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I had a free minute this morning, so let's pick up where we left off. Paint or powder coat? Is one better than the other? I think the answer is - powder coating wins the battle against corrosion, if it's applied correctly. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. Before anything can be painted...

Trucks always look better with mud on them. Nice pics.

I think Buckshot Mudders haven't been available for at least a decade. On the topic of tire lettering, I can think of only one mod to the TSL letters, but I wouldn't dare... Been working hard on the FJ62 these past few days. Wiring coming this weekend and should be able to fire it off once I...

Yes, they are 34 x 9.50 x 15. That's not the only magazine feature I have gotten. My friend Harry Wagner, of off-road journalism fame, has done quite a few articles on vehicles I've built along with other minor features. Here are some of them. There's also a list of forum threads for you all...

Yep, that's my '57 Land Rover. Still going strong after 16 years. I have made some changes over the years, some updates, mostly to make it stronger, quieter, drive better. The tires have been destroyed from years of rock rash, with a good quantity of the outer lugs completely torn off, and I am...

In case you're wondering, here's a pic of the two front suspensions side by side. This pic shows a panhard bar bracket that was cut off the FJ80 frame, and then slightly modified to fit the 60 frame. Which steering box to use? The 80 box is quicker, and some people like that, but it also...

Any vehicle build should end up looking, feeling, acting as though an engineer in an automobile factory put his pencil to paper and came up with the same design. That said, I adhere to very high standards, higher in some regards than the aforementioned engineer. The specific problems with using...

Thank you. This FJ62 is actually almost done, but I have learned over the past few years to compile tons of pics beforehand, as opposed to playing catch up every morning. We never did get into the how or why on this build. The owner has a mild James Bond fetish (don't we all?) and his vision...

Cool factor. There's an expensive subject. While we're on that topic, one of my dream FJ60 builds is to use the 5.7L 3UR Tundra engine, backed by a six speed auto and a Sequoia AWD transfer case. Not done yet... I also want to build it on a custom IFS/IRS chassis so I could actually lower it and...

This build included both front and rear FJ80 axles, so the rear axle was stripped of all its original link brackets and installed as a leaf sprung unit. Since the FJ80 rear sway bar would not fit the chassis, a Currie universal sway bar was used.

Trimming of the inner fender wells is required to fit the new front suspension. New brackets were fabbed up for the front sway bar. And custom slider brackets were also built to allow strong yet easily removable sliders to be installed.

The radius arm conversion was done using all OEM components with the exception of new control arms from Delta Vehicle Systems. Careful cutting and some slight mods allow us to re-utilize the OEM Toyota frame brackets. Our engine swaps can be done to any level of completion, but most of them...

These conversions require a new transfer case crossmember location, and the manual trans crossmember location is different from the auto trans crossmember location. We've got all those bases covered. With a new trans mount fabricated up, the engine and transmission now have a new home.

A mix and match of FJ80 and FJ62 pieces were used in the radius arm FJ80 axle conversion, but almost all of the components were OEM Toyota. One part tha was not OEM was a new steering shaft from Borgeson. The older OEm joints are very large and could not clear the vital suspension components so...

After a solid mock up using pieces from both the donor FJ80 chassis and the FJ62, we had a good idea of the layout of the new chassis. Pieces were scabbed off the donor chassis and new parts were sourced. Using a pair of radius arms from Delta Vehicle Systems, the ride height was set and a...

As with any build, it all boils down to the process. This process began with a very nice northern California grown original FJ62. Disassembly ensued. A donor FJ80 chassis had been previously sourced. Measurements were taken, and the plasma cutter began it's surgery. Cutting the...

The coils/leafs situation was a compromise. The owner wanted to do an FJ80 chassis, but there are too may pitfalls with that conversion. Leaf springs in the rear just make sense for a "truck" with their parallel control arm geometry, but the radius arm front suspension does give a measurable...

Yes. We use an H55F Toyota 5 speed. They are super strong and shift very nicely. Absolutely. I don't care what's under the hood as long as it does the job. The LS does a great job. Hopefully I can get to do an FJ60/62 LT swap soon. R2.8 is also a great engine, but I wonder how it would do in...

Anyone want to see another FJ62 build? Here's a teaser pic.

I'm not sure I understand your question. The neutral safety switch on conversions with an auto trans is replicated with custom parts, and I don't run a neutral safety switch on the manual trans conversions.