Mustard Whale, Fj40 build

[niblik]

lookin good fella... just wonderin if ya gonna chuck some triangles through it?

[Fakey]

Yeah for sure,(knew someone would ask that ) just ran out of time yesterday. Got the basic layout done but that was about it.
Still havent decided on what to do with the bracing in the main hoop. Id like to still be able to get into the back from the front seats, but i feel it needs some form of bracing in there.
There will be bars going from the top of the main hoop to the bottom of the rear one in addition to this one which follows the floor line

[Fakey]

Bit more progress on the cage, got the drivers an passenger side bars done an main hoop brace bars in.
Started to mount the drivers seat then decided that the tank was in a sh#t of a place so pulled that out an made a removable seat frame in its place Used the seats out of the vitara i wrecked a few months ago, just had to cut off an remount the outer rails to bring them more inline with the inner rails
( need a new tank an have to find a home for it now)
Anyone got a spare vitara tank lyin round, think one of those might be ideal to put under the floor at the back.
Pto winch turned up the other day too, looks all good




No more tank Now plenty of room for a compressor






Vitara seats with the bases modified to lift the outer rail inline with the inner one

[petefj40]

Good work!!
Looking farking strong.

[cooksworld]

Hey... just thought I'd check in to see what was happening on the ORE site (been too busy for the last few weeks) and I see you've put a cage together - nice work. Good score with the PTO and PS setup - the 40 will be transformed.

One thing I spotted with the cage and I got knocked back on with my last one for certification - the top mounts for the front seatbelt mounts being on the front side of the roll cage - I had to remove them and mount them rear facing due to the risk of hitting your head on them in a roll over - something to keep in mind and perhaps check. This was a few years ago and I haven't been checking what others have been doing and I sure someone online can give you more advice. Keep up the good work.

[Fakey]

One thing I spotted with the cage and I got knocked back on with my last one for certification - the top mounts for the front seatbelt mounts being on the front side of the roll cage - I had to remove them and mount them rear facing due to the risk of hitting your head on them in a roll over - something to keep in mind and perhaps check. This was a few years ago and I haven't been checking what others have been doing and I sure someone online can give you more advice. Keep up the good work.

Yeah I didnt really think of that till my foreman mentioned it the other night (hes a wof inspector) im not too sure about it so i left the passenger side until i can get hold of the certifier (hopefully on monday) an ask his thoughts on it .

I cant really see it being any different to cages you see with another bracing bar running from where ive got my mount to the bar above it,(I was planning to add one to both sides aswell) you see a lot of race cars with these an even malfunctions jeep has them.
Some what like this cage


When youre sitting in the drivers seat its quite far away an back a bit from your head even with the seat as far back as possible but ill just have to wait an see what he says i guess

[Fakey]

Good work!!
Looking farking strong.

Cheers Pete, still got a few more bars an gussets to put in here an there aswell as the chassis mounts so should be pretty heavy duty when im done

This is what id like it to look like when im done. Just diff colour (trying to decide between orange an a bright yellow/greeny colour hookers use on their caltex fuel tankers) an no spring over at this stage.
This ones from Proffits cruisers in the states.

[Fakey]

Little bit of progress in the last week, went away to castle point for the weekend so missed a few days but got a lot done during the week just a few extra bars an gussets here an there as required aswell as the passenger seat/seatbelt mounts

[skid]

do you work at truck stops dude

I seen this hiding in the back this morning

I knew I should of gone in for a closer look

sweet dude, looking good now

[Fakey]

Yeah I work for truckstops. Who do you work for? Dont be shy about having a look around it everyone else that comes in has a look
Still a long way to go I had today off so went an ordered some paint for it. Aiming to have it ready to paint over the christmas new year break when no ones in the workshop. I was thinking of high lighter yellow but you can only get bright colours like that in 2 pak so i chose the brightest laquer orange i could find
Still got plenty to do before paint goes on tho
Got a bare front diff housing from that other rusty pos 40 we scrapped last week so thatll make the range rover coil conversion easier when the time comes

