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M3pedro's Trophy Build

122K views 443 replies 95 participants last post by  FJraja 
#1 ·
Purchased in Nov. 2010....

The perfect vehicle for my lifestyle.....photographer, union camera operator, Car racer, district 37 moto racer.

In 1 year of ownership......No mods but lots of fun.

First trip (1 week after I bought it) was to vegas (for work) so I visited Red Rock for some inagural photo ops....

still had paper plates!!







Great for towing my "small/light" racecar....I race with VARA (vintage auto race assoc.) 1969 1602 BMW. I built the car myself.....cage, paint, rust resto, engine.....you name it.

On the way to my friends shop for some work....



Got a hitch mount for my Dirt Bike!!

(taken at Cahullia creek MX track)



After a day of muddy fun at Gorman



After my 1st place finish at the Glen Helen Grand Prix!!



Packing the "mule" with alot of movie making gear....(shooting a movie in NM) I'm always amazed at the amount of gear I can carry in the FJ!!



It did all fit! I had to polish up my Tetris skills!!!



Also got a special hitch mount for my "Handfree" segway that I use for work.



In case you were wondering what I use the segway for........I'm a "Steadicam" owner operator. I can ride it or mount my steadicam arm to it and do many kind of amazing shots for movies (up to 12mph) with the segway. Offroad and onroad.

Here is me riding the segway with my steadicam and a ARRI alexa camera. Check out my offroad tires....you can see my FJ in the background....



you can see the steadicam arm actually mounted to the segway. In this configuration the segway carries the weight instead of me. Pretty cool huh?



Speaking of my job......I got a rental for the FJ the other day! I used it as a "camera car". It's one way to make the payment!!

In this scenario I have a specially made hitch mount that I attach my steadicam arm. I lock the door open, which makes for a great windblocker! This is how sometimes we do car shots in movies....

This is me testing it out during the day (night shoot).....there is no camera on my steadicam since I was just testing....



Crazy fun stuff!! Yes I'm blessed to have such a cool job. I'm living my dream. it's not easy going and it's a tough business but I'm making my way....

So after a great fun year of ownership and paying off some bills.....I finally did my first MOD!!!

The desperately needed upgrade in the audio dept.!!!! So that first up!

My intentions are to own this car for a loooong time. I just can't imagine a more perfect car for my life.

So I have big plans for it in the future!

I've decided to keep the suspension stock for awhile a forgo the 3" lift or the suspension lift ladder......and just save up all my pennies for a ultimate LT setup.

-Possible flat black wrap job
-Total Chaos LT front and rear
-sliders
-skidplates
-Baja tube bumper
-allpro rear bumper
-Lights
-New wheels/tires
-Tint
-CB....maybe...
-Custom roof rack.
-??

Like I needed another "Hobby" in my life.

Good thing I'm not married and have no kids or this would all be a pipe dream.

I Hope to have some time off and do a trail run with some of you guys soon!!

I have tons of tarmac racing experience (intructor with NASA) and race dirtbikes.........but absolutly NO wheelin' experience at all!!

but that will change soon!
 
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#169 ·
#ThrophyFJ

This past monday I visited the race shop that will be working on my FJ....

Very impressed and happy that my baby will be in the good hands.

I'm Lucky that I live in SoCal in the heart of Desert Racing and offroad community. Hard gained knowledge and skills are all around.

After many years of very happy FJ ownership, on my last Mojave Road trip I found myself pushing 60mph (been there so many times now I starting to memorize the terrain) naturally I came up on some unexpected terrain feature and slammed my FJ hard and realized I was having too much fun and being stupid. My truck was simply not built for that kind of speed. So I toned things down a bit and enjoyed the rest of my trip....still the as a auto road racer and ex moto-roadracer the speed bug is strong inside me. At the same time I have really enjoyed my time on black diamond trails here in CA. My last trip thru John Bull in big bear left me itching for more....

