The Mountain Goat - An FJ140/2UZ-FE/Ute Build

[ddelong6767]

If you saw the title of this thread then you already know this is going to be a lengthy and ambitious project. The plan is fairly simple - take a decent FJ60 and convert it to the ultimate overlanding 60-series rig. I'm pulling what I consider the best bits from many generations of Cruiser to make a mash-up which hopefully will be more than the sum of it's parts.

This is a going to be a rig for my family and a feature build for my shop. We live in the Collegiate Peaks mountains in central Colorado and are spending more and more time crossing the high passes and camping in the high alpine forests. We want a rig that will haul us, the dog, and all our gear with a little more capability than my current FJ60 can manage.

The project is just getting underway now, most updates will be in real-time so progress will be slow. Along the way I'll show you the why and how of the steps to get this done. I'm sure there will be some struggles and I'll share the things I would and wouldn't do again. Progress will be documented here in depth and a lot of photos will be put on my IG feed as well. The goal is to complete this in time for SEMA 2019, hopefully to be featured in a booth or the outdoor showcase. On to the show...

Key Features:

1985 FJ60 Body - bobbed cab behind C-Pillar
1994 FJ80 Frame /Suspension - Suspension/Lift TBD
Custom Ute-style Overland canopy box
2UZ-FE V8 w/H55F
35" Tires, 17" rims

Accessories and Fun Stuff:
Recovery - Winch, Traction boards, Hi-Lift, etc
Armor - Bumpers, sliders, etc
Lighting - LED headlights, Accessory floods, rock lights, etc
12V System - Dual batts, potentially small solar on top of box or portable setup
12V Acc Control - SwitchPros, SPOD, ARB LINX, etc
Comms - CB, HAM, Dash Tablet GPS/Nav
Canopy Box - flexible storage for camping gear, recovery gear, etc

The Vision:

Thanks to @Box Rocket for helping me out with a rendering. I decided to stick with Freeborn Red (the color of the donor FJ60) but embellished it with black trim and a graphic of Mt Princeton, the view I enjoy right outside my shop. Really stoked with the result here...

 

[ddelong6767]

The Beginning:

I picked up this FJ60 about 18 months ago while I was finishing up my last build. It was for sale in Denver with 135k miles on the clock and in decent condition. The price was right, it seemed to run well, and I needed another 60 to drive while my LS swap was ongoing so after a quick inspection I gave it a new home. It's originally a NY truck and therefore has a little bit of the tin worm but for a daily it's worked out fine.



As you can see, the rockers have some sort of Rhino liner on them which was there when I bought the truck. The metal behind these areas seems solid, but there was a patch above the rear hatch. I was a little bit aprehensive of what might be behind the upper section and one day curiosity got the best of me. After a few minutes with the scraper, the problem was revealed...



I made a hasty patch with some kitty hair and bondo and have been driving it for the past year this way. While finishing up my other FJ60 I've been contemplating solutions to this problem. I decided to snag a roof section just in case I wanted to do a straightforward repair. Siegried and Sons are a couple guys who break down Cruisers in Monument, CO and they had a good donor to cut from...



As time passed though, I kept thinking of other options. I've spent way too much time on IH8Mud and Google looking at threads and images of bobbed 60's over the past year. This one always caught my eye as a pretty nice conversion:



But after some consideration, discussions with the wife on how we use our rig, and a few frosty beverages I had to rule out a two-door, just not practical enough for our uses (nowhere to put the 100lb dog!). We circled back to keeping four doors and just repairing the roof. Not a bad plan, but we already have a rig like that and there are a few things that frustrate me about it. The biggest complaint is the looooong rear overhang that hits on everything, the limits of the leaf spring suspension, and finding ways to tie down and organize the rear cargo area.