[skid]

Yeah I work for truckstops. Who do you work for? SUPERCHARGE BATTERIES, was dropping off a battery to Aaron.



so i chose the brightest laquer orange i could find

oh faaark, I gotta rush off for a yankee, orange is the bestest colour for a 40 in the whole wide world

[Fakey]

Oh right, yeah i agree orange is a pretty good colour for the 40 series.
I wanted highlighter yellow (like the hookers caltex tankers) cos ive never seen a 40 anywhere near that colour, unfortunately I dont have proper breathing gear to paint with 2 pak

[flyingbrick]

Awesome work on the truck dude . The cage looks bloody fantastic. Nice welding and bending etc- I admire that bigtime. I had a pipe bender once upon a time but was too scared to even try- just knew i was going to end up with a twisted wonky heap of crap

I do think that the middle V bars in the |V| main hoop are a little strange though and you may want to check that its correct. I've never seen them meeting in the middle unsupported- usually they run from corner to corner or in an X from corner to corner?

I'm no expert- but looks like it would just bend that unsupported lower bar in a roll?

[Fakey]

Theres a gap in the middle so when the roof is on i can climb into the back.
Its kinda like this one

The whole rear section of mine from the main hoop back is 44mmx3.5mm pipe so i think if i have a roll over big enough to bend any of that i think ill have bigger probs than bent pipe
Im no expert either but im pretty sure the chassis mounts an body will bend 1st
Thats also why its mounted on the mounting plates like this to give it a larger contact area with the mounts.

[flyingbrick]

crap that cage in the pic you posted is impressive.

[Fakey]

8) crap that cage in the pic you posted is impressive.

Yeah i know its from proffits cruisers in the states, found that pic after id built most of mine an kinda wished id made mine more like it but i actually think mine is alot stronger cos mine has a lot more straight bar work an triangles rather than bends.
certainly looks the business tho

[Fakey]

Busy week/weekend, picked up my paint for the body, also got some POR 15 paint for the chasis. Also picked up my vitara fuel tank for that im goin to install under the floor at the back.
This weekend i got my power steer box mounted an body lift done.

[niblik]

lookin good there guy..

just one query...

the body lift blocks that you've made from box section..?

if so, do the wof/cert guy look favourably upon those? (being sleeved may be different) only because of the crush/squish factor? (if ya understand what i mean) i know it sounds a long shot but hence the reason a solid bit of bar used is the common mod preference. that or the poly beasties..

just tryin to save possible headaches and if i'm wrong, then i apologise, mint and as you were..

[Fakey]

No fair question Nibs. I spoke to the certifier a while ago about my planned mods, one being the body lift an blocks i was planning to use.
The only thing he mentioned was that he may want them closed in on one end. (In case the deform i guess). I think he assumed Id be using light guage box not the 5mm wall stuff i used
He didnt actually mention crush tubes at all an the ones i used are 3.5mm wall (theyre disco tie rods cut up )
Im pretty sure he'll be quite happy with them. Only took a few hour to make an fit them.

[niblik]

thats the term, 'deform'.. sorta like rokhound..

anyhoo, good work guy.. keep it up and keep us pics whores happy!!

[Fakey]

Ok, had another very busy week workin on the cruiser before an after work but its starting to pay off, got a lot of finishing work done on the body work side of things,
Pulled the cage back out an fully welded it all,
Por15'd the entire floor pan an some of the engine bay.
Pulled the windscreen surround off an stripped it for painting,

Mounted power steer reservoir an pump,ran all the lines for p/steer fluid. Made a longer drag link out of an fj40 tie rod which is larger than the draglink tube.
Made a 2 groove pulley out of a 2f fan pulley an a Izuzu bighorn pulley cut up an welded together Now just waiting for the hose doc to adapt the pressure line to the steering box an I can fire it up an test the p/steering (Also got to remount the steering dampener.