Many things have conspired in my life to allow me to endulge my FJ fetish. I have top secret plans for the FJ that will be revealed in due time. That said, it means it will all be tax deductible business expense as I will use the truck for "work". Since now that helped me rationalize the expense....I looked at my options.

1-SAS
Around $20-25k+parts (doing it right)

Since I dont plan on spending ever gallon rock crawling, which is why I bought a FJ in the first place (such a great all arounder) This option was considered but ultimately I would be unhappy once I got to the desert.

2-Off the shelf "long travel" kits.

Around 13-15k+parts plus install labor so maybe $20k

After spending hours reading thru FJ NEWB thread and other LT threads. Seamed that Camburg with RCV axles would get me at best 13" front travel with 35" tires. Few problems. The general consensus is that you should be prepared to replace alot of broken CV's. As far as the rear LT options, the metal tech kit is "fake travel" (just moves the existing travel down) and the best option seamed to be wicked creations new rear cantilever LT FJ kit. 15" of travel for $5500.
more info
New option for the rear suspension
purchase here
Rear Cantilever Kit Complete

So in sum....maybe spend 15-20k to gain 3" in the front over my ICON stage 6 (aprox 9-10 travel) and then gain maybe an additional 5" in the rear since my Icon is around 10"

This math NEVER made sense to me. This reality always killed my LT FJ day dreams.....just not worth spending that much money for 3" in the front and 5" in the rear!! (assuming its really 5 in the rear, since no one has installed this kit yet besides the manufactuer)


I can see why at this point in the "FJ FEVER" people tend to SAS their FJ's....You spend close to the same amount but the performance gain on a SAS is light years ahead of the current "LT" FJ options. Most importantly....you can beat on a SAS and not break it.....you stare at a LT FJ the wrong way and the front CV can break....I talked to so many people who all said the FJ CV's and anything larger than 33" just dont mix.....lower your gearing and it just makes everything worse.


So I decided the best move was just to enjoy my FJ. Fight the FEVER to make it do more than it seamed it could do.

Except the SDHQ FJ....achieved 30" of rear travel....(strapped at 27 now I think".....but you look at what they did.......holy crap....took alot to achieve that.......then I finally saw the finish truck.

13" front travel and 27" rear just made no sense also. Not sure why they didnt go as crazy with the front as they did the rear.

The result if you watch the video,.. the rear seams to totally overpower the front...jacking up alot....going sky high...

https://youtu.be/V67D35j1Elw

The rest of that build is just insane perfection.

In any case the "off the shelf" LT kits and some of the builds on the forums made something abundantly clear.....they are all beating around the bush. There are no half steps when it comes to performance.

Desert racers have been racing for years. All this stuff has been figured out. No need to reinvent the wheel. I just needed to find the right group of racers that could would stop laughing long enough after I said the the word "FJ" to take a serious look at it.

No need to reinvent the wheel so to speak. Just takes talented fabricators, common sense, proven parts and a small stack of cash.

One thing to keep in mind that I realized after reading many threads on the forum.....you can spend alot of money and still get it wrong (in relation to how much you spent).

When you look at the numbers I laid out above......you can spend a good amount of money on a FJ and not end up with much to show for it.....that money in the right hands can go far.

So I THINK I have planned this right, given the budget I have....trying to get the most performance for the buck.

In the end what do I want? Since form follows function....A truck that looks the business when you see it. I want to be able to drive fast in the desert and have some fun in the rocks.

I dont expect to be hitting throphy truck speeds.
I dont expect to be hitting up the extreme rock crawling trails.

I do plan on going fast enough to scare me.
I do plan on being able to get thru some tough rock trails.

Will it be as fast as a Tacoma pre-runner? probably not.
Will it be as capable as a SAS FJ or Jeep? probably not.

Which in the end is basically still true to the nature of the FJ.

That is my goal, to have fun. For me that means more speed and a bit more performance in the technical rocky trails.

The off the shelf LT kits just don't deliver that.

