Ollie's "BugEater" Build

[FJ-Ollie]

Starting Friday the BugEater is getting a fairly major mod. The picture below is a hint...:bike_rider:

 

[FJ-Ollie]

The BugEater is feeling a bit inadequate today.:mecry:

 

[FJ-Ollie]

A roof rack it is... I was combing through the web and I found a fairly unique rack. There are a few around but I have yet to see any in person. It's a Utility rack by Baja Rack. Of course it won't stay stock looking but it is fairly stock for now. I have yet to see one with lighting on it has for front tabs for lights. I have all the lights mounted on the front and sides but i am doing something different than the way I had my stock rack set up.

A had a time set up to meet up with the salesman this morning and had to have my stock rack off and change some stuff on the way my wires were routed through the roof to accommodate the new rack. Since my old rack was a large diameter tubing rack, I wanted to make it look clean and I pulled all the wiring through the tubes of the rack. The holes through the roof was under the driver's side front rack mount pad so I didn't need to use a bulkhead fitting on the roof. I was able to seal the foot of the rack and no water got in. Well, with the new rack there was no such luck. I had to lift the rack, mark all the wires, cut the wires and pull the out of the roof so I could open up the existing hole and install a bulkhead fitting. I was able to also verify that the wires were clear of the airbags. Here are some pics of that mess...

Then today I went to Ramona to get my new rack and of course I couldn't leave the shop until I at least had some of the lights mounted on it. It's a stout rack. I can walk around on it and set up there. What enticed me was the lack of the side rails and how low profile it is. The wind noise has reduced considerably and we'll see if it helps with MPG. I doubt it but I can hope. I'll post up more as I get the fabs done to the rack that I want to accomplish.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

Since all the structure on the new rack is round, I didn't have a place to mount my lip-mount Diamond K9000 motorized antenna mount up by the front PIAA's.

To remedy this issue I modified the light-bar I fabricated for my old stock rack and made a bar for my lip mount. Now all is well in radio land again. Now that that's taken care of it's time to start wiring my lights.

Antenna Lowered

Antenna Raised

 

[Hound]

Nice rig; looks like you really thought of everything.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

Nice rig; looks like you really thought of everything.

Thanks... Now it's time for a onboard welder.:drool:

 

[southpier]

....ExtremeAire Onboard Compressor System (Includes 2 Gallon Air Tank):

.....I bought a stock roof rack until I can fab my own. I made this expanded aluminum grid for it.:

i have 2 questions:

why use copper (or brass?) - iron - copper fittings on the air lines?

what was the expanded grid for? the stuff i've seen isn't really load bearing, but maybe this is more rigid?

thanks

 

[FJ-Ollie]

why use copper (or brass?) - iron - copper fittings on the air lines?

The airlines switched to plastic where it routed outside the vehicle. The compressor got so hot that it kept softening the line it the compressor and the lines would blow. So I ran copper and steel (combo because that's what I had for fittings in my tool box at the time a put it in) until it got outside of the vehicle since they could handle the heat.

what was the expanded grid for? the stuff i've seen isn't really load bearing, but maybe this is more rigid?

Initially it was for surface area since the cross bars are limited and had huge gaps between them. Then when I made the all-thread crossbars I used stainless expanded metal and that stuff is very strong.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

One of the things I needed to come up with for this new rack was how to mount the side lights(s) because I don't want to drill holes in the tube frame of the rack. I had them temporarily zip tied on. Well this morning I had an idea pop into my head and I ran over to Home Depot at lunch and picked up some U-bolts. After some shaving of the U-bolt's I.D. and cutting off some excess threads I added a little black paint and whalla. Now my lights are securely mounted to the rack.

After starting to wire up my lights on my rack I had a vision. On my old rack I had one Hella pointing out off of each side of the rack. That provided me with sufficient lighting to the sides...... oh wait a minute.... there is no such thing as sufficient lighting (right Larry?). So I decided to take the Hell's I had on the back of my rack and put those on the side too. Now I'll have one light toward the front and one light toward the rear like so.

I have two lights in my garage to add to the rear so now I just need to find a way to mount those and finish up my wiring and the rack illumination will be complete (for now).

I am now drawing up plans for two modules that can be attached to the rack that will hold three Jerry cans each. I'm putting plans together to make everything modular for the rack so things can be added or removed based on the trip I go on then strip it clean for day to day stuff since my FJ is my daily driver.

 

[Viggen]

Thanks... Now it's time for a onboard welder.:drool:

Whats the output on your alternator? Youve got some serious draws and now youre adding a welder too?

 

[FJ-Ollie]

Whats the output on your alternator? Youve got some serious draws and now youre adding a welder too?

The output on the FJ varies. As I understand it, the FJC was a test bed for several new things that Toyota wanted to try. The alternator was one of them. Since they wanted the FJ to be used for off roading and such, they new the potential for many accessories being added to the vehicle and the need for the alternator to handle it. So they put a new concept variable type of alternator in the vehicle. Now they use the same alternator in their new Tundras, etc.

I found this out when I tried to go to an onboard welder when I first got the FJC when they had just released them. One company wanted to use my FJC as the testbed for their welder. I wasn't prepared to take that risk because there were a lot of questions that couldn't be answered and Toyota wasn't able to answer some of the questions the vendor was asking. I still don't think they've developed a system for the FJC that ties into the alternator or replaces the factory alternator.

With that being said, I would probaby go with the one of the welders in a box or just get some weld cable and rod and use my two backup batteries to make 24 VDC. Not sure yet. Additionally, I wouldn't have all my accessories on when I welded. They would all be turned off.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

I needed a place to mount my Hi-Lift on my new rack so I found some scrap Super-Strut and Super-Strut clamps and fabricated one.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

Ever since I got my train horn set(s) I've wanted to get 4 of the seven trumpets onto the roof. I had all kinds of ideas to do it on the old rack but they were all a PITA. Now with the new rack I can finally make it happen. I'll leave three under the rig and put the loudest four on top of the rig. It will make a Very nice surround sound effect with the horns. I made a plate and rigged it so the retractable antenna lays down between the center to trumpets.

 

[bat]

Gotta love the horns :Wow1:

 

[FJ-Ollie]

Finally... Lights are lit.