Then used a lighter to burnish the edges.

I tried to use e6000 to wrap around the door and glue them down. However it wasn't holding so I used ca glue instead.

Should be able to keep willys legs inside the rig while wheeling.

Since this thing will be seeing some time in the water and mud I figured a snorkel was in irder. Rather than spend a bunch of money on one I decided to fashion it from some 0.25x0.25 styrene.

Just took some heating bending and sanding.

For the air inlet I'm using a trick others have used. An oval shaped axial light bucket. I cut some foam to simulate a filter and cut the cage off one of the round light buckets

One thing I realized while driving and working on this rig is that I really don't like the way the flat white paint job turned out. I'm going to paint her a different color so I was off and sanding. I also really don't like the windshield so I cut it off. It got in the way of the vanquish light bar anyway.

Speaking of light bar

Next I had to do something to keep willy dry if its raining. I took some more of the canvas and cut out a bikini top
I ca glued some Velcro on to wrap around the front of the roll bar.

The back will be held tight by some bungee cords. I need to stop at the craft store and get some small eyelets to have a place to attach the bungee cords to the top.

In place but not tight.

Next I took some Aluminum and bent a seat bracket for the drivers side.

More and more to do.


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[Maddog Madigan]

Funny thing, I just noticed one of the pics in the start. Dready's old twin fj......which is now a Montero. Maybe I need to get this ready for this year. Keep up the great work!

Is now....

 

[dna4engr]

Finished up the bikini top. I forgot how much I hate bending paper clips around hair binders.

Now the first big mistake. Since I didn't like the white. I sanded it down and painted with some lexan red on top of the white.

The damn lexan paint didn't stick very well to the first layers of paint. I could literally scrape it off with a light t scrape of my finger nail. I soaked it for an hour in dot4 brake fluid and the paint didn't even start to come loose.
Pulled out the carb cleaner and decided to really fawk this thing up. Here she sits. All messed up and crappy looking. I'm going to pick up another one and start over. Damn it.

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[SuperDrty]

Looks like a bare metal body with some surface rust

 

[dna4engr]

Looks like a bare metal body with some surface rust

Yea except for all the "veins" from the carb cleaner eating away at the lexan. I sprayed some random black paint on it so I have a usable shell while I wait for a new one.

I'll try to do it right this time.

 

[northkona]

Bugger, I hate it when a plan doesn't come together.

 

[minnesotamudder]

how did the magnets do to hold the front clip on? Im thinking of doing this insted of screws on my jeep build.

 

[dna4engr]

how did the magnets do to hold the front clip on? Im thinking of doing this insted of screws on my jeep build.

They held great until my first rollover. Then the shell fell off. I'm going back to Velcro. If you have enough surface area to stick to it holds better than most other options.

If I had a second magnet attached to the chassis for the body to stick to it might have worked well.

 

[dna4engr]

Finally got some scale parts ordered to add some detail. Scale hex bolts from locked up to use on my TSS trail ready beadlock rings.

I've used the scale hardware before in my locked up rock cutter wheels. I ordered the zinc plated this time as I thought the contrast of the zinc and the polished aluminum trail ready rings.

What do ya'll think.

Here it is next to the original TSS beadlock ring. I think the trail ready and the scale hardware look much better.

I'll continue to use normal 4-40 hex drive screws on the hubs as I've never had good luck with the acorn bolts staying in tact.

One note on the zinc coated locked up hard ware. The zinc coating adds thickness to the short and long screws. This makes it a pain to get them to thread in without a lot of force. I had some stainless steel ones left over from the rock cutters and those thread in just fine. This isn't an insurmountable issue just something to be aware of.


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[fr8cture]

Looks great. I always use Zinc for scale hardware...not sure why :ror:

 

[JokersWild]

Looking awesome, love this build. Sorry to hear about the cab paint issues


On a side note, is your cab to inside tire legal?

 

[dna4engr]

Looking awesome, love this build. Sorry to hear about the cab paint issues


On a side note, is your cab to inside tire legal?

Thanks

I'll have to measure but I'm pretty sure it is. With .625" per side to play with I'd guess she might be right on the line with the front axle. The rear is easily within but it's the widest one you have to concern with.

New shell should be here on Tuesday. Shame to cut another one up but oh well

 

[dna4engr]

In order to align the side panels to the chassis and the half doors I made new side panels and "brushed" the aluminum with an abrasive disc.

While driving it on my buddies rock pile I noticed how loud the aluminum floor pan was resonating the motor noise and vibration. I put a strip of double sided tape where it meets the frame and added an oring to the mounting bolt.

Also to stiffen the door joint I added an oring on the top of the door hinge.

I also wired up the headlights and the light bar. Boring stuff so no pics.

New shell is here tomorrow, can't wait to paint it up.




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[mattzilla]

Damm that thing looks great bud.

 

[dna4engr]

Damm that thing looks great bud.

Thanks Matt!


Working on some details. I got some hot racing scale diamond tread al. It's super thin gage.

I cut out a rear bed area

I had originally planned to build a large propane tank but that didn't work out. I'm making a faux fuel cell. Instead.

Used a couple parts out of the yeti kit to finish it off. The filler mount and the input to the tank.

Since the new shell showed up I cut the front clip off and detailed a few things before spraying the inside with silver.

Cleaned the outside and it was time for some red. A bunch of details need to be added to the front clip but it's coming together.

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[fr8cture]

Looks good. I was gonna say red would look good. Lol