Just looking for the FJ to live up to it potential as the ultimate all around vehicle.


So with parts being ordered as we speak......down the rabbit hole I go. Wish me luck!


We sat down for a few hours and planned everything, made some choices, pushed some numbers around...set a schedule.

The work these guys do it "A" level. Here is one of their other projects. Beautiful welds, laser cut parts and smart ideas.



As you can see they have a large shop, clean floors and lots of race cars.
For me all good signs......so here we go.


The funny thing is when I bought my car back in 2010, I saw this picture online. I remained pinned to my wall in my office since then.....as a motivation picture.....and in a couple of months (with any luck) I should be the owner of a even better version of my dream FJ.

In the end we are all still kids dreaming about the cars on the posters in our room. Luckily thru LOTS of hard work in the last few years my dream will be coming true.



It's not by accident my car has the same DeMello bumper as the one in my favorite picture.

Now dubbing my build #TrophyFJ (will be taggin' it like that on instagram)


HERE we go!

Note: I will not be updating much. Keeping it mostly to myself for awhile. I don't want to talk, talk, talk, talk about it. Once it's done.........you can count on amazing pictures and many awesome videos.......after all that is what I do best.

Now it's just time to work.
 
#171 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

Had another long talk with the race shop...few dollars later we made some big hard decisions on the build, because basically I'm diggin my money pit and fully committed .....and if I'm going to do this ....and I am....then we going do this right, and most importantly maximize every dollar for performance....some parts started showing up, and next week they will already start fabricating the arms and other pieces...

Basically we taking a cutoff wheel and slicing off all the stock suspension, starting with a empty frame rail. Don't want to be constrained by any stock parameters.

Blank slate. Mad fab skills and some coin....how hard can it be .....hahahaha.....

But seriously...Imagine the possibilities......I have a big imagination.

No offense to all the previous "long travel" builds but this one will earn its label.




It's going to be a long couple months.....the wait is going to kill me.


I might tease the thread a few times with a with sneak peaks here or there.....going be hard to keep the excitement to myself...
 
#174 ·
AFE power....??

Power-up! AFE intake installed...can't say I'm super impressed with the quality. Airbox was a bit warped so the lid seal was not so great, I will have to add weather stripping or use some tape to give it a final seal to keep dust out...I would of gotten a TRD but I found this one brand new for sale on the forum for half price...so beggars can't be choosers....they say 10hp which I really doubt but it was time for a new airfilter anyway...vroom, vroom...

Psychologically it added at least 20hp and another 10 with the included afe sticker.

Hopefully everyone will be so distracted by my suspension to notice my stock engine.

 
#175 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

1 month in....update.

They had a lot of work to do on some race trucks and bread and butter customers no major progress to report.... lots of parts got ordered, some prep work started on some of the donor parts....few design discussions and few changes as result....

Currently......the arms were designed in CAD and the front arms getting a redesign from the existing LT arm they had just finished making for another crazy FJ customer.

At the moment everything got sent to the laser cutter and we are waiting on them to deliver a bunch of pretty lasercut parts, tabs, gussets etc,etc,etc....then things will finally start coming together. Literally. Everything is designed in CAD software and exported to the laser cutter. You can even cycle the suspension in the software and that how he is working out geometry and design. Luckily since he just finished the other FJ project he had all the models and a lot of work has already been done. We are changing a few things from their previous FJ build. So what you get back from laser is steel plates with "tabs" that stick out that interlock with other plates much like a jigsaw puzzle........then you spark up the welder and make it all into one beautifully crafted part that almost makes me feel bad powder coating.

When they start welding, I'll go visit them and get some pics....

Meanwhile I'm trying to focus on work so I stop thinking about my truck.....and so I can pay the bill. Which as expected is growing a bit.


I wish I could wave a wand and have it done in a blink of an eye, some days I want to drive down there and help them!.......this is the first time I am not fabricating and building something I am driving/riding. New Experience. I never had the money to pay someone else before. If I can I would love to go down there and tig weld some of my parts.....but I should just focus on work.