Went for a scavenge around Pick a part this morning an found a surf master cyl an booster which Ive got bolted on (the original one started leaking all of a sudden ) along with my willwood proportioning valve.
Sorry pic Whore I left my camera at work so ill upload all the pics soon

[petefj40]

Sorry pic Whore I left my camera at work so ill upload all the pics soon

Make sure you do.

[Fakey]

Today I got the hose swaged an a new belt for the power steering, also bled the brakes. Couldnt help myself I had to take it for a spin around the yard. Used a jerry can for a fuel tank an a box to sit on

The power steering works great an the brakes are way better than with the standard 40 master an booster. Just had to make a little adjustment to the proportioning valve an It stops on a dime(at low speed anyway )

With all that sorted my attention has turned to the vitara fuel tank. I pulled the fuel senders out an compared them, they were both the same except the 40 one is a little shorter. I was going to put the 40 one in the vitara tank but when I wired the vitara one to the guage it worked as if it was the original one so ill just stick with that one.
Ill be mounting it under the floor at the back theres plenty of room after the body lift
Pics tomorrow..maybe

[Fakey]

Just a few of the promised pics of the last weeks activities
Cage out

POr15

Steering column bits ready to go in

New Nylon column bush i made after the original one turned to dust

Steering shaft

Pump mount




Needed a double fan pulley (fj40 on rhs)

Cut up an welded together


LN130 surf master an booster with proportioning valve(what a difference)

Vitara tank almost ready to go in

[sig]

lookin good

[cooksworld]

Sure is looking good... interesting that you were using all of those steering components to get it down to the 70 series box. I was wondering if all the splines would fit together and obviously they do! Is the LN130 surf master an booster 2" bore? FYI... I'll hopefully get some time over the xmas break to pull down the hilux front swivel hubs, then cut them down to try my rear disc brake conversion... even tho I've missed out on getting the discs machined to fit over the rear hubs. Good luck over the break. How soon are you planning on getting it sprayed? I've got a gun if you want to borrow one.

[Fakey]

Cheers guys
I had to get the collapseable section splined as well as the column, the u/js are normally 14mm one end an 17mm the other end but i pulled them all apart an put the 17mm end that is usually on the box end onto the 17mm part of the normal u/j.

Only reason I went this way was because I couldnt find a 70 series shaft for a good price at the time.

Ill look forward to seeing how you get on with the swivel brackets stefan,
One thing tho, Instead of machining your discs get the back of the hub machined to suit the standard disc. That way if you need to change the discs for any reason theyll bolt straight on rather than having to pay again for the new discs to be machined.
I got my discs machined cos I didnt have time to pull the hubs off an take them down, discs were just easier at the time.

Im not too sure on the bore size, but i think its 1". I didnt pay much attention I just needed to replace my one that was leaking all over the place
It bolted straight on I just had to shorten the pedal pushrod an wind the nut back as far as itd go to get the right ammount of free play

Ill be spraying it over the xmas/new years break when no one will be at work to distract me, Ive got a pretty sweet gravity feed gun I bought to spray a couple of trucks we peplaced the cabs on a few months ago. Cheers for the offer tho

[petefj40]

Just a few of the promised pics of the last weeks activities
Cage out

Moving along nicely.

What's the diameter of the tubing?

[Fakey]

Moving along nicely.

What's the diameter of the tubing?

Yeah its getting there, got the vitara fuel tank mounted under the floor at the back an all plumbed up this avo

The front (forward of the main hoop) is all 34mm OD with 3.5mm wall, from the main hoop back is 44mm OD with the same wall thickness

[petefj40]

Moving along nicely.

What's the diameter of the tubing?

Yeah its getting there, got the vitara fuel tank mounted under the floor at the back an all plumbed up this avo

The front (forward of the main hoop) is all 34mm OD with 3.5mm wall, from the main hoop back is 44mm OD with the same wall thickness

Right.
It doesn't look thick but a 3.5mm wall would do it.
Nice!