More internet and Mud searches followed. I looked at all kinds of bed platforms, storage boxes, etc. We also talked a lot about our camping style, gear we want to carry, and the idea of pulling a small overland style teardrop along with us. My ideas and searches kept leading me to Australian sites, Hilux builds, and Ute conversions and the idea that the whole back half has to be cut up anyway so why not go for it. I bounced the idea off some friends, mulled it over a bit more and finally decided what the hell, let's get out the sawzall.

 

[battleaxe]

I don't know if the white one is the same build (thought it ended up painted Tan?), but there was a sweet two door build on Pirate a few years back.

Great plan, I look forward to seeing the build!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Which variant of 2UZ are you planning to use and from what? I don’t know if I have ever heard of an H55f mated to one, but that has me curious.

 

[ChuckB]

Subscribing to follow along! This is pretty close to my dream build. Bonus points for keeping it all Toyota!!

@Summit Cruisers Jr - If I remember correctly, the 2UZ was offered in some markets with a manual tranny. Not sure if it was an H55F though...

 

[ddelong6767]

Which variant of 2UZ are you planning to use and from what? I don’t know if I have ever heard of an H55f mated to one, but that has me curious.

The earlier non-VVT variant is a lot simpler to work with so I'm probably going with that. I've found a source in Australia to get a bellhousing to mate it to an H55, never seen it done here in the States but it seems pretty straightforward and simplifies things as compared to an R151. Australian 100-series cruisers had a manual option behind the 2UZ so the main question is can I get it to run on a US computer or do I have to get one from Australia.

 

[borison]

Looking forward to this..

 

[ddelong6767]

Getting ready to really dig in now. Before disassembly I wanted to check a few things on the FJ60, first was compression on the 2F. She comes in at 115-120 on all cylinders except #2 which was down around 105 psi. Not horrible, but showing some signs of wear at 140k miles.

Next step was to weigh the truck for a baseline. This is a stock 1985 FJ60 with about 4 gallons of gas on board and a simple brush guard. Tires are 31x10.5 on stock rims.




Pretty good on the splits considering how big it is, I thought it would be more nose heavy with that big anchor under the hood. It's going to be a while before we have the finished product, but this will be an interesting data point to compare before/after.

 

[ddelong6767]

After putting her on the scales it was time to dig in...


Front clip removal is almost done. Hope to get a few more hours in on it today and finish that up. Then interior comes out and body will come off the frame.

 

[owyheerat]

This is gonna be good!

Keep the updates coming....

 

[ddelong6767]

Finished up removal of the front clip over the past couple days and went through all the various underpinnings and underhood (figuratively speaking disconnects. No major challenges or surprises other than a few ornery body bolts.



Next up was interior. Not much exciting there, now she's pretty much bare inside. Still need to do the headliner, glass, and dash but I'm saving that for later.



With all that done, time to lift the body off and get the old chassis out of the way.



I rolled the chassis outside into the holding area and put it next to the FZJ80 frame which is going to replace it. I'm starting to think I have too many projects lined up.



Now I'm left with the body on the hoist ready to move forward. First I'm going to build a dolly for it so I can easily move it around and also properly support it when I make the cut.

 

[locrwln]

Nice. 3 door 'burb off to the side? Soft spot for those.

Jack

 

[NM-Frontier]

So Rad!

 

[ddelong6767]

Nice. 3 door 'burb off to the side? Soft spot for those.

Good eye, that is indeed a 3-door, the GMC version. That one belongs to the landlord, it's a little rough but is indeed a cool truck. I used to have a '70 2WD Chevy that was lowered and used as a street cruiser. Still regret selling that truck, awesome parts hauler and cool to just cruise around in. I have the occasional temptation to build one as a fully outfitted overland rig. Plenty of room to sleep in them!

 

[Jafrench]

The Vision:

Thanks to @Box Rocket for helping me out with a rendering. I decided to stick with Freeborn Red (the color of the donor FJ60) but embellished it with black trim and a graphic of Mt Princeton, the view I enjoy right outside my shop. Really stoked with the result here...

View attachment 478270

That is DEAD SEXY! Will be following along. Good luck