Meanwhile the wait keeps me driven at work to continue to drive my company forward...Spending money on my cars, bikes has always kept me driven in life....


I could be spending it on coke and hookers.....so it could be worse.
 
#176 ·
Borrego Fest 2015

Last min trip to join in on the fun at "Borregofest" being held by Outdoor adventure USA group. Sponsored by Larry from Dirty Parts.

I always wanted to go to Anza and honestly the infamous squeeze was on my "offroad bucket list"

so last min I invited a friend and off we went!

Arriving at "BorregoFest" HQ campground and few mins later we were off on the sculpture tour.







Series of sculptures by artist Ricardo Breceda. This one is Columbian Mammoth used to walk these valleys 1.1 million years ago.













Wind God bird. A real bird! Largest flight capable bird in america. Wingspan of 17ft. stood 4'tall. only 6 of these have ever been found, 3 of them in Anza Borrego. 3.5million years ago. Artist Ricardo Breceda.









The Utahraptor 6' tall much bigger than the 3' tall velociraptor.



Spinosaurous live here in the borrego desert. Artist Ricardo Breceda.



 
#177 ·
borregofest



For scale



Help!!!




Allosaurous vs. Carnotaurous





Wild extinct horse that used to roam this area about 57 million years ago. Became extinct 11,000 years ago.









Wind God bird. A real bird! Largest flight capable bird in america. Wingspan of 17ft. stood 4'tall. only 6 of these have ever been found, 3 of them in Anza Borrego. 3.5million years ago.



It took artist Ricardo Breceda 3 months to build and 3 months to install. More than 1,000 scales! Incredible...the detail is amazing.











"india head" represents indians who played a major role in the Anza expeditions in the 1770's Salvador Palma was cheif of the Yuma Indians when Anza arrived at the colorado river in 1774. The partnership was cruicial to opening the first roads out west.





 
#178 ·
borregofest

The breceda scorpion









Headed to explore the famous "Slot canyons" of Anza" unfortunately only by car as we did not have time for hike.



checking out the slot cayons from above....before droppign into them








dropping in to the slot canyons...tricky downhill section











getting tighter and tighter











That is about as far as we could go....



 
#179 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

on our way out of the slot canyon trail...





The colors are beautiful....



Fonts point for sunset....then back to camp for the day....







perfect place to take a nap...


absorbing the energy of the universe for a moment.




On top of the world, on the edge of disaster.



Million star Hotel.



Some of the other trucks at BorregoFest....





Classic







Breakfast!!



Is served....scrambled egs and ham and cheese melt.



The sun was already making things hot....




Tomorrow I post DAY 2
 
#180 ·
BorregoFest day2

DAY 2

With less than 1 hour of studing flash cards My friend Ryan challenged me to the HAM test that the organizers were offering.

We sat down and both failed....but in that failure we had fun and learned alot apparently we got dangerously close to passing....

So we packed up and decided we had to do one more thing before we left.....which has been on my "offroad bucket list" for awhile.

Anza's infamous "SQUEEZE" on the Mt. Pinyon trail which lead us to the sandstone canyon trail also....

Trail is pretty easy right up until you come up on it....

We stopped to take a look a think for a min. or two.....then we said furk it.....we didnt get all dressed up for nothing.



I guided my buddy Ryan Thru in his Xterra first.....it is a game of tetris almost...with the secret being precision rock staking







It's a this point in the tightest of the SQUEEZE that you really start questioning your decision making......and you start to really go 1/2" at a time......placing a rock here or there in order to tilt the car one way or the other.

Patience is key....seriously. Try to rush the process and CRUNCH.



This is how close he got to total sheet metal destruction.... with some luck and some skill we got Ryan out unscathed.



Now its my turn....oh crap.



coming into it...



at this point I start to worry





completely unsure how this is going to turn out.....****.



Truely between a rock and a hard place.



