David Rayner
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Messages
- 7
- Country Flag
I’m heavily into custom cars and wish to customise an FJ-40.By that, I don’t mean raise it up and modify it for extreme off-road work, butcustomise it like you would a muscle car. When it’s done, there won’t bemuch of the FJ’s mechanicals left so rather than begin with a complete car, Ithought I’d buy a chassis and go from there and I have the opportunity to buy abare ’71 for a good price. I’d put an Oz East ‘glass body on it because Iprefer ‘glass to steel. It’s much easier to work with and it doesn’t rust. Forpower, I’d have a Ford 460 with a C-6 trans (like my other car). Rear end wouldbe either a Ford 9” on triangulated 4-link, or Jag. I haven’t decided as yet. Thefront axle would be a dropped I-beam on 4-bar like you’d see on most hot rods,and I’d prefer rack & pinion to a steering box. I’ve spoken to an engineerwho can certify such mods and he says it’s all quite OK but, as I’ve hadnothing to do with Land Cruisers, I have some questions about them.
Did the chassis change much over the FJ’s production run? A’71 chassis has to comply with only a handful of ADRs which is great for me,but is a ’71 model a good one to have? My favourite bike (of which I have 3) camewith two distinctly different frames – ’70 to ’73, and ’74 to 81. The earlyframes are junk so I have to ask the question about Land Cruisers.
Has anyone used an Oz East ‘glass body? Are they well made?Are they certified for road use or are they “off-road only”.
Does the chassis number indicate things like year ofmanufacture, country delivered to, and left/right hand drive? Can you quote atypical chassis number (use your own if you like) and tell me what all theletters and numbers mean?
I know they were made in LHD for other countries but anychassis I buy here in Australia will be RHD and I’d want to convert it to LHDbecause my wife is deaf in her right ear. When we’re in her Mazda, she drivesand I sit to her left. When we’re in my Ford, I drive and I sit to her left(it’s an American model). If I sit to her right, she can’t hear a word I’m saying. Do youthink a RHD chassis would be easy to convert to LHD? Given that the front axlewill be changed and most of the steering linkages will be hand fabricated,could it be any harder than locating the rack where I want it to be? Even if Iuse a steering box, surely it’d be just a matter of moving it to the left side?
If all this sounds like pie in the sky, please be aware thatradical cars (and bikes) are nothing new to me and I’m quite capable ofbuilding such a thing. It’s just that I know next to nothing about LandCruisers, except that the one in my mind will be a sight to behold and be somethingno one else has.
Thank you.
Dave.
Did the chassis change much over the FJ’s production run? A’71 chassis has to comply with only a handful of ADRs which is great for me,but is a ’71 model a good one to have? My favourite bike (of which I have 3) camewith two distinctly different frames – ’70 to ’73, and ’74 to 81. The earlyframes are junk so I have to ask the question about Land Cruisers.
Has anyone used an Oz East ‘glass body? Are they well made?Are they certified for road use or are they “off-road only”.
Does the chassis number indicate things like year ofmanufacture, country delivered to, and left/right hand drive? Can you quote atypical chassis number (use your own if you like) and tell me what all theletters and numbers mean?
I know they were made in LHD for other countries but anychassis I buy here in Australia will be RHD and I’d want to convert it to LHDbecause my wife is deaf in her right ear. When we’re in her Mazda, she drivesand I sit to her left. When we’re in my Ford, I drive and I sit to her left(it’s an American model). If I sit to her right, she can’t hear a word I’m saying. Do youthink a RHD chassis would be easy to convert to LHD? Given that the front axlewill be changed and most of the steering linkages will be hand fabricated,could it be any harder than locating the rack where I want it to be? Even if Iuse a steering box, surely it’d be just a matter of moving it to the left side?
If all this sounds like pie in the sky, please be aware thatradical cars (and bikes) are nothing new to me and I’m quite capable ofbuilding such a thing. It’s just that I know next to nothing about LandCruisers, except that the one in my mind will be a sight to behold and be somethingno one else has.
Thank you.
Dave.