Trying to get a better look and aid my spotter





The tightest point in the squeeze.......



When you see this out your window.....talk about shatting bricks.....inch by inch we progress forward carefully



Done even ask me how we didn't touch anything....some luck and some skill I guess.



Rock and F'ing Roll......I used the side of my NITTO's to climb up a bit on the right side wall....they held firm



on the other side...caution is still required as the tires on the driver side can slip and your door will get it.





ALMOST....



A bit more stacking...



behind...you can see my driver rear is off the ground in the air at this point, riding the side of the rock face...





If I slipped it would of been damage for sure....so we placed some saftey rocks so if it slipped the car wouldnt fall to far as too crunch the door.
 
#181 ·
day2

Taking another look



OMG the relief!!



after that there was another tricky section with a sneaky boudler that promised disaster.







....Look how worried I was about the tip of that boulder I stared at it like ....on no your not....you can't let your guard down because when you do....bam!



Ryan trying to get up the section. He has a stock xterra...no lockers so sometimes he needs momentum up certain things..



I started to notice he was too far to the right....towards the tip of the boulder......



But then just as I was about to YELL STOP!!! he continued and I think by reaction I pressed the shutter on my camera and captured the exact moment that the rock made friends with his back window......CRUNCH. Just when we thought we were going to get out this trail clean.



Bummer



Still the Xterra soldiered on....we taped up his window and continued down the mountain towards heart attack hill.



not before high centering on a rock....I yanked him out





The only photo I have of HEART ATTACK hill or the pinyon dropoff....(it's in the background) words cannot describe the fear of going down that hill.....no way to describe it....pictures or video will not do it justice.

suffice to say we were happy it was over...note the new racing window on his xterra





The incredible walls of "sandstone canyon" trail











incredible....you have to see this place to believe it ....feels like another planet....tattoine maybe....was just waiting to get ambushed by sandpeople



the last bit of dirt and dust on our trip....another unforgettable adventure....
 
#182 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

In other news....

I passed my HAM test and Just got my callsign KK6YBQ ........I dont like it.... need to get a vanity.....

Something that has been on my to do list for awhile.... glad I did. Communication can be a life saver.....


Just picked up a Kenwood D710 now just gotta figure out how to mount it.....pretty sure the tuner will go above the mirror....lets see.
 
#186 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

In other news....

I passed my HAM test and Just got my callsign KK6YBQ ........I dont like it.... need to get a vanity.....

Something that has been on my to do list for awhile.... glad I did. Communication can be a life saver.....


Just picked up a Kenwood D710 now just gotta figure out how to mount it.....pretty sure the tuner will go above the mirror....lets see.
Congrats from M6FJZ.... we could choose our callsign... so I went with my FJ reg FJZ818 to make easy to recall
 
#183 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

UPDATE:

So I visited the shop today to take some pics and videos of my fabrication progress and discuss a few things, make some decisions on a few issues.....



Before I get into my build, I thought I would share what sparked all this.....

So I thought you all would enjoy seeing a few pics of "Marvin's FJ"........ the FJ that brought Desert Concepts and thier work to my attention in the first place.

They are a large retail and fabrication shop here in socal. They race in Ultra4 and a few other series. They have been around for awhile and do alot of work for other shops and racers. Since they just built the FJ, my build should go a bit faster. But mine will be just a bit different than his in a few areas.....but very similar.

In his and mine we will have "bench" style bucket race seats in the rear. I still need my rear seats for "work" (will be explained later).

In his, the bench seat fits no problem, legroom and everything. In mine since the shocks are further forward and I have 2(bypasses)....it might be a bit tighter!

His setup is single rear Fox coilover mounted directly to the axle housing....I think it's a 16" shock so he said around 17" rear travel. His front is very wide (still 4x4) and maybe 18" travel. They are changing some of the geometry and measurements on my front arms to improve some things and I should end up with a bit more maybe 19" front travel.

He is using a modified 8.5" Tundra Rear housing (trussed) w/Full floating axles and they widened the rear a bit, so his front and rear sit about the same width. On mine we are keeping the rear axle stock width (which is of course wider than FJ) so my front will sit a bit wider than the rear, which should help rotate the truck in corners as that induces a bit of oversteer. Which i welcome....

Those 37" BF Baja projects on his FJ in person are just massive! The pictures don't do it justice. They are also massively heavy.

That said, they also installed a SC in his FJ.... since mine will have smaller, lighter 35" tires and we both should have the same 4.88 gears....I bet the SC just helps mask the effect of the massive heavy tires. My truck might be just as fast as his with no SC......Then again....who knows. It will be easy enough to find out ; ) Will be fun to take out both of our trucks together for a photo session....I can't wait.

His monster FJ is almost done....and since they just posted the pics....I guess I share with you all the baddest FJ you have seen.....until mine is done. ; )




Start with the Heart of his beast.... TRD supercharger.....engine cage...The big red and aluminum thing is just an airbox for the airfilter....



Custom rear bumper and tire carrier for the 37" tires.....beautiful work, don't ya think?





With the 37" tire....BF Baja "projects" - you can see a bit of his trussed tundra axle housing...



You can see the 36Gallon Fuel cell poking out the bottom....



Beautiful cage and dimple gussets to the body......





The lower links are beautifully sleeved.... one DOM tube inside the other, outer once has cutouts like the heat shield of a .50cal.... then the plug weld the 2 together. Looks great. Super strong.



Sitting on the 37"s



She is a WIDE *****......makes the flares disappear.



Front view.....custom bumper with better aproach angle as the cutoff a few inches of frame rail.... you can see the the massive tundra spindle...this one is built to go places...fast.....




I'm going thru my pics and videos now....I'll post an update soon.

Unfortunately they are super busy with SEMA for the next couple of weeks so will delay me a bit.....but they hoping for alot of progress in starting in mid-nov and Dec.
 
#187 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

Back to my build....

My Lower arm parts emerge from the CAD software and brought to life via a CNC laser cutter and bender....



If they look big it's be cause they are.... will make the fiberglass fender look stock.



All the parts are notched and fit together like lego blocks then it is fixtured to a jig and welded together. each "tab" is then plug welded. The result in the end is a very strong unit.



So cool to see it all come together....The guys at Desert Concepts really pulling out all the stops.

 
#188 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

So the rear end....

We taking a 2014 Toyota Tundra crewmax rear end. It is much bigger than previous Tundras at 10.5". Bigger rear brakes and axle shafts too of course. Going to be one strong rear end....ready for the abuse I will be dishing out....



Take a look at the guts.... the pictures don't do it's size justice. We will be adding 4.88 gears and ARB lockers front and rear.

 
#189 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

IT is looking simply amazing! Can't wait to see the final finished look. Lots of pics! ;)
 
#192 · (Edited)
Re: M3pedro's build.....

My [URL=http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=trophyFJ]#trophyFJ [/URL] starting to come together....

Boxed lower arms parts also back from laser cutter, 16" Coilover and 16" Bypass shocks standing by and mocking me....

We should end up somewhere around 24-26" of rear travel.....BAM!! just depends where we strap it. Since I'm running 35" tires instead of 37" like Marvin's FJ above (the red one) I should be able to get a bit more up travel than he did. Since his rear coilover is mounted at the axle housing all he can get is 16" and maybe 17" of travel. Since I'm going with boxed arms and we mounting the shocks further up on the arm itself we change the ratio. Basically the further up (towards the driver) you mount the shocks on the arm the higher the ratio....the more travel you get. Naturally when you up the ratio the shocks work a lot harder. This is why when this is done you usually have to add the second Bypass shock to deal with the increased workload and to properly control and tune all that rear wheel motion.

One of the reasons why a lot of race trucks have moved away from the "mezzanine" rear suspension design. What used to be "uberFJ" and now the SDHQ fJ uses a "mezzanine" design. With that design the shocks have a large ratio to deal with and they end up working very hard and generate alot more heat than the design that I am using and that most trophy trucks use today.

anyways.....here is the goods.



They shocks are made by Desert Concepts themselves and sold under the brand DV8 Offroad. You can see the large finned reservoir Heat sink just like larger King race shocks have.



The body itself has miniature finned finished which also aids in cooling, fully adjustable shim stacks, uses 3" coils and uses a larger 3/4 self lubricating rod ends. These rod ends are usually only found in larger 3.5 coilovers....




The 3 tube bypass shock, has high and low speed compression/rebound damping, adjustable shim stacks and the same larger 3/4 rod ends.



Not pictured here are the 3" stroke hydraulic bump stops that each corner will get of course....




Could I have gone with Kings, Fox, Icon or some of the big brands.....sure. Since they make these and they want to showcase their new shocks my truck was a perfect way to do this. So it became a great lower cost alternative than if I went with the more famous brands and in my view not sacrificing performance. In fact the equivalent fox shocks have smaller rod ends......Plus they will be going out with me and helping me tune these monsters.

All this capability is nothing without control.....control only comes with tuning. This is where many people fail. They bolt on fancy shocks and turn a few wrenches and think they are king of the hill..... in reality, only after a lot of testing and shock tuning will the package really come to life. Get your tuning wrong and a bump may send you swapping and roiling in the dirt. Like I mentioned previously the SDHQ FJ looked pretty horrible in those videos.....hopefully they will reign in and get that truck under more control.

Having their expert help after this is all done tuning the suspension is really where the magic will happen.....I cant wait to go out and learn and slowly build some speed and put my [URL=http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=trophyFJ]#trophyFJ [/URL] thru it's paces.....

Like I mentioned, I am building this to Class3 specs as I would love to do maybe 1 race a year in it.....would be a blast to do a historic event like vegas to reno, the mint400 and would be a total blast to do the Mexican 1000. A fun event that is more relaxed than the baja1000 and is a "stage" rally with transit stages and smaller timed sections.....

Now....... I dont think I'll be racing right away....but since certain decisions that affect the build have to be done now It is being taken into consideration.

If we get the truck finished in Jan....I wont be considering any racing for at least a year....I will be enjoying the furk out if though! you can count on that!
 
#193 ·
Re: M3pedro's build.....

Now my favorite part of the build so far....

Looks so badass....the guys are doing great job with the rear axle housing.

Started out with a 2014 Tundra crewmax 10.5 housing. This way the truck stays full factory toyota parts...but I get larger, stronger rear end and larger brakes and axles also.

I cannot understate how massive this is in person......especially now that it has been trussed and linked. It's bigger than "marvins" FJ I posted earlier as he is using a 8.5 tundra rear.

Shes going have a serious rear end....



Not quite finished yet, few details....but pretty much done.





Would of loved to TIG weld her, but would of taken easily twice the time and cost to do so and not really any appreciable difference in strength. I want to move the project along, keep the costs down in certain areas....so MIG is was.....nice work by the guys.





Still a bit more work to do one her....some plug welds, but it will be going out to powder coat soon....

Should be up to the task of handling some whoops and landings at60mph+

Not to mention the occasional rock trail....




I'm so anxious I can even describe....not sure how I'm going to deal with waiting.......this is going be so bad ass....
 
#194 · (Edited)
Re: M3pedro's build.....

So the guys at the shop just texted me this picture.

Looks like the just about finished "Marvin's FJ"

Today they bumped and strapped the suspension.

Final numbers 17" front and 18" rear :grin

Talk about face down ass up....keep in mind those are 37" tires! Makes the flares and tires look small.




Then keep in mind....my rear should end up with somewhere around 9 more inches of travel than his!!! Plus since we have changed a few things in the front we should get 19" in the front while still retaining 4x4 :rocker:


I think I going to loose my mind waiting...going to be the longest few months my life.
 
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